Day 226 – Harvard Yard

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Aug 142011
 

It took a bribe of IHOP for lunch, but I got Darling Boy to come with me to Cambridge on Saturday. I know, big sacrifice on my part…

There was a camera store I wanted to visit (but the item I was looking for was out of stock, dammit!) and I thought about walking around the area. For all the time we’ve lived here, I’ve never really explored the Harvard University campus.  Fortunately there was only a little whining from DB!

Meet John Harvard, the benefactor for whom the University is named.

18-105mm lens at 50 mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.0, ISO 200

When we first saw this from a distance, we thought it was a church. We were mistaken, it’s Memorial Hall. It looks like a church, doesn’t it?

18-105mm lens at 21 mm, 1/800 sec at f/3.8, ISO 200

This is one of the gates leading from the surrounding streets into Harvard Yard proper. I just liked the intricacy of the ironwork on top of the gate.

18-105mm lens at 24 mm, 1/800 sec at f/3.8, ISO 200

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Paris, with a personal guide

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Jul 152011
 

I’m not going to name her but if you dig through comments on earlier posts she’s already revealed herself.  To make a long story short, she contacted me in response to my Language Barrier post, written when I was still in Germany, and offered to be my personal guide around Paris. She thought it would be a shame if my language difficulties kept me from enjoying such a beautiful city.

We spent 3 hours walking around the city, chatting, enjoying a meal at an outdoor cafe and generally enjoying each others company. She even gave me a goodnight kiss on each cheek :-)

Here are some of my photos from our walk. Remember, click on any photo to view full-sized in a new window, all photos are 1500 pixels along the long edge and you can really make out some details.

We started by heading towards the Louvre by passing through the Jardin des Tuileries, this is the grand carre, an arrangement of borders around the garden proper.

1/20 sec at f/8.0, ISO 400

I had no idea that the Louvre was so big! This is just a fraction of the museum

1/100 sec at f/8.0, ISO 400

The view reminded me a little of the National Mall in Washington DC.  You can see the obelisk (better view in Paris, Day 1) and off in the distance the Arc de Triomphe, featured in this post. This photo was taken from the center of the gardens with my back to the Louvre.

1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

Now maybe you can get an idea of the size of the Louvre, quite the building! My guide suggested that it’s best experienced in 3-4 hour blocks of time and to come back on several days to fully appreciate all that it was to offer.  Otherwise it’s just too much in one day, sensory overload of sorts.

1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

We headed across the Seine River, this is from the Port des Arts bridge. The story goes that young couples in love attach a lock to the bridge (something about symbolizing the bond between them) and then throw the key into the river. My guide pointed out that some of them are combination locks.  So much for eternal love!

1/100 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

I have no idea what building this is, all I remember is something about cleaning buildings and how too-frequent cleaning of the relatively soft stone common to many older buildings would degrade the craftsmanship on display. There was also a vaguely sexual joke between us that I can’t remember for the life of me…

1/1250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

Notre Dame Cathedral. If there was any one building that illustrated just how old things in Europe are compared to the US, it was this, ground was broken in 1163 and it was completed in 1345.

1/500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

Okay, I’d like to know the artists motivation for carving a statue where the Bishop is holding his own head. WTF?

1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

Those are the highlights, thanks again to my tour guide, I wouldn’t have had half as much fun wandering the city without her. I think that may be it for my Paris photos, I did return to the Louvre the next morning before heading to the airport, we’ll see if I feel like posting those one of these days.

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Arc de Triomphe

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Jul 142011
 

Yes, I’m finally continuing with my photos from Paris!
[Photos from Schlossplatz Germany are here and Paris Day 1 photos are here.]

Friday morning I awoke early and went for a run, iPhone in hand. My goal was to run along Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe and back. If the distance wasn’t too bad and I was feeling okay I thought about continuing to the Louvre, but my feet disagreed. I did make it to the Louvre, both Friday night and Saturday morning, and I’ll get to those photos next.

Fortunately it was about 6:30am when I got there, I couldn’t imagine trying to cross the traffic circle that surrounds the Arc at other times of the day. This photo was taken from the east side, I walked around to the west side then timed it to sprint across the road so I could look up close.

Taken with my iPhone

I had no idea the the French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is at the base of the Arc de Triomphe! Quite the contrast to the American Tomb of the Unknowns, which is part of Arlington National Cemetery and guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year [DB and I visited there almost 2 years ago.]

Taken with my iPhone

I took a bunch of photos of the detail around the Arc but in the early morning light and just having my iPhone, sadly they didn’t come out well at all and I didn’t make it back there with my DSLR before I left the next day. Before I continued my run I had to get back across the traffic circle! I also wanted another shot of the Arc so I crossed to the center island of Champs Elysees. It took almost 5 minutes of waiting and timing the traffic, but it was worth the effort to get there!

Taken with my iPhone

Postscript: I later learned that there is a pedestrian tunnel under the traffic circle leading to the Arc. I should have figured out that there had to be a better way to get there, it is a tourist destination after all…

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Paris, Day 1

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Jul 032011
 

I’ve been back for over 2 weeks, it’s about time I got around to posting these photos! There will be at least 2 more sets to follow this one.  As always, click on any photo to view full-sized in a new window and then click to zoom to full 1500×900 pixel resolution.

The view from my room at the Hotel de Castiglione, just 2 blocks from Av des Champs Elysees.

I started my adventure by wandering to Av des Champs Elysees and saw a big gold-domed building off in the distance that caught my interest, so I started heading that way. On the way there I passed Le Grand Palais and took a few photos. I was continually amazed at the artistry and detail on the exterior of so many of the buildings.

I was walking down Av Winston Churchill which becomes Av du Marechal Gallieni as it crosses the Siene River. At each side of the bridge on each side of the road is a tall stone column, each topped by a beautiful gold scuplture

While crossing the bridge I also noticed the Eiffel Tower!  Sadly this is the closest I got, I guess I’ll just have to go back there someday.

Now I was getting closer to the gold-domed building that originally caught my attention. It turned out to be the Hotel National des Invalides and Napolean is buried directly underneath the doom. The following 3 photos are all from there.

Another view of Le Grand Palais on the way back toward my hotel

I took a slightly different route back to my hotel and passed thru the Pl de la Concorde. The dominant feature is this Egyptian obelisk, which dates from the reign of Ramses II and once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple.  It was given to the French in the nineteenth century, so it was taken apart stone-by-stone, moved to France, and reassembled.  Pretty cool, huh?

That’s all for now.  I still have photos from the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Musee de Louvre and other assorted sights.  Oh, and on Friday night of that week I had a personal tour guide in the form of a reader of Veronica’s blog who took mercy on my lack of language skills and offered to help me out :-)

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Project365 Days 100-106, Where the streak ends

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Apr 162011
 

Dammit, I missed a day!

In 2010 I didn’t miss a single day, I took a photo for every single day of the year. I was cruising right along this year and continuing the streak until last Wednesday rolled around and I realized I didn’t take a picture on Tuesday. I guess that’s what happens when this tweet accurately describes the day I had!

On to the photos, the ones I actually remembered to take!

Day 100 Sky - The kids swore that they saw faces or identifiable shapes in the sky and wanted me to take a picture. I don’t see whatever it was that they saw!

Day 101 Cat – the only cats we have are 2 stuffed ones that sit on top of a bookcase. This one is shaped to sit on the edge & look down, I’m laying on the floor and looking up in this shot.

Day 102 Jefferson - Monday I traveled to Washington DC for a conference, I would be there until Wednesday. Late Monday afternoon I skipped out on the last session of the day and played tourist. My hotel was only a few blocks from the Capital Mall and I realized that I had never visited the Jefferson Memorial so I headed over there.

I was walking around the memorial when I was reminded of a photography lesson- find interesting ways to capture ordinary images. I was standing off to the side and saw a group of 30-40 people with cameras, all standing close together and taking the exact same boring picture of the statue at the center of the memorial.

I don’t know how interesting this photo is, but it’s different from every other photo I saw taken that day!

Day 103 468 Days after it started, my streak of a photo day, every day, is over :-(

Day 104 Channel Guide -  It’s nice when a hotel makes it easier to figure out where to find your favorite channels. It would be better if the channel guide was correct, unlike this one that was apparently out of date.

Day 105 Surprise! – Yesterdays post details the surprise, I grabbed this photo while waiting for my bag at Logan Airport.

Day 106 Blizzard – It only took the gentlest of a suggestion from me and Veronica headed out to pick up treats for the whole family :-)

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Day 4/365- BEER! Lots and lots of BEER!

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Jan 042011
 

Time: Noon
Place: Sam Adams Brewery, Jamaica Plain, MA

After 9+ years living in the area, I finally made the pilgrimage to Mecca :-)

Every Sam Adams beer is created in this room, as DB said “it’s their beer lab!”
Most Sam Adams is actually brewed in either Pennsylvania or Ohio, the Boston brewery is where they experiment with new brews, brew beers for competitions, perform quality control on samples from the other breweries, and produce limited runs of certain specialty beers.

It’s the dude from the TV commercials!  This is Bob Cannon, one of the brewmasters.
I got a kick out of people asking to having their photo taken with a guy who makes beer for a living.

As part of the tour, everyone got a souvenir 6 oz glass AND beer to put in it!  The last tour stop was the tasting room, where we each got to sample 3 beers, Boston Lager and 2 seasonal brews, in this case Winter Lager, pictured here, and Stony Brook Red, only available on tap in the Boston area or in the gift shop.

Speaking of the Stony Brook Red and the gift shop, I couldn’t resist!
These are 750mL bottles from what they call the Barrel Room Collection.

I can’t believe it took me so long to get there.  Not only is Sam Adams my favorite beer, but the brewery is an easy 40 minute drive from my house, parking is free, the tour is free, samples are free, and Matt the tour guide was knowledgeable and entertaining.

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy“- Benjamin Franklin

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” – Dave Barry

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Day 259- Graceland

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Sep 162010
 

Wednesday was going to be a short driving day, as I had firm plans to stop in Nashville for the night, see my HNT post today for more about that.  Since my route was taking me through Memphis, I decided to stop and see Graceland and also to find some BBQ, since Memphis is famous for that.

I ended up skipping the tour of Graceland, it was an hour wait for the next available tour AND it was $30 for the tour.  So I just walked around the area some and picked up a couple of souvenirs at one of the many gift shops.

The BBQ however, was FANTASTIC!  Thanks to M (some of you may remember her!) for the recommendation.

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Day 206- Phone Sex

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Jul 252010
 

No, I didn’t set up my camera while I was on the phone with a friend.  Sorry if anyone is disappointed, but I actually think this is a better story!  It only took me 2 weeks, but I finally got to downtown San Antonio on Saturday and wandered around the area for a while.  At the same time, a wonderful, sexy blog friend texted and let me know she was free if I wanted to chat.  It’s always good to talk with her, so of course I said yes.

Little did I know at the time that she was freshly showered and naked except for a thong.  But she didn’t hesitate to share that tidbit!

Around the time that she told me, I was walking past The Alamo.

Our conversation meandered from topic to topic as I meandered through downtown.  Lifestyle stuff, travel, spouses, work, until she decided it was time to enlist the help of one of her sex toys and have an orgasm while I listened. By then I had passed through the RiverCenter Mall and was walking along the Riverwalk.  Shortly after I took this picture she had a wonderful sounding extended orgasm.

It was way too crowded for me to say what I really wanted to say to her, and the noises of the Riverwalk area made it difficult for me to hear everything she was saying.  And moaning and groaning ;-)   So I headed back up to street level.

I’m walking along, telling her what I would do to her if I was there with her, when I say “hold on, I gotta take a picture”, and she doesn’t mind the interruption at all!  Here’s the picture I took, of the 750 ft Tower of the Americas, originally constructed for the 1968 World’s Fair-

Can you picture it? Here I am, looking like the typical tourist, camera hanging around my neck, phone up to my ear.  A fairly typical sight in a tourist area.  But then there’s the conversation that’s taking place, talk of toys, cock sucking, pussy eating, fucking each other over and over.

Who would have guessed that, right? :-)

I know that my friend will be reading this, I wonder if she’ll reveal her identity?

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Day 200- Drill

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Jul 192010
 

A really old drill!

The Alamo Quarry Market is built at the site of the old Alamo Cement Plant and the main building now houses a 16 screen cinema, a bookstore and a health club.  Across the street there is now a golf course IN the quarry where they used to mine the limestone for the cement plant.  One of these days I’ll have to try to get some pictures of the golf course, it’s pretty cool to see.

Anyway, around the Market grounds are some old pieces of mining equipment, such as this drill.  Click on the picture to see the placard describing what the drill was used for.

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