Girona

When the Peck parents were here, we visited the town of Girona, which is about an hour and a half northeast of Barcelona by train.  Girona has a long history, dating back before Roman times, and still has a Roman wall surrounding the old part of the city.  It was incorporated into the countship of Barcelona in 878 by Wilfred the Hairy!  The twisting city streets have a lot of atmosphere, and there is some wonderful scenery amongst the ancient architecture.

Girona's beautiful surroundings encouraged Tabitha to take some artistic pictures.  Enjoy.

Looking along part of the Roman wall

A view from the roof of the Roman baths

Gaudi Houses

(A continuation of the Peck parents visit to Barcelona in March)

We weren't kidding when we said that the Peck parents were wearing us out!  They are really enjoying Gaudi's work and there is a lot of beautiful Gaudi architecture in Barcelona.  Next they went to two of the most interesting and gorgeous apartment buildings, La Casa Milá and La Casa Batlló.

La Casa Milá is commonly known as La Pedrera.  Pedrera is Catalán for quarry, and the locals at the time of its construction were not too fond of it, thinking that it looked like a bunch of rocks thrown together.  However it is now widely recognized as one of Gaudi's major works.  It is a large apartment building, and there are still people that live in some of the apartments (although probably not for much longer due to a change in the law).

The Peck parents pondering the possibility of perusing
La Pedrera...

La Pedrera from street level.
Note the interesting figures on the roof...

Inside the entryway.

The organic forms of the columns are a hallmark of Gaudi.

A nifty Gaudi-designed chair.

The attic is constructed of a series of parabolic archways.

On the roof.  Pretty much the coolest vents ever.

Tabitha enjoying the view from the roof.

Looking through one of the archways gives 
a great view of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia.

Two jerks blocking the great view...

The Peck parents enjoying the roof.

La Casa Batlló is found a short trip down Passeig de Gràcia from La Pedrera.  It was transformed by Gaudi from a normal apartment building into an homage to St. George (Sant Jordi, the patron saint of Catalonia).  The interior is even more impressive than the striking exterior, however Tabitha and Dave had already seen it, and it is not particularly cheap to visit, so the Peck parents explored it by themselves...  This is a must see for anyone visiting Barcelona.

A teaser image of La Casa Batlló (to the right of the tree).

Tabitha's Non-European Adventures: Bangkok (Part 3)

On our final full day in Bangkok we took a river taxi, visited a market that had even fewer health restrictions than the markets in Spain, and went to the Vimanmek Palace, built in 1900 by King Rama V, and it's grounds. The buildings on the grounds of the Vimanmek Palace were small museums filled with clocks, textiles, crafts, etc., that had been given to, or made by the Thais. However, photography was not allowed in any of the buildings.  We were actually required to place our cameras and other belongings in a locker and take off our shoes before entering any of the buildings.

Boats on the dirty river.

There were many buckets full of live swimming things.

Dried and salted fish.  

I am pretty sure that is a pile of tongues.

Live catfish anyone?

Check out the mounds of spicy peppers!
The Thais like their food hot.

Vimanmek Palace.  It was built with no metal.
(There are no nails holding any of it together)

One of the beautiful buildings
on the grounds.

Check out the hood ornament!

Check out the etchings on the lamp!

Check out the shrubbery!

Tabitha's Non-European Adventures: Cambodia (Part 2)

The Temples of Angkor Wat

Visiting the temples of Angkor Wat was by far the highlight of the entire trip.  The temple compound was built in the 12th century.  There are numerous temples around the site, however Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world, is the best preserved and has had the most restoration work.  It was originally Hindu, but was converted to a Buddhist temple over the years.

The day began at 5:00 am when we (Mary and I) left the hotel to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat.  The tour van stopped in front of the long stone walking bridge that leads up to Angkor Wat.  It was dark and I couldn't see anything.  I began to follow the stone bridge with the help of the guide's flashlight.  The smell of incense hung in the air. As I walked through the main entrance to the grounds of the impressive temple I could see the outline, but no more.

I stood at the edge of the moat and as the day began, the details of the temple appeared in front me.

The outline of Angkor Wat early in the morning.

The temple begins to appear.

The moat and stone path leading to Angkor Wat.

More pictures of and from Angkor Wat.

One of the six libraries at the temple.

The tour guide!

There were many other temples around Angkor Wat.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from those temples. *Reminder- Clicking on the images will make them bigger.

These are good gods using a giant snake for a tug-of-war
with the evil gods on the other side of the bridge.

Close up of the good gods.

The evil gods.

Three-headed elephants.

A five-headed horse.

A dinosaur!?!?