While I'm sure that were I to walk up to this animal and feel his fur, I would not describe his fur this way, but from my distance, the new fur coming on as the the old fur sluffs off, looks quite clean and comfy. In a well-kept state, musk ox are not bad looking.
It is not a great surprise that we would find arctic terns here in Nome. They are, after all, named for this place, more or less. These birds hunt by flying above the water and hovering when they see activity below the surface. This fellow in the midsts of such a hovering maneuver.
Another view of the pulpit we saw yesterday. If you look closely, you can just make out one of the small animals on the handrail near the top.
This is the day we choose to take a tour of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Now we do the deep dive to see more details of what this remarkable church has to offer. But, to give a little context, a few images on the way.
So many bits of finely detailed and intricate ornamentation to be seen here.
The pulpits in this church are quite remarkable. The gold and marble are used to good effect.
Today, we explore St. Peter's Catholic Church. As you can see, it is a Baroque treasure.
I told you that you'd see lots of Viennese churches here in the blog. Today continues this expectation. Today I bring you a few images from the Schottenkirke (the Scottish Church).
Prepare yourselves for looking at lots of churches. Vienna is littered with them and they are, each in their own way, all visual spectacles.
Since there is on this visit a metal gate between me and the details of the place, I can only give you a flavor of the details.
After arriving in Vienna via a pleasant few hour train ride (nice modern train), we headed out to stroll about and see a a few things. We had carefully selected our hotel to be on the metro and tram lines, so getting about was easy. Today was mostly a walkabout. The first stop was St. Stephan's Cathedral.
If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Hungarian State Opera, do it. Even if you are not an opera fan, put in your ear plugs and buy a ticket. They are not expensive and it is pleasure to simply sit for 2-3 hours in this beautiful space.
Above is the view looking in the direction the Emperor would walk up the stairs. Behind the woman is the mirror placed for them to see behind themselves.
The food concession area is on the front of the building and if you walk through it toward the front of the building, you pass through a beautifully panelled smoking area and onto the balcony overlooking Andrassy Street. Looking up and back toward the opera house we see a series of small balconies on floor up (I presume that they are useable by someone, just not me) and the intricately designed ceilings over them.
Because there is a slope of the main floor of the opera house and there are practice and storage rooms below the stage, we need to go upstairs to get to the main portion of the building.
Our last outing in Budapest was a visit back to the Opera House for a tour. You've already seen some of this from our visit to see an performance, but I believe that the photos with the iPhone were limited both by where we could go during a public performance and by my ability to compose using the small camera. Today we start a series to correct those limitations.
Among the willows we also saw the American Yellow Warbler. He was a hard bird to photograph and one my better images was this one I almost missed as he leapt from the tree into flight.
Nome is a small town (<4,000) and the edge of town is fairly abrupt. While there are scattered houses byond the "edge of town" they quickly become so scattered as to be nonexistent. In that gray area between the edge of town and the complete disappearance of humans, we found, on several occasions, musk ox. This time of year they look pretty rough as they shed the heavy winter coats for a fresh coat of hair for the summer. I just love that this guy above has his tongue out as he chews planty bits. Reminds me of a cat we once had.
In the main floor pews (we weren't allowed upstairs), each seat in each row is numbered starting nearest the centre aisle. Some even have name plates on them. I suspect that this is because the named person paid to have a particular seat.
A few blocks away from the RUmbach Street Synagogue is the Dohány Street Synagogue. This is much larger and grander place. Above is the view from the side. The twin towers you can see the tops of that adorn the front as mostly obscured by trees and other distractions.
I posted photos of this marvelous place back in 2019. You can see similar photo of there.
In addition to reproducing the original details, this building has been updated with all the modern lighting and sound amenities. The way these additions are suspended from the ceiling moves them away from the walls and the traditional elements of the space. This little bit of separation gives the traditional a place to be the dominant element in the room.
It is easy to find views of the interior that show little or no signs of the modern additions.
Only the electric lights (which were not here in the original) intrude on the stately designs. And we are so used to electric lighting that we simply don't notice it anymore.
A visit here is well worth the short walk from the Deák Ferenc square.
The colors and designs here are captivating. I find the mixture of blues and reds in the geometric pattern on the walls to be quite striking. they really draw the eye to the details.
The Rumbach Street Synagogue was built in 1872 to to the design of the Viennese Architect Otto Wagner. Like the much larger Dohány Street Synagogue, it has a moorish theme to the design. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by the Nazis in the '40's. What we see today is a reconstruction funded by the Hungarian government and completed in 2021.
And so, I bring these evening at the opera to a close with a few more images of the lobby area. The combination of gold and marble everywhere along with the brightly colored designs makes a lasting impression.
