Liszt Ferenc tér

In front of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music is Liszt Ferenc tér, that is, Franz Liszt Square. It is a tree filled pedestrian street lined with eateries and coffee shops. In the middle is this statue of Liszt himself in full engagement with his imaginary piano.

Dohány utcai Zsinagóga

In case you were wondering what the Hungarian in the title says, this is a post about the Tobacco Street Synagogue. This very large synagogue is a real marvel in style, scale, and execution. The architects choose a moorish style for the inside and out. Wikipedia tells us:

Built in a residential area between 1854-1859 by the Jewish community of Pest according to the plans of Ludwig Förster, the monumental synagogue has a capacity of 2,964 seats (1,492 for men and 1,472 in the women's galleries), making it the largest in Europe and one of the largest working synagogues in the world (after the Beit Midrash of Ger in Jerusalem, the Belz Great Synagogue and Temple Emanu-el in New York City). The consecration of the synagogue took place on 6 September 1859.

A Walk About the Old Jewish Quarter

We learned that there is a market on Sundays in the old Jewish quarter in downtown Budapest, so we headed out to investigate. This part of town is now no longer especially jewish, rather it is a trendy place filled with young people, tourists, and the sorts of stores and restaurants that appeal to them. And there are a few bright spots of street art fun bits to see.

Gazdálkodó Utca

Really, just around the corner from where are staying is this small dive bar. We stopped in one day looking for a diet Pepsi for E (no luck) and we were greeted by surprised and unwelcoming faces. Guess we'll not be going in there any more.

A Ride on the Danube

Part of our Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour was a one hour ride on the Danube. We took the later one, near sunset, enjoyed nice views of both Buda and Pest. Above is the Buda side of the river with the castle near the center of the frame.

The Central Market

The Central Market filled with good food and brightly colored packaging to delight the senses. There is also more saffron and paprika here than you can shake a stick at. You see in this bowl rather large bags of saffron selling for 450 Huf each. Just for reference, 300 Huf = $1.

Castle Garden

At the end of our day touring the Buda Castle Hill, we needed a few minutes to rest our dogs and refresh before heading home. We stopped at the Castle Gardens to find a restaurant.

Fisherman's Bastion

As part of the wall and ramparts around the Buda Castle and the Matthias Church, we find a fairy tale quality in the Fisherman's Bastion.

Matthias Church

You're seeing lots of churches from this trip because these Hungarians really know how to build a fine church. It seems that every one is more amazing that the last. This is perhaps the most beautiful of them all,,,the Matthias Church. It was commissioned by King Matthias Corvinus in the 13th century.

Buda Castle

A settlement has been the hill that is home for the old town and the Buda Castle for nearly a thousand years. In the 13th century, the castle and Matthias Church formed the core of a growing town. BY the 16th century, the Turks had taken over and it fell into neglect followed by Christian troops that destroyed everything. What you see above is pretty much what was left.

An Improvement...I hope

When we travelled Australia, the use of Instagram and the Blog had very little overlap. This seems to no longer be true. I'm finding that sometimes (like concerts or shopping) I have photos to share from my iPhone that you blog-only followers never see. It is not always sensible to carry a camera on every outing. This means this stuff never shows up on the blog. That doesn't seem fair.

The Citadel

On hill not far south of the Buda Castle, we find the Citadel. Although it is currently close over some sort of legal dispute, a visit here does make for a nice place to see a panorama of the city.

Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We found this gem of a church down by the Danube near the Elizabeth Bridge. A church has been on this site since the 1000's. It was originlly built by St. Istvan, the first king of Hungary. In the 14th century it was rebuilt. The Turks used it for a mosque. It has been repeatedly burned and restored. The current restoration has produced a beautiful building.

Wandering about Budapest on the Way Back to the Bus Stop

I found the front of this store to be interesting. The combination of the fine tablecloth and the colorfully sewn fabric complements the string of paprika peppers hanging there. When Americans think of peppers hanging on a string, we think of the sort grown in Mexico or New Mexico. Paprika is not something we typically imagine this way. Yet here they are and when served, as they were to go with our lunch time pizza, they really spice things up.

St. Stephan's Basilica

The visit to St. Stephen's Basilica was both gratifying and annoying. It is a beautiful place and it is nice to see a place that really lives up to its reputation. On the other hand, visitors are restricted to a modest area near the door making it's hard to get the nice symmetric shots I enjoy taking. Nevertheless, here it is in all its glory... or at least all of it could access.

When you walk in the door, there is dome light just over your head. This makes for a nice image to show off the carefully patterned decorations, the guilding, and the generally darker character of the interior.

Nearby in Budapest

We have arrived in Budapest and are getting settled in our splendid new house. The owners are marvelous people and their house is really beautiful. But ½ a block away is a truly enormous apartment block surrounded by more large apartment blocks. And beyond this is a big, nice shopping center with Tesco, McDonalds, Starbucks, H&M, etc. all within walking distance.

But these apartment blocks are impressive and oppressive. There is such a Soviet era quality to them I took a few images to try to pass along the impression they make. There are all long exposures to erase the people (except for those standing pretty still) and the traffic (almost completely). I thought the juxtaposition of buildings full of people with streets without any would make a good contrast.

Prague Castle

Our exploration of Prague fittingly ends here in the Prague Castle. While we did not make an extensive exploration of the place, what we did see was worth a visit. We were discouraged by the crowd from entering St. George's Basilica and the state of our feet from walking through the armour displays in the Maria Theresa Hall. Clearly we need to make another visit.

On the other hand we (partially) saw the changing of the guards complete with the military band playing.

St. Vitus Cathedral

This is an impressive gothic cathedral. I quote from Wikipedia since retyping all the Czech is beyond me at the moment:

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Until 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.

It is located on the grounds of the Prague castle and is largely surrounded by the castles and its associated buildings. Thus, my photos from the outside are taken from fairly close and don't give a full reflection of the size. This is the third church on this site. Construction began on 21 November 1344 when Prague was elevated to the seat of an archbishopric.

A Little Info

I know that not everyone who follows this blog (the thronging crowd that you are...) is really into webby things and social media. However, Just a quick reminder that new blog entries are also posted to Twitter.

For those who would like to see something a bit more irreverent, I also post to Instagram when we are on the road (and a small amount when we are home). These are photos taken with my phone of things I find amusing or little more outside-the-box . Usually entirely different from the blog and once in a while kinda fun. These are also copied to Twitter in case that is your thing.

I'm found on Twitter at @SteveWhisnant and on Instagram at steve.whisnant. If either of these outlet is your "thing", enjoy.

Church of the Infant Jesus of Prague

A more modestly appointed church is the Infant of Jesus church. The decorations are pretty much all about Jesus and Mary.

The (Other) St. Nicholas Church

It turns out that Prague has two churches dedicated to St. Nicholas. This the largest (as you can see) and the most significant historically. This church is at the foot of the hill where the Castle sits. It was built between 1704 and 1755 and is hailed as the greatest example of Prague Baroque.

Klementinum

In the 11th century a chapel dedicated to St. Clement was built here. In the medieval period, the Dominicans too over and in 1556 the Jesuits transformed it into a college. As Wikipedian says:

In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.

What I toured was the library and astronomical observatory section. In the photo above you see the library which is now essentially a rare book collection for the National Library.

Jewish Museum - Pinkas Synagogue and Cemetery

What started with the intention to visit the medieval Jewish cemetery and a synagogue, once we arrived, turned out to include a visit to three synagogues and the cemetery. The first of these synagogues is, in fact, a memorial to all the czech jews killed during WWII.

This place is rooms filled with walls covered, as you see above, with names of those killed. To fit the wall in, the print is so small as to be illegibly small.

Old Town in the Evening

By the evening of the first day, the gray skies had lifted and pink clouds helped frame patches of the late-day blue sky.

Church of St. Nicholas

On the edge of the Old Town square sits the Church of St. Nicholas. Unlike the catholic church dedicate to the same saint in Valencia, Spain, this is a Hussite church. On the information board in the church is says that they are basically Presbyterians "with Episcopal elements."

The Top of Old Town Hall

Going inside the town hall and paying the entry fee gets you to the bottom of the elevator shaft that sits in the open center of the tower. The design of the railings and the sides of the round elevator in the multi-storied structure make an interesting pattern.

A First Visit to Old Town Prague

One our first day in Prague, we headed out early, at least by Prague standards. We spent what seemed like all morning walking fairly empty streets. Until they weren't. Next thing you know, there are swarms of tourists everywhere.

But before that, we saw some interesting things. For example, the art work suspended above the street in the photo above, is a man hanging by one hand. From the Atlas Obscura:

First created in 1996, the work known as “Zavěšený muž” (“Man Hanging Out”) is the vision of Czech sculptor David Černý, whose work can actually be found all across Prague. Many of Cerny’s works are seen as somewhat deliberately provocative, and this one is no different. The dangling Freud is surprisingly lifelike at a distance, and a number of people have sincerely taken it for a person in danger. However, it is simply a sculptural statement about intellectualism in the 20th century and Černý’s uncertainty about it.

Prague

After a long day that included a missed flight and long wait at Gatwick, we have arrived in our hotel. We have a map and many things are at the intersection of Check and American... There is a Lennon Wall, and Dancing building referred to as Ginger and Fred. (pictures to come).

We are pretty centraily located so I expect to get lots of interesting photos.

We're Off for Another Adventure!

After a long summer of relatively few postings, we are leaving tomorrow for another adventure. Now that Seamus and Charlotte are getting settled in, Seth and Anna are both employed and back to work, it seems like  good time for us to go away for a while.

Chihuly Museum at the Seattle Center

Today we visited the Chihuly Museum at the Seattle Center with our good friends, Bill and Linda Ingham. The well lit glass sculptures in the darkened rooms make for good (and easy) photography. all images today are taken with my iPhone.

Snoqualmie

Since Seamus has been so enamoured with trains, we decided to take him (and the whole family, of course) to Snoqualmie to see the Northwest Railway Museum and ride on the train there. There were beautiful train cars on our short little train, especially the one in which we rode, as you see above.

County Fair and Rodeo

Labor Day weekend is the last weekend for the Evergreen State Fair (a county fair, in spite of the name) and the weekend for the local rodeo. Since none of us had ever been to a rodeo, we had to go.

Sunset at Rialto Beach

Even though sunset is not until 8:30 pm (already past my bedtime!) these days, we ventured out to catch the sunset over the Pacific at Rialto Beach. There was a fair number of people joining us for the same pleasure on a mild (upper 60-ish) evening. Here are a sequence of photos, in the order of progression of the sunset. Since I adjusted the color balance on each image separately, you'll see some fluctuations in the sky color from one image to the next, but the general trend is correct.

Seamus in the Pacific Ocean

Seamus had his first dip in the cold Pacific Ocean and it was good.

On to the 1st Beach for a Look

After the long walk to the 3rd beach, we made a visit to the 1st beach (love these clever names!) that is just beside the road. Like Rialto and 3rd Beach, this one also has lots of large logs washed up on shore.

Rialto and 3rd Beach Near La Push

We are on an adventure on the Olympic Peninsula. We've hired a house near the very small town of La Push for the entire family. Today we tooks Seamus and Charlie to Rialto Beach in the morning for a look about. Naturally, I tried my hand at a few photographs.

On a Clear Day...

Today was the clearest it's been this year. From Union Avenue, less than a block from our house, I could see Mt. Rainier and Little Tahoma Peak in stunning clarity. I developed them in B&W since in the afternoon sun, the image is very blue and I could not correct it to be anything sensible.

Kla-Ha-Ya Days Parade

Today we attended the Kla-Ha-Ya Days Parade. "Kla-Ha-Ya" is the word for "welcome" in the language of the Snohomish. What we found was a small town celebration in classic American style. Tractors, trucks, and lots of children. Here are a few of the shots I took to give you a bit of the flavor of the event.

I should also point out that the young people on the tractor above are wearing long sleeve flannel shirts on a day in which most of the country is suffering 100+ F temperatures. Today was the first clear blue sky we've had in a couple weeks and the high was in the mid to upper 70's. Clearly, we are in the right place.

Wallace Falls State Park

Seth agreed to accompany me on what is, for me at least, a significant hike. Without him along to navigate the trail, juggle my equipment, and keep me company, it would not have been nearly as successful or as much fun.

Not far from the small town of Gold Bar, about 40 minutes east of Snohomish is the parking lot and starting point for the trail to see a total of three sets of falls along the Wallace River. We made it the 2 miles one-way to the middle falls and back. That does sound so bad until you realize that it also covers almost 1000 feet vertically. I'm going to pretty sore tomorrow.

Pike Place Market - II

The market is also known for it signs and all were well lit on this day.

Pike Place Market - I

Pike Place is well-known for several things. Near the top of this list must be flowers, and fish. A recent trip to the market with our friends Renee, Georgia, Gigi, and Bethany from Virginia gave me a chance to once again explore this interesting place.

Chuckanut Drive Headed South

We spent the night in Bellingham and the next morning, drove the coastal Chuckanut Drive south. The good places to stand to take a photo were all filled with houses and private drives. Nevertheless, I got a few images looking toward the Samish Bay once we entered the Larrabee State Park. This one above is looking rom Wildcat Cove at low tide.

Low Tide in Edmonds

On July 3rd we had an exceptionally low tide in Puget Sound so Seth and I loaded up Seamus for a visit to the wonders of walking where the sea normally lives.

A couple things to note in the photo above. First, the tide s really far out. Secondly, Seamus is wearing a coat and long pants on July 3rd. Welcome to the PWN!

Bellingham, WA

We bought tickets to the Bellingham Festival of Music opening concert and a very fine concert it was. We drove to Bellingham (~ and hour) and arrived in time for lunch. We selected a curiously themed bar and lunch spot that was reasonably good.

Rusty Relics

The annual Rusty Relics exposition of all things old, upcycled, recycled, and re-invented has occurred and here are a few images I took while we visited.

Spada Lake

Not too far from Snohomish is Spada Lake. This is a manmade lake that serves as a reservoir for Snohomish and is operated by the Snohomish PUD (Public Utilities Division, can't get used to that abbreviation).

Father's Day

Sorry it has taken me a week to get these photos posted. Been busy around the house trying to get caught up from our short house sit in Queen Anne. While we were there, we celebrated Father's day and here are a few photos to mark the event.

A Short House Sit in Queen Anne

This weekend we have a short house sit in Queen Anne, a neighborhood just north of downtown Seattle. A few of the things to do near us were calling so we got out to see a few sights.

Our first stop was at Kerry park. This small park sits on the edge of a hill from which we could see most of Downtown Seattle and the sound.

Poulsbo

In Kitsap county, we find Poulsbo, a small town founded by a Norwegian, Jørgen Eliason, in the 1880's.

A Sleeping Charlie

The little Miss Charlie is having a nap. Thought you'd like to see her.

Lowell Riverfront Park

This is a house across the Snohomish River that I've photographed before but never from this angle. There's rumors of a little rain coming our way and today we see further hints of same in the gowing array of clouds. We've had very little rain for our region this month and the snowpack is below half what it should be for this time of year. Some water would be nice.

Everett Farmer's Market

We drove to Everett to check out the farmer's Market there and here are a few images of what we saw there. Lots of flower vendors to bee seen along with the food concessions and the crafty folks.