Sunday Snaps 11 - Lanzarote

So, today is World Cup Final day. The Netherlands will meet Spain at Soccer City in Johannesburg to battle it out to become World Champions. I hope that it will be a good match to finish off the tournament.

But this is a Sunday Snaps post (the first since January would you believe?!), so what pictures can I share with you today? I have never been to Holland, or to the Spanish mainland, but we have been to Lanzarote, which is one of the Canary Islands and belongs to Spain. So today here are some of the sights of Lanzarote, taken while we were honeymooning there :-)

The first two pictures are of Timanfaya National Park and show the volacanic landscape of the island. It is almost lunar in some places.

This next photo is of the marina at Puerto Calero. We took a day trip there, and even had a voyage out on a Yellow Submarine!

The next snap was taken at “Rancho Texas”, a park that evokes the old Wild West, and which houses many animals and birds. We watched a Birds of Prey show there, but some of the birds got a little too close for comfort!!

The last pic was taken from our hotel room, showing a passing cruise ship. Lanzarote lies just 79 miles off the coast of Africa, and is a popular drop off point for cruises.

Good luck to both Spain and the Netherlands today. If you are watching the match then I hope you enjoy it, but have a great Sunday whatever you are up to!

Sunday Snaps 9 - London...from the Thames

It's been a while since my last Sunday Snaps post, so here is the latest in the series.

These photos were all taken 5 years ago during a trip up to London on a VERY cold Sunday in January. We took one of the river boats that travel along the Thames, getting on at Westminster and off at Greenwich.

This first snap is of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge.

Just opposite Parliament is the London Eye. You can take what they term "flights" in the pods of this massive ferris wheel and get some great views of London. The flights take about half an hour to do a full circle and are well worth trying if you get the chance.

Perhaps the most famous bridge in the country is Tower Bridge, which is named after the nearby Tower of London. It was a little surreal to be sailing underneath this famous landmark.

The last picture for today is of the rebuilt Globe Theatre, the original of which saw many of Shakespeare's original play performances. It is a wonderful project that has constructed a faithful reproduction of the original theatre.

Viewing London from the river is a very interesting way of seeing the city and some of its most notable landmarks, but I would highly recommend not doing so on the coldest day of the year!! :-)  We do have some more pics from this trip so I may share those in another Sunday Snaps someday soon. Stay tuned!

Sunday Snaps 8 - Georgia On My Mind

It’s Sunday and so it must be Sunday Snaps time! Today I am going back to some photos taken in Dori’s home state of Georgia.

These pics were all taken at Stone Mountain Park, which is said to be home to the world’s largest piece of exposed granite. The first picture shows one side of the top of the mountain which features a relief carving of three figures – Generals Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It is the largest bas-relief in the world, measuring 90 by 190 feet.



This second shot was taken from the top of the mountain, which can be reached either by foot or, for the less adventurous smarter, via a cable car which provides a great close-up view of the relief carving on the way up. If you look really closely at the photo you may just be able to see the Atlanta skyline some 16 miles in the distance.



Stone Mountain Park is some 3200 acres in size and has a number of attractions other than the mountain itself, including a railroad that encircles the top of the mountain, a riverboat, laser show, woodland walks, a campground, demonstration crafts, a 4D theater and shops and restaurants. This last photo shows the main thoroughfare of Crossroads, a recreation of a small town of yesteryear.



I love this place – do go visit it if you ever get the chance.

If you look closely at the final picture, you may just be able to make out some Christmas decorations and trimmings on some of the buildings. This is because I took that photo when I was visiting Dori for Thanksgiving, back when we used to live on either side of the Atlantic before we got married. Which brings me to the reason for posting these pictures today – we are going back for Thanksgiving again this year! Woo Hoo! We are both so excited to be going back “home” for a week. Be sure that we will both be blogging about our trip in the upcoming weeks. Now, got to go – got plenty of packing to do!

Sunday Snaps 7 - Royal Kensington

This is another in my occasional Sunday Snaps series. Today I am staying closer to home and sharing some of the pictures we have taken during our many trips up to London.

The first is of Kensington Palace, which lies within the boundary of Kensington Gardens, which itself borders onto Hyde Park. The palace is a working palace to this day, currently the official residence of several minor royals. It is perhaps most famous today for being the former home of Diana, Princess of Wales following her separation from Prince Charles.



Lying just outside of Kensington Gardens is the Royal Albert Hall. It was built in 1871 and named, at the behest of Queen Victoria, after her beloved husband Prince Albert, who had died 10 years previously. It is a wonderful building and hosts many concerts, including the BBC Proms, as well as some sporting events. Dori and I are hoping to get the chance to attend a concert there sometime in the future.



Just across the road from the Albert Hall, back within Kensington Gardens, is the Albert Memorial. Completed a year after the Royal Albert Hall was opened, it is the official memorial for Prince Albert. The statue of Prince Albert at the centre of the memorial faces south towards the Royal Albert Hall, and is surrounded by a number of other sculptures that represent Agriculture, Commerce, Engineering, Manufactures, Asia, Africa, America and Europe. It is a wonderful memorial, and is certainly much more fitting than the abomination that is the Diana memorial which lies just a few hundred yards away!

Sunday Snaps 6 - A Town Called Helen

Over at From a Yellow House, Dori has posted many a photo of our travels around Wiltshire and other parts of England. So I thought it was high time that I did the reverse and posted some pictures of Georgia, taken during my visits over there.

These snaps are of a small town called Helen in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North-East Georgia. As you can see, Helen is a recreation of a Bavarian Alpine town. It felt quite surreal when I first went there to find this little piece of Europe thousands of miles away!




It even comes complete with it's own windmill.



Helen is a cute little town, which I enjoyed visiting tremendously.

Sunday Snaps 5 - Natural History Museum

Earlier this week, Dori and I went up to London for a day-trip. We decided that we would go to the Natural History Museum in Kensington. The museum is housed inside one of the most beautiful buildings in the whole of London. We took a few photos while we were up there, and so I thought that I would share them with you today. The first two pics show the outside of the museum. When we arrived there were long queues to go into both entrances - we had forgotten that the schools were still out for the summer! Anyhoo, we joined the shorter of the two lines and were inside soon enough.

There are some great exhibits in the NHM, a lot of which are interactive. We were a little reluctant to try too many of the interactive elements though, due to the current Swine Flu outbreak. You never know what germs the person before you may have!! The main entrance to the museum opens up into the Central Hall, which is overlooked by a statue of Charles Darwin. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

We didn't have time to see everything in the museum, especially as the queue for the dinosaur exhibit was over 45 minutes long, so we have already decided to go back another day - when all the kids are back at school. But we enjoyed our day out. Have a look at this little quirky video that Dori filmed during our day. It shows a bit of our train journey there and back, as well as some views of the museum itself. It is the latest in Dori's new Mini Cam Moments Series. I hope you like it.

Sunday Snaps - 4

This weekend saw the start of the football season here in England. The Premier League teams don't play until next week, but the Football League kicked off with one match on Friday, and then everyone else playing yesterday.

My team are Swindon Town, and their first match was away at Gillingham. And what a disaster it was! The Town were on the end of a 5-0 drubbing - their worst start to a season in living memory. It means they are already in the relegation zone of League One, and they've got some tough matches coming up too. It is looking like it may be a long season ahead :-/

Anyhoo, in honour of the new season, here are a few pics of the County Ground, home of the not-so-mighty Swindon Town.







The season can only get better from here (says he hopefully).

Sunday Snaps - 3

Here are 3 more pictures, taken during our travels.

These were all taken during a vacation we took a few years ago in Cornwall. I enjoyed many family holidays in Cornwall during my childhood, but it was Dori's first visit to the area.

This first snap is of the place where we stayed for the week. It was one of three self-catering cottages located at the end of a very bumpy, rural track situated between St Agnes and Perranporth. It is a lovely, secluded and very peaceful location far away from the madding crowd.



The other two pics were taken at Land's End - the most south-westerly point of England. The first photo shows one of the many ships that have ended up being grounded on the rugged, rocky coastline around the area.



The final shot shows, in the distance, the "First and Last House" in England, located on the last few yards of the mainland between England and the United States.



Cornwall is a very beautiful county with a wonderful coastline. I love it. :-)

Sunday Snaps - 2

This is the second of my occasional Sunday Snaps series. Dori and I spent much of yesterday watching the D-Day commemorations over in Normandy. As always with these events, it was a very moving experience and showed us all that when times are tough we can all work together for the common good. If only that was the case for the rest of the time too!

Anyway, what with the D-Day events, and this weekend's finals of the French Open, it has reminded me of when we went to Paris to celebrate our first anniversary. We had a truly wonderful time there, and I would like to share a couple of photos with you.


This first picture was taken inside the Louvre museum, which is immense in size and so beautiful. There was way too much for us to see in just one day, so we have promised ourselves that we will just have to revisit there sometime in the future. The photo shows some of the sculptures in one of the main atria, with the light coming in from one of the glass pyramids above.

This second photo is of Notre Dame Cathedral, on the banks of the River Seine. It is a gorgeous building, both inside and out, and as you can see the weather was beautiful on that day too.

We have plenty more pictures of our time in Paris, so maybe I will share some more in future weeks. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody.

Sunday Snaps - 1

This is the first of an occasional series, where I will post photos that Dori or I have taken on our travels. As today is also the day when the first match is played under the new roof at Wimbledon's Centre Court, where better place to start than with a couple of snaps that we took when we were lucky enough to get tickets for last year's Championships.

This is a view of the Centre Court, taken from what is colloquially known as 'Henman Hill', named after Britain's former top tennis player Tim Henman. The picture quality isn't brilliant as it was taken towards the sun on my mobile (cell) phone!

And this is a shot taken from our seats in Centre Court before the play began.

As it happened, we were able to see both the eventual men's and women's champions on that day - Rafa Nadal and Venus Williams, as well as current British No.1 Andy Murray. It was a fantastic day and we hope to experience the Wimbledon atmosphere again in the next few years.

Check out Dori's take on the whole day over at her blog.