city blues

Blue Monday

La Pedrera or Casa Mila in Barcelona

photo hunt: technology

photohunt is hosted by tnchick on Saturdays. Early birds have more fun :)

While the technology used in Christmas lighting displays is highly diverse, I love the basic light strands (no multiple colors, no blinking!)  like the ones shown here, which decorated a main Barcelona avenue last year.

orange wings

True Colours Thursday:  Orange

This is about the only photograph I have of a butterfly and only because it wasn't set free: it was taken inside a Butterfly Pavillon in Lisbon.

Happy Thanksgiving  if you are celebrating. Happy day, at any rate!

s is for sign

ABC Wednesday

A welcome sign in the French Alps!

meeting a friend

                                                                          (Erfurt, Germany)

Ruby Tuesday

I met a college friend yesterday, who was in the city on a business trip. We hadn't seen each other in ages (only through f@cebook lately) and we had a lot of catching up to do!  Fun in real life kept me away from the blogosphere on  a lovely, warm fall day. And that even made me forget the bad cold I have been nursing lately!

ruby tuesday

photohunt: b i r d ( s)

photohunt is hosted by tnchick on Saturdays, I am an early bird every week...

Bird of paradise or crane flower (Strelitzia reginae). I'd love to grow one in my garden. I have seen them in my neighborhood. I took the above picture earlier this month in Lisbon, Portugal,  at a public park.

late

 Theme Thursday: l a t e

It was late at night (and we were here)  but not too late to capture the beautiful full moon last November 2nd. During our short trip to Lisbon , which started in late October...

R is for renovation needed

ABC Wednesday

to prevent further deterioration of this building in Lisbon, Portugal... But somehow I like the tristesse of the shot... Tiles are very often used for façades (click to enlarge).

ruby red street decoration

seen in Lisbon, Portugal, earlier this month,  Xmas decorations! Specially photographed for

 Ruby Tuesday.

If you think it is too early, well: I guess it is the thing to do when there are neither Halloween nor Thanksgiving celebrations.

sunflower

Macro Monday*** Mellow Yellow Monday

train station in Lisbon

Photohunters: No inspiration and no picture for this week's theme. Thanks for dropping by and make sure you leave your direct link (particularly if you have multiple blogs)!! Thank you.

                                      window views... and doors

This is the Rossio Train Station . "Looking more like a theater or a lavishly adorned palace with horseshoe arched doorways, this monumental Neo-Manueline building located between Rossio and Restauradores squares, was built at a time when train stations were seen as temples of technology.

The Franco-Swiss author Blaise Cendrars called railway stations 'the most beautiful churches in the world,' and this station could be an example. It is one of the strangest architectural complexes housing a rail terminal in Europe, and today it is the local station for trains to Sintra.  It was closed for over three years for major renovation, but reopened in February of 2008." Source-. More here.

On the arches you can read "Estacao" (Station) on the left and "Central" on the right.  A close-up of the left arch is found above, click to enlarge for a better view.  It truly looked like a magical place at night!!

white bridge

Watery Wednesday
**

The promenade, cable cars, a partial view of Lisbon's Nation's Park, where the Expo '98 World Exhibition took place. In the background: the Vasco da Gama bridge (1998), the longest bridge in Europe ( 17.2 km /10.7 miles). The "watery part" is the Tagus River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon.

Below find another partial view of the park with little water but a  pretty reflection....

off to see the wizard

Visiting Lisbon last week, I ran into this poster and Ruby Tuesday came immediately to my mind!! Now you know it's been played at a theater - not near you, but in Lisbon. And you know the name in Portuguese: O Feiticeiro de Oz .

I got thirsty so I ordered a diet c*oke, which is called "light" in Europe and it looked like this:

Ruby Tuesday

yummy yellow Monday

Mellow Yellow Monday

A quick post - but delicious, nonetheless - with a shot from last week's short visit to Lisbon.

Pastel de Nata or Pastel de Belém is a small cream tart found throughout Portugal’s pastry shops or cafés. Casa Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon was the birthplace of this creamy dessert, and there they’re called Pastel de Belém, after the name of this Lisbon’s area. Since 1837, locals have come here to get them warm out of the oven and sprinkle them with cinnamon and powdered sugar...

What the wiki says about them can be found here. And I found one recipe here

photohunt: m i l i t a r y

photohunt is hosted by tnchick

The only military I am fond of:  Beatles' Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band , seen earlier this week outside the MUDE – the Museum of Design and Fashion downtown Lisbon, publizising the current exhibition:" It's forbidden to forbid!" (until Jan 31st, 2010), which takes us on a journey back in time to the late 1960s and early 1970s through a presentation of around 60 exhibits interweaving design and fashion with cinema, literature and music (therefore The Beatles!) to create a rich portrait of that period.

Sorry the picture is against the sun, the back of the figures was a mirror, that explains the sun reflections on John, Ringo and Paul.. .

The  museum is located on the Rua Augusta, Lisbon's main pedestrian street,  which leads to the Triumphal Arch you see here  and onto to the Comercio Square, in the center of the square is a statue of King Jose I showing him on horseback.

Early birds: tnchick is already up, she is early this week!!!

postcard friday: square in Lisbon

 Postcard Friday

The Praça Dom Pedro IV is a busy square of Lisbon. Once used as a cattle market, a public execution center, bullfight arena and carnival ground, is now a preferred meeting place of Lisbon natives and tourists alike. It was quite smoky this week as I was visiting, since the street vendors were roasting chestnuts.

In the center of the Praça is the statue of Dom Pedro IV, a Portuguese king who proclaimed Brazil independent from Portugal and became Brazil's first Emperor as Pedro I. I briefly looked at his biography and I was surprised to read that, although he only lived to be 36 years of age, he was married twice,  he had 8 children...and 9 illegitimate children...

Lisbon Guide

castle

Theme Thursday: c a s t l e

Castle of São Jorge overlooking Lisbon, the city where I spent the last 5 days. The castle is located atop the highest hill in the historic center of the city, its oldest parts date from the 6th century.Source.

I was trying to decide where to start blogging about Lisbon, Theme Thursday came to my rescue!