Author: maristravels
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Challenge your Camera: Steps and Stairs.
Steps and Stairs Challenge linked to Dr. B’s challenge at Dr. B’s Challenge your Camera.
What better place to start Steps and Stairs with than The Spanish Steps in Rome.
The Spanish Steps, Rome Still in Italy, it’s a steep walk to the top of the amphitheatre in Verona during the Opera Festival there but that’s where the budget seats are, obviously. I’ve sat up there – when I was much younger – but I’ve also had the luxury of the lower seats too, and I know which I prefer!
The Amphitheatre, Verona And now for something completely different, as they say. Ad hoc steps for swimmers in Syracuse in Sicily, used as sun-bathing platforms as well and looking pretty dangerous to me.
Steps for Swimmers in Syracuse in Sicily Still in Sicily, below is the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the 3rd largest Opera House in Europe. Film buffs will know these steps as the setting for the scene in The Godfather, Part III, where the godfather’s beloved daughter is shot dead, one of Al Pacino’s great moments among many in the series. The interior of the theatre was also the setting for the closing scenes and backstage tours are on offer.
Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Sicily Across now to Japan, to Hiroshima, where we see school-children on the steps of the Motoyasu River that runs through the Peace Park. They are having a history lesson on the bombing of the city and the consequences for the world.
Schoolchildren in the Peace Park at Hiroshima, Japan And lastly, there may be many more of Angkor Wat but I never tire of looking at the shrines here and remembering the 3 days I spent in and around the site, loving every minute I was there.
One of the many shrines at Angkor Wat, Cambodia -
Pick a Word: January
Linked with Lost in Translation’s Thursdays Special: Pick a Word
Ethnicity
Padaung Child, Hill Tribes, Chiang Rai Itinerant
Sticky Rice & Mango Seller – Hua Hin, Thailand Quintessentials
Quintessential Foods Offered to Lord Buddha on Special Occasions Multifarious
Shoreline
The Mumbles, Wales -
Sculpture Saturday: Mons, Belgium
Just behind the Town Hall in Mons, lies the Jardin du Mayeur (the Mayor’s Garden) a little haven of tree-lined peace right in the heart of the city. It was designed between 1930 and 1936 and was once a private garden but is now a park accessible to all.
Apart from the design and the century-old trees including copper beeches, lime trees, paulownia, horse-chestnut trees and other attractive plants, it contains Gober’s sculpture called The Ropieur (1937). The “Ropieur” (cheeky Mons street urchin) represents a child who splashes the water of its fountain on the passers-by, symbolising the rebellious attitude of the town’s children.
The Ropieur, Mons Also in the garden is also a bust of Marcel Gillis, singer, poet and painter and the town’s favourite son. The sculpture is by Raoul Godfroid (1896-1977), also Belgium.
Marcel Gillis, Poet & Painter, Mons The sculpture features a triangular rock with the bust of Gillis attached to the front. Under-neath the bust and etched on the rock is the name of the artist, his dates of birth and death, and his surname, etched to match his signature.
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Spring just around the corner
Hush, hush, whisper who dare, plants are a-budding and spring’s in the air.
Sorry about that paraphrasing but with everything springing into life in my garden today I couldn’t resist it.
Daphne, Pink Camellia, Red Camellia I think these may have been out for a couple of days but the weather has been so inclement that I just couldn’t face it, but today I went to check what was happening to the last rose to keep flowering (and to take a picture of it). I found it had been blown away by the strong winds. Branches of my camellias had broken off, but there are great signs of spring with daffodil bulbs, snowdrops, crocuses, Daphne and Camellias all showing signs of bursting forth any minute now.
I can forget Covid19, just for a little while.
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Challenge your Camera # Churches
Linked to Dr. B at Challenge your Camera here
Palermo Cathedral (Sicily) and detail 
The Victorian Christchurch, Sandown, Isle of Wight, UK (consecrated 1847) St. Michael’s Cathedral, Lucca, Italy Notre Dame, Rouen, France Two famous Isle of Wight churches: Left – the 14th-15th century All-Saints church at Godshill and Right – the 12th century St. Mary’s church at Brading El Duomo, Cefalau, Sicily. Exterior and Interior -
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 132: Stripes and Plaids
Linked to Lens-Artists Photo Challenge here
My stripes seem to be ‘lines’ and I can’t find any plaids, but here we go.
Stripes on what is regarded as the busiest crossing in the world, Tokyo. 
Stripey effect of the Prayer Poles, Kyoto, Japan 
Lines going every whichway in Tokyo 
Lines delineating the tiles on the roof of St. Matthias Church, Budapest -
Silent Sunday: New Orleans
On the Levee – before Katerina Who could have guessed how quickly the levees would give way?
MARI'S TRAVELS WITH HER CAMERA 