Around town

My apartment in Burgos was on the edge of the old part of town right next to the river.  Burgos has many shaded walkways, river walks, parks, fountains, just beautiful places to be in nature.  Lots of people with dogs.  Many an evening I would walk along the river and enjoy dog watching.

 At the end of this park/fountains/benches was a lovely restaurant with an outdoor patio.

 One of many sculptures around town - this one is fondly called "The Pigeon"

 Mural painted along the river walk - but nature conquers all.

 The lovely tree canopy/walkway.  These trees are in some way spliced together where they meet across the canopy and side to side so they are all connect as one continuous tree.

 A bronze relief of the old part of town.

A cute Gazebo in town where the local kids like to play.

 Our long fountain

 Part of the many bike paths.

 Kids climbing on the skull statue outside the Museum of Human Evolution

 The best gelato place in town and yes, the puppy did get some.

 This little guy was so proud of himself and his stick.

Okay - best shoes ever.

Segovia

The second day we were in Burgos, they took us to the city of Segovia which is famous for it's aqueducts which were completed around 100 A.D. (no cement, just stone on stone) and which are still used today to bring water to the city.  Also in Segovia, the first of many, many churches and cathedrals as well as palaces.  I have literally thousands of pictures of such, so be grateful for my limiting myself to the posting of 10 to 12 pictures a blog

 

 Looking down toward the city.

 My students under one of the lower arched

 As you walk through many of the old cities you will find various markings on the pavement letting you know what part of town you are entering.  This is in Segovia marking the part of town that was at one time occupied by the city's Jewish population.

 

 This very large nativity scene was built in a church that had formerly been a synagogue.  The table it is on is at least 5 feet by 5 feet square.

 Amazing pipe organ in the main cathedral

 

 Arty shot of a crucifix.

 The ceilings in the churches were as amazing at the rest of the church

 My favorite will always be stained glass windows.

 The castle - Alcazar of Segovia - the Disney castles could have been modeled after this one.

 This is one of my students - Mariah - she was always willing to go with me up a staircase or into another church.

 This was the summer home of the royals of Spain - no pictures allowed inside.

We did get to see this - about once a year they run the fountains in the back gardens for about 5 minutes, really spectacular

Burgos, Spain - home sweet home

After five days in Venice, I hopped a plane to Madrid.  This involved a verbal tussle with the security guy to convince him that his x-ray machine was not safe for my black and white film.  After checking in with a supervisor, he took it around for a hand check.  I had to be hand checked too as my diabetes pump always sets off the alarm.  After arriving in Madrid and waiting for all my students to show, we got on a bus and headed to Burgos, about 2 hours west and north of Madrid.  The students were in a dormitory with cafeteria and some meeting space.  I was in an apartment a 10 minute walk away.  I really enjoyed my little apartment which was pretty much fully equipped.  Behind my apartment was the area of town where cars are not allowed.  You might think this would make it quiet, but not in Spain where dinner starts around 9 or 10 PM and bedtime around 2 AM.

 I was impressed that the airport in they had a play area next to the luggage pick up

 

 When you first walk into the apartment, there was a small kitchen with a dish washer and a washing machine through the first door to the right.

 

 Looking down the long hallway as you come in.

 

 The second room to the right was the bathroom.  I never did try the bidet.

 

 Nice tub/shower/clothes dryer.

 At the long hallway was the dining/living room.  The open shutters lead to the balcony.

 The balcony windows opened on all three sides and allowed for a nice, cool breeze in the evening.

 The view out my balcony.  I could hear children playing out there at 12 midnight.

 Facing back at the couch, you can see the hallway to the right and the sliders that hid the bedroom.

 The bedroom with two nice size closets and a door to small balcony to an inner open space in the apartment building.  I didn't use this at all as it was usually warm and smelled like grease.  There was a restaurant and a deli/bakery below the apartment.

Piazza San Marco

My last afternoon/evening in Venice I finally made it to one of the more famous places to see actually on Venice, St. Mark's Basilica in the Piazza San Marco.  By the time I got there St. Mark's was closed for the day.  The Doge's Palace was letting in the last groups of the day, so I gave it a pass too.  Always leave something to see the next visit...The bell tower, the Campanile, soars above the piazza and gives spectacular views - excellent photo ops - so I chose to do that.

the Campanile

 the Lion of Venice

The red tile roofs reminded me of Palos Verdes

 A bell in the tower.  There are four.

 The Domes of St. Mark's Bascilica

 Phone Home...

 Piazza San Marco

 This is the Bridge of Sighs.  The bridge prisoners crossed from the interrogation room in the palace to the prison.

 Just thought this was a cute family.

These street lights looked so pretty in the sunset, and made me think of Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast

 This is a night shot of the Constitution Bridge.  It is famous for the number of times tourists have slipped and hurt themselves.  I crossed it earlier without injury.

Burano

Burano is another very small island off of Venice.  It is known for its lace making the way Murano is known for its glass blowing.  Burano is also known for it's quaint and brightly painted buildings.  I thought about buying a piece of hand done lace - but it was even more expensive than the glass on Murano.  I did have a blast taking pictures though.

 Lots of shopping available

 I am sparing you the many, many pictures I took of the colors together.

 Just a few examples of hand done lace from the Lace Museum

All of it was so beautiful.

 Could not resist - apparently neither could they

 One of the plazas amazingly empty of tourists

 Life

 Art imitating life

 Loved the reflections

A bit of natural color