Tag Archives: wall art

Pieterpad: Gennep to Vierlingsbeek

Hiking, The Netherlands, Travel, , , , , ,

June 27 – We heard rain early this morning, but it stopped by the time we finished breakfast. Twelve miles planned for this cool and cloudy day.

Programming my phone for today’s itinerary
Good morning, masked horses! The masks help keep the flies out of their eyes
The way markers seem clearer today, or maybe we’re getting smarter? The Pieterpad marker is the red and white in the middle.
A nice shady path
A bit of road walking, with a decorated overpass
…painted on both sides!
Take care – chicken crossing ahead! We did not see any chickens…
A big field of wildflowers
This was the only cafe we passed by today, but we had already eaten our lunch with a pot of Jim’s good coffee, so we didn’t stop in.
Now, here’s a sign you don’t see every day! An unusual way to alert folks that there is a ferry crossing ahead.
Sitting and waiting for the ferry – how often does it run?
It runs about every five minutes, taking pedestrians, bicyclists and cars across the Meuse River
The ferryman collected one euro from each person, and before we knew it, we were on the other side.
Some more good signage – don’t take this path!
Look in the distance – that must be Vierlingsbeek!
We walked into town and waited on the church steps for Nena from the Hotel de Kroon to come pick us up. The walk to Meerlo is too long for us old folks to complete in one go (24 miles and a bit) so our travel company split it into two 12 mile walking days with a rest day in between. This is the good life!

On to Xanten

Germany, Travel, ,

June 22 – This morning we took the metro back into Frankfurt, a long train to Duisburg and a short train to Xanten. We were met at the station by Jim’s dear friend Boris and his daughter Sofia. We are here for just a few days so that Jim and Boris can catch up. Then we will start our Pieterpad hike.

Boris and his wife Anke treated us to a wonderful barbecue with grilled eggplant and mushrooms, shish kebab, and all kinds of meat – steak, chicken and sausage. Their son Louis (17 and a student) speaks excellent English, as does Boris and Sofia (23 and a pediatric nurse). Little Emily (6 and just completed kindergarten) was cute as a button.

Boris and Jim
Xanten is is pretty little town with interesting shops
…a pedestrian shopping street
…stately buildings
…historical buildings
…an old church
…kitschy house decorations
…and wall art!
Beautiful flowers
We had a wonderful time visiting with Boris and his family!

Happy Corpus Christi

Germany, Travel, , ,

June 19 – After a rocky attempt at a night’s sleep, we thought a nice walk in the sunshine would help reset our internal clocks. We ate our breakfast of fruit, yogurt, brown bread and cheese, downed a few cups of strong coffee, and set out toward town.

The first thing we noticed was that the supermarket we visited yesterday was not open – unusual for a Thursday, don’t you think? As we walked along, the streets seemed very quiet. As we approached the center of town, we saw that all the stores were closed. What’s up? Time to consult Google!

It turns out that today is the state holiday of Corpus Christi (body of Christ), a celebration of the Eucharist by the Roman Catholics here since the year 1246; always falling on the tenth day after Pentecost.

We made our way toward the cathedral, figuring that is where the action would be, and we were right.

The entire square was filled with folks participating in an outdoor mass, with dozens of priests handing out communion wafers.
Parades of priests, acolytes and musicians worked their way through the crowds
Lots of nuns in different colors
The shops were closed, but the buskers were out to entertain
This guy was whistling behind his happy mask
They have wall art here!
Happy monks
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one… We had enough excitement for one day, so went back to relax at our tropical hotel. More tomorrow!

More from Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife

Tenerife, Travel, , , , ,

Feb 23 – So, for our last days in Puerto de la Cruz, we walked along the beach, browsed in the shops, visited churches, ate good food, and acted like the tourists that we are.

More of the lovely carved wooden balconies
This statue of a fishmonger at the water’s edge reminded me of my Irish Grandpa singing Sweet Molly Malone
…crying, “cockles and mussels alive alive oh!”
When we turned the corner, I saw that I wasn’t the only one who was thinking of Molly Malone
There are armaments to defend the Puerto
…and a seaside museum of ship photos and models
In the same museum, we came across another image of a seated, tired Jesus
Faces in the street
In the Iglesia de San Francisco…
…another seated, weary Jesus
A busker playing marimba
…and one dressed like Elvis (?) singing Johnny Cash
At the supermarket, the lady in charge of slicing the Iberian ham would not let me take a picture of the hams, so I had to sneak around the corner and snap surreptitiously!
We watched the paragliders swoop overhead
…until one landed right on the sidewalk, to the amazement of everybody
A metallic palm tree
And finally, all the way across town, wall art!
And whale art!
The little images are Bo Peep and her sheep
The city is setting up for Carneval celebrations – see El Teide in the background?
…so it must be time for us to go home.
Feb 26 – 90 minutes on the bus got us back to the southern part of the island where the airport is. We had a no-drama flight to Newark and actually caught an early flight home to Virginia. Our dog still loves us. We loved Tenerife!

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Tenerife, Travel, , , , , ,

Feb 13 – today was a hassle-free travel day. We had a lucky breakfast (with two double yoked eggs!), locked up our very nice apartment in Vilaflor and strode confidently to the bus stop.

How often have you cracked three eggs and gotten five yolks? It’s gonna be a lucky day, for sure!

We rode without incident an hour back to Los Christianos, then pushed our way through a crowd onto the next bus (not everybody made it on, but being a New Yorker had advantages here). An hour of traveling north, with the Atlantic in view for the whole trip, brought us to the city of Santa Cruz.

The bus let us off in the heart of the bustling seaside tourist zone. This is the African Market, which sells, food, meat, and all manner of trinkets.
Tribute to the Chicharrero, the native fishermen of Santa Cruz, is right outside the African Market
How the Chicharrero dressed, back in the day
We strolled down the busy streets toward our new apartment. Lots of restaurants and statues and flowers.
These have leaves like geraniums but flowers like tulips? If Eliese was here, she’d tell me what they are!
Wall art!
An old advert for Cod Liver Oil – a universal remedy!
Santa Cruz is a major shipping port, and also hosts German and English cruise ships
This monument to General Franco is impressive
So here we are in our new, very modern apartment, on the sixth floor overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. There is a big supermarket and lots of restaurants nearby. Jim is making us a pot of chicken vegetable soup. Our terrace faces east, so we will wait for the morning for a view of the sunrise. I think we’re going to like it here!

A little more from Progreso, Yucatán

Mexico, Travel, Yucatán Peninsula, , , , ,

Sept 6 – What do you do when you just can’t swim and sleep anymore? Walk into town, of course, where you can:

…find flamingo wall art
…and pirates
…and Frida Kahlo
…hummingbirds and jaguars
…and everything Yucatán
…a statue of Pancho Villa
…admire the lighthouse, which is not on the shore, but blocks back into the town
…and a tribute to kids and their cellphones with the long pier in the background
Walk all the way to the end of the malecón to admire the world’s longest pier – 4 miles long, as the water is too shallow to allow large container or cruise ships to dock any nearer
Walk under the pier to the old wooden boardwalk
Sassy gulls and pelicans here
This end of town looks more like an old fishing village
Pelicans looking for dinner
Back on the malecón to look for beach souvenirs…
…and find a place for a seafood lunch – we eat seafood every day when we’re at the beach
Interesting appetizers – papaya with hot sauce, hot dogs in French dressing
When you order coconut shrimp here, you get the coconut!
Would you like one more sunset? Here you go! Thanks for the R & R Progreso, best beach ever!

Celestún, Yucatán

Mexico, Travel, Yucatán Peninsula, , ,

Aug 26 – So here we are in Celestún. The conference folks got back on their big bus and returned to Mérida last night, to catch flights home or travel onward. We had our packs on the bus with us, and checked into a very modest small hotel a block from the Gulf of Mexico. This is where our beach vacation begins.

This little town is about as different from Mérida as can be. If tourists come here, they only stay for a day.
It rained yesterday, and the streets are quite flooded this morning. We got our feet wet before we got to the beach
A calm, sandy beach with body-temperature water
Lots of interesting birds
Celestún’s claim to fame is its proximity to the Ria Celestún Biosphere Reserve, accessible only by boat. This is a place where flocks of pink American flamingos can be seen during mating season, but we are not here at the right time of year. Here is some flamingo wall art instead
So what is there to do in Celestún?
Eat chiliquiles for breakfast and fresh fish for lunch
Admire the jungle that separates our hotel from the beach
Collect shells and swim every day – watching the pelicans dive for fish and then rest close to us on the water was a special treat
Swim in the hotel pool every afternoon
Admire the wall art
Look at the different ways to get around – the multi person moto…
The three wheeled cart… taxi anyone?
The bicycle…
Or go on foot – just bring your own shade!
Appreciate the goats next door
Check out the church
Stroll through the marketplace
Visit our favorite bakery
…and our favorite baker, Flor. She gave us a sample coconut macaroon, warm from the oven on our first day, and we went back every day thereafter.
Watch another fine sunset – thanks for the leisurely days, Celestún. A very relaxing week!

Back to Mérida Yucatán

Mexico, Travel, Yucatán Peninsula, , , , ,

Aug 22 – Today we got back on the big bus to return to Mérida. This time we are going to the northern, more modern side of the city so that Jim can give a presentation at the Parapsychological Association Conference. This is the reason we are here.

We checked out the Monumento a la Patria, carved 1945 – 1956, showing over 300 important Mexican figures
Mayan warriors
An eagle, devouring a snake, perched on a cactus – this is the center image on the Mexican flag
Mexican historical timeline
Wide shaded sidewalks
Fancy houses
And who did we meet on the shady sidewalk? A lovely couple from Dallas Tx, passing out tracts for the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They relocated here several years ago to join the expat community, and couldn’t be happier. Such nice people!
There is wall art
…and ceiling art
Delicious food
Lomitos Valladolid was my favorite – tender pork in a tomato sauce on a bed of creamy frijoles
A mural in our restaurant – do you see Salvador Dali, Jackie Kennedy, Princess Di, Frida Kahlo, Gandhi and Gorbachev? How about Fidel Castro and Albert Einstein?
Our hotel has a beautiful shady garden
…with a resident peacock
…and peahen
A perfect shady deep water pool with hummingbirds sipping at the flowers
And while I was lounging around with the peacocks, Jim caught up with his colleagues and gave an excellent presentation that was very well received. Good work, Jim!
The conference ended with a bus ride to the beach at Celestún for a sunset swim and a feast of Yucatán foods. A gorgeous sunset!
Good food with good friends
A wonderful ending to our conference!

Valladolid, Yucatán

Mexico, Travel, Yucatán Peninsula, , ,

Aug 17 – One more good breakfast in our little kitchenette, and we are off to find the ADO bus terminal to purchase tickets to Valladolid, about 2 1/2 hours to the east. We allowed plenty of time to get some lunch, but the line for tickets was so long we ended up buying a Subway sandwich and eating it on board. The bus was big and air conditioned, and we got to see a movie about a soccer team!

A long line at the bus station – lots of people on the move

We are going to Valladolid (Buy a doe LEED) because it is the nearest town to the pyramids of Chichen Itza. Most touristas breeze through here on a bus from a Cancun resort or a Cozumel cruise ship, but we’re here to see what there is to see!

We are staying at a little hotel called Kinich Ahau, named for the Mayan sun god, and run by Anna. Our room faces the pool, and Anna will cook our breakfasts.

Google Maps showed a plethora of restaurant options within minutes of our place, so we took our hungry selves out in search of dinner. Where were the restaurants? Although Google showed menus and photos and reviews, no restaurants could we see. A mystery.

We eventually found a fast food place called Mr. Taco that filled our bellies with pork and gobs of cheese, but this was definitely not health food. Jim asked Anna if he could use her kitchen to cook up some chicken vegetable soup, so we stocked up at the grocery. Problem solved. Tomorrow we explore.

Aug 18 – We got up early to beat the heat, and decided to use our sunbrellas for the walk to the city center. We headed to Convento de San Bernadino de Siena, built in the 1500s.

The Convento
A retablo over the altar
A Jesus in the retablo has movable arms and knees
The Convento courtyard
This Mary reminded me of my Patty Playpal doll from the 60’s
Some old frescoes have recently been uncovered
There is a cenote behind the Convento, covered by a grill
A pretty place
We walked down a main street and were surprised to see shops open on Sunday. A purveyor of local honey stopped us and we sampled her wares – some spicy!
Lots of motos
Street art! The first we’ve seen on this trip
Our next stop was the Templo de San Servasio.
Parishioners are gathering for mass with many babies and toddlers dressed in white for baptism
At the side of the church, who should we spy but our old friend St. James! Surprisingly, the signage didn’t mention Santiago, but told a story of the Christ child secretly feeding prisoners who had no family to bring them food.
And we found the answer to the restaurant mystery – walking home in the middle of the day, we saw the names of the restaurants we were looking for last night on…food carts! They are open for business, then around 4 or 5pm they pack up and go home.
There are lots of kissing benches around town. This one is just outside our room
What better way to end the day than a leisurely swim in a shady pool? A fine day. Ahhhhh!

Back to Bogotá

Colombia, Travel, , ,

Feb 26 – Jim cooked us a last breakfast, then we Ubered to the Cartagena airport. An hour and a half later, we were back in Bogotá. Back to long pants and sweatshirts.

We walked out to our Wingo plane

We communicated like crazy with our new host, so we knew the name of the building and what it was near. Cabbie got us right to the door!

There was a Moroccan restaurant right near our high rise, so we stuffed ourselves with lentil soup, couscous, falafel, veggies, and tabule.

A Moroccan feast. Yum!

Feb 27 – We’re in a different part of the city now, not in the historical center. There are high rises all around.

A more modern part of the city

Our plan was to walk back to the Botero museum and pick up a plate for our wall, but, best laid plans… the museum is closed on Tuesday!

A Botero sculpture seen from the taxi

Oh well, we walked around the city, saw some more llamas and lots more wall art.

Can’t have too many llamas!
A busker waiting for a customer
Is that Salvador Dali?
Here’s a strange one

Happy to report that on our very last day in Colombia, we found the Encanto arepas of my dreams. Like sweet cornbread, grilled, stuffed with cheese and topped with butter. Julietta would be proud. A delicious end to our holiday.

Arepas to die for!

A few souvenirs, and we were done.

Wooden saints
Masks for Jim’s collection
A big plate from Bogotá, and a small plate from Cartagena
And a set of Botero coasters

Feb 28 – Up at 5:30 for an Uber to the airport, a 5 hour flight to Atlanta, a four hour layover, then a 90 minute flight home. Our dog Winston was happy to see us, and we are happy to be home.