So here are ‘real’ pictures of the State Park. I jumped at it last night when we got back to the hotel, and drove out there. I only had my cell phone with me, but it was good enough to take some pretty spectacular pictures. It was very dry and very warm (99 °F/ 37°C), but there is a musty, salty smell in the air close to the water. There are ‘beaches’ and campgrounds in the park, and some hiking trails. I think one needs a shower after swimming in the Great Salt Lake, though! (The beach that I stopped at, had showers).
A roadside plaque explains the history of the causeway that was built to connect the mainland to the northern part of the island.This sign is on the island itself, after you have driven onto it using a causeway that connects it to the mainland.This is the view from the causeway, with water from the Great Salt Lake on both sides, and looking east towards Salt Lake City.This is a view from the causeway looking south. The Great Salt Lake’s water is very shallow here but makes for a giant ‘earth’ mirror.This is on Antelope Island .. that brown speck in the middle of the picture on the right is a bison! I couldn’t get much closer, and the cell phone has a wide-angle lens which makes it appear to be far away. There is about 500 bison on the island .... and the antelope that the Park is named after is a pronghorn antelope. There is a female antelope on the left of the picture, looking at me. She was waiting for me to drive on, and then she scampered across the road to join her mate on the other side. The island has some 200 of these antelope, about 500 mule deer, and 120 California Big Horn sheep.
Big Bertha the tunnel borer is ready to start her duties here in Seattle, and there was a dedication ceremony today that Bryan and I attended. The borer is very big, the biggest in the world, and built in Osaka, Japan by Hitachi’s heavy construction division. Check out the excellent write-up by gizmodo that also shows in an animation how the digging, earth removal and tunnel construction works.
Bertha the big tunnel borer is ready to start with the boring of the 2-mile tunnel.The structure on the right is the Alaskan Way Viaduct, now deemed unsafe because of damage it suffered during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. The Viaduct will be dismantled once the tunnel has been completed.There were several food trucks around for ‘noshing’.Governor Jay Inslee and Congressman Jim McDermott were in attendance at the Bertha dedication ceremony.Finally, we were allowed to step onto the platforms that overlooked the tunnel boring pit with the boring machine in place (that was not ‘boring’ but exciting). The front, cutting face of the machine is on the far end from me towards downtown Seattle.A first peek from the side .... and for this picture I had to stretch out my arm over the rail and let the camera take a look for me into the boring pit. Those stickers on the green surface of the boring face are nice for now, but will last about three minutes once the boring starts !
Fremont is a neighborhood here in Seattle that was originally a separate city, but annexed to Seattle in 1891. Fremont bills itself as the ‘Center of the Universe’, and on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice each year, it hosts a ‘solstice parade’ that celebrates the sun. The parade is ‘notorious’ – said King5 TV news tonight – for its naked bicyclists (but it did not show any of them even on the late night news). Here are some of the pictures that I took today.
Fremont Bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge over the Lake Washington ship canal. In summer it opens an average of 35 times a day (it is only 9 m above the water), which makes it the most frequently opened drawbridge in the United States, says Wikipedia. We just made it across the bridge before the alarm sounded and the booms came down so that it could be drawn up.
Here ‘s the start of the parade, the group promoting renewable energy.This white eagle (?) on stilts flaps her wings at the parade on-lookers.This is at the fair next to the parade : a clock made from dinnerware. That’s me in the striped shirt.Bryan and I walked back some way along Lake Union’s west side, and found this super-yacht called ‘Vibrant Curiosity’ moored right there. We looked it up on-line, and it belongs to German billionaire and screw manufacturer Reinhold Wuerth. It was built in 2009 for a reported US$100 million.Here’s a side view of the yacht. It’s 280 feet (85 m) long.Just a quickie snap shot that I took of the Buca di Beppo Italian restaurant’s neon sign on the way back.Look Ma, no clothes! Just body paint, he heh. There was a very large contingent of bicyclists this year.
Google Maps on my phone shows me howto get to the US Steel Tower.The US Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh has 64 stories and was constructed in 1970. jHere’s a close-up of the steps leading up to the main entrance of the US Steel Tower.Here’s one of the main entrances.The beautiful art deco-style Gulf Tower is just a block away from the US Steel Tower. It was constructed in 1932 by the Gulf Oil Company.
My firm’s Pittsburgh office is located in the US Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh, so off I went this morning to get my notebook fixed up. I found the building easily, but had to search for a parking garage close by. Then – miraculously- a spot on the street just big enough for a Toyota Corolla opened up. I was in luck : my rental car for the week happened to be one! So I squeezed it into the parking spot, walked just a block or so, and went up to the 52nd floor of the US Steel Tower. Jason the IT support guy snapped out the solid state hard drive out of my coffee-spilled machine, popped it into a new Lenovo T430 shell, and presto! I was back in business.
On Sunday Bryan, Gary and I made a mini-road trip out to Bryan’s family in Westport. Westport is a seaside town on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula. It’s about 2 hours one way.
It’s not a straight shot out to Westport since the Puget Sound is ‘in the way’. We went south on I-5, and then used an assortment of State Routes to get to Aberdeen and then to Westport.Here’s the Nisqually River bridge on our way south on I-5, a ‘polygonal Warren through truss’ bridge that was constructed in 1967.This is a draw bridge over the Wishkah river in the city (town) of Aberdeen. This bridge was constructed in 1924. The town of Forks is further north on the Olympic Peninsula, now a tourist destination for ‘Twilight’ fans (a TV and movie series about teenage vampires, with the town of Forks as its setting).
And is this a light house? Nooo .. it is the Westport Winery, in fact. We made a stop here to pick up a carrot cake for a dessert to the lunch we were planning, at the bakery inside.We’re done with lunch, and here is what the Westport beach looks like. It was great to walk on the sand and smell the sea .... and check out the sand dollars that are plentiful! I picked up these five on the beach in no time. They don’t have the ‘key hole’ slots of the ones we have in South Africa, but the five leaved ‘flower’ pattern is the same. They are called ‘pansy shells’ there, after the flower with the same name. (It’s not really a shell, since its the skeleton of a flat urchin. In the live urchin there is a velvet-like covering of fine bristles on the skeleton).And here is a real lighthouse : the Grays Harbor Lighthouse close to the beach that we walked on. It was built in 1898 and is adjacent to the Westport Light State Park on Coast Guard property.
I had time on Sunday to swing by King Street station just south of downtown Seattle. The station was originally constructed in 1906 but recently renovated inside and out. Wikipedia says it has Italianate architecture and Beaux-Arts architecture (OK! so now I know what that looks like as well). The station is a stop on the Amtrak Cascades route that runs along the Cascade Mountains on its east, up from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver in Canada.
Amtrak’s Cascades route is named for the mountain range on its east (when the train runs northbound).King Street Station with the Amtrak track that brings the trains to it. Downtown Seattle is in the background.A closer look. I love the copper trim on the awning.This ceiling is upstairs, when one has entered through the main doors on Jackson street.The main waiting room. The Amtrak train has actually just arrived from the south. It stops only for a few minutes, so I was too late to run outside and catch a better glimpse of it!A beautiful inside corner with doors going to the streets and taxi stand.A close look at the lamp fixtures and little mosaic tile trim on the wall.This is the pedestrian overpass with the Amtrak track coming in from the south. Century Link field is home to the Seahawks (football team).More plate cut-out artwork on the pedestrian overpass, showing the connection Seattle has with Japan.
My brother from California is visiting just for a day or so, and Friday night we went to the waterfront even though the weather was a little rainy. Why not try out the ‘Great Wheel’? I suggested. The Ferris wheel has enclosed gondolas, 42 of them – exactly because of Seattle’s weather. We got to sit in gondola no 1. It says up to 8 people can fit into a gondola, but that would be a tight fit, was our impression. The ride is not for people with vertigo, or with claustrophobia !
The view from the pier.We’re almost at the top, and here is the view from inside the gondola of the Ferris Wheel. Look for the Space Needle, a white sliver .. and the days of the Alaskan viaduct (double decker highway in the foreground) are counted. The tunnel boring machine for its replacement with a tunnel, has just arrived in the port of Seattle from Japan, and the boring of the tunnel will soon start.This is a view of the wheel from the ground.
A view towards the center of the wheel, while we’re in the gondola.This is the view towards the south. The blue is the stadium of the Seahawks (foot ball). The baseball stadium is close by. The plans for a THIRD stadium, for the proposed buyout of the Sacramento Kings basket ball team, is in front of the NBA commissioner. Sacramento has plans of their own to build a new stadium for the team, so they may not come to Seattle after all.
I made my way to Seattle’s downtown late afternoon to enjoy some of the weekend’s sunny weather in the Pike Place Market area. First Ave not far from there was closed for traffic, and filled with people at the Seattle Art Museum. They were there for the unveiling of ‘The Mirror’, a new kaleidoscopic LED panel for the Seattle Art Museum’s sign. The panel was created by artist Doug Aitken. Mayor McGinn spoke a few words, and then the sign was switched on. There is some fancy electronics behind the display that picks up signals from the traffic and the weather and more, and then the system selects displays from a library of images. Very nice, but I have to note that by today’s standards for outdoor LED panels, and by what I’ve seen in China : that panel is not very large! I suspect the space that was available on the side of the building was limited, that’s all.
The street in front of the Seattle Art Museum’s entrance was filled with people this afternoon.Here’s the new mirror sign ‘S A M’ for Seattle Art Museum sign, with bits of it containing parts of the changing LED picture behind it. The LED strips on the side of the building are also lit up and dimmed in line with the main image at the front.All of the items that follow are on display and for sale in the SAM’s store. This beautiful and colorful wire basket from South Africa goes for $150.This very creative Salad Tree is from the Netherlands. The salad utensils stand upright on their own on the table.Salt and pepper shakers from a New York artist .. I did not write down her name. Go easy on the salt! says a new report that says (again) that we all consume way too much salt.This is a ‘colonial’ figure carved out of wood from Nigeria or the Ivory Coast. I love this one, but I have eight of these ‘colonials’ already in my house that I bought in South Africa over the years, so I’m not ‘allowed’ to buy any more.An inverted Martini glass for you? Impossible to knock over if it is the 3rd or 4th martini !Here’s the ‘solar’ Queen of England. Put her in the sun and the solar cell will make her wave her hand in her trademark, royal manner (which is to say she wiggles it).And how about a solar corgi? Yes – cannot have the Queen and NO CORGIS!. I’m not sure where the name Elroy comes from, though. Wikipedia says in 2007 the corgis were named Monty, Emma, Linnet, Willow and Holly. Monty died last year, though.
(This is a late post). I found and snapped these pictures from a documentary on NHK World’s website www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/. It started out with the incredible colored ivory carvings of artist Ando Rokuzan (1885-1955). I couldn’t find any of his artwork on-line .. probably because the texts for it are in Japanese. No detail was too tiny. They don’t know how he colored the ivory, and the tools that he used must have been ones he made himself. But then the curator of the art museum told the journalist of an artist called Fuyiki Maehara that lives nearby that makes wood carvings of real-life items : a tin can with an open lid and a branch with berries in it; a barbed wire; the shell of a dead cicada bug. He carved out the inside to make it hollow, carved out the detail on the wings, carved the legs of the insect — out of a single chunk of wood. He makes his tools with the same techniques that were used centuries ago to make samurai swords. Is it art, to make something that looks exactly like the thing for real? Why does the artist do it? asked the journalist. ‘I love doing it .. and to see if I could’, was the reply.
Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry has moved into a new location at the south end of Lake Union into an old shipyard building.There are some museum vessels at the marina next to the building as well. This is the Arthur Foss tugboat under a tarp. There was a Saturday ‘work party’ working on the diesel engine and interior, but it was open to the public and we were invited inside. Built in 1889, it is one of the oldest wooden-hulled tugboats afloat in the United States. The hull is made of African mahogany : as impermeable and strong as steel (well, almost), said the tour guide.Calking (yes, without a ‘u’ since it is not the caulking one does to a bathtub) was done with hemlock. It involved sealing up the wooden deck slats by driving hemlock with its natural water-repellent oils into the crevices to make for a watertight seal. (The initial work is done with a much larger hammer and chisel tool set. This tool set is for finishing.)The original brass engine power control shows the settings available to the skipper.The diesel engine still works. It produces 700 hp at 200 rpm, and was one of the strongest tugboats back in its day.The Swiftsure is right next to the Arthur Foss. [From Wikipedia] Lightship 83, now called Swiftsure, is a lightship launched in Camden, New Jersey, in 1904. She steamed around the tip of South America to her first station at Blunts Reef in California, where she saved 150 people when their ship ran aground in dense fog. The ship was decommissioned in 1960.My friends Tony, Ken and Steve on the steps of the main entrance to the Museum of History and Industry building. The building used to be a Naval Reserve Armory, and it was built in 1941-42.A model of the Arthur Foss is on display on the left. The light comes from an 1885 Fresnel Lens from the Smith Island Lighthouse.Same picture, taken 10 seconds later, to show what the lens looks like. (The light source inside rotates).A picture from Boeing’s exhibit. No mention of the recent trouble with the Lithium battery that grounded all the Dreamliner 787s .. we all hope that gets resolved soon!Here is the view of the main hall from the 4th floor. The airplane is an US Mail airplane, and there’s the red R for the Rainier Brewery exhibit an even the iconic pink ‘toe’ truck (tow truck) that used to be seen around the city.Seattle got its start as a city with fish and timber. This tree was 11 feet in diameter and took a week to chop and saw through, said the description. (Today there are few enough of these left, so that we do not do that anymore, right?).And here is a steam train that transported the logs. The picture’s description did not mention which year this was.This beautiful antique clock is outside the building; very similar to one I saw in the town of Snohomish a few weeks ago.
Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry is not new, but it has recently moved to a new location : from its University of Washington location to South Lake Union, occupying the historic Naval Reserve Armory constructed in 1941-1942. I never did visit the museum at its old location, so the exhibits were all new to me. I also learned that there was a Great Seattle Fire in June 1889 that destroyed 29 city blocks (the story is told in the museum’s exhibit for it by a very cute short film, set to music and animated old pictures).
The most recent exhibit or museum that has been added to Seattle Center at the Space Needle is the Chihuly Garden and Glass house. Here is the website http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/. Dale Chihuly (71) is a native of Tacoma and has made a career and business out of glass art. I went to check out the exhibit with my friend Tony from Portland on Friday.
The Seattle Center area just north of Seattle’s downtown spans several city blocks. Look for the Space Needle circle; the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit halls are at the foot of the Space Needle. The new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation building is close by as well, but we ran out of time. I will have to go and look at it another day.
These glass ‘baskets’ were inspired by woven baskets and are on display in the Northwest room. Colorful versions of these are for sale in the museum store — but they are NOT CHEAP. One small basket I saw there went for $7,500.This is the Persian Ceiling, a collection of colorful sea shell and sea anemones arranged on a glass ceiling.This is the Mille Fiori* forest. *Italian for a thousand flowers.More fantastical flowers and plants in the Mille Fiori forest.A wooden boat colorful shapes and spheres, inspired by Ikebana said the description : the Japanese art of arranging flowers.This is one of the chandeliers in the Chandelier room.This is the Glass House, with glass flowers and a clear ceiling that looks up at the Space Needle.The ‘garden’ outside has some out-of-this-world shapes and colors.The outside view of the Glass house from the garden.
The restored Oxford Saloon front in the main street of Snohomish houses a restaurant but is undergoing renovations inside.The town of Snohomish is about 30 miles north of Seattle.One of a dozen or so antique stores in the main street. Antique stores typically have spaces inside for exhibitors (vendors) to set up their own displays.The World’s Fair Edition of the Seattle Times (April 8, 1962) had a whopping 380 pages !A beautiful mechanical street clock on the main street.I love the colors in this Texaco gas sign.For the serious collector only : a Victorian age diorama.Will this winged cupid lamp post fit somewhere in my house? Should I spend $1,195 on it? (No).A set of eight 1962 World’s Fair shot glasses goes for $199.
My friends Bill and Dave and I drove out to the town of Snohomish today to get some lunch and to go check out the antique stores in the historical downtown.
Some of the antique stores are very large, with several floors of spaces for dozens of sellers displaying their wares. Everything from porcelain, crystal, books, art, advertising signs, clocks, collectible cards, figurines, toys and even clothes such as mink coats, is on display.
You don’t have to spend big bucks to come away with something cute such as this vintage poster for Champion spark plugs.
Here are today’s highlights. I did get to see some modern architecture ! I am pondering if I should go out at all tonight – to brave the Germans ringing in 2013 in the streets – but I probably will. I leave for the States and for Seattle in the morning.
I felt I had to stop at Odeonsplatz to take a day-time picture of Field Commander Hall, and here it is.The Theatine Church right next to it also looks a lot sharper in day time.This is the Olympic Tower as seen from across the man-made Olympic lake in front of the Olympic Stadium and the Tower.1972 Olympic Stadium had a unique construction and form for its time, one that has been used for many other structures since. The inside areas of the Stadium are not open, for the most part. Also, the fence stopped me from getting closer for this view.‘Dach Lawinen’ (roof avalanches), said one warning sign that I saw. But there is no snow on the roof at this time, so no problem there.
Here is the ‘tornado’ building of BMW Welt (BMW World)’s showroom and shrine to the Ultimate Driving Machine. It opened in 2007.I have now walked around the the front of the building. It was closed for the New Years weekend .. but BMW did put out some crumbs (bottom right) for the clamoring BMW Motor Machine fans that would otherwise have nothing at all to look at.These shiny buildings belong to BMW as well. The bowl is BMW Museum and the towers are BMW’s world headquarter offices.More mundane (square) offices and working area in the BMW World complex.I am now heading back on U3 to Marianplatz. This is the inside of the station.This is Munich Freiheit station also on the U3 route. The pillars are blue, but the blue is enhanced by LEDs shining from above. My camera actually added the pink.Aww.. is this the way to treat a little Mini ? (Well, it’s actually a real, full-size Mini ! ). Giant mural display ad in the BMW World complex.This is also in Munich Freiheit station, my reflection in the polished ceiling panels.The Galeria Kaufhaus homeware display sported this WMF brand egg holder for ardent FC Bayern fans (Munich based soccer club). Check out the little hammer for breaking the egg shell !
One more view of the Olympic Stadium, this space is called ‘Olympic Hall’.
So .. what to do if you arrive on a wintry Sunday when most of the restaurants, shops and museums are geschlossen (closed)? Well, the trains still run and so you go where you can ogle some old architecture. (Hopefully today, Monday, I will get to see some newer architecture!). Marienplatz (Mary’s Square) is ground zero for the city center and that is where the New City Hall (neues Rathaus) on the north side is found .. ‘new’ being a very relative term here.
This is 11 am on Sunday morning, and I am watching the Glockenspiel in the main tower of the City Hall building. There is a upper and lower carousel with marionettes that go around and around .. and at the end two knights with lances ‘charge’ each other and one is mortally wounded !The main gate is a work of art (well, the whole building is a work of art).Cool restaurant facade off Marienplatz .. I like the ‘tulip’ style light fixtures that blend into the building’s face.Montgelas Memorial (artist Katrin Sander, 2005) at Promenadeplatz square in the old city. Maximilian Josef Garnerin/ Count von Montgelas (1759–1838) was a Bavarian statesman.The Bayarischer Hof hotel off the Promenadeplatz square.I don’t know the name of this charming old department store off Marienplatz .. will find out and add its name in here.Always great to find a mirror for a self portrait ! I just hopped off the train behind me, at the Marienplatz U-bahn station.I’m not sure how this sign works ! It’s possible that some signals are for cars and others for trams or buses. Most crossings have buttons for pedestrians. I ALWAYS wait for the green ‘robot’ light and never jaywalk in a strange city.The ‘Kings Court’ hotel near Karlsplatz station. It was just refreshing to see a somewhat modern design after all the old buildings.Orleans Street runs by Ostbahnhof where my Marriott hotel is. Even here in the outskirts of the city there are plenty of taverns and bars for quaffing a great German beer.U-bahn entrance to Marienplatz stationThe Christmas markets are quiet now, but this friendly fella was outside a restaurant that still hosted an outside area with beer drinkers, making use of all of 2012’s merry-making !These beautiful Christmas market lights were still up, around Karlsplatz .. lucky for me.Christmas store display nearbyFeldherrhalle (Commander’s Hall) at Odeonsplatz. It gets dark at 4.30pm already! I had to use the ISO 1600 setting on my camera to boost the light for the picture dramatically. Theatine Church at OdeonplatzHere is the Neues Rathaus (New City Hall) at night. The building on the right is a department store. There is also an Apple store close by (sacrilege!).
These two old gentlemen waiting for the train are sporting traditional Bavarian outfits (at least I think it is, even though it is not lederhosen that they are wearing).
This is the S Bahn (regional train) that took me from the airport to Ostbahnhof in the east of the city where my Marriott Courtyard hotel is.
I arrived in Munich early Sunday morning. It is 32 F (0 C) outside, quite a change from the very muggy Johannesburg thunderstorm air we had when we boarded. The customs clearance and baggage claim process in Munich took all of 15 mins – amazing, might have been the quickest ever for me.
This cool green refrigerator was right there at the baggage carousel, as a marketing/ advertising placement by the manufacturer.This sure looks like Tintin’s rocket in Destination Moon. This is just outside Terminal 2 on the way to the train station.
Our South African Airbus A330-200 after we arrived from the terminal shuttle bus. I guess two engines suffice because we did not really fly over water. But the seats were very comfortable and the service was excellent.Welcome in Munich, says the sign (obviously) .. the buildings are all from around Marienplatz, the old city town square.
I am back at Oliver Tambo International airport, to make my way back to Seattle .. but I will spend two nights in an extended stop-over in Munich before making the final leg of the flight home.
There was a thunderstorm here at Oliver Tambo airport in Johannesburg, but the sky seem to be all clear now with beautiful pinks and blues.Bead work art from the Out of Africa airport store.I am sure these masks are ‘imports’ from central and west Africa. We don’t really have these in South Africa.Hmm. How many monkeys on the sofa? And will there be one more if I sit on it? These are a classic, carved giraffes also from the Out of Africa store.It’s 10 h 35 mins to Munich (the map should say Johannesburg to Munich, of course. A little glitch with the route map on the SAA web site).
Australia’s currency is the 5th most traded in the world (behind the US dollar, the Euro, the yen and the pound sterling). My brother brought back some Australian bank notes from his stay there. Hey, what’s that? I want it! I said when he opened his wallet, and promptly traded with him for South African rand. The surprising thing to me was that all the notes are in polymer, and have been like that for a long time, since about 1992. There were issues initially with colors fading and ink coming off, but those have all been resolved. The polymer bank notes last longer (than paper), are much harder to tear, more resistant to folding and soiling and are waterproof (and also washing machine proof). They are easy to process with teller machines or vending machines, and at the end of their life can be shredded and recycled. (Not bad. But even with all that, I wonder if Americans will ever bite and take to polymer money. We still refuse to let go of the paper dollar bill and make it into a coin).
Queen Elizabeth II on the front of the Aus $5 bill. Those are eucalyptus leaves (but where is the koala? I want a koala bear on there!).The building on the back looks like something out of Star Wars, but it is only Parliament House in the capital city of Canberra.On the Aus $10 note appears Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson (1864-1941) – author, journalist, composer, clerk, poet – who wrote about Australian life. I love the windmill in the see-through pane in the lower right corner.This is Mary Gilmore (1865 – 1962), a prominent Australian socialist poet and journalist.The Aus $50 note. From Wikipedia : David Unaipon (born David Ngunaitponi) (1872 – 1967) is a widely known indigenous Australian of the Ngarrindjeri people, a preacher, inventor and writer. He broke many indigenous Australian stereotypes.
Edith Cowan (née Brown) (1861 – 1932) was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament. The five stars in the pane are the Southern cross, the smallest of the 88 modern constellations, and known to every good boy scout in South Africa and Australia.
I came in at 7.30 am this morning and my flight out to Johannesburg is only at 10 pm. – so I checked into the Airport Sheraton for a day room. It was not cheap (€150), but completely worth it. As for my connection in Toronto – I had to hustle to make it since I had to go through customs and come back in through security (not clear to me why, maybe because I planned to switch airlines in Frankfurt). Here are pictures from Toronto and from Frankfurt, unfortunately all from indoors, but hey – best to stay inside since it’s pretty chilly outside in both these cities, this time of year.
The colored rings inside this giant skylight at Toronto’s Pearson International airport are mesmerizing.Lots of turquoise Air Canada planes with the maple leaf on the tail. I arrived in an Embraer jet from Seattle, and we took a Boeing 777 across the Atlantic to Frankfurt.This giant indoor artwork is at the boarding gate in E terminal in Toronto. Seattle has similar piece but as outdoor art, in Olympic Sculpture Park in downtown Seattle.This is 7.30 am in the morning in Frankfurt. The airport is on my left and I am walking across the skybridge to the Airport Sheraton to catch forty winks (quite a bit more than forty winks, actually). There is still snow on the ground from Monday, but it’s all clear for tonight, so there should not be any delays.Hansel and Gretel (or the witch’s) gingerbread house in the lobby of the Sheraton.This is early Tue evening and I am back in the terminal for the flight out to Johannesburg at Tue night at 10 pm.I like these sharply dressed ‘birds’ on a billboard inside the airport .. even though it was not clear to me what they were advertising!This is at the entrance of Z terminal where we will take off from. Looks the the theme for the decorations is ‘World Fairs’, since there a Shanghai Pearl Tower (2010), a Seattle Space Needle (1962) and the ‘Atomium’ from Brussels (1958). Oh, and the Eiffel Tower which was the entrance arch to the 1889 World Fair in Paris.
Hey! This was in the mail when I came home last night : the 2012 Christmas Card from the President. (Yes, I’m sure 30 million of these were sent out : no matter, I still think it’s pretty cool). That’s First Dog ‘Bo’ on on a snowy front lawn at the White House. It’s not a real picture but actually a painting by Des Moines, Iowa-based artist Larassa Kabel.
CNN’s Piers Morgan show presented quite a parade of animals tonight – brought right into the studio by Jack Hanna and his assistants. Just for fun I snapped them with my phone camera, and here are some of them.
A ‘laughing’ kookaburra. These are terrestrial tree kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea.A beaver, of course. (Beavering away at its apple).A fennec fox from Western Africa. The large ears dissipate body heat. The little fox lives on scorpions and insects from the desert and can live its whole life without drinking a drop of water.This magnificent owl is an Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo). It can see (by echo location) and hunt in total darkness, with its very keen eyes and ears.And here is the fastest land animal, from the African savannah, the cheetah.My phone camera couldn’t handle the shade in this Malaysian bear-cat (binturon)’s inky black coat. It’s tail is very thick and strong.This European lynx is now extinct in the wild.This is one of the world’s largest lizards, sussing out Piers Morgan with its tongue. It’s a water monitor native to Southern Asia.Finally, a boa constrictor that had Piers quite on edge (I didn’t remember the exact species). How does he know not to constrict the habdler? Pierce asked. Oh, the snakes senses the human (his handler) is too large an animal to constrict and eat. Hmm. I’m not so sure about that !
So here are ‘real’ pictures of the State Park. I jumped at it last night when we got back to the hotel, and drove out there. I only had my cell phone with me, but it was good enough to take some pretty spectacular pictures. It was very dry and very warm (99 °F/ 37°C), but there is a musty, salty smell in the air close to the water. There are ‘beaches’ and campgrounds in the park, and some hiking trails. I think one needs a shower after swimming in the Great Salt Lake, though! (The beach that I stopped at, had showers).
