Painted Sky

I took this photo during our Panama Canal cruise.

The view was fantastic and serene.

The sea was calm and the sky was on fire. Beauty abounds.

GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT

Please come back anytime next week to check out my book giveaway.

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No Sweater Day

There's no need for sweaters today. The weather is perfect.

I had some business with the Philippine Embassy, but instead of hailing a cab, I decided to walk and take in the city in spring. 

This was taken at Thomas Circle, named after General George Henry Thomas.  The two buildings on the photo are - the National City Christian Church (left) and the Calvary Baptist Church (right). 

Spring goes by too fast.  Soon, this city will be stifling hot in the summer.

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Taken on April 30, 2015

Be Still

We were about to leave the park when I saw these two people sitting and admiring the view.

I smiled at my husband and snapped this photo.

I nodded and said, "I know how they feel."

The best way to enjoy the Cherry Blossoms is to pick a spot and be still.  Once you're still, you'll feel their breathing, appreciate their beauty and admire their grace.

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Sakura And The Sky

According to the website Behindthename.com:

SAKURA

GENDER: Feminine

USAGE: Japanese

OTHER SCRIPTS: 桜, 咲良 (Japanese)

PRONOUNCED: sah-koo-ṙah   [key]

Meaning & History

From Japanese 桜 "cherry blossom", though it is often written さくら using the hiragana writing system. It can also come from 咲 (saku) "blossom" and 良 (ra) "good". (Source HERE)

~~~~~~~~~

I took more than a hundred photos when we visited the Cherry Blossoms.

Believe me, there's no wrong angle when the views are as beautiful as these.

It's a beautiful feeling to walk underneath these blooms.

Husband and I enjoyed this view until it got dark.

Tidal Basin

Washington, DC

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DC's Cherry Blossoms

I love DC in the spring!

After the grip of winter thaws, all plants and trees seem to wake up from their long slumber.

When spring arrives in DC, it's like an explosion of color and life. All the sleepy bulbs and lilies start blooming then comes the most anticipated flowers of the year - the Cherry Blossoms. The Cherry Blossom trees are mostly planted around the Tidal Basin, but they are scattered around DC if you know where to look. This year, they bloomed beautifully and gracefully; they were in time for The Cherry Blossoms Festival.

This year, we visited the Cherry Blossoms twice, and we even had a picnic underneath the blooms. Good food, good friendship and beautiful surroundings.

 The National Monument

 The Jefferson Memorial at dusk

A stroll underneath a sea of flowers

Magnolias And The Sky

Last night, I heard the first rumble of thunder. My husband exclaimed, "I haven't heard that for a while!"

We were excited. Spring? Thunder? Rain? They are all here.

A new season is beautifully unfolding.

 The Magnolia trees are in full bloom at Lafayette Square.

 Large, beautiful flowers.

Magnolias and the sky.
Taken on April 8, 2014
iPhone

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Night Sky

A calm, beautiful night.

Healy Hall, Georgetown University Campus
District of Columbia
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Real Alcazar Of Seville

We passed through the Alcazar several times on our way to dine and to explore Seville.  The Alcazar was not on our top three list, but once we visited, I was convinced that this is one of the most impressive monuments of Seville.  We had to go back the second time...this time longer.

The Real Alcazar is a royal palace in Seville and was originally a Moorish fort.  According to the guide booklet, it is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe, and it was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Façade of the Peter of Castile's Palace in the Alcázar. - visiting this place would take at least two to four hours especially if you're like me and you love to take photos.

This is located at the Hall of Ambassadors and the centerpiece of the Royal Palaces.  This majestic dome is made of gilded wood. It was formerly called the Middle Orange Hall because of the gold- or orange-like dome.

Exploring the palace felt surreal.  The mudéjar architecture is stunning and impressive wherever you look.

The doors in the palace are well designed and invokes mysticism and curiosity what's on the other side.

The Courtyard of the Maidens - this place speaks of a legend that the Moors demanded 100 virgins every year as tribute from Christian kingdoms in Iberia.

Beauty and space.

The palace walls are decorate with these inscriptions. If I'm not mistaken it means "Allah is great." (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Los Baños de Doña María de Padilla - rainwater tanks.

One of the walls at Alcazar.

So if you find yourself in Seville one of these days, I highly recommend visiting the Alcazar.  Spend three to five hours exploring the palace and the gardens.  Maybe you'll be able to take a photo of the Peacock that eluded my camera.

Seville: Plaza de Espana

The air soft as that of Seville in April, and so fragrant that it was delicious to breathe it.
Christopher Columbus

After a five hour train ride from Barcelona, we're finally in Seville.  Seville has the charm and warmth of the old and ancient.  The streets are narrow like the ones in Rome, but the people are a lot more laid back and friendly.  While Barcelona offers the convenience of the city, Seville, although it is starting to be urbanized in some areas, still offers the comforts of the old country.

One of the highlights of Seville for me is the Plaza de Espana.  You can tour the plaza by foot or by horse drawn carriage.  The plaza is in the Parque de María Luisa.  It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.

The plaza itself is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish architecture.  You'll see a lot of this Moorish designs around the building, as a sign of the Moorish revival in architecture.

You can also ride one of these boats for a fee to go around the plaza.

The halls were quiet that day we visited.

These are the tiled "Province Alcoves" along the walls of the plaza.

The reflections on the water made it a great day for photography. We were so lucky.

If I were a sketch artist or a painter, this is the place I'd be spending my mornings and afternoons.  If I were thinker, this is the place you'd find me all day and all night long. This is one place in Seville, among many, that made me closer to the old Spain.

The Cliffs of Krysuvikurberg - Iceland

The Krysuvikurberg area is accessible by car, preferably a four wheel drive vehicle, but if you're a hiker, you can also walk from the main road to the cliffs, which is a good 20 to 30 minute hike through rough terrain. Even  the road is rough and bumpy, but our little rental made it through. It even drove through a creek.  Apart from the breathtaking view, the Cliffs of Krysuvikurberg is home to some of the largest colonies of seabirds found in Iceland. According to the brochure I got from the inn, it is about 15 km wide and a great place for hiking.

The crescent shaped cliffs battered by wind, snow and rain.

 

The vastness of the cold sea, the crescent cliffs, the chilly temperature that made me shiver, the wind pushing and pulling yet the birds seemed to be at home. I wasn't.

A colony of birds live on the side of the cliffs.

To them, this is home.

No wonder the birds love it here, they have the best view in the world - the horizon and the sea.

 This is no place for bikinis or shorts or spaghetti straps. The wind is fierce and the chilly temperature crept through every bone in my body. Still, I managed to smile. I do love Iceland.

Kepi the photographer.

At that time, we were the only ones visiting the cliffs. Perhaps everyone went to bed as when these photos were taken, it was close to 9 PM.

Geothermal Spot - Seltun, Iceland

I LOVE visiting the geothermal spots in Iceland.

Whenever I walked to a geothermal spot, I felt like I was in another planet. The vents, the red dirt, the boiling mud pots and the smell of sulfur is quite an experience. We visited a few geothermal areas in Iceland, but for me, Seltun was impressive and has left me intrigued what can be possibly boiling beneath us.

 It drizzled when we were driving towards Seltun.

 T'was a sight to see so many mud pots and the smell of sulfur was ubiquitous. My clothes, skin and hair smelled like sulfur when we got home that day. I finally experienced what my Dad used to tell us about sulfur when he was still working at the Batong-Buhay gold mines.

 More mud pots and fumaroles.

 Boiling mud pot.

It would have been nice if we brought eggs to boil here.

 I really felt like walking in a another planet.

 Mineral deposits from geothermal activity.

According to my Reykjanes brochure, "Seltun is an important geothermal area. It provides a wealth of study opportunities due to the great variety of features. Sulphur is especially abundant and has been mined there in the past. Cold, clear water flows off the hillsides and through areas teeming with fumaroles and boiling mudpots."