Precious Cargo Chihuly
So many colorful glass spheres at the Denver Botanical Garden's Chihuly exhibit. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.
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04, 2016
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04, 2016
Gondola Ride in Venice, Italy
On a cold rainy (and a little snowy) New Years Day I found myself in a actual Venetian Gondola. I was being serenaded by a man with an accordion. And while it was rainy, it was also magical. We were the only boats out that morning, and due to the cold the typical "smelly water" was nowhere to be smelled. It was amazing gliding through the side canals, under bridges. The few other tourists we saw took our photos like they were the paparazzi. If you make it to Venice you must take a ride in a gondola, no matter the
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04, 2016
March 2016 Recap
Some of my favorite Travel Bloggers do a monthly re-cap of what occurred in the last month. True to form (I fell in love with this blog due to their detailed expense reports) Living the Dream details out their income reports and business plans. Twenty-Something Travel always has some great blogs that they've read or written in other places. And Adventurous Kate gives a summary of everything she did and was up to over the course of the month. I had generally shied away from doing a monthly re-cap because I wasn't like those other bloggers where I was traveling
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04, 2016
Museum Monday: Evening at the Nubian Museum
Ramses II statue from the Temple of Gerf Hussein surveys the main exhibition hall. Traveling in Egypt, you become accustom to expect everything to be rather old and dusty. From the markets to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, things are not well labeled and lighting is almost non existent. So when visiting the Nubian Museum it was a pleasant surprise to find a modern museum! Finished in 1997 with UNESCO's help, it covers the history of Nubia, the area from Aswan and into Sudan, from pre-history all the way up to its more recent Islamic past to the
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04, 2016
Souvenir Saturday: German Steiff Triceratops
One souvenir on my checklist from Germany was a real Teddy Bear made by Steiff, one of the first makers of the modern Teddy Bear. I have a few old and antique Teddy Bears, and figured one directly from Germany would be a great addition to the collection. But while in Munich I stopped into a toy store...on Christmas Eve of all days! It was absolute chaos. I dodged and dived between rambunctious children. Just as I was about to give up and turn around I saw the Steiff section and decided to have a look. But I had walked
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04, 2016
The Best Custom Photo Blanket of All Time
I worked for years for a company that provided websites and technical supports for photo labs and their customers so you could place orders online. Working that job I saw a lot of bizarre things and was yelled at a lot. Nothing really phased me towards the end. So when a customer asked to be bumped to a supervisor, I took the chat. This particular product took nearly 2 weeks to make, as it was pretty much hand woven (or so they claimed) and then you had to add whatever (cheap) shipping the customer chose. So understandably as it was
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03, 2016
Travel Missteps: The Best Bar That I Never Went To
After my strange “tour” of the Santa Clara ruins, I met a member of my G Adventures group, Tony. I relayed to him what had happened, and he offered to come with me as we went to find something to do that night. I really wanted to check out a bar that someone had recommended called Café No Sé. It is supposed to be a great ex-pat bar where all the travelers go. It was described as a bit bohemian with live music, and so sounded like a lot of fun. So we set off. I pride myself on my
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03, 2016
In the Footsteps of Saint Pishoy
The kindly priests at the Monastery of Saint Pishoy in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt gave us a tour and told us the stories of their local saints. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.
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03, 2016
Alfombras during Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala
Visiting Antigua, Guatemala right before Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week) was great. I got to see the floats being made, as well as the unique tradition of Alfombras, colored sawdust carpets! These are made on the streets and pathways that will be taken when the models of Jesus and the stations of the cross are performed.This one was in the main Antigua Guatemala Cathedral and featured a beautiful fuchsia sawdust Alfombras in front of a statue of Jesus. In addition offerings of mangos, cantaloupe, corn, oranges, and pineapple helped to complete the display. And then fresh flowers lined the walkway. Some will be made
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03, 2016
Museum Monday: Antinous as Dionysus
Antinous was a lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian who drowned in Alexandria in October 130 AD. After his death Hadrian commemorated him with many different statues and elevated Antinous to an almost god-like hero/deity. This version shows Antinous as Dionysus an Roman god of wine and ritual madness. It is on display at the Vatican Museum. Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.