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Urban Canals.199

This is the lovely little city of Harlingen, whence depart the ferries to and from the Frisian islands of Vlieland and Ameland. During Sam’s recent visit, we managed a short and very rewarding visit to Vlieland. Here we’ll share the lovely canal loaded with tall ships in Harlingen as we explored the town during the hour or so between arrival of our train and departure of our ferry, two Thursdays ago.

County Views.159

We’re in Troms County, Norway for this post. Above and below left, the city of Harstad & vicinity around 7:20 during our short morning port call, and below some snow-capped mountains along the coast 1-1/2 hours later as we continued north.

Urban Entrances.159

Harlingen harbor, whence the ferries to the Frisian islands of Vlieland and Terschelling depart. My blog pause will continue, just dropping an occasional reminder to keep you close, dear readers :-).

Ah, Royalty.59

I didn’t do a very good job of capturing the vast crowds of happy orange-clad folks out enjoying Kings Day here in NL, last Saturday. I was too immersed in enjoying the mix of weather and energy in the crowd. Note that the main thing folks in A’dam do on Kingsday is wear orange, party and drink. Still, given that it’s the official celebration of the actual King’s actual birthday, it’s clearly Ah, Royalty qualified :-). This’ll be my last post for a while. I’ll take a break now and enjoy spring in Amsterdam, a couple of visitors, and the celebration in two days of the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day here in NL.

Longest Beach.59

Final photos from last September’s stroll along ‘the world’s longest sandy beach,’ where my idea of numbered series began as a way to get myself out the door for walks in the early days of January 2019. Til that point I’d never been a very steady blogger, so it’s interesting to note that today mark 399 days in a row on which I’ve posted at least one, often two, posts per day. Fear not, friends, after tomorrow you’ll get another break of indeterminate length, since I’ll reward myself for reaching this new milestone by just hitting pause on the blog for a bit.

City Views.259

At the top, two last photos from my day in Zurich; just above & gallery below, last shots from the several hours wandering around Schaffhausen before and after dusk the day before.

Urban Garden.229

Kids’ play areas and outdoor games in my local park – above and bottom right just this past Sunday; the others from mid-February same general area.

Coasting.129

Pulling out of Trondheim shortly after noon back on January 22, and continuing our northward journey along Norway’s spectacular coastline. Had we done the journey a week earlier, I believe I’m right that when we woke up inside the arctic circle the following morning, the sun wouldn’t have nipped above the horizon at all for the rest of our journey. Glad we timed it as we did, for that and various other reasons such as storms and weather which meant our journey was both calmer and more northern-lights productive than the same boat’s journey had been going both up and back on its prior rotation :-).

Bridges.29

Above, the footbridge / steps up and over the highway wedged between the lake and the mountains in Bissone. Below, left to right: foot and bike paths next to a big bridge across the Ij during my bike ride out to Muidersloot last May; bridge in Parc de Bercy last October; and a foot bridge at Ålesund in January.

Windows.19

Ah, even when the stories they tell aren’t always the kindest, the stained glass windows in the cathedral at Vincennes were lovely, colorful, and lit the place up nicely even on a fairly overcast day. Last of these particular windows on the blog, unless there’s another future visit :-).

Signs of the City.119

My travel companions and I agreed it’s definitely a sign that there’s some concentrated wealth, when the veterinary ads are so prominent by the airport :-).
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Signs of the City.118

Village Views.108

The Christmas market in the little village in and around the castle above the Rhine waterfall – all of which I visited the very next day after the outing shown in the last couple posts in the mountains above Bellinzona, much further south in Switzerland. At the bottom you see the tunnel under this caste, as taken from the rail and foot bridge over the river.

Mountains.78

During the walk to and back from the hanging bridge itself, so same mountains; above, looking south across the narrow valley of the Fiume Ticino.

From the Air.78

Last photos from the cable car up (with sun) and down (without sun) during my manic effort to see and walk across the Tibetan-style hanging bridge in the hills north and west of Bellinzona, back in November. For orientation, in the photo above, the main city of Bellinzona with its three UNESCO historic castles is to the left, west, around the corner and between the ridge of mountains we’re descending, and the ridge formed with the moutain across the valley. In case you were curious…