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| 166.Copan RuinasThese pictures are from the Mayan ruins in Copan, Honduras | |
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 | 171.Montreal & Quebec CityMy friend Pat and I enjoyed 6 days in Canada, 3 in Montreal and 3 in Quebec City. A smile and "Merci" served us well. | |
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 | 172.St Petersburg RussiaThe "Venice of the Baltic"; Peter the Great's greatest achievement, his "Window on the West". The city was christened St. Petersburg, then Petrograd, renamed Leningrad and is now back to being "St. Petersburg".
St. Petersburg began life as the Tsarist capital, survived an attenuated seige during World War II and is now being invaded by hordes of tourists. Packs of them - always accompanied by linguistically gifted, flag-toting guides, helping them devour and digest the city's best known sites.
Independent tourists have to devise their own strategies to combat the group tours - especially in summer. It is possible, but requires planning.
Unfortunately, August can harbor some of the rainiest days of the year. For our time, clouds and rain crowded out most glimpses of the sun.
Nevertheless, the town still gleamed. The Hermitage and Russian Museums garnered the usual awe. But some of the street scenes revealed an underlying coarseness. | |
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 | 173.SwitzerlandTrip to Lucerne, Laterbrunnen and Zurich, Switzerland | |
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 | 174.MantaThe First 'manned rides of Manta on Monday, followed by some images of the ride while waiting in line for my second ride at Wednesdays very generous and well organized employee party.
Click on the thumbnail to enlarge or watch it as a slide show. I will keep the "right click/save as" feature active on this album through June. So, go ahead and download your photos. | |
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| 176.Photos of IsraelThese are miscellaneous photos of Israel and Jerusalem that I didn't put in the other folders, but I wanted to save them. | |
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 | 177.ZanteWeeks holiday snaps in Zante, Greece
May 7th to May 13th | |
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| 178.Antelope CanyonPage, Arizona contains Antelope Canyon. Human cattle drive through the canyon while taking photographs. | |
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 | 179.Chiapas, Mexico 2012In 1995, we spent only three nights in San Cristóbal de Las Casas but it has lingered in our travel memory for years. This colonial mountain town cast its spell on us. Mesmerized, we vowed to return.
Seventeen years later and we are back. San Cristóbal has grown - more restaurants, shops and walking streets – but its appeal remains.
We revisited San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán – just two of the many traditional Mayan villages that surround San Cristóbal. But now we had more time to explore Chiapas' outlying regions. Once again, we traveled (via the "road to hell” - see our blog) to Palenque; journeyed along the Guatemalan border to get to the Mayan ruins at Yaxchilán and Bonampak; stopped off at Agua Azul and Misol-Há on our way back to San Cristóbal (again on the "road to hell”); and finally headed south to spend a few nights in the colonial town of Comitán, and the nearby Lagunas de Montebello and El Chiflón.
Even after twelve days, we wanted more. The State of Chiapas is still off the radar of many international travelers. (We’re not complaining!) Mexican tourists, though, are descending upon this region in record numbers - to soak up its culture, history and natural beauty.
Again, we vow to return. We just hope it doesn’t take another seventeen years for it to happen.
(For more detailed information on this trip, check out our blog at: Chiapas Blog) | |
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