Mediterranean Cruise - Day 1 - Barcelona

Margot and I along with my sisters Theresa and Sue and their husbands Greg and Bob took a cruise around the Western Mediterranean recently. The cruise left from Barcelona, Spain and we arrived a day early see the sights and to be sure we didn't miss the departure.

This is the La Rambla. Lots of shops, tourists, locals and allegedly pickpockets. We did not have any trouble.

The day after our arrival we toured around the Gothic quarter of Barcelona. I thought these tiles were interesting.

This is the Barcelona Cathedral. I understand the facade is actually relatively new - constructed from 1882 to 1913.

 This the back side of the cathedral. You can see some of the chapels dedicated to or sponsored by various guilds.

You can see the wood planes decorating the carpenter guild chapel.

This mural is by Pablo Picasso. Picasso spent most of his youth and early years as an artist in Barcelona.

The first and largest museum dedicated to the works of Picasso is in Barcelona. No pictures were allowed inside but I did sneak this one.

The museum is in a series of 13th and 14th century mansions in the Gothic Quarter.

This is a portrait of his mother.

The Gothic Quarter is a collection of narrow winding streets.

This is a Gothic area one-way sign on a narrow street.

I'm not sure what the story is on this door but I thought it was neat.

Barcelona dates back to Roman times. Much of the Roman era structures are long gone. However, these columns from a Roman building survived because they were incorporated into a later area structure.

No idea what this says but I thought it was interesting.

We didn't have time to check this out.

In the afternoon we took a tour of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia. On the way there we passed this Gaudi designed facade of an apartment building.

Antoni Gaudi was a Catalan architect born in 1852. Seven of his works are World Heritage Sites.

The Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882 and is Gaudi's masterpiece. It is the  most-visited monument in Spain. Work slowed or stopped for many years but is moving along at a pretty good pace these days.

You can see in the color of the stone the various eras of the construction.

 One side of the building is covered with sculptures describing the events surrounding the birth of Christ.

Here the archangel tells Mary she has been chosen to be the mother of Jesus.

Here Mary and Joseph are married.

In this scene the trumpets herald the presentation of Jesus in the temple.

The Three Wise Men.

The shepherds are dressed in traditional Catalonia clothing.

Mary, Joseph and Jesus flee to Egypt.

Here we see the Massacre of the Innocents ordered by Herod.

A local from Barcelona posed for this sculpture.

Click to enlarge.

This is a shot of the ceiling inside of the Basilica.

Here the main alter is at the bottom of the picture.

The stained glass is pretty spectacular.

A close up.

 A close up of the sculpture over the chancel.

The back of the nave.

The other side of the basilica tells the story of Jesus' death.

This sculpture depicts the sorrow of Peter as he denies Christ.

Judas betraying Jesus.

At the top you see the crucified Christ and in the middle to the right you see Jesus carrying the cross up the hill.

Here is a picture of the 6 of us.

Arkansas Wildlife at the Lake

Here are a few more pictures of wildlife on the lake over the last few weeks.


This groundhog or woodchuck was having dinner when I spotted him from the kayak.

He was working the edge of the lake just above the water line.

Apparently this wasn't the armadillo tearing up the grass and disturbing the mulch in our front yard. The damage continues after I took this picture.

There were 4 other turkey buzzards hanging around waiting for their turn although there didn't seem to be much meat left.

Getting some sun.

Eclipse and Blood Moon

Here are a few pictures from this evening's lunar eclipse.

We almost missed it. Good thing they showed a shot on the Sunday Night Football broadcast.

The moon is almost completely in the earth's shadow at this point. I didn't notice the purple tinge with the naked eye but it shows pretty clearly in the photo. I don't think it is a camera or lens effect.













Here the eclipse is total although the light might have been a little more even a little later. At this point there wasn't enough light to autofocus. Had to do it manually.