Trip to Girona

Okay, I went to Girona last December, and it’s taken me over three months to put the photos up, but stop complaining… Anyway, there was me, Paul J White, Neelesh Sonaware and Deborah Causton (are you reading this Google?).

Paul, pretending to be Borg, or Dalek, or something… Shot glasses stuck to his head, anyway:

I don’t remember this bit much, but I took the photo so I must have been there. It was on the way out of the bar:

This jogged a memory when I saw the photo, and I’m glad the motorbike didn’t have an alarm on it. (It wasn’t ours, by the way.)

The Girona skyline was quite impressive with the cathedral lit up at the top of the hill:

The next day we went for a wander. This is the abbey:

More of the abbey:

Ruins of the castle on top of the hill, although how all that stone got up there I have no idea. I thought things usually fell down, not up, but maybe it’s different in Spain.

A scenic courtyard:

The same courtyard:

The cathedral, from the top of the hill:

The town wall is quite immense and there’s a surprising amount intact that you can walk along:

Looking down on the town wall from one of the towers:

Girona cathedral and the landscape beyond:

Neelesh inspecing the wall for, err, some reason:

The side of the cathedral:

Another church near the bottom of the cathedral:

Some gates. Girona was great for just wandering around and finding interesting bits and pieces:

What the town wall looks like from the bottom:

Some very intriguing steps halfway up the town wall. Not quite out of reach of the ground, but not exactly useful either:

A most excellent sign:

The place was a bit of a maze and created some amazingly rich residual spaces:

A view out from inside the old city wall:

Paul’s wildlife photography. I think the cat can probably see him:

A Spanish cat:

The cathedral doorway:

The cathedral itself. Although not a great piece of architecture its sheer volume was quite impressive. It sits like a stone cube on top of the hill:

This road obviously isn’t a main arterial route. Ho ho ho:

It wouldn’t be a foreign visit if I didn’t see a church covered in scaffolding:

Paul attempting to have a face-off with a tree. As far as I know, they’re still at it:

Like many continental parks, the one in Girona consisted mostly of trees and dust. The avenue makes a nice photo, but there really isn’t a great deal there if you’re not really into gravel:

The view back from the park to the cathedral and churches was worth it, though:

Just what you like to see on holiday: festering bones:

Their idea of christmas lights was slightly strange. They seem to have covered barbecue grills in fairy lights, and that’s about it:

Our apartment was at the end of a timewarp:

Neelesh and Paul, travelling through time:

Trip to Washington DC

While I was in Washington last week (as one often just happens to be, obviously), I had a few hours in the morning to wander around. Assisted by being still on UK time which meant I could get up very early and not think much of it, of course. But here are the photos:

The Washington Monument. If you can see this, it’s impossible to get lost. Strangely, for its size, you can’t actually see it from that many places.

Washingon Monument

The same monument from near the Jefferson Memorial:

Washingon Monument

The Jefferson Memorial is, like a lot of the monuments around Washington, quite interesting as a grand gesture to be seen from a distance. It doesn’t really stand up to close scrutiny in terms of detail.

Jefferson Memorial

The statue of Thomas Jefferson:

Thomas Jefferson statue

The same status from one of the entrances to the memorial. The light was good at that time of the morning as it was only about an hour after the sun had come up.

Thomas Jefferson statue

The Lincoln Memorial, from a distance. As grand landscape gestures go, this run from the memorial to Capitol Hill is as big as they get. It was far too far to even think about walking to it.

Lincoln Memorial

Capitol Hill, again from a distance (due to laziness):

Capitol Hill

The back of The Whitehouse (which is the interesting-looking side):

The Whitehouse, from the back

The front of The Whitehouse, which looks rather ordinary, it has to be said. Strangely, after years of living in London I don’t think I’ve ever seen a major politician anywhere, but as I was on my way back the taxi was stopped for Dick Cheney’s cavalcade to go past.

The Whitehouse, from the front