The Day after Christmas 2008

On the day after Christmas, Cathy, David Hernandez and I took off for a four night stay in Las Vegas! We were a bit worried about the weather, as fog was bad on Christmas as well as rain and snow in the southern part of the valley and in the passes. But The morning was clear and bright, but C-O-L-D! Well at least in California terms it was cold, it was 32-35°F. The road was mostly clear, wet and with a bit of ice as we went over the snow capped Transverse Range in the Tehachapi Pass. As the following show, it has snowed a bit in that region, more so than normal and had even spread to the eastern desert side!




Having used Lasvegas.com in the past, I again resorted to them for the room. We stayed at the Sahara four and a half years ago for my 50th, and we were pleased with the rooms. Alas, this was NOT the case this time. I had reserved "Deluxe" rooms with a king bed, we got 2 double beds and if this was the "Deluxe", I would HATE to see their "Standard" room. To witness our displeasure, behold the following:
I think this is from a murder victim:


This is the dressing area, note the dressing tabletop:


The entrance to the room was a thrill, you could see it in many of the rooms as you walked down the hallway, tuffs of carpet sticking out from under the doors!


But we did have a nice view from the window:

and at night it was nice as well:


While there, I did some giving of money to the casinos, no betting allowed, I just handed it over and saved them the trouble of even spinning the wheel..just take my money.....

We did see the Cirque du Soleil's rendition of LOVE with all the music being the Beatles. It was a GREAT show and I recommend if you do go and see it, pay the cheaper price for the balcony seats, you will see a lot more than the those who paid more!

We also hit the outlets in Las Vegas as well as in Primm, as well as The Cloud and at the Venitian and Palazio. The sales were great and some of the bargains were super.

And what would be a trip to Las Vegas without the "Tourist Picture" shots?
Cathy and I in the middle of Las Vegas Blvd, better known as "The Strip":


A picture Cathy took from the truck:


And I cannot forget another reason why we go to Las Vegas. My favorite (or as I told her this time, my ONLY) Aunt Helen. She has had a rough few years with surgery and hip and back issues, but she was standing and walking on her own this year and I am so very grateful to see that!

She was in great spirits and I also saw my cousins John and his wife Judy, Charles and Rosemary. We took Aunt Helen out to dinner Monday nigt to Bautista's Hole in the Wall for Italian food. And the obligatory nephew and aunt picture as well:


So on Tuesday we headed back home, most of the snow was melted, the skies were again clear and there was no ice on the roads over the pass. The fog in the valley did not start until Fresno, and was not bad at all coming down the stretch to home. Las Vegas in December is cold, but it is sunny and bright! I hope you all enjoyed!

Post Thanksgiving Day Travels

So I have NOT posted in a while, I must admit, school does that to me. I become less attracted to writing, yet more attracted to reading, usually student work but on occasions a book or two. But that has NOTHING to do with this post.

Yes, for all of you who wait patiently for picture posts, you have what you want! It was the day after Thanksgiving (some call it "Black Friday") and four men set off from Madera in search of wine tasting and ended up in Paso Robles! So what you will see is the progression of tired to happy and from thirsty to sated. I will not post a lot of words, as what can you say, they had wine, we tasted some, some was good, bought a case here, bought a bottle there...how many times can I say that, once for each winery. I mean we stopped at....well you count!

We left Madera at 8AM and arrived outside of Paso Robles about 10AM. Can you tell these two are related?

Our first stop was Meridian, a nice winery with great grounds and wonderful gardens. Oh and they also have wine there.


Then we went to Martin Wyrich and there I bought a case, and no, I did not pose with the case, but let David pose with his find!


Then it was off to lunch, sorry no pictures were allowed during the dining experience. The drive through was crowded. From Lunch we went to Fratelli Pratti where we saw some great color in the fields and yes, they taste wine there!


Then off to Summerwood Winery. Remember we were wine tasting, that was the purpose of this trip, thus the many pictures of us at wineries.

and one with me in the picture!


From Summerwood it is a short drive to Eagles Crest, A neat winery built like a castle, not the best wines but a must see as a winery!


David made his GRAND ENTRANCE to the tasting room!


From here to Donata Winery...the others became impatient with me and just left me there to take a picture of the door.....like it was the last winery in Paso Robles or something!


By now it was time to head home, so off we went to Hwy 46 and found this new winery, Vina Robles.


Our last call was at Robert Hall. A very nice location and easy access to the freeway.

Yes, I was driving so I was the designated driver. I did very well too!
from here to home by 5PM!

Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did!

In case you did not know, the people pictured are my Father, Robert V. Seybold, our good friend David Hernandez (you have seen him in other posts here and our traveling partner!) and Brother Duain O'Mara, OSJ, and myself making a few appearances.

Random Photos

As I go through and write this blog, I really try to find pictures that show what the location was about and a bit of the historical, cultural events. I also shoot a lot of different things as well. Last year I did a lot with door knockers, and I have one here this year as well. I also love windows and flowers. I so wish I had the ability to do this at home, but I know it won't happen as our construction style in California does not lend itself to hanging real objects on the outside walls. Stucco looks nice, but it is just a bit of sand and cement spread over chicken wire with no ability to hold up an object with weight. Also there are the pictures that didn't turn out. I had one I wish really could have, but it just didn't. (No I did not waste cyber space by showing it here!)

As for the shots in this series, they are from throughout the trip. I will try and show their city/county of origin, but I may be wrong. I mean a rock in the dirt looks the same in Greece as it does in Italy or Turkey! So for my pleasure I present random photos of our trip of 2008. I hope you enjoy them.


A lot of our trip consisted of having a meal off ship. Tasting the local fare is one of my favorite things to do. Here is Cathy and David at our table in Florence. I bought a large messenger bag for me to carry my camera and things with before we left on this trip. Cathy called it my Man Purse and we stuffed a TON of things in it. Besides both our cameras, there were water bottles and the souvenirs we bought along the way. It was very handy and I look forward to using it in the future when traveling. In case you are wondering, that large canvas bag is my messenger bag.


I believe this is the only door knocker I shot this year. I was so good!


If there is anything that makes traveling in a tour bad, it is the number of people you are traveling with. Our ship had over 2000 people and there were TWO cruise ships at Ephesus on the day we were there, plus others. Yes, there were a lot of people!


I don't know why I find this amusing, but I do. After all I enjoy all types of foods and expect to find different cuisine in major cities as I travel, but to find a Sushi Bar in Bari, Italy was a bit beyond what I was expecting. But it is a port city and where better to get tuna but from the Mediterranean Sea. Yes they fish tuna there.


This is one of four wall murals on a building in Montecatini. They all dealt with urns and and I gathered that they used the urns for oil. the building is now a series of stores, but the murals remain.


The windows. I think it is the shutters, closed and painted, with the bright color of the flowers that attract me to them. The randomness of the placement and the utter disregard for shape, and letting the plants naturally to grow versus the Disneyland pruning that we do in the United States were everything needs to be cut, trimmed and tidy. Wow that sentence says a lot about me!


The heat. It was warm this summer. In all the cities and towns we were in, it was hot. I sweltered and sweat my days away. This is what I felt like after a few of the day trips:

Shade was at a premium, as is shown here in Croatia. This street is not more than 10 feet wide, yet the umbrellas are in full use.

Even this weary tourist in Pisa shows his sweat and tired stance for this picture.

Even the lizards in Greece tried to get cool and not warm. You know it is bad when the Lizards are looking for shade!


This is what was known as the Golden Horn in ancient Constantinople. It contained the home of the emperor and Haggai Sophia. It later was the home of the Sultan and now also contains the Blue Mosque. This is a view of the Golden Horn from where we had lunch.


So there ends my random pictures. I really tried to stay to my rule of one roll of film a day, that works out to 24 pictures a day. Sometimes the roll lasted two days, and sometimes I did use two rolls. But if I were to upload every picture I took, what would I bore you with when you come to visit me? Actually you are seeing here pictures that are cropped a bit, and they are the better shots of the roll. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and comments are welcome, even the ones about me removing you from my emailing notifications.

The day in Venice

Venice. It is an amazing city. This is the second time I have been to Venice, the first time was in 2001. That was the first time Cathy had been to Italy and we were there for September 11th. We spent an extra few days there, and the memories are not the best. This time was different and we had a good time. But first lets start with the last day of the trip.

Since we were disembarking from the ship in Venice, we had to have all our luggage and ourselves out of our cabins by 8AM. We had breakfast then waited in the theater to disembark. Upon disembarking, we had to find our luggage then walk to our bus. There we stored our luggage and took a short drive to board a boat with our tour guide. It was very hot in Venice and we really wanted a short walk, some lunch and sight seeing on our own. And we did just that. Dominic and Carol went with us and we had a wonderful lunch in Venice. It only cost $200.00, yes, only 50€ each. We thought we had been robbed, until we found out that some paid $125 for a not so great "frozen" pizza, ice cream and soda in San Marco Square, PER PERSON! At least we had a full meal and it was good.

So now for some pictures. The main church in Venice (though NOT the only one) is found in St. Mark's Square (Piazza di San Marco). The syymbol of the city, the lion with the book is the Christian symbol for St. Mark.


The city's symbol.


Of course the main symbol that everyone thinks of when they think of Venice, is the gondola. The rides are 80€ or $150 a ride. So here are pictures of OTHERS taking gondola rides.


This is what I called Gondola Central.


This is the tower that Galileo used to look at the skies with his telescope from. Why this tower? Well this is where the merchants would go to look for the incoming ships from the Middle East. When they saw which ship was coming in, they would then start bidding for the merchandise that was on that ship. Thus the need for a telescope, to see the ships before the others could and get the early bids in on the goods!


Street scenes.






And of course, illegal vendors. It is not only illegal to sell these goods (better known as knock offs) it is also illegal to buy and to be in possession of them. The reason from the white sheets on the ground is that the edges can be quickly picked up and bundled up into a sack as the police come walking past. After all, out of sight is out of mind, is the first stage of critical thinking!


From here, Venice, we boarded our bus for a short ride to the airport where we boarded our flight to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin at 2AM our time (1AM Dublin Time) cleared customs, got our luggage again, boarded a bus to the hotel, got our room and went quickly to bed as we needed to be at the airport no later than 8AM the next morning. Cathy and I took an early bus (the 7AM) to the airport, cleared all the hoops early and sat and waited for our flight patiently. Like we had a choice about waiting. We did clear US Immigration in Dublin. YES, we went through US Immigration in Dublin, so when we arrived in LAX, we did not have to do that, but we did have to wait for our luggage and then go through Customs (what a joke) and then onto a bus for a 5 hour drive home from LAX to Fresno. Bed never felt so good as it did that night! If you count, we handled our luggage 7 times in less than 24 hours, cleared 3 sets of customs officials, and two sets of Immigration officials. What a day!

So, what to expect next? Random shots that I liked from the trip and then on for some more boring writing of mine. It will take some time to pay this trip off and before we go again! Thanks for following along and I will answer any questions you may have....maybe not correctly, but I will answer them.

Croatia

Dubrovnik. Ok, I copy and pasted the name, and I will now refer to this city by the nation's name of Croatia. For a poor speller like myself, Croatia I can deal with!
Dubrovnik is a BEAUTIFUL city. We enjoyed the first part of the tour, and then slipped away from the crowd to see some things on our own. We had a great lunch (those pictures of lunch are Cathy's) and a great walk through the town. So, onto the pictures, that is really the only reason you are all here. This is taken from above the town, looking towards the north.


The main street is wide and clean. It is wonderful to see and when the sun is out, people cluster to the shaded side of the street. Great shops and lots of people.


The side streets are narrow and have a LOT of steps. It is a real workout getting around this town, but well worth the walking!


This is Cathy at the old entrance gate to town. It is actually a draw bridge, and the wall surrounding the city is really pretty. St Blaze is on the city wall. He is the patron of the town.


This is from the Dominican Monastery. It was the first stop on the tour. The picture I have is from the Courtyard.


This Dominic and I looking over our choices in the restaurant.
(Cathy's Photo)

This Cathy and I after a GREAT meal. You must ask me about this meal...it was..well GREAT! Notice we got the name of the place in the picture!
(photo done with Cathy's Camera)

Soon was time to head back to the ship, moored in the bay.



And sometimes I just can't help myself. I try not to do this, I really do try not to notice, but I have been collecting and owning this stuff for years, I think it is part of my blood now....


OK...there it is...next stop..and the last one, Venice.