Tag Archives: cityscapes

nature, Photography

Glimpses

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As I have already indicated, Iceland has amazing diversity in its geography, but it is also diverse in many other ways, too.

Reykjavik’s Rainbow Street, with the famous Hallgrímskirkja (Church of Hallgrimur) in the background.
Surprise! Iceland has swans. We saw many of them, even in very northern locations.
Icelanders love their coffee and there are eclectic and comfortable cafés everywhere. The coffee is also excellent.
A row of colourful houses in downtown Reykjavik.
The Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat by Magnús Tómasson is famous in Iceland. The bureaucrat’s head and torso have been replaced by a chunk of volcanic basalt. Is it a tribute or is it satire?

Happy Wednesday.

nature, Photography

Icelandic Scenes

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We arrived at Keflavík airport in Iceland at 8:00 a.m. local (2 a.m. for us) and although very tired did our best to push through it. We decided to do a much-needed walk through Reykjavik to stretch our legs and also so that I could reaquaint myself after a number of years since my last visit. This is M’s first visit and we are very much enjoying it together.

It was overcast with a misty rain but not an unpleasant day. We enjoyed walking around one of the ponds in a nearby park and viewing the colourfully-roofed houses on the opposite shore.

This is a grey lag goose. Quite different from our ubiquitous Canada geese at home, but the behaviour was quite similar.

There were lots of marsh marigolds in bloom; so pretty and bright.

As with many port cities, Reykjavik is built on a hilly area next to the sea. The walking requires lots of up-and-downhill; we felt it was very good for us after our flight. Once we finished a light lunch of an excellent seafood soup, we headed back to our hotel for some much-needed sleep.

Photography

Toronto Scenes

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The lights at two complicated, major intersections in downtown Toronto went out, and motorists quickly adjusted to treating them like four-way stops. This operated well up to a point, but police officers soon arrived to help out.

We visited the Art Gallery of Ontario where I was fascinated by the roof architecture. I vastly enjoyed many of the art exhibits, too, but I found that ceiling amazing!

From a window in the gallery, I could see apartments across the street that are about 150 years old. Many of these older buildings now have heritage status, and I love the juxtaposition of old and new.

The blue and grey building is the AGO’s exterior, again juxtaposed against a much older building. The plain wall was being prepped for an art display.

And last but not least, another view of the Toronto tower.

Happy weekend.

nature, Photography

Toronto Tower

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For 32 years ending in 2007, the iconic Toronto tower was the world’s tallest freestanding structure until it was displaced by the Burj Khalifa, a skyscraper  in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

M and I have both been at the top of the tower before – as you can imagine, it has spectacular views of the city and Lake Ontario – but we felt that we didn’t need to go again. Do you see the moon to the left of the tower, above its viewing deck?

Instead, we enjoyed it from the rooftop patio of an adjacent hotel which itself provided beautiful city and lake views. Here’s one of the Skydome, where we had just watched a Blue Jays baseball game.

It was a beautifully warm, clear day, great for looking at the lay of the land!

Happy Monday.

Reblogs

Umbria, Italy

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We are enjoying the Italian portion of our vacation with most of our time concentrated in Umbria. This region is known for vineyards, olive groves, …

Umbria, Italy

Tricia from Travels Through My Lens recently travelled through Italy’s beautiful Umbria and has written this very interesting post about it illustrated with her gorgeous photos. Please click the link above to see her post in its entirety.