Category Archives: Photography

On Monday’s blog I posted a single, solitary photograph of one of the six monasteries situated atop the large sandstone pinnacles of what is known as Meteora.  Despite the short blog (or perhaps because of it—depends on whether or not you like my writing), that photograph generated a lot of interest.  One viewer, Victor Tribunsky, correctly guessed the location.  Victor authors his own travel blog, and I highly recommend that you drop by and give it a look because Victor’s photos are simply amazing.

Anyway, back to Meteora.  Meteora was one of the locations on Ursula’s Bucket List, so we hit it last year during our 54-day cruise aboard Holland America’s smallest ship, the MS Prinsendam (aka, The Elegant Explorer).  Fans of the OO7 movie franchise may also recognize Meteora from the film For Your Eyes Only (far from one of the best of the series, but probably the best of Roger Moore’s rather disastrous efforts at the role).  The specific locale depicted in that film was the Monastery of the Holy Trinity.

Meteora is a very important site within the Eastern Orthodox Church, which itself has a very fascinating history dating back to the St. Paul, but which really took hold when Constantine the Great became the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity.  Constantine was also the emperor who founded the Eastern (or Byzantine) Roman Empire, the final remnants of which disintegrated in 1453 when the Byzantine Empire fell victim to the Ottomans.  Isn’t history fascinating?

Anyway, enough with the words.  Here’s the pictures:

I’ve been configuring and transferring files to a new desktop all weekend, so today’s blog is short and sweet—a single, simple photograph.  Any guesses where?

A Monsastery From . . . ?

Thanksgiving found Ursula and me in San Antonio visiting our very good friends and former next door neighbors Kathy and Gary Burkholder and Kathy’s mother, Mrs. Florida, who was also visiting.  And what an incredible and fun visit it was.  For once I was relegated to sous chef status, gladly relinquishing executive chef duties to Kathy.  Together, we came up with some pretty good chow, I do believe.  Throw in Ursula’s famous homemade cranberry sauce made with Grand Marnier and nobody leaves the table hungry.

Gary had to work on the Friday after Thanksgiving, so Kathy, Ursula, Mrs. Florida and I took drive up to the quaint town of Fredericksburg—an old German settlement that seems lost in time, pleasantly stuck in that marvelously nostalgic period of small town America dating between the late 1800s to the Roaring ’20s.  One half expects Robert Preston (The Music Man) to come marching down the street at any moment, proudly leading seventy-six trombones in the big parade.

Fredericksburg also has the distinction of being the home of the National Museum of the Pacific War.  If that seems odd, considering Fredericksburg’s distance from salt water, it shouldn’t.  Fredericksburg’s most famous resident was Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (for whom the Nimitz class aircraft carrier was named).

Another adventure was our nighttime excursion to view the Christmas lights along the famous San Antonio River Walk.  If you’re in San Antonio during the holiday season, this is simply a must-see event.  Bring your camera and study up on available light photography.  You’ll be glad you did.

This particular evening we also stumbled upon a wedding party.  The happy bride was very gracious in allowing me to take a quick snap of her, all smiles and absolutely resplendent in her magnificent wedding dress.

But what would a Wicker travelogue be without the pictures?  Boring, that’s what.  So, don’t be bored.  Here you go: