|
|
Boat's PicturesPages Concrete Barge (Pentax Optio 50)
Being a sad sort of chap, when I found out that they made ships out of concrete I really wanted to see one. And now I have. This chap is FCB18 at the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port. The museum is really impressive and I would definitely recommend it unless you don't like boats... or water, then you're best steering clear. It also has a pump house that houses a rather large engine and boiler which is very reminiscent but less impressive then the one in Astley Green but then again it would be rather difficult to be more impressive. Another interesting thing is Porter's row which is a street containing 4 cottages built in 1833 but done up in 1840's-1950's style.
Make a Comment
Anderton Boat Lift (TYTN II)
And for this weekend's delectation we have the Anderton Boat Lift. Similar to the Falkirk Wheel in that it moves boats from a lower canal or rive to one over 50 feet above, this on is at least the original. Built in 1875 and used up until the 1970s whilst the Falkirk Wheel was build recently.
With the Northwich Thundersprint happening on the same day we turned up, we also had the enjoyment of seeing a Spitfire fly past several times. What a Spitfire has to to do with the Thundersprint I have no idea, other than they have a fly past every year by the sounds of it.
Anyway back to the picture. On the right the boat lift, and on the left there's the impressive and imposing salt works. This doesn't happen to be the best industrial building as far as I am concerned. In this picture the boat lift looks quite tall in respects to the building across the water. What you don't get in this picture is the building is huge and in fact there are bigger buildings just around the corner all teetering on top of silos that are huge enough to start with.
Years ago I used to do site trips to companies and messed about with their computers in in small offices in huge hangars and I used to be impressed but none of it seemed as impressive as these huge constructions.
Make a Comment
Venice Boatman (JVC Everio GZ-MS100)
Simple pic of a Gondola in Carnival season. I like the reflection from the water personally, it almost looks like it's reflecting off his hull which I think for me makes this picture. So as usual a complete chance causes a good picture. Well I say It's good. As in the (new) old tradition of Big Brother “You Decide”. Hmmm... perhaps I should put a voting thing on this site... on the other hand since comments didn't work then perhaps not.
Make a Comment
Taking Venice from Behind (TYTN II)
With my luck there will be a film star of blue movies called Venice and now my hits will go through the roof. What is worse is as that when I started writing this wrote "With my luck there will be a" and Word Mobile suggested a word which it seems to wants to do anyway. It's an interesting feature that never works out the right word. In this case it suggested several words and suggested a line of three, in this case it suggested a word that made me chuckle. Top selection was a word that rhymed with plucker and started with an f. What is potty mouthed Word Mobile thinking about. It's got all post watershed.
Well today Murano (Uvavu) was a rather bad choice. If you like glass then perhaps it would be OK for you but after a while it starts getting boring. I got bored from the start. Also whilst there were interesting glass sculptures to snap (only photographically) I had no time to do it. I planned to take photos on the way back but there was no way back as we found a bus stop at the far end. We would have watched some glass blowing but it was a book only event and we were escorted off the premises quite literally. After such nice treatment and the fact the my Wife and I started to feel like we were bobbing about on the water despite being on dry land (no involvement with alcohol at all honest) it appeared time to go.
Back to San Marco and as luck would have it we stumbled upon the Helosphere, one of the performances we saw in the program that we though might be good but we thought we would just never happen to chance upon and here we were chancing upon it.
Now after a cultured day we are in Wylie Coyote territory on TV. In Italian or English it still makes as much sense.
Make a Comment
The Grand Tour (TYTN II)
After a thoroughly interesting day yesterday the plan was to see what bits of Venice looked liked without so many people. Sure there would still be loads of people but less than yesterday and we might even get a better view of St Marks Square. Unfortunately the amount of clutter still in the square diminished its impressiveness so I still couldn't imagine a sniper in the bell tower gunning down a lone man causing the pidgins to fly away as in an episode of The Saint or perhaps it was something else.
With the only Piazza in Venice complete we embarked on a trip to the Church of Della Salute (Cheisa Della Salute). Why? Well like all good and bad searches and escapades the answer is purely because it is there. Taking the long way around by foot to save the water bus fair and so we could take in Venice we converted a two minute water ride into a slightly arduous and confusing wriggle through cold back streets using nothing more than a tourist map and a GPS and Google Maps. BTW because of the narrowness of the allies the poor old GPS did have it's work cut out but we got there to find... A Church. Hooray now lets get back taking a far shorter route than we took to arrive.
The picture is of the Grand Canal just as it stops at the Cheisa Della Salute on the right. Whilst it was tiring and some of the trip seemed a chore because we went around the long way, if we had have taken the bus we might not have heard an American express an interest in only staying in England for one more year, so they could go somewhere that they could go out when it's February. They did however say this whilst being fully clad in winter wear. I suspect England is no colder at the moment it just doesn't have Gondolas.
Make a Comment
Amalfi Panorama (TYTN II)
Because I forgot I had my phone with me you will never see any pictures of the Grotto Smeraldo, but if the grotto is pretty famous then someone will have a brilliant picture somewhere of it on the web. Mind you this was never the idea behind Zamyatin so I don't know why I said that other than to console you that if you were that interested in it you could find pictures elsewhere. It's a place to go alright but there is little to see; but with a backdrop of other places such as Solerno and the Paper Museum on the Amalfi tourist landscape seeing a small cave with an under the sea opening letting in the light causing the water glow blue is an attraction in itself. Add to this a boat ride in the cave that takes you round in a ten yard circle captained by a mad man then you feel that the fifteen Euros were all worth it. Well it was more than fifteen, the chap in the boat does remind you not to forget him, as if you can. Ten of the fifteen includes the boat trip to the grotto attended by a chap telling you about all the sights all down the coast as you pass whilst he smells of beer from the night before and by the smell of it he smells of beer from today.
So back to Amalfi and lunch and then back. There appears to be what looks like a fifties style ferry that appears a couple of times a day. Half the size of the Duke of Lancaster it awkwardly and gingerly docks in harbour that doesn't seem large enough. I only mention this because it looks an impressive beast just like the Duke of Lancaster and if the pictures come out alright then I'll put them up here.
On a traffic note. On the way back to the hotel we saw an exasperated American complaining to her husband that when crossing the road a car nearly hit her. I never saw the incident but I would say that in Italy a "nearly hit" counts as a miss.
Make a Comment
Farewell Positano (TYTN II)
Ignoring the guide book for a second time we set out for Positano. Consisting of little more than the obligitory marina (quite important since road access has been denied for over a week due to a landslide), beaches, bars, boutiques and a Church (S. Maria Asumpta) we walked around with a grumpy seven year old (not included in the ticket price) and left. It was pretty enough and the church was a little impresive, perhaps when the photos come back I'll scan them in and add them here.
This is a view from the ferry back. Ten or fiffteen minutes late it got a wiggle on, choosing to turn the thirty minute trip there into a fifteen minute blast back with aircon -mind you it was a bigger boat. As the grumpy seven year old put it "it's bigger than an airplane". Well it was wider as far as the seats were concerned. Grumpyness subsided when offered to sit on the upper deck outside, a luxury not allowed on the way out due to yesterday's sunburn incident. Also helping to good mood was her being handed the video camera. This fifteen minute epic naver may appear online I am afriad. This will assure it the title of the "Zamyatin the lost tapes/memory cards" along with all my other dull movies.
Make a Comment
Riverdance on Sea (Pentax Optio 50)
I finally worked out how to get the exposure setting on the Pentax otherwise this picture would have come up all wrong, it was quite a bright sky which was making it difficult to get good pictures. As you can see the Riverdance is now well and truly on it's side which it wasn't initially, so it does make you wonder how they plan to re-float it, it being on it's side and it being so far up the beach as I can imagine that it will need a few feet of water to get going. As you can see on this one there's the Blackpool tower in the background.
Make a Comment
Wyre in the Blood (Pentax Optio 50)
Sorry I couldn't help myself with the pun but I had to use it because every time saw a council notice I kept on thinking of the ITV drama that I never watch, so because it never left my mind I just had to make you endure the bad pun. Of course you cannot go the Blackpool and not make a trip to Cleveleys to pay a visit to the Riverdance and add to my collection of broken ships as started with the Duke of Lancaster. This particular one is strange because it does seem to attract quite a few visiters and there's really nothing much to see. I can of course imagine billions of similar pictures on the web owing to the number of people taking pictures. This is a picture of the bottom of the stricken vessel from the other side of the cordon.
Make a Comment
The Duke of Lancaster Too (Pentax Optio 50)
This is the front view of the Duke of Lancaster. This time it appears to be trying to sail down a rather shallow river. It's concreted in so I think there's no fear of that, also they have dropped anchor for some reason, perhaps that just in case the rust holds and the concrete gives way.
Make a Comment
|
|