Russia – Oh, the Places We See . . .

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet

Oh, the Places We See — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 02:18:48 +0000

Over the past few years, we’ve stood on some pretty impressive spots. And, when we remember to look down, we’ve seen some mighty remarkable floors, stairwells, porches, etc. Here are a few surfaces that we’re proud to say have recently been beneath our humble feet.

Pittock Mansion, home of The Oregonian publisher, Henry Pittock and his wife Georgiana (Portland, Oregon)

Exquisite parquet floors in the music room of Pittock Mansion, Portland, Oregon

Ca’ d’Zan at The Ringling, home of circus owner John Ringling and his wife Mable (Sarasota, Florida)

Black and white checkerboard floors, Ca’ d’Zan

Exterior of Ca’ d’Zan in the Venetian Gothic style with highly patterned designs under foot

State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia)

Patterned squares on ceiling and floors in this room of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

For more lowly entries in the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet, click here.

Filed under: Florida, Weekly Photo Challenge Tagged: Ca' d'Zan, floors, Henry Pittock, John Ringling, Pittock Mansion, Portland, Russia, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum

Help us decide: Capture the Colour 2013 — RED

Oh, the Places We See — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 02:41:11 +0000

It’s been a fun week looking through photos, posting three a day focused on a single color, and receiving notes and feedback from readers who took the time to help us decide. And now, we’re down to the last color (red!) for the Capture the Colour 2013 Photo Challenge. After being nominated by Terri and James Vance of Gallivance (Click here to see their entry.), we’ve been posting pics in the hopes that you, our readers, would narrow the field of photos to our top five. And you have.

Just take a look at the pictures and select your favorite by posting a comment below or on Facebook. We’re in the home stretch and will be making our final selections this weekend.

Here are three photographs for the red category.

Today’s Vote: RED

1. Welcome to Nepal

Upon our arrival in Nepal to build two mud and stone houses for Habitat for Humanity International, we were greeted by ladies dressed in red bearing strings of marigolds to lay around our necks. Surprisingly, they also brought a red gloppy concoction which they scooped up and smudged onto our foreheads. Namaste, they said. And then we knew. We weren’t family, of course, but we were as welcome as any Americans could be.

2. Simply Elegant Tapestry

It was difficult to find something understated in the Hermitage (St. Petersburg, Russia), but this simple, yet exquisite, red tapestry was as classy a piece as any we saw. Simply elegant. Simply divine.

3. Dancers in Breaux Bridge

Standing still next to a guy wearing a red Peace, Love & Cajuns shirt and a lady brushing by in a crimson swingy, swirling skirt was no easy task for a neophyte photographer. In fact, just about everyone at the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival (Breaux Bridge, Louisiana) was movin’ and groovin’ — unless they were busy racing mudbugs and “suckin’ dem heads!”

Please take a minute to vote in the Comments section below.

If you missed any of the previous entries, here are the links to those posts. There’s still time to help us decide!

Help us decide: Capture the Colour 2013 — GREEN

Help us decide: Capture the Colour 2013 — WHITE

Help us decide: Capture the Colour 2013 — YELLOW

Help us decide: Capture the Colour 2013 — BLUE

Many thanks for your support and ideas!

Rusha and Bert Sams

Filed under: Nepal, Photography, Travel Tagged: breaux bridge crawfish festival, Capture the Colour: 2013, Habitat for Humanity, Louisiana, Nepal, Russia, St. Petersburg, The Hermitage

Help us decide: Capture the Colour 2013 — Green

Oh, the Places We See — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 02:37:14 +0000

Yesterday, we had an overwhelming response to our “help us decide” blogs! Thanks! Many of you responded to our request to take a look at three posts offering three different photographs on the colors blue, yellow, and white. You voted, and we’re hoping to finalize our entry this week to submit to the Capture the Colour 2014 Photo Challenge after being nominated by Terri and James Vance of Gallivance. (Click here for their entry.)

If you’ve missed any of the photographs, the links to the previous posts are at the bottom. The photo challenge requires an entry for each of five colors: blue, yellow, white, green, and red.

Today’s photos are GREEN, and we again invite you to look at our pictures and vote for one by either commenting below or on Facebook. Thanks so much for your participation. And now, here are today’s photos for your review.

Today’s Vote: GREEN

1. Singapore Fish Spa

At the Singapore Night Safari, visitors can view nocturnal animals, ride a tram through the zoo, or soak their feet in a green tank while fairly aggressive little fish nibble off dead skin! Oooh, it tickles, some exclaimed, but the paying customers weren’t the only ones giggling and pointing. We were all turning green watching the catch of the day!

2. Greens for Goats

While boarding my bus in rural Nepal, I noticed something coming down the road. Hurriedly, I fumbled through my bag to grab my camera just in time to snap this lady and her strapped-on bundle of leaves and sticks. And then she was gone — moving nimbly up the mountainside to her home. It’s really quite common, the local interpreter told us. All the women here gather greenery for their goats.

3. A November Walk at Catherine Palace

With just a hint of fall turning green leaves ever so gently into gold, we followed other strolling visitors around the grounds of Catherine Palace in the town of Pushkin, Russia.

Remember, all you have to do to vote for your favorite GREEN photo is leave us a comment below.

And if you missed any of the other posts, we’d still love to have your feedback and opinions.

Help us decide: Capture the Colour — White: https://ohtheplaceswesee.com/2013/09/24/help-us-decide-capture-the-colour-2013-white/

Help us decide: Capture the Colour — Yellow: https://ohtheplaceswesee.com/2013/09/23/help-us-decide-capture-the-colour-2013-yellow/

Help us decide: Capture the Colour — Blue: https://ohtheplaceswesee.com/2013/09/22/help-us-decide-capture-the-colour-2013-blue/

We appreciate your vote!

Rusha and Bert Sams

Filed under: Photography, Travel Tagged: Capture the Colour: 2013, Catherine Palace, fish spa, Gallivance, Nepal, Pushkin, Russia, Singapore Night Safari

A Word a Week Challenge: Decadent

Oh, the Places We See — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 14:07:17 +0000

When I saw that the topic for Sue Llewellyn’s A Word a Week Challenge was the word Decadent, I couldn’t help but take a break from posting about China to switch over to Russia. One of the most decadent places we visited on our Viking River Cruise: Waterways of the Tsars from Moscow to St. Petersburg was the Catherine Palace at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve.

As we moved from room to room with a crowd of (just like us) tourists leaning, peering, and picture-snapping, we couldn’t help but marvel at the acquisitions and ornamentation that made each room more spectacular than the last. With clean white walls and gold trim, the mirrored room held us captive. But subsequent rooms showed off statuary, table settings, and period pieces the likes of which we had never seen before. Here’s just a small sample.

The decadent exterior of Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg.

Note the statues of Atlas holding up the world at each section of this exterior wall.

One of the white-walled rooms adorned with gold. Fireplaces made with Delft tiles stood sentinel-like in various rooms — sometimes in corners or centered like this one. Opulence was under foot, too, in the form of exquisite parquet floors.

Just one of many artifacts of decadent clothing on display.

Even the artwork featured people in exquisite attire.

Filed under: A Word a Week Challenge, Museum, Russia, Travel Tagged: Atlas, Catherine Palace, opulent, Russia, St. Petersburg