Today’s shot is of one of Lake Atitlan’s many volcanoes. This was taken while a tuk-tuk driver offered tours, eventually leading to my visit to the evil saint Maximon. It is one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had. If you haven’t seen the picture and read the story, I’d recommend you click here now.
Yesterday I showed you the entrance to the red zone of the British Museum. This is what you come face to face with when use the main entrance.
As far as I’m concerned, this should be the main entrance to the Natural History Museum in London. Yeah, the main hall is pretty cool with its massive dinosaur skeleton and ornate brickwork, but how amazing is this? I remember this as a kid, ascending into the molten globe, and it being the most amazing thing ever. So, when I realised it was here, I made plans to come back the next day, as soon as it opened to get a photo when it was less crowded.
We were making a bit of a mad dash back to Florence for sunset when I stopped to take this picture. Shortly after taking the picture, as we pushed on to Florence, I spotted a deer strolling through the vines of a vineyard near the road. I was shocked, I didn’t even know they had deer in Tuscany. It wasn’t until a half hour after that I realized it probably would have made for a good picture!
It was a cold morning in London, but I managed to drag myself out of bed to take this early morning shot of Big Ben from across the Thames.
The Roman Pantheon was built during the reign of Augustus. The word Pantheon is actually Greek, for all gods, and the temple was dedicated to all the gods of Rome. It was later converted to a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs. This re-dedication has probably contributed to this being one of the best preserved of Roman buildings.
Once you get over the initial holy-crap-there’s-an-unrestrained-lion-five-feet-away-from-me moment you kind of relax into enjoying your experience walking with lions. Then, the female decides to suddenly burst on ahead and climb 10 feet up into a tree to look down on you and you feel your adrenaline spike again.
If you’re wondering what she’s staring at so intensely, it’s my travel buddy. She works with large animals for a living, but that didn’t stop her from turning her back on the lion up the tree to pose for a picture directly below it. I turned my back on a large cat I was a handler for once, a friendly puma called Gato, and wound up with my hip in its mouth. Thankfully, it only applied light pressure. So, watching my friend turn her back on a freaking lion made me nervous. The guide was fine with it though. He was the one holding her camera.
And yes, this is the same pretty lion I posted a close-up of here.
For viewing archaeological sites in something close to their natural state, it doesn’t get much better than Tikal. This temple has been excavated, but it’s sister, which was located behind me was still very much in the condition it was found in, buried and covered in trees. It looked just like a big hill.
We had the added bonus that we were on a sunset tour, meaning we started in the blazing afternoon heat that most tourists aren’t stupid enough to mess with. As a result, we had the whole place to ourselves. I thought it was worth it, though it officially marked the sweating through of every t-shirt I had brought to Guatemala on my second day there.
Back when Tikal was buzzing, the entire area was cleared of vegetation and paved with gleaming white stone. The temples and stele like those shown in the picture were painted in gaudy bright colours.
I found it interesting that the Mayans had flattened a large portion of the jungle for their city and farmland, considering that we have this idealized view that the ancient natives of the Americas lived in tune with nature.
Last night, I arrived back home after a few days in Rome. We had a great time there and I can officially say that I found the absolute best, thinnest pizza in the world near the Piazza Navona. Following stuffing my face and consuming a fair amount of beer and wine, I retired to bed relatively early in comparison to my London schedule because I wanted to get up and photograph Rome at sunrise in beautiful light and without the tourist hordes, which were still quite prevalent despite it being the January low season!
My first stop was the Trevi Fountain which I marched straight to as I wanted to get the below picture during the blue hours before the sun had actually come up, so that I could include the lit streetlight.
This particularly inhospitable, barren section of Namibia is called the Lunar Landscape, and I think you can see why.
