Cynthia continues to improve. We got up relatively early so we could go to the Cathedral and see the progress on the Virgin Mary.

She’s coming along quite nicely.

We took the day and walked around the area near the Ruzafa district where there are some magnificent Fallas

That night we stumbled upon the most magnificent Galician restaurant called A `Peregrina which is Spanish for “Of The Pilgrim” or something similar. The whole restaurant is themed in a style you might expect to see if you were walking the Way Of St. James, a famous pilgrimage Cynthia and I would like to walk some day.

Cynthia had said she just wanted some soup for dinner, but soup is not a common menu item so we decided to see what we could get here. Right after we were seated, the waitress brought us each a bowl of complimentary hot vegetable soup. It was, in a way, a miracle and set the tone for the evening.

Once again we had found a fantastic restaurant with wonderful food and a great atmosphere.

Today Cynthia woke up in pretty bad shape. While the one eye is getting better, the other is starting to have trouble. She is very fatigued and in need of rest.

We had scheduled lunch with our friend Manel who we met during our first visit to Valencia. When he arrived at the hotel Cynthia simply didn’t have the energy to accompany us. This was unfortunate as Manel speaks little English and I speak little Spanish. Cynthia usually acts as the translator, but today we were on our own.

Manel and I had a good time using our iPhones to make the more difficult translations and it was a fun morning, if not slightly comical.

We made our way back to the hotel so I could check in on Cynthia and so that Manel could make his way to his other commitments. When I check with the desk clerk, Cynthia had left a note saying that she was feeling better and had walked over to the park to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air.

When she did make her way to the room she was looking to be in pretty good spirits, but confided that while sitting on a park bench and enjoying the various dogs and birds passing and flying overhead she apparently looked so sad and pathetic that a passing cyclist stopped and offered her food (which she politely declined).

Suffice to say, she was mortified. It took me some time to convince her that she did not look like a wretched, diseased homeless person with a bad eye.

Since Cynthia was feeling better we decided go for a walk and get some lunch. We enjoyed sitting outside the restaurant and soaking in the sunshine.

After lunch we went back to the room and had a siesta.

When we woke up we were both feeling a bit better. I wanted to go to the City of Arts and Sciences to take some photos and Cynthia was going to go see some things she wanted to see. I ended up making a short trip of it as the City of Arts and Sciences was having some kind of event and I couldn’t really get the shots I wanted. When I got back to the hotel I ran in to Cynthia who was excited that she was able to photograph an unusual pigeon we had spotted a few days ago.

We suspect he has been painted by someone. The bird seems ok and flies around the plaza without a problem.

We took the rest of the afternoon and evening to do some more site seeing. We’re still not 100% but we’re not giving up.

Tomorrow and Monday are the days of the Ofrenda when the women of Valencia parade in to the Plaza Of The Virgin and offer to her their prayers and carnations. The carnations are used to make Mary’s gown. It’s quite a site.

We’ve expended a lot of energy over the last few days. And we still have Las Fallas in Valencia to look forward to. With that in mind we took it rather easy today. We decided to catch the subway to go see the monument to Miguel de Cervantes, writer of the world famous story of Don Quixote de la Mancha and his trusty squire, Sancho Panza.

From there we made our way to the Naval Museum for a nice dose of Spanish naval history. The museum is very nice and well laid out. I was especially fascinated by the models and miniatures featured in the museum.

After visiting the Naval Museum we found our way to the Barrio de las letras (the literary district) to take a walking tour of the neighborhood which is filled with wonderful old bars, restaurants and shops decorated with ornate tile work.

While we were there we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Miau where I discovered that I really like grilled pulpo (octopus).

We wandered the area at a leisurely pace and once we had our fill we headed back to the hotel and had a nice, long siesta.

When we awoke from our siesta we relaxed in the hotel room before heading out to find some dinner.

All in all, a very nice day and a chance to regain our strength as we get ready to wrap things up here in Madrid.

Today is March 11 and is the 9th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the Atocha Train Station in Madrid. The explosions killed 191 people and wounded 1,800. The official investigation by the Spanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist cell.

At the Atocha station there is a memorial dedicated to the victims of the explosion.

From Wikipedia:

The Atocha station memorial is a memorial monument located at Atocha station in Madrid, Spain, that commemorates the 191 victims of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings and the special forces agent who died when seven suicide bombers blew themselves up on 3 April 2004.

The 11 m tall (36 ft) cylinder stands above Atocha station, the destination of the four trains that were attacked. Thousands of messages of condolence made in the days after the attacks are inscribed on the inside of the tower. The messages of grief can be seen from a chamber beneath the hollow monument.

It was a somber experience visiting this memorial on the anniversary. Something akin to visiting Ground Zero in New York, I would imagine.

From there we walked over to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum to view some more art. Because when you are travelling in Europe, you can’t see enough art. Visiting the Thyssen completed our Madrid Museum trifecta.

After this we were fairly tired and headed back to the hotel to readjust and then get some lunch. After lunch it was back to the hotel for a nice siesta.

When we woke up we made our way west to watch the sunset and take some night shots of the Temple de Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple that was rebuilt in Madrid.

It was cold and windy and we were anxious to get back to town where it might be a little less breezy.

Having had a rather substantial lunch, we were not all the keen on a large dinner. So we opted for some Churros con Chocolate at the famous Chocolatería San Ginés which first opened its doors in 1894.

It was delicious, in case you were wondering.

After that I wanted to stop by the La Torre del Oro which is a bar dedicated to bull fighting. Many bull heads on the walls and photos of fighters getting gored quite gruesomely. It’s an interesting experience to say the least.

After that we we’re pretty much spent. Tomorrow is another day.

Today, to our surprise, the sun came out again. There was still enough cloud cover to indicate that rain was still a possibility, but we ventured out without our raincoats or an umbrella anyway.

We decided to go to the Reina Sofia to see Picasso’s “Guernica” painting. This was our second opportunity to see this painting and it always moves me. Sadly, no photos allowed.

From the Reina Sofia we made our way to The Prado to see even more masterpieces.

This museum contains the definitive Goya collection. It is also home to Las Meninas by Velázquez which is always worth seeing in person. Sadly, no photos allowed in this museum.

We walked down Paseo del Prado taking in the sites. We stopped and had some lunch and the went off in search of the Caixa Forum to see the living art wall which is an outdoor vertical garden green designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc. This wall of green has 15,000 plants of 250 species covering a 460 meter square wall.

While we were admiring the wall it started to rain a bit so we made our way to the subway to go back to the hotel and have a siesta. I have to say, the siesta is now my favorite Spanish tradition.

After sleeping for a few hours we made our way to the Metropolis for some night photography.

(thanks to Cynthia for this photo!)

It was cold, but we had a great time shooting the Metropolis and the Plaza de Cibeles

After the photo session Cynthia and I found our way to a lovely tapas restaurant and had a fantastic dinner and a bottle of wine. We sat down around 9:30 and left around 11:30. Dinner comes late in Madrid.

We woke up to rain this morning. We decided we would go to Atoche Station and get our train tickets to Valencia. As we made our way there the sun came out and blue skies were punctuated with moody clouds.

We walked around the train station and wanted to see the Atocha station memorial which is a monument that commemorates the 191 victims of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings and the special forces agent who died when seven suicide bombers blew themselves up on 3 April 2004, but it was closed for maintenance. We hope to get back and see it. The 11 March 2004 bombing is the equivalent of the 9/11 attack in the U.s. and the anniversary is coming up on Monday so they are making ready for that.

Since the sun was out we headed over to Retiro Park to take in the sights. We visited the Fallen Angel Fountain, possibly the only monument to The Devil in the world.

After the fountain we visited the Crystal Palace which is a spectacular glass structure in Retiro Park.

We wandered over to the Monumento Alfonso XII after that.

After touring Retiro Park we took the subway to Puerto Del Sol and walked over to Plaza Mayor.

Right off the main square of Plaza Mayor is a restaurant called Casa Rua which serves the best squid sandwich you can imagine.

After Plaza Mayor we walked west to the Royal Palace, but by now we were getting pretty tired. We turned around and headed back to Puerto Del Sol and caught the subway back to the hotel where we enjoyed a 2 hour mid-afternoon siesta.

When we woke up we walked over to El Corte Ingles to pick up some soft drinks and toiletries.

For the evening we met up with some friends for a leisurely dinner and a few bottles of wine.

All in all, a very good and very productive day. But now we’re beat. It’s near midnight and we’re turning in. Tomorrow is open, but we may try to hit up the museums.

Off we go!

In December of 2008, as I was getting ready for a vacation trip to Brussels, I posted a self portrait of myself sporting my new winter coat to my Flickr account.

I didn’t think much of it after posting it and I’d pretty much forgotten about it over the years.

Today, as I was reading some discussions about people having their photos used to create fake online identities I decided to use Google Image Search to see if any of my self portraits could be found anywhere on the vast Internet.

Honestly, I was not expecting to find anything. It was more of an expression of idle curiosity that I thought would amount to a few minutes squandered before moving on to bigger and better wastes of time.

Imagine my surprise when I found this “interpretation” by a Flickr user called Leeber

I have no idea who Leeber is or why he chose my picture to transform. But unlike *that* previous experiences where I have had a photo I created used without permission, I’m not really offended nor am I seeking to have the photo removed. Mostly because I am amused.

A similar incident came up with this photo I took of my dentist

Years later I found this posted as a winner of a Photoshop contest at Worth1000.com

Again, I’m not so interested in asserting my copyright because I find the work creative and amusing and I don’t see that the person is profiteering off of my work.

I guess it just goes to show that you can never fully tell what people may be doing to the content you post to the Internet or how they might be using it.

It has been snowing pretty steady now for the last few days and it is building up. The city is covered in white. I have not had any experience with this much snow and I have to say, it is a lot of fun. Of course I don’t have to deal with it in any practical sense, being as I am a tourist and will soon be returning to balmy Texas soon enough.

Today we decided to go to some art museums. We hit up the Munich Glyptothek as well as the Alte Pinakothek and the Pinakothek der Moderne.

The Glyptothek is a museum which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I to house his collection of Greek and Roman sculptures. It makes for an interesting stroll. It’s not too big and it is well laid out.

From there we headed back in to the snow to walk to the Alte Pinakothek which is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses one of the most famous collections of Old Master paintings on the planet. Suffice to say, we saw some really amazing paintings. Notable artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens and El Greco to name but a few. Check out the link above to read more about the gallery and the works that are housed there.

After taking in all that the Alte Pinakothek had to offer we made our way to Pinakothek der Moderne which is a modern art museum.

Now frankly, I don’t get modern art. Most of it is not very compelling. But it was interesting to walk around this space and see the exhibits.

I will confess, I was rather amused at one display which was part of a modern design exhibit that featured 80′s era computers.

And I was mildly excited to get to see a few original Andy Warhol paintings. I suppose mostly because it was a name I recognized.

By the time we had finished touring these galleries it was rather late in the afternoon. We found our way back to the area near our hotel and found some food.

I will say this, walking around in the cold takes it out of you. Between the freezing temperatures and the wearing of pounds and pounds of winter clothing combined with moving in an out of the cold it wears me out.

We rested up for a few hours then went back out to just walk in the snow amongst the booths in the Christmas markets. It is still very idyllic with the snow on the ground and the warm lights glowing from the booths.

Today we visited the Munich Residenz, the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs in the center of the city of Munich, Germany.

We first stopped by St. Peter’s Church, but they were holding services so touring the church was not allowed.

We moved on to the Munich Residenz to tour the facility and also to visit the Schatzkammer der Residenz (Residenz Treasury) where they keep the crown jewels.

Fot me the best part of this destination was that Antiquarium. Since we are early risers, we managed to beat the crowds which allowed for me to take some of my best photos of the trip.

I even took a photo where I placed my camera on the floor and set the timer and walked away. This allows me to properly expose the photo without motion blur. Much in the same way you would do if you used a tripod.

This and many others can be found in my “Camera On The Floor” set.

After the Antiquarum, which was a very long tour as it turns out, we headed over to the Schatzkammer der Residenz to see the crown jewels.

Since it was practically next door and well after noon we decided to try our luck again at St. Peter’s Church. By this time the services were over and we figured we could have a look around. I particularly wanted to see the jewel encrusted skeleton of St. Heilige Munditia.

We found her right where the guidebooks said she would be. Unfortunately, she was behind a metal grate. I had to push my camera through the bars to get a reasonable photography. I am just lucky I didn’t drop the camera.

After our tour of the church we headed back to the room.

After resting for a few hours we went back out (in the snow) and found some dinner. When we were leaving the restaurant we noticed it was no longer snowing so we went to the hotel room and grabbed the tripod so I could try some night shots at the Marienplatz

It decided to start snowing again so we came back to the hotel room for the night. All in all, today was a VERY good day.

This was our last day in Salzburg. Tomorrow we catch the train back to Munich. I think I have seen enough Krampus to last me a lifetime.

Today we woke up to snow. And it was snowing hard.

We headed out to Linzergasse which is north of the river from us. We had walked past an archway that looked interesting and thought we would explore it.

On the way across the bridge I wanted to take a photo that captured the conditions we were walking in. Note that this is a color photo. The snow blotted out all the color and left me with what appears to be a black and white image.

I continued to shoot some pictures of the area to try to capture this snow even the best I could. This is the result of shooting the same scene at three different exposures and merging them together.

As you can see I was able to coax a little color out by using this technique.

We reached Linzergasse and found the archway and entered. As it turnes out, there was a road and some steps leading up the side of the mountain.

It didn’t seem overly treacherous and the snow was not falling so hard so we climbed.

This photo was actually converted to black and white, though it didn’t have much color to begin with.

Like the day before, the climb took us up above the city for some spectacular views. But this time there was snow on the ground and snow on the city which made it look very pretty.

We continued along the trail, enjoying the views and the snow. We even stopped to make a snow-krampus

As we walked the trail was getting a little tougher. Steps leading up and down, covered with ice. We thought we would come to a point where we could go down and off the mountain. Then we can across this sign

I don’t read German and neither does Cynthia. But we took it as a sign (no pun intended) that we might want to check our map. As it turns out, we had found our way on to a hiking trail that looked to go all the way around the mountain. We decided to head back the way we came and get off the mountain. No sense breaking a leg on the side of frozen mountain in Austria with spotty cell service.

We found our way back and had some lunch and rested up a bit before doing some more wandering that included attending some kind of Krampus for Kids event in front of the cathedral. The event included several dozen school children all dressed in home made Krampus outfits.

Kris Kringle came out with a particularly large Krampus with a basket on his back and the children posed for pics with St. Nick while sitting in the Krampus basket. I wish I was a kid and could get my photo taken in a Krampus basket!

We knocked around for a bit more and found some dinner. Snow came and went. Mostly it was nice, but there were some icy patches and I tried to wipe out one time. But I was able to recover before falling on my butt. It was a close call.

Tomorrow we catch the train back to Munich.

Tonight was Krampusnacht. The word Krampus means “claw” so this literally translates to Night Of The Claw.

The Feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated in parts of Europe on December 6. In Alpine countries like Austria, Saint Nicholas has a devilish companion named Krampus. On the preceding evening, Krampus Night or Krampusnacht, the hairy devil appears on the streets. Sometimes accompanying St. Nicholas and sometimes on his own, Krampus visits homes and businesses. The Saint usually appears in the vestments of a bishop such as the mitre, and he carries a ceremonial staff. Unlike North American versions of Santa Claus, in these celebrations Saint Nicholas concerns himself only with the good children, while Krampus is responsible for the bad. Nicholas dispenses gifts, while Krampus supplies coal and the ruten bundles.

In Salzburg, it is a big deal. I counted at least 50-75 Krampus in the city center for tonight’s celebration. They all gathered at the front of the Salzburg Cathedral for what appeared to be some kind of Krampus award ceremony. Possibly for the best Krampus costume or something. I really couldn’t tell. I would hear some german words being spoken over the PA system and a fantastic Krampus from the Krampus horde would jump up and get on stage and do his Krampus thing.

I had to really work to get up to the area where all this was happening. It was very crowded, but it was a site to see!

You can see the rest of my photos by clicking here.

After watching all the Krampus mayhem we decided to get some dinner and get back to the hotel for some rest. But, as fate would have it, Krampus was not done with us.

St. Nick and a handful of angels and Krampuses invaded the restaurant.

A Krampus even took my seat and tormented Cynthia

It was a perfect ending to a pretty perfect day.

We woke up this morning with no real agenda. We thought it might be nice to visit the Augustiner Bräu in the afternoon, but the morning was wide open.

Since the Augustiner Bräu was in an area of Salzburg we had not yet visited we decided to just head that way and see what we might see. That way we would have something new to look at and also know how to find our way to the venue when we were ready.

As we walked we found ourselves gradually going uphill. And as we climbed higher and higher the views became more and more interesting and beautiful.

We noticed that we were heading in the general direction of the Museum of Modern Art. We were not all that interested in the museum, but one of the signs said there was a James Turrell Skyspace installation and since I was familiar with his work I was compelled to keep going.

And the view just got better and better

When we did reach the top where the museum was located we were pretty hungry. We noticed that there was a restaurant there as part of the museum. The restaurant was called M32 and was named for the mountain address on which the restaurant sat which is Mönchsberg.

M32 is not a cheezy little tourist cafe, it is a very nice restaurant with white tablecloths and nicely dressed waitstaff.

The hostess lead us to our seat after taking our jackets and this is where we ended up.

A table by the window that looked out over the old town with Hohensalzburg Castle sitting on an adjacent peak. It was spectacular! We decided to splurge and ordered a very nice red Cuvée Austrian wine which was delicious as was the food.

We finished with a coffee and a desert and then found our way back down the mountain to our hotel room. By the time we were done it was mid-afternoon and we had a Krampus run to get to in a few hours.

What a spectacular day, and we hadn’t even gotten to the Krampusnacht celebration portion yet. I’ll tell you all about that in the next post.

This morning we woke up and had our breakfast. The weather was a bit warmer so instead of snow we had some rain. It wasn’t raining hard, but it certainly wasn’t as nice as when it was snowing yesterday. Cynthia bought an umbrella from one of the tourist souvenir shops and that made things manageable.

We spent the morning touring the Salzburg Museum. The museum is worth a look and a good way to spend a rainy, cold morning.

After touring the museum we noticed a break in the clouds which afforded us an opportunity for a few photographs that were not completely dull and drab.

After walking around and enjoying the change in weather we headed back to the hotel to grab a Mr. Zippers feather for our traditional release. Mr. Zippers was Cynthia’s Quaker Parrot who passed away several years ago. Each time we travel we take one of his feathers and release it in the countries we visit. We have dopped Mr. Zippers feathers all over Europe.

We released this one and rather than gently falling in to the river it was caught by a breeze and wafted higher and higher in to the sky until it flew out of site. It was very special.

After releasing the feather we headed over to Hotel Sacher for lunch and a Sachertorte.

After lunch we took it easy and wandered around the markets before going back to the hotel once more to rest up and get some postcards ready to mail out.

Our plan for the afternoon/evening (the sun goes down around 5:00 pm) was to catch one of the many Krampus runs in town. We headed out, cameras in hand and found a place to watch and photograph the run. I was able to capture this video. The cries of “ouch ouch ouch” are mine as I am being lashed by a Krampus.

After watching the run we headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at Bar-Bistro-Restaurant Santorini Salzburg, a Greek restaurant where we had an interesting and lively conversation with our waiter who was from India. It was a global experience deluxe.

After dinner we wandered some more markets and I had a cup of Glühwein while Cynthia enjoyed a hot waffle.

It’s been a fun trip so far. We look forward to more Krampus experiences tomorrow as it is the eve before Advent and the arrival of Kris Kringle.

Now it is time to get some rest and regroup for tomorrows adventures.

Beware the Krampus!

Today was pretty casual. Got up, had some breakfast and walked down the river to Mirabell Palace and Gardens. Obviously, the gardens weren’t that terribly exciting in the winter, but it was nice to see none the less.

We also went in search of the Salzburg Marionette Theater. We were hoping to catch a show while we were here, but sadly, the theater is closed while the puppeteers tour France.

This made Cynthia very sad

We continued to walk around and then found some lunch. After lunch we headed back to the hotel room to recombobulate and then headed back out in to the cold to do some more exploring.

As night started to fall we prepared to go off in search of another Krampus run we read about. As we were walking around we encountered two pint-sized Krampuses which Cynthia was far less afraid of than the full size beasts.

After a short while we did encounter the full sized Krampus run. This one was the most intense of all so far.

We followed the procession for a while before cutting away to find our way back to the hotel so I could grab my tripod and get the two night shots I had been wanting to get while we are here. The first one being Hohensalzburg Castle as seen from the river.

And the second one was just a shot down the river bend

All in all, a good day. Tomorrow we plan to sleep in a bit. Then look for some music events to attend.