Photos - Misc.

Some photos!

As in, here:

This is our new patio furniture.  B's attacking one of the chairs in the background.

Not sure what this boat was up to.  It seemed faintly animal-like, spraying out its water like that.  Photo is from our deck on Dexter looking out on Lake Union.

Great photo of Seattle from our peddle boat (the "Aphasia").  What you don't see are the sea planes landing one after the other, to our right.  It's really quite something to be out on the lake.  Kenmore Air operates the planes, which take off and land on the open water of Lake Union all day and half into the evening.  Strangely, for Seattle, there aren't any obvious rules we all have to follow as boaters.  You just rent the boat and hope the planes don't land on you.  I kept telling B that I think the sea plan pilots have all the responsibility to keep from landing on folks.  Makes sense, right?  So we peddle around and the planes drop out of the sky, all yellow and turbo-propped, onto the lake maybe a hundred yards away.  You can smell the fuel and it's great to watch them rev up and take off, heading out to the San Juans or on tours around the Emerald.  Here's one:

We're literally sitting on this little boat in the lake, watching it land next to us.

Photo from a row boat (not the Aphasia), peeking between two houseboats on the East side of Lake Union.    

Sail boats on the lake.

Another great shot of the Emerald from Lake Union.  We're on the Aphasia here.  The Space Needle isn't visible but is to the right.  In the evening, Seattle takes on a blue-green hue.  It kind of glows.  This photo was taken a little too early in the eve, but you can catch the faintest hint of it already. It's very beautiful, actually.  I imagine some modern day Fitzgerald enthralled with the Emerald, and bringing it to life in prose.  You know, how it's an enchanted, glowing city jutting up from the Pacific, full of longing for recycling.  Nostalgia for grunge.  Et cetera.

B.  CWB.

B-Rage on Lake Union

Here's B-Rageous:

We're in a Peddle Boat rented from The Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union.  The Peddle Boat is called "Aphasia", which means slow, I think.  Not sure.  At any rate peddling around Lake Union with the B is a bona fide blast.  In a mere forty minutes we traversed maybe a quarter mile of open water, to snap some photos of the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat on the west side of the lake:

On the way back to the CWB B had a mild anxiety attack, fearing we didn't make it back in the allotted time of one hour.  We made it, though, with time to spare.  The girl that hooked us up with the Aphasia was a bit curt, but otherwise it was a grand outing.  Wednesday, early eve, in the Emerald.

Rome, Italy (Vol. II)

The Roman Forum.  This is a panoramic view of it all: ancient buildings, statues, and columns still standing for centuries.  

More Roman Forum.  

Rome, Italy (Vol. I)

On the train to Rome.  The trains clip along the Italian countryside at 250 km/hr, or about 170 mph.  They're very comfortable and quite fun to ride.  Italy is beautiful and reminiscent of rural parts of America.

Colosseum.  You get a feel for how large it is looking at the ant-like tourists, gawking and baking in the Roman sun (A scorcher that day.  Of course we live in Seattle, sooo).  Anyway the Colosseum is really quite a site.

The interior of the Colosseum.  It's creepy actually, when you realize that the compartments were used to store prisoners and wild animals.  They fed the lions human flesh so they would give the crowd a show when released on prisoners in the arena.  It was built in ten years, from 70 - 80 AD.

Julius Caesar was executed at this site (really).

Bernini's Elefantino statue, near the Pantheon.  The tour book told us to visit it.  It illustrates the absurdity of life, apparently.  I sort of get this after trying to find it...

Spanish Steps.

Trevi Fountain.

  

Florence, Italy

Me and the B in Florence.  Jet lag.  Sun.  B.  I'm gonna park these photos here and figure out how to tell the story they tell later.  So:

The Arno River running through downtown Florence.  Very beautiful.  Some noxious weed spiked my allergies whenever we approached it; otherwise it was beautiful man.  Beautiful.

B looks great for flying in from Amsterdam earlier and New York before that...

Celebrating beheadings in the Western World for millennia...

More Arno.

Shot of the square.  This is near the river.  Notable here is that cars also drive on the square.  Basically, there are no rules.  Somehow everyone gets where they're trying to go.  You get really good at not puffing your chest out and sort of easing your way along in Europe.  Everyone does it, and it works!  Following B gets tricky sometimes though.  She starts off on a direction full of confidence and ten minutes later we're staring at a map.  GPS saves all.

The Duomo in Florence.  This photo doesn't really do it justice.  We're planning on taking the full tour when we're back in Florence Thursday afternoon.  

Not Beating the Bridge

B and I ran the 32nd annual Nordstrom Beat the Bridge road race last Sunday.  It started at 8:30 am Sunday morning, and sometime before dusk we powered through the finish line.

Truth:  we didn't "beat the bridge."  First two miles of the 5.2 total you have to maintain under a ten minute mile pace to arrive at the University Bridge before it draws up.  We missed it by a hair.  B was mildly dissapointed but we had some impromptu chat with her compatriates at Nordstrom similarly tardy on that fine Sunday morning all sweaty and huffing in the U-District.  Great fun!

Official times:
Me: 1:14:15
B:    1:14:15


Here's where me and B got stuck:

When they lowered the drawbridge we tore off over the bridge, on the left side, ... into oncoming traffic. Good times.

I must say, though, I'm still a little peeved that we had to pay extra for a cheesy look-at-me-I-did-it T-shirt; we didn't cough up the extra cash, but we did get these nifty tote bags:

All in all, it was a grand Sunday morning, with thousands of happy Seattle-ites getting their fitness on in the Emerald.

Lake Union Selfie

Me and the B in full selfie mode, down by the venerable yet somewhat perplexing Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union.  B is smiling because she loves Seattle so much.