Ladee's Travels

I have been waiting for months for the full moon to align with the Tovrea Castle so that I could have this type of photograph.  I was astonished as the dark night sky started to brighten and then I saw the edge of the moon shining through the windows on the top level.  It was an astounding sight. You can see a prior post of the Tovrea Castle, the inside and outside in daylight, click here .

I am always excited when there is a full moon.  I drove to several places this afternoon to scout out my "ideal spot" for tonight's event.  I have found a new favorite. Pending thunderstorms threatened to block the full moon, but I was happy to be out shooting.  Keeping a positive attitude (not always easy when it is 108 in the desert), I set up the tripod and tested the settings. I was disappointed by the cloud cover in the direction of the moon, but was able to get a few photographs before it was hidden.  The sunset, however, did not disappoint. Here are the photos, in the order that I took them.  Running back and forth from sunset to moonrise!! Thunderstorms on the way in and I was able to catch a lightning strike in the east. Facing the northwest.  The tower is at the Phoenix airport. North east, big zoom, playing with the zoom lens to see what I could get. The virga (the dark thin lines coming down from the cloud...rain!) near down...

Curiosity got the best of me and I opened my "PhotoPills" app on my phone to see get time information for the full moon rise and the sunset.  As luck would have it, both would occur within an hour or so of each other.  And the best spot would be from the Charles Bridge, a famous bridge in the Old Town part of Prague.  I found a few travelers from the group that were open to walking tonight (remember, we arrived in Prague this afternoon!!).  We had to have a nice pace to get through the town and to the bridge with enough time to scout out the perfect spot.  Jim knew the way, so off I went with sisters Martha and Jane. We started off on our street Na Porcini to nám. Republic (Republic Square).  In the distance I see the top of a beautiful building dome.  This is Francouzská restaurace Art Nouveau , a beautifully restored art nouveau restaurant.  I can't stop to visit now, but you can take a brief pause and look at the old and new photos here...