Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Lawrenceville Neighborhood Street Scenes (2)

Continuing our walk on Butler Avenue through the Lower Lawrenceville area, we see unique doors and storefronts.

Gilbert, AZ - The Riparian Preserve At Water Ranch

The Riparian Preserve is an area set aside as a bird sanctuary.  There are many ponds and some of them were dry or just partially filled today.  Well, it is June in the desert so we should expect some dryness.  Paula wanted to try out her new camera, so we met at 5AM to be able to drive to the park for the 5:18 am dawn opening.  We were not the first ones in the parking lot and saw about ten cars with photographers. We were with the right crowd.

Summer in the desert and we still have some birds. Paula knows that names of a lot of the birds and I will need to ask her to help with an identification.  For now, enjoy the pictures.

Princess - Ship Food - Volume 1

May 2012 - This is volume one of the food review.

This is what we ate, in addition to the buffet food. And in addition to the little cafe with coffee and pastries.  I neglected to take the piles of food that we enjoyed when we went to the buffet.  Most of these meals we had at the any time dining at the Michelangelo Restaurant.

These little delights went along with the wine tasting that was a special event.

Venice (Italy) - Guidecca Canal at Water Level

I took these to give a different perspective. Water level vs 15 stories high.  I hope that you recognize the buildings from earlier posts.  These views are all of the buildings on the Dorsoduro side of the canal.  See if you can recall. I will post the answers at the end.

Venice (Italy) - Giudecca (Laguna Tour)

We started the Lagoon Tour by going on the Giudecca Canal the reverse route that we used to make our Grand Sail-In.  The posts on the sail-in focused on the Dorsoduro side of the canal so as we make the make the turn out of the main stream and in to the lagoon, we can now see Giucecca, the island.

Venice (Italy) - The Crown Princess docks

We turn at the end of the island and prepare to dock.  It is amazing to watch them dock the ship.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro - Sacca Fisola

We are near the docks as we sail to the end of Dorsoduro.  The map shows this long building as warehousing.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro - Wide walkways and Zippy Boats

The wide walkways make this section of Dorsoduro a great strolling area. We are now looking at Fondamenta Zattere Al Ponte Lungo.  "The Zattere", with all of its different street names, is a recognized pedestrian section of Venice with its wide walkways.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro Salt Warehouses and Church of the Gesuati

"A particularly calm and beautiful part of the city that enjoys wonderful views, this area has always been favored by wealthy foreigners when staying in Venice. However, when the heart of Venice was at Rialto, this area was rather out of the way and became the site of numerous religious foundations and public buildings; those large warehouses and vast convent and hospital structures are still awaiting reconversion to more functional uses."

This photo was taken as we moved past the large church Santa Maria della Salute and continued our exploration of the section (sestiere) of Venice, Dorsoduro as we enjoy our grand "sail in" to Venice. Keep in mind that deep tones of the Italian singer floats through the air as we take in our first views of this port.

Venice (Italy) - Dorsoduro - Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute

Our grand entry in to Venice continued past the section named "Dorsoduro".  We are traveling on the Giudecca Canal.  The canal that we see on the right side of the photo is one end of the long winding Grand Canal. The section of Venice to the right is San Marco, and on the left is Dorsoduro.