H-Bomb’s Friday Photo

H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 33: a riotous marketplace in Marrakesh

Posted on September 27, 2013 by H-Bomb

Welcome to what, in the Northern Hemisphere, is the first Friday of autumn! (And if you’re reading this from below the equator, happy first Friday of the spring!) Fresh off my appearance this month as a quiz show contestant, I’ve registered to audition in early October for another game show: “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Wish me luck with that!

As that audition approaches, I’ll have to fill out the written application and brush up on my trivia. But I’ll get to that stuff later. Right now, it’s time for another featured image from my travels. Our newest photo of the week comes from Morocco, and specifically from the city of Marrakesh. With a population of just over 900,000, Marrakesh is the fourth-largest city in Morocco; historically it often served as the capital of the Moroccan Kingdom. (Today, the capital city of Morocco is Rabat.)

The focal point of Marrakech’s medina (old city) is its vast central square and open-air marketplace that’s called the Jemaa el Fna. That square is well-known as a symbol of the city. Most notably perhaps, it appeared in several scenes in the great Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). Here’s a view looking towards the Jemaa el Fna at dusk:

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Rising up in the background is the minaret of the Koutoubia mosque. As you can see, the marketplace pulses with activity after the sun goes down; at that time it fills with stalls peddling street food and produce. If you look closely, you can see steam rising up from some of those stalls.

This photo was taken during my visit to Morocco in February 2011.

Would you like to visit Morocco?

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 32: lamps for sale in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar

Posted on September 20, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Friday! This week began with me being a contestant on an American quiz show. It was one of my best experiences ever! More about it in a new post that’s coming on Sunday! And tomorrow afternoon, I’m heading to JFK International Airport — but not to embark on any travels. What’s bringing me to JFK is my in-person interview in connection with my application for the Global Entry program. Assuming that I’m approved, whenever I return to the United States from overseas travel I’ll be able to bypass the immigration line at the airport — at least so long as my point of entry to the U.S. is one of the over 30 airports participating in the program.

So it’s going to be a fun-filled weekend. But now it’s time for me to share with you a new featured photograph. This week’s Friday Photo comes from the exotic city of Istanbul, and specifically from its sprawling covered marketplace known as the Grand Bazaar. Within the confines of the Grand Bazaar you’ll find over 3,000 shops; and 61 covered streets criscross its 75.8 acres of floor space. Many of its vendors sell glass lamps, which tend to be stunningly beautiful and colourful. Here’s a look at the merchandise that was available from one such purveyor of lanterns on the day of my visit:

lamps

This photo was taken during my trip to Istanbul that took place from December 2012 to January 2013.

Would you like to go shopping in the Grand Bazaar?

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 31: a house on a 29-foot pole in Los Angeles

Posted on September 13, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Friday the 13th! As an explorer, I draw inspiration from the achievements of Voyager 1 — which, scientists announced this week, became the first man-made object to enter interstellar space. Launched in 1977, that space probe has now traveled roughly 11.7 billion miles from Earth. Kind of makes my own wanderings seem pathetic in comparison. 🙂 But I do what I can. (Note: many news articles have stated that Voyager 1 has left the solar system. But technically that’s not quite true; the probe still needs to pass through the Oort cloud, a region of comets that orbit the sun. Voyager 1 won’t even reach the Oort cloud for another 300 years or so, and it won’t transcend the outer edge of that region — thereby officially bidding adieu to the solar system –until about 30,000 years down the road.)

Speaking of my own, Earth-based travels, it’s time for another photo drawn from one of my previous trips. This week’s image comes from Los Angeles. It’s a very unusual house. Called the Chemosphere, this residence is octagonal-shaped, which would be distinctive enough; but what truly makes it unique is that it stands atop a 29-foot concrete pole.

The Chemosphere, a distinctive octagonal house that stands on a 30-foot pole, peeks above the treetops. This abode was designed by the architect John Lautner in 1960.

Here, the Chemosphere — which was designed in 1960 by the architect John Lautner, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright — can be seen peeking above the treetops. (This is as close as I was able to get to the Chemosphere; it’s privately owned and its driveway is gated.)

Although as you may recall I was just in Los Angeles a couple of weekends ago, this photo was taken during one of my earlier visits to that city, in September 2012.

Would you like to live in a house like this?

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 30: a transported temple in Egypt

Posted on September 6, 2013 by H-Bomb

Greetings. It’s Friday, my favourite day of the week! And as we approach the beginning of autumn here in New York City, we’ve been enjoying spectacular weather. I hope it’s nice where you are, too.

Today we have a new weekly photo. Our latest featured image comes from Abu Simbel in the southern part of Egypt. In that town you can find a pair of temples. Here’s a glimpse at the façade of the larger of the two, known as the Great Temple:

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The two temples at the site were constructed in the 13th century B.C. under the direction of the pharaoh Ramses II, also known as Ramses the great; four statues of him sit in front of the façade. Each of the statues is some 66 feet in height.

The temples were originally built on the shore of the Nile; but after standing there for over 3,000 years, they had to be moved when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s, in order to avoid being submerged. (The construction of the dam resulted in the creation of Lake Nasser, the largest man-made lake in the world, which inundated the area where the temples had stood). The temples were broken down into blocks and reassembled on higher ground; the relocation, a truly amazing feat of engineering, took about four years.

This photo was taken during my visit to Egypt in September 2012. At that time — 19 months after the revolution that deposed President Hosni Mubarak — conditions in Egypt were relatively stable, and it was safe for tourists such as me to visit most areas of the country. But in July 2013, Mubarak’s democratically elected successor, Mohamed Morsi, was himself ousted, and much turmoil and strife have ensued. For the sake of the Egyptian people — a people that I found to be friendly and hospitable — I hope that peace and stability will soon return to their land.

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H-Bomb’s Friday photo, week 29: a gigantic glacier in Alaska

Posted on August 30, 2013 by H-Bomb

Hello again and happy Friday! Later today I’m flying to Los Angeles, where I’ll be spending the long weekend (Monday is Labor Day in the United States.) But before I head out to JFK International Airport to catch that transcontinental flight, it’s time to share with you a new photo of the week. Today’s featured image comes from the beautiful state of Alaska. While there, I went for a walk on the Matanuska glacier, which is approximately 100 miles northeast of Anchorage. Here’s an example of the type of views that I enjoyed during that three-hour trek:

Matanuska glacier

The largest glacier in the United States that can be reached by automobile, the Matanuska is roughly 27 miles long, and about 4 miles wide.

This photo was taken during my visit to Alaska in July 2013.

Would you like to go hiking on a glacier?

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 28: an abandoned amusement park near Chernobyl

Posted on August 23, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Friday, people! This week I decided that in the spring of 2014, I will finally make it to India. A visit to the Taj Mahal, is, of course, an entry on many bucket lists; and I know that the mausoleum that Shah Jahan built for his wife is just one of many unforgettable sights that await me in that exotic land. Naturally, I’m also looking forward to checking out the Indian karaoke scene! 🙂

Now that this blog is up and running again, the end of the work week means it’s time for another weekly photo from the travels that I’ve already completed. Today’s featured image comes from Pripyat, a ghost town near Chernobyl in the Ukraine. In Pripyat there’s a small amusement park that was supposed to open on May Day (May 1), 1986. Due to the catastrophic accident at Chernobyl’s nuclear plant on April 26, 1986, Pripyat was permanently evacuated and the amusement park never opened.

One of the attractions at the park was to have been a bumper car ride. Those bumper cars never carried a single paying passenger, and have been decaying for over 27 years:

decaying bumper cars

This scene is a reminder that in the end, nature always reclaims her own. This photo was taken during my visit to the Russian Federation, the Ukraine, and Moldova in May 2013; and it’s easily my favorite photo from that trip.

Oh, and one other thing: Ben Affleck??? I mean, really?

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H-Bomb’s Saturday Photo, week 27: giant fishes in Tokyo

Posted on May 11, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Saturday! I had a good reason for not getting this weekly photo up yesterday. I’m currently chilling on a Boeing 747-400, 35,000 feet above the North Atlantic, headed to Frankfurt. From there, I’ll catch a connecting flight to Moscow. As you know, I have big plans for the next couple of weeks — for both karaoke and sightseeing — in Russia, the Ukraine, and Moldova. But this trip almost collapsed at the last minute, due to a booking error by United Airlines that left me ticketless on the eve of my departure — even though I’d made my flight reservations all the way back in July 2012. So last night I had to spend hours on the phone with, and tweeting with, United customer service agents. I’ll have more to say at a later time about the bad experience that I suffered at the hands of United; but finally, at about 11:00 pm last night, they got me rebooked on the flights that I should have been on all along.

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to share with you this week’s featured image from my prior travels. That image comes from Tokyo, Japan. One of the most unusual things I did there was to visit the morning tuna auction in that city’s famed Tsukiji fish market. The giant tuna that are auctioned off can weigh hundreds of pounds, and their prices are commensurate with their size; earlier this year, a Bluefin tuna at Tsukiji fetched a record $1.78 million US. Here, you can get a sense of just how supersized those fish can be:

sleeping with the fishes

I had to wake up at 4:45 a.m. to see this auction, and it was so worth it! I’ve never seen anything like it.

This photo was taken during my visit to Japan in April 2008.

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 26: Nashville after dark

Posted on April 26, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Friday, people. This evening, here in New York, I’ll be participating in one of my favourite activities anywhere in the world: walking across the Brooklyn Bridge!

But now it’s time for me to share a photo from another city that my travels have taken me to. This week’s featured image comes from Nashville, Tennessee in the southern United States. It shows Broadway, Nashville’s main downtown street for nightlife, all lit up in neon.

Nashville neon: looking down Broadway at night.

This photo was taken during my visit to Nashville in February 2013.

Of course, I don’t only travel in the United States; my World Karaoke Tour brings me all over the globe. But one place where I haven’t yet sung is the sky. I’ve long wished to have the experience of singing karaoke on an airplane, but that opportunity hasn’t yet arisen. Today, however, I learned that earlier this week, on a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Tokyo (two cities that I’ve been to), the cabin crew offered passengers the chance to sing karaoke in-flight!


Naturally, I’m disappointed that I’m only now hearing about this. 🙂 I really hope that Finnair will repeat this inspired entertainment offering, or that some other airline will see fit to do the same thing. It’s about time that I got the chance to sing in the friendly skies!

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 25: a ceremonial gate in Madrid

Posted on April 19, 2013 by H-Bomb

Today brings to a close what has been a somber week here in the United States — especially in the cities of Boston, Massachusetts and West, Texas. And as I write this, things aren’t over yet in Boston, with the city in lockdown, one of the suspects dead, another suspect still at large and a significant possibility of accomplices who haven’t even been identified yet. So this isn’t a particularly happy Friday.

But the world has always been a dangerous place and full of cruel people; and we must carry on and do the things that bring us joy. For me, of course, one of those things is travel. This weekend I won’t be on the road, but I’ll be attending the New York Travel Festival. If I’m going to be stuck in my home city, I might as well be at an event that will have me thinking of adventures in far-off places.

And I’m also reminded of other lands every time I post a new picture in my Friday Photo series. This week’s featured image comes from the Spanish capital of Madrid. It’s a capture of the Puerta de Alcalá (the Alcalá Gate). Designed by the Italian architect Francisco Sabatini, this neo-classical monument was completed in 1778. It can be found in Plaza de la Independencia; it was moved to that location in the 19th century. Originally it had stood at the eastern boundary of the city, so it was actually a functioning gateway. Today it’s purely ceremonial.

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This photo was taken during my trip to Morocco, Gibraltar and Madrid in February 2011, during which Spain became country no. 22 on my World Karaoke Tour.

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 24: the statue of the Immaculate Conception in Santiago

Posted on April 12, 2013 by H-Bomb

Here in the United States, today is National Grilled Cheese Day! Whether or not the U.S. is your home country, consider celebrating by partaking of one of those classic sandwiches! And wherever you are, a happy Friday to you.

By the bye, in case you missed it, I was interviewed this week by one of my favourite travel blogs, The Lazy Travelers. If you haven’t already read that interview, please check it out!

Our featured image today comes from the Chilean capital of Santiago. The Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro is justly celebrated; but no one ever talks about the Virgin Mary statue in Santiago.

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Of course, this sculpture, also known as the statue of the Immaculate Conception (Virgen de la Immaculada), is quite a bit smaller than its counterpart in Rio; it measures 14 meters in height, and stands on an 8.3-meter pedestal. But this is still a pretty cool landmark in its own right.

Built in France, the statue is believed to be a reproduction of a Roman sculpture originally designed by Luigi Poletti. It was installed in the 1920s atop Cerro San Cristóbal, a hill that rises about 880 meters above sea level and 300 meters above the rest of Santiago.

This photo was taken during my visit to South America and Easter Island in September 2010. During my stay in Santiago, Chile became the 20th country on my World Karaoke Tour!

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 23: the Roman Pool at Hearst Castle

Posted on April 5, 2013 by H-Bomb

I hope you are well as another weekend gets underway. I’m pretty excited; I just received word today that the Russian entry visa that I applied for has been approved! So now I can really start looking forward to my epic adventure in Russia, the Ukraine, and Moldova, for which I depart five weeks from tomorrow!

No doubt, some future candidates for the H-Bomb’s Friday Photo series will come from that trip. This week’s featured image, however, was captured in the American state of California. Specifically, it’s a scene from Hearst Castle, the magnificent mansion that newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) built in the town of San Simeon. (San Simeon lies roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the central California coast; it’s about 230 miles from each of those cities.) Mr. Hearst was a larger-than-life figure who was the inspiration for the title character in the classic Orson Welles film, Citizen Kane. The house that was made to order for him reflected his megalomania; and the tiled indoor swimming pool known as the Roman Pool was no exception.

hearst castle pool 1

The Roman Pool is believed to be modeled after an ancient Roman bath. Adorning it are eight statues depicting Roman gods, goddesses, and heroes. One of those statues is visible in the photo above. The mosaic patterns on the walls are taken from a 5th-century mausoleum in Ravenna, Italy. Forming the mosaics are over one million glass tiles called smalti, some of which are infused with actual gold.

This pool is located inside Casa Grande, the main building on the grounds of Mr. Hearst’s estate. And here’s a bonus photo! This is what Casa Grande looks like on the outside:

Casa Grande

The photos above were taken during a visit I made to California in June 2003. By the way, in case you were wondering, Hearst Castle is now a museum operated by the State of California. It’s a United States National Historic Landmark, and it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Would you like to visit Hearst Castle?

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H-Bomb’s Friday photo, week 22: an erupting geyser in New Zealand

Posted on March 29, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Friday! We’re getting further into the spring season here in the northern hemisphere. But this week’s featured image comes from a place where it’s now autumn: New Zealand. In the city of Rotorua on that country’s North Island, I saw erupting geysers.

Thar she blows!

New Zealand, which sits astride the Ring of Fire, is a geological hotspot; for example, no fewer than 48 active volcanoes can be found within 20 kilometres of Auckland’s city centre. Geysers tend to predominate in areas of significant volcanic activity, and Rotorua (situated within a region called the Taupo Volcanic Zone) is no exception. Within Rotorua, the particular location of the geyser seen here is a field called “Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao,” meaning “The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao.” Here’s the sign to prove it:

Damn long place name

In the days before email, filling out envelopes addressed to that particular “gathering place” would not have been fun. Anyway, Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao contains at least 65 different geyser vents, although some shoot up their water vapour more frequently than others. It’s one of three places in the world where I’ve witnessed geysers in action; the others are Iceland, and the northern California town of Calistoga. I’ve not yet visited what is probably the most famous geyser on the planet: Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park in the American state of Wyoming. I hope to make it there at some point.

The photos in this post were taken during my visit to New Zealand in January 2010.

Have you ever seen a geyser in person?

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H-Bomb’s Sunday Photo, week 21: reflections of Macau

Posted on March 24, 2013 by H-Bomb

Happy Sunday! I know I need to get better about sticking to a reasonably regular posting schedule on this blog. So I’ve started using Google Calendar to schedule writing time. Hopefully that will help.

Before I get to this week’s slightly delayed featured image (i.e., the latest installment of what is usually called “H-Bomb’s Friday Photo”), I would like to announce my latest travel-related news. For the fifth consecutive year, I’m gong to spend a New Year’s Eve overseas. I’ll be ringing in 2014 in Ireland! More on that as those plans develop.

From Europe to Asia: our latest weekly photo comes from the Far Eastern gambling mecca of Macau. About an hour’s ferry ride from Hong Kong across the Pearl River Delta, Macau was a Portugese territory (and the last European colony in China) until 1999. Since then, it has been a Special Administrative Region of China. Geographically, Macau consists of a peninsula plus two islands.

The mega-hotels and casinos that you’ll find on the peninsula rival anything on the Las Vegas Strip, and even include some of the same names (such as the Wynn and the Venetian). In addition, many of those hotels are garishly illuminated at night, with those lights in ever-shifting colours:

Macao casinos

In the photo above, you can see the Wynn (where I played some blackjack), and behind it the Grand Lisboa. Of course, there’s much more to Macau than places where you can indulge in games of chance. Reflecting its heritage, the territory boasts some outstanding examples of colonial Portugese architecture. And naturally, I sang karaoke there. 🙂

This photo was taken during my visit to Hong Kong and Macau in December 2009.

Incidentally, speaking of karaoke: as I’ve recently mentioned, I’ve now become interested in country music. The next song that I’ll be attempting in that genre is one that I think has the potential to become my new personal anthem: “On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson. You can watch Mr. Nelson performing it here:


I think this song perfectly sums up my worldview, because I truly can never wait to get on the road again!

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 20: an impossibly colourful building in Helsinki

Posted on March 9, 2013 by H-Bomb

Hola! To all my readers of the female persuasion, happy International Women’s Day! Today is also a Friday (well, it still is in a few of the world’s time zones, anyway), and you know what that means: it’s time for another featured photo! Okay, admittedly that didn’t happen last week, but we still have a pretty good track record overall. 🙂

This week’s featured image comes from the Finnish capital of Helsinki. It’s a building that you’re unlikely to see in many travelogues, but one that I felt compelled to seek out because of its distinctive appearance and amazing colours:

colorful Helsinki building 1

Located in Helsinki’s Arabianranta district, the building, fittingly enough, houses a design school. (Specifically, that institution of higher learning is the Arabia campus of the Aalto University School of Art and Design; the architect behind it is Pentti Kareoja.) And because the photo above is sort of abstract, here’s a bonus picture of it that provides more of a context for its shape:

colourful Helsinki building 2

The place was off the beaten path, to say the least, and was quite far from Helsinki’s city centre; but in my opinion, the exorbitant cab fare that was required to get there was well worth it!

These photos were taken during my visit to Finland in June 2006.

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H-Bomb’s Friday Photo, week 19: Nashville’s Union Station

Posted on February 22, 2013 by H-Bomb

To my fellow Americans: Happy National Margarita Day! And to everyone worldwide: I hope you’ve had a very happy Friday. I missed a week in this Friday photo series because I was on the road, visiting Nashville, Tennessee. But I’m back and better than ever! And this week’s featured image comes from Nashville. It’s a photo of that city’s Union Station:

Nashville Union Station

Opened in 1900, this Romanesque revival edifice originally served as a railroad terminal. Today it’s a luxury hotel (it calls itself the Union Station Hotel). The interior is reportedly quite ornate, featuring a lobby with a 65-foot barrel-vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows. (Regrettably, I didn’t have a chance to step inside; during my taxi ride to the airport at the conclusion of my visit to Nashville, I made a quick stop that only allowed me time to photograph the exterior.) The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

This photo was taken last weekend. 🙂 I’ll have much more to say in the near future about my visit to the great state of Tennessee.

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