and took a lot of pictures. Let the games begin

Pisa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisa

Piazza del Duomo




Inside the Baptisry




Inside the Cathedral







The Leaning Tower







"Holding" the tower


At the River Arno

All previous entries can be seen in my journal http://journals.democraticunderground.com/...

Today: Shiraz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiraz

Shiraz is most famous for two tombs, Hafez and Saadi. It also has a very nice garden, the Eram Garden and an old castle.

Hafez memorial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafez



In front of the mausoleum there are guys with budgies. The birds pick a little card with a verse from Hafez and its explanation. It is supposed to tell you the future


Here our guide reads about her future


Hafez is very famous and loved in the Iran. People come to the grave and while touching the tomb they recite the poems by Hafez


An old Dervish. Instead of begging they are coming to the Hafez or Saadi mausoleum and recite the poems or sing songs and get money for that.


Saadi memorial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadi_%28poet...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervish




An Iranin lady translates my mom what is written on the tomb


The Eram garden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eram_garden

Gardens are very important in the Iran. People come there and spend a lot of time in them. They stroll through the gardens, they have picnics there. Regarding the rough nature it is understandable.







A pomgranate




The Citadel of Karim Khani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arg_of_Karim_... .

All other pictures are to be seen in my Journal.

Sorry that there was a break in between I posted the pictures. But I wasn't sure you still were interested and also work kept me busy.

Another city we visited was Kashan. In Kashan there are some large houses from the 18th and 19th century. The most important and impressive one was/is the house of the Tabatabaei family. Also in Kashan there is the Fin garden, which shows the ideal of a Persian garden. For some reason we weren't too impressed by it, so I don't have any pictures to show from there (didn't upload the ones I have)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashan



The court yard








The women's garden


The women's quarters


The kitchen with my mom and our guide discussing it


Looking up from the kitchen


The family rooms


And our driver


Some details

All previous pictures can be seen in my Journal http://journals.democraticunderground.com/...


We also visited Pasargadae, the grave of Cyrus the Great http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasargadae . We wanted to have lunch next to it at the recreation area but when we arrived, a storm came up. It was a rain and a sand storm. It was over within half an hour. And it sure made for some interesting pictures. Near by the grave are some ruins of the palace and the citadel.

The grave from the distance








The guard, sitting out the storm


The palace, or what is left of it.




The Citadel

A trip to the Iran without visiting Persepolis, the old capital (around 500 B.C.) wouldn't be a complete trip. Of course we went there.

Here are some informations on Persepolis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis

What can I say? This was the most impressive sight I've ever seen. To imagine that Persepolis is over 2500 years old and that you still can see the grandeur of it .... The picture can't really show how impressive it is. But I will post them anyway

An overview


Walking toward the platform




The entrance


Horses




Darius' palace


Servants brining food and chairs and other stuff


Soldiers


Darius


This wall is covered with reliefs of different tribes, which all belonged to Persia at that time.




The new year (lion) is eating the old year (bull). It was very unusual to show one animal front.

Part 1 - people
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Part 2 - landscapes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Part 3 - bazars
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Part 4 - Esfahan, part 1
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

As promised now the second part of Esfahan.

First the old Friday Mosque






Mihrab http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihrab and two Minbar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minbar




Hamsa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa




The Naqsh-e Jahan Square http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naghsh-i_Jaha...





The Shah Mosque http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Mosque






The Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Lotf_A...

First by request the links to the other previous threads

Part 1 - people
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Part 2 - landscapes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Part 3 - bazars
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

One of the highlights during our trips of highlights was Esfahan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isfahan The city is just We all were very impressed. Since we took so many pictures I will split this in two threads. One today, the next coming Tuesday (I will be gone over the long weekend).

Esfahan has some important bridges, the most famous are Si-o-Seh Pol (The Bridge of 33 Arches) and Pol-e Khaju(Khaju Bridge).

On the day we arrived we went to the Khaju bridge in the evening. The weather was gorgeous and since it was Thursday (aka Saturday for the Iranians) the streets were full with people, having a picnic, enjoying the warm evening.













And this is the Si-o-Seh Pol




Chehel Sotoun, the "Palace of Forty Columns". The 20 columns of the palace are supposed to mirror in the water - if the water is quiet, which it wasn't. Sorry, I just noticed that I didn't even out the picture. I hope you don't mind too much.


Inside the palace they have different wall paintings, this is one of them


And beautiful windows






The pictures of the Friday Mosque and the Ali Qapu I will post next week.

Of course we visited the bazars in the cities we were. Sometimes to buy something, sometimes just to have a look. It was a fun experience. It is not common to bargain in Iran, compared to the Arab countries.

Inside a big bazar in Tehran


Without guide you could get lost


Ahhh ... the smell of the spices ... I loved passing those stores


Spices and beans and lentils


This is also a typical view, men trying to sell veggies and herbs they picked in the fields to survive

Fresh veggies and herbs


He smiled when we said "Merci" after taking the pictures


The meat is arriving


It didn't smell at all. According to our guide they cook a soup out of sheep heads and sheep feet. I did not try it.


VERY colorful clothes


You see they like Disney

While traveling the Iran, we were mostly in the west and south west. The most south we were was in Shiraz. Most of the landscape we drove through was mountains, mountains and even more mountains. And every now and then a high plateau. I was impressed by this rough and sparse landscape. Most times the colors were brown and gray and where there was water it was green.

What I post now are just impressions from our trip.






















And then next to Yazd there was the desert. My camera had some problems to focus while passing it, so I don't have only this one picture.

May 1st till 15th I was in the Iran with my mother, her partner and my brother. We had our own driver and guide and traveled parts of the west of Iran. It is an interesting country. The people we met were very friendly, the sights we've seen were breathtaking and the food was delicious.

Over the next few days I will post pictures from our trip.

Here we are all together at Taq-e Bostan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taq-e_Bostan


This is what happens when Iran school girls see foreigners. They come to you and ask you "Hello, how are you?" "Where are you from?" "How do you like Iran" .... and LOVE to take pictures with you.




I sometimes had problems taking pictures while keeping my scarf on


Even though it isn't mandatory a lot of women wear the chador


One time even we. We visited an Imamzadeh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imamzadeh Since a lot of women don't own a chador anymore, there was a building next to the Imamzadeh where women could borrow a chador, like us


The chador isn't really keeping the ladies from walking trough water


And at home the chador or scarf is falling very quickly and the women are dressed like westerners underneath it. And they sure enjoy the water pipe.


This is our guide in a private surrounding

Here a collection of some of my vacation pictures in the Tuscany last week.

I flew into Pisa, over the Alps







This is the village (Lari) we stayed in





This is the view we had from our vacation condo





Saturday we went to Arezzo





Monday we went to Pistoia, Prato and Vinci











Da Vinci's birthplace




Wednesday we went to Florence















Friday we went to San Gimignano













Some Italian scenes















Saturday we went home

I visited the Zoo Basel (Switzerland) last Thursday. Here are some of the over 200 shots I took. I hope I can use some of the shots for the next DU calendar

As always, I'd love to hear your comments. What you like, what you don't like. I used a zoom on all the pictures.

Momma hippo with baby


A zebra's behind


Playing with a piece of a hose


This one I really like. It's a squirel monkey


I'm pissed that this picture is out of focus


A lion's foot


Just born


Following momma


Hanging up




Geese


Meerkats




Baby meerkats






Momma stork with youngsters


Dinner time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vosges_Mounta...

and here are some pictures



















What do you think?

Food on the Market









The Glühwein (spiced red wine) stand


Getting our Glühwein


My friend having hers

and in front of the museum ...