Winterwonderland Didn’t Last…

The magic is gone. We’re back to drizzle, slush, treacherous black ice and pitiful corpses 😦

Nothing but remnants remain…

If you want to admire the above snowman when he was still a strapping young lad in his full frosty glory, click here.

To comfort ourselves over the sad demise of the sparkly wintery snowscape, my friend Peggy laid on a festive afternoon coffee:

Note the AMERICAN chocolate chip cookies on the right-hand side, which are a real challenge to re-create in Germany, so I was told. Delicious 🙂

Here’s a close-up, in case you’re not drooling quite enough already 😉

The snow may be gone, but I caught a nice sunset on my evening walk today:

If you’ve missed the Bavarian Winterwonderland pictures, you can see them here and here.

 

 

Lovely Lisbon: Stunning Sunset

On one of the few days when we were blessed with great weather during our week in Lisbon, I found myself down near the harbour at just the right time to take these:

Toledo Twilight: Street Lamps At Sundown

I usually take my sunset shots in or around the historic centre of Toledo, where I live, but the modern parts of town aren’t entirely un-photogenic either at that enchanting time of day.

I snapped these last week as I came out of the supermarket:

I like the geometric shapes and the angles, also of the houses in the background. In daylight, it’s all rather drab and grey.

A few weeks ago, I took some pics of the concrete block behind me at the same location outside the supermarket. Despite the building’s inherent ugliness, the glass front produced some really intriguing reflections. Click here if you want to see it.

Toledo’s Ice Cream Sunsets

I’ve noticed that, on many evenings, Toledo’s sunsets slice up the sky into three distinct layers. I took this picture on Monday, on my way to my Portuguese class in a modern part of town.

Blueberry, strawberry & peach and mango sorbet 🙂

Sunday Sunsets: Another Spectacular One

This amazing light show unfolded in the sky over Toledo on Friday. Taken from Plaza Vicente, in case any of my local readers are wondering.

One thing I’d never noticed before is that the street lamps, when they first fire them up, emit a green light before they turn orangey/pink. The green phase only lasts for 10 minutes or so.

[To view more of Toledo’s stunning sunsets, click here]

Saturday Sunsets: Toledo Cathedral Against Pink Skies

I took this snap a few days ago, while I was waiting for a friend outside the local theatre. The steeple and dome belong to Toledo Cathedral.

The Sun Sets Over Ancient Ruins

So, Toledo has this Roman Circus, built 2,000 years ago, and half dug out. It’s the second biggest one unearthed in Spain.

It’s located in a public park, so we have free access to the ruins. I took a couple of shots at sunset:

This is the plan, so you get an idea of the shape and scale of it. As you can see, it was a race course, rather than a circular installation.

The photo below shows part of the front curve of taken during daylight hours at the position indicated in red on the plan above:

Sunday Sunsets: Views from El Parador De Toledo

The Parador Hotels (“Los Paradores De Turismo De España”) are a chain of luxury hotels dotted all over Spain. Toledo has one, of course!

It has a lovely terrace where you can enjoy a meal or a drink and watch the sunset. And that’s just what we did a couple of weeks ago.

My friend Sara

Sunday Sunsets: The Stripey Skies of Toledo

Central Spain is blessed with the most amazing sunsets. You’ll have noticed by now that I’m quite obsessed 🙂

I took these a couple of weeks ago, by Avenida De La Reconquista, and then going up Las Escaleras Mecanicas (Toledo locals might be interested in that).

Sunset In The Park

Strolling through the park (Parque De La Vega, Toledo) on my way home last week after a drink with a friend, I took a couple of sunset pics: