Porto Along and Over the Douro River

Bridges and objects along the Douro river on approach to and in Porto. 

Every bridge is different. 

A high bridge, with what looks like trolley car or train electricity cables. 

A steel railroad trestle bridge in Porto.

Silhouetted against the evening sky.  

A close up picture of the Dom Luis two level bridge.  The other photographers are capturing the wrong picture.  Upstairs carries trains, downstairs carries cars and pedestrians.  If you don't mind a traffic jam, take a car across. 

Pousada do Porto, naturlich.  An inn to stay at.  

Chimney in front of apartment building.   Whatever they cook in that oven, it must be good. 

Eau de Chaves

Some water related scenes from Chaves.  A beautiful series of parks and bridges ran along the river. 

Stepping stones across the river, with blogdaughter.  Blogson made it across, there was one stone in the middle missing, requiring a leap of faith as well as a leap to cross.  A man on this side of the river told us that the previous kids to cross had fallen into the river. 

An interesting take on a bridge.  I like that the Portuguese will experiment with different types and styles of bridges.  

A smaller bridge across a tributary draining into the Tamega, the main Chaves river.  

The Roman bridge across the water -- now a pedestrian crosswalk.  

Reflections on the water.  

Patterns created by running water: Mud waves and water waves

Shots of river and water runoff immediately following a strenuous long running series of southern Californian rainstorms.  I love these pictures; in the past shots of water in the Santa Clarita wash did not turn out, but these came out beautifully.  There are more, but I didn't want to dilute their beauty by inundating you with too many photos. 

Mud waves.  The water is actually gone from this picture, except at the bottom.  Those waves were carved into the mud by the water rushing over the mud.  When the water recedes, mud waves are left. 

A close up of the previous picture.  This is a separate photo, not a blow-up.  The bush on the lower right of the previous picture must have blown out of the way for this shot.  

A different shot of mud waves. Erotic and repugnant all at the same time. 

These are water ripples.  This is a constant pattern, I didn't need to wait for the pattern to show up, it was there consistently.  

A separate, close-up shot of the same location.  Because this is water, not mud, the ripples may change location between these shots.  

Valencia Redux

A miscellany of pictures: fences dirty and otherwise, ducks in water and the water the duck is in, sidewalks and chairs. 

Principals really need to walk their school yards and inspect for dirty fences.  A neat principal would never brook (great word!) a dirty fence for their school. 

Here is a neat clean fence valiantly holding back the wild fauna of Valencia from invading the tamed lawns of the urban dwellers. 

Seats in the school playground.  A toy and plastic bottle await their owner's return. 

Sidewalk reflecting off the sun.  It really hurts when it hits your eye. 

This duck was quacking up a storm at me.  But if it didn't want me to photograph it, it either should have flown the coop or directly asked me.  But it did neither. 

And here is that promised water photo that the duck was swimming in. 

San Antonio: Water, Light and Reflections

More photos from San Antonio, Texas.  These are pictures involving water and light and their interplay.  You might think of water and light as mostly cheerful and pretty, but some of these photos reflect the glumness underfoot in SA TX. 

A fountain in front of the cathedral, the kind kids love to play in.  Ok.  Frolic in.  I wasn't going to say "frolic". 

Reflections on the bridge underside.

Another San Antonio fountain.  I like the water textures in the falls. 

Not every piece of water is beautiful and pleasant and you want to hang out nearby. 

Waterfall down stairs.  Gotta love stairs. 

Rough water in the Riverwalk water. 

This is not a picture of the building.  Neither is it a picture of the water.  It is a picture of the reflection of the building on the water. 

And these ducks were frolicking in the reflections of the building.  There.  Said "frolic" again.  That's the problem with water.  Almost only thing to do is "frolic". 

Dark and gloomy reflections. 

Another less than famous waterway.