Photo shoot around Disney Hall in Downtown LA

Made a journey today to Downtown LA, where I don't go much anymore as it is a long journey from Ventura. The wind was and still is blowing strongly, the skies were not that old bald blue so loved by suns worshipers but hated by photographers of all ilks. There were a few puffy clouds about so thought I'd try the Disney Hall. Frank Gehry's twirly swirly shiny edifice. Besides, I'll be visiting his sister building in Bilbao, Spain this summer, so good to refresh the memory. I don't think I'd been there since "Get Smart".

This is an HDR using Trey's "Mega Extreme Do Not Click" preset in Photomatix that I have never had the desire or shot to use before. Works pretty well, though I may go back and crop out the bottom strip in the shot. More abstract.

Later

The rest of the 'Expedition' itinerary

Yesterday's blog put before you the itinerary for the "Semester at Sea" portion of the expedition. The ship usually docks in the various ports of call at 8AM and then on the day of departure, it generally leaves port around 4PM. The days in port are filled with on shore activities available to the students and most are related to courses that are offered on board. I'll go over my selections later, as I believe that some may change because as a 'Life Long Learner' I won't be able to sign up for classes (just auditing - I've seen the sylabus for some courses and I'm glad I'm not needing to take them) until the openings for the various courses are determined later. After all, the students get first dibs.

I decided to reserve rooms/apartments thru airbnb for key cities I wanted to see and then travel by train between them and see the country a bit.
These cities are Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome.
Here is the basic outline for the rest of my journey after leaving the MV Explorer in Southampton on the 21st of August.

I make a quick run to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Cherbourg and stay there that night. My next three and half days will be visiting the French coast, especially Mont Saint Michel, until I reach Paris on the 25th. I'll stay in Paris until September 11th (a total of 18 days). That should give me plenty of time to 'see' Paris with side trips to Versailles, Chartres, Reims.
From the 11th until the 19th, I'll be traveling to Venice - My second stop. I'll be in Venice until the 23rd (5 days) and travel around northern Italy until I resend upon Florence in the 1st of October. Being the art nut I am I will be in and around Florence for 7 days.
From the 8th of October until the 20th, I will travel Italy (12 days) before reaching the Eternal City for my last 7 days. Monday the 27th of October - very early - I leave Rome, Italy and Europe - thru Frankfort and Vancouver (Air Canada - travel partner with United) and arrive back at LAX at 7:43 PM - after more than 19 hours (very long one day when you're following the sun).
I put this up for you all (hackers and trollers as well) in hope's that some of you may also be traveling and we may 'run into each other'.
More later

News on the 'Expedition'

Today I received the list of the Field Programs during the 'Semester at Sea' I'll be able to sign onto during the Ports of Call. Some very good choices, though I'll be not doing the horse riding or the kayak trips. So for those who are interested (and why else would you be here!!) here is the itinerary for the Voyage part of my 'expedition'.

Depart:    Southampton, England    Monday, June 16th
Arrive:     Lisbon, Portugal               Saturday, June 21st
Depart:    Lisbon                              Tuesday, June 24th
Arrive:     Bilbao, Spain                   Friday, June 27th
Depart:     Bilbao                              Monday, June 30th
Arrive:     Greenock, Scotland          Saturday, July 5th
Depart:     Greenock (Glasgow)        Tuesday, July 8th
Arrive:     Dublin, Ireland                 Thursday, July 10th
Depart:     Dublin                               Sunday, July 13th
Arrive:     Bergen, Norway                Thursday, July 17th
Depart:     Bergen                               Thursday, July 17th  
(I'll be on a Field trip to Oslo)
Arrive:     Oslo, Norway                     Saturday, July 19th
Depart:     Oslo                                   Sunday, July 20th
Arrive:     St. Petersburg, Russia        Thursday, July 24th
Depart:    St. Petersburg                     Monday, July 28th
Arrive:     Stockholm, Sweden           Thursday, July 31st
Depart:    Stockholm                          Sunday, August 3rd
Arrive:    Helsinki, Finland                Wednesday, August 6th
Depart:    Helsinki                              Saturday, August 9th
Arrive:     Gdansk, Poland                  Tuesday, August 12th
Depart:     Gdansk                               Friday, August 15th
Arrive:     Southampton, England       Thursday, August 21st

This is where my voyage part of the 'expedition' finishes and as I rush to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Cherbourg, France to begin my second part of the adventure.

Trip to Sonora

This past weekend I traveled to the Gold Country to visit friends and spotted this lone tree on a hill on Route 59. The rains of the prior week have made the grass green and the clouds, well what can't you say about clouds.

Now I'm back home and going thru the check list for my up coming Expedition this summer. I'll post the literary soon and then you'll see why I'm calling it an 'expedition'.