Jude’s Travel Words blog’s topic for Life in Colour this month is the color blue. Jude challenges us to find “unusual” blues! OK, I’ll do my best…
Life in Colour: Blues
churches
CFFC: Old vs New
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge has a great topic this week: Old vs New. In keeping with Cee’s order, the old is on the left, new is on the right.
People
Flowers: Black-eyed susans
Cats: my grandcats
Tall man-made structures (ancient Egypt, modern Chicago)
Pink vehicles
Big churches (Cologne Cathedral, Moody Bible Church)
Art (Rembrandt, Warhol)
L-APC #146: The Beauty Is In the Details
I think I am late for this one, but I’m participating anyway! Lens-Artists’ Photo Challenge #146 is to focus on the details.
In 2019, we took a Viking river cruise, which started in Amsterdam and took us down part of the Rhine River. Our first stop in Germany was in Cologne, with its fabulous cathedral. Its imposing towers can be seen rising above the rest of Cologne’s buildings, this photo taken from our cruise ship as we arrived in the morning.
Officially named the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, this Gothic architectural wonder took centuries to build. Construction began in 1268 but was halted around the middle of the 16th century. It was finally finished in 1880, remaining true to its medieval plan, and at 157 meters (515 ft) it is the third tallest church in the world. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Its façade contains a dizzying number of carved details, none of which are the same. (And these are all on its exterior!)
Historical details from Cologne Cathedral – Wikipedia.
Bright Stained Glass of a Charleston Church
I was looking through my 2014 photos of Savannah and Charleston for another post, and came across this bright circle of stained glass from The Circular Congregational UCC Church in Charleston.
I also took this photo of other stained glass windows, the beauty in their simplicity, at the same church.
The church had a rather interesting graveyard in back, which we also explored, with some very old and historical graves.
This is the tomb of Richard Hutson, a prominent person in Charleston history. 
a collection of weathered gravestones that have been “retired”
Upstairs Downstairs
Years ago, there was a popular Masterpiece Theatre series called Upstairs, Downstairs, examining the lives of the British upper class (who lived upstairs) and their servants (who lived downstairs). The popularity of that series inspired more recent series on this subject, including Downton Abbey.
Those of us who had young children in the 1970s or later cannot have been completely ignorant of the popular children’s series Sesame Street. There was a silly series called “Monsterpiece Theatre” with a sketch entitled “Upstairs, Downstairs.” It showed the Muppet Grover climbing a staircase while a deep voice intoned, “Upstairs…” and as he went back down again said, “…Downstairs.” I think Sesame Street was made to appeal to parents as well as their children. Many of its sketches and songs have stuck in my mind to this day – and now my son is 35!
So even now, when I think about staircases, I can hear that voice in my mind, proclaiming in a serious, deep voice, “Upstairs…downstairs.”
So for Becky’s January Square photo challenge with the topic UP, here are some squares of stairs (hey, that rhymes!) going up.
State capitol, Des Moines, Iowa 
Staircase up to a girls’ school, Old Jerusalem, Israel 
Stairs to Dome of the Rock plaza, Jerusalem, Israel 
Twisty staircase at a mall, Tel Aviv, Israel 
Blue stairs, Des Plaines, Illinois 
Marskburg Castle, Germany 
Entrance to the church at our niece’s wedding, somewhere north of Tacoma, Washington 
Polar bear enclosure stairs, Brookfield Zoo, Illinois 
Numbered stairs, coliseum of ancient Roman city, Caesraea Maritima, Israel
Sunday Stills: Getting It Straight
Terri Webster Schrandt has a Sunday photo challenge, Sunday Stills. The theme this week is straight.
Apartment building (Woodstock, IL)
Here’s a place I’ve really been missing the last few months – the library! (Des Plaines, IL)
Under these floor tiles, several hundred people were buried during the Middle Ages! (Oude Kerk, Amsterdam)
Bridges: Pegasus Bridge (Normandy, France)
Bridge over a river on the border of Germany and Austria (near Scharding, Austria)
A tall house (Mont St-Michel, France)
Entrance to a graveyard (Merville-Franceville-Plage, France)
A straight and narrow street in Passau, Germany
Ornate fence in front of the World Museum in Vienna, Austria
Tuesday Photo Challenge & CFFC: Eye Candy
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week begins a series exploring the five senses. This week is sight. She says: As the saying goes, a picture worth a thousand words. Think of photos you can take or have already taken that remind you of a fabulous sight. I like to call it “Eye Candy”. Several of the photos I picked out are of animals, which is conveniently the topic of Dutch Goes the Photo’s Tuesday Photo Challenge.
A romantic couple: Swans make a “heart” after mating, in one of our community ponds.
Cheetah mom and cub frolic in Tanzania:
After watching these two gamboling for about half an hour, I decided the cheetah is now my favorite wild animal!
In a close second place are these adorable genets, who reside at Ndutu Safari Lodge. They looked down at us with such curious faces, and sat up there so quietly observing the humans down below.
My youngest “grandcat” Freddie – how can I help falling in love with this guy??
Here is my own beautiful cat, Hazel! This is an early photo of her, but it has always been my favorite.
This is a more recent photo of her, taken in our new house.
I guess it’s clear that I just love cats in general! (Genets are not cats, but they sort of look like cats.)
More eye candy is to be found in the beauty of nature.
A sunset in Tanzania
Cathedral Rock as seen from the campus of Verde Valley School, Sedona, Arizona 
Flowers: at Chicago Botanic Gardens
Dahlia at Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA
I love to look at beautiful works of humankind as well.
In St. Matthias Church, Budapest
If I had to lose either my sight or my hearing, I think I would choose being deaf than missing out on the beauties of our world.
April Squares Day 19: Spires & an Un-Spire
HURRAY! I am back on my blog after being AWOL for two days! I had technical difficulties and it took the computer tech more than 24 hours to fix it. So I am at the TOP of my world! Oh, speaking of top…
I’ve missed a few days of Becky’s April Squares with the topic top, so I’m going to post several photos. I happen to have several photos of the tops of European churches from our trip to France and river cruise in 2019, so here goes…
Most of the photos are of church spires, but my first photo is, sadly, a beautiful cathedral that lost its spires to fire last year: Notre Dame in Paris. Look on the right side of the photo, stare at the clouds and imagine the spires! We visited only a couple of months after the fire, so we were not even able to go inside at that time. I would love to visit when it has been reconstructed and looks magnificent!
The cathedral in Bayeux, France…this cathedral built in the Middle Ages was the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which recounts the story of the Norman (France) invasion of England.
We stopped in Bayeux on our way to Mont St.-Michel, which had been on my bucket list for several years. Here is the tippy-top of the abbey spire.
Really, when one tours Europe, one is amazed at the number of churches/cathedrals – every city has one! Here is the top of the cathedral in Würzburg, Germany – the cross on its steeple is lovely!
Next is Bamberg, Germany, with more beautiful crosses on top.
What I like about this one, in Nuremburg, Germany, are all the mini spires decorating the roof, and especially, the clock!
I must soon post the photos I have of this lovely church in Budapest, Hungary – St. Matthias. Inside, it is very colorful and elaborate, but the roof of this church, with its colorful tiles forming geometric designs is also eye-catching!
April Square Tops: Cathedral Spires
These photos are the very top of spires of the famous cathedral in Köln (Cologne), Germany.
Look at the ladder going up to the top of this other spire!! Would you climb up there? Not me!!
#SquareTops challenge, 4/12/20
April Square Tops: Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Since it is Good Friday, I thought this “top” would be appropriate – it is the dome inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was built on what is believed to be the site of both the crucifixion and the tomb where Jesus was buried.
The church as it stands today is the same church that was built in the 12th century in the time of the Crusades. Here are some more photos I took there.
Entrance to the courtyard of the church
Courtyard outside the church
Lots of tourists file past the elaborate altar.
It was the most ornate church I had ever seen.
The church has several chapels and altars.
Within the church are the last four stations of the cross on the Via Dolorosa, the route Jesus walked carrying the cross.
Stairway to the lower level
Wanderlust & Wonderment 