bubbles & bear

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Charles Bridge & Gondola Ride on Vltava River

This is Bear on the Charles Bridge sitting inside the prison bars of the St. John of Matha, St. Felix of Valois, and St. Ivan statue.

Bear is enjoying the slightly cooling breeze and ...

... the view as we coast the Vltava River ...

Bear Out in Prague & Making Friends

After a HOT hot hot day out and about, Bear worked up quite a thirst ... and enjoyed some locally brewed Czech beer.

With his beer, he sampled one of the home made GIANT pretzels that were offered.

Bear was introduced to Krtek and seem to have a good laugh :-)

He also got friendly with some beautiful babushka dolls :-)

Prague Castle & St. Vitus Cathedral

Bear was pretty insistent on a photo with the statue-like guards of Prague Castle, at the front entrance, but did not want to go alone. If you look carefully, this particular guard was struggling to keep a straight face and was hiding a small smile - wonder why?

Here is Bear sitting in one of the doors to the St. Vitus Cathedral

He was equally fascinated by this amazing Cathedral ...

This is one of the MANY viewing points I mentioned in my Prague Castle posting. This breathtaking view was our reward for climbing about 100 stairs in 35 degree temperatures .... even Bear was hot and tempted to remove his hat and scarf.

Here is another view point ...

This was a beautiful sculpture that was centrally located in the first courtyard after entering the Prague Castle ... found immediately upon entry of the front main gate ... with Bear, if you look closely enough.

He was tempted to jump in the water to cool off but did manage to suppress the temptation and hold out for a cool beer.

This is Bear's last photo at the front gate, before heading off to explore further.

Memorable Moments

In case you have not figured it out yet, bear is a NUTCASE who gets a laugh out of memorable shots. :-)

Here is Bear sitting on ... hmmm ... what can I say... a hand holding a penis :-) and screamed for this photo to be taken so it could be shared for all to see.

For a change, Bear was not cold - he was hot hot HOT when he finished the climb to the Prague Castle and he desperately needed to rest so he could cool off.

Before we headed off for a beer to cool off and quench our growing thirst - Bear discovered this small group performing in front of the Prague Castle main entrance.

There was dancin' ... and jumpin' ... and singin' ....

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Bear in the "Big Apple"

This was Bear's first trip to New York, with a visit to the city at one of the most amazing times of the year - just after Christmas & New Year, from Jan 7th to the 14th.

Despite the mild weather (an unbelievable 23 degrees in the heart of winter) Bear was still cold. Above is a picture of Bear at Rockefeller Centre with New York's famous Christmas tree brightly lit up in the background.

Bear travelled from NYC to Boston with Amtrak, on the Acela Express. He enjoyed the scenery of the passing scenic New England cities such as Stanford, New Haven, Providence and many other tiny cities surrounded by beautiful lakes.

The highlight of our trip was our much anticipated reunion with Melissa & Paul, my dear friends from my years at sea. Bear seemed to click instantly ...

As you can see in the above shot - they got on quite well.

This last photo was taken on our final morning before our return flight home. Sadly, Bear was unable to go shopping (for mysterious reasons) but he was rather excited by the discovery of a cruise ship that was sitting in port. It might be difficult to see in this photo taken through the window - it is just above the tip of Bear's hat.

Bear in Boston

Sadly, there are only a few pictures of Bear in Boston - he was a bit tired and did not go out much. Plus it was a bit cold for himr, despite the unusually mild temperatures in the heart of winter.

Here is Bear on the window sill of our room, on the 32nd floor, with an extensive view of the Boston skyline in the background.