FFotos by Francos: 2016

Text and images (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2016
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them

In July 2016, we took a short vacation out to Banff and Lake Louise, deep in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. It's a beautiful spot, there is no denying it. The town of Banff, proper, has become a tourist destination spot, especially for Japan. Many of the businesses have signs in both English and Japanese (and the occasional French).

While there, we took the Gondola Ride up to the top of Sulphur Mountain, took in the Hot Springs Pool, and went up to Lake Louise for High Tea at the infamous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel.

What better way to start than to use $30 caps as title cards?

The view of Tunnel Mountain from the heart of Banff's main street, Banff Avenue.

The gondolas, from the base of Sulphur Mountain; tourists were aplenty.

View of the summit from where the gondolas drop you off;
yes, you have to climb those stairs down, then up.

An overview of Banff

The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

A look back at the building which houses the upper part of the gondola.
At this point we're about half way to the summit.

The summit used to be a fire station that they kept intact,
i.e., you can look through the windows and see the cabin's interior as it was.

Right near the cabin, a girl feeds a chipmonk who is very used to people.

The hot springs pool. The temp of the air was in the low 40sF,
and the water was in the high 90sF.

This creepy, space alien-looking telescope was just outside the hot springs.

The classic Lake Louise shot.

The huge Fairmont Lake Louise Hotel.

A river on the way to/out of the Lake Louise area; we stopped for some snaps.

The view from the cabin; it made me think of that old film, The Crawling Eye (1958).

A confusing/confused sign at a restaurant-bar at the Calgary Airport.

Text and Images (c) Robert Barry Francos / FFotos by Francos, 2016
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them

I truly think Bologna was one of my favorite cities in Italy, perhaps because it was our home base, or maybe perhaps because we were staying in a hotel in an older, working class/student-focused area, rather than the more touristy areas.Late into the morning hours, people would be drunkenly singing in the streets, usually in groups. It was a walk everywhere, but every street held something new...or should I say ancient. You wanted the high-end tourist/retail area, you stayed somewhere along (or near) Via dell'Indipendza. We were a bit east of it, on a small street called Via Mentana.

There were lots of good restaurants all around, and one of the entrances to the old Jewish Ghetto on Via Valdonica in Piazza St. Martins was just a few short blocks away. The main tourist area is the area known as Piazza Magiorre, which I found a bit too tourist-driven. When I visited there on the last day before we left, I found myself walking down other streets. Yeah, I took some pictures, but my heart wasn't in it. I found Il Due Torri much more interesting, and areas east of there. Because we stayed there the longest, I had time to notice more of the "details."

I also enjoyed visiting Santo Stefano, which truly felt Medieval to me, with it's dark stone and flowered courtyard. But mostly it was the modern meeting the ancient, with doorways and porticos from the Middle Ages having new buildings built around them after being bombed in World War II. The student life there has led to an explosion of street art and graffiti, some of it quite political and interesting. All together, if felt like a city on the verge of change, but with great food.

Statue of Mary and Baby Jesus in Piazza San Martino

The sign looks like she's carrying a diaper bag

The upper window circles are hand-blown glass

Ancient wooden portico

Porta Govese

Translated in full: "Street of Unhappy Life"

Next few are Casa Torre Guidozagni, including the wooden door.

Across from Torre Guidozagni

This and the next few are the 900 year old "Happy Tower" aka Torre Prendiparte; it is now a B&B

Bookstore near Il Due Torre, which is close to the old Jewish Ghetto.

Il Due Torre, or the Two Towers, are brick structures from the Middle Ages. One (Garisenda), like the one in Pisa, slants and cannot be entered (it has construction fences around it. The taller one (Asinelli) looms over it. This is what I wrote about the experience of climbing the Asinelli on Facebook: "The cost is 3 Euros, or US$3.33. The top is a series of turrets, like classic Medieval castles. After climbing the 489 steps to the top at 398 feet (the Statue of Liberty is 305 ft. to the top of the flame), and anticipating a spectacular view of the city, I found a class of Middle School age students (they were all wearing the same "Jubilee" camp tee-shirts) were sitting in all the turrets with their backs to the view, on their cell phones. Occasionally one would raise up the camera for a selfie, but otherwise they were elsewhere. I had to wait 20 minutes to (a) catch my breath, and (b) for them to leave so I could see the sights." I was going to take a picture of them, especially since I was in Bologna to attend a media theory conference, but did not want to be seen as the creepy guy taking pictures of young teens, especially in a foreign country. The haziness you see in the distance pictures is smog.

Looking upward towards the first landing (there were 5 if I remember correctly).

Looking down

Looking down at the second torre

San Marino's tower; our hotel was across (right side) from the building with the "loops"

Loving my zoom lens\!

The tiny door to the outside

Looking up, it's a modernizing of old technology

The steps were sometimes so narrow, I walked down backwards.

Where you pay the 3 Euros to climb.

From street level

Metal braces help keep the tower together

More shoes on the wire

As someone living in Canada, I had to capture this...

That hand is the symbol of the old Jewish Ghetto, indicating this street is part of it

This wolfman street art let me know we were almost home at the hotel.

I went to check out the Museo Ebraico di Bologna (the Jewish Museum), which had been moved from an old building at the mouth of the Ghetto near where we were staying to this new complex within the Ghetto proper. You needed to be buzzed in. There was one guard (not guide) who explained in a thickly accented monotone that the room we were in was free, and the rest had a fee which consisted of videos playing in English and then Italian, and interactive computer screens. I did not want to pay to watch videos, so I wandered around the room. There was a touring exhibit by an artist who had painted images from pre-WWII photographs. The rest was pretty much a gift shop and book store. I was thinking of buying something out of loyalty, but considered our current budget and decided against it (wise choice, as we came back with almost no Euros left). Then I left, and when I turned the wrong way, the guard barked at me the right direction (I believe he thought I was trying to sneak into the museum). Not an overall pleasant experience, but with the climate in Europe at the moment, somewhat understandable. I was wondering if perhaps I should show him my Star of David necklace to show I was "safe," and decided against it. Still glad I went, though.

Back on the walk...

Opera is big in Bologna.

An opera house

Outside wall detail on the Opera House

At this point in the chronology, someone knocked my camera of a chair while I was out of the room at the conference at the University of Bologns, breaking it. The rest of the pictures below, most taken the day before we left for home, were on my iPhone 5c.

In front of Il Due Torri during the notte

To me, it looks like the wolf art is playing traffic director

Crumbling portico

The next few shots: Cathedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro. This is at the gateway to Piazza Maggiore, the tourist center of Bologna. However, I found it kind of, well, touristy, so I started taking pictures, but rather than following the same route as everyone else, I headed west and found some side streets I found more interesting.

Piazza Maggiore

The infamous Fountain of Neptune was under wraps for some reason.
I tried to find it, but couldn't. It wasn't until I was home that I realized that it was covered.

Trike Bike Taxi

The Old Fountain

This logo states it is the property of the Pope (the keys and crown)

I found it ironic that this was directly across the street from the Old Fountain

Just off the square

Silent films are shown in the Square during summer

Gallerie d'Art:

Yeah, those look real comfortable.... No, I did not sit on them

Old gate, new loo

Palazzo Dall'Armi poi Marescalchi:

Back on the street....

This design was on a wall down a side street; the one below was on the post directly facing it.

SS. Gregorio e Siro in the background

Selfie in front of Il Due Torri wearing a work tee

The Gothic Santo Stefano is a collection of seven churches, the oldest of which was built in the 8th Century, supposedly on the ruins of a site dedicated to Isis: