TRAVEL WORDS

Little Italy San Diego CA

is historically home to Italian Fishermen and their families, many who arrived there from San Francisco after the devastating 1906 earthquake. The area went into a severe decline during the 1970s when the Interstate 5 was constructed destroying 35% of the neighbourhood. Now it is a very popular area. India Street is lined with restaurants featuring cuisines of both Southern and Northern Italy, including Sicilian dishes, and there are cafés with secluded courtyards serving good coffee, paninis and gelato. Delis offer a selection of foods, wine and delicious deli sandwiches and traditional Italian foodstuffs and there are some great local boutiques where you can find unique clothing, jewellery and small craft items.

Angel Mural: (Filippino Lippi)

One great thing about Little Italy, is the abundance of public art displays . Walking around the district you can’t help stopping to look at and photograph the walls. This mural can be found on the corner of Juniper and India, and was created by Dawn Morrison Wagner, a chalk artist.

This is my interpretation of paint for Ailsa’s weekly travel theme.

A Walk on a Wild Ridge

I meant to return to the Stiperstones in Shropshire during August when the hills would be a purple haze. Unfortunately the damp weather conspired against me but on a gloriously clear day in mid-September I did go back. The Stiperstones is a spectacular 10-kilometre ridge in south-west Shropshire rising to 536 metres above sea level.

We started the walk this time from the Knolls car park which lies between the Bog Visitor Centre and the hamlet of Bridges at the base of the Long Mynd. There is a fairly short all-ability trail on a broad, level, well-surfaced track running along the southern edge of the Reserve.

There are resting perches and a tapping rail as well as plenty of benches providing views over the area, although the actual quartzite tors are only just visible. There are no benches on top so make the most of these. Continue reading A Walk on a Wild Ridge

Bench series #41

For the month of October I’m looking for a bench with someone or something sitting on it

(any kind of bench will do, but there must be at least one person, animal or object on the bench)

Guitar Man Montreux — The Guitar Man – Montreux Switzerland

If you would like to join in with the Bench photo challenge then please take a look at my Bench Series page. No complicated rules, just a bench and a camera required 🙂

Create your own post and title it Bench Series: October
Include a link to this page in your post so others can find it too
Add the tag ‘bench series’ so everyone can find the benches easily in the WP Reader
Get your post in by the end of the month, as the new bench theme comes out on the first Sunday in November.

My Picks of the Week:

Some really cool benches this week inhabited by all sorts of subjects – it is obvious that a lot of people take photos of occupied benches! Take a look at a couple from Pauline: Inside Dunedin Railway Station and one in Crystal Castle a fantasy world in Mullumbimby – how can you resist a name like that? Aletta joins us again with some amusing statues on mini benches that are bound to make you smile as does Lisa’s bench. Both Geriatrix and Isadora show us how to relax and Gilly visits one of my favourite places. Even the intrepid Canadian adventurer Sue joins in (though not intentionally) with a fabulous bench in Montreal.

And two special benches: one from Liz, a nature photographer who kindly gave me permission to share this with you. Honestly it is hard to believe this is in London;
and a very sweet and poignant memory from Sylvia – thank you for sharing this moment with us.

As always there are so many delightful benches to view, I hope you will check out the other links within the comment section.

autumnal colour

Ailsa is looking for intensity this week so what about this apple orchard inside the walled garden at Berrington Hall? There was a lot of vibrant colour there this week: the fiery reds and sulphuric yellows were in competition.

Berries

Spanish Flag

Mulberry leaves

I’m delighted to see so much colour around at this time of year. I shall soak it in to get me through the grey days of the coming winter.

Park Life

Sunday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining. It was reasonably warm for the time of year and it was my birthday. To celebrate we went for a walk in a nearby National Trust parkland, Berrington Hall, where a new route has been created through the broadleaf-woodland, followed by coffee and cake in the courtyard with live music from a folk group celebrating the apple harvest and a last lingering stroll around the walled garden and orchard simply dripping with apples of all colours and sizes. Care to join me?

We decided to follow the blue route but cut alongside the lake and then follow the yellow route to cut across and join the blue one again. Although we have visited Berrington many times, it has always been during the period when the lake walk is closed due to grey herons nesting there between March and July.

Looking back towards the house, built in 1775 by Thomas Harley and designed by Henry Holland in the latest French influenced Neo-classical style. Continue reading Park Life