Sunday Road Trip: Salisbury

Our adventure this time was to Salisbury where we took a nice walking tour, visited the cathedral, had a spot of lunch and saw part of the WWI celebration.

Population of around 40,000, Salisbury, like many English cities is a mix of old and new. The building on the corner dates from the 1200s.

I love the mix of old style house with a new modern clothing store at ground level.

This started as a lord's house and is now the movie theatre with 5 screens tucked behind the frontage here.

This structure was used to provide shelter during the Sunday market - each type of food or trade gathered together. This are was for the dairy - milk, cheese, butter ...

This one is part of a large inn and now houses a shopping mall - kind of a shame, but they've worked hard to maintain the original architecture.

Our first view of the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral they're hosting an art installation of paper doves. There was a baptism in progress when we visited.

And outside, they had a large display of WWI items in celebration of the end of the war.

Back in the center of town, the parade was about to start. 

Sunday Road Trip: Blenheim Palace

It's summer in England which means it's time to continue the Sunday Road Trip! This adventure took us to a Food festival at Blenheim Palace. I didn't get any photos of the festival itself - just a bunch of food tents, but we then walked up to the palace and had a walk around the man made lake. A bit overcast for nice photos, but you'll get the idea.

The roses were just starting to bloom.

The gardens are huge at Blenheim and designed by a famous UK garden designer called Capability Brown. He built a huge man made lake, changed the whole topography of the place and plants lots and lots of trees. The palace shows a video of his design - just amazing what he did and mostly through hand labor. He started in 1763 and it took almost 10 years to complete.

A cute little duck family also enjoying the grounds.

This is a poor photo of the formal gardens just off the back of the palace.

And here's a photo of the front of the palace itself from a previous visit.

Tales from the Galapagos: Genovesa Island - Prince Phillip's Steps

Our last excursion of the cruise was to a different part of Genovesa (bird) Island - Prince Phillip's steps, which were built for a visit from Prince Phillip from England to the area. They weren't as 'royal' as you might think as you'll see in the photos below. Another bird extravaganza!

On the way, we saw some of the Galapagos penguins (we even got to snorkel with them that morning). Unfortunately, my camera was packed away in our backpack so I couldn't get a shot of them. They're much smaller than the Antarctica relatives and the only penguins to live in the Northern hemisphere.

Here's a good view of the steps. Clearly Prince Phillip was a lot younger when he visited!

This scruffy juvenile booby seems to be trying to communicate.
 

There were so many birds here you had to watch where you stepped! They certainly weren't going to move for us.

A nice pair of frigate birds and their nest. You can see the male sitting on the nest - the female will take her turn as well.

And finally a perfect shot of a red-footed booby where you can see their red feet and how they can perch on branches.

Our goal on this hike was to spot a short-eared owl - one of only 2 predators in the Galapagos. The lighting isn't great, but you get the idea. They look a lot like North American barn owls, which is where they migrated from.

The owls sit patiently waiting for little kestrel birds to land and then strike.
 

I think this might be a little mockingbird.

And this looks like a nesting place for one of the owls - lots of feathers and poop to mark the owl's territory. They are very territorial and will chase other owls away from their area as needed.
 

This photo gives you a sense of the terrain - every island so different.

Coming back down the 'steps'.

And that's my last Galapagos post. :( The next day we headed back to Quito and then back home. What a truly amazing trip!

Tales from the Galapagos: Genovesa Island - Darwin's Bay

This first stop on Genovesa Island was a walk along Darwin's Bay. A beautiful mangrove area with sooo many birds!

We saw this male frigate bird shortly after getting out of the panga and I snapped it to make sure I had at least one photo (we hadn't seen any males with the red pouch inflated yet). Little did I know that we were about to see so many more!

A lava gull pair and a sense of the terrain - very different than the other islands.

And, of course, a roly poly sea lion.

Here's a better photo of the male frigate bird. They inflate this red pouch to attract females during mating season. It can take them up to 20 minutes to inflate the pouch and then it stays inflated for days - we even saw a few flying with pouch inflated.

This gives you an idea of how many birds there were on this island. Clearly a favorite spot!

A yellow crowned night heron perched near a prickly pear cactus.

And the beautiful red-footed booby. The blue-footed get all the press because of their feet color but just look at the gorgeous bill and soft-looking downy feathers on these guys. I so wanted to reach out and feel that head to see if it was as soft as it looked.

The prickly pear are much taller here and of course a lot older too.

A Nasca booby pair discussing their nest.

Tucked up in the mangrove branches was this adorable little chick. We even got to see momma feeding it. They regurgitate food for the little ones.

A view of the bay and our pangas coming back from the ship to collect us.

Tales from the Galapagos: Bartolome Island

Up and out the door before breakfast to beat the heat on this uphill climb to one of the most photographed lookout points in the Galapagos, Bartolome Island.

A pretty barren place - the grey bits are shrubs that can lie dormant during the dry season. They're so equally spaces because they are territorial plants to ensure each plant gets enough nutrients to thrive.

This cactus is believed to be the first to populate the island. The seeds most likely carried in by a bird poop and able to sprout in the that tiny bit of 'soil'. Just amazing.

Luckily, the park service installed this trail a few years ago to make the trek safer and minimize erosion. It was up and up but gradual enough and with four rest areas so not too bad.

And because we left so early, we avoided the heat and got to see the sunrise.

At the summit, you get this stunning view of the islands.

The crater in the middle is the original point of the volcano that created this island and has since begun to sink back down into the ocean.