First Time to the Museum of Modern Art

The two young Nepali brothers below went to New York for the first time in November and visited the Museum of Modern Art. They enjoyed learning about cubism, surrealism, abstract expressionism and Picasso.

Two Brothers Visit New York for the First Time

Hari and Puru visit Central Park.

The Hudson River.
First time in New York, first time eating Chinese food, first time going under a river, first time to Times Square.

Around Cherokee Apartments

The view of a local outstanding fall garden above.

Below, the view while hanging upside down on the jungle gym of Chestnut Hill Academy and looking at the running track.

The jungle gym from below.

Wissahickon Park

The Wissahickon Creek part of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia is one of the great urban parks. It incorporates the natural and build environments along Forbidden Drive carriage road above and with natural foot and bike trails, seen in the woods, below.

The Wissahickon Schist is visible along Wissahickon Creek below.

Wissahickon Park Challenges, II

Multi-use by different groups above.

Paved ("impervious") surface surrounds the park. It is a ravine that channels the water which flows off the roads and parking lots. The image above shows how stormwater has run off the parking lot, causing chunks of the streambank to cave in, along with part of the fence.

The natural stream channel below becomes greatly incised or deepened by the torrential flows

Increasing erosion above, and sedimentation, shown below at the mouth of feeder stream Cresheim Valley Creek.
A restoration project on the Cresheim Valley to rebuild pedestrian ways and repair erosion.

Wissahickon Park Challenges, II

The Wissahickon Creek part of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia has to negotiate with surrounding properties of those who have abutting homes, above, and a population of those without fixed homes, below.

Invasive introduced plants can be spotted easily in the late fall, as some lose leaves much later than the natives. Norway Maples sprouting along a fence above and Mock Orange shrubs below

Fall at Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust

Summer Trip; 15 July to 14 October, 2010

Alan and Cyane were in France, Switzerland, and Italy.

We biked from Champoly, Rhone-Alpes Region, France to Trieste, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia Province, Italy with a total distance of about 1,500 kilometers.

About a third was in France, a third in Switzerland, and a third in Italy - each 500 kilometers.

We started at about 350 meters above sea level and ended at sea level.

In between, the highest passes in Switzerland went to 2,400 meters and even above.

The map below is the route we biked, with markers showing each day's stage.

Nights were spent at youth hostels, camping, or with friends.

View Alan and Cyane Bike Trip Summ

View Alan and Cyane Hike Around Mt Blanc in a larger map

The second map above shows the hike around Mt Blanc, which was about 180 kilometers long, starting at Chamonix in France and proceeding counter-clockwise to Courmayeur in Italy and Champex in Switzerland. Total elevation gain and loss was about 10,000 meters or 10 kilometers.

Saying Goodbye - to Venice, Italy, and Europe

Well, actually, our preparation for goodbye looked more like the scenes below rather than the scene above.

Last shots of Piazza San Marco and of Venice, along with its industrial port...

A Few Venice Scenes

On the vaporetto above, and below, as a large cruise ship slides by, obscuring the Stuckey hotel on the island of Giudeca.

Door bells above and an autumn patio below.