Lenin in Seattle

A few months ago I was in the Freemont area of Seattle for the Red Bull Soap Box derby. After the derby and walking around the neighborhood, I was surprised to see this tall statue of Lenin right smack in the middle of a US city. I took a picture and forgot about it. So as Martha and I walked around Freemont today, I shot another picture. If you are wondering why and how this sculpture made it's way to Seattle, you can find out more about it in Wikipedia.

Fruity Art

An idea I got the other day with an apple. Just that this time, it's a plumb.

ISO 320 | 18 mm | f/4.0 | 1/125 sec

Navajo Pottery

It's back to work... This is the only souvenir I got on this trip besides a few post cards and refrigerator magnets. It's a small hand carved Navajo pot that I bought in Flagstaff.

A Busy Day

Today turned out to be a pretty nice day. We first went to Ballard to see a band my brother Roberto likes play at a record store. They are currently on tour and they were going to go down to Mexico City, but they got canceled. When he saw that they were playing here in Seattle he go pretty psyched about getting to see them up close and personal.

After their small concert at the record store, we drove down to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks that separate the Puget Sound from Lake Washington. While we were there, we only saw the small lock in use. I've never seen a lock in person before, so it was neat to sit there and watch the boats rise and fall as they lifted or lowered them. See this location on Live Maps.

ISO 400 | 18 mm | f/11 | 1/500 sec

These neat wave looking statues are on the south side of the locks in Commodore Park.

ISO 400 | 18 mm | f/9.0 | 1/320 sec

ISO 100 |55 mm | f/8.0 | 1/100 sec

After dinner at an Indian restaurant, we drove the short distance to Discovery Park to watch the last minutes of the sunset behind the Olympic Mountains.

ISO 250 | 55 mm | f/5.6 | 1/100 sec

Tulips and a Sculpture

I was in downtown Kirkland for a walk and some coffee. I've always wanted a picture of this sculpture of a cow with a dog howling on its back. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until now that the dog blends in with the background. I guess that happens when you are in hurry before the rain gets to you.

More Seattle

Ganado Red

A Navajo Ganado Red rug I picked up last year when my brother Jose and friend Tim and I visited Arizona. I have it hanging above the fireplace in my living room.

Three Cultures

Today was a day full of activities. Ili's friend from Australia arrived yesterday in the afternoon, so today we took him to several places. We fist went to Calixtlahuaca which is about 10 minutes from our house. These are some ruins originally build by the Matlazincas in the Toluca Valley. It was eventually taken over by the Aztecs and this urban center was used to control a large portion of the Toluca Valley. The most interesting structure is the round pyramid seen in this picture. There are only two or three round pyramids in the world and this is one of them. Since the cite is rather small, it's a nice place to avoid tourists and enjoy the views of the valley. See this location in Live Maps.

On our way back from Calixtlahuaca, we stopped by the old church in Tecaxic. I'm not too sure about the history of the church, but I do know that it has gotten some write-ups in tour guides about Mexico. So, I guess it must have some nice architecture on the inside. Unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn't see inside. However the outside is very nice.
See this location in Live Maps.

Later in the afternoon after lunch, we headed to downtown Toluca. The main place we were going to visit is the Cosmovitral. Toluca isn't a very nice city, but if you ever go, you must go here. The Cosmovitral was an old market turned into a gorgeous botanical garden surrounded by stained glass windows. The garden is nice, but the main attraction are is the stained glass windows that surround the entire building. The design of the windows show the creation of the universe and good(day) and evil(night). The central piece is the representation of sun which looks spectacular as the afternoon light shines through it. See this location in Live Maps.

That evening when we were back home, Justin commented that it was amazing to be in places and building that were much older than anything in Australia.

You can see more pictures of Calixtlahuca, Tecaxic and the Cosmovitral in my Picasa Web Albmum.

Sidewalk Chalk Drawing

The new Windows Mobile platform was released a few weeks ago. So, just like they did with IE 7, they drew some ads with chalk by the entrance of our buildings.

Mexican Art

I bought this last year at El Bazar Sabado in Coyoacan Mexico City.

Sidewalk Chalk Art

As some of you might know, Internet Explorer 7 launched earlier this week. So in order to promote it around the Microsoft campus, they drew these outside the buildings by their main door. Lovely chalk art, isn't it?


BTW, I use Firefox.