Train Ridge Road climbs along numerous high ridges in Colorado's Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park, most of it above tree line. This view across the tundra reveals a number of bighorn sheep doing their part to keep the turf well-tended. #photography #travel #tourism #rockymountainnationalpark #colorado #nps

Below Rocky Mountain National Park's Otis Peak, the retreating Andrews Glacier tops out at nearly 12,000' feeding Andrews Tarn, a small proglacial lake at its base. The trail to this point is 9.2 miles, climbing nearly 2,300'. #photography #travel #tourism #rmnp #colorado #rockymountainnationalpark

Palladio's Villa la Rotonda is seen as among the most influential designs ever. Examples: Jefferson's Monticello, the White House, English architect Inigo Jones' work, (& that leading to) many English manor houses. #photography #travel #tourism #palladio #villalarotonda #architecture #vicenza #italy

Architect Palladio's most famous villa, just south of Vicenza, is Villa la Rotonda. Its famous four matching exterior elevations reference Rome's Pantheon. Likewise, the interior features a dome with an originally open oculus. #photography #travel #palladio #villalarotonda #vicenza #arxhitecture

Monroeville, Alabama's population is below 6,000, but the time that Truman Capote spent here with his aunts and the girl next door left an impression. The girl next door was Harper Lee. She wrote a couple of books as well. #photography #travel #tourism #alabama #monroeville #trumancapote #harperlee

Vaux le Vicomte, SE of Paris, is France's largest privately-owned chateau. Its original owner Fouquet assembled the team of architect, landscape architect and artist that would be relocated to transform Versailles from a hunting lodge. #travel #tourism #photography #france #vauxlevicomte #chateau

This view from the Venice's St. Mark's Campanile is little changed since the tower was erected between the 10th and 15th centuries (though this replicating iteration was finished in 1912). The viewpoint helped Galileo market his telescope. #travel #tourism #photography #venice #italy #tower #history

The Orto Botanico di Padova lies on the southeast side of the historic area of Padua, in exactly the same location (though expanded) since 1545. This makes it the world's oldest botanical garden retaining its original location and layout. #photography #travel #tourism #padua #padova #garden #history

Route 66 (AKA "The Mother Road") celebrates her 99th birthday on Nov. 11th. 63 miles west of Rt 66's midpoint (Adrian, TX) lies Tucumcary, NM where the historic vibe is thick with rehabbed motor courts and souvenir shops. #photography #travel #tourism #tucumcari #nm #route66 #motherroad #history

In Padova, Italy via Beato Luca Belludi connects Piazza Prato della Valle - a massive public park with a central green area featuring over 70 statues - and the Basilica of St. Anthony - an edifice containing the saint's relics and great art. #photography #travel #tourism #padova #italy #stanthony

Venice's Ca' d'Oro (House of Gold) is the best known example of residential Venetian Gothic architecture (1420). The courtyard and ground-level atrium (waterfront entry space) is paved with mosaics of Grecian marble and red Verona marble. #photography #travel #tourism #venice #italy #cadoro #pattern

Gardens at the Chateau du Versailles are expansive - 2,000 acres. Much of it is structured in a formal French garden style with manicured lawns, sculpture, elaborate fountains, etc. though there are also quieter, less rigid corners. #photography #travel #tourism #versailes #garden #france #chateau

Paris' Pere Lachaise Cemetery is the most visited graveyard in the world. It was founded in 1804, stretches over 110 rolling acres, and holds 70,000+ tombs including Edith Piaf, Frederic Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and Moliere. #photography #travel #tourism #paris #france #perelachaise #tombs

FLORENCE, ITALY: This wrap-around fresco in the Chapel of the Magi (circa 1460) in Palazzo Medici-Riccardi is THE highlight. The private space poses family members and friends in an exceptionally lavish parade to attend to the newborn Christ. #history #travel #fresco #florence #italy #art #medici

SAN ANTONIO, TX - 1840s: German mason began to quarry limestone blocks here. 1901: The area was adopted into the city's Brackenridge Park. 1919: The "sunken gardens" opened. 1984: Renamed "Japanese Tea Gardens." Since: A great stop! #photography #travel #tourism #sanantonio #tx #japaneseteagardens

I'm honored to have some of my Italy-inspired paintings on display (along with other fantastic exhibitions in the main gallery) at Houston's Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts. I am also grateful for today's posting on IG by the museum. #painting #travel #tourism #houston #tx #pearlfinchermfa #italy

I stayed in a lovely hotel near the Palais Royal my first visit to Paris. Across the street, this horsemeat butcher's storefront caught my attention. Popularity of the protein has declined to less than 1% of France's butchers selling it now. #photography #travel #tourism #paris #france #butcher

This cornstalk iron fence is located in Snow Hill, Maryland. There are over a dozen (more famous) examples found in New Orleans, and other spots across the country. These were mass produced fence panels as revealed in foundry catalogs from the 1850s. #photography #travel #tourism #ornament #fence

President LB Johnson's ranch near Stonewall, Texas served as his Texas White House. Here Johnson often arrived on a small jet (Air Force 1/2) and hosted world leaders under his "cabinet oak trees." It is now a National Historical Park. #photography #travel #tourism #lbj #texas #texaswhitehouse #nhp

South of San Antonio, Texas, four Spanish Mission churches stand along the San Antonio River as components of a National Historical Park. Some remain active churches. Mission San Espada was completed in 1756. #photography #travel #tourism #sanantonio #texas #nationalhistoricalpark #church #sanespada

The Colorado River-fed Lake Buchanan lies 60 miles northwest of Austin, Texas and serves as a primary water supply for the region. The shoreline features numerous coves and inlets including this one as the river enters the lake. #photography #travel #tourism #texas #lakebuchanan #nature #waterfall

Mont Saint-Michel's church was built atop a rock outcropping too small for the edifice, so other abbey spaces are layered below to grow the footprint. Also, the cloister's colonnade is supported on a tripod pattern of columns to minimize weight. #photography #travel #tourism #france #montsaintmichel

Having a bad day? Here's a tombstone in London's Bunhill Fields Burial Ground: "In 67 months she was tap'd 68 times. Had taken away 240 gallons of water without ever repining at her case or ever fearing the operation." #photography #travel #london #bunhillfields #cemetery #tombstone #badday #health

Numbers: Lying 1/2 mi. offshore of France's coast, Mont Saint-Michel rises 302' and claims a population of 29. It is the 2nd most-popular tourist attraction in France. The abbey on top marked its 1002nd anniversary in June. #photography #travel #tourism #france #montsaintmichel #abbey #normandy

Siena's Cathedral is filled with treasures. The pulpit by Nicola Pisano (and assistants including his son) dates to 1268 illustrating Renaissance sculpture (referencing Roman Era skills) predated Renaissance painting due to available source material. #photography #siena #travel #italy #renaissance

Siena has a fascinating cathedral. Locals demanded more. They wanted the title "Largest Church in the World." Construction erected a new front and side aisles (each side of this view). The efforts were derailed (1348) by Black Death's depopulation of 30-50%. #photography #travel #siena #duomo #italy

The stark white Checkerboard Mesa located in the eastern part of Utah's Zion National Park gets its name from the grid of cracks that run vertically and horizontally across its face. It climbs 900' above the highway topping out at 6,420'. #photography #travel #tourism #utah #zionnp #nps #mesa #stone

Arizona's Vermilion Cliffs stretch beyond US 89A. That road is the only paved one crossing 2.8M acres of public lands. It tracks the 1800's Old Arizona Road, which had followed trails established a thousand years ago by Anasazi and, later S. Paiute tribes. #photography #travel #az #highway #arizona

There are 2,000+ arches in Utah's Arches National Park. Tunnel Arch located on a short side-spur of the Devils Garden area trail. Arches are formed by erosion in an area that usually receives less than 10" of rain a year. #photography #travel #utah #archesnationalpark #nps #trail #moab #arches #hike

At the Park Avenue Viewpoint near the entry to Arches National Park in Utah Queen Nefertiti Rock, Sausage Rock, Queen Victoria Rock, and The Organ form a dramatic frame for the shot-of-green Courthouse Wash basin. #photography #tourism #travel #utah #moab #archesnationalpark #nps

This delicate arch (known as "Delicate Arch") took million years of erosion to be ready to serve the symbol of Arches National Park, the state of Utah, and grace the state's license plates. Nearby? Ute petroglyphs. #photography #travel #tourism #archesnationalpark #moab #utah #arch #nps #trail #hike

As illustrated in this store window, chances are extremely good that any and all of your mask needs can be met in Venice. #photography #travel #tourism #italy #venice #masks #souvenirs #storewindow

As I have done with a number of my earlier paintings, here is another video illustrating the steps of development in the newest painting "Parasols at the Pantheon, Rome," I posted the finished work yesterday. #art #painting #acrylic #rome #italy #pantheon More work found at www.barryaparks.com.

I finished this painting - "Parasols at the Pantheon, Rome" last night (acrylic on 11"x14"x2" wood panel). It memorizes a visit I made to the edifice, standing in line with everyone sporting domed umbrellas going into this famous domed space that leaks. #art #acrylic #rome #italy #pantheon #travel

Venice scene: I don't recall much about taking this photo, but I do remember after the trip going through the collection of shots and stopping as I realized that this photo was an accidental study in horizontal lines and banding. #photography #venice #italy #travel #tourism #gondolier #horizontals

Following up on yesterday's Venice post, here is the canal and piazza leading to Venice's Scuola Grande di San Marco - the charitable confraternity's headquarters which, since Napoleon. serves as a hospital. It is rarely this quiet. #photography #travel #tourism #venice #italy #scuola #hospital

Venice's Scuola Grande di San Marco - originally a charitable confraternity's headquarters - was converted to a hospital by Napoleon. That hospital has incorporated cloisters (one seen here) from the adjacent church locally called San Zanipolo. #travel #tourism #photography #venice #italy #cloister

This is a cloister at San Francesco della Vigna, one of Venice's treasures. A Franciscan monastery supports its little-visited church. Why go? Start with the front elevation by Andrea Palladio. Inside, find art by Veronese, Tiepolo, Giovanni Bellini, & more. #photography #travel #venice #italy #art

Details from a storefront next to San Antonio, Texas' Alameda Theater and extending some of that edifice's late-1940s/ early 1950s exuberance for much of the 300 block of W. Houston Street. #photography #travel #tourism #sanantonio #texas #storefront #1950s #decorativetiles #decorativetile #artdeco

Until 2020, Mexican Manhattan Restaurant plated 62 years of Mexican comfort food near downtown San Antonio, Texas. It originally opened in 1958 on a site of what had been an illegal betting site until the 1940s. A few years later it moved here. #photography #travel #sanantonio #tx #sign #restaurant

The Alameda Theater in San Antonio, Texas was opened in 1949 as an entertainment venue for Mexican-Americans, featuring major artists from the US, Spain, and Latin American countries. It is currently undergoing extensive renovation. #photography #travel #tourism #texas #sanantonio #alameda #theater

Two neo-gothic churches rise in Virginia City, NV. St. Paul the Prospector (Left, 1876) is the mother church of all Episcopal churches in Nevada. St Mary in the Mountains (Right, 1875) is the oldest active Catholic church in the state. #photography #travel #nevada #virginiacity #architecture #church

This Pure Oil Co. station on the Delmar Peninsula is a style called "English Cottage." Developed in 1926 the design was distributed countrywide into the 1950s. The structures were prefabricated steel faced with brick or stucco, designed to fit into neighborhoods. #photography #travel #architecture

The Roman Amphitheater in Verona (erected in the first century AD) is the third largest one still in existence. In summers it is now used for operas, concerts, and other events with seating for 13,000-15,000 (depending on stage). #photography #travel #tourism #verona #italy #amphitheater #roman

Near Tours, France, Villandry's Chateau boasts some of the most elaborate gardens in a country of elaborate gardens. There have been decorative plantings here since the Renaissance, though this particular design is just over a century old. #photography #france #villandry #gardens #travel #tourism

This collection of stringed instrument buskers by Paris' Fontaine des Innocents was worth every 1999 franc contribution and fueled inspiration for my first Paris painting (seen in a posting 2/25/25). #photography #travel #tourism #paris #france #fontedesinnocents #music #violin #cello #bass #busking

Paris' Rue de Birague slips under the Pavillon du Roi (no royalty ever lived here) into the first planned square in Paris, Place de Vosges (inaugurated 1612 to celebrate the engagement of Louis XIII to Anne of Austria). The square is très élégant! #photography #travel #tourism #paris #france #marais

17 y.o. Joan of Arc traveled to Chinon, France in 1429 to be presented to Charles VII - meeting him in this hall of the castle. She amazed him with startling secrets, then promised he would be crowned King of France. And she requested an army. #photography #travel #tourism #chinon #france #joanofarc

The Camposanto cemetery by the Tower of Pisa is a treasure chest. Local son Leonardo Fiboncci (1170-1250) is here. Known for his Sequence, he deserves higher credit for introducing Arabic numbers so we don't have to try dividing CLII by XVI. #photography #travel #pisa #fiboncci #math #italy #travel

This sign graced the front of Accordéon Paris at 80 rue Daguerre, Paris in 1999 when I took this photo. The shop closed in 2012, but was reopened under new ownership in 2013. The location of the sign is unknown. #photography #travel #tourism #paris #france #accordion #music #graphic #sign