Spain & Morocco - 9, Fez to Tangier

Hi, On day 11 we drove from Fez to Tangier to rejoin our ship.

The land along the way is mostly arid (above and below). However, there is water as evidenced by this large lake and

this farm.

We stopped at Volubilis, a partially excavated Roman ruin which is a UNESCO World Heritage site (above and five below).

The really amazing thing about this site is the number and quality of the mosaics (above and below).

Visible from Volubilis is the town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoune.

Finally, one more view through the bus window, this time between Volubilis and Tangier.

Thanks for looking.

Spain & Morocco - 8, Fez

Hi, We spent the morning and very early afternoon of our 10th day driving to Fez where we spent the night. While we were away our ship moved from Casablanca to Tangier.

After arriving in Fes we left our bus and walked to a restaurant for lunch. This vendor was selling bread.

Here are some scenes from the restaurant (above and three below).

No one walked away hungry.

On the walk back to our bus we took these photos (above and below).

On the drive to the Madrasa (market) we photographed these scenes from the bus (above and below).

Walking through the madrasa we encountered an olive merchant,

a woman baking bread and

a craftsman making a copper bowl.

In a mosque in the madrasa four men were washing their feet.

The decorations inside mosques are often highly detailed and exquisite.

Here are three street views (above and two below).

During the walk we entered a shop with a weaver working at a large loom.

After climbing some steep stairs and passing through a shop selling leather goods we emerged onto a balcony to look down on an outdoor leather tannery.

In this close up view hides are being dyed.

Here are some of the items on sale.

Our hotel had a great view of the city.

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning 1-15-2018, MARC Charger test train

Hi, I joined friends Bill Kalkman and Jim Kleeman on MLK's birthday to photograph the first test run of MARC's new Charger locomotives. They were scheduled to depart Baltimore at 9:00 AM and as it was sunny we headed to Landsdowne, MD for out first shot.

While we waited Q277 and

Q141 passed.

As the weather had turned cloudy, at about 11:30 AM we relocated to Bush Street in Baltimore. Q031 was the first train through.

Finally at just short of noon the test train, symboled P931, appeared (above and three below).

Our next stop was St. Dennis, MD. Q438 came through almost immediately after we arrived.

As Q438 passed eastbound P931 arrived and stopped. In fact it paused at almost every regular commuter train station.

This stopping at stations provided just enough time to catch the train at Laurel.

While P931 continued into DC and came around past QN interlocking (it not go into Washington Union Station) we cut across Montgomery County and easily beat P931 to Gaithersburg, MD (above and below).

We knew the train would take the Old Main Line to Frederick so we set up outside the lime kiln near Buckeystown, MD.

Our final shot was at Brunswick, MD. At this point the train was unexpectedly operating in push mode. Also, it was at last light as they had spent just over an hour in Frederick.

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning 1-9-2018

Hi, I went out Tuesday to test a new camera. It was a short day, late departure and early return. These photos all were processed from jpegs. My Adobe Lightroom does not handle my new camera's raw files and I had to download a converter which I did today.

 

I stopped at Brunswick where Q217 showed up a few minutes after I did.

Next I headed to Shenandoah Junction, WV as I figured there would be more trains there. I was correct. First up was Q216 and then

a westbound stack train.

As traffic on CSX died for awhile I set up for NS and was rewarded with #211 which met

a northbound manifest freight.

Needless to say I am low on the learning curve with the camera but do like what I have seen so far. By the way it is a Fuji X-T2 mirrorless camera.

Thanks for looking.