In recent days I have found that I am in the mood to post pictures here, a break from my sometimes lengthy posts. I so have a few of those I want to get to, but pictures are what you are going to get again today. Consider each one worth the proverbial thousand words.

I’ve never been to Denmark, but supposedly Copenhagen’s waterfront looks like this.

We went to see the Mini-Europe theme park in Brussels. Actually, I was dragged there. There was no way Vivian would have gotten me there if it wasn’t right besides The Atomium, which I really wanted to see. My initial impression of Mini-Europe wasn’t all that enthusiastic, and eight months later, after having had time to reflect, I still think it was a waste of money. Maybe it is just my personality; I have never seen the appeal of Disneyland or Disney World – much to my children’s chagrin. I think my son and daughter felt a little culturally deprived growing up as the only people they knew who had never had that Disney experience. My response was: “Your friends have all been to Florida, and nowhere else. you have been to London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and a dozen other places in Europe. Obviously you have been poorly treated because you have not been to Florida.”

A ten foot tall version of the Eiffel Tower fails to inspire when you are close to it, but if you didn’t realize it was a model you might be impressed.

The bull ring in Seville, Spain. My interior crowd shot looks almost real.

Maybe Mini-Europe would make sense if it was in Florida. It did strike me as silly though to have this theme park of attractions that were only a few hours drive away. Or maybe I just didn’t have the right attitude: it was sunny and hot and I was probably a little jet lagged. Enjoy the photos.

Vesuvius doesn’t scare me. That may have been Pompei’s problem in 70 A.D. – and they should have been scared.

I will admit I had never before heard of the Széchenyi Medicinal Bath in Budapest. And I wondered that the only thing from Hungary considered worthy of inclusion in Mini-Europe was a spa. I does look interesting though – maybe I will check it out in the next European vacation.