London, UK

This is my third visit to London, and I never knew Tower Bridge was blue. Good for photos anyway.

Dedham Vale, UK

I'm usually not too wild about landscape paintings. Rather than making me admire the art itself, they tend to make me admire the view, which I think is not the greatest merit when it comes to an artistic flair.

So rather than looking at paintings by John Constable at the National Gallery, I wanted to go where he lived and painted.

Manningtree train station. Start of the walk around the Constable Country.

So those dramatic clouds in Constable's paintings... He did not invent them, apparently.

Dedham Vale, UK

Flatford is a picturesque town, and I mean literally. 

Constable's landscape paintings depict many locations in the area, including Flatford Mill (Constable's father was the owner), Bridge Cottage, and Willy Lott's House (from top). 

For those who are as dorky as I am, Here are the paintings.

The Hay Wain featuring Willy Lott's House 

Flatford Mill from a Lock on the Stour featuring Flatford Mill

Dedham Vale, UK

Dedham Vale, UK

(From top) 
Tree-obsessed friend. 
Glow-in-the-dark white horses. 
Too-cute-to-be-English town of Manningtree.

Seville, Spain

There was an incident at the airport, and after an hour of running-arounds and phone-calls (my English is so fluent when I'm pissed!), I was just glad to be on the plane. Even in a middle seat. (If memory serves, I even picked a seat -- a window seat.) 
Many hours and one transfer later, I arrived in Seville. Autumn weather, cute little hotel, and the taxi driver gave me an orange. My luck started to pick up.

I had been to Seville 5 years ago. It was late May, and all I remembered was the heat. I vaguely remembered a labyrinth of narrow alleys and some adorable Murillo paintings in the museum, but pretty much everything else had been wiped out by a sudden attack of an untimely heat.
Ah... being in Seville in a pleasantly chilly weather. That made all the difference in the world. I will say this up front. I loved, LOVED, every minute and every inch of it.

...even though I got lost 2 minutes after stepping outside the hotel. But hey, that's an Andalucian welcome session for you.

Cordoba, Spain

It takes mere 45 minutes from Seville to Cordoba via super fast AVE train. A perfect day trip! Mezquita was gorgeous and Juderia, even more so. Scroll down...

Cordoba, Spain

Striped arches of Mezquita.

Cordoba, Spain

Cordoba, Spain

Cordoba was my first dose of flower-hanging white buildings. We were lucky to find this tiny "Flower Alley" -- especially photogenic with the Mezquita bell tower as a focal point -- but all the streets of the Jewish Quarter was an absolute loveliness.

Cordoba, Spain

I'm such a sucker for peeling paints and orange trees.

Cordoba, Spain

Ronda, Spain

Ronda = ridiculously pretty clifftop white village. And what's up with the bridge!
We walked around the old town until lunch, and then went outside the wall into the open field. We walked for half an hour to reach the foot of the bridge to see the view from the below. And then, naturally, we had to climb up the gorge, which made us add "exercise" on our list of new year's resolutions.

Ronda, Spain

...and this is the town.

Ronda, Spain

Ronda, Spain

After having a coffee to recharge, we went back to the bridge to take some more photos. Gotta take advantage of the setting sun!

Ronda, Spain

The orange sunset was seeping through the giant arches of the bridge... and the scene. A beautiful day in Ronda turned into a beautiful evening in Seville featuring craft shopping, tapas dinner, but honestly, nothing's better than hanging out with an old friend.

Seville, Spain

Last day. Last peek at the Cathedral.

Seville, Spain

I had been to the Alcazar back in 2005, but I couldn't remember a thing. Was it because of the heat? Or was the Alcazar shadowed by the Alhambra? Either way, it was incredulous -- how could I possibly forget these yellow-and-coral-colored walls and lush gardens dripping with palm trees? 
The buildings and walls were slightly wet, making the vivid colors even deeper, and a mild light of the overcast sky was ever so lovely.

Seville, Spain

Even though the room itself was quite stunning, everybody was looking/walking/facing toward outside. I followed.

Seville, Spain

Tada! They were all pouring out to this courtyard, full of gorgeous arches, tiles and stone carvings.

Seville, Spain

Intricate stonework of the courtyard. Who needs Alhambra?

Seville, Spain

One more photo of the orange walls cause they are so damn cute! (And it always helps to have a couple of palm trees and lots of oranges.)

Seville, Spain

Revisiting the Cathedral Plaza, realizing this trip was way too short.

Seville, Spain

Cobblestone streets of Barrio de Santa Cruz. 

To get away from rain, we had a perfect coffee at a perfect little coffee shop, and then because it was still raining, we decided to feed ourselves rather than climbing up to the Giralda, the bell tower. (When are we ever going to go up there? We will have to come back.)

We were so wet, all the way to the airport.