Lens-Artists PC & Pic and a Word 158: Up on a Giant

I never combine challenges but this week they made me do it. Something big for Lens-Artists and giant for Pic and a Word coming up.

I’m going to include: a quotation (instead of my usual Pic and a Word poem) and thank Patrick for it, a whole lot of photos from my recent travel back home and then back home again on top of a giant (such a luxury having so many homes!), and a short video of a Slovenian giant having fun in Dallas.

First a gentle another-kind-of-giant warning. She sounds like she knows what she is talking about. But she often did:

People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.
― Ursula K. Le Guin

Now, let’s have a look from the top of a giant. After having arrived in Slovenia with two normal-sized Flixbuses from Rome, on return I spent four hours on the top deck of a double-decker bus, which is how long it took us from Ljubljana to Venice. I sat on the right, just behind the windscreen, and for a while the view was able to distract me from my book.

After that, in Mestre, it was another switch back to the smaller-sized bus and my book (His Dark Materials, Book II) that accompanied me till Rome. There might not be giants and dragons in there, but there are talking (and fighting) Polar bears, witches, angels and daemons. And much courage, beauty and love. And Dust.

More info in the captions. Bear in mind that these photos ain’t gonna win any prizes. Post worthy or not, this was my travel.

It started at 6.30 am at the Ljubljana bus station.

I hopped on and chose myself an excellent and high lookout.

As we were leaving the Ljubljana basin, it got brighter with stylish fog passages.

The first sun. It soon became evident that if you’re a giant, things bump into you and leave a mark. Mind the sleeper.

The view to the right was cleaner.

One of the rare wind farms in Slovenia. The lobby is unsupportive.

For some reason we swerved off the highway for a while – due to road works, I presume – and sped on this little country road that seemed too narrow for this giant.

As if I’d asked the driver to visit Podnanos and its cemetery where some ancestors on my mother’s side must rest. Father was drawing the family tree just the day before.

Slovenia, just like its neighbour Italy, is a wine-growing country. The only reason why our wine is not more well-known is that we drink most of it and don’t tell. 😀

The stop in Nova Gorica or Gorizia, which is the same town on the border between two countries.

One hour and a half later we were already crossing the lagoon into Venice.

It would take longer with this giant with all the boarding.

A good view of the killing screen.

It felt as if we were descending into the belly of a beast.

Where many were being devoured yet.

Venice scene spotting from the bus was fun. Not many made it into photos.

The Venice lagoon colour and crossovers.

We made our stop and were returning the same way. Next stop was Mestre where I changed buses (with an almost two-hour stopover).

A little island in the big lagoon.

The only photos I took in the second part of my journey. Our dragon-green bus was hiding among other giants.

Imagine another deck on top of this one. That’s how my previous giant looked like.

What giants eat.

At 7.45 pm I was in Ostiense train station in Rome waiting for the train to Capalbio in my Tuscany, where amore and bestia were waiting. I reached them at 10 pm.

And finally, talking about giants, looks like somebody was having some Bull fun yesterday. 😀 The 19-year-old Slovenian Luka Dončić, NBA rookie playing for Dallas Mavericks, in his third NBA game drew a gasp from the crowd, and then did some other stuff too. Okay! Great things in store and all that.

For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Tina of travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com: Big can be beautiful too

and

In response to Patrick Jennings’ Pic and a Word Challenge #158: Giant