Bridges - A Photo Blog

Tears can be cleansing, and I've shed a few over the last day. An articulate scholar, comrade in fanfiction, encourager, enabler, guide, friend - very good friend - was found dead in his bed in his home earlier this week and the Tolkien community just heard about his death yesterday. The shockwaves of Fiondil's death have moved through the Tolkien community like a tsunami. I've posted numerous places and am sure I will be adding to that, and I'm making a card for his family to express my love and my sorrow, but I'm almost digressing. I was going to do a photo blog today on bridges. Well, Arthur has crossed the longest bridge of them all. I'm going to miss you, my friend.

Arthur was a devout man. He worked in China, then left when his health
worsened. Spent a time with friends/relatives in Germany and finally returned
to the US. Now he's on one of the greatest journeys. 

This bridge in France is the tallest bridge in the world. It spans
the River Tam valley and is called the Millau Viaduct. I think there
might be a newer bridge in China that has taken the lead in tallest
bridge, but this brudge is just impressive. 

The highest bridge over water is this one - the Qingdao Haiwan Bridge in
China. It is 26.4 miles long, spanning Jiaozhou Bay, in Eastern China's
Shandong Province. Pretty impressive. 

This canyon bridge done in old-style is the bridge over
Skipper's Canyon, New Zealand. 

Pedestrian bridges can have a bit more flare and verve. This lovely
specimen is called the Zubizuri bridge and is located in Bilbao in
northern Spain. I really like this bridge. 

Finally, because I started with a bridge that we will all walk and ended with a unique pedestrian bridge, I'm including one of my personal favorites, the Japanese Moon Bridge. The moon bridge is supposed to create a perfect moon when added to its reflection. There are some truly round moon bridges out there - very difficult to get over easily - but this one, reflected in the water with the koi in the foreground, really caught my eye. Moon bridges are defensive. It is much easier to storm an enemy over straight bridges than over a moon bridge. It slows the enemy down and bunches them into a single location.

I love this moon bridge, even though it's not a pure semi-circle. The garden
is lovely, the lantern in the middle of the pond is perfectly chosen, and the
koi seem quite happy. 

And on that note, I leave you I think I'll go to the gym and swim a bit today to get some of this grief out of my system. Have a good Friday.