This was quite a challenge! A good hard puzzle.

According to Wiki Frieze is an architecture design. But then on another site it is a European culture art magazine.

Karen, read on. The second para says - 'In interiors, the frieze of a wall is the section of the wall above the picture rail and below the crown mouldings or cornice '(Wikipedia).
I know because this is one of my photos, taken inside the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and I thought hard about its title. I figured that 'Frieze' was close enough.

This frieze is not the freeze we're having in Vic/NSW. But it was an enjoyable puzzle. One of yours Ian of Sydney?

Well, Ian I missed read, I thought it was corners of the exterior of a building. Oh, well, I am so glad you are here. I really like your pictures and descriptions.
Also, to your comment from yesterday about women shopping. This site had a discussion before about women and shopping. Yes, I am More...

Karen, thanks for your comments. I really didn't mean to stir you up but I couldn't resist the temptation.
I am just about to leave you - it is well past my bedtime.
Till morning, Ian
PS, I too enjoy shopping, but for a few specific things like tools and camera equipment. The pity is that it all takes money, and I don't have much. Never mind, one day........

dino, no I meant frieze as in 'Freize a Jolly Good Fellow.' :-)

oh... it could have been f'rries, as in Sydney Harbour.

Count me in as a non-shopper. ;0}

I also hate to shop. You wander around for hours on your feet and never find anything like what you're looking for. I have to go buy stuff today and I'm here procrastinating.

Do they still make things this ornate and beautiful? Great puzzle.

Very pretty, I was wondering how old it is. Any idea, Ian?

Shopping is not my favorite past time, but I don't mind it every now and then, if I get to go without my kids.

Freize or freeze, I don't care what you call it, it is outstanding. By the way, I love to shop..I look at a dozen other things before I buy what I went to the store for.

oops, FRIEZE, not freize.

thanks for the good puzzle

Sharon, we were in St Petersburg in 2003, just after the city celebrated its 300th Anniversary - before that it was a swamp. So the building can't be more than 300 years old.
(now I've found what I was looking for) The Hermitage Museum consists of several buildings. the earliest, the Winter More...

Thanks, Ian!

A collection of riverside shacks it ain't.

OH! Ian you have done it again. Someone mention that you should have a book of your travels. I would love to have it.
You did not rile me up earlier; I am not a riler-up type of person. My goal is to work with second-graders and my mentor is the most laid back easy going person you could meet More...

AND the worst part of going shopping is that it eats into puzzle time!!!! Which also means eating into all this 'meeting of minds' time!
Thanks, Ian, for the puzzle which prompted all this discussion!

Kate you are so right. I have been wondering how I can get my puzzle fix this next semester. I think I have figured it out. Two of my classes require computer time, one class the instructor in the past has given free reign to her students (just gives the assignments and lets us go), another is a More...

Karen, Kate et al, if you are interested, the Wiki coverage of the Hermitage is pretty good for an overall impression
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermitage_Museum


Also, the Hermitage has its own site and you can do virtual tours. Just Google Hermitage Museum and select it.

On shopping, I think my worst shopping experience was to accompany my wife and daughter on a pre-Christmas shopping expedition. It is enough to say that I'll NEVER do that again. ( I have to be careful what I say because Anne drops in occasionally)

Thanks for the history Ian.

Beautiful shot of a beautiful subject Ian!! and thanks for the great explanation.

And we promise not to tell Anne about the shopping!! Truth be known, the girls would probably rather shop alone, with your credit cards perhaps!!

Ian I owe you a huge apology. I lied to you unintentionally. I did not mean to, actually I did not know it could happen. But I could not get connected to the puzzle site. It was horrible, I started having a panic attack worse than the other day when I awoke to find my baby not in her crib. So I guess I can get riled up. :)

Oh Ian that had to be a horrible experience. I bet you had to go to a mall, which would even add to my sympathy for you.
My most recent horrible shopping experience was going grocery shopping with my mother and sister. Four hours in one store. The shopping trip probably would not have been so More...

Ian, Thanks for the info. I went to http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/
and enjoyed my virtual visit very much. Are you saying you went to St. Petersburg and didn't go to the Hermitage there?

Not at all DotCom, we visited the Hermitage Museum. The problem was that we could easily have spent a week in the museum, but because of our limited time and tight schedule we only had half a day in the museum. However, I wouldn't have missed the rest of our visit to St Petersburg for all the tea More...

I will ignore Ian's previous comments about shopping. He always quotes that experience and does not add that it was last minute frantic Christmas shopping!

Sprunggggg!

Glad you had such a wonderful time Ian. I guess that was your photo of the fountains and steps just south-east of St. Petersburg we saw recently here. You do take some beautiful shots. Have you ever enterrred any in a photo competition? Do they have any online? Do you have a website for all your photos? It would be easy to create one if you don't.

DotCom, thank you for your concern. I entered a competition in the local paper once and, although it won the weekly prize, it was pipped at the post by another photo. Never mind, it was exciting for a few days.
No, I don't have a website for my photos - apart from my Flickr pages. There are a More...

DotCom, the direct address for my Flickr page is

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30761649@N00/

I hope you enjoy the photos

12/30/07