Sagrada Light
Afternoon in Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia. Well more than 100 years into its construction, the vast project seems to have a plan to completion, targeted for 2026.
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Single Passenger
Just one (bundled) person braves the January cold of the uncovered portion of the tour boat.
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Morning Canal
Six months ago today I began this post-a-day photoblog project. Reflecting back from the halfway mark, it has been challenging and fun, and has forced me to sharpen the critical eye I cast upon my work.
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Arches
Looking up in the nave of the Bayeux Cathedral, built in 1077.
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Les Bouquinistes
One of the Bouquinistes at his stall. Since the 1500’s, these sellers of antique and used books (and more) have lined the bridges and quays of the Seine. They’re particularly prolific around Notre Dame.
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Lyon from Above
From the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, looking east across Lyon and towards the mountains.
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Walled City
A view from the roadway leading to the island.
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Lyon Rooftops
Looking east across the city from outside the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.
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Back to Basics
I awake to long blasts of the ship’s horn. Figuring the ferry is pulling into one of the first stops, I grab my camera and head above deck. Expecting to see Ios or Naxos, I instead recognize the rock walls and caldera of Santorini, the last stop. Passengers are pulling luggage through the halls and toward their cars on the vehicle deck. A family is applying suncreen at the stairs to the exit. It’s not yet 8 am but I’m not the only one salivating for gyros on shore.
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Still Lucky(‘s)
The glistening Aegean Sea is smooth as glass and on the approach to land in Santorini, the plane skims Kamari beach with its tavernas and cliffs and umbrellas and volcanic rocks. Home, sweet home.
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Futurama
Sleek chrome toasters that evoked speeding transcontinental trains. Vacuum cleaners and radios and power tools and water pitchers all so sculpted for speed they practically had wings. Magazine advertisements, brochures and newspaper articles of the day touted the materials of the wondrous and revolutionary future: magnesium alloys!
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What this trip needs is MORE COWBELL
June 24th had slipped my mind. Across France, towns explode with the sound of music in the streets. And there are few accordions to be found. Last year on this date, I was in the southern town of Perpignan, where stages dotted block after city block, filling the city with rock, rap, jazz and curious performances best classified as “Noise.” But throughout Paris’ Latin Quarter this year, straight-ahead rock rules the day. Indie kids bang out Police covers with mangled English lyrics, others offer rambling guitar scenes conjuring the best and worst of Jerry Garcia and on other stages, serious, extended riff sessions abound, transcending all the languages spoken in the audience: everyone present understands loud. Including those of us lucky to have a hotel window within earshot of a stage. Or three stages
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Getting Lucky(‘s)
Santorini was meant to be a one-night stand: a quick reunion with an island I loved my last time in Greece, while en route to the uncharted territory of Crete and Rhodes. My first visit to Santorini sold me on a place with fabulous volcanic beaches (take your pick of red, black or white sand).
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Club Bled
Set on an emerald blue lake, surrounded by the gentle mountains that mark the beginning of the Julian Alps, Bled has been a tourist favourite for decades. About a hundred decades, in fact, as the resort town of 5000 people is celebrating its thousandth year.
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How Do You Say %#!@* in Portugese?
Probably the same way you say “Stupid Tourist.” I would like to say it was a dark and stormy night, as if that was some kind of excuse. But it was the middle of the afternoon. And I had no excuse.