So obviously this particular Borkum lighthouse is newer than the one we’ve shown you before which is labeled on maps as “New Lighthouse.” The distinction is that this one -unlike the other two we saw in our short stay on Borkum – seems still to actually function as lighthouse and is thus locked away behind gates and all. We still haven’t actually shown you the original “old lighthouse,” but bear with us and we will :-).
Last photos from the airplane when I left SF after my last US visit in early April, all three in order in which they were taken as our plane flew north along the central valley not long after take-off from SFO. I’m reasonably confident that’s Lake Beryessa in the first photo, and then more of the Snow Mountain Wilderness area.
With mountains can come waterfalls, so I’ve saved for the end these last two shots of the lovely waterfall we visited down in the valley below the road you see in the photo below. This particular series will now go dormant until I am again close enough to anything I can legitimately call a mountain to take appealing photos. A few trips expected in late August and September might conceivably make that possible…
My recent outing to the museum at Paleis Het Loo, spurred by that Guardian article my friend Steve linked me to, has caused me to decide I should start a new series on royal – related locations. After all, royals since time began have generally had privileges, as well as residences, gardens and even vehicles (e.g. below from an exhibit in the former royal stables) that most humans at any given time or place couldn’t dream of. Into this new category might have gone one or two of the post from our visit last year to Vienna — in a nation now no longer a monarchy, but still earning tourist income from visitors come to see those residences. Or perhaps some posts from those royal residences of Rajasthan which I visited more than 13 years ago, that both inspired me with their beauty and troubled me as indications of a hugely unjust socio-political system. Thus my name for this new series: I’m wanting to admire the beauty while I question the socio-political system, along with all socio-political systems (e.g. late-modern capitalism and its manifestations in the land of my birth) which allow power and wealth to concentrate, often in dynastic and family lines one way or another. Ugh, wealth, power and its perquisites. And yes, those gardens you see through the gilded-fruit-tree window decoration below are gardens whose canals you’ve already seen a few times :-). Gilded fruit trees: lovely but rather quintessentially “ah, royal,” don’t you agree?
These shots were all taken in Beatrixpark, south and east of where I used to live. We wandered over there in order to see more delegations in the festive starting parade for the Amsterdam World Gymnaestrada 2023 two weekends ago. It’s apparently a non-competitive gymnastics gathering that began here in A’dam 70 years ago (?), and aside from watching the flags and seeing which ones we recognized, we enjoyed seeing how much fun the highly diverse (in age most notably) the walkers were having with each other and the event. African, Asian and South American nations were generally less represented than European nations, but I was happy to see Zimbabwe bringing up the end of the alphabet, just before the very large Netherlands contingent, who as host country were the last delegation. It was also fun to note the occasional country that snuck in out of alphabetical order – generally more fun and less formal than you’ll see on TV with things like the Olympics :-).
In July, work trips took me to Berlin for a few days of meetings and then to Brussels for a few more days of meetings shortly thereafter. Though completely exhausted on my only overnight-evening there (super early train down, after being out late enough to take some of those “City Lights” photos I’ve just been posting, if you want to know…), I still managed to get out for a walk and found quite a lot of stimulating visuals. 🙂 This modern tourist attraction sits right next to the memorial that I’m also showing you below, in quite an interesting juxtaposition.
Borkum’s ferry port (shown above as our ferry pulled away en route back to Emden) is on the more protected south side of the island, while its main town is on west end. The shot below was taken a few minutes later, heading west along the south side before turning due south to reach the mouth of Ems, where Emden is located.
Last views of this mountaintop resort village north of Erbil, which we first showed you in post that went up three months ago. There’ll still be a couple more posts from that visit, but we’ve nearly emptied that particular folder…
Last possible use of the lovely palace gardens at Paleis Het Loo as my excuse for not biking out of town to take some photos of a waterway that more fully meets the criteria for a Country Canal…because there are no more waterway shots from that lovely afternoon, which by the way was the Sunday (!) on which I returned home, opened my email, and learned that the owners of my last apartment were making me move. (I’m told that new laws give more protection to renters, so many owners are turfing folks out now while they still can.) I still haven’t shown you the actual gardens or palace building, so as apology and taste of things to come, this shot below in which a visible wee waterway that also resembles a canal manages to qualify it for Paul’s own self-imposed definitions. 🙂
More views from atop the spire of the Michelskirche in HH: above, looking south to the Elbe (the roof with many peaks is the dramatic and still new Elbphilharmonie building); below, looking north again to the Binnen and Aussenalster.
(so much world, so little time....) 