Latest

Longest Beach.33

Yep, we’ve made it vack to Cox and the world’s longest sandy beach for a short visit. I haven’t yet been able to put my toes in the sand or get up close with the shells … and may not get a chance on this quick in and out. But at least it’s good to see colleagues and friends here again, as well as the sunset over the Bay of Bengal, here more than three years after I bid adieu with my last longest beach entry 🙂

Posted by  |  November 20, 2022 | Categories: Bangladesh | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Small Wonders.154

With fewer flowers now in bloom, one must find other wondrous things, and I found this little old red airplane on a private airfield by Hilversum rather fun :-).

Posted by  |  November 20, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Leave a comment

City Views.154

The Secession Building, located quite close to the high-baroque Karlskirche featured in our last post, was designed in 1897 as a statement of modernity by a leader in a new movement of artists and designers then flourishing in Vienna. After being burnt by retreating German forces at the end of WWII, it was later lovingly restored.

Posted by  |  November 19, 2022 | Categories: Austria | Tags: | Leave a comment

City Views.153

The Karlskirche (St Charles Church), says my guide book, was built between 1715 and 1737 to honor the patron saint of the fight against the plague, which by 1713 had killed more than 8,000 residents of Vienna. For a fee, we were able not only to enter the building and climb to an overlook outside, but also to take a scaffolding-elevator within the sanctuary to a scaffolding-walkway high above the sanctuary, from which perspective I photographed the ornamented window in the gallery below.

Posted by  |  November 18, 2022 | Categories: Austria | Tags: | Leave a comment

Small Wonders.153

I’ve decided that when there aren’t so many flowers in bloom, small wonders can include lovely designer flourishes such as this statue – which I’m guessing must depict some fairy tale? – which adorns a bridge over a canal along one of my favorite walking and biking streets here.

Posted by  |  November 18, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Urban Garden.123

All from another early-October sunset wander through Amsterdamse Bos, along Nieuwe Meer and past (above) the good ol’ Bosbaan…

Posted by  |  November 17, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Image

Urban Canals.113

Posted by  |  November 17, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Image

Urban Entrances.53

Posted by  |  November 16, 2022 | Categories: Austria | Tags: | Leave a comment

City Lights.3

A colonnade along one side of the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna City Opera) building during an evening walk. Apparently no performance that evening because we walked all the way around it and the only line of people we found was folks queueing up for an underground dance club. For either environmental or budgetary reasons (or both), the façade was not dramatically lit, and we didn’t get back during daylight hours, so no photos of the rest of the building from this trip, sadly…

Posted by  |  November 16, 2022 | Categories: Austria | Tags: | Leave a comment

Urban Garden.123

A final image from Vienna’s lovely Stadtpark (City Park), which I failed to wrap into my last post from said park :-).

Posted by  |  November 15, 2022 | Categories: Austria | Tags: | Leave a comment

Urban Garden.122

Posted by  |  November 15, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Image

Urban Canals.112

Posted by  |  November 14, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Image

Urban Entrances.52

Posted by  |  November 14, 2022 | Categories: Austria | Tags: | Leave a comment

Small Wonders.152

We’ve reached the point here in the fairly-far-northern hemisphere where the sun rises disappointingly late and sets disappointingly early, I find myself counting the weeks and days until the earth starts to rotate the other way and begin shortening the southern days and lengthening our norhtern days…and if on a work-from-home day the sun peeks out from behind the clouds after my last onscreen work appointment, I automatically think “get out of the house for a walk and enjoy it while it’s shining!” The above came from one such recent walk along one of my favorite local canals.

Posted by  |  November 13, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

City Views.152

Herewith the remaining imitation-Greco-Roman art & architecture I observed (and took time to photograph – honestly, there was a great deal more than just this, but even I can’t take a new photograph every second step) during my long weekend in Vienna. Above: no, it’s actually not the Parthenon in Athens but instead the Austrian Parliament Building. Despite my initial guess that this was built in the aftermath of WWI, it was actually built in the late 1800’s, so while Vienna was still a capital of the Habsburg Empire but when they’d decided to create houses of lords and representatives. The Pallas Athena statue certainly seems to convey a message about the strength of a democracy…a message many of us hope remains true. 🙂 Below, an 1820’s “replica of the Temple of Theseus in Athens,” now a popular spot for wedding photos. (The original, wiki tells us, was really a temple to Hephaestus but featured statues of Theseus, so folks got confused over the millennia.) The fancy building behind the wannabe Theseus Temple is Vienna’s City Hall.

Posted by  |  November 13, 2022 | Categories: Austria | Tags: | 1 Comment