Latest

Urban Entrances.2

This is the door that started this series. I just noticed one beautiful wooden door after another as we walked up the hill to the castle the first time, so I started photographing them, and finally realized it needed to be a series. More to come, and I’ll likely pay extra attention to nice doors, gates and other entrances in other cities I visit now, as well. Last time I recall paying so much attention doors was in a very different place, which you can see here.

Posted by  |  May 18, 2022 | Categories: Czechia | Tags: | 1 Comment

Small Wonders.102

The lilacs were in fabulous, magnificent, riotous bloom everywhere we walked, and we walked a LOT all over the city. These are from a walk along a bike path near the main train station (left), and from one side of the lovely gardens behind the castle compound.

Posted by  |  May 17, 2022 | Categories: Czechia | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Image

City Views.102

Posted by  |  May 16, 2022 | Categories: Czechia | Tags: | Leave a comment

Small Wonders.101

I sort of wondered whether these tulips were grown in the Netherlands and shipped to Prague for sale…

Posted by  |  May 15, 2022 | Categories: Czechia | Tags: , | Leave a comment

City Views.101

The city of Prague is a non-stop delight for the eyes. As some will have noticed from the first of my new “Urban Entrances” series last week, I just spent a long weekend there, my first visit to the city since, well, 1990 to be precise. It was May that time as well, and photographs weren’t yet digital, and blogs didn’t yet exist, so very few people were subjected to my appreciation of the city’s visual delights at that time. You, dear readers, will be seeing Prague and its delights in many posts yet to come. And spoiler alert that I’m about to spend time in another major European capital city, so our City Views and other series will be showing you new vistas in the weeks & months ahead. Enjoy.

Above: Prague Castle (it’s all of those buildings atop the hill, with the cathedral the most distinguishable element to the whole complex) with one of the many sculptures on the Charles Bridge in the foreground. Below: a panorama showing the river, the castle, the bridge, and the city on both banks.

Posted by  |  May 14, 2022 | Categories: Czechia | Tags: | Leave a comment

City Views.100

Winkel van Sinkel means “Sinkel’s Corner,” more or less, and this building housed the very first department store (selling multiple types of goods) in the Netherlands. Now it’s a cool restaurant and bar, beautiful both inside and out as you can see :-). Note the advertising campaign that plays on issues of the moment in the EU at large…

Posted by  |  May 14, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, Utrecht (Province &/or City) | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Image

City Views.99

Posted by  |  May 13, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, Utrecht (Province &/or City) | Leave a comment

City Views.98

Posted by  |  May 12, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, Utrecht (Province &/or City) | Tags: | Leave a comment

City Views.97

This is the Utrecht cathedral, a major portion of which was destroyed in (if I recall well) a storm many hundreds of years ago. There’s some kind of rebuilding thing happening, but I didn’t entirely follow whether they plan to rebuild the whole thing or not. (Image below: much of that is a painted canvas which I assume shows the future cathedral as planned?)
Everyone knows Amsterdam’s a gorgeous city, but a lot of folks from outside NL aren’t aware of how many other quite charming and lovely mid-sized or small cities there are here. We’ll have several more posts of the sights of Utrecht ahead – and if you’re on the full version of this, you can also check for “categories” and then select “Netherlands, Utrecht” to see all the posts from here. (Or same logic for other places, because I do try to categorize and tag most posts so any of you considering a trip can consider what you want to see and do 🙂

Posted by  |  May 11, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, Utrecht (Province &/or City) | Leave a comment

Image

City Views.96

Posted by  |  May 10, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, Utrecht (Province &/or City) | Tags: | 1 Comment

Urban Canals.76

Posted by  |  May 9, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Urban Entrances.1

A new series spurred by things I’ve been seeing this weekend in Prague, a city I’ve not visited since 1990. Once I sort the many photos I’ve been taking here, you’ll be seeing a lot more of this city 🙂

Posted by  |  May 8, 2022 | Categories: Czechia | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Image

Urban Canals.75

Posted by  |  May 8, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Image

Village Views.15

Posted by  |  May 7, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, Zuid Holland | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Image

Urban Canals.74

Posted by  |  May 6, 2022 | Categories: Netherlands, Utrecht (Province &/or City) | Tags: | 1 Comment