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From the Air.90

Early morning August 3, approaching A’dam after an overnight flight from KL.

Posted by  |  November 30, 2025 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam, Zuid Holland | Leave a comment

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Lake Living.80

Posted by  |  November 29, 2025 | Categories: Gelderland, Netherlands | Leave a comment

Ah, Royalty.70

Above, the former King of Thailand in his youth as seen on the wall of a restaurant here in A’dam where I had dinner with an old friend last month. Below, his son the current King of Thailand as seen from my boat en route to Wat Arun :-).

Posted by  |  November 29, 2025 | Categories: Bangkok, Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam, Thailand | Leave a comment

County Views.170

The Brooklyn Museum, above, as seen from the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, of which more below and still to come. All in Kings County, New York. (For the geography / administrative nerds out there: five counties make up NYC, which I think makes it the only such city in the US, where usually counties are bigger than cities in the sense that a given county nearly always includes multiple cities. SF is a city and county; LA county is way bigger than LA city, and Cook County bigger than Chicago. Comments (kind ones, please) that add to my knowledge base are most welcome :-).

Posted by  |  November 28, 2025 | Categories: New York, New York City, United States | Tags: | Leave a comment

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Urban Entrances.170

Posted by  |  November 27, 2025 | Categories: Italy, Lazio, Rome | Tags: | 1 Comment

City Views.270

We’re sharing the rest of our Wat Arun photos in this post. I’m staring with the photo above so that you understand just how remarkable all the big buildings you’re seeing in the gallerie below are: they’re pretty much all faced with this level of delicate and beautiful terra cotta. This was perhaps my eighth visit to Bangkok since 2005, yet for some reason my first ever exploration of this fabulous place. Just outside the main pedestrian / street entrance are several stores that rent period costumes, which you can see many people wearing as they do their tour. It’s a photo opportunity for social media folks. 🙂

Posted by  |  November 26, 2025 | Categories: Bangkok, Thailand | Leave a comment

City Views.269

Posted by  |  November 26, 2025 | Categories: United States, Washington DC | Leave a comment

County Views.169

Taken in NY County (though on a diplomatic compound) with views of New York, Kings & Queens counties (left), and just Queens County across the river, right. And yes, I did feel I dressed up rather well that day, thanks 🙂

Posted by  |  November 25, 2025 | Categories: New York, New York City, United States | Leave a comment

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Urban Entrances.169

Posted by  |  November 24, 2025 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: | Leave a comment

Ah, Royalty.69

A gazebo or something on the grounds of the Castle & Park at Rosendael, to which we introduced you a couple weeks ago. One thing that epitomizes having more money and power than you really need is building lovely but mostly useless little side-rooms like this, and fountainy displays such as those you’ll see below, which were apparently wondrously appealing at parties. (They were an early example of semi-automated, animated fountains that spirted in patterns, assuming I followed the Dutch only tour guide’s narration well enough. Which, to my pride, I think I actually did.) Still, it’s lovely – note the eagle on top! – and I’m the parties were enjoyable for those invited.

Posted by  |  November 23, 2025 | Categories: Gelderland, Netherlands | Tags: , | 1 Comment

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Lake Living.79

Posted by  |  November 23, 2025 | Categories: Netherlands, North Holland & Amsterdam | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Small Wonders.279

Sharing more joy from the Smithsonian’s gardens on the mall 🙂

Posted by  |  November 22, 2025 | Categories: Smithsonian Institution, United States, Washington DC | Leave a comment

Urban Canals.209

Delft.

Posted by  |  November 22, 2025 | Categories: Netherlands, Zuid Holland | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Urban Garden.239

I managed, my final morning in DC, to explore the Smithsonian Institution’s remarkable gardens, which run between some of the museums and around the “castle,” its first building from the 1840’s. Mercifully, though the shutdown began the day I arrived in town, there were sufficient funds for the museums and gardens – which I’d never even taken time to notice, on past visits! — to remain open for a bit more than a week. I truly hope that, even as so much change comes to how the central government of the US uses the many tax dollars it receives, that support for this national treasure & pride will remain firm.

Posted by  |  November 21, 2025 | Categories: Smithsonian Institution, United Arab Emirates, Washington DC | Leave a comment

Coasting.139

Vlieland’s southern coast above, and its more windswept northern one below.

Posted by  |  November 20, 2025 | Categories: Friesland, Netherlands | Tags: , | Leave a comment