Early morning at the Duomo

I've been Milan far over 100 times, changing trains, bus or planes for about 37 years, but I've never stopped there. Until yesterday. The sheer beauty of the Duomo, Milan's cathedral...

It's another Hétfő fal, folks!

Mr Rubik, who will always be in our memories, is a Hungarian citizen, and still lives in Buda. Not in Pest: in Buda I said! Anyway, he left at least this other mark, not in Buda, but in Pest!
Confused? This too will pass, no worries!
Check out more Monday Murals, right here!

When in Rome...

Oops, sorry: not Rome, my apologies. This was in Split, Croatia, yesterday, while having a hearty breakfast at the"Caffé de Floré".
The guys posed for selfies, from mostly Asian tourists. And didn't even ask for money!
Explanation. Former roman emperor Diocletian, after quitting his day job, has himself a "retirement villa" built. A huge palace in the place which would become Spalato in italian, Split in croatian.

Weekend!

It's the week's end, and it's black and white all the way from Split, Croatia!

Books on wheels

Bringing culture to the needy!

600.000

This the magnificent great synagogue of Budapest. Very impressive building, the second largest synagogue in the world, but rather strange: built by Christians, looking like a church dressed in Moorish garb, with an organ (Liszt and Saint-Saens played on it), an altar at the end, instead of a more traditional bimah, at the center... Budapest Jews have their own form of Judaism, called neologia, the new word in Greek.
As for this blog's title: 600.000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in Budapest, Auschwitz and Birkenau, in 2 months, according to my guide...
More about the synagogue here, and more about local Jewish history here

Having a break

I'm in Budapest for a few days. Ever heard of pop up parks? Me neither. Here is parts of one.
Feel free to use this ping pong table! But: BYOB, bring your own balls.

Hétfő fal

Oh deer, what does this title mean???Well, it means means monday mural in Hungarian, according to Big Brother Google. Seen in Budapest this morning. Lovely city, but too much rain...
More Monday Murals here.
I confess: I went to a McDonalds this morning, sheltering from a thunderstorm. I had a hungarian "eszpresszo".

ROADTRIP!!!

I'm off, for a week or 2, to south-eastern Europe, to Hungary, Serbia, Kosovo, Crna Gorn (aka Montenegro, the black mountain, hoping I wont start WW3 there), Macedonia, maybe Greece, eventually Turkey. Plan subject to my whim. Not sure about internet strength down there, I might not be able to post every day.
Anyway, c ya, leaving in a few hours, at 3 AM, yawn.
Oh yeah: no plane involved. Coach, trains, ferries.

Light from above

Tis the weekend, and it's black and white! Join me here!

Lunchbreak

On the new wooden floating walkway on the Ill river.

Green

It is very hot. hings tend to dry out. Thanks to the almost nightly thunderstorms, but please: no flooding!!!

A whiff of eastern Europe...and of Paris

Some parts of St Peter the Young church reminds me of places I've seen in Eastern Europe...

And some others, newer ones, of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris

An indoor church mural

Still at St Pierre le Jeune, St Peter the Young church.
More murals here

Saint Pierre le Jeune 2

Nice chandeliers!

St Peter le jeune

Young St Peter church is  "relatively" new , 1031 AD. Some parts like the crypt being from the 7th century, built by Irish monks By far the most beautiful church in town! I show you more in the next few days. Meanwhile, have a look at the Wiki page.

Weekend in black and white

Brought today from the magnificent maze and garden of Horta, Barcelona.
Click here to see more magnificent black and white photos. Do it now!

All on board?

High season for boat tours! Haven't been on one of them since...may 2006, I think.
Anyway, loooooong queues to get tickets!
The same boat from further away:

Summertime...

And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll fly to the sky

But till that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll fly to the sky

But till that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

Stitching

Old photo... Actually a composite of 7 photos, with the help of a little program called Microsoft Image Composite Editor, aka ICE. free, very easy to use. Without it, this photo would have been impossible, and it is one tall lady!!! 142 meters/466 feet.
The technique used is call stitching.

A Monday Mural, with love

In fact it's simple: I love you.
Seen in Paris, near the Place de la République and the Bataclan.
Many more lovely Monday Murals here.

New kids in town

They are pedestrianizing a street along the river in the old city center, the quai des pecheurs, or Fischerstade. There will lots of riverside bars and restaurants, and these little boats. I've read somewhere that will be free to use. Might be fun!

Sunrise

This morning, just before 6 AM
More heavenly skies here.

Liberty enlightening the world???

AKA the statue of liberty. Not just in New York! There is another one in Paris, and of course in Colmar, where she was created. Colmar is 65 km south of Strasbourg, the birthplace of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who created it. You can visit his home and museum, just follow the signs...
Now, seeing the actual state of liberty, freedom, in the USA, with this worst ""government"" ever, some alsatians and French want it back, me included. You just cannot spit on a present!
More b&w here, as usual.

Place St Thomas

Little painting today, the merry go round near St Thomas protestant church

Under surveillance

As you all (should) know, we've had/have a terrorist problem. Contrarily to the US, where terrorists are mostly white male trump cultists or politicians trying to make America great again (mega BS!), here in Europe, they are actually "Muslim"  terrorists, although their "faith" has absolutely nothing to  do with Islam.
Anyway, the cathedral here in Strasbourg is under heavy guard: army, police, guards... You have to open your bag to enter, and there restricted visiting times. I'm not going there often anymore, as the queues are always long, and I can't "faire la queue", do the queue, due to my disability.
I was lucky a few weeks ago, on a rainy day: no queue, alleluia! This is the main altar

Proud flag

LGBT flag on a boardwalk, in front of the Council of Europe

A Monday Mural

Yesterday morning, I ventured into a semi-abandoned industrial zone, looking for today's mural. This is what I found.
More Monday Murals here.

City Daily Photo monthly theme day: spirit

December 25th, June 25th...We-hey, we passed the half year mark!!! Do you feel the spirit of Christmas growing in you yet??? No??? No worries, it's gonna be here soon enough! Meanwhile, enjoy the summer. Or the rain down under.