Weekend in black and white

Quiet winter night in Portugal.
More b&w here.

OPO

Not Strasbourg today, but Porto airport, aka OPO. I was there for a few days, and I absolutely loved it!

New avatar

To celebrate our modern art museum's 20th anniversary, the city council invited FAILE, 2 artists from Brooklin. They are now busy redecorating the town. So, the main train station has a new avatar ...

Theme day: laugh

It's the monthly City Daily Photographer's theme day! This month's theme: laugh. Well, I don't usually shoot people, so here is an old photo, from my old Barcelona blog, from the times when I first ued HDR photography. Gay Pride, 6 or 7 years ago.
To see what my friends did on this theme, well it's easy! Just click here! And have a laugh!

Freedom, yeah

A Monday Mural, just next to the local refugees administration.
More Monday Murals here.

Petite France

A little painting, the Ponts Couverts, covert bridges

Amazing!

700 years old stonework... I'm always amazed by the sheer quality and beauty of the statues embellishing our cathedral here. This said, no idea who the figures are...
For the last 2 centuries or so, we have a problem here, called pollution. In my youth, the whole cathedral, made of pink stone, was actually black. Continuous, neverending cleaning and restoring (acid rain dissolves stone), and slowly, very slowly, the pink stone reappears. No problems finding a job for stonemasons here!

Weekend in black and white

5 minutes from home... Waiting for the swamp monster to come out for the photo...
Please click here now, more b&w galore!

Let the sunshine in!

Sunrise, yesterday morning. Photo taken from my balcony.

1 Place Broglie

A protected art deco building, built by a hairdresser in 1900, with probably the most outstanding door in town!

Quiet street

On a lazy sunday morning

Having a laugh

Those 2 gargoyles always make me smile. I wonder what they're laughing about... Me? The tourists? Are they planning their next shenanigans? We will never know. I've tried to ask them, but was met with a stony silence.

Number 13

A ceramist workshop in the city center. The warm colors make it look mediterranean. But alas, the Med is so far away...

Weekend in black and white

Running a bit out of Strasbourg photos... So, here is one from Italy, last summer. More b&w here, as usual.

What's on the menu?

Tourist checking the menu of this ultra-touristic restaurant in the heart of the tourist zone. Well, don't ask me, Mister: I've never eaten here!

Looks like...

It looks like spring, doesn't it? WRONG!!! We bypassed spring, and went directly to glorious summertime. 27 degrees C as I write this, 80 degrees F.
As Napoleon Bonaparte's mother famously said as he became emperor: pourvu que ça dure, let's hope it will last!

A monday mural, on tuesday

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela

Seen on a school, here in Strasbourg.

More Monday Murals here.

My corner of the woods

I moved a few weeks ago, to a nicer, bigger and cheaper flat. This is 5 minutes from home, walking distance. My kind of surroundings!

My favorite Ys

SunnY, mistY and verY earlY, when the rest of the worls still sleeps

Intricate

Some more details on a 16th century house neat the cathedral. It is oak, I think, which is pretty hard to engrave. Good job!

Just a detail

A small detail at the 1003 years old cathedral.
The Weekend in Black and White is right... here

Place du Chateau

The Place du Chateau, or Castle Square. From left to right: a post office, the cathedral, a high school, and last but not least, the former palace of the prince-bishops of Rohan, now hosting not less than 3 museums and an art gallery.

Lunchtime, folks!

Buerehiesel: alsatian for a small farmhouse. This particular farmhouse was disassembled and rebuilt in Paris, for the 1865 Universal Exhibition, before going back to Strasbourg. Nowadays, a famous 3 stars restaurant since 1970, with a nice timepiece and garden. Wish I could afford it!

By fair weather...

... you can see the Feldberg, the Black Forest's highest mountain in Germany, and you see it from my balcony, lucky me!
Well, only by clear weather, as the thin needle on the right side, actually a huge tv antenna, is 85 km, 50 miles away. Best moment to see it is just before sunrise.

Gone fishing

Apart from being a nice Chris Rea song...
The weather got suddenly very acceptable! 25 degrees C yesterday, imagine that! I'm slowly defrosting.

Mother Swan

Nice discovery a few minutes from home

Things you can do with books

BUT READ THEM FIRST!!!!!!!!

49 shades of...

Grey Easter weekend in Amsterdam.
As usual on friday, click here to see more excellent black and white photos. Free grey included!

A clover, a bee and revery

Seen on a house in Amsterdam last monday. Love it.

Whirlwind trip to...

45 hours in lovely Amsterdam...
Un petit tour bien trop rapide (et fatiguant) à Amsterdam ce weekend...

Monthly CDP theme day: one color

Several shades of orange, by Dan23.
Click here to see what my City Daily Photo did.
Posting today, march 31st, as I'll be off travelling for a few days. And happy Easter, everyone!

Handheld, very long focal

Storks are here, which means spring is here!
They were quite far away, so I used the newly discovered digital zoom capability on my Lumix. Handheld shot, at 2040 mm focal length, legs steadied, leaning against a tree, elbows blocked, the usual. I don't use tripods, as I have naturally a very steady hand. Strangely enough: my right arm and hand are partially disabled (stroke), and this a "perk"... Once steadied, my hand and arm won't move. Very convenient for a few things, like taking photos...
Sorry about the poor quality of the photo, just trying to make a point here.

Not Strasbourg!

Last summer, while sipping a cold drink in Palermo, Sicily

Colors to go round

One of the town's merry go rounds, this one on place Gutenberg

Ca(t)ndles

I've had candles of many colors and shapes in my life, but this is new to me! Good thing the shop was closed last sunday, saved some money.
Well, I might actually go back. On a weekday.

Olivier

I have no idea who Olivier is, but someone loves him!
Well, olivier means olive tree in french. Maybe someone loves an olive tree??? Maybe a tree hugger? We'll never know, I guess.

Pastel

Finally a whiff of spring in the air, after the snowiest winter in ages. Very nice light this morning in the Grand Rue. Yet another restaurant I haven't tried. Yet.

Free the garden gnomes!

Someone's idea for a art gallery window. Shall we free him?

Hooks

Still undecided... Which one will it be?

Old people are cool

Seen in Paris a few months ago. When is one old???

The hobbit car

Or is it a shoebox on wheels? Never seen one before. Anyway, not my size, for shoes or cars, being 1m87, 6 foot 3, with shoe size 45. My head and toes would stick out. Cute, though.

A corner mural

What do you call a mural on a corner??? A cornural?
More Monday Murals here.

The winter menu

2 days till spring.That means it is still winter. Fresh snowfall last night. But anyway, you still need to know what's there to eat, innit?

Who's that girl?

A paper portrait glued to a wall, slowly degrading...
More b&w for the weekend here.

Almost spring

Well, some kind of spring, the polar kind once again, as temperatures are dropping and dropping. And dropping to minus 10 degrees C  next week. Seychelles, here I come! I wish!

Fire in the sky

This morning's big lightshow, at around 6.30 AM. It didn't last for very long. What can be seen in the back is the Black Forest mountain range, in Germany, around 20 miles, 30 km away.

Proud