It has started

The 449th Strasbourg Christmas market. Feel free to join the 2.5 millions tourist expected.

Weekend in black and white

Port Vell, or old port, in Barcelona, from the times when I was living there.
More b&w here

Autumn

The piper

Near the cathedral, close to the FEC. If there are any Irish students residing there, I'm sure they love the name!!!

3 days

3 days to go till the opening of the 448th Christmas markets. This year's guest country is Suomi Finland.
For us here, it means zillions of tourists crowding the streets, heavily armed army and police checking bags, coats, public transport problems... It is a good festive time, but we're glad when it's over!!! Last day: December 30th.

A Monday railway mural

Last spring, 2 Newyorkers were asked to do an enormous mural on the glass bubble surrounding the central railway station here. This is a small portion of it.
More Monday Murals here, at Sami's colorful blog

A weekend reflection

More weekend reflections here.

Notre Dame

Morning stroll in town, looking for the first Christmas present. Cold but sunny, nice!!!

Weekend in black and white

Probably the most beautiful tree in town!
More b&w here
The same tree below, in his best autumn garb

The Sea of Straw

Mar de Palha. Well, kind of. Not actually a sea, more a large bay, where the Tejo river, aka Tagus, flows in the Atlantic Ocean, in Lisbon, Portugal. The name comes from the color of the water at sundown. In the back, the 23 km long Vasco de Gama bridge.

Notre Dame de Strasbourg

Well, they built things to last, 1003 years ago...

Look, Mum!

I'm gonna jump you!

A Monday Meowral

Meow, everybody! The tiniest of Monday murals!
More Monday Murals here

100 years ago...

At the end of WW1, in November 1918, a red flag was floating on top of the cathedral. Strasbourg was declared a socialist republic, for about 10 days, until the french army "liberated" the town.
Last night, some partisans of the independence from France floated the "Rot Wiss" ,red and white alsatian flag on top of the same cathedral. It was removed by the police at 10.30 AM.
History repeating.
Below, the press photo;

A weekend reflection

Les Ponts Couverts, or covered bridges, part of the old fortifications around town. Well, we had to ward off the nasty Germans, innit!
More weekend reflections right here.

Weekend in black and white

Last month at Lake Garda , in Italy.
More b&w here, as usual.

Towards the sun

It's a grey day, but I know the sun is up there, somewhere, somehow.

Petite France

A quiet side street in the over touristic Petite France area

Fall

A Monday Mural

Well, what can I say? It's a camping, in Argeles, south of France
More Monday Murals right here.

A weekend reflection

Definitely my top favorite spot in town!
More weekend reflections here.

The Amis are coming!

American jeep, seen this morning at a vintage fair.
This said, tRUMP, the demented psychopath,  is coming to Paris next week, for the WW1 commemorations, as guest of Macron. Wish I could go to Paris to join the protest!!!

Weekend em preto e branco

On a very rainy and cold January  morning in Fatima, Portugal, eons ago...
Want some more b&w this weekend? Easy, just click here!

November theme day: friends

Some old friends and former colleagues of mines, in their best Sunday outfits...
More friendly photos and posts here

St Peter the young

The central nave of this most beautiful church in town. In my opinion anyway.

Sunrise? What sunrise?

Pretty dramatic, no? Lasted all but 3 minutes, before fading to grey.
 Good news: it's finally raining. And snowing on thhe hills nearby. Not a lot, but even a little is welcome

Rosae, rosae, rosas...

Do you see the inscription just underneath the statues?
A Monday Mural, spotted somewhere in the Pyrenees mountains.
More monday murals, right... HERE!

Petite France

Photo from sunnier days... Here, today: winter is coming with a vengeance, as they say in Game of Thrones

A weekend reflection

Autumn in the Petite France.
More weekend reflections here.

Glendalough

A wonderfully misty and frosty afternoon near Glendalough, Wiklow mountains, Ireland. Eire. This weekend, Ireland (the republic) elects its next president. And also, they will have to decide if blasphemy is still a crime in Ireland...
More weekend in b&w here.

Éirinn go Brách!

Indian summer

Summer is over, and so is indian summer. We're back to normal temperatures, but still no rain... Major drought in France, many rivers are dry. And I mean totally dry, not a drop of water anymore. I've never seen the Rhine river that low.

World's best!!!

Right, it is not Christmas yet. The reason why I'm posting this photo, is a CNN article, listing 17 of the world's best Christmas markets.Guess who is number 1... The article is here.

The not that young Saint Peter

 churches bear the name St Peter "something". This is one is the protestant Young St Peter's church. Young, because it is the youngest of the 3. Young being pretty relatives, as parts of the crypt date back to St Colomban, a small 7th century chapel. As I said, "young" is relative, not only for churches.

В понеделник стенопис

A monday mural, in bulgarian. Seen in Sofia, Bulgaria, 2 years ago.
More monday murals here

Smoking hot!

Yesterday, I went to the mid-sized town of Offenburg, 25 km away, in Germany. They had a "hamburger fish market". The hamburgers were citizens of Hamburg, far up north, no meat anywhere around... lol
Smoked mackerel and potato salad... Heavenly.

Nessie has landed!

Southern german land Nessie. Or maybe a big worm... You decide!

Weekend in black and white

Should you so lucky to travel to Sofia, Bulgaria, you might see this, just before landing, the orthodox Alexander Nevski cathedral.
More b&w here.

Lonicera japonica

Aka Japanese honeysuckle. So pretty, I wish there would be more of them here

Reflection

Sunday morning, no wind, no boats, no water birds (still sleeping?), perfect reflection.

This must be fun!

A parisian Monday Mural

More murals here, at Sami's

Indian summer

While storm Leslie ravages Portugal and parts of Spain, we enjoy a warm summer day. In October.  While 2/3 of France is fast turning into a desert, no rain for many months...

The green side. Underneath.

A very rare green-bellied swan!!! Ain't that a great sight? :-)

The dark side

As usual every Friday, click here to enjoy more black and white!

Rouge

The town is turning red, for a few weeks.

A national treasure

Roger Siffer, singer (in French, Alsatian and German)., radio guy, humorist, activist, owner of an old sauerkraut factory, now a theater/cabaret/restaurant. Former neighbor. One of the most famous Alsatians worldwide, after Tomi Ungerer. Here, his first LP, Follig (folks) Song, 1972.

Down by the river...

A Monday Mural

The completed (?) mural I watched Dan23 creating 2 weeks ago. It says: free your heart, free yourself from your fears.
More here.