Since today is Valentines Day, I thought it appropriate to share an image from my work in progress “Just a Kiss”. This comes form Monet’s beautiful garden in Giverny near Vernon France. Happy Valentines Day to everyone, remember to love the one your with.
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Giverny Kiss
The nice thing about being retired is that you decide your own photo assignments. No art directors,no clients, no schedules, just you and your camera. In October we went on assignment in Europe and I have been publishing pictures from that trip ever since. Now we are headed West so watch out California and Arizona here we come. Tune back in a month for new images until then please explore the other 1200 previous posts. Thanks for following us, see you soon.
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Joshua Tree National Park
I wish we had more time when we were in Heidelberg. I feel we only scratched the depth of the city and want to go back there in the Summer since it was cold,rainy and grey the whole time we were there. I did have time to stop to take this picture of the this unusual sculpture with the Heidelberg castle in the background.
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Heidelberg Sculpture
We toured Köln with Claudia, a truly awful guide. Most of the guides we had on our Viking River Tour were exceptional but not Claudia. She was so awful we eventually turned off our headsets and strolled behind her. We got tired of hearing her psycho babble about World War 2 and how awful the Americans were. Köln was the most bombed city in Germany and the destruction was truly awful but we wanted to learn about the culture of the city, not a faux history lesson on the war. Once she pointed to a picture of Eisenhower and refereed to him as General MacArthur, her knowledge was not only prejudicial but inaccurate.
However she did point out one thing we might not have noticed on our own. This is the beautiful terrace garden and sculpture along the back of the Cologne Cathedral. Pretty on a gray rainy day but probably wonderful in the Spring and Summer.
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Cathedral Garden Köln
Wishing everyone a peaceful and joyous holiday with family and friends and a happy and healthy New year!
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Feliz Navidad
When I think of Prague (Praha), I think of large castles, architecture, churches and the Holy Roman Empire. One of the things that makes the city so fascinating, is the contrasts. A blend of young stylish people of a young democracy contrasted with a grim faced older population that has spent most of their lives living under communism or dictatorial rule. The architecture reflects that contrast.
Ancient bridges, castles and historic architecture contrast with buildings and sculptures by the likes of modern artist David Černý. These two intertwined office buildings were constructed to display that contrast and are known in the city as “Fred and Ginger” because they evoke the dancing shapes of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.
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Fred and Ginger
Last month I published a post about Marksburg Castle. This post contains some more detailed information and additional images of this UNESCO World Heritage Site
Along the Rhine River is a stretch known as the Rhine Gorge which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Forty castles line both sides of this section of the river. Marksburg is the only castle that was never destroyed and sits above the town of Braubach. The fortress was used for protection rather than a residence for royal families.
Originally it was stone keep was built at the current location in 1100 by the Eppstein family and expanded into a castle around 1117 to protect the town of Braubach. When French emperor Napoleon seized the Holy Roman Empire in 1803 he gave the Marksburg to his ally the Duke of Nassau for his service. He used the castle as a prison and as a home for disabled soldiers. The castle has one of the first known indoor privies.
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Marksburg Southern View
Marksburg Dinning Room
Marksburg Privy
Braubach View
The first time we were in München was only for two days and one of those days was spent at Neuschwanstein Castle and the rest of the time it rained. We saw little of the city. This time we were there for five days and took the trams and subways all over the city. It is really a wonderful city. It is filled with history, wonderful museums and sites, great food and the maybe best beer in the world.
We spent some times in neighborhoods outside the tourist center. We visited some coffee shops,food markets and even a laundry mat. I think of it as a workingman’s city but that said it had great public building,parks and musuems and even a palace or two.
A typical street outside of the main tourist center.
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München Street View
Karlskirche (St Charles)) in Wien (Vienna) in my opinion is one of the beautiful churches in the world. We were fortunate enough to see a string ensemble perform a concert inside this magnificent structure but that will be the topic of a future post.
This beautiful baroque church is located on the south side of Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria. Widely considered the most outstanding baroque church in Austria. It is dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo, a great Austrian reformer of the sixteenth century.
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Karlskirche Wien
In the center of Vienna is St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) which is the founding church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. It is a huge Gothic Cathedral in the Stephansplatz and building began by Duke Rudolf IV in 1339. It is a beautiful Cathedral but also one of the most commercial Cathedrals I have ever been in. In order to stand in the center you need a special pass and another pass for photography and another pass to see the crypt, etc. It was difficult to get this photograph.
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Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Wien.
Imagery Photography 