If you travel a lot and live long enough you will see some cool elevators. Glass elevators with glass floors, elevators on the outside of buildings are some of the most fun rides. However, the open air elevator at the Louvre has got to be the coolest. It is too small to be practical and doesn’t serve well as a people mover but it is fun to watch and ride. See more images from Paris at my commercial gallery.
Elevator at the Louvre
My book has been available for about one year now and sales have been underwhelming which is kind of understandable for a personal publication like this. In any case it is still on Amazon, “A Hundred Places I Went To Before I Died” (ISBN/EAN13: 1475261535 / 9781475261530.) and available for $25 with free shipping. To get your copy, click here.
A Hundred I Went To Before I Died
Just about everything in the Pompidou Centre expresses modern art. As you take the escalator to the higher floors you are treated to Soundscape by former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. The elevator to the ground floor is also a work of art and changes appearance depending on the position of the ascending or descending elevator. See more images from Europe and buy prints at my commercial gallery.
Elevator at the Pompidou Centre Paris France
One of the greatest museums in the world that is housed in a former castle that is NOT The Louvre is the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Holland. It is not as large as its French counterpart but is too huge to see in a day and has many different wings with different types of art. It is also surrounded by beautiful gardens and worth a visit or two if you are in Amsterdam. You can buy a print of this image and see others on my commercial gallery.
Orléans France is a sister city to New Orleans and while they have much in common they are fundamentally different. They both offer scenic beauty, architecture and are along important rivers. Both cities serve great food to their guests and have wide choices in dinning. New Orleans however is edgy, vibrant and sometimes a little vulgar. Orléans is almost bucolic in nature; they keep their edgy in Paris which is an hour away by train. This is a street in in Orléans adjacent to river Loire. You can buy a print and see others at my commercial gallery by clicking here.
A Street in Orléans France
The city of Orléans is about 90 kilometers south of Paris in the Loire River valley. It is a beautiful small city with friendly people, great architecture and wonderful restaurants offering all types of Cuisine. Renaissance Hotel Groslot serves as the Town Hall for this beautiful city and is situated behind the Sainte-Croix Cathedral. You can see other images form France and Europe on my commercial site by clicking here.
Orleans France
A great place to dine in Milan is in the Brera which is one of the arts districts in the City. It was not far from our hotel and i asked the Concierge if it was safe to walk and he assured me it was. We had a lovely dinner and walking back we saw this young coed walking by herself through the streets and realized it surely must be safe. You can buy a print of this one or see others on my European Gallery by clicking here.
Brera at Night
I still have no idea what this was all about. One Gendarme looks totally bored while the other listens patiently while the man’s girlfriend who is out of this frame looks fervently through her purse. The Gendarmes changed direction and walked, albeit slowly in the direction the man pointed. The man and his girlfriend followed them. A robbery? Directions? No clue. This was shot in the gardens of Luxembourg Palace in Paris France. You can see other more traditional images at my European gallery by clicking here.
He went that away!
The first enclosed shopping mall in the world is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan Italy. It was designed and constructed by Giuseppe Mengoni and construction was finished in 1877. It is named after Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of the Kingdom of Italy.It is adjacent to the Cathedral Santa Maria Nascente or as it is commonly called Duomo di Milano and many visitors may miss the Galleria while scurrying to the Cathedral. The galleria is a work of art and in its center there is a mosaic tile of a bull. The tradition is that if you spin on the balls of the bull, it will bring you luck. People line up to spin on the bull’s balls which no longer exist and have been replaced by a permanent hole in the mosaic. They try to fix it periodically, but the poor bull cannot survive this testicular abuse. You can purchase a print of this image and see others at my European gallery by clicking here.
Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. What makes it so spectacular is that all of the new construction and skyscrapers are excluded from the centre of the city. As I stood on Montmartre and took this picture I couldn’t help but think that this view has remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Because of this practice, scenic views remain unblocked by new construction. You can buy a print of this image at my commercial gallery by clicking here.
The Rooftops of Paris