Garden District, New Orleans, December 2010

A remarkable collection of southern mansions is to be found in the Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana. Prosperous American newcomers to the 19th Century city, who wished to eschew its French neighborhoods inhabited by Creoles, built large homes in this newly created district.

Mount Madison, New Hampshire, July 2003

A glider soars over the top of Mount Madison, at an elevation of 5,400 ft in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Palau de la Musica Catalana, Barcelona, October 2010

The Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona was designed for a choral society called the Orféo Català by Lluis Domenech i Montador, and its construction completed in 1908. Among the artists who have graced its stage: Arthur Rubinstein, Albert Schweitzer, Yehudi Menuhin, Montserrat Caballé and Jessye Norman, as well as popular artists Charles Aznavour, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald...and Woody Allen.

Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, August 2004

On the western coast of Newfoundland, within Gros Morne National Park, lies Western Brook Pond. This lake was originally a fjord, carved from the surrounding plateaus by glaciers. With the retreat of the glaciers, the fjord was eventually cut off from the sea by the rebounding land, its salt water replaced over millennia by fresh water. The very deep waters of the lake are extremely low in nutrients, meaning they are highly pure and clear, and contain virtually no algae.

Passages couverts, Paris, October 2010

Passages couverts de Paris. Of varying degrees of upkeep and attractiveness, these covered passageways link parallel streets in a number of Paris arrondissements. Shown here, in order: Galerie Vivienne, Passage du Prado, Passage Verdeau and Passage Jouffroy.

Mount Desert Island, Maine, August 1995

Mount Desert Island, in Maine's Acadia National Park. The first American national park created east of the Mississippi River, it was founded in 1919 and was originally known as Lafayette National Park (in hommage to the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat and military officer who had served as an officer under George Washington during the American Revolution). The area was observed in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain, who noted its distinctive peaks topped by bare-rock plateaus.

Iles-de-la-Madeleine, August 2007

Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, August 2007. This small archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence covers just over 200 sq. km. Its original occupants were the Mi'kmaq Indians, who visited the islands as part of their harvest of the region's walrus population. The islands were settled by French-speaking Acadians in the mid-18th Century, and to this day the Acadian flag is a common sight outside the homes of Madelinots.

Dorval Island, summer 2010, part 2

Halifax, Nova Scotia, August 2009

The harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Utrecht, Netherlands, August 1983

Centre of Utrecht, along one of the city's many canals.

Piazza Navona, Rome, January 2006

Known in Roman times as the Circus Agonalis, the site currently named the Piazza Navona contained the Stadium of Domitian, built in the first century AD, and where Romans of the day came to watch games. This is the Fontana del Moro (the Moor Fountain), which features a Moor (possibly originally symbolizing Neptune) wrestling with a dolphin which is caught between his legs, and surrounded by four Tritons. The original fountain, designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1575, consisted of the basin, the dolphin and the four Tritons. The Moor was actually added to the statue nearly a hundred years later.

Parc Guëll, Barcelona, October 2010

Parc Guëll in Barcelona. Originally conceived by Count Eusebi Guëll at the end of the 19th Century as a refuge for the super-rich of Barcelona to escape the pollution and riff-raff of the city below, it was intended to eventually include 60 houses and large landscaped gardens open only to the wealthy residents. The project was an utter failure, only two houses ever having been built (neither conceived by Antoni Gaudi, the architect commissioned to design the park). Today it is open to all the riff-raff.

Palais des Papes, Avignon, France, January 2004

Inside a courtyard of the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Faced with massive unrest in Rome after his election to the papacy in 1305, Pope Clement V moved the Papal Curia to the safety of Avignon. The palace, a reconstructed and enhanced bishops' palace, continued to house Popes until 1377, when the return of the sitting Pope to Rome caused the Western Schism, with two men simultaneously claiming to be the 'true' pope. The antipopes Clement VII and Benedict XIII ruled from here until 1403. It was finally returned to the authority of official papal legates in 1433.

Rocher-Percé, Gaspé, August 2005

Heading out to whale-watch on a choppy sea, with le Rocher-Percé in the background.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, August 2010

St. Patrick's Cathedral at sunset sees the cathedral engulfed in the shadows of the surrounding buildings; as seen from the top of Rockefeller Center.

Iles-de-la-Madeleine, July 2003

The twice-daily ferry makes its way around the Ile d'Entrée, part of les Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

Canal St-Martin, Paris, October 2010

A Saturday morning on the Canal St-Martin in Paris.

Barcelona, October 2010

Placa Catalunya, Barcelona. The plaza is the starting point for a walk by some of the most remarkable examples of modernista architecture in the world.

Dorval Island, summer 2010

 

Dorval Island, a small community of summer homes in Lac St. Louis west of Montreal, was originally used as a 'pipe stop' by fur traders rowing goods-laden boats upriver from Lachine for the Hudson's Bay Company. Company rules stipulated rowers were allowed a stop every 45 minutes to rest and to smoke their pipes, a respite from the grueling work of bringing boats upstream in the heavy currents of the St. Lawrence River.

A plan to construct an amusement park on the virtually uninhabited island at the end of the 19th Century came to naught in the face of strong opposition from residents along the shoreline in Dorval, who were concerned about the area being invaded by 'riff-raff' from Montreal.

Vatican City, January 2006

Collioure, France, July 1999

In the south of France, just a few miles from the Spanish border; the region around the old fishing village of Collioure is considered by Calatonians to be part of their nation. In the hills behind the town lies the vineyard owned by former Premier Ministre du Québec, Jacques Parizeau.

Kennebunkport, Maine, August 2010

Sunset off Ocean Avenue.

Just a few minutes before this shot was taken, a large powerboat had passed, transporting former President Bush the half-mile from his compound to the Kennebunkport marina.

Gare D'Orsay, Paris, August 1983

All boarded up and in disrepair. It was accessed by prying open a slot in the fencing surrounding the building.

Two years earlier the empty station had been used to film a key scene in Jean-Jacques Beineix's film Diva. It had previously served as a set for Orson Welles' adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Trial.

Built for the World's Fair of 1900, the same year a little-known 18-year-old painter arrived in Paris from Barcelona. In fact it was in the bustling new train station that Pablo Picasso disembarked on October 1st. Earlier that summer the city's first Metro line had gone into service, behind schedule and over budget.

At its peak the station received over 200 trains a day, but its short platforms and the increasing electrification of trains doomed it to obsolescence by the 1930s.

Canal Street, New York City, August 2010

Liberty, brought to you by Pepsi from Canal Street in NYC, August 2010.

Meet the new dawn....

...same as the old dawn.

Exactly why anyone would care enough to read this journal and view the images I post here, is a question best left unexamined. So I won't.

Images I post here are, I hope, interesting in and of themselves, but especially so in that they serve as starting points to insights or various foods for thought.

Here's hoping it doesn't leave you slack-jawed from life-draining boredom...