A quick photo today, for it is New Years! This is one of the many carvings at a Buddhist monastery Pamela and I visited while in Hangzhou, China.
A quick shot looking up and unfocused into the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. This is a more ethereal view of Christmas, in a way how I remember waking up all sleepy eyed, making my way all too early to the tree to see what Santa brought. Happy Christmas Everyone!
This beautiful statue stands on the grounds of one of the most beautiful villa‘s in Italy. She longingly stares out across Lago Como, waiting. The canopy tree keeps her shaded in the hot Italian sun. She is beautiful, surrounded in luxury, but strikes me as so utterly alone.
This interior is dominated by the Chinese scholar’s rock. These rocks are usually placed in Chinese gardens, but this one is placed here inside. These rocks were meant (to my understand) as a contemplation focus. A place to undoubtedly gaze upon natural beauty and use quite to bring insight. This is he interior of this fantastic building on the outskirts of Yuyuan Garden.
This is a detail shot looking up at one of the many archways surrounding one of the buildings at Bahia Palace in Marrakesh, Morocco. I have said this many times, but I have a fantastic love of Islamic art. The depth you can find in the repeating patterns and the impossibly ornate work done by these artisans comes together as some of the most beautiful architecture in the world.
I have been very few places in the world as perfectly beautiful as Lake Como in Italy. I came to this spot, as I do many spots looking for this specific place. So often I find I journey great distances to find the places in photos I have seen…I find so much more. It was a cool, windy day on the lake, but warmer than it should have been for early April. The ferries were filled with people come for the day. People shopped in a way that only Italian’s can. People ate gelato, in spite of the cold breeze as if to signal how utterly over winter they all were. This day, the beginning bloom of the wisteria and the warmth of the sun was all people needed…we were alive.
They tend to wind and flow in ways that make me, as well as spirits apparently, confused. They are, however terribly beautiful in a specific way that often reminds me of China itself. That is probably because I spend so much time when I travel visiting museums and gardens. My impression of a place, tends to be shaped by the history and nature they prefer to show. Regardless, I saw these two dragons in Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai peaking over the top of this covered walkway. The sun was low in the sky, and the view standing there was quite majestic.
It was a thing to see, the Colosseum. This view is from one end (the Emperor’s Box is to your left), the floor of the area would have sat atop these underground chambers and passages (hypogeum). This is where performers (Gladiator, animals and otherwise) were brought in. It was also built with a series of machines…pulleys and trap doors to aid in creating an unexpected environment for those in the arena.
I have posted view’s of the guard towers of the Imperial Palace before, but this one is a view that really melds the old and new Tokyo in a fun way. All around the city are evidence of ancient times integrated with some great modern designs.
Even the Art Museums are treasures of antiquity in Italy. If you happen upon the Uffizi Gallery, the building is honestly as much a treasure as the art (and these are some of the greatest examples of their era).
