Two short visits to Prague

Back in 2011, we visited multiple cities in Germany and on the way, we stopped in Prague. It was only for an hour or so while we were on our way to Germany and half a day on our way back. It was about to rain the first time we were there and the second time it was quite hot, even for early June.

Prague is a beautiful city. I was glad to so many historical buildings restored to their former selves. Practically everywhere you turned, there was something beautiful to see. The photos shown here are combined from those two occasions. Enjoy!

In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic
In downtown Prague, Czech Republic

Events

Apricot blossoms

The apricot trees have been in bloom since last week. They’re still growing and this year, we’ve had more flowers than ever. We’ve also had a few nights when the temperatures dipped below zero, so you’ll see that some of the petals have been bitten by the cold and have turned a beige color around the edges. We think the flowers are fine though, and the bees have certainly been enjoying them, since they’re among the first blooms of the spring. The snowdrops, hyacinths, forsythia and daffodils may bloom earlier, but you can’t beat a flowering apricot tree because of the sheer quantity of flowers.

In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019
In the garden, spring of 2019

Places

A drive on A1A

I lived in South Florida for a number of years. I went to high school and graduate school there. I did a lot of driving up and down A1A over the years, since 1991 onward. During a stay in South Florida in 2010, we were returning home after a visit to Vizcaya, and we thought we’d drive up A1A from Miami Beach, to see how things had changed.

They had changed. Things have always been in constant change along the coast, at least to my knowledge. When I arrived in Florida and started going to the beach in Hollywood and Hallandale, there were a few multi-story apartment buildings here and there, with a few larger ones down the road toward North Miami, but the rest of A1A was quiet, with nice, Art Deco beach houses tucked away between large palm and mangrove trees and private beaches. Then, sometime in the mid 90s, larger apartment buildings began to rise. The invasion had begun. The traffic began. Whereas A1A had been a leisurely cruise down the coast, it eventually turned into one long traffic jam. People who’d lived in quiet little beach houses for years and years, saw to their dismay the rise of monstrously tall apartment buildings, right next door, obliterating their privacy. There must have been zoning law disputes and lawsuits, but eventually the large real estate developers won, because more and more apartment buildings rose on the beach.

I have to wonder how those things are anchored to the ground, because Florida has no bedrock. Underneath a fairly thin slice of topsoil, Florida is made of coral bed, which is porous and soft. The engineering knowhow required to build a proper foundation for a 40-50 story building right next to the beach, where it’s subject to high winds and hurricanes and the concrete is eaten away by salty water, must be fairly complicated and tremendously risky. But people want to live “the dream”, and for the people clamoring for a beachside apartment in South Florida, the real estate developers are happy to provide it.

The photos you’ll see here were taken from the car, as we drove up A1A toward Hallandale Beach. It was the spring of 2010. Side note: I do like the way they painted the Hallandale Beach Water Tower.

Places

Autumn in our garden

As promised and as has become customary for me every season, here is a gallery of photographs taken in our garden this past autumn. Get a cup of tea and sit down to enjoy them, I’ve got 293 images for you!

Places

A jaunt through Geneva

This past summer we visited Geneva, Switzerland, during the Fêtes de Genève. It was a short business trip, if I recall correctly it was about a day and a half, but in-between the business meetings, we snuck in a jaunt or two through the old town. One afternoon we started down by the lake, on the Promenade du Lac, and we climbed uphill on the beautiful stone steps toward the Rue de l’Hôtel-de-Ville and the Promenade Saint-Antoine, then we came back down to the lake to see the Jet d’Eau. The following day, we visited the Promenade des Bastions, where the Université de Genève is located. And that was it. It was August, it was incredibly hot, even for Geneva, and the only area tolerable enough during the sweltering daytime heat was the lakeshore. It really says something about global warming when Geneva’s weather becomes intolerable in the summer…

Geneva is a beautiful city with a lot of history. It’s a wonderful thing when a country has a chance to develop and to build upon the successes of previous generations without the ravages of war, which to say the least, reset the clock of progress for a place. Switzerland has been in this enviable position for hundreds of years where it has been able to stay neutral and thus its people have had decent lives and have been able to see the fruits of their labor and to leave something worthwhile behind for their successors.

I hope you enjoy this gallery of photographs from a privileged place, full of beauty and value.