mountains majestic

Foothills of the Andes / Mendoza, Argentina
One usually goes to the Mendoza area for the fabulous Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet wines. But the star of the show is the fabulous landscapes framed by the Andes Mountains dividing Argentina and Chile. This shot was taken not far from a major road between Argentina and Chile which runs through Mendoza. The city is a frequent stopover for climbers on their way to climb Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere. In 2008, National Geographic listed Mendoza as one of the top 10 historic destinations of the World. Go!

a tuscan glow

Piazza dei Miracoli / Pisa, Italy
Pisa was perhaps most beautiful to me at night. The warm street-level lighting against the earthy Tuscan colors of the architecture brought a soft glow to the city. Evening is when the city truly comes alive. During the day it seems fairly utilitarian but by 19.30 the streets are full with sidewalk cafes and endless trattorias humming with activity - such is Italy - such is Europe. New York City is like this - but sadly many urban centers in the US simply shut down at night as people flee to the suburbs. And just to note; this shot was taken by the leaning tower which is fairly deserted at night as it's somewhat removed from the center. However, the Borgo Stretto area was teeming.

welcome to zooland

Mid-Town Manhattan / New York, New York
From Thanksgiving week through New Years, Manhattan (and in particular mid-town) is an absolute zoo and to be avoided at all costs - unless, of course you are a tourist visiting the Big Apple. And if so, then the multitude of crappy souvenir stores populating the Times Square area are for you. While it is a huge boom to the city's economy and merchandisers rely heavily on this pre-Christmas commercial season, as a resident it's a good time to stay local and take advantage of what your neighborhood has to offer. Enjoy!

'tini time

Thanksgiving Day / New York, New York
This Thanksgiving we are hosting a house full of family and friends. And what better way to celebrate the holiday than with a signature drink - our own Pumpkin Pie Martini. Should you wish to join us, read on:

• take one martini glass and wet the rim with vodka
• dip into pulverized graham crackers to dust the rim

Mix in a martini shaker with ice

• 1 part Stoli Vanilla Vodka
• 1 part Hiram Walker Pumpkin Liqueur
• 1 part Silk (soy) egg nog
• splash of Disaronno
• dash of cinnamon

Strain into martini glass and top with a dollup of whipped cream.

Happy Thanksgiving!

a falling star

Via Sant'Apollonia / Pisa, Italy
This hotel, located in the center of Pisa on a street not far from La Torre di Pisa, is typical of the many small family-operated hotels that you will find in Pisa - and throughout most of Italy. They are quaint, very friendly, slightly tattered around the edges - and have big neon signs that leave nothing to the imagination as to what sort of commerce might be taking place behind the rustic walls. This one is quite proud of its apparent three star rating - even if that rating may have been achieved 25 years ago. Honestly, who would ask them to dim a star from their beautiful neon.

fashion interpreted

Selfridges @ The Bullring / Birmingham, United Kingdom
This is just such an odd and interesting building (a department store, of all things) but when you read from the designer's website, you begin to understand - or not. From FUTURESYSTEMS: "The fluidity of shape recalls the fall of fabric or the soft lines of a body, it rises from the ground and gently billows outwards before being drawn in at a kind of waistline. It then curves out again and over to form the roof, in one continuous movement. The skin is made up of thousands of aluminium discs, creating a fine, lustrous grain like the scales of a snake or the sequins of a Paco Rabanne dress. In sunlight it shimmers, reflecting minute changes in weather conditions and taking on the colours, light and shapes of people and things passing by - an animate and breathing form." The structure is particularly striking shot against this dynamic and turbulent late autumn sky.

doctor dolittle

Lungano Antonio Pacinotti / Pisa, Italy
Have you ever wished you could gab with the gulls? I approached them with a pleasant but apparently unconvincing "buongiorno". They didn't buy into it. I then suspected they were chattering about the lone kayaker on the Arno River that had just passed them by so I suggested with a snicker what an easy target he'd be for a guano drop. They stayed put. And the lovely weather - that's always an easy conversation starter - but they looked at me strangely as if to say "it's Italy, it's always beautiful .. stupid tourist". Stupid gulls.

lean on me

La Torre di Pisa / Pisa, Italy
I've just returned to Birmingham from a weekend in Pisa, a city of about 100,000 people situated at the mouth of the Arno river which runs down through its center. The city is young, lively and very Italian. Much of the youth can be attributed to the University of Pisa with a student body of nearly 60,000. And Friday evening I found out just how lively it can get - having randomly stopped in a bar and consumed too many sambucas with fast-made friends including two Argentinean sisters (one was the bartender - the other? well, she was just fun) who have lived in Pisa the past 20 years - and a group of their friends. Oh, and the photo - obviously it's the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza dei Miracoli or "Square of Miracles", to the north of the old town center. And perhaps best of all, the weather saturday was brilliant sunshine requiring nothing more than shirtsleeves.

stalag 13

Auschwitz I / Auschwitz, Poland
This was not the set of Hogan's Heroes, the American television comedy from the mid/late 60's set in a German prisoner of war camp known as Stalag 13 during the Second World War. This is indeed the harsh reality of Auschwitz I, the original concentration camp which served as the administrative center for the whole Auschwitz complex - the site of the deaths of roughly 70,000 people, mostly Poles and Soviet prisoners of war. Opened in 1939 on the site of an old Polish army barracks, the camp was initially used for interning Polish intellectuals and resistance movement members, then also for Soviet Prisoners of War. Common German criminals, and other "anti-social elements" of society were also imprisoned there. In 1940, the German began sending Jews there, as well. At any time, the camp held between 13,000 and 16,000 inmates; by 1942 the number reached 20,000.

1 800 spice

Wharf Road / St. George's, Grenada
Grenada is known as The Spice Isle because it is a leading producer of several important spices. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, allspice, and especially nutmeg are grown on the island, providing almost 20% of the world spice supply. All are important exports with the island being the world's 2nd largest producer of nutmeg. It seemed that everyone we encountered while wandering the streets of St. George's was wanting to sell us some sort of spice. In 2004, after being hurricane free for almost 50 years, the island was directly hit by Hurricane Ivan. Ivan struck as a Category 3 hurricane and caused 90 percent of the homes to be damaged or destroyed. Also especially hard hit were the churches - when we were there in May 2007 many were still without roofs.

the hands of time

York Minster / York, England
I love the cathedrals of Europe. They are incredibly imposing structures, dominating the local skyline (at least before the infill of modern development). And the interior spaces are truly breathtaking. York, a very charming walled city founded by the Romans with a rich Viking history, has one of the best. The York Minster is a Gothic cathedral with parts of the structure dating back to the early 1200's. It is the second largest of its kind in Northern Europe with the largest being the Cologne Cathedral in Germany. The cathedral also has two bell towers - one of the things I love most - with one bell (Great Peter) weighing over 10 tons. Hearing church bells is very calming to me and brings back good memories of being at my grandmother's as a child, lying in bed and listening to the church bells on the quarter hour from Westminster College.

creole colors

City Centre / Fort-de-France, Martinique
As an overseas department of France, Martinique's culture blends French and Caribbean influences with the city of Fort-de-France often referred to as the Paris of the Lesser Antilles. While I've yet to get to Paris, I expect there are some pretty substantial differences between the two! Typical of the Caribbean islands, the architecture though simple in form can be eye-popping in color.

shadowplay

Sonora Desert Museum / Tucson, Arizona
A typically beautiful day in the desert - dry, hot and brilliantly sunny. And the shadows formed by the sun shining overhead through the trellis work at the museum's welcome center made for some fun, almost schizophrenic patterns. I always find the desert environment very hospitable - the dry heat of the daytime, the cooler evenings temperatures, the dramatically different landscape (from my norm anyways) - all contribute. And sun - 365 days a year!

let the sun shine

Parasol on Mulberry Street / New York, New York
Oh, and another thing about Birmingham - all it does is rain, rain, and rain some more. I honestly don't know how the Brits tolerate it day after day. I'm here a week and I find it totally depressing. Really. I need sunshine in my life - without it I begin to get very moody. Yesterday I went to see a very funny comedy at the cinema, took myself out for a lamb kabob lunch ..but by mid-afternoon I was very antsy and just wanted out. Please - let the sunshine.

good eatin'

MacDougal Street / New York, New York
One of the things I miss being in Birmingham is the good eatin' offered pretty much anywhere in Manhattan. While Birmingham has excellent curry houses - and my favorite restaurant, a Persian place called Shiraz is right across the street from my apartment - I can't get excited over typical British cuisine. Come on now ..bangers & mash ..kippers ..scottish eggs ..steak & kidney pudding. While driving to the office the other morning, I was listening to a local Birmingham station on the car radio and the most popular "make at home" dinner based on user call-in was liver & onions. Ugh. Give me the Bleeker/MacDougal St area of the Village any day.

japanese lanterns

Gardens @ House on the Rock / Spring Green, Wisconsin
I've always loved Physalis alkekengi, more commonly known as the Paper Lantern Plant. My first memories of these as a small child were at my grandmother's house in western Pennsylvania. She had a pond by her house that was full of goldfish and frogs and when we'd go visit I couldn't wait to get to the pond - fascinated that there were goldfish swimming freely - not in a bowl! Growing along the edges of the pond were clumps of japanese lantern plants that in the Fall displayed these beautiful orange seed pods. I remember opening a few up and finding a large perfectly round berry inside each one. It's funny as I'm sure these grow everywhere but her pond is the only recollection that I have of them - which is fine because when I now see japanese lanterns, they are associated with lots of good memories.

on peregrine wings

Peregrine Winery / Queenstown (Gibbston Valley), New Zealand
Peregrine Winery is located in the Gibbston Valley just outside of Queenstown, an area known for its pinot noir grapes. We visited a number of wineries but Peregrine was, by far, the most architecturally inspiring. The sweeping roof lines of this protective canopy against the mountains of the Southern Alps and the Kawerau Gorge were dramatic. The concrete area is actually a terraced roof, where views of the Kawerau Gorge are framed under the translucent canopy floating overhead which is made of deeply corrugated composite glass-fibre sheeting. This floating 460 foot long roof is not just an architectural nicety; it effectively eliminated the need to allow for snow loads on the building below, and removes most of the solar heat gain from the production rooms (also below), where stable temperatures are critically important. Digging the barrel room and the fermenting chambers into the ground assists in temperature control, requiring the use of less energy. I've seen this alot in wineries in both New Zealand and Argentina - using the naturally cool underground for fermenting and storage - not so much in the States. All in all, a very nice job of blending the built environment into an otherwise beautiful and unspoiled landscape.

neo-classical bigness

Carmelite Church / Warsaw, Poland
The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and of St. Joseph commonly known as the Carmelite Church is a beautiful neo-classical style Roman Catholic church built 1761-1783. The present church is the second building to have been situated on this prominent site in Old Town, erected over the site of a wooden church originally constructed for the Discalced Carmelite order in 1643 and burned down by the Swedes and Brandenburg Germans in the 1650s. This impressive facade was built in a style typical for the reign of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, with dominant columns supporting the cornice. The interior is typical of the opulence associated with the Rococo style and has a magnificent main altar, abundant gilding and amazing stucco ceiling decorations. And fortunately, during World War II the church was saved from deliberate destruction by the retreating German forces and was only slightly damaged. I love church architecture - especially of this style - big, beautiful and fun.

hey bartender

New York Bar / Port Elizabeth, Bequia
I'd like to introduce you to Roni, the friendliest bartender in Bequia. She's a beautiful woman with a wonderfully mischievous smile - who got us deliriously drunk. We met a friend from NYC in Bequia who was working Peace Corps on St. Vincent. It was a fun afternoon on an incredibly laid back and beautiful island. Word of warning - Sunset VSR (very strong rum) , distilled on neighboring St. Vincent, is 84.5% alcohol. From the distiller "The robust youthful spirit of this rum has a delectable flavour. Local enthusiasts drink it straight or with a chaser, while others prefer it with a mixer such as fresh coconut water, fruit juice or cola. It can also be used as a food preservative and is ideal for rich fruit cakes." Yeah - right - also works well as an embalming fluid. I'd place it right up there with jet fuel.

cathedral of crowns

Katedrála sv. Martina / Bratislava, Slovakia
The Cathedral of St. Martin's is situated at the western border of the historical city center below Bratislava Castle. It is the largest and one of the oldest churches in Bratislava. It is known especially for serving as the coronation church of the Kingdom of Hungary beginning in 1563. On 8 September 1563, the Crown of St. Stephen was placed on the head of Maximilian II, son of Emperor Ferdinand I of Habsburg. In total, the coronations of 11 kings and queens plus 8 of their consorts took place here between 1563 and 1830. The tower is topped by a huge gold-plated representation of the Crown of St. Stephen and was placed there in 1847 following the recovery of the tower damaged by lightning and then a subsequent fire, to commemorate the cathedral's glory and importance as a coronation church. St. Martin's has existed, in one form or another, on its current site since the early 1200's taking on its present semi-Gothic appearance in the mid-1800's.