The Loire Valley and especially Blois
Trinity Church in Boston, recognized as one of the most significant buildings in America, took shape on marshland in Boston’s Back Bay in the 1870’s. It is the birthplace and archetype of the Richardsonian Romanesque style, characterized by a clay roof, polychromy, rough stone, heavy arches, and a massive tower. I love the reflections in the glass …
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Union Square is our local subway while we’re staying in NYC. It’s an excellent location, at the intersection of several subways and buses, which we prefer even though they are slower. When you go down into the subway station, it’s blisteringly hot. When you get into the train, you’re hit with the airconditioning. The stations …
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Manhattan Bridge over East River is a suspension bridge connecting up lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn. Work began in 1901 and the bridge was opened to the public in December 1909 when its construction (31 million dollars) was still incomplete. It was finalised in 1912. Ce pont suspendu au-dessus de l’East River, relie la partie inférieure de …
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Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of 9/11. As we walked across Brooklyn Bridge, the man in front of me stopped to take a photo of the One World Observatory. Crossing the bridge is a wonderful experience as you are above the cars (you can see the yellow taxi on the left below). We intend to …
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Yesterday I learnt the story of the ubiquitous fire escapes on the front of New York buildings. Initially there were only inside staircases but in 1860, two separate fires destroyed two crowded tenement houses. In both cases, fire and smoke blocked the sole stairway, trapping those on the upper floors and claiming a total of …
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The One World Trade Center (or 1 World Trade Center or 1 WTC) that you can see on the right, was nicknamed the Freedom Tower when construction begin. It is the main building in the new World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan and the highest skyscrape in the western hemisphere. The 104 storey tower has the …
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“Reflecting Absence” with its two pools immortalises the footprint of the twin towers. Surrounding the pools on bronze parapets is the heartbreaking list of the names of the victims. The photo below shows a floral tribute from the French fire brigade to their New York colleagues who perished during the rescue operations that followed the attack. “Reflecting Absence” immortalise par deux bassins les empreintes …
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I was not quite game enough to take a full-on photo of grandad on his tricycle when I went to the neighbouring village of Chouzy-sur-Cisse to buy croissants to share with my fisherman-husband on the Loire. Je ne me suis pas autorisée à prendre une photo de face du pépé sur son tricycle lorsque je suis allée chercher des …
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Regular readers will know that I often take photos of Cours-sur-Loire but I had never seen it from this distance. Usually we are on the stony bike path in the foreground but this time, we were coming from Montlivault (see yesterday’s photo) at a right angle to the river. The light was quickly fading. Les …
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My previous photos of Saint Pierre in Montlivault have not been very successful because the bell tower is extremely high. As we rode out of the village the other evening though, we had an excellent view of the 12th century church whose 15th century wall paintings we still haven’t seen. Below is a photo taken …