"Portrait on house sings.
Dunedin's mural on show.
Queen Street's quiet song."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 13 Dunedin |
This photo-of-the-day is from Dunedin, New Zealand. It shows a mural painted on a house located on, appropriately, Queen Street.
"Pitch meets petal's fall,
Cricket match by garden's edge,
Nature's green applause."
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
We were lucky to be in South Africa on October 28, 2023, the night that South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in a match played in Paris. All of South Africa tuned in and was elated with the victory. They had defeated New Zealand. I imagine spirits were crushed in New Zealand. I don't have any rugby photos to show from South Africa, or from New Zealand, for that matter. But New Zealand is not only good at rugby, they also are good at cricket. This photo-of-the-day was taken from New Zealand's Wellington Botanic Garden, looking next door to the cricket pitch, where a match was being played.
After the jump, a bonus photo from the Botanic Garden.
"Nature's artistry,
Wellington's garden reveals.
Ripples mesmerize."
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Wellington Botanic Garden in Wellington, New Zealand. Ripples on the water make for ever-changing, mesmerizing abstract art.
After the jump, a bonus photo revealing the artist at work.
"Botanic beauty,
Wellington's garden unfolds.
A stroll through joyous."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Wellington Botanic Garden in Wellington, New Zealand. I won't compare different cities' botanic gardens. I find them all joyous. Wellington's is no exception. It's a wonderful place for a romantic stroll.
"Funicular climbs,
Wellington's view unfolds wide,
Top of the city."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the top of the funicular ride in downtown Wellington, New Zealand. Travel tip: buy a one way ticket. We paid for a round trip only to discover that a stroll through the botanic gardens at the top is all downhill, finishing back down in the central business district. Our funicular return tickets were never used. I know — first world problem.
"Lumber on the dock,
Tauranga's tale unfolds here,
Shipped dreams but which way?"
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 09 Tauranga |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the port of Tauranga, New Zealand. According to IBIS World, online retail, IT security, and sports administration are among some of the growth industries tipped to boom over the next five years in New Zealand. But forestry is more photogenic, so the photo you get is of lumber stacked up on the docks waiting to be shipped overseas. Or, maybe that's wrong. Maybe the lumber is waiting to be picked up and delivered to New Zealand's construction industry to be turned into homes. You see, I heard that New Zealand exports logs and imports lumber. Why they don't cut the logs in New Zealand I'm sure can be somehow explained by David Ricardo's economic law of comparative advantage, but I'm sure I've lost you now, so let's drop it. I was just struck by the pretty picture of logs and lumber on the dock.
"On Tauranga's shore,
Ellen, kin reunited,
Photobombed by fate."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 09 Tauranga |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Tauranga, New Zealand. Ellen poses with her DNA cousin and her husband. From DNA results, they know they are distantly related, but try as they might they have been unable to find a common ancestor. They suspect it's someone in Scotland, maybe in the 1700s. As I was taking this photograph, Mother Nature, as she is wont to do, serendipitously photobombed it with a young woman heavy with child, preggers as they might say in New Zealand (and if they don't say that, I apologize).
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| From 2023 03 07 Auckland |
"High above the streets,
Sky Tower stands bold and proud.
Courage in the wind."
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand. If you are not afraid of heights, you can take a SkyWalk and pose for a photo of a friend pushing you off (or an enemy — your choice). There is nothing below you but the street, 629 feet down.
A photo of the Sky Tower from the ground is after the jump.
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| From 2023 03 07 Auckland |
"Strand Arcade beckons,
Amidst the grandeur of old,
History preserved."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Strand Arcade in Auckland, New Zealand. Dating to 1900 (rebuilt in 1910 after a fire), it's one of the grandest surviving shopping arcades in New Zealand. Being a Sunday, foot traffic was light.
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| From 2023 03 07 Auckland |
"Albert Park's grand tree,
Witness to an athlete's dream,
Skill and nature meet."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Auckland, New Zealand. It shows an athlete practicing in Albert Park, a popular park in downtown Auckland near the University of Auckland. I was taken not only by her skill, but by the massive tree under whose shading branches she was practicing.
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| From 2023 03 07 Auckland |
"Beneath southern sun,
Auckland's charms unfurl and dance,
Bay's melody calls."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Auckland, New Zealand. It's situated on a bay in the isthmus of the North Island. No matter where you go, you are never more than a few minutes from the sea. Sailing is popular. Ferries travel here and there around the bay and to and from the many islands in the bay.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"Picasso's grand work
Hangs over weary shoulders,
Palette of fatigue."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. People-watching is fun anywhere, but it's at its best in a great location. This young woman looks weary. Not even the painting by Picasso ("Grand nu à la draperie") on the wall behind her can attract her interest. Perhaps it's because she's at the end of a long day of touring museums, churches, and palaces. It's tiredness, but it's a happy tired. At least, that's how I felt at the end of our wonderful week in Paris. Next destination, New Zealand.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"Elegance embraced,
Louvre's masterpieces await,
Confidence abounds."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Louvre in Paris. People-watching is fun anywhere, but it's at its best in a great location. This smartly-dressed young woman looks supremely self-confident. Perhaps it's because she's about to enter the Louvre. Check with her again when she's leaving the museum in three or four hours and see if she still looks elegant and fresh. But for now, she's on top of the world. At least, that's what I see.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"Words and worlds inside,
Whitman's legacy lives on.
Old bookshelves hold tales."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Shakespeare and Company, a bookstore on the Left Bank in Paris, opened in 1951 and renamed to "Shakespeare and Company" in 1964 "in tribute to Sylvia Beach's bookstore of the same name founded in 1919." The founder, George Whitman, called his venture "a socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore." Today, tourists stand in line for as long as 30 minutes just to get a chance to enter.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"Parisian skyline,
Eiffel Tower claims its space,
Montmartre's distant gaze."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Montmartre in Paris. It shows the Eiffel Tower, two miles away. No matter where you go in Paris, your eye looks up to try to find the Eiffel Tower. For orientation. For beauty. It's like pinching yourself to be reminded, "I'm in Paris."
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"A taste of Paris,
'Bystro' in every bite,
La Mère Catherine."
Today's photo-of-the-day is of La Mère Catherine, a brasserie in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, in the Montmartre district. La Mère Catherine claims to be where the word "bistro" originated. In 1814, a group of Russian soldiers there asked for drinks to be served "bystro" (Russian for "quickly"). True or not, it's a good defense when the French blame the invention of the fast food restaurant on Americans. It actually started in Paris.
Note that this photo was taken in late December. Despite the chilly weather, Parisians (or tourists) are eating at outdoor tables, like you see in real cities around the world.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"A thousand words pale,
Before the beauty it holds,
Paris' sacred gem."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Paris. There's stained glass, and then there's Sainte-Chapelle. Google describes it as an "ornate, 13th-century, Gothic chapel with relics & notable stained-glass windows of biblical scenes." That hardly does it justice. A picture is worth a thousand words.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"La Joconde's gaze,
Whispers secrets through the ages,
Mona Lisa's charm."
Today's photo-of-the-day features three views of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris. The first is from the gallery next door, showing the crowd trying to get into the packed gallery where the Mona Lisa is on display. The second photo shows the Mona Lisa from inside that gallery. And the third photo shows a closeup of the painting that awaits those with the patience to wait their turn to get up to the front. My photo was aided by a telephoto lens.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"Eiffel's steel soars high,
Institut's dome kisses the sky,
Seine's waters sigh."
Today's photo-of-the-day is from a bridge over the River Seine in Paris. In the distance is the Eiffel Tower. In the midground is the dome of the Institut de France, a French learned society, grouping five académies, including the Académie Française, established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. In the foreground, on the river, are tour boats.
Closeup photos of the Institut de France and the Eiffel Tower are after the jump.
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| From 2022 12 25 Paris |
"Outside, lights ignite,
Moulin Rouge on Christmas night,
Snapshot's sweet delight."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Paris. No trip to Paris is complete without a visit to the Moulin Rouge cabaret. Unfortunately, tickets for Christmas Day are not only very expensive, but sold out far in advance. So a snapshot of the outside will have to do. Ah, the memories of an imagined visit!