WINDOWS IN THE GRAND PLACE

It's amazing we can board a train in Paris' Gard du Nord and be in Brussels in about an hour and a half. (It sometimes takes longer than that to go from the far suburbs to downtown Chicago.) We won't see much in Brussels on a quick day trip, but our main destination will be the Grand Place. Along with the Gothic Hôtel de Ville and Maison du Roi the square is surrounded by the opulent guild houses. 

During my previous visit to Brussels I took this photo of the exquisite architectural detailing, statuary and balconies with their red-flower boxes that decorate the guild houses.

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Brussels.
Waterlogue images created by me. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

QUEUING AT THE LOUVRE

In 1981, when I. M. Pei was chosen as the architect to redesign Musée du Louvre, his plan included not only renovating the Cour Napoléon but also the interior of the museum. He proposed a central underground entrance which would link all three buildings. In the center of the large courtyard would be a glass and steel pyramid which would be placed above the entrance and serve as a skylight. Another inverted pyramid underneath the entrance would allow sunlight to enter the underground shopping mall. Initially the design and concept were despised. How could a Chinese architect from America know anything about French architecture? A modern-designed pyramid in front of the classical French architecture of the Louvre?  Once the courtyard was reopened in 1988 and the new clear-glass pyramid entrance in the following Spring, public opinion had changed, with over half of those polled in favor of the design. Now, as it was initially with the Eiffel Tower, Parisians have not only accepted their pyramid, but are actually quite fond of it. In this photo you see the large pyramid entrance set amid triangular-shaped fountains and three other small pyramids. The pyramid really does blend in quite beautifully with the classical architecture.

original photo:

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Paris.
Waterlogue images created by me. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

ATRIUM LANTERNS

I have a new travel goal to see as much of the world as I can via a cruise ship. So far, I have been on seven different cruise ships; number eight will be in three months. Each ship has been decorated in its own unique motif, and I have liked each one for different reasons. One of my favorite ships is the Carnival Breeze. Some of you may think...Um, Carnival? Really? Yes. Each Carnival ship I have been on has been decorated beautifully in my opinion. On the Breeze I loved these multi-colored, cloth-covered lanterns that hang several decks above the ship's atrium, and they made for a wonderful photograph.

original photo.

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Photo taken by me during my cruise on the Carnival Breeze in May, 2013.
Waterlogue images created by me. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

CHAPEL OF THE HOLY CROSS

Just south of the city of Sedona, built right into the beautiful red rocks is the amazing Chapel of the Holy Cross. The front façade of the church is a large cross which appears to rise directly out of the surrounding red rocks. The chapel is perched up on a bluff (it's quite steep walk up from the parking lot to the chapel)  which allows visitors wonderful panoramic views of famous rock formations.

original photo.

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Sedona in September, 2009.
Waterlogue images created by me. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

DUTCH WINDMILLS

There is something exciting about visiting the Netherlands for the first time and seeing a real windmill. When I visited Amsterdam a few years ago, I was thrilled to see them dotted along the countryside during train excursions to Delft, the Mauritshuis and the Kröller-Müller Museum. At the Keukenhof Gardens there is a windmill that visitors can actually go inside. Walking up a flight of stairs visitors can see how the giant blades rotate. The photo below shows that windmill along with some of the beautiful trees that were in bloom during my visit.

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Photo taken by me during my visit to the Netherlands in May, 2010.
Waterlogue images created by me. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

LE BATEAU LAVOIR

For art connoisseurs Le Bateau Lavoir (the laundry boat) is a famous building in the Montmartre area of Paris. Jokingly named by poet Max Jacob who thought the shape and color of the building looked like the laundry boats docked along the Seine. Located on charming Place Emile Goudeau, the building was made up of small painting studios occupied in the very beginning of the 20th century by some of the most famous French painters such as Juan Gris, Amadeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, André Derain, Maurice Utrillo and of course, Pablo Picasso. It is in the building that Picasso painted one of his most famous paintings, Les Demoiseles d'Avignon, considered by art historians as the beginning of his Cubist period.

original photo

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Paris in May, 2006.
Waterlogue images created by me.

RAINY DAY IN PARIS

Any day in Paris, regardless of the weather, is wonderful. This photo was taken on a rainy day in Rue Xavier Privas, one of the narrow streets in the Latin Quarter. I love the Latin Quarter area with its narrow alley-like, pedestrian-only streets. Street-level has restaurants of every nationality, but look up to see the wrought-iron balconies covered with the red-geranium-filled flowers boxes.

original photo.

 

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Paris in May, 2006.
Waterlogue images created by me.

WELCOME! COME IN.

For this Travels in Watercolor I'm cheating...the only traveling I did was to board my daily suburban commuter train into downtown Chicago. However, the photo is one of my favorites that I've snapped during my walk to the office, and I think it makes a beautiful watercolor. It is the beautifully-ornate entrance gate to the Driehaus Museum which welcomes visitors to experience a Gilded Age era home just steps from the Magnificent Mile (aka Michigan Avenue).

original photo.

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Photo taken by me in downtown Chicago during my walk to work in July, 2015.
Waterlogue images created by me.

FOUNTAIN GARDEN

In the Enid A. Haupt Garden near the entrance to the National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C. is the Fountain Garden. Modeled after the Court of the Lions at Alhambra, the 13th-century Moorish palace and fortress in Granada, Spain, it is geometrically symmetrical and as with most Islamic gardens, includes a central fountain. A veil of cascading water streams down the back stone wall.

original photo.

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Washington, DC in September, 2013.
Waterlogue images created by me.

BRUGGE FLOWER SHOP

Why is it that Europe has the most enchanting shops with the most photographic store fronts? I came across this flower shop during my visit to Brugge. I just love all the colorful hanging baskets and the wrought-iron flowers stands.

original photo.

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Brugge in May, 2010.
Waterlogue images created by me.

BRUGGE CANAL REFLECTIONS

If you love the oldness of Europe (that's my word), then you have to visit Bruges, or Brugge as I like to call it. Brugge is the Flemish form of Bruges. Needless to say, Brugge is everything that the guidebooks tell you it is: beer, chocolate, unique architecture and postcard-pretty canals. This is one of my favorite photos from my visit: a picturesque canal, the water so still it reflected like a mirror, the houses with their burnt-orange tiled roofs reflecting on the water.

original photo.

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Photo taken by me during my visit to Brugge in May, 2010.
Waterlogue images created by me.