Under the arcs at Gaudi’s cathedral.

The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin consisting of 2,711 slabs and designed by Peter Eisenman.

View from inside the Reichtag’s Dom.

On a bus in Berlin.

Turn up your Life, 2006

The Museum Square.

Women and their children headed toward the church.

Note how the tree has incorporated some of the ancient wall. There are few better examples than at this site of nature reclaiming her own.

The entrance to El Sumidero Canyon.

Train station.

This midieval entry gate of former times was largely destroyed in WWII but rebuilt after the war.

A view of the Pipila from the Jardin de la Union.

Guanajuato (Gto.) as seen from the patio beneath the Pipila statue.

The photo of the redheaded girl, whose expression is caught between a laugh and a cry strikes me as particularly poignant.

These little girls were waiting to perform while watching the adult dancers on the steps of the Teatro Juarez in 2016.

My favorite walk-through passage.

These men are relaxing in the Panteon (the graveyard) between performances on Dia de los Muertos in 2015.

Calle Truco, 2017

This fellow and I greet one another jubilantly each time we meet, and each time, we have forgotten each other’s names. He is a fixture in Gto.

Dia de los Muertos, 2015

Dia de los Niños, 2015

El Panteon, Dia de Los Muertos, 2015

Dia de los Muertos, November 2, is full of creation in most Mexican cities. here, not only do people walk around in skeletal make-up, but the cities abound with altars honoring the dead and sidewalks are covered with floral or vegetebal and straw designs.

One of the gruesome mummies from the well known mummy museum.

A debutante!

The basilica in the Plaza de la Paz.

Once a year, art students from the university come and draw beautiful chalk drawings on the sidewalk only to have them mostly faded or rained on the next day. In that way, they are like Asian sand art.

A minstrel in the Plaza de San Roque.

These trees are to be found in a small magical grove called Las Musas in the Gto. city of Manuel Doblado.

Hamburger Banhof on a cloudy day, 2017.

I decided to put this post bloody to remember the war dead on all sides.

A shop in the better part of downtown.

Night street, downtown.

Night shot on the Alster Promenade.

“Zipped Up”

Denkmahl

Coming from Hamburg, I have always loved the sea.

A patio of the Elbphilharmonie (Elphi), which took 9 years to build and went millions of dollars over cost. Still, it is an extraordinary structure with a high view of the harbor as it is built on top of one of the old warehouses.

This man is one of many immigrant musicians trying to make a buck on the street.

These are the old brick buildings (what was left of them after WWII), I love.

On the right, there are the Speichelhäuser where ships drop off their wares. Many were destroyed and rebuilt, and today, many of them have been converted to apartments as transporting goods from harbor to harbor has gotten more hi-tech.

This little museum depicting scenes of transport (primarily a huge train track) from all over the world, draws many visitors for good reason.

As in virtually all European countries there are lost of bicycle riders.

Hummel-Hummel

Another exclusive shop across form the Alster.

This old city hall took 44 years to build and has close to 700 rooms, one of which was only discovered in 1971. It was formally inaugurated in 1897 and has been the city hall ever since.

Although probably most statues were destroyed during the war, Hamburg is, nevertheless, alive with statues, old and new.

Detail of the statue.

Here at the train station is where you can exchange dollars for Euros, or vice-versa. You can also eat in a variety of restaurants, choose flowers from a number of flower stores, and shop for other items you might need on a trip.

This little scene is actually about an hour out of Hamburg by train. Here is another immigrant trying to make a buck by letting people take pictures with his little pony.

The harbors and the train stations in Hamburg and elsewhere in the world, always fill me with a kind of exitement. This one is my all-time favorite.

A train-stop. (Haltestelle)

Mützen

This is the quintessential harbor shot when you are taking one of the many little ships that take you around. I was sorry there were no clouds in the sky and the weather was dreary, but I was happy to get the shot.

Architechure in Hafencity with the Elphi in the background.

This photo I took in 2006.

Harbor with the big cranes that move the crates from ship to ship or ship to shore.

Industry

Close-up of the cranes.

View from the Elbe.

Main train terminal in Berlin, 2006.

Train station on the harbor.

“Sideglance”

Volkswagon

“Man Walking his Shadow”

Cannery row, about 2004

A statue outside of the Del Monte Hotel.

Haggling over pecking order, no doubt.

Once a year, there is a fair, and this particular year, around 2004, there was a pig race.

Cormorants, 2000.

My favorite shot of a Brown Pelican overlooking Pier One.

Monterey County Fair, around 2004.

Cannery Row, 2007

Monterey County Fair, 2006.

Some workers from the humane society shooing a seal back off the beach 2007.

Del Monte Beach.

Fishing net at Pier Two.

Moon jellies in a huddle, 2005.

The making of a splash.

Great Egret.

View from Pier Two.

At Sunset form Pier One.

Pier One.

Part of the aquarium at night.

Cannery Row, 2007.

One can go whale watching from a boat, and here is a humpback.

Great white pelicans at Moss Landing.

Just kickin’ it!

Boy and otter, 2007

Girl by otter tank, 2007.

By the “touchy-feely” tank.

2005.

Moon jellies, 2007

Mother and child observing the tank, 2007.

Pinchers withdrawn, 2004.

The bay art sunset, 2005.

Is that a face, or is that a face? 2004.

Seal at Moss landing.

Del Monte Beach with my old pooch, Chica!

Del Monte Beach.

Rock Fish?

A downtown building with poster.

A downtown view of a church through arches.

A woman selling jewelry.

A street vendor and his pooch.

These two angles boltet out of the heavens to collect signatures form those who believe in love.

Sunday from 10:00 to 3:00 the main downtown streets are roped off to allow for and encourage bike riders.

Inside the big downtown church.

A woman carrying her belongings.

Restaurant row under the arches. It’s so lovely to site there when it rains.

I couldn’t stop taking pictures of these two angels. They seemed so incongruous amid the regular park visitors.

The big cathedral.

Woman carrying groceries.

Sitting in the plazas, almost anywhere in mexico if it’s not raining, reveals much of the cities’ character. Boys doing wheelies on a Sunday.

Downtown.

Bike enthusiasts getting a bit of sun and excrcise!

Downtown.

The town has a university and we saw many student artists practicing and selling in the streets.

A street juggler on stilts.

Inside the main art museum, a young boy watching a film exhibit.

This solo water buffalo did not seem to mind the weather, but I feel sad for any animal I see in a zoo. I prefer to see them in a game preserve.

Touted to be one of the better zoos, which 9it appears to be, this bear, nevertheless, raises his head in protest.

These pitiful creatures do prefer to be running in the plains to this small muddy enclosure. Thjey are beautiful to look at, but so sad to see.

This baboon looks decidedly dejceted and did not move his head at all while I was there. He makes a case for the abandonment of zoos, does he not?

This poor old guy is missing one tusk and has oriental writing on the other. No doubt he was rescued and it better off here than as a beast of burden, nevertheless, animals are social creatures and he is the only left here as his companion died a couple of years back.

Here was an impressive collection of flamingos and this one was encouraging a little one. Their habitat seemed quite adequate and we observed the birds behaving in a natural fashion, guarding each others’ nests, and other similar behaviors.

One of many arches.

A close up of one of the angels collecting love signatures. What was truly funny was that he didn’t have a pen with which to collect them. What a character!

Statue with a pigeon tail on its winged head on the Pont Au Change across the Seine which leads to the Luovre.

Along the Seine.

Woman walking by elephant.

Near the Louvre.

This fish restaurant allowed us a peak into its kitchen form the restaurant across the street.

This scene struck me as amusing. Follow the glances of the men.

Street-scene in the downtown.

This woman on the subway is doing what I wish people here and in the states would do more in their leisure time. Note the outfit. Brrr. 3 degrees centigrade!

We passed through this street exhibit several times and were told that it was a display of fabrics.

Oops!

Note the bicycles. You can rent one (via coins in a slot) and drop it off at another location like in Mexico City.

As all the shots are with hand-held camera, this is not as sharp as I would like, but it just spoke to me of Paris.

The Seine with barge.

The Seine.

From inside of the museum.

This is one of the famous old streets in Patzcuaro. I made the sky slightly purple to emphazise the relative unreality of this old city. The construction of the temple was started in 1693 and finished around 200 years later.

This beautiful woman and her child were part of a band appearing at La Jacaranda. In black/white you see the audience.

Another street scene which captures the quinticential street feeling of the city. The buildings that are painted are white on top and orange on the bottom throughout the downtown area.

As there are at least as many festivals in Patzcuaro as there are in the rest of the small towns in Mexico, there are many food booths all over the centro, in this case, in the main plaza.

Street scene in the main plaza.

A night shot featuring a lantern and some late stragglers.

More of the cooks in the makeshift sidewalk restaurants during festivities. On this night, there had to be at least 25 of these.

This little guy struck me as funny with his mouth wide open in exclamation. He should grow up with no problem sticking up for himself.

Break-dancers frequently come from Moralia to the main plaza to perform for change.

This ancient chuch door opens up to look at the famous Templo Sagrario across the street.

This boat (and about 20 more like it) takes one to the island of Janitzio form the docks in Patzcuaro where to this day, they speak mostly Purepecha.

We frequently see this man proudly riding his great horse around town. He clearly enjoys my taking an interest in him and the pride he takes in his horse is evident and well deserved. We have heard he owns half the town, so he is not just posturing.

This town has something going on the main main square at least every weekend and often during the week. Benches were set up here and these talented folk dancers performed for free.

This is the road to Patzcuaro, which is over that mountain on the right. You can see the island of Janitzio in the distance.

I couldn’t resist twirling the background on this dancer as it seemed so apt with that expression on his face!

There seem to be about as many parades in this town as there are holidays. This was a horse-parade of some kind and the riders seemed to enjoy showing of their beautiful animals.

Another boat-ride to Janitzio from which can be seen with the famous mountable (from the inside) 40 meter statue of Jose Maria Morelos, a revolutionary war hero.

This woman was selling her woven goods in the festival od Dia de los Muertos in 2016.

I decided to have a little fun with this breakdancer’s antics.

“Folklorico” performed in the park at night for free, 2017

A scene from the Casa de los Once Patios, a small shopping center in a converted hacienda just in back of the Templo Sagrario.

I couldn’t resist posting another of these as they came out so enticing (at least to my eye).

This woman also came to sell her little clay statues which she and her husband make by hand.

This scene enchanted me as the man was barreling down the street with his wife in the wheelchair both laughing like mad!

The sweetness of the expression on this woman suggests she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, does it not?

This is the famous Dance of the Viejitos which features children from very small to teenage years dressing up as old men and dancing, usually in a row of about 5 kids trailing each other with various solos performed throughout the routine.

This particular procession starts outside of the “basilica” and continues through out the town. it happens in Semana Santa which is Easter week.

This woodcarver has a booth at almost all the events throughout the year. One of the more charming things about these booths is that many of the crafts-people continue working while they wait to sell so you can see how they do what they do.

This little dancer has taken off his mask and hat to collect the tips for which he has been performing.

Part of the Semana Santa procession. Note in the back that the men are shoe-less. Not too many years ago, they would walk flagellating themselves as they walked all around the town.

This woman sells her flowers all over town, and though they are often wilted, people kindly buy them from her. I don’t know what it is about this part of Michoacan, but it strikes me - perhaps of the Purepecha influence - that the people are kinder here.

A woman vendor.

This lucky shot (because it had just rained allowing the reflections in the barrel) came from a little town about 45 minutes out of Patzcuaro where they make only copper items and often you can watch them make it.

Outside of the main “basilica” during Semana Santa, 2018.

“Heavenly shades of night are falling…”

A walkway in back of the Casa de los Once Patios.

This man walks around selling his wife’s weaving efforts. His face looks to me like a wood carving: rugged, defined, and somehow, compassionate.

I just can’t resist posting one more of the folk dance we saw in 2017.

One of my favorite neighborhoods, Guadalupe.

A man from a group, the Voladores de Papantla asking for support.

An indigenous woman selling her flowers at the center of town.

These two basket vendors are clearly mother and son judging by their features, and the agony on the son’s face struck me as important.

I am drawn to this little girl clinging to her mother’s skirt.

Mexico dearly loves parades and it is frequent that streets are inaccessible for that reason. When there is not a parade, there is a protest of some kind.

Here in Mexico, especially in rural areas, people think nothing of riding in the backs of pick-up trucks. Technically, it is illegal and people are encouraged to wear seat belts, but like a lot of laws in Mexico, they are rarely enforced.

A young vendor regrouping on the sidewalk.

People admiring the altars of the Dia de Los Muertos celebration, 2016.

One of the many street beggars to be seen in virtually all parts of Mexico.

Sidewalk in the main plaza with little graves up the side of the street on Dia de los Muertos, 2015.

The old parking lot at the Saint Paul’s Church, which has now been appropriated for other uses. It was a lifesaver when all other lots were full.

A hip young vendor.

Colonia Guadalupe.

This is a carshot from 2010, but it’s one of my favorites.

One of the many parades. I believe this is the parade of Los Tontos, i.e., the silly ones.

Dance to celebrate a new statue in town. This one, also in the middle of the street, stopped traffic for about 20 minutes though it may have been longer as we arrived after it had already begun.

Celebration of the inauguration of a statue, 2010.

Another parade.

Old man walking in the main square.

Downtown architecture.

This is one of my favorite photos taken around 2010.

I often saw this guy perched on his second floor window sill. It was the spot he liked to sit.

Beetles.

Constable on a horse.

Neighborhood with an attitude, Colonia Guadalupe.

Mexico has expats of all stripes, and some have the freedom here to indulge their eccentricities to the fullest, begging the question, “Why not?”

One of the “voladores” in 2010 in the main square.