let's take a drive through Switzerland

I'll find more scenic routes, right now I'm just learning to read my map (this is outside Bern)

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Wow, I have a new addiction

Don't forget to VOTE!

zut alors!

Oh how I wish I were in Paris -

Heard about this on the radio this morning:
Claude Monet retrospective in the Galeries Nationales in the Grand Palais (on Champs-Elysées!)
In lieu of actually being there, the website for the show is pretty darn cool (though takes forever to load) - love it!

Stephen Fry about online friends and online stupidity

Coolest home video ever!

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

Zulu telephone wire weaving

Wow, I love these!












more here

places to dream about visiting

other people's travel photos I came across during early morning web-surfing...

India - the colors!


Copenhagen - the whimsy!

^^ a Marimekko concept store!!!

^^ Tivoli - (went there many years ago with my sister :)

Shanghai - the future!

A few years ago I bought The Saddest Place on Earth, a book of paintings by Camille Rose Garcia because her disturbing imagery moved me - it seemed a little too close to reality, and therefor motivated me to do what I could to move away from such a reality. Unfortunately, as the news about the Gulf oil spill becomes sadly increasingly depressing I once again think of her images and the truth they hold:

People in Belize City, Belize

(photos taken during a crazy bumpy ride on a vintage BlueBird schoolbus)

"To be hopeful...

... in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

— Howard Zinn

Sad news: Howard Zinn died last night, at age 87

Haiti: 360°

Use your mouse to click and drag around the video to change the view. You can also zoom in and out. Pause and explore at any time by pressing the play/pause button under the video to stop and look around. The video below was shot on Monday, January 18, at 9:52 a.m. EST in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

UPDATE: I removed the embedded video because it seemed to be quite problematic -- but it's definitely worth checking out -- click on the word CNN to watch it at their website - be sure to check out pages 2 and 3 as well

London, current day

one advantage of living in a big city:
living in the midst of an art installation by 90 yr old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama

(photos by miscellaneous flickr contributors - click here to see more of this gorgeousity!)