I’m taking the prompt very loosely this week. I’m not totally sure what makes architecture vintage, other than it being old!
Here’s Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto:
NOT trompe l’oeil building in Lisbon:
Wat Arun in Bankgok, Thailand:
And finally, some neoclassical architecture in the heart of NYC, just west of Penn Station – the US Post Office:
This week’s prompt is orange. I was in NYC last week and saw these skulls in the window of a shop. I loved them, as well as the calaveras.
A few more orange images from the archives.
Young monks on the Chao Praya in Bankgok, Thailand:
Orange fungi from the Olympic Peninsula:
Blue and Orange tiles in Lisbon, Portugal:
This week’s prompt: stairs. For you, a few staircases and a brief story. First the pictures:
The staircase in the shopping center at the JR Train Station in Kyoto:
Spiral staircase in Lisbon:
Dragon staircase in Chiang Mai:
Powell’s bookstore in Portland, Oregon:
Ayutthaya Staircase:
Before I start telling you this story, I have to show you a picture of something else. It’s a bicycle:
In 2011 I spent 3 months in SE Asia. The first place I went after I got my head sorted in Bangkok was Ayutthaya. It was a great place for me to rest and sink into a new rhythm. The guesthouse where I was staying had bikes available to rent. This was my trusty steed as I ventured out from the safety of my idyllic quarters. What you can’t tell from looking at the picture is how heavy that bike was. I’d guess it weighed around 25 pounds. Nothing like my lightweight 15-pound aluminum frame bike at home.
And yes, I did carry that damn thing down those damn stairs. And back up on the other side. And then again in reverse. And I felt quite pleased with my accomplishment.
This week’s prompt was petals.
While I probably have thousands of pictures of flowers, I thought I’d take the prompt a little bit further. Here’s a boddhisatva resting on a lotus bloom at the Todai-ji temple in Nara:
But I’ll throw a few flowers from various gardens in the mix:
And some African tulip blooms that I came across while I was in Si Satchanali, Thailand:
Three years ago I spent the winter in SE Asia. I started, timid as a mouse, in Bangkok. It was not auspicious. I got bolder and left and went to Ayutthaya, to adjust to the climate and the culture and recover from the jet lag.
Ayutthaya is one of the ancient capitals of Thailand. It’s a beautiful place, and there are many ruins of old temples. The old city is surrounded by a river, so technically it’s on an island. One afternoon I took a long tail boat ride around the island:
We stopped at several sites along the way, visiting beheaded Buddhas,
Buddha heads,
and admiring the jackfruit trees.
There were two Norwegian couples on the boat ride with me, one that was middle-aged and the other quite young. We all went to the night market for dinner. We sat outside, in the dark, sweating our asses off at 7:30 at night. Apparently the only food I took a picture of was this fish, which was delicious:
There was also morning glory vines and frog legs. And beer. Which was the point of telling this story. For those of you who know me, you know I’m not a big drinker. I mean, it takes me at least an hour to drink a pint of beer. On a good day. At the night market, they had beer – but only the 22-ounce bottles. I tried to ask if they had the 12-ounce once ones and everyone laughed at me. I recall asking the people I was eating dinner with how they could drink so much.
The young woman turned to me, lifted her bottle and cheerily said, “We are Wikings!”
We all had a good laugh.
I loved it when they painted the Space Needle “galaxy gold” in honor of the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair. This is the view I have one block from my apartment. And while I do enjoy a good glimpse of the Needle, it’s always the Olympic mountain range behind it that takes my breath away.
One summer day we overheard two bikers as they passed this view – on a day when the mountains were particularly stunning and the Needle was its usual white. One said to the other: “Wow! Look at the … Space Needle.” We’ve added that to our repertoire of inside jokes!
*
And a couple of other “wide open spaces”:
I’ve been thinking a lot about Thailand, because it’s been three years now since I visited. This picture was taken in Ayuttaya, out in the countryside:
And this is Mt. Blanc, taken in France:
