All I want in 2018 . . .

is this bright yellow vintage 2CV—and I don't even drive!
(And yet, the road is still mine—go figure.)   
In case you missed it, I recently retired.  That means 
I have more time to travel and I plan to do just 
that.  Which means that I need to back off this blog a bit.  
I've been doing it for nine and a half years now and it's 
been a total labor of love.  But I think we're all 
a bit "blogged out" at this point.  So for now I'll blog 
when I have something to blog about and
I hope you'll come by from time to time ( please do!).

{Meanwhile, I'll also be around on Instagram—
can't lie, I'm a bit addicted.  Find me
@brooklynalexa, and on Facebook as well.}

And Happy New Year to all of my wonderful blog pals!

[Today I'm linking back to Shadow Shot Sunday.]

The Weekend in Black and White

Downtown buildings are reflected in
the outer walls of the "oculus"—part PATH
station and part high-end shopping mall.

[To see more b/w images,
visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

Came up out of the subway on Christmas
Eve (annual pilgrimage to Zabar's
on the Upper West Side for
overpriced but delicious holiday treats)
and saw this fluffy sky.  Anyone
know if there's a name for these clouds?

[To see more skies from around
the world, go here.]

Make mine neon

Part of the vast Fulton Street transit
station,  where you have access to
—count 'em—11 different subway lines
(except that the 2 & 3 and the
4 & 5 are mostly the same thing).

[Linking back to signs, signs.]

ABC Wednesday—Y is for "yellow ornament"

And also for "yuletide."  Happy holidays to
the ABC team and all its contributors!

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Happy Boxing Day!

. . . to everyone celebrating today.

[Linking back to Our World Tuesday.]

A very Merry Christmas . . .

from the heart of Times Square!

[Linking back to Blue Monday
at Magical Mystery Teacher.]

inSPIREd Sunday

This is St. Patrick's Cathedral
in midtown Manhattan—
and the statue of Atlas directly
across the street.

[To see more churches from
around the world, go here.]

mwah!

Christmas kisses to all from this boutique
in Buenos Aires' über-hip Palermo
neighborhood—can't wait to be back there
some day very soon (I hope).

[Linking back to Pink Saturday
at How Sweet the Sound.]

Antarctic skies . . .

are SO dramatic—like pretty much
every part of this incredible
corner of the world.

[Linking back to Skywatch Friday and
The Weekend in Black and White.]

seems like good advice

Actually, this is Hen Quarter, a "bourbon bar"
(46 different kinds—who even knew there 
were that many?) in Old Town, Alexandria.  I went
for the good food—but, yes, I did have
one of the 46 different kinds (and still kept calm).

[Linking back to signs, signs.] 

ABC Wednesday—X is for "Xmas"

I love to walk around my "brownstone
Brooklyn" neighborhood and see
how people have decorated for the holidays.
I like all the white lights on this house
(and even the random leftover pumpkin)!

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

trimming the tree

Finally got the tree up (thanks, Katie!) and
decorated with all my favorite ornaments.

{Also finally got this post up after
the Internet decided to disappear yesterday.
Too many people shopping online?
The end of net neutrality?
Who knows?}

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

Home for the Holidays

The mood is festive at Penn Station in New York, 
as the decorations welcome visitors 
(and those of us returning home) to the 
city during the holiday season.

[Linking back to Blue Monday 
 at Magical Mystery Teacher.]

Antarctic shadows

This is Half Moon Bay, on the Antarctic Peninsula.
The thing we're all so fascinated with
out there in the snow . . .

is the only leopard seal we spotted
on the whole trip.  Looks like it's smiling
doesn't it?  (It's not.)

[Linking back to Shadow Shot Sunday.]

The Weekend in Black and White

I spent this past week in the 'burbs of
northern Virginia, helping to take
care of a couple of toddlers.  I took this
picture one morning when they
woke me up with hugs at 6:30. Toddler hugs 
are so worth getting up early for.

[To see more b/w images, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

This one is on the island of South Georgia,
in a place I was very lucky to visit
—because the seas around it are usually
too rough to allow a landing.
More than half a million king penguins
live here; you can see some in
the background (and their feathers
littering the foreground).

[To see more Weekend Reflections,
visit James's meme.]

their hero

The people of Buenos Aires are justifiably
proud of their former archbishop.

This is a part of the cathedral
that was his "home" church
(and where that sign is found).

[Linking back to signs, signs.]

ABC Wednesday—W is for "waterfall"

This is Shackleton Falls, on South Georgia.
It's named for Sir Ernest Shackleton,
the Antarctic explorer.  He came
over this mountain to the whaling station
of Strömness and was able to rescue
his entire crew after they had to abandon
their ship when it was trapped in (and
ultimately destroyed by) pack ice.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

He's making a list . . .

Did you think Santa was hard at work
at the North Pole?  Me, too—but
apparently he prefers to do his list-checking
(twice) at the local Starbucks, with a
venti latte by his side.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

angel on my shoulder

Buenos Aires is full of fabulous
murals like this one.

[Linking back to Monday Mural
at Oakland Daily Photo.]

inSPIREd Sunday

This is the Whaler's Church, in Grytviken,
in South Georgia.  Grytviken was
a whaling station that has now been shut
down.  There's a museum here, but,
really, the whole town is a museum.  

[To see more churches from
around the world, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

This king penguin was actually one of many
I saw on a stretch of beach in
South Georgia, the Antarctic Islands due east
of the Antarctic Peninsula.  There were
also fur seals—but those we avoided (pretty
nasty and faster than you'd think).

[To see more b/w images, visit
Dragonstar's meme.]

Skywatch Friday

Everything was over-the-top in South Georgia:
the landscape, the wildlife, even the clouds.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

Don't even think about it

This is the old whaling station of 
Strömness, on South Georgia.

Even the penguins have enough sense to 
keep (relatively) clear of this place.

[Linking back to signs, signs.]

ABC Wednesday—V is for "vain"

This proud chinstrap penguin seems to be
saying, "look at me. Look at me."
Actually, I think that's exactly what this
behavior means—he's lookin' for
love in all the right places.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

At the café

This colorful café is in the neighborhood
of San Telmo, in Buenos Aires—
where you'll also find lots of fun shops
(and a weekend open-air market)
and some very talented tango dancers.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

West Point

This West Point is the northernmost island of
the Falklands, home to some cattle,
a rookery filled with nesting albatross and
rockhopper penguins, and one
adventurous family who love living there.

[Linking back to Blue Monday.]

inSPIREd Sunday

Here's a detail from Christ Church Cathedral,
in Port Stanley, capital of the Falklands.

And those huge white things
outside the church are
the jawbones of a couple
of very large whales.
(BTW, now that they're
protected the whales are
starting to come back
in the Southern Ocean.)

[To see more churches
(with or without whalebones)
from around the world,
go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

This enormous rubber tree—20m (65 feet)
high and  50m (164 feet) wide;
impossible to photograph the whole thing and
many branches are supported—was planted near
what is now the Recoleta Cemetery, in
Buenos Aires, in 1800.

[To see more b/w images, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

All decked out in special cold-weather
gear to enjoy the beauty of Orne 
Harbor, in Antarctica.

[To see more Weekend Reflections,
visit James's meme.]

Tell us how you really feel

I was corrected by an Argentine because I
referred to the Malvinas (as she called them)
as the Falklands.  But these signs in
Port Stanley, the capital, make it very clear
(and so did the locals I spoke with) just
how the people who live there feel—British
through and through.

[To see more signs, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—U is for "Uruguay"

This wonderfully wabi-sabi building is
in the Ciudad Viejo, in Montevideo.
Only got to spend a couple of days here,
but the Old City was charming, the
people too—and we ate some 
gooood food.  

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

uphill

I learned quite a few things while I was on my trip to
Antarctica (and I'm just posting this now due
to welcome-home computer issues).  One of the things
I learned is that you can go almost anywhere if 
you just have sticks—including to the top of a  
snowy, icy, very high hill (though going down that hill
was actually harder than going up).  

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

See you in November

I've borrowed this photo of Recoleta Cemetery
from my daughter Lila.  She took it
a few years ago when she was in Buenos Aires,
where I've been this past week.
Now I'm in Montevideo, and tonight I'm going
to board a ship and head south, where
there will be only the sketchiest Internet connection—
or, more likely, none whatsoever.
I'll be home and blogging again on Nov. 28.  
Please come back then; I'm hoping to
have a whole lot of pictures to share with you. 

[Linking back to Shadow Shot Sunday.]

The Weekend in Black and White

At my favorite Paris restaurant: Circonstances.
We were saying goodnight to Franck and Karin, the
very talented owners of this place—and I
noticed that they were ready to pour the wine
for the next day's lucky customers.

[To see more b/w images, visit
Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

This is the Pavillon du Lac, in the Parc de Bercy,
which I visited for the first time on my
recent visit to Paris.  It's worth traveling to
the outer arrondissements—where I never went
when I lived there long ago, because it
was considered too dangerous.  A whole lot
has changed in a half century (!).

[To see more Weekend Reflections, visit James's meme.]

signs, signs

This sign is across the street from the 
Eddy Varekamp Gallery.  You can find reasonably
priced linocut and stencil prints at this
Amsterdam shop—a great gift or souvenir.

[To see more signs, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—P is for "pretty pink pigeon perch"

. . . in the piazza.  I think Venice has some
 of the most beautiful street lamps
in the world.

[To see more abc posts, go here.]

lady in red

I always try to visit the Louvre pyramids
at night when I'm in Paris.
Last time, I saw four or five Asian couples
posing there.  It was Paris Fashion Week—but
I think all of them were there strictly
for themselves.  Brides and grooms, probably.
At any rate, they all looked beautiful.

[Linking back to Ruby Tuesday
and Our World Tuesday.]

pin one on

Not sure what you need to accomplish to earn one
of these, or whether you can actually just
buy one (seems wrong if you can).  They're on display 
at Bacqueville, one of my all-time fave shops 
in the arcade of the Palais Royal, in Paris.

[Linking back to Macro Monday and 
Blue Monday at Magical Mystery Teacher.]

the chapel

Late-afternoon shadows fall across the
Agnietenkapel, at the University
of Amsterdam.  We came back to this
neighborhood after dark, to check
out the famous red light district, right
around the corner: an extreme example of the
difference between night and day!

[Linking back to Sunday Shadows
and inSPIREd Sunday.]

Saint-Sulpice

I showed you a detail of this church
last Sunday, but there's something to see
everywhere you look, inside and out.

[To see more b/w images, visit
Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

Reflected in a window along the
Egelantiers Canal, in Amsterdam, the
steeple of the Westerkirk.  I can't
swear that the bells ring every 15 minutes
24/7, but I'm pretty sure that's
what woke me up at 3 AM.  Didn't really
mind; I love the church bells.

[To see more Weekend Reflections,
visit James's meme.]