Thursday’s door.
Continue readingAt the Palazzo Gio Carlo Brignole, Genoa
Post Category → Europe
Seven Street Art Snaps From Bologna
Bologna is sometimes called La Rossa (“the Red”), a nickname rooted as much in its terracotta-and-brick architecture as in its tradition of left-wing and anti-fascist politics. It is also a university town, where those warm, terracotta-coloured walls serve young creatives as an inviting public notebook for stencils and scrawls and paintings and tags.
Continue readingInside Climate News: How the Climate Crisis Fueled the Youth Protests Roiling France
The heating planet is fueling unrest, that’s been clear. The past month of youth protests in France, which come after the country’s hottest year, are just one example.
The students’ demands are far-ranging: more teachers, smaller class sizes, a shortened school day and an overhaul of the post-secondary college application system. But the heart of the revolt is indignation over crumbling school infrastructure—a problem laid bare by climate-change-fueled heat waves.
This year was France’s hottest on record, and the country counted 8,000 excess deaths during the summer’s heat waves. In June alone, deaths spiked 11 percent compared to the same month in 2025.
France’s schools, meanwhile, were not built for the hotter world the students have inherited after generations of fossil fuel use have warped the climate. Many buildings were designed to hold onto heat; air conditioning is rare. As classrooms recorded temperature peaks above 100 degrees Fahrenheit this spring, schools reported incidents from fainting to nosebleeds.
Link.
French Nationwide October 17 Protest, In Nice: Notebook and 20 Photos – Updated 19 October
Student protests in France over school conditions that began about a month ago continued to spread across much of the country today, here in Nice included.
Continue readingLouisiana Museum of Modern Art – Notebook and Snapshots
In the Giacometti Hall at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, pictured above, Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man” appears to be entering from the lush woods beyond the glass. The image doesn’t quite do justice to the work—or to its stunning setting beside the Garden Lake, just a few metres away.
It’s an apt image for a museum, located in the quiet town of Humlebæk just north of Copenhagen, that feels less like a conventional gallery and more like a journey through art, architecture and landscape.
Continue readingIn Transit: Waiting on a Train, Litija
Last Week in Bologna – 3 October 2026
A handful of shots from a 19-hour visit to Bologna last week. Above is Diavolessa, a female devil/gargoyle whose menacing wrought-iron visage stands guard under the portico of the former Ospedale degli Innocenti, the city’s one-time orphanage.
Continue readingBudapest Last Week – 14 September 2026
Birding at the Strunjan Landscape Park, Slovenia
Black-winged Stilts, Little Egrets and more in Slovenia’s only marine lagoon – and the northernmost salt pans in the Mediterranean world.
Continue readingSahara Dust, in the Northern Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas
Sand from the Sahara painting the skies over the northern Adriatic in hues of milky yellow.
Continue readingShip Spotting at Sunset, Rijeka
We’re back in Rijeka for the week where I plan to do some ship-spotting from the balcony, like tonight. At left is the Sara Star, a container ship that was parked in this spot for two days before heading onward to the port of Bakar just a few kilometers up the coast. And at right,… Continue reading
Kukova Spiča Sunset, Near Kranjska Gora, Slovenia
Sharing a sunset view in four scenes of Kukova Špica (2427m/ 7962ft), a peak at the western end of Slovenia’s Martuljek mountain group in the Julian Alps, with a Eurasian Kestrel.
Continue readingIn Transit: Between Trieste and Monfalcone
This is what SMS wildfire warnings look like in southern France.
I’ve never received a local emergency alert. They are loud, strident. At first, they were confusing, too.
Continue readingShadows and Shade, Dubrovnik
France Wildfires live updates: France 24, the Guardian and The New York Times (Gift link)
The devastation continues. As of early this evening 197,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in southwestern France because of the unprecedented wildfires that continue to burn and spread near Bordeaux. More than 70,000 have been evacuated in Spain, mostly from villages west of Madrid.
Live coverage from France 24, The Guardian and The New York Times (Gift link).
Wildfires have ravaged nearly 98,000 hectares (242,000 acres) in France this year, an area nearly 10 times the size of Paris. A fourth heatwave in two months is expected to kick in by Wednesday 29 July.
White-Throated Dipper, in Slovenia
Perching, hopping, dipping and diving on the Pišnica River in the Julian Alps. 16 images.
Continue readingPiran, from Strunjan, Slovenia
20 Photos from the Verdon-Allos Loop Trail
More specifically, photos of seven different wildflowers and four different butterflies to present a survey of what was blooming and flying in early June along this six kilometer out-and-back trail along the Verdon River in the town of Allos, France.
Continue reading15 Photos From the Librairie Actes Sud, Arles
Another entry for the ‘The French Love Books and France Still Loves Supporting Local Bookstores’ series.
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