Window Shutters

I don't recall ever seeing many shutters on windows in North American cities.  If there are, they are usually decorative and serve no useful purpose.  Shutters, and their hardware, are details that jump out at me in European cities.  These were shot in Speyer, Germany.

Speyer statues

These statues of Emperors are among those that stand outside Speyer Cathedral.

"A people without a knowledge of their past, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."  

Marcus Garvey

Looking up

Look up ... look way up:  Ceiling details from Cochem Castle.

"The camera sees more than the eye, so why not make use of it."

Edward Weston

Just cruisin' down the river

"If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends."

Enoch Powell

Dawn on the river

When I'm on holidays, in a new location, I like to rise early and see what images the dawn offers up.  In Europe, I was rarely disappointed.  The expectations that came with being on the river made me excited for each morning.

Bernkastel

Mainz

Speyer

Speyer

Near Koblenz

"Dawn and resurrection are synonymous.  The reappearance of light is the same as the survival of the soul".  Victor Hugo

Daffodils

Daffodils are a symbol of rebirth.  I've saved the daffodil images for today.

Happy Easter

Outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

In front of the Bishop's Palace in Trier.

In Strasbourg

Stairs

I follow several photography blogs and often use the themes I find there as inspiration.  One of the themes for this week was "stairs".  I like photographing stairs and these are a few favourites from Europe.

"Never look backwards or you'll fall down the stairs."  Rudyard Kipling

Trier - the old Roman Gate

"Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and, most easily of all, the gate of fear."   

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Walking in Paris

Walking around Paris, especially in the morning, is a favourite memory.

Beautiful carousels abound.

Eiffel Tower key chains.

Eiffel Tower

"I ought to be jealous of the tower.  She is more famous than I am."  Gustav Eiffel

Paris - City of Lights

Walking in Paris on a warm spring night!  It's hard not to just go into "tourist mode" and soak it up.