Day 29- Disco Toilet

Disco Toilet at the movie theater with reflective metallic wallpaper was an experience...

Day 28- Babushka Dolls

Day 27- Czech Kiss

Day 27-Czech kiss at Prague Castle Gates....

Day 26- Pilsner Urquell

Czech beer...especially good with goulash and dumplings....!

Day 25-Staroměstské Náměstí

Staroměstské Náměstí (Old Town Square) is magical...
It features various architectural styles including the gothic Týn Cathedral and baroque St. Nicholas Church. Among many churches, the Astronomical Clock is located on this square, and the tower at the Old Town Hall offers a panoramic view of Old Town.
The square's center is home to a statue of religious reformer Jan Hus, who for his beliefs was burned at the stake in Constance. The statue known as the Jan Hus Memorial was erected on July 6, 1915 to mark the 500th anniversary of his death.

Day 24- Dancing House

The Rasin Building, also known as the Dancing House or the Fred and Ginger Building, designed by Frank Gehry.

Day 23-Babies in Prague

David Černý (born December 15, 1967 in Prague) is a Czech sculptor whose works can be seen in many locations in Prague. His works tend to be controversial. He gained notoriety in 1991 by painting a Soviet tank pink that served as a war memorial in central Prague. As the Monument to Soviet tank crews was still a national cultural monument at that time, his act of civil disobedience was considered "hooliganism" and he was briefly arrested.
Another of Černý's conspicuous contributions to Prague is "Tower Babies," a series of cast figures of crawling infants attached to Žižkov Television Tower.

Day 22- Macarons

A macaron is a sweet confectionery. Its name is derived from an Italian word "maccarone" or "maccherone". This word is itself derived from ammaccare, meaning crush or beat, used here in reference to the almond paste which is the principal ingredient.^[1] It is meringue-based: made from a mixture of egg whites, almond flour, and both granulated and confectionery sugar.
The confectionery is characterized by its smooth, domed top, ruffled circumference (referred to as the "foot"), flat base, mildly moist and easily melted into mouths.^[2] Connoisseurs prize a delicate, egg shell-like crust that yields to a moist and airy interior. The macaron is commonly filled with a buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two macaron cookies.
Macarons can be found in a wide variety of flavors that range from the traditional (raspberry, chocolate) to the new (truffle, green matcha tea).^[3] Since the English word macaroon can also refer to the Coconut macaroon, many have adopted the French spelling of macaron to distinguish the two items in the English language. However, this has caused confusion over the correct spelling of the cookie. Some recipes exclude the use of macaroon' to refer to this French confection while others think that they are synonym.^[4]

Day 21- Gargoyle

In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building. Preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls is important because running water erodes the mortar between the stone blocks.^[1] Architects often used multiple gargoyles on buildings to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm. A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits through the open mouth. Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall. When Gothic flying buttresses were used, aqueducts were sometimes cut into the buttress to divert water over the aisle walls.
The term originates from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet";^[2] cf. Latin gurgulio, gula, gargula ("gullet" or "throat") and similar words derived from the root gar, "to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water (e.g., Spanish garganta, "throat"; Spanish gárgola,gargariser, which means "to gargle."^[3] The Italiandoccione o gronda sporgente, an architecturally precise phrase which means "protruding gutter." The German word for gargoyle is Wasserspeier, which means "water spitter." The Dutch word for gargoyle is waterspuwer, which means "water spitter" or "water vomiter." A building that has gargoyles on it is "gargoyled." "gargoyle"). It is also connected to the French verb word for gargoyle is
A grotesque figure is a sculpture that does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function. These are also usually called gargoyles in layman's terminology,^[2] although the field of architecture usually preserves the distinction between gargoyles (functional waterspouts) and non-waterspout grotesques.
Gargoyles are said to scare off and protect from any evil or harmful spirits.

Day 20- Chateau Sainte Roseline

Day 19-Vines

Day 18- Arch

An arch is a structure that spans a space while supporting weight (e.g. a doorway in a stone wall). Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.
The semicircular arch was followed in Europe by the pointed Gothic arch or ogive whose centreline more closely followed the forces of compression and which was therefore stronger. The semicircular arch can be flattened to make an elliptical arch as in the Ponte Santa Trinita. The parabolic and catenary arches are now known to be the theoretically strongest forms. Parabolic arches were introduced in construction by the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, who admired the structural system of Gothic style, but for the buttresses, which he termed “architectural crutches”. The catenary and parabolic arches carry all horizontal thrust to the foundation and so do not need additional elements.
The horseshoe arch is based on the semicircular arch, but its lower ends are extended further round the circle until they start to converge. The first known built horseshoe arches are known from Aksum (modern day Ethiopia and Eritrea) from around the 3rd–4th century, around the same time as the earliest contemporary examples in Roman Syria, suggesting either an Aksumite or Syrian origin for the type of arch.^{[1][page needed]}

Day 17- French Dog

Day 17- French dog having coffee

Day 16- Moustiers Sainte Marie

Day 16- Village of Moustiers Saint Marie in Haute Provence
The name Moustiers comes from monastery, recalling the original caves inhabited by monks from the 5th century to the first Moorish invasions of the 8th century. After the crusades of the Middle Ages, the village began to prosper thanks to the numerous mills powered by the abundant spring: oil, flour and paper mills, tanneries and other local industries. After enduring the hardships of religion wars, plagues and catastrophic landslides, Moustiers flourishes once again and becomes one of the largest production centers of earthenware.

Day 15- Paella

Day 15- Spanish dish Paella prepared in France by my Czech Aunt Lenka

Day 14- Riez Market

Dat 13- Tall Ship

Day 12-Mediterranean

Day 11- Chateauneuf-du Pape

Day 10- Free Range Chickens

Day 10- Chickens happily roaming at Mas de L'Elze; a historical silk farm renovated into a guesthouse. The owners are X-Cern physicists who have been transforming the property over the past
18 years. Located in the Ardeche Region in Southern France.

Day 9- French/Italian Border

Day 9- Col de la Seigne on the French/Italian border

Day 8- Beaufort Cheese

Day 8- Beaufort Cheese.
These rounds are 40-50kg each...and there are 30 caves in the factory....

Day 7- Cowbells

 

Day 6- French Alps

Day 6- French Alps-Beaufort Sur Doron switchbacks

Day 5- Paris Protest

 

Day 5-CGT (Confederation General de Travail) Protest in Paris

Day 4- Notre Dame at Night

 

Day 4- Notre Dame at Night- 

My crush du jour was a toss up between a subway orchestra, anything in the Latin Quarter, a light show at the Eiffel Tower, an anti-capitalist protest or the Notre Dome. I think it was the flying buttresses that did me in...

A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with gothic church architecture. It serves to transmit the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards (which may arise from stone vaulted ceilings or from wind-loading on roofs) across an intervening space and ultimately down to the ground. Flying buttress systems have two key components - a massive vertical masonry block (the buttress) on the outside of the building and a segmental or quadrant arch bridging the gap between that buttress and the wall (the 'flyer').^[1]

Day 3- The Marne River

 

Day 3- The Marne River- Spending 9 hours barging 45 km, through 6 locks, seeing rural France from the river, with people biking by, kids waving, skulls and working barges alongside, and the sun shining. Then entering the busy, working Seine and mooring in the heart of Paris in the evening.

Day 2- People Watching: Paris

Day 2- People-watching: Paris
Strolling through the Jardin de Tuileries, a formal, 28 hectare garden, and one of the most fashionable spots in Paris for relaxing around fountains, parading about in ones finery and generally emitting the chicness of
Parisian lifestyle...

Day 1-Walvis: The Barge

Crush du Jour #1-Walvis: The Barge
Walvis is the Dutch word for Whale, and the name of this 23 meter river cruising craft.
After 30 grueling hours of slap-happy transit and travel, Gillian and I finally arrived in France! The owner of this barge is Mike Young, my friend Gillian's friend and mentor on International water allocation issues. Gillian and I are traveling together and she will be conducting an interview with Mike as part of her PhD, so we were invited to stay on-board for a few nights and sail westward on the Marne from Meaux to Paris (about 45 river km) on the extensive French river, lock and canel system. 

Crush Du Jour: Travels in Europe

A lighthearted, photo-based project inspired by the concept of a love/crush (not serious love) and the [French soupe du jour : soupe, soup + du, of the + jour, day.] combined. As an artist and traveler with a romantic sensibility, I find beauty and novelty in a new environment and culture. This experience can be overwhelming, so this project also acts as an exercise in editing information.

Plato refined the concept of eros. Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. Plato does not talk of physical attraction as a necessary part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean, "without physical attraction". Plato also said Eros helps the soul remember beauty, and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth. Lovers and philosophers are all inspired to tell the truth by eros, the god of love. The most famous ancient work on the subject of eros is Plato's Symposium, a dialogue among seven men (including Alcibiades), reclining in a Greek symposium, in which Socrates reveals his knowledge about the nature of eros, inspired by the teaching of Diotima of Mantinea. Eros, in the Socratic logos, can be defined as the longing for wholeness or completeness, a daemon whose aim is to reach wisdom without ever owning her and is used to describe fulfillment between man/woman and man/God. (Wikipedia.com)

The project is to select one "crush" object (of origin animal, mineral or vegetable) to feature daily and to share with anyone who is interested. I hope to post a new item and small blurb daily on my 4 week trip to Europe. The intention is for friends and family to check in and enjoy a photo of something of interest on my trip to Europe, and an opportunity to respond or react online.
I hope you will join me!