What can I say about Michelangelo’s masterpiece? I was 10 when I first saw David, and it was truly a life-changing experience (as was visiting Florence).
That was, however, many moons ago, when tourists crowds were less, and queues did not stretch along the length of a street and around corners. Some 2 million people visit the Accademia yearly, yet it is still possible to see this masterpiece and not be overwhelmed simply getting there.
There are times when pictures say it all. Especially when a gondolier makes a valiant attempt at a three point turn in a gondola.
I wrote not so long ago of the sound and smell of rain as it falls at the end of a long day.
Now the rain has not stopped falling. From drought to flood; so quintessentially Australian. (Yet bushfires still burn around the country, and many areas are still in drought.) I’m currently flooded in. A small causeway crosses the road near the house, and the water is too high for my mini. The creek is tidal, and usually it floods for half a day or so; the worst has been for a few days. Should that happen, I’m contemplating building a raft with empty wine bottles.
The temple was bedecked with lanterns for Buddha’s birthday (a date which varies with the lunar calendar, and also between countries).
A brass band pounded its way through Rüdesheim. The town only has a few streets, and the sound of oom-pah-pah filled every one of them as the band made its way down the Drosselgasse (a narrow alley about 10 feet wide, which by this time was elbow to elbow of people enjoying the shops and bars).
Up in the hills, however, I found nothing but peace. Wine has been grown here since Roman times, and I looked over rows of vineyards which stretched down to the Rhine. On the other side of the river is Bingen, where St. Hildegard was born in the 12th C.
I don’t think this soldier crab was too impressed by my presence. After all, he’d had the sunshine and waves all to himself before I came along with my camera.
Maybe I interrupted the morning changing of the guard. I wonder how it feels to have claws of different sizes?