Travel
I'm lucky enough to travel a lot but I also aim to understand a place in some depth. So I like to find out about the local history, sociology, wildlife and local arts. I prepare for a trip by looking up photos of the famous sights, they're usually a good guide both about the local visual interest and also a warning of what has already been done or over-done.
I try to use the tools of modern photojournalism and photography to communicate how I feel about a place. You’ll see that I have used Portrait, Street, Interior, Historical, Abstract, Landscape, Historical, Wildlife, Phone-camera and Selfie genres at different times for specific effects.
We're staying in Marseille for the rest of our holiday. The weather elsewhere is too awful or unreliable to be worth booking to leave the sunshine and convenience of my place here. It's even better than Menton, being several hundred kilometres further south.
Here's my postcard of where we've been today, the beach village of Pointe Rouge: just a metro and bus ride at 3 Euros, return. Still have the clear blue sky here at the flat but a fierce Mistral wind from the North, which is keeping the skies clear and blue but also the dogs howling.
The Mistral also brought out the watersports guys, playing their sport within view of the mythic stadium of OM, Olympique de Marseille. That's the big white roof in the photo.
We're relaxing on our hotel room balcony after dinner in an Italian family restaurant, watching the lights on the Mediterranean here at Menton. 21 degrees at 2230 hrs... but it has been a bit chilly during the daytime.
We're staying in the part of Menton named Garavan, near Katherine Mansfield's villa, it's just by the station in my postcard. The trains run through to Nice via the station of Monte Carlo in Monaco: the station is completely underground, to not use valuable building land.
Menton had a light shower yesterday lunchtime but that only pushed the temperature down to 19 or so. The strange thing is that the air is cool but the sun very strong. Today is clear sky and strong sunshine but still only reading 22 degrees.
There's a garden near by here which claims to have never been below 5 degrees since 1905 and we've visited a garden and art gallery today with a big grove of orange, lemon, kumquat, lime and grapefruit trees fruiting nicely. Very fragrant.
We're limited to the trains and buses: we have ideas of walking along the coast path from Monte Carlo, go there by train and comeback on foot. We met up with a couple of friends from AMA this afternoon in nearby Beaulieu.
The top left photo shows the view from our balcony, where I am doing my physiotherapy every morning. Fine views of the old town and the motor-bikers en route to and from Italy. Menton used to be a key town on the way to Italy but now it's more or less by-passed by the high level motorway and tunnels.
My photos of the Palais Longchamps on the day of its reopening after rehanging its collection and the Ferris wheel in the Vieux Port, Marseille
We had a tourist day walking around Clifton and Bristol in brilliant sunshine today. Of course the Clifton suspension bridge across the Avon gorge but also the SS Great Britain, the largest ship ever powered by steam. Both engineered by I. K. Brunel. I used to cycle across the suspension bridge after school in Clifton and there was one Sunday where we saw the rusting hull of the old ship come back to the dock where she was built for restoration. Now her six masts tower over Bristol's floating harbour that has become a truly attractive waterfront.
Here's my postcard of the fireworks in Marseille last night to celebrate Bastille Day. Lots of static lights to show rays in the smoke and the Palace du Pharo was illuminated in the French colours of red, white and blue.
Half a million pounds worth of fireworks went up in smoke in half and hour!
The fireworks were launched from pontoons in the Vieux Port and from the forts around the harbour. Also from a wire suspended across the water.
