These were taken with a little second hand Minolta I bought at
a stall in Portobello Road market for 11 Pounds. By the time I'd finished
lugging it around Europe and New York it was completely useless, it had been
battered so much in my carry bag. There were a lot of the usual
cliched travel shots - me in Rome, me in Paris, the Colosseum, the Eiffel
Tower, etc - but occasionally I tried more 'arty' shots. Even there, it was
hard avoiding the cliches.
Click on the snaps for larger individual images.
Avebury near Wiltshire. A kind of larger, tourist-friendly Stonehenge.
I think this looks a bit like a Pink Floyd 'Hipgnosis' shot.
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Speakers Corner, Hyde Park. Every Sunday the people go to Hyde
Park to listen to the speakers talk of things stupid and/or profound in a
free-speech forum. A fine London tradition.
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The genteel game of cricket played at Bath. I added the text for a
laugh, because this one has a definite 'postcard' feel. Maybe I should
send this pic to the Bath tourism board!
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The Circus, Bath. Obviously a pretty posh place. Jane Austen
once lived here, don't you know. It's weird how they call ring-roads
'circuses' in Britain. For years I thought Piccadilly Circus was a....
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La Musee de Rimbaud, Charleville (on the Muese River). The poet Arthur
Rimbaud spent his childhood and adolescence in Charleville. The town
has many tributes and remembrances to its hometown hero, including this museum
where I picked up some great Rimbaud paraphernalia.
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View of Pompidou Centre Square, Paris, from the top of the
Pompidou Building. A busker's delight. I saw the Woody Allen movie Crimes
and Misdemeanours (or 'Crims Et Ecrits') at a cinema in this
square.
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The Alhambra, Granada. I haven't seen them all of course, but the
Alhambra would have to be one of the most beautiful castles in Europe.
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Detail of the Alhambra. The design of the walls and columns is
Moorish, and finely detailed. I just loved this place and the area of
old Granada that surrounds it.
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Outside Bull Stadium, Barcelona. The macho bull-fighter culture lives
on in Spain. I thought this little tough-guy was going to try to sell
me some tickets!
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A market in New York City. This time it's a little girl who looks
at me. I'm pretty sure this market appeared in one of Woody Allen's films
- Husbands and Wives, I think.
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The Chelsea Hotel, New York City. This is where Sid
Vicious and Nancy Spungen stayed (and died). Bob Dylan
and Leonard Cohen have also been known to pay a visit. I stayed at a
hostel just across the road. This was just before I went home to
Australia.
"I remember you well in the Chelsea
Hotel..."
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