A FRENCH MOUNTAIN VILLAGE

St Martin sur Vesubie. Not much going on on a sunny Saturday morning.

‘A Jacques Tati square,’ our walking mate Peter calls it. We know exactly what he means.

We sit outside the boulangerie in St Martin sur Vesubie with our early morning cafe and pain au chocolat and watch as the village comes to life, its characters coming and going like figures in a mechanical clock.

Nobody seems in a hurry, including us. We have several hours to kill before the bus will take us back to Nice.

WHERE TOO MANY COLUMNS ARE NEVER ENOUGH – Vicenza

How many columns can you see in this picture? (Keep your answer to yourself.)

Vicenza is the city of Palladio, which means it is also the city of columns.

The Greeks possibly thought of them first, then the Romans copied the Greeks, then in the 16th century architect Andrea Palladio copied the Greeks and Romans and for hundreds of years thereafter every designer of a major public building in the western world copied Mr Palladio.

VERONA – 12 reasons for photographers to fall in love

Of course where there’s a tower, you have to climb it. This is the view from the top of the Lamberti Tower.

I know, I was a little critical of all that Romeo and Juliet stuff in my previous post on Verona. That was largely for comic purposes, though I was pleased to see people shared my hatred of the 3D graffiti that is love lock mania.

There is of course much to love about Verona.

THE GREAT TAJ MAHAL PHOTO CHALLENGE

A first glimpse through the gateway…ahhhh!

I did my best to take original shots of the world’s most photographed building. It isn’t easy.