Is the Eiffel Tower the highest structure in Paris?

Like the bottle blondes of Bahnhofstrasse this photo isn't 100% natural. Nor is it 100% Zurich as I'm sure you can guess

I think I'm going to get in to trouble with a certain blogger from Surrey, England. This photo exhibits all the things I criticised about his Thames photo recently, and adds quite a few of its own.. tempus fugit tho'

Rapperswil is at the southern end of Lake Zurich, and a very nice place it is too. Hotel Schwanen is on the shore - Joseph Roth wrote bits of "The Radetzky March" there - that's the one with words in it, not the Josef Strauss version, although that has it's charm and illuminates the book.

Yes, there was a heavy frost last night.......

This church and clock has featured in various photos on the blog. There seems to be some dispute, but it is listed in Wikipedia as the largest church clock face in the world at 8.7m diameter (so it must be true!). By comparison Big Ben is 7m, but of course isn't even a church....

I've shown this sculpture in Werdstrasse before, but without the building in front of which it stands.

I posted a photograph taken through this doorway way back at the start of the blog (probably a much better photo). I pass it regularly and I like the way that some things have stayed the same, especially the light, but there are subtle changes (like it looks as though they sold a lot of stuff)

The Central Hotel - by the Central tram junction

Another slightly surreal encounter in old town Zurich. A survivor of the original cow parade in Zurich 1998

A touch of surrealism perhaps, but also how does he get it on the tram when he wants to go home?

Summer arrived this weekend

Last few days have been busy, so poor old blog has suffered. Back to normal now I hope

Exorcising my infatuation with Paris

Is this guy a flâneur, or is he just walking his dog. Or am I just overdosing on Paris?

Spotted in Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris

Back in Zurich now but still feeding off Paris photos. The Rodin museum, installed in his former studio and surrounding garden is light and airy and worth a visit, although personally I can never see what the fuss is about Rodin. His sculptures for me exhibit none of qualities I expect from a great artist. There is no depth or power or grace or pathos or indeed just beauty of form. I get irritated by the incessant lumpiness which just seems to be there for it's own sake. "The Thinker" and "The Kiss" are difficult to approach objectively because of their familiarity, but I feel that even these are just gestural, rather than anything deeper, and I couldn't live with them on a regular basis. They would be consigned to the attic. Maybe I need someone to explain it all to me. I make a bit of an exception for the Balzac pieces which do seem to capture something beyond the mere form

Followers of Peter Olson and RuTDP will know that we had a genial meeting in a Parisien brasserie on Tuesday. I had so much to drink I can't remember whether I asked them for permission to publish this, so I'll take a chance (Hell, I've never asked anyone else's permission)

Peter is wondering where he left his camera, and Chuckeroon is saying "If you get one this big there is no chance of losing it".

Thanks to Peter for pointing out the benefits of raising your eyes when you enter this Parisien department store. It looks quite nice in black and white as well, believe it or not....

Deserves some detail shots I think

And here is the cupola in all it's glory. Not possible to get directly underneath because of a football field of perfume counters, so the wide angle (16mm here) distorts things a bit

Outside the entrance to the Musee Rodin - rain on the way by the looks of it

I never knew that there were so many "other" famous people buried in this cemetery. Must be pretty dangerous living around this area if you are an artist....