1887 Kuie School building in Estonian Open Air Museum (July 2019)

I think today will be my 44th first day of school.

Posted on September 23rd, 2026 under Estonia. Tags: AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR DX lens, buildings, Estonian Open Air Museum, museums, Nikon D500, tallinn. Comments: None

“Perpetual Ending” by the French contemporary artist Zevs

For generations, the Blower Shed of the Völklingen Ironworks knew nothing but a relentless, ear-splitting crescendo. Massive gas-blowing engines and humming electric motors roared twenty-four hours a day, pushing thousands of cubic meters of air into the hungry bellies of the blast furnaces. The air inside was always thick—clogged with the bitter tang of sulfur, the biting heat of molten metal, and a constant, swirling rain of dark dust. Men worked here in twelve-hour shifts, their faces blackened, communicating only through frantic hand signals over the industrial din. To them, this hall was a living, breathing monster that never slept.

The place closed in 1986. The machines would never turn again, but in their quiet retirement, they had finally become art.

Posted on July 17th, 2026 under Germany. Tags: museums, NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens, Nikon Z 6II FX-Format Mirrorless Camera, Saarbrücken, Völklinger Hütte. Comments Off on Happy Friday!

Book of woodblock prints from 1834. “Fuji at Sea” (Kaijô no Fuji) by Katsushika Hokusai, part of his famous series, “One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji” (Fugaku Hyakkei)

Posted on July 9th, 2026 under Japan. Tags: hokusai, mt. fuji, museums, Tokyo, ukiyo-e. Comments Off on The Ukiyo-e Collection of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum

Renaissance castle of Saarbrücken digital reconstruction

The current Saarbrücken Castle (Schloss Saarbrücken) doesn’t look much like this, even though it occupies the same site. I’ll get a photo of it up one of these days. I think the place I was staying in Saarbrücken, two years ago, had a painting of the old castle on the wall in the breakfast room. Hopefully I have a photo of that too somewhere.

Renaissance castle of Saarbrücken sign

Renaissance castle of Saarbrücken model

Posted on July 3rd, 2026 under Germany. Tags: museums, NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens, Nikon Z 6II FX-Format Mirrorless Camera, Saarbrücken, signs. Comments Off on Renaissance castle of Saarbrücken

National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico City)

Watch out for that sabertooth!

Posted on June 2nd, 2026 under Other. Tags: CDMX, mexico, Museo Nacional de Antropología, museums, NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens, Nikon Z6 III Mirrorless Camera 6iii. Comments Off on Iker Larrauri’s “Mammals of the Pleistocene Era”