Ancient home of the rich. All silted in.
Pompous palaces
Boats full of tourists
Sugar in the air
Friendly dogs
Beautifully cooked steaks
Nighttime magic to close the trip
Champagne in a Kir Royale by the fire.
Fin.
Climbing the Tower in Bruges
March 4, 2026
travel belgium, bruges, madou, romey, tower, travel Leave a comment
If you’ve seen In Bruges, you’ve seen this tower. And you’ve thought about falling off of it.
In fact, you need to see In Bruges before you come to town.
The climb up is 366 steps and was not design with American litigation lawyers in mind.
The carilon is loud.
And very mechanical
Yonder lichtervelde.
Yonder Leuven.
Formidable guards
Tourists crawling like ants high on sugar
A panorama
If you have a friend who lives in Lichtervelde and has never been up the tower you can drag him up.
A Boat in Bruges
March 4, 2026
travel, who knows boat, bruges, madou, romey, tourism, travel 2 Comments
Some of us have been to bruge 4 or 5 times. Others 10,000. Still others once. But we all got on the same boat, and it was great.
We found an opportunistic window of blue sky.
Swans
Churches are a thing. Were a thing.
Our hotel and the famous tower
Tourism is fun!
On the Boat in Amsterdam
March 2, 2026
photography, river, travel, who knows amsterdam, canal, okura, seven bridges, tourism, travel 2 Comments
Romey and I hired a boat for a canal tour. We also hired a bottle of champagne. The boat ride was excellent.
We started from the pier at the Okura just after dark.
The boat itself was built of teak and glass in 1903.
The lights are a sight to see.
Seven bridges
Pinacoteca de São Paulo in the Thunder
September 23, 2025
art, fashion, film, photography, politics, travel 1960s, art, art museum, brazil, gem, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, romey, São Paulo, travel Leave a comment
What do you do when you are in São Paulo on a thunderous rainy Monday (the day that much is closed)? Seek out the Pinacoteca, and experience some art. Visit both sides with a sprint between rainstorms.
The space is beautifully assembled of old and new in contrast. The curation follows this concept and lacks only professional lighting. Brazil could use some NY light people in all of its museums.
Two views.
The exhibits are spotty, but there are always jewels to be found.
Some of the sculpture is exquisite.
Romey in a pink box.
This is not art!
Channel Emily.
And then brave the rain, walking through the huge unfamiliar trees of Brazil.
Arriving at the Contemporary building just as the power flickers and the clouds unleash.
Enter the late ’60s and the dissolution of dictatorship. Yankees out of vietnam.
BLUM!
Then have a late lunch while you wait for the rain to abate. Banana milk punch for the win.
MASP: Musem of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand
September 23, 2025
art, film, museum, photography art, art museum, brazil, bugs, fim, museum, São Paulo, travel, victoria cribb, video 2 Comments
Getting into the new building provided respite from the crowd of 50,000 protestors. But honestly the curation is somewhat uneven and lacking. Lots of “trying to hard” in our view.
The Moon.
The most interesting piece we saw was called Bugs and was animated by Victoria Crib. Incredible.
Watch the trailer (also on vimeo).
Esperanza Spalding in Brazil
September 22, 2025
art, concert, travel audio, brazil, christian, concert, esperanza spalding, fabio, live music, romey, São Paulo, shotgun app, travel 1 Comment
When we were looking for a concert to attend Saturday night in the São Paulo Spring, we were surprised by the pickings. Not much going on even though the city is huge. A conversation in Brazil with a young show producer told the tale of why, the gist of it being that a post COVID explosion of creativity is drawing to a close and the performers are exhausted. But the constraints led us directly to an exceptional treat—Esperanza Spalding in Brazil.
Magical.
We did require some help from our new friend Christian (a USP fresh out Ph.D.) who was able to use the local shotgun app to get tickets. I tried that earlier from the US with no luck since the app required a Brazilian citizen ID number.
In a small world phenomenon, we ran into Fabio Kon and his wife while waiting in line to get into the venue.
It was nice to spend some time with the locals. LOL. Here are some pictures and videos of the show.
There was some waiting around to do from 8pm to 10pm, but it was all worth it.
.
We were, in fact, in Brazil…as you can hear.
.
A commentary in AI and jazz. Computer speed and human speed compared.
When we got back to the rosewood after the show, we had a late night snack at 1:30am.
Fog, Old Trees and Ghost Holes
February 9, 2025
nature, photography, travel city parks, forsythe, georgia, live oak, savannah, spanish moss, travel 2 Comments
