Cathedral Symmetry

In a few other blog posts I’ve complained that the great European cathedrals are simply the wrong size to photograph well.  But more than this: they present a conflict situation between the needs of the human brain and the needs of the camera. The cathedrals are too large: no problem for the human brain but the […]

Bulgarian Cathedral

You can’t make a trip to Sofia without seeing this incredible church, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: It’s a fairly modern cathedral, as far as cathedrals go – built around 1870 I think. This was always one of my “jumping off” points for long walks around Sofia, where the ancient and glorious architecture could still be […]

Clermont-Ferrand – 1

Here is the Auvergne city of Clermont-Ferrand, looking down from about halfway up the famous Puy de Dome volcano that sits just outside the city. That black spot in the center is the city’s cathedral – and it’s black because Clermont-Ferrand is located right smack dab in the middle of a volcanic park, so all […]

Milan Panoramic

Taken with the famous Duomo di Milano at my back, the Galleria is on the left: Interestingly, this hidden cathedral behind me, which you cannot see in this shot, is the largest cathedral in Italy, the third largest cathedral in Europe, and the fourth largest cathedral in the world! You can get a sense of […]

Tripping over the Jakobsweg in Bamberg

On a recent trip to the Franconian village of Bamberg I stumbled across this while on a long hike in the woods: An old and often historically old marker like this, with a shell, symbolizes that you are on the world famous but “Ken disappointing” religious pilgrimage route, dating back to the early Middle Ages […]

The Great Mystery of Fire Lake

Not too far from downtown Stuttgart, Germany, sits a very small park with a very small pond but a very huge cathedral: What is NOT a mystery is what these things are: The pond is called the Feuersee (in German, “fire lake”) – and the cathedral is called the Johanneskirche.  The church was built in 1864, […]

Black Church

Probably not what you are thinking when you read the title. Here is a snap of the famous Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Clarement-Ferrand, in the city of the same name, in France: What’s absolutely amazing about this cathedral is its color.  Claremont-Ferrand sits in an area of France filled with volcanoes, […]