I went to the September 11 Memorial and Museum in the summer of 2012. I came across this sculpture of the old New York sky line. The medium was a salvaged piece of the World Trade Center. Definitely not junk.
Theme: Junk
When we travel abroad, we noticed in large cities there tends to be a lot of parks. What is shocking is that people actually use them and use every amenity available from soccer (football) fields, gym equipment, playsets, and open space to practice yoga. The afternoons in Paris were filled with elementary school children playing in the park. When the sun is out, people come out to the parks to celebrate good weather by running, walking, wandering, using the gym equipment, and simply people watching.
Luckily living in Los Angeles, people do use parks and green spaces. There are some parks I drive to and times there are no spaces for me to park my car. But I think Los Angeles falls in the minority compared to other large American cities who have parks. One time when we were visiting our in-laws in suburban San Diego, we took our dogs to a dog park nearby. Sadly we were the only people and they were the only dogs at the dog park. There is another neighborhood park nearby my in-laws’ home and most of the times it is deserted. You would think in suburban neighborhoods people would be encouraged to go to the parks — it uses so much land. Also, it is not like people in the suburbs play in their large backyard with a swimming pool and plastic playground set. Instead I’ve observed most of the suburbanites tend to stay indoors playing on their smartphone or their Xbox.
Tuesday Photo Challenge Theme: Yard
When I do long walks or run long distance, I always keep my eyes peeled for any markers. It indicates that I am going on the right path and it is a way of how I measure progress. I remembered when I ran my first half-marathon, each mile marker I crossed meant I was closer to the finish line.
For this week’s theme, Number, I want to feature the Walk of the Gods  (or Sentiero degli Dei in Italian) in the Amalfi Coast. It is a 7 km hike between Bomerano and Nocelle (the town above Positano). My husband and I started from Bomerano. It is a fairly easy hike. Along the way, you will find these numbered markers. From Bomerano, it starts at 15 and counts down. If you are starting from Nocelle, it counts up.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Number
This photo goes back to 2005 when my family and I went to Paris one summer. We were on a bus and we saw all these rollerbladers. It appeared to be an impromptu parade by the Parisians. There were also runners, people dancing on parade floats, and music — though I do not have any pictures of that. Anyways this parade was a campaign bid for Paris to participate in a future summer Olympics. It was lively to watch.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Action
I’m blogging from Paris. I’ll be on vacation for the next few days so the timing of posts will be a little funny.
Anyways, this is a photo I took at the Getty Villa in Malibu last year. It is like a smaller version of Hearst Castle in San Simeon. I do envy the statue who gets to relax in the pool. It looks like he is on a pool float rather than a rock.
Tuesday photo challenge: Rest
I do not have any cats of my own. But I do have this photo of a feral cat. I took it when exploring the little Italian fishing village, Riomaggiore. It looked like it preferred being left alone.
On another note, I know I haven’t posted a lot lately. I”ve got plenty of posts in draft mode waiting to go live. It just needs a little bit of polishing.
The most underrated thing about Los Angeles is the nature. You don’t need to drive very far to find it.
Let’s see if I can keep up this weekly photo challenge.
In Florence (Firenze), Italy, 2015. I could not help but pose next to this little door.
My husband and I went to Italy for our (finally) honeymoon. I am excited to come back to Italy five years later.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Portal
Eat, Play, Live 