Sun & Clouds, Da Nang, Vietnam

When I pulled away from my apartment at around 5:00 in the afternoon yesterday, the light did not look too promising. How wrong I was. This was taken from the Cầu Thuận Phước, the big bridge at the mouth of the Han River where it empties into Da Nang Bay. The sun was going down over the Hai Van Pass that divides Da Nang from Hue and other points north. Quite a few people were stopped taking photos. You slow down in the middle of the bridge, pull your motorbike to the side of the road, get off, step up to the railing, take the photos and then go. Actually, I was headed the wrong way for shooting this view and had to flip a u-turn in the middle of the bridge to get at the photo op. When in Rome… Anyway, the bridge has a sidewalk on both sides of the road and the railings are not too high. It was squalling intermittently and the rain brought a significant drop in temperature to go with the great clouds and light.

Sunset, Paris

Walking around, I think, is the best way to get to know a city, and Paris is the quintessential walking city. I arrived at my hotel in Paris on 2 July at around 7 in the evening. I put my bag down, got out my camera, and off I went. By 9:30 or so when this picture was taken, I had gotten something to eat, was thoroughly jet-lagged, and stumbling back to my hotel. The late daylight was disconcerting. Everywhere I went in France, it did not get dark until 10 or so in the evening. I suppose daylight savings time plus France being on the more or less western side of the Central Europe time zone makes for some late sunsets in high summer. I can’t say I like this. I prefer nightfall coming a bit earlier, even in the summer. Be that as it may, the soft, late sunlight on the buildings fronting Boulevard Saint Michel was spectacular. Enough to forget the jet-lag for a few more minutes.