Phot-o' the Day: the Canals of Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen is lousy with canals. And a lot of the canals function as boat parking lots. Which means Copenhagen is lousy with pleasure boats.

I'm guessing that, at one point in Copenhagen's history, these canals were choked full of working boats, with fishermen eking out a living plying the waters of the Baltic Sea or the North Sea (Copenhagen sits at the choke point between the two). Those days are gone. So, like the canals of Copenhagen, may your Labor Day be free of labor.

Visited September 2015.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Church of Our Lady before Týn; Prague, Czech Republic

This is the iconic Church of Our Lady before Týn in Prague, or, if you prefer your Czech churches referenced in their Czech name, Chrám Matky Boží před Týnem. Let's stick with English.

This is the view from high atop the Old Town Hall in Old Town Prague. I believe this is the Old Town Hall because it is the Old "Town Hall," not the "Old Town" Hall, even though it is indeed in Old Town. It's on Old Town Square. Just to confuse things, I think it is "Old Town Square" because it is the "Old Town" "Square," in other words, the main square of Old Town Prague, and not the old "Town Square," with a new and improved town square nearby.

This is from my October 2011 visit to Prague.

Phot-o' the Day: Feral Cats by the Sea; Montevideo, Uruguay

Feral cats beside the sea. Actually, it's the Rio de La Plata in Montevideo, Uruguay, which is (technically) an estuary. But it's salt water, so that makes it "the sea," by any reasonable definition. There is a very large colony of stray cats strutting around the Faro de Punta Carreta, the lighthouse at the southernmost point in the Montevideo metropolitan area. They appeared healthy and tolerant of bipedal forms of life.

Visited November 2013.

Phot-o' the Day: Houhai Neighborhood; Beijing, China

This is the Houhai, or "Back Lakes" neighborhood on Northwest Beijing. The streets surrounding the water are packed with bars, restaurants, upscale shopping, and trendy nightlife. Yes, this is Yuppie Central. Every city in every nation has a yupster magnet and this is Beijing's.

Visited July 2018.

"Papa Was a Rolling Stone" Day Phot-o' the Day: Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico USA

It is the third of September / The day I'll always remember.

September 3 is "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" Day, because it's the day referenced in the opening line of that R&B classic. I don't have any pictures of tumbling rocks and, even if I did, how could tell they were moving from a still photo? But there are plenty of rocks and stones in this picture from Aztec Ruins National Monument, tucked away in the New Mexico corner of the Four Corners region.

The ruins aren't "Aztec" per se. They were built by the Pueblo Culture Indians about a thousand years ago. They are interesting and impressive and worth a visit if you find yourself in the neighborhood.

Visited April or May in 1998.

(Regarding the reference to this not being "Aztec per se," historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists are still uncertain where the Aztecs originated and how they ended up on a plateau in Central Mexico just in time for a meet up with Spanish conquistador Cortez. One plausible theory is that the Aztecs were the lost Anasazi people who disappeared from the four corners region of Arizona and New Mexico around 1200. So it is plausible -- remotely plausible but plausible -- that "Aztec Ruins" the national monument has a relationship to the Aztecs of Mexico, although the name "Aztec" being assigned to the national monument would be pure coincidence and not due to foresight.)

Phot-o' the Day: Dawn in Panama City, Panama

The light of sunrise illuminating the skyscrapers of oceanfront Panama City, Panama, as seen from my room in the Plaza Paitilla Hotel.

Visited November 2017.

Phot-o' the Day; Inside the Paleontological Research Center; Villa de Leyva, Colombia

 A few years ago, they were building a road near one of the most beautiful little tourist towns you will find anywhere: Villa de Leyva, Colombia. And they found a giant fossilized skeleton of a kronosaurus. They kept the fossil intact and built a museum around it. The Museo del Fosil -- everybody's Spanish is good enough to translate that into English -- is on the other side of the highway. On this side of the highway is the Centro de Investigaciones Paleontológicas, the Paleontological Research Center.

Villa de Leyva, already having been a tourist town, was the perfect location for the two paleontology museums that sprung up as a result of this discovery. One museum features the star attraction, the kronosaurus. The other features the larger collection of smaller fossils found in this area, from before the time the three ranges of the Andes rose and cut this area off from the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

Villa de Leyva is accessible only by bus or car. It's about four hours north of Bogota. I visited in November 2017.