Somebody's watching me

You do sometimes feel like the castle buildings are just always there. Here, behind a group of buildings by the river (under a truly ominous sky) and later that afternoon, behind the fountain commemorating Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, across from the Alexandra Gardens.

Urban poetry

A fountain in Tijuca National Park in Rio.

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King Faud's Fountain, seen in the distance the night we left Jeddah. It's the tallest water fountain in the world, because of course it is.

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A closeup of the fountain in Dupont Circle, taken with a fast shutter speed to catch those water droplets frozen in place.

Another Grand Place

This is in Mons, a charming town southwest of Brussels where I spent the night with a friend before going to Ghent.

Urban poetry

The fountains in front of Union Station on Sunday morning. It was very early -- not much past seven am -- and not that warm, but these kids wanted to get an early start on beating the heat.

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Another shot from the mystery event at the sidewalk fountains in Montreal. I made it darker on purpose to emphasize the silhouette of the man in the wetsuit.

A la claire fontaine, parte deux

A la claire fontaine

The plaza alongside the museum is one huge fountain; rows of water jets cascade and subside around one central geyser.

There were children playing in the water -- it was sunny and hot -- but also dozens of adults in cartoony, uncomfortable-looking waterproof costumes posing and preening in the spray. It was clearly some kind of event -- there were a few news cameras -- but I didn't bother to try to find out what it was and just enjoyed the spectacle.

Urban poetry

A wall of water in one of the many little corporate mini-plazas scattered through Midtown Manhattan.

The old city

This view from the botanical gardens gives you a glimpse of the city that was.

More Salmon Street fountain

More pictures from the fountain. I used a really fast shutter speed to catch as many individual drops of water as I could. I love the way they shimmer in the light.

Salmon Street fountain

During the afternoon break, I took a walk along the river. There were almost as many children running through the Salmon Street fountain as there were last time I was there, although it was typical warm but breezy Portland weather and not the smothering heat and humidity we had last year. It reminded me of warm days in San Francisco, growing up, when on any of the rare days when the thermometer edged above 70 degrees we'd beg to put on our bathing suits and run through the sprinkler until our fingers pruned and our teeth were chattering.

Isfahan

Our last stop.

Isfahan is often described as the most beautiful city in Iran. I'm not sure it's more beautiful than Shiraz, but it is certainly jaw-dropping.

For example, here's Naqsh-e Jahan Square, the second largest square on earth after Tiananmen. It's a third of a mile long, with a palace and two beautiful mosques, and galleries along the entire perimeter. When it was first built, 400 years ago, it was a polo field, and you can still see where the goal posts were.

Cooling off

I knew it was going to be unusually hot in Portland, but it's as sultry as August in New York here, the air thick and humid even out on the river, where there was a cruise for the conference attendees tonight.

We saw these kids running through a fountain by the riverbank on the way there. There probably aren't many days in Portland when your parents are willing to let you get sopping, dripping wet until your fingers prune up and your teeth chatter and they were clearly loving every minute. I was sorely tempted to jump right in next to them.

Little green

Obviously the Crown Fountain is the place to go if you've just had your face painted and want to make sure your hair turns green as well.

Millennium Park

I didn't see much of the city beyond this park today. After checking in to my hotel, I treated myself to afternoon tea for my birthday, then went for a walk.

It was the kind of perfectly beautiful day, warm but not humid, that's best spent in a park or on a boat, and if Millennium Park turns out to be typical of this city then I am already truly, madly, deeply in love with Chicago.

There's the famous Cloud Gate sculpture, for one thing. And the bandshell designed by Frank Gehry. And shady paths, comfortable benches, and redwing blackbirds swooping over the lawns.

And these wonderful fountains, 50-foot tall towers of LED's that display video faces of 1000 Chicagoans. Every few minutes, the lips pucker and spray water over the reflecting pool between the two towers.