The Promenade d’Anglais in the french city of Nice is one of the oldest urban beachfronts in the world. In English the name translates to Promenade of the English, because beginning of the early 1800s mostly British nobleman and aristocrats came here to spend their winter vacations in the warmth of the mediterranean. Later first hotels were built at the sea and a walkway at the coast came into being. The pictures were shot in February 2019.
The carnival in Nizza has a long standing tradition reaching back many decades. Alongside the carnivals in Venice and Rio de Janeiro it is one of the most famous parades of this kind (Mardi Gras would be another example). A festival of lights and flowers, kitschy music and many weird creatures roaming the streets. There is a lot of dance and fun and it ends with the burning of a figure resembling a king – the famous burning of the king. Very french. Also every year there is another overreaching theme, this time it was space an sci fi.
Strasbourg is the largest and most important town of the Alsace region in France, situated at the river Rhein close Germany. Historically the region as the town itself was contested between these two major European powers and both cultures are visible in the urban landscape up until today. Large parts of the old town consist of bourgeois houses with timber framing, which are also characteristic for the neighbouring Schwarzwald region in Germany (pictures 1, 5, 7). Other parts of the town like the Gothic churches and neoclassic museums (pictures 3, 4) on the other hand recall similar buildings in Paris. Strasbourg is a lovely town and surely an interesting melange of European cultures.
Summer 2007
One of the most beautiful churches I have seen in my life for sure.
Michael Hoffman Photography 