One of the many incredible fountains of Rome, this one is located on the alley leading to St. Peter. I was waiting for the nuns to walk into my picture, and they looked at the fountain to see what I was photographing. Fountains in Rome are endlessly fascinating -for their artistic value, but also as an important drinking water source and for personal hygiene throughout the centuries. There is much controversy over the roots of the word SPA that you see carved into the stone above the fountain, many claim (among them Wikipedia) that the term SPA is derived from a Belgian town, others think it has Roman/Latin origins, and that SPA stands for Sanus Per Aquam, Health through Water. You decide, but this fountain makes me think of the latter!

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes at sunset, Death Valley, California.

Zabriskie Point at night, Death Valley, California.

The gothic cathedral in Erice, Sicily.

Boats in L.A.

L.A. Impressions

Villa 'La Rotonda', designed by Andrea Palladio, just outside Vicenza, Italy. A beautiful place, and one of the many buildings realized by the prolific Venetian architect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rotonda

Skyfall, New York, NY.

A giant sperm whale surfaces off the coast of Kaikoura, New Zealand, against the backdrop of the Southern Alps, South Island. The whale's play and feeding ground is one of the deep trenches in the area, and it connects with the abyssal Kermadec Trench, at about 30,000 feet one of the deepest spots on earth. The mountain range in the background was formed at the same time, being pushed up in the grinding mingle of the Pacific and the Australian tectonic plates.