Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janiero is one of my favorite cities in the world, and I hope you'll be able to see why through these photos that I took on my most recent trip there. It is an amazing mashup of ocean, mountains, jungle and urban inhabitants, that come together to make a steamy and stylish metropolis that is on one hand, grounded in rich Brazilian traditon and culture, and on the other hand moving quickly toward the future. 

Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan

Harajuku is an area of Tokyo know for its street life and fashion sensibility. Here are some images from my jaunt around this area of town. Gwen Stefani of course immortalized Harajuku Girls in music, but there is no way you could label any of these people into one set fashion ideology or music iconography. Their style and use of clothing to express themselves is truly awesome. 

Magic Gardens, Philadelphia

The Magic Gardens in Philadelphia are not your average kind of gardens. There are no herbs or vegetables of flowers planted here. Instead, it is a beautiful showcase of the mosaic art of Isaiah Zagar. Imprinted throughout the gardens are quotes from other artist, poems, and sculptures from around the world. If/When you get to Philadelphia, head straight down to South Street and see this place for yourself.  Oh, and yes, that is indeed me in one of the pics ;-) Oops I almost forgot to mention that all of these photos were taken with my iPhone 4, as I forgot my Nikon at home. Not so bad, huh?

The U.S. Virgin Islands, Post 2: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

So after sunbathing, hiking, snorkeling and eating our way across St. John, we took the ferry back over to St. Thomas and spent the day sightseeing around Charlotte Amalie, the capital. Beautiful little city flanked by mountains to one side and crystal blue waters on the other. Sadly those crystal blue waters are home to insanely large crusie ships, which bring in insanely large numbers of stupid people. Good for the infrastucture but bad for my nerves.