Springtime Snapshots

The first signs of spring arrived in New York this week.

Blossoms on the trees. Sunny daffodils. Tables returned to sunny street corners. These signals that winter might be taking its final bow reminded me of springtime in year’s past. I spent the last three springs in Europe, and the photographs are full of bursts of color.

Spring is a lovely season in Europe. The crowds have yet to arrive, parks are in bloom, and everyone is struck with a sense of wonder at how damn good it feels to be outside again.

Here are a few of my favorite photographs from spring over the last several years.

One April day I boarded a train from cold Vienna, Austria bound for Zagreb, Croatia. The city was in perfect first bloom.

A different April day, I was wandering the streets of Paris, when this sign stopped me in my tracks. Have you seen Picasso’s famous painting ‘Guernica’?

Yet another April day I was on the island of Malta when I stumbled upon this cat taking an afternoon nap on top of a car in the streets of Valletta. 

On a slighter chillier April day in London, I watched this peacock perform for a much less colorful female in Kew Gardens.

In Dublin, I watched all the stages of these blossoms in my local park, Herbert Park.

And perhaps, to save the best springtime snapshot for last, hiking between the fishing villages of Cinque Terre in Italy.

Where are you traveling to this spring?