1 Backstage at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington USA. “Today, we have over 147 million objects in our collections and what’s amazing is over the last decade we’ve added almost 21 million of those objects,” said Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the museum whose secret collections were captured in these pictures are taken by late museum photographer, Chip Clark and shared recently on the museum’s website to celebrate International Museum Day.
Read more on The Smithsonian.
2 Egyptian women carrying water bottles, circa. 1900. Found on Instagram.
3 The most un-French city in France. Read more on BBC Travel.
4 Italian panoramic trains. In 1950-51 Renzo Zavanella designed a train called the Belvedere complete with panoramic viewing cabins. Found here.
5 San Francisco: Portrait of a City. Tony Bennett famously sang, “I left my heart in San Francisco,” and since the mid–19th century this unique and lyrical Northern Californian City has attracted artists, free spirits, dreamers, and entrepreneurs. Close to 500 pages of stunning images sourced from dozens of archives and collections depict the city from its early history to the present day. Buy here.
6 Sinister storms and twisters. Shooting solely in black-and-white, storm-chaser Mitch Dobrowner documents storm cells, tornadoes, and other menacing weather events at peak destruction. Funnel clouds plunge to the ground in spindly tunnels and churning clouds frame bright bolts of lightning. Read more on This is Colossal.
7 BBQ accompaniment from South Africa in the coolest packaging. If like me you’re a fan of things in cool nostalgic packaging, you’ll like these bottles of Banhoek Chilli Oil. The company was set up in South Africa’s Western Cape Winelands in 2017 by founders inspired by a ‘sauce piquant’ they’d discovered and enjoyed while living in Europe. You can either buy them to look at, or to drizzle over all kinds of dishes to give them some spice! Go shopping here.
8 Gandhi’s former home in Johannesburg. It’s little known that from 1908 to 1909, anti-colonialist nationalist, Mahatma Gandhi lived for a year in Satyagraha House in the Orchards neighbourhood of the frenetic South African city of Johannesburg. Today it’s a simple and stylish heritage guest house. Book your stay here.
9 Architect Kei Endo‘s hotel room drawings. Kei creates lovely watercolor paintings of hotel rooms she’s stayed in that interestingly include floor plans of the rooms, exterior and interior views, illustrations of the food, and even precise renderings of the bath products. See more of her work on Instagram and her website.
10 Utrecht – an alternative weekend break destination to Amsterdam. Who knew Amsterdam wasn’t the only city in the Netherlands where life plays out in cobbled streets lining tree-lined canals? Found on the Instagram account, Utrecht Alive.
11 Cottage caravans. Found on a trawl around Pinterest.
12 McCurry: The Pursuit of Colour. A new film that gives us an intimate look at the fascinating life and stunning work of about the world-famous National Geographic photographer, Steve McCurry.
