Time to Kill

Daily Prompt: Stranded

You’re stranded in a foreign city for a day with no money and no friends. Where do you go; what do you do?

No money, no friends, just my constant companion – my camera – and 12 hours before I can get out of town. I’ll head to the Tourism office and pick up maps, leaflets and advice. Then head for the Cathedral, if there is one, and catch the low morning light streaming through the stained glass windows. I shall probably spend a good couple of hours exploring the architecture and finding details in every nook and cranny.

If the city does not boast a cathedral, it is bound to have an ancient church to explore and the bonus, possibly, of an interesting graveyard.

Assuming “no money” means I do at least have loose change to keep myself in coffee and sandwiches, I’ll go get an Americano from a nearby coffee cart and sit in a park to drink it. I’ll take shots of passers by, squirrels, ducks, children playing, lovers kissing…

…until the rain starts. This is when I duck into a slightly off-beat museum – not  a large municipal type museum but a quirky special interest one. Perhaps I am in Brussels – in which case I have 100 to choose from. I’m not picky, so long as it’s free and hopefully I am allowed to use my camera. That said, perhaps I’ll give the Museum of Sewers a miss. So, do I choose Chocolate or Magritte; Beer  or Puppets; Pharmacy or Fantastic Art?

At lunchtime, I will grab a sandwich and return to a park or garden. If I am lucky and the rain holds off, I’ll head to the Botanic Gardens and take photographs of flowers – perhaps they will have an arboretum there and I can add to my collection of bark images. If it rains again, I’ll choose another museum.

At 5pm, as the workers head for an after hours drink at a pavement café, I will join them if I have the price of a Leffe left in my pocket. If I come up short, I shall simply sit on a nearby bench and do some “street” shots as the sun goes down and twilight arrives.

I will head for the Grand Central Station well before my train is due. Wherever I am, there is bound to be some splendid architecture at the station, and interesting faces to capture… fleeting images of tearful partings and joyful reunions.

It has been a simply wonderful day and I scarcely noticed the hours pass, or the fact that I had no real money to spend – and I completely forgot to do the Blue Plaque tour!

More folks with time on their hands and a strange city to explore:

1. Daily Prompt: Stranded in Harmony | Lines by Linda
2. blank | Mind Heart Journeys
3. Ilya Fostiy. Memory | Philosophy & Photography
4. Ilya Fostiy. Basement | Philosophy & Photography
5. Daily Prompt: Stranded | cognitive reflection
6. Daily Prompt: Stranded | solomoneduotu’s Blog
7. Oh dear, it seems I’ve lost myself. | thoughtsofrkh
8. Adventure in the City | Spunky Wayfarer
9. Free Fall Friday | Tommia’s Tablet
10. Stranded | Matthew Vett’s Development Blog
11. ¿Hablas Inglés? | Day of the Week Fat Pants
12. The Advantage of Networking « Sorta-Ginger
13. Stranded But Not Abandoned (A short story) | The Jittery Goat
14. Daily Prompt: Vacation! | One Starving Activist
15. Daily Prompt: Stranded | Daddy’s Naughty Little Girl
16. Daily Prompt: Straned |