Upon returning from a trip I’m amazed by 1) how many pictures I took, and 2) the number of said pictures that are similar. I mean really, just how many pictures of streets and alleys do I need?
Pisa:
Madrid:
Florence:
The antennas caught my eye:
as did the satellite dish:
Avignon/Palace of the Popes
Zaragoza:
Montecatini Terme
One thing that surprised me about Spain, at least the places we visited, was the amount of graffiti; there was a lot. I’d venture to say there was even more than I’ve seen in Oakland or L.A. I appreciate graffiti as an art form but the amount I saw in Spain was borderline too much. On our walk to the old city center of Florence I came across something a little scary and Santaesque:
So I stood next to it.
Wandering around Florence occasionally I’d see posters like this:
I know this isn’t ‘graffiti’ per se, but it is wall art and graffiti is often pained on walls…so…I guess this can be graffiti. Anyway, I thought, “Hmm, these are a little odd.”
…And a tad disturbing. Apparently they’re some part of a larger narrative:
Other graffiti I saw around Florence:
Never did find the beginning of this story; maybe it’s related to the other one above that looks like a group of soldiers.
Walking to the Palace of the Popes I found Scarface
Some sort of autograph wall
And President Obama.
Ok, this is obviously not graffiti, but it is street art; right? Ok, I just thought I’d include it.
One last shot of some more conventional graffiti from Madrid:
One of the things I enjoy most about travelling is reading, or attempting to read signs. I like trying to figure out what the signs are indicating, other times the signs just make me smile either because they are clever, or because reading the signs literally is hillarious. For example, on the way to dinner on our first night in Madrid I saw this restaraunt:
The restaruant is called “Fatigas del Querer”. When I saw the sign I knew enough Spanish to realize the first word meant fatigue and the last word had something to do with desire. So when I got home I went on Google Translator, began typing and had a good laugh. I laughed because as I typed and Google instantly translated I got this:
typed: fatigas, Google: fatigue; I was right!
typed: fatigas del, Google: fatigue of; right again!
typed: fatigas del quer, Google: fatigue of poker; HA!
typed: fatigas del querer, Google: labors of love; Holy cow, conjugation does matter.
I was proud to figure out that this shop had something to do with renting bicycles; the graphic helped 🙂
This one is great because you don’t need to speak a language to know what the place offers:
The incorrect grammar and claim of street cred on this one got me, oh, and the dog bowls, very thoughtful as there were lots of people con perros in Spain:
On the way to the Churh of the Holy Family we passed this:
which made me crave carne asada tacos from Taqueria San Jose by my house. Then I thought, “Wait, what? A taqueria in Spain?”
In Avignon I appreciated the directness of the signage
Not exactly sure what the cow is advertising; does the place cater to, or serve cow? Maybe I should clarify. Does it cater to cows as patrons or serve them as food?
These next two I found clever:
Must be a town with lots of mathemeticians.
Wholly unoccupied.
Interpreting the sign for this place in English rather than Spanish could steer people away from tasty treats.
Today was another brutal travel day from Barcelona to Avignon. We were lucky enough to stop at Carcassone and Pont du Gard.
Both places were amazing though would have been better sans touristicas. Actually, carcassone was a little too touristy; but we do the same thing to awesome historical sites and they’re still awesome. I did think it was odd that some hipster goths walking around until I saw the flier for the Marilynn Manson show.
Having trouble with the WiFi at this new hotel again so hopefully some pictures tomorrow on the way to Nice.
Adventuring in Europe 