Not-So-Flattering Photos of Famous Landmarks: Plaza de la Revolución (Havana)

It's a parking lot.
Not kidding.

Postcard-writing and the New York Review of Books

My friend Arijit alerted me to a lovely post from the New York Review of Books blog, titled "The Lost Art of Postcard Writing." Key quote:

Unlike letter writing, there never has been, and there never could be, an anthology of the best of postcard writing, because when people collect postcards, it’s usually for reasons other than their literary qualities. If there was such a book, I’m sure it would contain hundreds of anonymous masterpieces of this minimalist art, since unlike letters, cards require a verbal concision that can rise to high level of eloquence: brief and heart-breaking glimpses into someone’s existence, in addition to countless amusing and well-told anecdotes.

There's something about the last paragraph, though, that I find a bit off-putting:  

So, dear reader, if you happen, on your daily rounds, to come across in a coffee shop or a restaurant some poor soul sitting alone over a postcard and visibly struggling with what to write, take pity on him or her. They are the last of a species, and are almost certainly middle aged or elderly, already nervous and worried about all the problems older people face in this country.

That generalization that people who write postcards are, in some nebulous-but-important sense Older--well, it's probably correct. Almost certainly. And yet there's also something so reductive about that artfully-drawn scene and its insistence on corralling the postcard-writers into some dusty museum display of a bygone era, as though to write a postcard is to put down one's shuffleboard stick and scribble some comments about how Truman sure was a good president, gee whiz, before pushing the walker down the hall to the activity room for the 2pm ragtime sing-along. 

Come on. Don't consign the very act of postcard-writing to the nursing home for lost-cause, nearly-dead communication, along with Morse code and the Pony Express. Don't take pity on postcard writers. To ask for pity, to claim that this is the domain of only the "problem"-ridden "older people"--this isn't going to do much to make anyone else want to write postcards, either. Lament the decline, sure, but spare me the eulogies. 

We may be a dwindling--note that I did not say "dying"--species at the moment, but if my own mailbox is any indication, us postcard-writers still have plenty of life, plenty of stories.  

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: Berlin edition

Lee and I took a walking tour of central Berlin, which started near the Brandenburg Gate, on the former East Berlin side. Our meeting point: a Starbucks. Right next door to the Museum Kennedy.

The plaza on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate feels like just another European central square, teeming with tourists and street performers and souvenir-vendors (in this case, a guy dressed as a WWII Russian soldier, selling WWII-related trinkets; you can see him the the second photo below) and random costumed characters of unknown significance. It's a classic example of Berlin's split personality and seeming inability to decide if it wants visitors to focus on the memorials and museums and reminders of the city's tangled, sometimes-terrible history ... or just to overload on the standard tourist schlock.

Some not-so-flattering photos of the Gate and the adjacent plaza:

And here's another interesting photo of Berlin. See the odd line of cobblestones cutting through the parking lot and running into the Marriott?

Or rather, in this small version of the photo, see the orange arrow in the lower left corner? Okay, now see the thing it's pointing to, the thing that looks like it could maybe possibly be a line of cobblestones? Just trust me: that's what it is.

That's the former line of the Berlin Wall.

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: Bridge of Sighs

Okay, cheating here a bit: that's not the Bridge of Sighs you see in the photo below (just beneath the billboard).* It's the bridge from which you can see Bridge of Sighs--the place where you stand to take in one of the world's most famously romantic views. Which is now framed by massive ads for diamond jewelry--because commodified romance is so much more alluring than the natural variety.

Happy Valentine's Day!

* Somewhere I have a photo of the view toward the Bridge of Sighs, but I can't find it just now. It basically looks like this.

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: the Alps

Taken during the train ride from Zurich to Vienna:

Not-So-Flattering Views: The Audio Slideshow!

That's right, the ever-popular gallery of Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Landmarks has hit the big time. Specifically, World Hum. Watch the audio slideshow here. Oh-so-insightful commentary! Oh-so-not-so-flattering pictures! Now with special bonus Manneken Pis quips!

Coming soon: Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: The Musical! With elaborate Busby Berkeley-style numbers featuring a chorus line of soft-shoe-shuffling, camera-toting, guidebook-reading, white-sock-wearing, Irish-pub-patronizing, "Speak English?"-asking Tourists! 

Hey, if "Cats" can make it ... 

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: Venice

Oh, sure, it looks pretty enough in the photo. Delightfully historic buildings. Placid canal. Ornate wrought iron railing on the bridge adding some visual contrast to the surrounding rectilinear forms. The bright blue of the gondola catching your eye, a delightfully dissonant counterpoint to the yellow/beige of the buildings. ... The Hard Rock Cafe in the background.

Yep. Hard Rock Cafe. This is one of those rare not-so-flattering photos where it's the details, not the broader shot, that makes it all the less flattering.  Here's the close-up:

Not-so-flattering views of famous places: Montmartre

Paris

I hit the tourist trifecta here: amazing architecture, tacky souvenirs, and an Irish pub.

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: The Colosseum & Trevi Fountain

Rome, of course

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: fancy scaffolding that misses the point

Fact: European cities have historic buildings.

Fact: Historic buildings sometimes need some preservation work, particularly on their lovely crumbling/dirty/pigeon-nest-filled facades.

Fact: It is generally agreed that scaffolding is kind of ugly. Certainly uglier than said lovely facades.

So when work is required on their landmark buildings, cities often put massive, life-size drawings or photos of said buildings on the outside of the scaffolding, which gives the appearance that the building is unblemished, if oddly two-dimensional.

The fancy scaffolding covering must cost a fortune. I realize that. They need sponsors to defray costs. Sponsors like to have something in it for them, though, and they typically demand something more than a nice handwritten card or a fruit basket.

Like a nice billboard--that would be a great way to thank them. Please don't notice that it is HUGE and takes up more space than the actual illustration/photo of the building. Please don't comment that the very presence of the billboard completely misses the point of the fancy scaffolding. Please?

I saw tons of examples. Here are two: Berlin's Bebelplatz and Vienna's Votive Church.

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: Plaza Mayor

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: The Vatican

Rome

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco / Palazzo Ducale

Venice, Italy

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places

I'm behind in my not-so-flattering views posts, so today you get two: Mozart statue in Vienna (look between the two stands) and Bavaria statue watching over the Oktoberfest grounds in Munich.

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: Manneken Pis

Brussels, Belgium

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: "I Amsterdam" sign

Museumplein

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: The Little Mermaid

Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sixth in a series.

If you ever visit Copenhagen, skip the mermaid. Seriously. She's constantly surrounded by admirers, and it's actually pretty difficult to get a shot better than this one. Most of all, the statue just isn't that interesting. It's also pretty remote. Spend the time exploring the city instead.

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: Eiffel Tower

Paris, France (but you knew that)

Fifth in a series.

. . . And with that, I'm off to the airport. Next post from Europe!

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: The Louvre

Paris, France

Fourth in a series.

Opening scene from "It Came From Beneath the Louvre!"

Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous Places: The Panthéon

Paris, France

Third in a series.

There's a cultural studies master's thesis wrapped up in the name of that restaurant (sign in upper left; click on image for larger view). Sadly, it was closed when I walked by.