Slice of Life: Three Starbucks on Four Corners

Take a close look at this photograph from Vancouver, British Columbia and you'll see something interesting.  This is one of the places where there is a Starbucks on the corner opposite another Starbucks.  People who live in the neighborhood say that one of the cafes is a "biker" cafe and the other is for everyone else.  I don't know if "biker" is Canadian for "cyclist" or if they mean rough-and-tumble motorcycle madmen enjoy their lattes at one of these.  The locals also tell me that a third Starbucks is planned for the same intersection and should be open in a few months.

For more on buildings in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the rest of the Pacific Northwest, visit our Pacific Northwest Architecture web site.

Slice of Life: Signs and Symbols in Seoul

This sign at a park in Seoul, South Korea tells people what they can do, and what they can't do.  I can't read Korean, so I'll guess at what the symbols mean:

• Please walk your dog here
• Please take a sapling home with you
• Do not have bad breath
• Do not bring your office desk to the park and do work
• Do not light your farts on fire
• Hold your wife's hand while you walk
• Do not use the letter P when you speak
• Do not park on the grass

Now we're both experts in a language we don't understand.

Slice of Life: Hanging Out the Laundry

When Americans travel overseas, they're often surprised by all the laundry people hang out in public.  We've seen it on sticks in Singapore and lines in Lyons.  But in many places in America, it is actually illegal to hang out one's laundry because it's considered unsightly.  Fortunately, that is changing as people try to save money and chemicals and energy and harness the power of the sun and the wind to dry their clothing for free.  And that sunlight-and-breeze scent that the fabric softener companies try to hard to sell us on is available free on the other side of the window.

These clothes are hanging off a balcony in Ischia Porto, Italy -- a wonderful little resort town on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples.

Slice of Life: No Way Out

Don't let the cheery illuminated Exit sign fool you.  This wall at the end of a corridor at the Asian Civilizations Museum (1 Empress Place) in Singapore means business when it says "No Way Out."  Seems appropriate enough for a Friday the 13th.

More Singapore buildings.

Slice of Life: The Low Countries at Their Best

Since the Renaissance, artists have flocked to the Low Countries (Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg) to practice their craft.  Scenes like this show the Old World at its best.  An artist paints the Grand Place (Grand Market in English, Grote Markt in Dutch) in Brussels, Belgium while flocks of tourists mix with locals admiring the plants for sale.

More Brussels buildings
More Belgian architecture

Slice of Life: Granville Street, Vancouver, BC

In case anyone's curious, this is the background of the blog's logo banner.  It's Granville Street in Vancouver, British Columbia.  This portion of the city is rapidly changing from sketchy to swanky as shiny new condo blocks pop up all around.

Expect to see a lot more Vancouver photos and video on this blog because I just got back from there and have a ton of media from the trip on my desktop.