Tag: bordeaux

Postcard from Zaragoza, Spain: Vowing to map out street-art stalking

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Above: “No al Maltrato Animal,” #savethechicken

There are pockets in Zaragoza full of street art, but somehow our meandering paths this past spring did not stumble across many of them. The city’s efforts to turn abandoned buildings into artists’ canvases through its Festival Asalto can be found here, a website I wish I’d tracked down while there.

So this post combines a few of our snapshots of art seen on the streets with artistic commercial signs and will remind me to do a minimal amount of research before striking out on long urban walks on future trips.

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Biannual Roundup: A stilled keyboard and passport-less boulevardiers

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Above: Who knows what happened to the Candy King’s secret recipe for pecan pralines that filled this box a century ago?

Although no comments indicate followers suffer from withdrawal as my blog has remained silent the past two months, surely you have missed posts a little?

During the past 12 months, Alamobsessive posts continue to attract interest, as do ghosts and updates from our wanderings. Particularly pleased that readers seem to enjoy some of the side stories – “Candy King” and “Rabbit Holes” – gleaned from the pages of An Ostrich-Plumed Hat, and Yes, She Shot Him Dead.

The 1911 filming of “The Immortal Alamo” at Hot Wells Resort was among the high points of San Antonio’s efforts to become an industry star.
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Postcard from Toulouse, France: Brick and timber swaybacks still standing

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After the aristocratic, monochromatic ashlar (of large cut-stone masonry) buildings lining the streets of Bordeaux, walking the streets of Toulouse is like a double jolt of espresso. Yes, there are a multitude of stone-faced structures of the same period of affluence as those in Bordeaux, but there is also brick, tons of it. Often brick is laid in striking patterns contrasting the red with stone.

But, for now, I’ve isolated a few of what certainly appear amongst the oldest group of structures in the historic center of Toulouse. Without turning to experts to verify in each of these cases, these half-timbered houses with brick infill probably date to the 16th century. Several are constructed of Roman brick, shorter in height and wider than more “contemporary” brick.

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