People Pictures – Street Beggars

When it comes to taking pictures I like doors, statues, balconies and washing lines, Kim on the other hand likes people pictures so I thought I might share a few of them with you.

This one was taken whilst on a gondola ride through the back canals of Venice…

Begging is quite normal in Europe, I don’t quite know where I stand on it, I am certain some of it is based on genuine hardship and some is based on a scam.  I quite often hand over some loose change just to massage my conscience.

We had spent 100 euro on a gondola ride and she was asking for just a few cents.

I sensed this woman was genuine, she has the look of being genuine and I would have gladly tipped some coins into her collection cup but we were in the middle of a canal  and how was I to get it to her.  I felt guilty about that.

Some people however I would never give money to, like this pair of scammers in Oviedo in Northern Spain…

 

Monday Washing Lines – Venice Canal

 

Welcome to my new Project – Washing Lines

“The Venetian gondola is as free and graceful, in its gliding movement, as a serpent. It is twenty or thirty feet long and is narrow and deep like a canoe; its sharp bow and stern sweep upward from the water like the horns of a crescent…. The bow is ornamented with a battle axe attachment that threatens to cut passing boats in two.” – Mark Twain – The Innocents Abroad

Our friendly gondolier took us first through some narrow back canals heading for the Grand Canal that without pavements or people were curiously quiet as we passed by the back doors and water garages of mansions, shops and restaurants but the main canals were busier, lined with cafés and restaurants and with crowds of people crossing the narrow bridges every few metres or so.

I preferred the quieter back canals where it was possible to get a real taste of Venice. The Venice where people live. At water level there was a completely different perspective to the buildings and down here we could see the exposed brickwork and the crumbling pastel coloured stucco giving in to the constant assault of the waters of the lagoon as it gnaws and gouges its relentless way into the fabric of the buildings.

 

It is a challenge, feel free to join in.

Monday Washing Lines – Venice

 

Welcome to my latest theme. Monday Washing Lines.

This was spotted on a Gondola ride on the canals of Venice…

Good pegging out, all one colour which saves worrying about matching pegs to washing. Being slightly critical, I wouldn’t hang stripes next to spots and I would have hung the spotted pillow case next to the matching sheet, but that’s just me.

At water level there was a completely different perspective to the buildings and  here we could see the exposed brickwork and the crumbling pastel coloured stucco, sun blistered and frost picked and giving in to the constant assault of the waters of the lagoon as it gnaws and gouges its relentless way into the fabric of the buildings.

It is a challenge, do feel free to join in…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Trio

Birmingham – City of Statues

To try and tempt people the official guidebooks are keen to remind visitors that it has more canals than Venice, more trees than the Bois de Boulogne, it has the Royal Ballet and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. There are also two famous football clubs, a world-famous cricket ground, a Capability Brown-designed golf course in the heart of Edgbaston, and, of course, the Balti belt.

Read the Full Story…

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Carnival Mask, Venice…

Masks have always been a main feature of the Venetian carnival when traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano on December 26th and the start of the carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday and because they were so important mask makers enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild.

Read the full story…

Venice, Carnival Masks and the Cathedral

“What a funny old city this Queen of the Adriatic is! Narrow streets, vast, gloomy marble palaces, black with the corroding damps of centuries, and all partly submerged; no dry land visible anywhere, and no sidewalks worth mentioning…”                                                                                                                              Mark Twain

There was a strange calmness about the back streets which was in complete contrast to the busy main thoroughfares and here and there we came across traditional artisans shops selling glass or paper and every now and then a costumier and carnival mask maker.

Read the full story…