Melbourne Grates & Utility Covers

To continue on with my little foray into utility covers in Spain and France, whilst in Melbourne I took a number of images of their versions which are both utilitarian and also in a number of cases (especially around Carlton and Fitzroy) used as advertising for the plumbers, builders and electricians around the local area. Hope you enjoy.

 

Melbourne - again ...... Street Art.

Well Jane and I had the chance to pop down to Melbourne again in early April for a few days of R & R. As usual we packed a lot into the visit as we both really enjoy this city; love it more like it. Saw Wil Anderson at the comedy festival, visited Williamstown for the first time, caught some great Gypsy style jazz at the Paris Cat Jazz Club and went to the "G" for a game of AFL ( but we won't mention that  !!). All in all a great few days and making us want some more time there, as well as more eggs benedict (Brisbane cafes/restaurants go to Melbourne and learn how to cook eggs, please). So here are some more street art photos and a couple of odds and ends. Next up more grates/utility covers to go with those from Europe.

Eiffel Tower

Woke up too early so I have to do something, so why not blog. I have been meaning to put these photos up as an individual blog, similar to the Seville Bullring. As you can see I sometimes try (and I mean try) to pick out certain details or features of a place or object that seem to focus your attention more, rather than being just a general postcard shot. These often turn out to be the ones I enjoy most of all and I hope you enjoy them too. We were lucky to be there late afternoon on a gorgeous day with great light; got to be lucky sometimes.These were all taken with the Fujifilm X-Pro1.

Usual postcard shots

Love this one, a panorama stitch of one of the support legs of the tower with the bust of old Eiffel himself at the foot of his Tower

Love the shadow of the Tower laying over the city

Still operating the lifts after so long in use

Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, September 2013.

In Seville we walked past the Bullring a couple of times and this day as it was very hot, we decided to enter and have a look around in the shade and cool of a stone building. 

The young lady who took us around on a guided group tour was extremely informative and gave great explanations on the history of both the Bullring itself and also of bullfighting with equal reference to the bulls and the participants. 

Luckily it was out of season so no fights in progress ( we were about a month early) and  I am still unsure if I would have watched one?

And here is "Islera" or "Islero" the revered bull who killed the most famous bullfighter Manuel Rodriguez Sanchez in 1947. Only 8 bullfighters have died fighting since 1801.

Here are some photos of the building itself (oldest in the world, commenced in 1749) and if in Seville I would highly recommend visiting and taking a guided tour for a very small fee.