The Urban Landscape…

Seattle’s 2010 Maritime Festival includes world’s biggest tugboat races,  a workboat parade, chowder cook-off and a lot more free family fun.  Read more….

 Gotta love Seattle for its street art and sculpture.  Of course, there are some who say the buildings themselves are works of art…take our Seattle Public Library as an example.  The building is quite unusual and walking through it is an experience in and of itself.  But more about that in another post….

Urban life, city streets, architecture and art,  cracked and broken sidewalks, trees and flowers:  These are just a few of my favorite things to photograph.  I thought I would share a few photos here of Seattle.  We are so very lucky to live in a city with an abundance of art right out on the street.  I sometimes think Seattle has more street art per block than any other city I have visited.  I have even overlooked, on occasion, art until I have walked passed it and suddenly realized the art was incorporated right into the structure of the building I was passing. 

Take for instance the entry to the building on the corner of 2nd Avenue South and South Jackson Street.  The building houses the Metro Transit Offices.  The gates that form the entry to the building are also the security gates when closed at night.  They are named the Rainforest Gates (painted steel) created by Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle in 1999.

Piece of the Rainforest Gates

 

The plaque for the gates says,

the imagery used in the forged steel is taken from the plants and animals found in Pacific Northwest rain forests.  Hundreds of pieces of iron work are woven together to express the beauty and harmony of the web of life, alluding to the process of co-evolution that brings billions of individual creatures together in the intricate dance that we call an ecosystem….

The artists think of their sculpture as a kind of visual poetry; rather than simply imitating nature, they create artwork that speaks the language of  living things through the medium of steel.  It is one of my favorite pieces to shoot as it reflects the light differently depending on the time of day I am there.  It is a fun piece of art.

On October 4, 2009 I headed out to Puerto Vallarta.  Having never been there before, I did a lot of Google-ing and website searching as soon as I received my itinerary from Destination Ventures.  This was a travel agent familiarization trip as a Puerta Vallarta Pro Specialist.  There were six of us on this itinerary from all over the USA. 

Not knowing anyone, nor the language, the biggest  hurdle is getting through the airport intact.  There was supposed to be someone waiting for me with a name plaque so that I could escape the crush of taxi drivers who are aggressive and border-line abusive.  Once again, as in Los Cabos, I was not so fortunate. But I was soon taken under the wing of  a young woman who seemed somewhat “official” and also found a fellow travel agent traveler, Kathy.  We were shown to the “VIP” lounge.  There we found our hostess and were tucked safely into an appropriate taxi and taken to our hotel. 

Although suffering from unbelievebly hot and humid weather for the next few days, I fell in love with Puerto Vallarta as we rushed from hotel to hotel, activity to activity.  Notably, the people we talked to about the town were passionate and dedicated to it.  Many were transplants from all over the world.  They were of many ages, race and nationality.  Their love of Puerto Vallarta united them as one.  My only regret, as it so often is on one of these trips, is that I did not have enough time to go see the old town, to see as much of Puerto Vallarta as these people could tell me about.  It means I have to go back, of course, which is not a problem.  Though it will be a while before I can revisit Puerto Vallarta, and that I truly regret.

Not many of the pictures I took were of the urban landscape of Puerto Vallarta.  Most of them were of the hotels and activities that were in our itinerary.  Our itinerary was designed to keep us on the go and with minimal personal time.  As an example, on the first day we did site inspections of 8 hotels.  Truly exhausting in the heat and humidity.  I have started posting pictures on my Flickr photostream.  Because I took more than 1000 pictures, the editing and posting is going to take a while.  Only the first 50 or so are posted as of this date.  Stay tuned, check back.  As I upload more pictures, I will talk about the urban landscape of Puert Vallarta here.  And at TopDawg’s Travelogue I will talk about the hotels I saw and the activties I did.  On National Romance Travel Examiner  I will be writing reviews of the hotels I inspected and activities I participated in.  At Seattle Travel Industry Examiner I will be writing advice to the international traveler regarding luggage, airlines, airports, hotels and activities.  And at Associated Content I am going to surprise readers with a different kind of report on Puerto Vallarta, which you will just have to wait till you see it to know what I mean!  Enjoy a different urban landscape, go to Puerto Vallarta!

At the end of May I got to go to Los Cabos for 4 days.  It was a wonderful working vacation for me.  I saw some beautiful properties that I genuinely enjoyed.  I met many warm and genuine people and had some great food (though maybe too much red snapper).  I stayed in a lovely casita at the Marqus Los Cabos, which included a plunge pool and amenity breakfasts every morning while watching the sun come up and listening to the ocean roaring right outside my patio door. 

I sailed on the New Zealand version of the America’s Cup Yacht Race boat.  Had a wonderful swedish massage at the Esperanza Spa  from Ulma.  Looked a horse in the eye and declined the ride.  Walked along the beach and had a good “wetting down” from a stray wave.  Experienced a cooking class with a Michelin-starred chef.  Drank such a great margarita (Las Ventanas al Paraiso’s  “Welcoming Margarita”) that I was inspired to go to Bed Bath and Beyond when I returned to Seattle and purchase a soda siphon in order to make them myself.  And I might add, while not as perfect as Las Ventana’s Welcoming Margaritas, mine were plenty yummy. 

Without a doubt one of the best meals (and there were many delightful meals from many hotels and restaurants, but this one stood out in my memory) while there was at One and Only Parmilla.  We took a tour of the villa accommodations there at One andOnly Parmilla, then a golf cart ride to the restaurant, Agua Restaurant.  Our hosts included the One and OnlyParmilla, Cecilia Aragon-Bryant (Director of Public Relations),  the Los Cabos Visitor and Convention Bureau and Terramar Destinations, who provided our guide, Rico, for the evening.  The menu included a canape, 4 course dinner and dessert, provided by the Executive Chef, Larbi Dahrouch. 

The Thursday night Art Walk in San Jose del Cabo also stands out as a superb event to enjoy with the only cost being that of the delightful art one might feel inclined to purchase.  Our guide, Rico, led us up and down the hilly streets, and in and out of galleries too numerous to mention.  Wine, canapes, a delicious vanilla liqueur, margaritas all accompanied us on our rounds of the galleries.  See my Thursday Night Art Walk article at National Romance Travel Examiner for a more complete description.

I would go to Los Cabos again immediately if I could.  I fell in love with the place, the people, the food and the ambiance.  i really would like to stay at Las Ventanas al Paraiso or One and Only Parmilla each at least for a week!

I wrote several articles about this lovely trip in my National Romance Travel Examiner column  at Examiner.com.  Here are some of the links, I hope you read and enjoy them:

Sailing with the Cabo Adventures America’s Cup Yacht Race experience

Marquis Los Cabos – a resort for all senses

Marquis Los Cabos casita 704

An invitation to romance at Las Ventanas al Paraiso part 1

Las Ventanas – part 2 – more than a resort

There are more but that is for another posting……

Some cities can bring out the best and the worst in people. Seattle is a such a city. When the sun comes out, people on the street smile more. When the sun goes away, there are not so many people out on the streets and they are usually not smiling. When I moved to Seattle, we immediately moved into Belltown. I was taking my dog for lots of walks while exploring the eccentricities of Belltown. What I then noticed was that gloomy or sunny, when people looked at my dog, they began to smile. He became my goodwill ambassador and eventually the inspiration for the business of travel, TopDawg Travel.

 This blog was to become his documentation of travel through the urban landscape. Of course, I have to be his copy editor, since his typing is marginal at best. While I may have to travel, and write about travel for him, he is still my inspiration for the effort. He still makes the people on the street smile as they pass us.

The Urban Landscape has become a pet project for us. Seattle has so many works of art all sitting out for every passerby to enjoy. I often wonder if we don’t notice them because they are always there. For 2009, no matter where we travel, we are going to document the works of art we hurry past.

Since art is defined by the eye of the beholder, it will be interesting to see if readers of this blog will choose to contribute their interpretation of art and suggest places and pieces of art to be included in this documentation. You can send your interpretations of art to art@theurbanlandscape.com .