An American in Europe (and Vice Versa)

Americans looking for an exotic getaway often look overseas to Europe. Despite the push for independence of the country, its citizens enjoy going back to the old world from whence they originated.

According to the website www.go-today.com, their 5 bestselling vacation packages are "London at its Best," "Prague at its Best," "Paris and London," Budapest, Vienna, and Prague," and "Taste of Europe." The last package includes two nights in London, two in Paris, and two in Rome. Thus, of the top 5, London is included in 4 of them. Prague and Paris are both in 2, whereas Vienna, Budapest, and Rome are also destinations.


London has the advantage of an English speaking population, probably contributing to its popularity. The website points out its shopping districts and monuments, including the Tower of London. Another package includes Buckingham Palace and Parliament. As for Prague, the site describes it as "Cobblestone streets and old-world appeal makes this city one of the most delightful places in Europe... Few places in the world emit a fairy-tale charm like Prague." Paris has a much more cultural appeal, focusing on the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe. Both Budapest and Vienna are described as "Ancient" and "Historic" cities, where one can visit antique flea-markets and cafes. Rome includes a combination of the two, offering ancient history with the Colosseum and culture with the Sistine Chapel.

The major draw for American travels in Europe seems to be the allure of sampling history. Cities which have been around for centuries dominate the list and are frequently mentioned highlights. Cultural attractions stem from it, with well known artifacts anchoring the itinerary. Finally, the shopping experience seems to be a draw in London and Budapest, owing to their exotic appeal.

A German website focused solely on resorts, with locations ranging from Las Vegas to Orlando Florida and... little else, other locations featured being very close to one of the other two. www.touramerica.ie, an Irish website, features trips to New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, Miami, and Los Angeles. The common factor seems to be the great cities of the United States. Both sites focus on various hotels. I found sites from New Zealand and Australia which both largely pass up the United States for beach holidays in nearby places such as Fiji and the Cook Islands. The US is described on the Australian website www.travelscene.net.au as "large, loud and life-affirming, with some of the world’s most well-known attractions and recognisable structures in this beautiful, bold and bedazzling country." Destinations include Hawai'i, Disneyland, and various national parks. Once again, it is the hotels that are highlighted. In the example of Europe, it seems that its the destination and not the sites that matter.

A Tale of Two Waterfronts.

For whatever reason, I've had the city of Budapest on my mind a lot lately. So when asked to think about an old European city, it was a natural choice.

Budapest is the capital of Hungary and is a very old city, originally a Celtic settlement and, until the mid 1800's, was the two separate cities of Buda and Pest with the Danube River running between them. The construction of  a bridge finally linking the two cities ultimately lead to their unification. The river clearly defines the city's character.

The center of the city is the Hungarian Parliament building, with all of the surrounding buildings dwarfed by it. In fact, every photo I've found of Budapest and its skyline focuses on the Parliament building. In contrast to the Hungarian waterfront, I present the city of Chicago on Lake Michigan:

 

The skyline here is dominated by tall buildings. The shore along the waterfront is left to a large highway, whereas Budapest has a smaller roadway along either side of the river. Both cities have several one-way streets in the blocks near the waterfront. The city also has a more orderly look, owing to the predominant grid in Chicago. A peak at Budapest's roadways reveals that the Pest half of Budapest has some grid-like influences, possibly because of flooding in the mid-1800's, but it doesn't compare to the overwhelming conformity to a common grid in Chicago. Conversely, the buildings themselves in Budapest have a very uniform look, keeping a similar size and style while the buildings in Chicago are very individualized and compete for the viewer's attention. 

 There are a few generalizations that I draw from comparing these two cities. The first is that European cities are much older and in tune with their heritage than the much newer American cities are. While they seem to emphasis a common front, the American cities seem quick to take advantage of their surroundings and stand out. Skyscrapers, in this regard, are a demand to attention, which contrasts to the European skyline where it's hard to tell one building from another. Another effect of the timespans involved is that the European city it construct more haphazardly than the orderly grid pattern of American cities.

Also, people in Europe like flying over their cities in balloons. Maybe.

Spanish Homes in a New Land

All images in this entry are courtesy of Google Image Search.

Hardwick describes the affect ethnicity has on the landscape, particularly in architecture. By recognizing cues in architecture, a person can learn about the history of an area. These cues can be misleading, sometimes they may give insight to the original settlers of an area, but other times these cues are being imitated to create a certain atmosphere to either preserve heritage or to capitalize on tourist interests. Spanish architecture immediately came to mind as fulfilling all of these scenarios across the country.

Spanish architecture is rather distinctive in America, but is similar to Italian architecture and is sometimes referred to as simply "Mediterranean." Although the distinctions between the two are subtle, Spanish architecture has four hallmark features: Red ceramic tile roofs, stucco walls, arches over windows and doors, and low sloping roofs with little or no eaves. These features are evident in the next two images, the first is a picture of a resort in Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the second is a house in Santa Jose, California.

Spanish architecture is prevalent in areas that the Spanish first colonized, evidence of a sort of founder's effect described by Hardwick. Even though Florida and the American South-West have been out of Spanish hands for well over a century, the Spanish housing remains. An interesting case study is Santa Barbara, California. Santa Barbara was originally settled by the Spanish in 1782 as they spread north from Mexico, but was in American hands after the Mexican-American War in the 1840's. Some missions in Santa Barbara date as far back as 1812. In 1925, during a period of time that the town was pushing for a unified Spanish Colonial look, an earthquake struck the city and destroyed much of it. An ordinance passed which declared Spanish architecture would be the "Town's norm." Santa Barbara thus both serves as an example of original Spanish architecture as well as emulating that architecture for a historic and tourist look. The next two photos show the Station 3 fire house, built in 1928 right after the town's destruction, and a view of a neighborhood in modern Santa Barbara. (Station 3's own webpage!)

On the other side of the country, in Florida, Spanish architecture remains just as strong. Several years ago during a family trip to Florida, we took a tour of the Edison house in Ft. Myers, Spanish influence was cited often in the development in the area (As well as the namesake of the even more abundant Spanish Moss). Although thousands of miles away from California, the influences were the same. The following two photos show Spanish styles in Florida, the first credited as "Old Florida" style and the second is a Spanish Revival. (In fact, the entire real estate listing for Rock Creek, CA features Spanish influnenced houses)

Some examples of Spanish Revival architecture have departed from the historic look, but still allude to the heritage of the region. The first photo is a modest house in Los Angeles, CA, and the second is a "McMansion" built in Orlando, FL, for a wealthy European in "Mediterranean Revival" style. Part of the enduring popularity of this style is that the type of construction easily suits the climate of these regions, and wouldn't work well in the harsher winters up north.

One More Light!

As noted in the last post, every example of a non-American traffic light was always posted on a pole and never hung by wire across an intersection. I speculated the reason for this was that other countries, Europe in particular, prefer to lay power lines underground rather than hang them from poles. Therefor, perhaps this extended to traffic lights as well: Countries were either unwilling or unable to hang them from wires since they were not above ground to begin with. However, I recently obtained a photo from Chile which counters this theory:

Although the image isn't very clear, it is quite obvious that the traffic light is suspended by a pole, in complete defiance to above-ground power lines along the very same intersection.