Travelsmartplanet

You cannot pass thru Otorohanga, NZ without stopping for a photo op of their fun corrugated iron sculptures which cover the town. They’re on buildings, on lampposts and sitting as giant sculptures. There’s main street murals too. Here’s a building entirely designed as a wolf.

In Asia dragons and teapots are very popular for centuries. At the Zealong Tea Estate sculpture garden you learn about oolong teas and teas around the world.

A favorite sculpture in the Zealong Tea Estate sculpture garden was this long tea pot dragon with the estate building in the rear.

We love the contrasts of architectural styles as we walk through cities. This one’s in Seattle, WA.

The purple glass squares were set into the pavement to shed light on the city below the city. New Seattle was built on top of old Seattle when a fire destroyed the central business district on June 6, 1889.

This pole of newspaper plates reminds us of the Great Seattle Fire which destroyed the entire central business district on June 6, 1889. The fire started in the basement of a downtown building and lasted for less than a day. It quickly spread to the Dietz & Mayer Liquor Store, which exploded, the Crystal Palace Saloon, and the Opera House Saloon. Fueled by alcohol, the entire block from Madison to Marion was on fire and Seattle’s water supply could not cope. You can take a tour of Underground. Seattle as the city was rebuilt on top of the old ruins.

Seattle’s history of architecture styles can sometimes be glimpsed all at once.

Here’s a moody shot of the iconic Space Needle in Seattle looking like something you could make with a giant erector set.

No Frank Gehry did not salute the Seattle Space Needle by building it into his architectural plans of MoPop. That’s the actual Space Needle in this tromp l’oeil shot.

Seattle’s Space Needle is omnipresent all over the city.