Travelsmartplanet

Get your phone’s ready to snap pix of the silly corrugated iron sculptures all over this town. Here’s a cute story: In 1986, Otorohanga briefly changed its name to “Harrodsville”. This was to protest the threat of a lawsuit against restaurateur, Henry Harrod of Palmerston North. Mohamed Al Fayed (yes that one – Diana’s boyfriend’s father), was the owner of Harrod’s department store in London and wanted him to change the name of his restaurant.
As a show of solidarity for Henry Harrod, the District Council suggested that every business in Otorohanga change its name to “Harrods”. The town’s name was even temporarily changed to Harrodsville. After being mocked in the British newspapers, Al Fayed dropped the legal action and Harrodsville and its shops reverted to their former names.

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.

This depiction of real life and imagined life in Hamilton Gardens was an unpaid labor of love for carvers Derek Kerwood and Meghan Godfrey. For this unbelievably intricate carving, the wood came from a single camphor laurel tree which grew on the nearby Waikato river bank.

This huge Seattle wall mural is made of colorful mosaic pieces.

Fun Trompe d’oeil mural on wall near a dog park in downtown Toronto. So cool that a bride and groom are taking photos here. Maybe they have a doggie? Some of the windows are real. Can you tell which ones?

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How often do you get to wake up in the morning, look out your window and see the Eiffel Tower greeting you? Or graphics of Notre Dame Cathedrale putting you to sleep at night? We enjoyed the modern Novotel 14 Porte d’Orleans on a Trafalgar Costsaver tour.

One of many wall murals found in the Plateau area of Montreal. This one was on Ontario St E.