Maybe I am just a little conservative, but the polite citizens of Vancouver are certain to make sure any droppings their pets may leave are usually scooped up…and definitely not on the sidewalk.  Over the last 15 years in Vancouver of strolling those streets, I could probably count the total number of times seeing poop smeared into the sidewalk on just one hand.

These beautiful, hand assembled cobbled streets though seem to be a minefield at times.  You could be walking down the street focussed on the architecture and statues only to suddenly find yourself slipping on the greasy excretion of a purse mutt.  We have been lucky thus far, and by writing this I am sure my luck has run out.  Fingers do continue to be crossed though that we can make it a few more days ‘feces-free’.

The cobbles and paving stones are really quite impressive.  To most, these would just be a sidewalk…something hard to shed the rain from the storefronts to minimize the amount of mud accumulation on 6 inch leopard print knee high boots.  Each stretch of sidewalk has a slightly different pattern, stones cut to fit around corners, drainpipes, those sloped curbs for stroller and wheelchair access.  These must be specialists they bring in just to clean up the job after digging up the sidewalk.  Artistry rarely noticed with timeworn street pebbles.  What I really am saying is how to I smuggle a few of these out of the country in my luggage without tipping the scales at check-in?  In addition, who punishes the kid who keeps throwing these prized cubes of marble over the railing into the Vltava?

So my fascination has been with the cobbles, only really noticed out of self-preservation of poo-free footwear.  Melanie’s has been with the pretty rooftops.  I guess time and the influence of various cultures will do just that to a city.  Turquoise copper patina, rust red, black oxide, ceramic tiles…no tar and gravel, or flat roofs here.

Our daily wanderings also happened upon a solar powered bubble machine.  An artist/sculptor has just recently completed the installation, the Bubble Stroj, at Karlovo Namesti (for us english speakers, Charles Park) as part of a revitalization project for the park.  No idea what may have happened in this park in years past, but how can you ever go wrong with the addition of bubbles.

Of course now Melanie’s wish list for me to complete now includes building some cannon defended castle or fort, with lots of towers and stone spiral staircases.  A grandiose bubble machine, also solar powered, needs to be integrated into the complex to continually fill the bronze-statued compound with soapy spheres on sunny days.  Oh, yeah I forgot the clock…astronomical of course, she wouldn’t have it any other way.  Maybe I’ll be able to hide a cotton candy machine in the walls somewhere too.