Mario’s World

Standing on the platform in Perpignan, France, you will see the most colorful buildings in the world. And if your on that platform real early in the morning still half-asleep, you might wonder just how much you had to drink the previous night.

Take a look at the pic above. Now take a look at the one below.

So we were in Italy and the Pantheon was on our to-visit list. All we really know was that it was a building with big marble columns in the front. After getting lost while walking around Rome in the evening, we stumbled on the building in the picture above. And since there were a lot [...]

Yep, that’s what they are called. Italian electric Pasquali Rickshaws. “Riscio Elettrico Pasquali”. We saw them all over Rome and Florence. Real tiny 3- wheeler cars. An they park alongside the bikes and scooters and hook up to charging stations around the city. These cars would do great in a market like India. Don’t think [...]

The painting above is my favorite of all the paintings across the Musei Vaticani, Uffizzi Gallery, Galleria Academia and the Louvre. It’s called “The Monkey Painter” and is on display at the Louvre. Of the thousands of paintings Ro and I looked at, only a handful caught our attention. I guess this monkey painted the [...]

We came upon this odd looking tent like structure while we were walking around Bologna. The entrance was shaped like a cigarette so initially I thought they were advertising for some new cigarette. Seems its a campaign against smoking. Their slogan is No Smoking – Be Happy. Catchy-ish. Here is the translated version of the site. [...]

This is the entrance to the Mafia Street in Florence. They were kind enough to inform visitors that its a dead end too. In case your wondering, I didn’t bother entering that lane.

Look at the picture above and then look at the picture below. Same street but you wouldn’t realize how amazing it is till you take in the whole view. Buildings constructed in the midst of some old ruins. Looks real  rustic.

In case anyone plans to use the Italian railways, better book well in advance. They use Windows and like to advertise their frequent system crashes on the displays around the reservation counters.

Yep, I’m back in town after a two week trip through Italy and France. Have a lot to post about after I manage to clear a ton of unread email from my personal inbox. The pic of the clock tower or rather tower of clocks was taken in Paris outside Saint Lazare. Looks cool.