Traveling: Snapshots From Salt Lake City

(Drivebycuriosity) - My wife and I are still traveling. After leaving Vancouver we moved to Salt Lake City. The capital of Utah, founded by Mormon pioneers, has just about 200,000 residents but it is an interesting place anyway. 

 

Surrounded by mountain chains the city spreads over a vast valley, comparable to Las Vegas.

 

I love the very generous designed streets. City founder Brigham Young wanted them wide enough to permit an ox-pulled wagon team to turn around without "resorting to profanity" (wikipedia. ).

  

Unfortunately the iconic temple, the center of the city, and other Mormon icons are under construction but there was still a lot to see and to photograph.

 

                                    

 

I am fascinated by the cubist Orrin G. Hatch United States Courthouse court. It is on the first view a brutalist block but by closer inspection it shows some delicate art. According to wikipedia "the courthouse was designed by Thomas Phifer of the Thomas Phifer & Partners architectural firm in New York. While the courthouse has been named after US senator Orrin G. Hatch, locals have nicknamed it the "Borg Cube" after the Borg, the villainous alien race in Star Trek. The building's nickname was a reference to its cubical profile (the Borgs of Star Trek used cubical spaceships) and ´austere aesthetic`".

 

Btw At Wholefoods in Salt Lake City we got a Seven Grain Bread which was as good as the bread I am used from my German childhood  

 

To be continued

 

Urbanism: Vancouver Belongs To The Most Beautiful Cities Of The World

 

 (Drivebycuriosity) - My wife and I are traveling again. We just left Vancouver where we stayed 8 nights. The Canadian west coast metropolis is a wonderful place. 

 

The city is shaped by ambitious city planing, which avoided the usual sprawl you can see in other American cities. Even though Vancouver has just about 600,000 residents the center looks like Manhattan. The developers took advantage of Vancouver´s unique environment and integrated the surrounding into the city´s shape. So Vancouver became a blend of cool architecture, ocean, snow sprinkled mountain peaks, rain forests & canyons.

 

 

 

 

The motto of Vancouver´s designers is called "Vancourism". According to wikipedia "it is characterized by a large residential population living in the city centre with mixed-use developments, typically with a medium-height, commercial base and narrow, high-rise residential towers, significant reliance on mass public transit, creation and maintenance of green park spaces, and preserving view corridors"

 

The metropolis is home to many immigrants from Asia. They have a positive influence on Vancouver`s cuisine. There are so many restaurants which serve delicious Asian cuisine & sea food.

 

The combination of ocean, mountains & modern architecture gives the city a unique character.

 

 

 

Vancouver`s center is walkable, very modern and clean and looks like a 21st century Manhattan.

 

 

 

    

  

I was impressed by the futurist cool high rises. Apparently the architects got encouraged to realize ambitious ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

But there are also fake medieval towers with gargoyles.

 

 

 

 

Port Canada at the eastern shore of central Vancouver belongs to the city`s many attractions. There I could spot huge cruise ships on the way to Alaska and seaplanes taking off or landing. There is also a huge container harbor. Vancouver belongs to the most important harbors of the American continent and handles a large part of the goods transport between the Americas and Asia.

 

 

 

 

And there are many more fascinating views. 

 

 

  

Vancouver is very green and surrounded by parks, rain forests and canyons.

 

 

 

Vancouver´s relatively mild climate, influenced by the Pacific, allows a lush vegetation. I could see there  many lovely gardens.

 

The city also has beaches. In the first days of our stay Vancouver had her Miami days with blue sky and temperatures climbing ab to 80 F (26 C) but unfortunately the mercury column dropped days later to the low 60s F (15 C).  

 

To be continued