Textures: Pompeii

Pompeii always seemed like a staple in history books that would turn up in pop culture every once and awhile. Another place in the world that seemed as unreachable as outer space from my small hometown.

Walking around the remains of the city is an experience. The layout is eerie. It was a full on city, just gone by the whim of nature. There’s a vacancy that carries terrifying undertones that remind you how fleeting the sense of man-made structures can be. Whether physical or mental.

The walls are still decorated, the roads are still there, and some say that Pink Floyd still echoes throughout the ruins at night once the tourists leave.

Textures: Venice

Venice is defined by its relationship with water.

The canals and gondolas are iconic and inseparable from any thought of the city. But it’s the alleyways that amplify the charm. Meandering, aimless pathways that intersect in unpredictable ways, dead-ending into the canals with little fanfare outside of some rope or steps.

The free form jazz that is walking the city is a magical experience. You learn to enjoy and embrace something when you see it, because there’s a chance you won’t find it again unless it’s near a major landmark. The combination of of a timeless city and this need to interact with things the moment you encounter them creates a magical environment.

Textures: Rome

The eternal city reads like tree rings throughout the city. Shaped by and around ruins being slowly uncovered of Ancient Rome, Papal spending sprees, Mussolini-era fascist architecture, and garnishes of 60s aesthetics in various part of the city due to the post-war Italian economic miracle.

Fendi took over the Square Coliseum and failed bike shares are strewn about, but corks still fill the cracks of cobblestone streets and millennia-old faces look down on tourists.

Textures: South France

In comparison to the north, the south moves much slower. There’s a peace in the disposition that must drive Parisians insane.  

Pulling away from the more medieval north, there are overlapping fingerprints of Greece and Rome. Modern times have brought an influx of immigrants from the colonial expansion of the 19th century. The south being popular for proximity to the former French colonies.

Nimes and Avignon have steered toward what a Northern European city would feel like while Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and Salin de Giraud are these tiny seaside villages that have their own unique place in the country.

Avingon

Nimes

Saintes-Marie-De-La-Mer

Sailn de Giraud

Textures: Nice/Monaco

You’re on the French Riviera.

A wonderful breeze is coming off the water.

You sit on the rocky beach at night in Nice, listening to the tide gently take the rocks in and out an inch or so at a time.

In the distance you hear something.

Your ear pulls itself from the relaxing tones of nature to focus on what’s happening down the beach.

It’s familiar but somehow incomprehensible.

As you edge closer you realize...

A bunch of drunk teenagers are blasting Zac Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried” and singing along out of key.

This area attracts people from all over the world. The weather is enviable, the sunlight is rejuvenating, and the water is just blue. Straight up blue. 

Strolling the promenade in Nice then hopping on a $4 train to neighboring Monaco is jetting in and out of tunnels that gives the impression of a zoetrope of yachts, blue water, and mediterranean architecture on your way to one of the most expensive inlets in the world. So expensive that one poor soul had to land their helicopter on their yacht instead of using one of the pricey helipads nearby.

Nice

Monaco