Whenever I travel, I try to capture as much of what I see as possible through my camera. Sometimes I focus on people, sometimes on the place, and there are a few times when I focus on the color.
A recently-finished blogging contest is Travel Supermarket’s Capture the Color, where bloggers were asked to provide five photos in one post representing the colors Blue, Green, Red, White, and Yellow.
I didn’t make it to the deadline, but in honor of the two bloggers who nominated me—Red of Amazing Australian Adventures and Mary of The World is a Book, I decided to push through with my post.
In Žižkov where I stayed with a Couchsurfing member, this Television Tower dominates the landscape. It’s quite controversial; a lot of locals hated the tower for a lot of reasons, from destroying the Prague skyline (it stands 216 metres or 709 feet high!), to the resulting removal of parts of a centuries-old Jewish cemetery during its construction.
It even has the distinction of being voted number 2 in the list of the World’s Ugliest Buildings!
In any case, while the tower itself was finished in 1992, the ten crawling bronze babies were added by sculptor David Černý only in 2000.
According to Damien, my Couchsurfing host, the infants had a negative rep. Černý supposedly put it there to represent the children of immigrants. Hmmm….
This is the best Couchsurfing accommodation I’ve ever experienced, in Europe and elsewhere! My host’s place is a 15th-century house located just at the border of Firenze and Bagno a Ripoli in Italy.
I was amazed at the size of the place, and even though it was still a bit cold when I was there (March 2012), I loved staying here in the garden, where I could see lots of green vegetation, stone sculptures, and the occasional turtle or two.
In Europe, love locks aren’t just attached to bridges. In the market square of Nürnberg stands the Schöner Brunnen (“Beautiful Fountain”), a really imposing structure surrounded with 40 stone figures.
While hanging on to dear life to the protective railing surrounding it (I was turning the black ring that’ll supposedly give me good luck), I saw this really vivid padlock. Whoever F and R were (the engraved initials of lovers), I certainly hope they’re still together!
I arrived in Europe at the tail end of winter, so I had a LOT of white-dominated pictures.
I didn’t want the usual snow pic though, so I chose this shot. I was going around Christiania in Copenhagen with my friend and host Nis when we saw the swan calmly swimming amidst the partly-frozen river. Talk about serenity!
While I didn’t manage to get around much when I was in Budapest (the funky mood hit me again there), I did get to go inside the St. Stephen’s Basilica, where I was struck by the vividness of the ceiling colors.
St. Stephen was Hungary’s first king, and I even got to see his (intact) right hand in the basilica’s reliquary! St. Stephen’s is one of the major tourist attractions in Budapest, and when I was there, a lot of people sunbathed in its steps, trying to avoid the shadows (and the cold).
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Expressive colors
Thanks for sharing
@ Nomadic Samuel: I guess red’s the color of the day hehe Thanks for dropping by!
Gorgeous photos! I love the diversity in your selections. My favourite one is definitely ‘red’ 🙂
@ Donna: Thanks so much! Loved that ceiling too. It’s more spectacular in person. I’m glad the photo turned out nice.
@ Marisol: A lot of people seem to like this haha I hope F & R would get to read my post. They’d be so tickled I think 😀
Hi Aleah, I love all your colors. But my most favorite is the red – that love lock shot is spectacular and romantic.
I was so amazed by that Golden Yellow ceiling. That’s a perfect choice for yellow.
I really loved that, but anyway, your shots are so good.
@ Cathy: Yeah it’s fun to do. I don’t have a snowballs’s chance in he– of winning contests like this anyway hehe The only reason why I saw that tower was that my CS host lived there. Loved my stay in Praha and so looking forward to write more posts about it!
@ Sabrina: Yeah, lots of love locks everywhere in Europe. And the babies are quite scary LOL
I didn’t know the had love locks in Nuernberg as well. I’ve only ever seen them at bridges so far. Love the shot of the red lock! And those bronze babies kind of crack me up 🙂
Glad you decided to post even though the contest is over. I enjoy these theme posts even better when they’re just for fun. I only saw the tower in Prague from a distance and never knew that it had than crawling babies sculpture on it — very strange, but made for a very cool photo.
@ Jade: Yeah, it does look so alive!
@ Becca: I had taken so many pictures of church ceilings that I had difficulty choosing which to use here! I think I’d chosen well though. Love the angle.
@ InsideJourneys: Thanks, Marcia. Never been to France but I saw love locks all over Europe.
Love all your color captures, Aleah. The padlocks reminded me of those I saw in Paris — at first I thought it was Paris, until I saw the title.
I don’t think I can get enough of ceilings in Europe – they are so intricate and breath-taking!
I love your colors – especially the Red lock!
Love the red lock photo- so vibrant and fun!
@ Red: Yeah it’s fun that’s why I still did it hehe Thanks for tagging me!
@ Jackie: You’re too kind to say so. I thank you anyway 😀
They are all great photos, but the angle on the yellow photo was my absolute favorite. Wish you’d have made the deadline – these look like winners to me!
I love them all!! Especially the weirdness of the blue one!! And the white swan? We just saw them here downunder – there’s only one wild (but introduced) population of them left!!
Thanx for going ahead with your post and apologies for not giving you much time for it. Half the fun of these competitions is seeing everyone else’s take on the same theme!!
@ Jenny: I had a choice of that basilica and the Vatican Museum, but I chose it because the colors are more vivid, I think. Thanks for the compliment 🙂
@ Mhe-Anne: Added you! Am excited to see your post already. I agree, it’s one way to get rid of our backlog haha
love post like this Aleah dear! i hope to do this as a way of lessening my backlogs. if you could tag me it would be really nice! thanks dear.
The ceiling of the St Stephen’s Basilica is a stunning choice for the yellow category. A beautiful photo as are the others Aleah. I must admit, I agree with Mary on the tower in the blue category…very strange!
@ Shamis: Yeah, those ’em locks are all over Europe!
@ Mary: Thanks! The crawling black babies are REALLY creepy, but you must agree, they make the tower look more interesting!
Beautiful selections, Aleah! I can’t get over that Prague tower with the crawling babies. How weird and the meaning behind it is even more bizarre. Love the yellow one! I can’t get enough of decorated church domes and this one reminds me of the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica.
Nice photos Aleah. Love padlocks are quite famous in Paris too. I didn’t know they have it in Germany too.