The National Monument, Grand Parade Cork was erected in 1906 to commemorate those who died in uprisings against the British in 1867 and 1798. It’s one of the few parts of the Grand Parade that hasn’t changed much despite all the redevelopment of the city.

Many cites live and depend on rivers and none more so than Chicago which went as far as to reverse the flow of the Chicago River! Wikipedia has more of course. The observant visitor will notice the twin towers of Marina City in the photo above, and possibly recognise the distinctive bridge from the latest…

Marina City in Chicago is made up of two 65 storey towers with a distinctive circular shape. I just love the look of them actually. They’re right on the river but this shot is taken from the L, probably on the Brown line after leaving Kimball which will be tomorrow’s photo! As usual the Wikipedia…

La Salle Street in Chicago ends abruptly in the Chicago Board of Trade at the far end of the street. It’s an unusual street because all the streets in Chicago just go on and on, mostly in parallel, through the city. This one just stops! La Salle Bank which is barely visible at the left…

An old sign reflect in the windows of a new building, somewhere in Chicago.

The L is the elevated train system in Chicago and many films have been filmed underneath it’s tracks, including some scenes in Batman, The Dark Knight. Here’s the L under Kimball on the brown line. I worked close by a few years ago!

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) is the world’s oldest futures and options exchange. It was established in 1848 and since 1930 has operated out of this building on 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago according to this Wikipedia page. Possible Batman “The Dark Knight” spoilers ahead. Don’t read on if you’re going to watch the…

You’re in town and desperately looking for a parking place. Where do you go? All the on-street parking has either been removed because of road works or taken by everyone who went shopping at 9am. Just look up. There’s a multi storey carpark somewhere near you. Probably. Front of the car park on The Grand…

The Western Star in Cork was a favourite haunt of UCC students for many a year but now it looks like it’ll be demolished! Looks like development has been on the cards for quite a while: Permission was granted to Tom O’Riordan carry out development namely, permission for part demolition of existing public house and…

Pobal ar Aire. Community on Alert. This is (was?) a scheme designed to help neighbourhoods help themselves by volunteering to keep an eye out for trouble makers or lawlessness. The local police are then informed. It seems to work well, these signs are dotted all around the country, but in Bantry it looks like they’re…

A corner shop in the English Market has a simple but effective way of shutting up shop for the day. Put a broom stick across the entrance! The English Market is completely roofed over and locked tight at night so I guess traders feel reasonably safe with minimal security precautions. That’s what’s wonderful about the…

Both Phil and Geraldine listed this blog in their “Arte y Pico” award list which gave me a warm glow because (other than the River Lee photos earlier in the week) comments have been far and few between here for quite a while. Unfortunately I’m going to break the chain and not link to the…