Bridges of the Past
Last week we covered Bridges of the Future, ranking the modernistic spans across water without regard to what they think you should think. This week, more in-their-face bridge-lovin and criticism, but on a different tip. Yes, this week, we kick it old school with Bridges of the Past. Hitting you with the best of those old timey, ornate, fancy-pants spans that deserve respek. Gothicy or Victorian. Statues. Curliques. Often made of stone. Detail we can’t afford today. Here we go. London, England. The Grande Dame of the category. You can't do a list on old timey bridges and not include this lady. Fine, I'm bowing to convention right off. But screw you. The problem is, she's so well known, she’s become boring. Still though, a classy old broad that you can't properly leave off. I also like this night time shot which has the very modern Swiss Re tower in the background as contrast (the Swiss Re is the one that people say looksone of the Coneheads, though all twinkly like that, it really looks more like Lucifer from the original Battlestar Galactica). Iwakuni, Japan. One of the ‘3 bridges of Japan.’ Gorgeous and simple. Wood and old (1673). Yes, okay, another pedestrian bridge, and fine, not terribly ornate. But very pretty. Five arches baby, five! A little more info on it here. A nice gallery here. Paris, France. This thing always gets mentioned on the "Most beautiful." Meh. I guess I like the lampposts. The gold eagle whatnots atop the pillars are a little “The Donald” for my tastes, but hey, not here to bag on Frenchies. They still put up the Millau Viaduct. Venice, Italy. Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy. Yeah, it’s a pedestrian bridge, but it’s still cool. The reason I like it is cause I like the notion of a bridge on which people live and sell stuff. Italian for “Old Bridge” goes back to Roman times, but, after a flood got rebuilt and widened in 1345 Also, trivia:
http://www.jref.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2738
Ponte De Rialto [W]hen a merchant could not pay his debts, the table on which he sold his wares (the "banco") was physically broken ("rotto") by soldiers, and this practice was called "bancorotto" (broken table; possibly it can come from "banca rotta" which means "broken bank"). Not having a table anymore, the merchant was not able to sell anything.
Exterior
http://home.fazekas.hu/~kori/ponte_vecchio_flornce_italy.jpg
interior
http://www.girovaghi.supereva.it/toscana/firenze-ponte-vecchio.jpg
John A Roebling Suspension Bridge http://ck37.image.pbase.com/image/34267204.jpg
Cincinnati, USA Okay, maybe not as fancy as the others, but I like (maybe it’s the shade of blue that does it for me.) An underrated American classic that deserves a little more love. Extra shots here.
Budapest’s Chain "Szechényi" Bridge. Pretty much what I think a bridge should look like. Solid rock and chain Those fat babies draping down from those mini Arc de Triumphs look so right. Not crazy ornate, but you feel like you’re getting a lotta bridge for your dollar… not getting up from the table still hungry. She looks good in a little black dress too.