Cities around the world

When Downey Daily Photos started eight years ago, we joined a community of city bloggers. One of my favorite city bloggers was Jilly Bennett, who at that time mantained two city blogs, Menton Daily Photos and Monaco Daily Photos. On her Menton blog, she frequently included posts about her nearby home of Gorbio, a tiny medieval town perched on a hilltop above the Mediterranean Sea.

Jilly's blogs and photography inspired me to work harder at our own blog. And her photos of life in Gorbio were so enchanting that we were determined to visit the town if we ever had the chance. So...here we are, and it's lived up to our expectations.

I wonder if anyone has ever visited Downey as a result of our blog...and did it live up to their expectations?

Narrow streets

Two-thirds of DDP is on the road again, visiting the South of France. (So please forgive us our occasional internet-related delays.) Today's picture is of a narrow, winding street in the old-town section of Clermont-Ferrand.

Reading about the history of this town reminds me yet again of how young my city is. In Downey, "historic" is something from the 19th century. Clermont-Ferrand, on the other hand, is one of the oldest cities in France, being mentioned in Greek and Roman times over 2,000 years ago.

Of course, the downside to all of this history and quaintness is a lack of space and modern conveniences.

Lively ghost town

I am becoming more and more obsessed with history. To learn about people and places that existed years and years before I walked around on this earth just fascinates me. I do have a hard time remembering the sequence of things though. I can't remember when the Civil War was compared to the Gold Rush. World War I—before or after the great depression? Is that what caused it, or was it the Wall Street Crash?

I hear tidbits of history and eat them up like I was a part of it, but then I forget them anytime it's actually needed. I just learned tonight that California became a state in November of 1850 but we didn't hear about it in Los Angeles until twelve weeks later (thank you Mayor Guerra). I wonder how long I'll remember that...

This little dilapidated piece of rubble was part of a mine opening in the silver mines of Calico, California. A few miles east of our little town (126 actually), Calico remains a ghost town of the rush of the late 1800s. Walter Knott bought the land later and moved a few of the original homes and stores to Knott's Berry Farm where he could bring it back to life in honor of the men.

It's a great place to take the family to camp or horseback ride or just sit on a porch rocking chair and sip a sarsaparilla.