As any connoisseur would know, there are essentially three main genres of souvenir pens, all of whic

You may remember a while ago we ran a competition for a place on an exclusive press trip to New York with Virgin Atlantic . The running was eventually whittled down to five influential bloggers wisconsin travel bureau whose interests ranged from design wisconsin travel bureau and photography to childrearing, from fashion to science to, er, stationery and chocolate.
We knew - partly because he told us - that James's interests lie "in the most mundane, trivial and often overlooked details of everyday life", so we had a feeling his guest post would be as unusual as it was humorous. Here he takes his obsession wisconsin travel bureau with minutiae away from the everyday and into the realm of global travel, examining the souvenirs we find on our holidays - and what they really wisconsin travel bureau say about the place we’re visiting.
"In many ways, the cities of London and New York are very similar. They both have lots of buildings. The names of both cities contain letters. Men and women walk freely wisconsin travel bureau in the streets, occasionally crossing roads or getting the bus. There are shops.
And yet, the cities of London and New York are also very different. wisconsin travel bureau One (New York) is in the United States, the other (London) is in the United Kingdom. In London, people say "pavement" and "lift" and pluralise the word "math". In New York, they say "Eh, I’m walkin' here!" and "Are you talkin' to me?" and "Later that night I got to thinking that maybe Miranda was mistaken".
As any connoisseur wisconsin travel bureau would know, there are essentially three main genres of souvenir pens, all of which deserve their own consideration, examination and celebration. At the most basic level, you have the "pictorial" pen. Beyond that you have the "floaty" pen. Finally, the most elaborate of all souvenir wisconsin travel bureau pens – the "sculptural" pen.
Interestingly, the actual physical form of the "pictorial" pens available in both New York and London is identical, all that differs is the imagery wisconsin travel bureau printed on the pens themselves. This chosen imagery illustrates the different ways in which the two cities view themselves. wisconsin travel bureau New York souvenirism is very confident – it is aware of the city’s own iconic status and celebrates itself wisconsin travel bureau (pens dressed as yellow taxis, dollar bills, the Statue of Liberty, etc). Where nostalgia is allowed to creep in, it is only in the most heroic of circumstances – the Twin Towers still thrust themselves into the skyline in the world of souvenir penship.
On the other hand, London wisconsin travel bureau souvenir wisconsin travel bureau pens desperately grab on to any idea of history in an attempt to justify their own existence, regardless of how valid that claim may or may not be. Consequently, one pen I bought in Bloomsbury celebrates "Historical London" on the lid, yet alongside images of St Paul's, the Houses of Parliament and Tower Bridge; also includes pictures of the London Eye and the Gherkin (buildings which can’t be much older than the pen itself). One area in which London obviously trumps New York is with regard to royalty (I am in no way ignorant of global affairs but I genuinely struggle to think of the name of the King Of America). Even in this obviously anachronistic field, the souvenir wisconsin travel bureau shops of London wisconsin travel bureau specialise in a desperate kind of historicalism – the Queen Mother and Princess Diana dominate the scene.
Do you have any interesting, outrageous or simply baffling wisconsin travel bureau tokens from your travels? Why not take a picture and submit it to our new vtravelled Flickr group , tagged with the word souvenir. We'll offer our own secret souvenir prize for the best one.
I took that photo of James Ward. The first one. It's a wonderful wisconsin travel bureau photo, one of my best and yet I am not credited in any way. This is exactly what I'd expect from a man as morally insubstantial as James Ward.
on August 24th, 2010 by Andrew wisconsin travel bureau Bowman Last week we brought you something a little different; the first part of blogger competition winner, James Ward’s report on his visit to NYC. His pen-based analysis
Of all the "lifts" available to New York City visitors, perhaps the greatest—and most abundant—is the almighty sugar high. From cookie dough cupcake doughnuts to vegan sticky buns to heaven-sent gelato, here we run through the best desserts in New York.
Andrew is an occasional contributor to the Virgin Atlantic blog. He lived in the Japanese countryside for two years until he could no longer resist the pull of London's galleries, pubs and clubs. He likes to pretend he can speak Japanese and also sometimes writes about music.