Dr. Harvey actually found this bridge on Google maps for my materials professor

Where they would wash clothes in older times

Look at that grid across the mountain, wow

Pointed arches! Harder to achieve than round; Arab engineers brought the technique to Sicily.

Cefalù cathedral. The wider, middle arch can't be pointed and still be the same height as the others...

See? Here's Palermo Cathedral

A laser-cut, acrylic model of La Zisa castle near its exit. Another thing shoved in there just to entertain tourists, but I appreciated how long that took to make!

Another laser-cut model, this time of the Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri

I told my friend to pose because that was a cool photo... and later I realized, that concrete is thin, warped, cracked, and held up by some insufficient-looking angle iron. Omg, building codes????

I swear the owner of this apartment built these stairs herself. So creaky, steep, narrow... But that box on the wall was the air conditioner! Many people go without in Europe because energy is so expensive. We quickly learned what room temperature is in Celcius (we liked 21 deg), and it's been helping in thermodynamics this semester (though the professor keeps insisting it's 25 and I'm thinking no way. But it was summer and it didn't work great upstairs, so maybe 69 deg F is too low, FINE).

And at the top of the stairs, no railing! But a net!

Living room looking up at the loft. I repeat: building codes??????

Outlets in Europe are hexagonal, have two round prongs, no ground, and double the voltage (which after taking Circuits, sounds like a recipe for disaster!). Moral is you need an adapter, and be careful because my roommate did get shocked briefly when she plugged in an old lamp.

Their public transportation is great. Convenient, cheap, comfortable, with lots of security guards

These blue signs appear to be the standard for all stations

Yes, there's a little isle called Feminine Isle

I guess those pegs help stop the trains, or maybe just backup

Palermo Centrale train yard

We zoomed past this power plant and I actually found which one it is

Always nice to see solar panels

A 100 km/hr sign!!

LOL, this is the (ugly) crown of Queen Costanza. Only Arab engineers knew how to cut gemstone, so Europe was stuck reusing rock-tumbled rings.

3D-printed souvenirs!

Public water fountain that is a literal fountain, always flowing

Am I the only one who hasn't seen a gas station THAT close to a apartment building? Also, look at that impressive garbage can chute on the right in yellow. There were a bunch of these around the city.

Gorgeous tunnel in Scopello

Look at the steep cliff RIGHT behind Cefalù Cathedral

Arab engineering medieval air conditioning system in La Zisa castle! Part of how King Roger claimed authority is his palaces were cool, temperature-wise, as well as beautiful with lush gardens. And surely only someone aligned with God/Allah could produce Heaven on Earth...

Triangular weep holes

So many wind farms guys, I took a dozen photos just like this

Citroen! Never heard of that car brand! Does it mean "citron," like lemon? Uhhh wait...

Again, public bus system, wonderful. Around three security guards per bus. You put your ticket in a stamp machine by the entrance when you board, and there's little shops all over that sell the tickets, which were like a $1 each

Ok, major project at the Frankfurt airport

This was in Moltivolti restuarant. We have an engineering class at JMU called Storytelling with Machines, and this is spot on. Click it to hit play if it doesn't autoplay.