In a word, wow. These islands in Belize look insurmountably delicious. So green. And so blue! And so much to see beneath the surface. I do believe I've got to go, one day. In truth, I haven't been anywhere in Central or South America. In terms of Latin America, I've hit Mexico and Puerto Rico (or does that only count as the Caribbean?). Guess it's time I rethink that.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographer - maddalenna - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Belize ★
Photo courtesy of maddalenna

When I first stumbled upon the top photo of the flock, I couldn't help laughing out loud at the way the seagull closest to the camera is gazing goofily right into it. What a great photo! I love it. And the one below is so poetic. I've got a seagull story for you. Two, in fact. The first takes place right here in San Francisco. I was taking a friend from out of town out to Alcatraz Island and while we were waiting in line to board the ferry, along with a serpentine string of other tourists, a flock of aggressive gulls descended upon anyone and everyone with food. Well, you'll probably find it hard to believe, but I am entirely serious when I tell you that this guy standing next to us - focused on the big juicy cheeseburger and fries he was casually inhaling, rather than The Birds above - lost both his burger and his appetite when a particularly hungry and skillful gull stopped lurking and swooped down for the burger (and got it) in one fluid feat of flight. It was surreal. And real scary! The poor man was left with a few fries and a pile of nerves. Oh yeah. The second story. Yadda, yadda, yadda, the last time I was in the most serene city of Venice (Italy) I witnessed the most distinctly non-serene sight: a seagull standing on the algae-covered steps of a Grand Canal palazzo, gutting and gobbling down the innards of a pigeon. That's kinda cannibalism, no?

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographers - Einfach Alina and Leo - if either is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: [top photo] Rovinj, Croatia ★
Photo courtesy of Einfach Alina

Location: [bottom photo] Italian Island of Sardinia ★
Photo courtesy of Leo

Are these sketches not seriously gorgeous, or what? Especially the second (above) of the Basilica San Marco. Yummy. I love St. Mark's Basilica and can't get enough of images and artwork (in any medium) inspired by it. Indeed one of my favorite souvenirs from La Serenissima is a small silver and marble slab replica of the basilica's four famous horses by one of Italy's last silversmiths - the last silversmith in Venice, in fact - Franco Mazzucco.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the artist - maikejosupeit - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Venice, Italy ★
Sketch courtesy of maikejosupeit

I suppose this modern scene doesn't look all that different from Carnival in the same St. Mark's Square caffè one hundred years ago. Kinda crazy, eh? I don't do well with crowds, but I hope to put that aside for a week or so one year and enjoy the chaos of Carnival à la Venice. This image is wonderful because, having been shot through a window from outside on the piazza (I assume), it has a fantastic surreal quality about it. The costumes help therein, certainly.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographer - kulturharc - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Venice, Italy ★
Photo courtesy of kulturharc

I used to commute to work on Bay Area Rapid Transit (known locally as BART) until I learned that taking a transbay bus is more affordable and efficient, for me. I don't particularly miss BART. Though the people are usually quiet, BART itself is shockingly loud. Upsettingly loud, really. The bus is much more pleasant and I get a twice daily view of San Francisco, its bay, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. I would, however, miss taking the metro if I lived in Paris. I think. I'm sure it's just a romanticized foreigner's view, but I love the Paris metro and its stations. Though I haven't yet been to Prague, I look forward to sampling its underground and falling in love with it, perhaps, too. There's something wonderful about looking yourself in the eye or watching (okay, spying on) those around you as you glaze over, head turned toward the nearest window. It's part and parcel of the metro experience in any city, if you ask me (which you didn't, but I offered anyway).

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographers - stuartpinfold and pdux - if either is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: [top photo] Prague, Czech Republic ★
Photo courtesy of stuartpinfold

Location: [bottom photo] Paris, France ★
Photo courtesy of pdux

I hate the window seat, because I hate having to wake up or otherwise disturb those next to me for aisle access and the inevitable trips (always plural) to the old WC. That said, when I do find myself by the window, it's hard not to appreciate the view. Often gives me chills.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographer - gernouille - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: En route ★
Photo courtesy of gernouille

Capri is kinda crazy beautiful, just as you've always imagined it. It's easy to see why it was such a favorite retreat - first for the Caesars, then for the wealthy and the artists - throughout its posh past, right on down to the present day. What I find particularly pleasing about this photo is not simply the composition or the color, but the content. Capri is a charming island town, perfectly folded into and out of and atop its jagged white limestone cliffs. While the whole of the Amalfi Coast and Bay of Naples is setting enough to make the jaded gasp with glee, Capri is entirely deserving of its fabled, awe-inspiring reviews. I mean, get a load of the views. Whether from land or on the water, it's crazy gorgeous. A perfect marriage of life and land. Just as this photo eloquently demonstrates.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographer - dont4give - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Capri, Italy ★
Photo courtesy of dont4give

These photos feel like the memory of a rainy day in Paris, when the sun has broken through the clouds, but just, and the smell of wet concrete is in the air. A smell you find strangely satisfying. And you're out for a stroll alone, camera in hand. Maybe in search of the nothing or the next serendipitous thing that you'll always remember on that day when you were out for a walk in Paris, alone with your camera, when the sun had just broken through the clouds and that strangely satisfying smell of wet concrete filled the air.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the photographer - malpelo30 - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Paris, France ★
Photo courtesy of malpelo30

Have you been to London? I haven't. Not yet, anyway. Therefore it's still very much an imagined place for me. With no firsthand knowledge of what it's actually like, I'm constantly forming a dreamy version of the reality I might find, based on photos, and movies, and delicious watercolor sketches like these. Ignorance is bliss, in this case. It's actually half the fun; that impressionable state we find ourselves in when conjuring up a foreign destination before we've even been there. And more so than pictures, I like to dream of (personally) uncharted places through the eyes of artists whose medium is pen or pencil, paint and paper. Without a doubt, the dreamiest!

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the artist - Alvaro Carnicero - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: London, England ★
Sketch courtesy of Alvaro Carnicero

I wish like the dickens I could draw. Don't you? I find it fabulous when artists have a distinctive style - like handwriting - that identifies a piece immediately as a such-and-such (Picasso, Van Gogh, etc.) This artist definitely has that developed voice when it comes to sketches. I love these three drawings of Venice. Love, love, love! Oh what I wouldn't give to have similar skill and sense of style. I love taking pictures, but I think I'd love the ability to draw even more.

Your comments on this image are welcome, and encouraged! And a question for the artist - La Ola - if s/he is so inclined: Is there anything special about this moment, day, trip, or place beyond what you've shared on Flickr that you'd like to add or comment on here? Along with other vivaca visitors, I would love to know more!

Location: Venice, Italy ★
Sketch courtesy of La Ola