🚕 Can you memorize 25,000 streets? | Bulletin #158

This week: win a limited edition backpack 🎒

July 15, 2026

El Rastro Flea Market 📍 Madrid, Spain 📸 Leah Pattem

The term "flea market" translates directly from marché aux puces - "market of fleas" - coined in 1860s Paris when secondhand furniture was allegedly crawling with the insects. The markets themselves emerged when Napoleon III's architect Haussmann bulldozed slums to build grand boulevards, forcing displaced merchants to set up shop outside the city gates near Porte de Clignancourt. Some historians argue the original spelling was "flee," for the vendors who had been pushed out. Either way, the parasites stuck. No word on whether the fleas approved.

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE 🇦🇷 + 🇺🇾

In just a few weeks we are headed to “The Paris of South America,” Buenos Aires and the Land of Painted Birds, Uruguay! Have a fun shop, hidden gem, delicious delicacy or architectural oddity we should see? Want to meet up with us along the way? Drop us a line! 🇦🇷🇺🇾

THIS WEEK IN AWA AWESOMENESS

🧚 Land of fairytales
🎨 A fire that revealed art?
🗺️ No need for Google Maps
🫘 Hello to our friend in Beantown

Whether you know it as the Land of Fairytales, the Land of Vikings, or the Land of Hygge, here are some of our favorite Denmark stories. Nyde (Enjoy)!

Kærum Church 📍 Kærum, Denmark 📸 Marjorie Becker Photo

FRESCO BENEATH THE FIRE

In 1981, fire tore through Kærum Church, and the blaze accidentally became an archaeologist, uncovering medieval frescoes hidden for centuries beneath layers of limewash and revealing artworks spanning three distinct periods of the church's eight-century existence. But, these uncovered works came at a price (literally)…

📍London, United Kingdom 📸 Samuel Regan Asante

THE KNOWLEDGE

London taxi drivers must memorize 25,000 streets, 20,000 landmarks, and 320 routes before they're allowed behind the wheel. The Knowledge - arguably the world's most grueling licensing exam - was born from humiliation: during the 1851 Great Exhibition at Hyde Park's Crystal Palace, cabmen couldn't navigate the flood of fairgoers, sparking a torrent of complaints. The government's solution in 1865? Make drivers memorize the entire city. It takes most candidates three to four years to pass. No Google Maps allowed!

THE WORLD’S FIRST SUPERMARKET

AWA’s Boston Ambassador (aka: thestreetscapecurator), is seeing Boston through his own lens. His latest videos follow a bike with a bucket through the Hub, where he explores some of the city's most beloved buildings, spotlights the Bostonians who make Beantown what it is, and share some fun tidbits - including the world’s first supermarket! - proving every street corner has a story worth stopping for.

We’re back(pack) with a new secret link prize this week: a Topo Designs x AWA backpack! Find this week’s secret link for a chance to bag this special prize. Happy searching! 🎒