Vatican Guard

I’m not sure what this guard was protecting in the Vatican but the doorway looked impressive enough.

The Markel Building

Whatever you might think of the Markel Building in Richmond, VA, you have to agree it’s pretty original.  I lovingly refer to this architectural anomaly as “the Jiffy Pop building”.  If you’re familiar with Jiffy Pop, no further explanation is required.  If not, here’s a link to the Wikipedia article on it, complete with pictures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiffy_Pop.  I don’t know much about the building but I believe it was originally build for Reynolds, the aluminum company, when they were big in Richmond.