"Paris, they say, smells or used to smell of acrid cabbage. Cape Town smells of sheep. There are tropical isles that smell of roses, musk, or coconut oil. Russia smells of leather. Lyon smells of coal. The Orient generally smells of musk and corpses. Brussels smells of black soap. The hotel rooms smell of black soap. The beds smell of black soap. The napkins smell of black soap. The sidewalks smell of black soap."
Notes for a book about Belgium, by Charles Baudelaire, who died in 1867, without having written the book.
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Karachi smells of rotting fish. Manila smells of diesel fuel burned by aging injectors. Santos smells of beach tar. Buenos Aires smells of pluff mud.
Manhattan smells like dog pee - once the weather gets warm. One more thing we put up with.
I don't know what black soap is.
Korea smelled like burnt garbage and on one walk through a small village, corpses. I don't remember Paris having a distinctive smell. Germany smelled like America.
That was the mildest thing in the notes. He really, really did not like Belgium .
El Paso smells like stock yards, at least the western bits do.
In my experience, the Orient has always had the whiff of open sewers and charcoal.
Even the newer casinos stink of old cigarettes in Las Vegas. There must have been a time when most interior public spaces had that stench. I'm libertarian as hell, but I must admit I'm glad the scolds got their way regarding indoor smoking.
A more recent example: From The Korean War, Pusan to Chosin,An Oral History By Donald Knox (One of the best military histories I've read.)
All roads now led to Seoul – the largest city in the world without underground sewage. The smell of Seoul even in good times used to sicken Westerners when their ship entered Inch’on Harbor. Now death and decay added to the usual smells.
I’m pleased to report that Cape Town no longer smells of sheep, however, Ulm in Germany does. Particularly on market day when the wind blows in from Bavaria.
Regarding Belgium, I’ve always enjoyed Flanders. Wallonia, rather less so.
New York - a yeasty scent of warm pretzels and pee.
Mumbai: airborne fecal matter.
Another reason not to travel: I have almost no sense of smell.
I remember Kuala Lumpur smelling in places like open sewer, because they have a lot of them.
Lincoln, Nebraska in the summer always smelled like a cattle herd.
"Fe fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman" was my favorite line from monsters. A monster with a dog's sense of smell was a scary thought.
In the leftist paradise of Chicago, the smell is a familiar one.
If I might paraphrase Lt Col Kilgore (Robert Duvall): "The smell, you know that gunpowder smell, the whole city. Smelled like.....liberal policy victory"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-shootings-violence-girl-killed-on-west-side-20140718,0,7102175.story
Korea smells like kimchi--fermented bok choy, garlic, fish guts, and pepper. I actually like the taste, but the smell takes some getting used to.
"Every street different smell." --James Joyce, Ulysses
Kathmandu has a unique smell with a base of sandalwood. I rented some climbing gear from a US outfitter, and when I returned it, the clerk smelled the dust on it and asked if I had been to Kathmandu.
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