Cambi

'Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi.'

'If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.'

from Il Gattopardo - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Miniatur Wunderland

A Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg on Euromaxx, Deutsche Welle

'Construction on the Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg began in the year 2000. Since then it has grown into the most popular tourist attraction in this Northern German city. Now, after four years and a total of a hundred and fifty thousand hours of work the project even has an airport.'

Blue Honey

French apiarist Andre Frieh holds a sample of normal honey besides a blue colored one at his home in Ribeauville near Colmar, Eastern France.

I came across an article about 'blue honey' on Corriere della Sera, but my Italian is far too terrible to be able to translate it properly, so here is an article from Time about it.

French Bees Produce Blue Honey

5 October 2012

Mars Incorporated has proclaimed that “Chocolate is better in color” with its M&Ms. But French beekeepers may beg to differ on that.

Since August, beekeepers near the town of Ribeauville, in the northeastern region of Alsace, have been reporting their bees are producing blue and green honey, according to Reuters. And they’ve traced the cause back to a biogas plant that processes waste from an M&Ms factory.

Bees are apparently picking up vibrantly colored, sugary waste from the plant, operated by the company Agrivalor some 2.5 miles away from their apiaries. A statement from Agrivalor that appeared in the French newspaper Le Monde said the company would clean its containers and store waste in airtight containers to prevent bees from reaching it.

“We quickly put in place a procedure to stop it,” Philippe Meinrad, co-manager of Agrivalor, told Reuters.

France generates 18,330 tons of honey per year, making it one of the largest honey producers in the European Union. In Alsace alone, about 2,400 beekeepers manage 35,000 colonies, which produce about 1,000 tons of the stuff per year. However, France hasn’t been spared by the largely unexplained decrease in the world bee population in recent years, Reuters reported.

Gill Maclean, a spokesperson for the British Beekeepers’ Association, told the BBC that the harsh winter of 2011-2012 may have affected bees’ ability to forage. This could be a reason why the bees sought out the alternate sugar.

“Bees are clever enough to know where the best sources of sugar are, if there are no others available,” Maclean told the BBC.

Rest assured: Consumers won’t see blue honey on store shelves anytime soon. Alain Frieh, president of the apiculturists’ union, told Reuters the only similarity between regular honey and their bees’ M&M-tainted byproducts might be taste.

“For me, it’s not honey,” Frieh told Reuters. “It’s not sellable.”

Germany: Decrepit Palaces

Germany: Decrepit Palaces on European Journal, Deutsche Welle

'In the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern hundreds [of] palaces and manor houses are falling apart. A handful of idealists [are] trying to change that. Everywhere from the River Elbe to the island of Usedom, there are vacant palaces and manors up for sale. They can be bought for a song, but repairing them can cost a fortune. Nonetheless, some intrepid colonizers do take on the challenge of replacing rotten floors and crumbling walls in an effort to breathe new life into Germany's former feudal homes. German authorities are happy whenever they can cross a formerly aristocratic, Junker address off their list of buildings that may need to be condemned.'

Marcello di Finizio

I found this photograph here on Artdaily, taken by Andrew Medichini, of 49 year old Italian businessman Marcello di Finizio, from Trieste, as he protests from the Saint Peter's Dome in Vatican City, Rome. His banner reads in Italian, 'Help!!! Enough Monti (Italian Premier Mario Monti), enough Europe, enough multinationals, you are killing all of us. Development?? This is a social butchery!!'. Here is an article about the protest.

Man Ends Protest Atop St. Peter's Dome

An Italian beach bar owner who climbed onto the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome to protest against plans to open up the country's seafront business sector to more competition has climbed down after a 24-hour protest.

Marcello Di Finizio, sometime owner of a business that rents out umbrellas and lounge chairs to sunbathers, leapt over railings near the top of the 137-metre-high dome on Tuesday afternoon (local time) before abseiling down to a ledge over a window in the cupola.

He then unfurled a hand painted sign reading: "Help! Enough with (Prime Minister Mario) Monti, Enough with Europe, Enough with Multinationals!"

After coming down today he said he would shortly hold a meeting with Tourism Minister Piero Gnudi to discuss the reason for his protest - anger at European Union rules that mean existing concessions to manage stretches of beachfront in Italy will be auctioned off from 2016.

"I really hope it's over now and we can start again with our small firms and get the economy started again," he told reporters and a small crowd of supporters.

"Something which has really struck me throughout this whole carry on is that I've asked for a meeting with the minister very politely many times and I've always run into a rubber wall," he said.

Di Finizio's protest was a microcosm of the deep-seated opposition Prime Minister Mario Monti faces as he seeks to overhaul an economy that has long been tightly controlled by special interest groups.

The auction move has been bitterly opposed by the beach clubs which control access to some of Italy's most popular beaches and which rent out the umbrellas and sun loungers favoured by many Italian beachgoers.

New rules will limit the length of the licences and put existing concessions up for auction, a change which operators say will penalise them and leave them out of pocket for the investments they have made.

They say the auctions will favour foreign multinationals over smaller local businesses.

San Francesco d'Assisi

On 18th June 1939, San Francesco d'Assisi, Saint Francis of Assisi was named the Patron Saint of Italy, alongside Saint Catherine of Siena. For many years, today, the 4th of October, would have been a national holiday held in honour of San Francesco d'Assisi, but times have changed and unfortunately for the Italians, they no longer get the day off.

San Francesco d'Assisi wrote this poem in 1224, and it is one of the first poems to have ever been written in an Italian dialect, Umbrian, as opposed to Latin.

Cantico di Frate Sole

Altissimu, onnipotente, bon Signore,

tue so’ le laude, la gloria et l’honore et onne benedictione.

Ad te solo, Altissimo, se konfano,

et nullu homo ène dignu te mentovare.

Laudato sie, mi’ Signore, cum tucte le tue creature,

spetialmente messor lo frate sole,

lo qual’è jorno, et allumini noi per lui.

Et ellu è bellu et radiante cum grande splendore:

de te, Altissimo, porta significatione.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sora luna e le stelle:

in celu l’ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per frate vento

et per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo,

per lo quale a le tue creature dài sustentamento.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sor’aqua,

la quale è multo utile et humile et pretiosa et casta.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per frate focu,

per lo quale ennallumini la nocte:

et ello è bello et iocundo et robustoso et forte.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sora nostra matre terra,

la quale ne sustenta et governa,

et produce diversi fructi con coloriti flori et herba.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per quelli ke perdonano per lo tuo amore

et sostengo infirmate et tribulatione.

Beati quelli ke ‘l sosterrano in pace,

ka da te, Altissimo, sirano incoronati.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, per sora nostra morte corporale,

da la quale nullu homo vivente pò skappare:

guai a quelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali;

beati quelli ke trovarà ne le tue sanctissime voluntati,

ka la morte secunda no ‘l farrà male.

Laudate e benedicete mi’ Signore et rengratiate

e serviateli cum grande humilitate.

Canticle of the Brother Sun

Most high, all powerful, all good Lord,

all praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.

To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.

No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.

Be praised, my Lord, for all your creatures,

especially for my lord brother sun,

who brings the day; and you give light through him.

And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor:

of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, for sister moon and the stars:

in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, for brother wind

and for air, and clouds, and clear skies, and all weather,

through which you give your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, My Lord, for sister water,

she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, for brother fire,

through whom you brighten the night:

he is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, for our sister mother earth,

who feeds us and sustains us,

and produces various fruits with colorful flowers, and grass.

Be praised, my Lord, for those who forgive for love of you,

and who endure sickness and affliction.

Happy those who endure all of this in peace,

for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.

Be praised, my Lord, for our sister bodily death,

from whose embrace no living person can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

Happy those she finds doing your most holy will,

for the second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,

and serve him with great humility.

Timgad

Timgad, Algeria

George Steinmetz

National Geographic

'Rome imposed its sense of order all across the empire. The town of Thamugadi was laid out on a grid-style plan and included a market (at center), ceremonial gates, more than a dozen bath complexes, a library, and a theater that could seat 3,500.'

Traditional Bouillabaisse

Traditional Bouillabaisse featured on Euromaxx a la carte on Deutsche Welle

'We scoured Cannes on the French Riviera for a restaurant specializing in authentic Provencal cuisine, and found it near the old harbour, at Le Caveau 30.'

How Travel Limits Our Minds

I came across this interesting article here from The Guardian about modern-day travelling.

How Travel Limits Our Minds

Julian Baggini

30 September 2012

My train and plane journey demonstrates that how we travel reflects the way we think – and we have become a society of airheads.

Slumping into the cramped confines of my seat, recovering my composure after a frantic, protracted check-in that made me mislay my wallet, almost miss my flight, and become €100 poorer, the result of my experiment in travel seemed obvious: boats and trains beat the pains of planes any day.

But the real problem with air travel is not the carbon footprint, the hassle of security checks, the tedium of the boarding gate, the soulless sprawl of the hire car lot, or Ryanair's excessive excess charges and unavoidable fees for allegedly optional extras. The deeper issue is that how we travel reflects and shapes the way we think, and we have become a society of airheads.

I started thinking about this because of a recurring desire to recreate an annual childhood journey by ferry and overnight train to visit our family in northern Italy. Was it just nostalgia pulling me, or is something of real value lost at 30,000ft? I decided to go to Italy the old way and return the new, to see how the experiences really compared.

The passenger terminal at Dover docks did not provide the most promising start, having all the charm of a 1970s coach station. But once on deck, with the white cliffs fading into the distance, I had a real sense of a proper trip starting, something that the palm-sweat-inducing jolt of take-off doesn't provide. The sedate passage of the ship, the gradual emergence of the French coast, and the disembarkation in the open air, with a real town in clear sight, provided a sense of the continuities between places. In contrast, planes simply transport you from one anonymous, homogenous edgeland to another, between airports virtually identical in their black and yellow signage and multinational franchises. It's the difference between travel – a movement between places in which the journey is part of the experience – and transit, the utilitarian linking of here and there, in which the destination becomes all that matters and the transfer simply something to put up with.

This was most evident in the gaps between each leg of the journey. Stopping for an early dinner in Paris at one of Café Charlot's street tables, the attraction of this is obvious. In contrast, the park next door to Gare Calais Ville is not exactly the idyllic location for a tasty picnic gathered from a nearby boulangerie. It appears to be a garden of lost souls, populated by people with vacant stares, not so much filling time as biding it, abiding in it, with no sense of anything to do. However, places like these and the makeshift tents and camps of asylum-seekers viewed from the bus from port to train station – interesting rather than obviously pleasant – often become the most memorable parts of journeys, and you only see them when travelling indirectly, in the interstices of the conventionally appealing.

Consumer culture has made us too accustomed to getting only what we want, no more and no less. Experiences are atomised into their component parts, the extraneous excised in an attempt to maximise the impact of the parts we prefer, with no thought to how their context changes them. But if you only ever get what you know you already want, serendipity is denied and the richness of experience is reduced to the button-pushing delivery of crude hits of fun, excitement, novelty or reassurance, often consumed in the private bubble of home or headphone.

In this respect, train travel on commuter routes has, alas, gone the same way as flying, as I am reminded on the two-hour TGV ride from Calais to Paris. But on longer distances, there is a palpably different attitude among travellers. Accompanying us in our four-berth couchette from Paris to Milan, for example, were Amanda and Ian from New Zealand. They were taking this trip because Amanda has a wonderful and vivid memory of stepping out of an overnight train into a Venetian dawn 20-odd years ago. Say what you like about flying, but North Terminal at Gatwick just doesn't have the same effect.

In some ways train travel demands more of us. But even at 5.50am, after a night of interrupted sleep in a narrow bunk, the great terminus of Milano Centrale has infinitely more charm than any baggage reclaim area. It is a contemporary malaise to avoid things that require effort but are rewarding in favour of gains in convenience that come at the price of blandness and loss of variety.

How different the flight back was, starting with the frantic and pointless shifting of luggage from one bag to another required by Ryanair's punitive baggage policy. Worse, as I went to pay the €100 excess, I couldn't find my wallet, which had slipped unnoticed into the long-gone hold bag in the confusion. After rushing through security dangerously and predictably late, yet not predictably enough for us to have relaxed in the first place, the long queue of passengers is still boarding. The only redeeming feature of the whole flight was the magnificent view of the Alps from above.

It might be objected that "slow travel" is just an indulgence of the time and cash-rich. But you actually gain holiday time when travelling is an integral part of the experience, because you lose none to mere transit. As for expense, the gap was not so wide, and was almost nothing after the excess baggage fee. And yet despite all I've written, I admit I have another trip coming up and, guess what, I'm flying. I'm just another airhead, led by apparent ease and convenience away from what is more profoundly rewarding.

Fiat 500 Sofa

Lapo Elkann has designed the Fiat 500 Panorama sofa for Meritalia. Inspired by the original 1970's Fiat 500, the sofa is available in an assortment of colours. The pastel blue and pink are my favourites.

 

La notte bianca

La notte bianca, or 'White Night', is an annual arts event that originated in Russia, but has since spread to many European cities, including those of Italy. It was named for the late sunsets and early sunrises of the summer solstice season in high latitudinal areas; the time when it is never fully dark. During this night, generally in summer, shops and restaurants and cafes all stay open, while many musicians and performers take to the streets to entertain the crowds. Museums and galleries also often remain open until midnight as Italians stay out late for the relaxed street-party styled entertainment.