Eccola, Finalmente la Primavera! That’s it, finally Spring!

Tags

Aberdeen, Alstom, Bio, farm, Farmers, Gluten Free, Italy, Lansdowne, LRT, Ontario, Organic, Ottawa, Prince Arthur, Princess Louise of Prussia

Today is a very nice Sunny day and Spring is in the air, mind you it is only 3C but nonetheless it is sufficient to give you a clear message that Winter is finished. I made an appointment with the garage to have my tires changed to Summer and the renovations on both bathrooms will start. The decorator was here this week and she had those ”very fashionable” ideas about design, I am being kind here, I did not like her ideas at all, she is very much in the new concept which says that you do not live in your home, you only use it so sleep and the rest of the time you are at Starbucks entertaining friends, maybe that is why Starbucks will start serving wine and meals.

She proposed that we did not need a medicine cabinet nor a vanity under the sink, we live in a condo building and storage space is essential. So that idea was nixed. She belongs to the Brian Gluckstein school of shlock. Ideas that might work in Southern climes but not in Ottawa with our 6 months of harsh winters.

Anyway the contractor is coming on 9 April and we will go from there.

Today I walked to Lansdowne Park which has just been totally renovated. It is a very old Park, in existence as a race track and agricultural exhibition grounds for well over 130 years, in the 1960’s the agricultural fair gradually disappeared and then the park was use for football games and a carny fair, it was also a huge parking lot, all of it in one of the more up market neighbourhoods ”the glebe”. In the last four years after many Court actions and disputes between City Hall and an ageing group of former Hippies turn rich landowners, the project finally went ahead. What we have now is very nice.

There is also the Farmer’s Market with actual farmers from all the farms around Ottawa in the Valley bringing produce or meat. Lots of fresh Lamb, breads and pies, jams, cheeses, and many other products, all of it is Bio and Organic and Gluten Free, natural and fresh, made at the farm.

Today I was also able to see in the Lady Aberdeen Pavilion the new Light Train Car made by Alstom, WOW! it is exactly like the cars in Rome, Alstom is a French Transport company and their car trains are famous. Same design and colours, very nice indeed. The LRT line will open in 2018 (phase 1) it is well under way and people are excited. This is the biggest project in Ottawa since the construction of the Rideau Canal in 1820. It will put 70% of the city’s population within reach of the Light Train system. Next to the new train was an old city bus no. 5931 in use until 1979, things have changed.

I also looked at old pictures of Ottawa in Winter, very interesting. People played games like Broom ball and Curling, Snowshoeing clubs and Skiing and skating and Tobogganing. The people in the photos all look older and there are no kids.

I found one lady in the Market who was selling all kinds of meat pies and fruit pies, cakes etc. Some where Gluten free, so I bought one Chicken pot pie and a Carrot-Pineapple cake with icing.

Will is going to make Turkey meat balls for dinner, he made Chili yesterday and a beautiful Pulled Pork this week. Our crockpot has really paid for itself.

Rideau Canal near Somerset street, with skiers and a machine that brushes the snow in preparation for the dog sled races down the Canal during the Winter Carnival in 1925.

Dog sled teams near Parliament going to race on the Canal.

HRH Prince Arthur and his wife Princess Louise of Prussia in front of Rideau Hall their Residence in Ottawa with a party of friends 1912.

Snowshoeing Club in 1920 travelling by snowshoe from Ottawa to Montreal, a competition of sorts over 120 Km.

Group of Skiers in 1910 in he locks of the Rideau Canal below the Chateau Laurier seen in the top corner. This was before skying was organized as a sport by Prince George Leuchtenberg-Beauharnais in Saint-Sauveur, Quebec. He owned a small B&B called Pension Leuchtenberg, he died in 1972.

Nicky taking the morning Sun as he usually does after his breakfast.

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Progress on the City Palace, Berlin

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Berlin, City Palace, Hohenzollern, Prussia, Von Boddien

I wrote a few months ago about the progress in the re-building of the City Palace in Berlin. Formerly the home of the Royal Family of Brandenburg who then became Kings of Prussia and as of 1870 Emperor of Germany. The Hohenzollern to this day retain other large chateaux, the most famous being Sigmaringen and Castle Hohenzollern which is 50 Km south of Stuttgart in Southern Germany. They also retained the Crown Jewels and Imperial Crown in their private family collection.

The City Palace in Berlin was part Official Residence and part seat of government since 1443, a Palace often rebuilt and modified. After the abdication of the Kaiser in November 1918, the Palace was closed by the army after a fierce battle with the Communists who were trying to occupy the Palace. Then at the end of the Second World War in 1945 it sustained heavy damage due to aerial bombardment by the Allies. Finally the ruins were cleared by the Communist Government of East Germany in 1950,  a controversial move since the Palace could have been salvaged. At that time a young boy in Hamburg, West Germany, learned from his mother that an enormous palace had been destroyed in East Berlin. Wilhelm Von Boddien’s only thought was what a big noise this must have made.

Photo of the City Palace just before its demolition in 1950.

Then, in 1961, as a young man, Mr. Von Boddien visited Berlin and saw the site of the palace “I found an empty space, a lonesome desert,” he says. “I was shocked, sad, disappointed, amazed, and angry.”

Although he was only 19, and that part of Berlin was firmly behind the Iron Curtain with the Berlin Wall in the process of being built, a “crazy idea” occurred to him: The Berlin Palace could be rebuilt. Despite its utter impracticality, “the idea was there,” he recalls. “I could not get rid of it.”

Fast forward to 1991. The Berlin Wall had fallen, Germany reunited, and von Boddien, now a businessman in Hamburg, starts a discussion with some other people who mourned the loss of the palace. These prominent individuals encourage him to act on his dream. So von Boddien began devoting his life to restoring Berlin’s historic heart.

In 1992 Von Boddien and eight supporters founded the Berliner Schloss Association. In 2002, thanks in no small part to Von Boddien’s advocacy, the German Parliament approved a resolution to rebuild the palace. Finally, in June 2013, ground was broken. Plans call for the Berlin Palace, with a replicated facade but a modern interior, to open in 2019. Today, Von Boddien continues to raise money as managing director of the association.

Inside, the palace will be occupied by the Humboldt Forum, an enormous new center for international art, culture, and science, with museums, a library, and events spaces. Three other major institutions, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, with collections from around the world; the Berlin Central and Regional Library; and Berlin Humboldt University will together comprise the Humboldt Forum.

The new structure is almost complete and it was announced that the topping off will be this coming June 2015. After that decorations as seen below will be installed on the concrete walls to give the Palace it’s old appearance.

In this photo a sculptor works on the decoration which will be installed above one of the Portals. The darker pieces are originals salvaged during the demolition of 1950.

Here are some statues which originally were on the roof of the Palace. Salvaged from the demolition of 1950.

Currently the dome is under construction and by June that phase should be completed. The City Palace should look like this in 2019. A project costing $750 million dollars to the German Government and $140 million dollars is being raised privately for all the baroque sculptures to adorn the outside facade. This diagram of Berlin shows the Palace on the Island on the Spree River in the top right corner, on the island is also all the Museums containing a wealth of collections of all kinds.  To know more see the web site    http://berliner-schloss.de

Some happy views for the Weekend

Tags

Apostolic Palace, Borghese, Copede, Corso Trieste, Farnese, PIazza Mincio, Roma, Vatican

Here are some photos which can lead to day dream about life in Rome.

The Apostolic Palace of the Holy See (Vatican) in Rome. Decorated by Bernini in 1620. a nice work place no?

The Arch of Titus commemorating his final victory on the Jews and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem 70 AD. In the Roman Forum.

The Casino Del Bel Respiro of the Doria Pamphilij Estate on Via San Pancrazio on the Gianicolum Hill in Rome.

Piazza Farnese

My old neighbourhood apartment buildings on Piazza Mincio in the Quartiere Copede near Via Salaria

A house on Corso Trieste, full of Wisteria in Spring. I often wondered who lived in such a magnificent house.

Villa Borghese with the beautiful art collection of Cardinal Scipio Borghese, it is almost too much to look at.

An old bridge Ponte Fabricio from antiquity connecting the area of the Portico d’Ottavia to the Tiberina Island.

New Banner image

Tags

Piazza Venezia, Rome, Vittoriano

If you wondered where you would find this angel of Victory standing on this quadriga against this beautiful sky, with this look of severe majesty, well this is taken from the top of the Altar to the Italian Nation, the largest marble monument in the world built in 1890 to celebrate the new Italian Nation. In fact there are two chariots one is Unity and the other Victory.

The Altar to the Italian Nation is also known at the Vittoriano since it is dedicated to the first King of the Newly Unified Italian nation, Vittorio-Emmanuelle II. The many principalities of Italy, Dukedoms, the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily and the Pontifical States where all brought together by Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1860 in a bloody conflict which lasted 10 years. He chose the House of Savoy to lead the Republican-Kingdom.

The monument which is on Piazza Venezia in Rome stands on what was once a hill, the ARX or Citadel of Rome. The temple of the Augurs was also on that hill and this was also where the Sacred Geese where kept. The hill was removed to make way to this monument which is the site of the tomb of the unknown soldier with the eternal flame and 24-7 honour guard dominated by the Goddess Roma.

 

Something different if you are into Academic discourse

Tags

Augustus, Roman Forum, Rome, Titus, Trajan, Vespasian, Via Alessandrina

I am itching to write something about the idiotic discourse in Canada at the moment based largely on ignorance on Niqab, Hijab and what else or on the Federal Election Campaign with the depressing campaign theme of Fear, Vengeance, War and Xenophobia but I won’t, I remember the words of my late mother who use to say to us children that in life when confronted with this sort of unpleasant dish it was better to take the high road. Though I would like to know when did ignorance become a virtue?

So let me talk instead of a very interesting discussion going on right now in Rome about a short bit of roadway called Via Alessandrina. The blog Roma Archeologia which reproduces articles in Italian and sometimes in English, explains the debate amongst archeologists and academics who study Roman ruins and the area of the Roman Forum, the old original centre of the Eternal City. The Roman Forum we see today with all the ruins of the ancient city is due to the political program of Il Duce Benito Mussolini who wanted to resurrect the glory of Imperial Rome in modern times. So dig and dig it up and that is what he decreed. This old centre had been buried for centuries and new neighbourhood had grown above it at the end of the Middle ages around 1400. So the old ruins took on an added importance as symbol of the greatness of Rome and Western civilization. Via Alessandrina was a street in a neighbourhood built around 1500 which also marks the renaissance of the City and the re-building of many churches in a Renaissance or Baroque style and of the Basilica of St-Peter, the original one was simply demolished.

In 1930 Mussolini wanting to re-model the centre of Rome and celebrate the Roman Emperors had the whole neighbourhood around the Via demolished only Via Alessandrina, the street, remains, but the demolition uncovered the Forum of Julius Cesar, Forum of Trajan and the Forum of Augustus and Nerva, Archeologists knew it was all there but had no means to get to it. This was very significant politically for Mussolini and in 1934 he organized huge celebration to mark the 2000 year of the birth of Emperor Augustus by having his giant Mausoleum renovated and the museum of the Ara Pacis built.

The round structure in the picture is the ancient mausoleum in the old Fields of Mars in Rome.

So we come to today and our modern preoccupations with history and what to do with the legacy of Mussolini. For the last 30 years there has been talk about closing the  street Via Alessandrina and removing it all together so that the different Fori could be explored fully and freed from this obstacle restoring them to their original land size. Every year more and more artefacts are unearth and  this has excited many archeologists to the potential of the area. The main road which was built by Mussolini for his military parades the Via dei Fori Imperiali is also another sizeable problem open to discussion it runs parallel to Via Alessandrina and it much wider, longer and bigger. It runs from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum and at the moment the Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino will have it closed to car traffic several weeks of the year and every Sunday. There has been an enormous amount of excavations going on in and around the Roman Forum in the last 15 years and our understanding of this area has much improved.

Via Alessandria and the partly demolished neighbourhood in 1932. Via dei Fori Imperiali is on the bottom left under construction.

What it looks like today as it cuts in two the Forum of Trajan

What you see now, the ground level corresponds to the late second century AD, meaning that if you are looking for ruins from the time of Julius Cesar 44 BC they are about 4 meters below ground level. It is difficult for a visitor to Rome who may not know much about the ancient structures what they are looking at or what it all means. But with the announced plans to raise the 7 pink granite columns of the Temple of Peace built by Vespasian to celebrate the victory of his son Titus over the Jews and the final destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, you can see continuous changes in the Forum.    https://www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/sets/72157600215755762

Despite opening up more and more space to walk around in the Forum, you are still restricted to a path mostly the Via Sacra which is the old parade route through the Forum and side streets connecting the various antique temples and buildings. It is all fragile and too often mass tourist movements are simply not sensitive enough to what they are looking at. However if you steal an artefact or deface a monument the fine is $28,000 dollars and one month in jail, yes it is enforced.

Night reading

Tags

Italy, Monteverdi, painting, Renaissance, Titian, Venice

I read some time ago that the idea of sleeping 8 hours straight is a relatively new invention due to the Industrial age and people working long shifts in factory. In a gentler age people lived differently. Per example in Antiquity you will note when reading an ancient text that it speaks of hours of the day meaning that the ancients lived their lives following the cycle of the Sun from Sun rise to Sun set. Once the Sun had set and the darkness of the night engulfed the sky, people went indoors and to bed. In many cases for very practical reasons since there was only candle light or oil lamps and also for safety sake since it was far too dark to go out in the streets and dangerous. In Rome you often read of people going out at first light to visit a friend or for business, morning meals were light affairs and during the day meals were taken at varying hours depending on the activities of the day. Dinner parties took place before sunset and everyone went home before dark unless one had a strong well armed escort to bring you home. It was not infrequent that guests spent the night at the home of their host if too drunk to walk or lacked an escort. Rome did not have a police force, it did have a Vigili which was and is to this day a Fire Watch Vigil known today as the Firemen or Fire department. But for your own protection you had to have either a body guard or a sharp knife concealed in your toga.

So to come back to the night sleep and how this activity was shaped, it would appear that many people had two sleep periods in the night. The first one would have been from sunset until somewhere around eleven pm and then a period of wakefulness reading by candle light or oil lamp, conversation with family members or friends staying over night. Then sleep again until dawn which happens depending on the Season as early at 3:30 am sunrise being later around 4:30 am.

I remember the first dawn I ever saw, it was in 1990 at the top of Mount Sinai where it is said God gave Moses the Ten Commandements. It does feel like the top of the world. The colours of Dawn at that altitude is a marvellous sight to behold, diaphanous colours of light ever changing as we wait for the first ray of the Sun to come from the East and hit a specific spot on the mountain top where legend or scripture says the stone tablets were inscribed by the finger of God.

When I wake up usually around 3:30 am I will read, I love that time of the day because the world is asleep, the streets are deserted and there is not a noise anywhere. A perfect time to think, reflect on many things and come to a decision. The other night I started thinking about Venice, I had been reading a book on the last year of the life of the Renaissance Painter Titian and his life in his great house in Venice or La Serenissima, as Venice is known in Italian.

What I was remembering was the Venice of 1998 when people still lived in the City and it had a real city feel. I was trying to remember if we had ever been by the house of Titian. Back in 1998 the Opera House La Fenice was still a ruin waiting to be rebuilt, what a sad sight it was. It was rebuilt and we attended a performance, a lady who was sharing our box told us that she had been to La Fenice some 40 year before and the re-built theatre was exactly like the old one.

In the quiet of the early morning I was able to remember all kinds of details of the strolls in Venice and one was going to visit the Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (1330). Titian (1488-1576) painted one of his masterpieces which hangs above the main altar, the Virgin ascending into Heaven. There are 16 other masterpieces by Renaissance artists hanging in the Church.

 

We had gone to listen to a concert of music by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), I was sitting next to his tombstone in the Church. How many places can you go and listen to a composer’s music and be sitting by his grave.

In the same church you can also see the Mausoleum to Titian.

Born Tiziano Vecellio in what is now Pieve di Cadore, Italy, sometime in 1488, Titian is considered one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. The oldest of four children born to Gregorio and Lucia Vecellio, Titian spent his early years in the town of Pieve di Cadore, near the Dolomite mountains.

In his teens, Titian became an apprentice to the Venetian artist Sebastiano Zuccato. He soon worked with such leading artists as Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione. Giorgione proved to be especially influential to the young painter. Titian was a leading artist of the Italian Renaissance who painted works for Pope Paul III, King Philip II of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Venice is full of such places and treasures, all you have to do is look around and take your time, leave the day-trippers behind and go down those little alley ways.

Photos of the National Gallery

Tags

art., Canada., Christina Pflug, Clyfford Still, Max Klinger, MBAC, NGC, Ottawa, painting

The National Gallery of Canada created in 1880 by the Governor General of Canada, H.E. the Marquis of Lorne. It is our Canadian National Museum of Art which holds several exhibitions of works every year by international artists and also features new works presented at the Biennale. We also have our permanent collection, only a fraction of it is shown at any given time. The new National Gallery building opened in May 1988 on Sussex Drive, previously the museum was located on Elgin Street in the now demolished Lorne building. It had been located in various government buildings in Ottawa in the years prior, usually one of two rooms were set aside for collections to be shown to the public. The NGC is among the top 10 Art museums of the world, it has the largest Canadian and Inuit Art Collection in the World. It also boast European, Contemporary and Modern collections of every period covering 1000 years of art history.

The new building is a design of Canadian Architect Moshe Safdi, it is meant to be a spectacular national museum with striking architecture with surrounding sculpture garden on Nepean Point high above the Ottawa River. It was opened in 1988 by the Governor General of Canada, H.E. Madame Jeanne Sauvé. In the last year the galleries have been re-painted with bold colours, gone is the off white which was prominent everywhere and tended to give a washed out effect to any work of art being shown. The latest gallery to be repainted is the Renaissance Gallery on the second floor, the teal colour of the walls makes the painting jump from the wall and each one attracts the eye of the viewer. The NGC has 35,000 works of Art and 1,200 are on display at any given time.

Here are some photos of the NGC.

Second floor European Art, 1900 period

Garden Courtyard, the flowers are changed four times a year to reflect the Seasons.

Friedrich Nietzsche by Max Klinger

From the second floor above the Great Hall looking down the passage towards the administration area and the galleries on the North side.

Christina Pflug, Kitchen door with Esther (1965), I presented this painting today to the public. It has many dark psychological meaning to it and most people do not like to look at it.

Clyfford Still, 1949G

The Renaissance Galleries are re-opening on Saturday, I love the new wall colour, it makes the art stand out. There in the background is the Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Waiting to be re-hanged today.

Passageway from the Entrance flooded with Southern light.

This and that on a Sunday evening in Ottawa

Here are some photos of the last week around home.

Stilton and pear tarts, made 35 of them in a few minutes, a very easy recipe and everyone loved them, gone in a matter of minutes, great with a glass of wine.

Reflective pool in the Canadian Art Courtyard of the National Gallery of Canada. If you look through it below it is the group entrance courtyard of the museum, lots of play on light and reflection. The photo is taken from the second floor in the European gallery.

Nicky falling asleep, he just returned from the groomers and is exhausted. Got his cookie and now time for dodo.

Nicky and Nora enjoying their morning

Orchids, they are always in bloom, delicate and elegant 

Dad enjoying a piece of cake. Still traveling at 85.

Metropolitana

Tags

construction, Italia, Italian, metropolitana, Olympics, pope, Roma, Subway, Vatican

Yesterday I was looking for information on the extension of the Rome Subway (Metropolitana) as it is called. Since 1955 Rome has a subway system composed of two lines forming a X pattern which cross the city, Line A (27 stations) and Line B (25 Stations).

Metro Station sign in Rome

The rest of the public transit system is made up of electric buses and electric  Trams on rail which can be found everywhere in the city. Since 2007 Line C has been in construction on the West-East Axis and since November 2014 one third of the new Line is finally open. The other two thirds will be open slowly, 2 more stations in July 2015 and then one more Station at St-John Lateran will open in June 2016 finally connecting  Line C with Line A making it truly a subway line connected to the system and finally in 2023 the rest is scheduled to open East of the Vatican Hill.

Portion of Line C of the Rome Metropolitana still under construction.

The reason for all the delays has been all the archeological artefacts in the sub-soil of Rome. The biggest challenge is between St-Peter’s Square and Colosseo, this section crosses what was ancient Rome where all the important buildings of Imperial Rome are located at a depth of about 30 to 40 feet below the street level of today. The tunnel passes at about 60 feet below that level but the concern is what happens when you dig a large tunnel for subway cars to race through daily and what is it disturbing in the process. One Station has already been scratched from the plan, that of Largo Argentina between Piazza Venezia and Chiesa Nuova. Largo Argentina is the site of many temples you can admire today but also of the Theatre of Pompey where Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March 44BC and numerous other ancient monuments. It is easier to bypass the whole area than to try to put in a Metro Station and tunnel. At any rate I cannot see that it will make a big difference since the distance between Piazza Venezia and Largo Argentina or Chiesa Nuova is about 2 Km. easily walkable on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

The cost has also mushroomed in the last 10 years by about 2 Billion Euros but the Metro will be built, it is a question of honour for the Romans and damn the expense. That is what I like about Rome, it’s the Party must go on Spirit.

Map of the Metro of Rome currently, Blue Line B and B1 and Yellow Line A in green Line C. Line D is under design phase and does not appear on this map.

Line C has 12 operating Station from Montecompatri-Pantano to Parco di Centocelle with trains that are driven by a computer system. Until it reaches the connection point with San Giovanni on Line A it will be underused. This summer another 6 Stations will open to Lodi Station.  Though I can see this line as being useful if you live in the Western end of the City and are coming to the Centro but still at this point and until 2016 you would have to transfer to a bus for the remainder of your ride. Lodi is one station short of San Giovanni or the transfer connection to Line A.

Just the Station going through Piazza Venezia required 3 years of archeological digs, the great green area in front of the Altar to the Nation uncovered the long lost Atheneum of Emperor Hadrian and next to it the Greek Library of Emperor Trajan, the remains are significant and important given that in Antiquity these two buildings were well known. Once the documentation work was done they were recovered with clean fill and the subway work can continue around them.

All this research came about because I read Italian papers each day and noted two stories, one about 2016 being a Holy Year, Pope Francis just announced it, and the Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino saying ”Roma e Pronta” Rome is ready, really?!? If you are planning to go to Rome in 2016 better reserve your hotel rooms now. Millions of pilgrims are expected and the whole area around St-Peter will be a mob scene. Luckily it is on the other side of the Tiber River so out of the centro.

The other piece of news was that Rome wants to host the Olympic Games in 2024 so it is important to finish this subway system upgrade as soon as possible. The last time the Olympics were in Rome was 1960.

Monet and Manet

Tags

Monet and Manet, Muffin man, New Edinburg, Ottawa

This picture was taken last night at the New Edinburgh Pub on Beechwood ave. in Ottawa.

I call it Monet and Manet or is it Muffin and Hobbs.