Some photos

Tags

Berlin, Mosaic

A random selection of photos of places.

Roman Mosaic at the baths of Caracalla in Rome. All the floors where done in such intricate mosaic including the pools which were not more than waist deep. To see such work today, I marvel at the craftsmanship. In the middle you can see the figure of Neptune on his chariot of 4 seahorses.

The Brandenburg gate at Christmas in Berlin. The Formal entrance to the Royal Quarter in Berlin and leads to the Palace at the end of the avenue. The gate is on Pariser Platz so named for the French Embassy which occupies the South Side of the square.

The gate was built in 1791 to celebrate the restoration of peace on the order of King Frederick-William II who was the nephew of Frederick II the Great.

The New German Chancery in Berlin, built by architects Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank in 1997. It is the seat of the Chancellor of Germany, the Office space and Residence. It sits across the Spree River from the Bundestag in Berlin. It is a very light and airy building.

Photo taken from the Palace Bridge on the left is the Lust Garden and the museum Island.

The Museums which hold the Royal Prussian Art Collection were restored by British Architect David Chipperfield. At the back of the photo you can see the newest museum opened in 2019 named after James Simon, 1855-1932 a German entrepreneur, philanthropist, a great art collector and a friend of the Kaiser Wilhelm II. When he died he left his collection of 10,000 Art pieces to the German Museums. Simon was the owner of the famous Nefertiti bust which can be seen in a specially designed room of the museum. I saw it and it is as if Nefertiti will speak, it is so beautiful.

This is my favourite store in West Berlin, KaDeWe or Kaufhaus des Westens. It is a great store and you always find truly beautiful things to buy, clothing, watches, shoes, jewellery, shoes, etc… The restaurant on the roof is wonderful and elegant.

The House of the City Commandant or Kommandatur at no.1 Unter den Linden in Berlin. Next door to the Crown Prince Palais. It is the former headquarter of the city’s commandant. It was built in 1654 and renovated from 1873 to 1874 in Renaissance Revival style. Today it is the HQ of the German Printing Company Bertelsmann.

What is in Season

Tags

Canada, farm product, Ferry fire, Fruits, pope, Vegetables

We have entered the 2 weeks when the weather in PEI is stifling hot with humidity around 60% and always a breeze off the sea. Cool at night but in the daytime like today no one was out and our two dachshunds tried to find the coolest spot in the house to snooze all day. They did not want to go out at all.

The PEI Strawberry season is coming to an end and we had a lot and they were sweet and perfumy. Now its melon and watermelon. Blueberries and Black Currants in August as well as Raspberries. All vegetable are now available and more so in August. I shop for veggies down the road at MacKenzie on Hwy 1 in Stratford, it’s a huge farm and he has Mexican workers to help, he needs it, his daughters work the small stall and the cash by the roadside. I also stopped buying eggs at the grocery store and buy direct from the farmers who have very small operations, the chickens are not stressed and it show in the quality of the eggs.

So the Pope has arrived in Canada and is currently in Western Canada some 4 time zones away. He is scheduled to go way up North to see the Inuit and then to Quebec City. He is in a wheelchair now. On arrival in Canada he was met by the Governor General Mary May Simon who is Innu from Northern Quebec. The Prime Minister was there also, he visited PEI on Friday and while he was here the Northumberland Ferry crossing from Nova Scotia caught fire. They boat was quite close to the dock when the fire in the engine room started and the Captain simply ran the ferry into a sand bar to avoid tipping over. No one was injured, despite the intense smoke and brought to shore. However all their belonging and all the trucks and cars stayed on board. The fire raged for 24 hours it was quite the show but it turns out it was contained in the engine room. So today after towing the ferry to dock all the cars and trucks were taken off. Northumberland Ferry is detailing all the cars before giving them back to passengers, which is a very nice gesture. Those two ferries are rust buckets and should be replaced, probably the one that burned will now be scrapped. These ferries come under Federal Jurisdiction, so we shall see if the Federal Gov steps in. Another company ferries people to the Iles de la Madeleine, CTMA is a Quebec company, it has a brand new european ferry and it is much nicer than the one to Nova Scotia.

The Ferry with the emergency chute as people are evacuated.

Pope is greeted by George Arcand, Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations.

I do not know what the Pope’s visit will achieve, the media has been speculating a lot on what is going to happen and they want a confrontation with the Indigenous people, but I do not see it, it is not in their culture, the Pope is a guest. He will probably say all the right things, The Vatican is very skilled in this sort of thing.

In 3 weeks we go to the cottage for 2 weeks and we will meet with old friends from Ottawa who are coming down. It is suppose to be this warm for the next 9 days. Someone told me it would last until end August, usually after the 15 August the weather suddenly cools off, will see.

Days of Summer

Tags

Beach, climate change, life, Rome, Summer

I promised myself this year that we would go out of town on any sunny day. This is not happening after 7 years on the Island. Stuck in town with the tourists and their garbage.

Hopefully come 21 August for 2 weeks we will escape to the beach where we have rented a cottage. I am looking forward to that vacation. Tomorrow Thursday is our 15th Wedding Anniversary. We got married just before leaving for Rome to live for a few years.

Apparently the heat in Rome is around 40C and very difficult for people, AC is not common and the streets are paved with volcanic cobble stones that retain a lot of heat.

Same story all over Europe this Summer. Here it will be around 30C tomorrow but the wind is up around 40Km so with such a breeze, you still have to be careful but it is bearable. I read today that the UV index is a Canadian invention.

Reading stories about Rome vandalism of ancient monuments is always big news. Just a few days ago someone spray painted a portion of an ancient marble wall of the Pantheon. The wall was under the eye of a surveillance camera but it was discovered that the camera had not been functioning for some time. Using a laser technique the cleaners/restorers were able to erase the damage. But you have to think who is so thoughtless to do such things.

The Pantheon was built at the time of Augustus some 2000 years ago and it is very well preserve, still functioning as a house of worship. Every Summer there are incidents with tourists who do not appreciate where they are or what they are looking at, simple ignorance. It is also often a case of being drunk or on drugs and misbehaving. Drunk tourists is nothing new.

Many little things

Tags

Berlin, Bundesrat, Canada, heat, islam, Joe Rogan, London, Trudeau

This morning I was at the memorial service at the Basilica for a friend who went through the assisted suicide procedure. As I was listening to the Service and this dawns on me each time, the prayers and sayings for Catholics or Christians in general are the same as those for Muslim in Islam. The similarities are present, same commandments, same teachings. This is why I find it so strange when I hear people making derogatory remarks about Islam. Ignorance of the other.

I was looking at a little info video on the Bundesrat in Berlin, it’s an imposing building in the centre of the City. It was built for the Prussian House of Lords under the German Empire. It sits on the site of the former mansion of the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family on Leipziger Strasse. It stood on this site until about 1900, when it was sold to make way for the Prussian House of Lords. This is the house were Felix lived and composed the Mid-Summer Nights Dream Music.

Bundesrat today is the seat of the 16 German Lander or Provinces. The building was severely damaged in 1944. Renovated and modernized it keeps only some decorative elements of its past. An interesting fact, in memory of Felix Mendelssohn at the opening of each session to call the delegates to the session, the overture to a Mid-Summer Nights Dream is played in the building.

Joe Rogan called Canada a Communist Country run by a dictator. How ignorant can anyone be. We do live in the age of ignorance, it has become a virtue. I do not really know who Joe is, but he has made a career of saying stupid things. Obviously he has no idea what a dictatorship is and Justin Trudeau does not fit that definition at all. As for Canada being a Communist country, well gee that is what I say to myself everyday, I am so happy to live in a police state just like North Korea. This explains all those American Communist sympathizers who come here to vacation or live.

Speaking of Prime Minister Trudeau, you know the dictator, this past weekend he had his haircut short and donated the trimmings to the Cancer society who make wigs for people who lost their hair to chemo treatment. He then went on to lead a Carnival of Children in Toronto as part of Caribbana (Caribbean) Festival held in the Summer. Then he went to a Summer Camp and answered questions on Quantum and other science stuff sitting on the ground amongst kids who would ask the questions. He is very good at this stuff and people love him for it.

His new haircut makes him look a lot like his famous father Pierre E. Trudeau who was Prime Minister 40 years ago.

The weather in Europe has been brutal and in the UK approaching 43C absolutely unheard of in England. The photo below taken at Buckingham Palace says it all, do you know how hot it is with the big fur hat and the red wool tunic to stand guard. No one actually lives there at the moment given the great renovation going on inside, electrical and plumbing not done in 90 years. I feel sorry for the grenadier guard.

Days of sunshine

Tags

Donna Leon, flowers, life, Summer, Venice

We are now in the full swing of tourist season. There is a lot of car traffic and motorcycles, you would never think that a litre of gas sells for $1.97 or $7.88 a gallon.

So this being mid-July most garden centres have discounted their garden plants and flowers to sell off what is left. I went to one centre near us, it’s a big one, huge selections of flowers and baskets still but all prices are slashed by 60% or more. I got a great bargain on a big basket of peonies in this dark blood colour. They look like velvet, they are replacing a planter of chives and Italian parsley which became infected with aphids. They also smell delicate sweetness.

So for dinner tonight it was salad and charcuterie, I really did not feel like cooking, it is too warm. We also watched an episode of Commissioner Brunetti, the detective who lives in Venice and solves crimes. Donna Leon created this personage for her books. The storyline is of seedy crimes and Italian politics. Does not give a very nice image of Italian society, but it does capture the essence of Europe and its problems and how the powerful in Italy and elsewhere in Europe are always beyond the reach of the Law.

A few photos

Tags

Berlin, Istanbul, life, Malta, photos, Rome, Vesuvius

This being Summer and mid-July we are having some lovely weather on PEI. So far we have avoided completely the scorching heat with an average temp of 24 C. always with a nice breeze. Here are some photos of places I have visited and seen.

In the news from Italy, it was reported that last week a silly American tourist who ignored all warnings decided that he would take a dangerous path up to the crater of Mount Vesuvius above Pompeii. He jumped over fences and gates and reached the summit at 1218 meters or 3996 feet. Vesuvius remains a very active volcano and is far from extinct.

Once on the edge of the crater our tourist wanted to take a selfie and in so doing fell into the crater several meters deep. He was unable to get out and but luckily only had a few bruises. Lucky for him another group of tourist and a guide where in another authorized area and heard his cry. He was rescued by the Italian mountain brigades.

Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples.

Keyholes with a story

In this photo you see the keyhole of the Gate of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. The Gate keyhole of the Villa del Priorato di Malta stands on the Aventine Hill. It is the historic seat of the Grand Priory of Rome of the Knights of Malta. By looking through it you can enjoy one of the most evocative views of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, perfectly framed at the bottom of the villa’s garden. The door is rarely open outside of Official business, it houses the Embassy of the Order of Malta to the Italian Republic since 1869. It was in antiquity the site of a Temple and a Festival dedicated to the god Mars and to the Roman Army, called the Armilustrium held in October.

View from the inside the Garden.

Speaking of Domes here is a rather beautiful photo of the Dome of the Berlin Palace at sunset. The Palace is now known as the Humboldt Forum, a museum dedicated to civilizations. The outside is in the original Baroque style while the inside is very stark and modern.

The Ceremonial Entrance to the Berlin Palace in 1930. The Palace was demolished by the Communist in 1958 to make way for a Bus Parking lot. The entire palace has now been re-built and opened as a museum in 2021. The only difference with this photo, the wrought iron gates are gone and replaced by modern glass entrance. The inside courtyard is also very modern now and not as can be seen here. The various bronze inscriptions on the portal sing the praise of the Hohenzollern Dynasty, 1415-1918.

Finally Istanbul, the Suleymaniye Mosque. Sultan Suleyman The Magnificent chose the architect Mimar Sinan to create a mosque in remembrance of his son Shehzade Mehmed. Suleyman was beyond impressed with Sinan’s completion that he decided to have him design a mosque after himself. This mosque would represent the eminence of the Ottoman Empire.

The foundation inscription above the north portal of the mosque is carved in Thuluth script on three marble panels. It gives a foundation date of 1550 and an inauguration date of 1557.

Courtyard of the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Beautiful tyle work and rich colours with verses of the Coran inscribed all around the walls. The dimensions of the rooms are truly gigantic. There is an atmosphere of peace and quiet in this sacred complex.

Boeuf haché a la Lyonnaise

Tags

books, cuisine, Food, Lyon, Stalin

So for dinner tonight in celebration of our dear friend Urs Spo, https://sporeflections.wordpress.com who was suppose to be here with us but with all the airline snafu could not make it, we decided to go ahead and celebrate. If he had been here we would have had Champagne, Lobster and Oysters, what he would have liked. Oh zut alors, we will have to do this another time.

The recipe is simple, it is as you can tell by the title a hamburger recipe served bun-less and always with a sauce and it is name after the City of Lyon.

You will need Lean ground beef

INGREDIENTS

Nutrition

• ³⁄₄cup finely minced yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons  butter
• 1 ¹⁄₂lbs extra lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons marrow or 2 tablespoons fresh pork fat
• 1 ¹⁄₂teaspoons  salt
• ¹⁄₈teaspoon  pepper
• ¹⁄₈teaspoon  thyme
• 1 egg
• ¹⁄₂cup  flour, spread on a plate
• 1 tablespoon  butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¹⁄₂1/2 cup  red wine or 1/4 cup  water
• 2 -3 tablespoons  butter

DIRECTIONS

• Cook the onions slowly in 2 Tablespoons of butter (about 10 mins) until tender not browned.
• Place onions in mixing bowl. Add the beef, butter (or suet, marrow or pork fat) the seasonings and the egg; mix well.
• Form into patties 3/4″ thick.
• Cover & refrigerate till ready to use.
• Just before sautéing, roll the patties lightly in flour.
• Shake off any excess flour.
• Place butter and oil in heavy skillet over med-high heat.
• When butter foam begins to subside, saute the patties for about 3 minutes per side (or more depending upon how you like your burger).
• Place burgers on serving platter and keep warm while finishing the sauce.
• Pour fat out of the skillet and discard.
• Add stock (or wine, vermouth or water) and boil down rapidly.
• Scraping up the coagulated pan juice till reduced to almost a syrup.
• Off heat, swirl 2-3 Tablespoons of butter into the sauce – 1/2 Tablespoon at a time until absorbed into the sauce.
• Pour the sauce over the hamburgers and serve.

the finished product.

Today also our cleaning lady came and completed washing the windows. It looks so much better now. It was a hot sunny day today at 24C with a breeze. I am continuing to read my new book on Stalin’s Library, a story about his 25,000 book library and what happened to it after his death, really interesting and it gives you a real picture into who he was as a person independent of the persona we know as the dictator. It involves a lot of details about his parents, childhood in Gori, Georgia and his life before the revolution of 1917, his education. Stalin (man of Steel) is nom de plume so to speak was born Joseph Vissarionovich Dzughashvili. Stalin was an avid reader and an intellectual but also a fanatic in terms of politics. I will review further the book once I am done reading it. I do have one thing in common with Stalin, Emile Zola was is favourite writer, I read Zola and I also find it to be a great writer of his period in France.

Another nice day

Tags

Architecture, Charlottetown, diet, lost, PEI, weight

I am told that it is Tuesday today, who knew. So this morning I went to see my nutritionist, and my weight is currently 174 lbs. meaning that I have lost 20 lbs in just 7 weeks. I feel much better now and people do tell me that I look slimmer. Though I do want to loose some more maybe 8 to 10 lbs. simply so that I can control more easily my weight. Unfortunately in my family we do gain easily, too easily really. It does help that I do not eat processed foods or prepared entrees, rarely will we have a dessert, coffee in demi-tasse with a bit of milk is usually dessert. I do not go to the gym but it is easy to walk around here and this is what I did today again. Usually walking about 3 to 4 Km. I wish I could like our friend in Fuengirola walk 12 km per day. The Costa Del Sol is an easy place to walk.

Since 2018 the Legislature has been closed and off limits due to the massive rebuilding and renovations initially costing $36 million and now at $100 million. The building known as Province House is at the top of Great George street looking down towards the water.

It was built in the Georgian Style and looks very much like a smaller version of the Legislature in Halifax. It was built in 1843 and has been used as a legislative building ever since. However when they started to inspect the building in 2018 it was discovered that the whole building was about to have a catastrophic failure and the 2 porticos on the North and South facade with their columns where about to tumble down into the gardens, taking the rest of the edifice with them. There is the story of the dispute between the architect builder and the politicians in 1843, the politicians demanded a columned portico, like Halifax, the architect had other ideas based on aesthetics. So he gave the politicos what they demanded but he built the two porticos without any foundation. The soil in very soft clay like. The problem has been resolved now. This photo taken this morning shows the building without its white sheet covering it. The rest will be removed in the coming weeks including the steel ectoskeleton. The photo is not very clear, I will have other later. Some 1300 stone blocks had to be replaced due to severe damage. So the new ones are light in colour compared to the original which are darker.

I went on to walk towards the water and a spot I love which is in front at the entrance to Victoria Park. A nice quiet area in the city.

July

Tags

LGBT, PEI, PRIDE, Strawberries, wedding

Well we are into the Summer now and our weather is not the blistering heat most regions appear to be getting, the average is around 22C which is nice and comfortable and we always have a breeze, sometimes cool.

On the happiest place to live where people say they are happy the most, in Canada the department of Statistics known as STATCAN in Ottawa ranks PEI and Newfoundland an 8 out of possible 10. Quebec gets a 7 and Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia get a 5. This ranking is based on social policies of various provincial government and how people see their lives in that Province, we are talking here of jobs satisfaction,available social services, health services.

So in July, PEI has its own Pride events, the Island Magazine which is Published by the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation has this cover for the month, which is unusual the covers are more traditional with images of historical places. However the Foundation is being progressive and moves the conversation. This magazine is well read and distributed on PEI. The parade this year will be like all others in the past, lots of families, kids, grandparents and relatives. In the evening at the Delta Marriott there is a big party and many other activities throughout the week. Pride Flags also hang everywhere from restaurants to bars, to businesses to Government Buildings in Charlottetown but also elsewhere in smaller settlements. Though we have had incidents by some bozo who might steal a Pride flag or make a public homophobic statement, in some small towns you may get public officials who waffle with some statement refusing to acknowledge Pride events. They are quickly rebuked by the media and people in general, which is very nice to see.

Our wedding anniversary is coming up in a 2 weeks, we married in 2007 just prior to going to Rome. However we have been together since 1978. Each year we cannot remember the exact date of the wedding.

July is also strawberry time in PEI, again this year they are perfect, heavy perfume, juicy, nice red colour. Got some today at the Farmer’s Market, they came from Penny’s Farm, I do not know who that is but it is a farm nearby.

50 Burgers

Tags

baking, BBQ, Bread, Burgers, Charlottetown, chowder, elections, November 7, PEI

Yesterday was Canada Day and we had a BBQ at the Club. I volunteered to be the Grill Master on our 8 burner BBQ. I cooked 50 Burgers, 24 hotdogs and 16 Bratwurst. The burgers were good sirloin beef type. The Bratwurst were also very good, the hotdogs, I am not crazy about but they were popular nonetheless. I served everyone, they assembled their own toppings, we had great cheese selections and all the usual condiments. After I was done I cooked my own. I got help from one other member who moved things along with the serving. We also featured Canada’s Official Cocktail the Bloody Cesar, Yes Julius Caesar was Canadian from Banff or was it Lake Louise, Alberta. Makes sense really he defeated Hannibal and his elephants in the Rockies as they were marching down to Rome or was it Publius Cornelius Scipio? No matter, it’s a good story.

I wish I could do Clamato juice the old way, when you added to a tomato juice bottle a cup of crushed clams. You crushed them with your bare hands, wash your hands before doing this.

The weather was beautiful, sunny and a very pleasant 22 C. Just a perfect day for all. I did not take any photos and it was only afterwards that I thought about it, too late.

Today I went shopping at M.R. Seafoods which is my favourite shop for very fresh seafood or fish in Charlottetown. They sell the best Seafood Chowder mix, varied and generous. So Will is making it for our dinner. He also like to make the broth with 2 bottles of Clam juice and whole tomatoes, but I would not call it Manhattan style because it is not the same recipe.

Will also made bread today, it smells soooo good, it is also cheaper than buying at the bakery where the loaf is now $6.00

At the Grocery store I ran into at the Cashier station on one of my old nemesis in PEI, a very prominent developer who in my last campaign for Municipal Office in 2018 had been a constant opposition pain to me and was very unpleasant during the whole campaign. He of course knows a lot of people and there was a constant harassment campaign. Today we had a very nice chat and he invited me to visit his new resort on the North Coast and the new restaurant. Then he asked if I was going to run again this November, I said no I am not, I have other priorities now. He went on to say that I should run again, someone like me would be needed to replace the gang we now have, including the Mayor. Remembering what happened in 2018, I was very surprised by his invitation to run now. I take it all with a grain of salt. I prefer to write opinion pieces, they have more punch and bring a response.