Mes chers compatriotes,

L’anniversaire de l’AN I de l’ère Snowbaienne a été dignement fêté ! (voir message suivant)

Notre calendrier indique en effet le passage dans l’ère du CHAMO. Mais qu’est-ce qu’un CHAMO ?

Selon nos prêtres du Panthéon, qui, jours et nuits retranscrivent les écrits anciens, le CHÂMO est une créature mythologique se rapprochant d’un dromadaire mais de couleur blanche et particulièrement adapté aux contrées arides de notre cher Snowbay.

Mis a part sa grande sagesse et son érudition proche de l’infini, le CHÂMO est est à l’origine de la survie du continent Antarctique.

En effet, on raconte qu’il y a 5239 années solaires, un “Géant des Glaces”, monstrueuse verrue terrestre s’abattit sur terre afin de se réchauffer au cœur de notre planète, près du noyau en fusion constante. Le Géant commença donc à s’enfoncer sous son poids dans la croute terrestre, ce qui a commencé à produire un dangereux refroidissement du noyau et donc de la surface, menaçant toute forme de vie sur la TERRE. Ainsi, la moitié du troupeau mondial de CHÂMO décida de se sacrifier en se glissant sous le monstre pour stopper son avancée mortelle en prenant appuis de leurs pieds sur le noyau et en retenant le monstre avec leur dos. L’autre moitié des CHÂMO a marché durant des millénaires sur la partie extérieure (le dos) du monstre afin de polir sa surface et de rendre ce terrain habitable pour eux, et plus, tard pour leurs amis Snowbaiens.

Bien sur les enfants, les braves et courageux CHÂMO du dessous sont morts de froid mais l’ignoble bête, elle, vit toujours et est depuis ce temps torturée par les chatouilles que lui provoquent le contact du poil ras des CHÂMO sur son ventre.

Cette histoire, contée en 12 TOMES par le troubadour ELL-SITYN-METT est la première entièrement traduite par les prêtres du Royaume, ce qui après l’anniversaire du Snowbay est une exellente nouvelle pour nous. Elle démontre le droit absolu du peuple snowbaien à s’installer sur les terres prévues pour eux par les CHÂMO, envers et contre tous règlements et autres Traités de l’Antarctique.
Voici deux CHÂMO forts heureux de la visite de leurs frères Snowbaiens dans leur réserve ( voyez ces sourires et gestes de pattes accueillants ) :

Notez que CHÂMO ne s’accorde jamais au pluriel

MERCI LES CHÂMO !

Assyrian tablet depicting Phoenix rising from its own ashes

Nobody wants to be bogged down by deadlines, traffic jams, daily pressures which business imposes on our lives, but they are a reality. The gift is not to allow those pressures to impinge on our conscious-ness ALL of the time: to set aside some moment, daily, for what’s going on INSIDE, not outside in our lives. The trick to maintaining a healthy mind within a body that’s built to withstand some stresses is simple: it’s called switching off.

Everyone needs to switch off, to become unglued, to take a Holiday. That’s why Thanksgiving is such a huge celebration in the American continent: the international home of Big Bizness. This time of gratitude covers every race, creed, religious sect and subgroup: everybody celebrates. A timeout that takes us away from the increasing world pressure to ‘take care of business’. It gives us an overview of life; if only for one weekend in the year.

With a feeling of joy for what we are grateful for in our lives comes a per-spective on how our lives have turned out; from where we started. We look at the last year and give thanks: for our home, our family and our friends. Sometimes we give thanks for a lot of years: and see how our past has become our present.

They say it’s not good to dwell in the past. However there are some lessons from the past that we, with the miracle of technology, may use. They teach us to hold an overview.

Yes. Crop circles, among others, point the way.

Over the last decade we’ve been treated to a deluge of them: now more than a mere curiosity: they are perhaps showing us how to ‘be’.

Using techniques as diverse as pictograms, mathematics, animal and nature symbolism and digital ‘language’, these crop glyphs have become increasingly sophisticated and, like our own society and consciousness, their influence is expanding.

Last summer alone brought eye-witness reports from unbiased observers who believe personally and irrevocably in their ‘power’ to convert. Visitors to crop circles have experienced a ‘transformation’, feeling of ‘oneness’, a change in conscious-ness, a sensation of love for their fellow beings. These human emotions are backed up by changes and fluctuations in on-the-ground readings monitored by digital and electronic equipment used to measure the electromagnetic flow.

Even for those of us not conversant in the language of mathematics, the evidence has already brought the scientific community on board. Carl Sagan, astrophysicist and author of ‘Cosmos’, said before he died in 1996 at the age of 62: ‘Mathematics is the Rosetta Stone of the Universe’. This interpretive Rosetta Stone is evident in enough crop circles to satisfy the most skeptic mathematician.

Euclidean sacred geometry in pyramid crop circle July 2009

Optical Pyramid at Chesterton, Harbury Warwickshire July 2009

Take another form of Kornkreis symbolism: images depicting birds, insects: the dragonfly, the human butterfly, the honeybee and bumblebee; swallows: all symbolic of flying, reaching beyond ourselves into the stratosphere of consciousness, beyond our mortal coil: suggesting our need to connect with our higher selves, superconscious, looking perhaps to encourage Mankind to connect as one, as a collective conscioiusness; holy, whole.

Hummingbird crop circle of July 2009 at Milk Hill, Wiltshire

Nazca line Hummingbird, created between AD300-600 in Peruvian High Desert

Stretching for hundreds of miles through the Altiplano Peruvian high desert, the lines form geoglyphs cleared in the land surface. Made by Nazca laborers, they follow riverbeds that flow from the Andes. This high desert terrain stretches for over 1400 miles along the Pacific coast and the Pampa Colorada, or Red Plain of deep red sandstone where Nazca art was created, runs 15 miles inland and for 37 miles alongside the Andes. Nazca workers cleared the surface of stones, revealing lines of lighter clay underneath. Because of its dry climate (humidity quotient almost zero), these imprints have remained in the landscape for the last millennium and a half.

Nazca Monkey line drawing in the Peruvian Altiplano AD300-600

Because of our programming as a society, taught for millennia to believe what we see in our three-dimensional world, it has taken us all of the last hundred years even to agree with Einstein that the possibility of a fourth dimension is conceivable. Only now are we beginning to realize that the suggestion, taught for centuries by esoteric spiritual disciplines, that we are part of an even-greater Whole of seven, nay, twelve, perhaps infinite dimensional realities, may have validity: that we may indeed be sending ourselves messages to trigger our soul memory that it is time to wake up and become the spiritual beings we were intended to be.

We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For. It has a ring to it.

Yatesbury Phoenix appeared June 2009

Looking to and from the stars: are we indeed beginning to see the stellar perspective?

Hic et nunc. Ici et maintenant.
Immédiatement. Tout et tout de suite. Un python australien avale un chihuahua et c’est l’émoi mondial instantané. 30 secondes après le décès, 23′896 personnes se retrouvent sur un mur Facebook pour pleurer le défunt. Sur une page concurrente, 12′574 Faceboukiens s’unissent pour soutenir le python en passe d’être exécuté par les autorités locales. En Australie, un débat national s’engage sur la taille minimale des animaux de compagnie et sur la nécessité de réglementer la longueur des pythons. Le gouvernement anglais rappelle aux Australiens les droits à une croissance naturelle et illimitée pour tous les animaux nés sur le sol de l’empire britannique. La reine est envoyée avec sa malle à chapeaux et le prince Charles. Les deux parties se réunissent en conclave pour élaborer un nouveau projet de loi à soumettre dans les meilleurs délais. Les journalistes du monde entier déploient leurs antennes paraboliques devant le siège du gouvernement australien pour retransmettre en direct le résultat des négociations.  La nuit tombe, le monde entier retient son souffle. Après de longues heures angoissées, un communiqué officiel est transmis, la reine va parler dans cinq minutes. Le monde entier se fige. L’attente est insupportable.

Et c’est juste le moment que choisit un Labrador français pour ouvrir le frigo de son propriétaire et engloutir la totalité d’un camembert AOC entouré de son papier de protection biodégradable. L’animal est dans un état critique, la faculté refuse de se prononcer sur ses chances de survie. Sur Facebook, les membres de la Société Protectrice du Camembert se déchaînent. Les Labradors répliquent en créant un Comité d’Action Nationale et défilent dans Paris. Ils font dix fois le tour du Panthéon en salivant. La question est soulevée en haut lieu. L’assemblée nationale s’empare du dossier. Des heures de débats houleux débouchent sur deux projets de loi : l’interdiction faite aux chiens d’ouvrir la porte du frigo et l’obligation faite aux producteurs de camembert d’introduire dans le cursus canin des cours de sensibilisation à la pâte molle. Les sénateurs sont réunis en conclave. Les journalistes du monde entier quittent l’Australie sans attendre la décision de sa Très Gracieuse Majesté. Ils atterrissent en hâte à Paris. Ils déploient leurs antennes paraboliques. La nuit tombe. Le monde entier est en apesanteur. Après de longues heures affreuses, un émissaire gris sort du noir pour dire que le président va parler dans trois minutes. Le monde se bloque. Les estomacs se nouent.
Pendant ce temps tout le monde meurt, on ne sait même pas comment.

Artist: Bilskirnir/Evil/Pantheon
Album: Under the Sign of the Hammer
Year: 2009
Genre: NS Black Metal
Country: Germany/Brazil/United States
Quality: mp3@VBR210kbps
Size: 19 MB

Deux hommes.

Albert Camus et Michael Jackson.

Le premier fut, entre autres, l’auteur de L’Etranger, roman qui bouleversa la vie politique et culturelle dans la France coloniale des années 50. Celui-ci trouva la mort dans un accident de voiture il y a de cela presque cinquante ans.

Quant à l’autre, après 40 ans d’une carrière artistique sans équivalent, il disparut subitement le 25 juin dernier dans d’obscures conditions où le crapuleux le mêle au sordide.

Ces deux illustres morts sont aujourd’hui exhumés en vue d’être empaillés par la grâce du système politico-médiatique recycleur d’icônes et pourvoyeur d’immortalité consommable.

Camus, authentique figure de gauche, incarnant dans ses principes autant que dans ses actes “l’homme révolté”, pourfendeur de l’ordre bourgeois, est sur le point d’être “panthéonisé” par un Sarkozy qui n’en est pas à une grossière récupération près. Le président, grand lecteur de Camus devant l’éternel, appelle de ses voeux l’entrée en grande pompe au Panthéon de l’auteur de La Peste et de Les Justes tandis que Jean Camus, fils de l’écrivain, a fait savoir en qualifiant de “contre-sens” cette initiative, qu’il ne souhaite pas que la mémoire de son père soit récupérée à des fins électoralistes par un pouvoir devenu le symbole même de tout ce que l’écrivain a combattu.

Pour le pouvoir acculé à donner sa conception d’une identité nationale de plus en plus difficile à cerner, il s’agit de se refaire une virginité humaniste à moindre frais et tant pis si le fiston à son Camus passe pour un anti-sarkozyste hystérique à la solde des socialistes à qui on ne la fait pas. Dans le sillage du Président, il est à noter que Le Pen, en faisant de Camus, une figure strictement “pied-noir”, via une formule de recyclage d’une malhonnêteté sidérante, ramène  avec la démagogie qu’on lui connait, l’illustre révolté sur les rivages bruns de l’extrême droite et des nostalgiques de l’Algérie française.

Alors, certes, Camus, en acceptant le Prix Nobel de littérature en 1958 pour l’ensemble de son oeuvre, a montré que même s’il était soucieux de ne pas se laisser momifier, n’en était pas pour autant réticent aux honneurs . Mais sa liberté était telle qu’il n’aurait jamais pu être gobé par l’establishment politique. Cette tentative de recyclage n’est qu’un exemple de plus, de l’extraordinaire capacité d’absorption (et de digestion) des idées et des individus qui les ont portées par les élites  gouvernantes afin de faire dire aux morts ce qu’ils n’ont jamais dit. A cet égard, Camus au Panthéon de Sarkozy, ce serait aussi cruellement ironique que George W Bush qui lit L’Etranger entre deux réunions avec son Etat Major, ou encore ces T-shirts à l’effigie du Che portés par de jeunes occidentaux et fabriqués par ces enfants chinois rendus esclaves par l’impitoyable régime communiste. Cet ordre n’est pas sans rappeler l’immémoriale loi de la chaîne alimentaire.

MJ, de son coté, est au centre de l’actualité avec le documentaire consacré à montrer sous un angle intimiste les répétitions qu’il a donné avant sa dernière série de concerts.  L’exploitation de This is it (que j’avoue ne pas avoir vu, même si je suis, chaque jour, un peu plus tenté) me fait penser aux terribles spectacles de foires montrés dans Elephant Man, à une nuance près: les forains sans scrupules, constatant que leur “bête” ne déplace plus les foules, auraient décidé que celle ci leur serait plus rentable, une fois empaillée. La soi disant rareté attribuée au  documentaire (il ne devait être projeté sur les écrans que pour une durée de 15 jours) n’était qu’une cynique tentative de pécher un maximum de poissons spectateurs dans les deux premières semaines d’exploitation. Cette publicité délibérément mensongère et digne des campagnes de marketing les plus agressives, ne me semble pas aller de pair avec le recueillement induit par la nature de l’évènement (on ne peut s’empêcher de penser que les producteurs de This is it, enfin gorgés des millions que Bambi aurait été bien incapable de leur rapporter de son vivant, ont toutes les raisons du monde de le préférer mort que vif; ce qui rend possibles les  plus folles rumeurs conspirationnistes essaimées autour des circonstances de la mort de MJ sur le Net).

Là encore, la “Machine” absorbe l’individu pour en faire une espèce de matériau rendu vierge à nouveau, sur lequel elle pourra bâtir un nouveau récit. Ces mécanismes rappellent, par bien des aspects, la vision cauchemardesque que proposait, en son temps, le film de Richard Fleischer, Soleil Vert, monument SF mettant en scène une société acculée au pire des recyclages pour assurer sa propre survie.

Il serait parfaitement incongru, voire même à coté de la plaque de mettre Camus et Jackson sur le même podium. Et pourtant leurs dépouilles respectives sont, si l’on en croit l’intérêt que leur portent nos charognards contemporains , d’une saveur comparable.

1. 재발급 신청을 한 은행 카드가, 열흘 걸린다고 했으렸다. 하지만 학교 가는 날, 은행 쉬는 날 (대체 월요일에 왜 쉬는 거냐고?!) 등이 겹치다 보니 이제야 찾아올 수 있었다. 진짜 10유로 미만의 간당간당한 현금만으로 며칠을 살아온 거냐. 눈물이 앞을 가려서 달려오는 차를 미처 못 보고 쾅, 하진 않았고…

2. 그런데, 한풀이 하듯 달려가 카드를 긁었더니, 비밀번호가 틀리대?! 헐, 이거 뭥미. 다시 은행에 갔더니… “아 참, 분실신고 하신 거죠? 그럼 비밀번호 재지정 해야 되는데… 사흘 더 기다리세요.” 나의 프랑스 업무처리 쨩은 스고이하고도 카와이하고도…

일단, 분실신고해서 정지시킨 카드와 비밀번호를 달리 해야 할 이유를 납득 못하겠고… 그쪽은 비밀번호고 뭐고 그냥 정지된 거잖아?! 게다가 비밀번호를 내가 지정하냐 하면 그런 것도 아니잖아, 은행에서 정해주는 걸로 써야 하잖아? 21개월 동안 외워서 잘 쓰고 있었는데, 그건 그렇다 치더라도, 왜 바꾸지 않으면 안 되는 거지? (그 업무를 미리 처리해두지 않고 이제야 넣는다는 건 이미 속상한 일 축에도 못 낀다.)

게다가 앞으로 사흘이라 하심은, 으흐응, 이번 주중엔 또 카드를 못 쓴다는 이야기가 되겠군요. 자칫해서 배달이 하루 늦어지기라도 하면 무려 다음 주로 넘어간다는 이야기. 자물쇠 대금도 치러야 하고, 장도 봐야 하고, 공연 보러 갈 것도 있는데 이 뭐…

3. 카드 얘기가 나왔으니 말인데, 요즘 학교의 자판기에 현금이 안 들어간다. 이번 학기부터 그렇게 되었는데, 학생식당을 이용하는 충전식 카드를 이용하지 않으면 안 된다는 것이다. 물론 까페테리아에선 현금을 받으니 괜찮지만, 그쪽은 늘 줄을 서야 하고 또 금요일 저녁 같은 경우는 일찍 닫아 버리니까. “모네오“라고 하는 카드인데, 이게 또 말이 많은 듯. 이번 주에 이와 관련하여, 철도공사 등과 연계한 전국적 규모의 파업이 (또) (…) 있다고 들었다만은.

이전까지는 모네오를 사용하고 안 하고에 별 다른 차이가 사실 없었다. 가격에 차이가 나는 것도 아니고 뭐. 그런데 모네오는 BNP 은행의 상품이어서, 모네오 가입 = BNP 계좌 개설이란 것이지. 스고이하고도 카와이하고도 한 프랑스의 업무 처리를 생각할 때, 유학생이 은행 계좌를 하나 더 튼다는 것도 사실 조금 번거로운데, 귀국할 때 계좌 안 막아져서 고생했다는 소리를 한두 번 들은 것도 아니고. 그리고 BNP에 개인정보를 또 줘야 한다는 것이고, 비자 관련으로 은행 업무가 한 곳에 집중되는 편이 좋은 외국인들에겐 서류도 늘어나는 등 복잡해진다.

“모네오에 반대하는 대학 전선”이란 이름의 단체가 생겼는데, 불어로는 Front Universitare Contre Moneo, 줄여서 FUC-Moneo라는 기가 막히는 (…) 이름이다. 얘들 말로는 모네오의 차후 사업확장이 교통카드, 학생증, 도서관 카드, 학교 출입증까지 이어질 계획이라고 한다. 좀 험한 동네에 위치한 우리 학교 같은 경우는 동네 애들이 학교에 함부로 들어와 사고 치지 못하게, 모네오 찍고 학교 들어오면 좋아할 애들도 있긴 하겠다만. FUC-Moneo 쪽 애들 말로는 학생 생활의 전반적인 통제가 모네오 카드 한 장으로 이뤄질 수도 있다는 것이다. 이를테면 출석체크 등. 그게 BNP 은행 DB에 싹 모이면, 이를테면 외국인 학생들은, 비자 갱신할 때 “어, 근데 너 출석이 좀 불규칙하다?” 라는 식의 상황도 충분히 벌어질 수 있지 않느냐는 주장.

4. 까뮈의 팡테옹 이장에 대한 유족의 반대의견 중에 “폐쇄공포증이었던 사람을 왜 그런 곳에?!”라는 게 있다니 유쾌했다. 프랑스인은 이래서 귀엽다. 비주류를 지향한 까뮈가 왜 팡테옹에? 라는 것은… 글쎄, 잘 모르겠다. 나 혼자 하는 생각이지만 나는 까뮈가 실존주의자였다는 게 먼저고, 비주류 지향성이 있었다면 그것은 부산물일 뿐이란 느낌인데. 그렇게 친다면 실존주의라는 거대한 파고의 중심에 있었던 까뮈가 팡테옹에 못 들어갈 이유는 없을 것 같다. 게다가 부르주아스러웠잖아.

반면 갑자기 드는 생각이, 팡테옹 같은 게 있는 프랑스는 부럽고도 징그럽다는 느낌. 루브르도 그렇지만, “프랑스의 영광”을 한 곳에 그러모아다 전시하며 기뻐하고 싶어하는 페티시즘이 느껴진다. 그렇게 하려고 했을 때 누구도 “저게 무슨…”이라 할 수 없을 어마어마한 것들이 가득히, 실은 자리가 모자라서 엄선해야 할 정도로 많이 있다는 점이 부럽고. 하지만 한국에서 “대한민국을 빛낸 위인들을 한 곳에 모읍시다!” 라고 한다면 난 반대. 다른 이유를 떠나서, 좀 징그러워.

5. 포스텍스 스피커의 퀄리티에는 대만족 중. 소리가 너무 예뻐서 걱정이 될 정도. 그런데 뒷면에 그릴처럼 달린 게 “DTM 환경에 최적화된 전자파 간섭 차단”이라며? 휴대폰을 근처에 두면 찌지지지직 소리가 나는 게, 예전에 쓰던 싸구려 알텍 랜싱 스피커보다 오히려 심한 것 같은데…

6. 말 나온 김에 알텍 랜싱 스피커 이용해서 4CH 환경이나 만들어볼까. (그러나 스피커 놓을 자리가 없구나…)

7. 휴대폰 잃어버리는 꿈을 꿨다. 노이로제 걸릴 것 같다. 조심하자.

Bis zum vergangenen Freitag habe ich einen Großteil der antiken Bauten in Rom lediglich von außen bestaunt – die teilweise horrenden Eintrittspreise haben doch einen gewissen Abschreckungseffekt. Am Freitag stand jedoch eine Führung durch das Forum Romanum auf dem Programm (und da die Eintrittskarte an zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen gültig ist und einen Besuch des Kolosseums mit einschließt habe ich diesen am Samstag gemeinsam mit David nachgeschoben).

Aber der Reihe nach. Bei strahlendem Sonnenschein und gefühlten 25°C (das Wetter ist hier im Moment eher frühlingshaft als winterlich) haben wir uns das Forum Romanum unterhalb des Palatins unter Führung von Karo angesehen, die u.a. antike Geschichte studiert und sich daher bestens auskennt. Das Forum war früher das Zentrum des politischen, wirtschaftlichen, kulturellen und religiösen Lebens und spiegelt die Geschichte Roms und des römischen Reiches zwischen 600 v. Chr. und 600 n. Chr. wieder. Geographisch liegt das Forum Romanum zwischen dem Palatin und dem  Kapitol. Bis zum 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr. befand sich in diesem Tal eine sumpfige Ebene, die lediglich als Begräbnisstätte diente. Erst die Errichtung der “Cloaca Maxima” (antikes Kanalsystem) wurde der Sumpf trocken gelegt und somit bebaubar. Das erste bedeutsame Bauwerk war der “Tempel des Saturn” (Gott des Ackerbaus), der 490 v. Chr. errichtet wurde. Das letzte antike Bauwerk ist die sogenannte “Phokas-Säule”, die 608 n. Chr. gebaut wurde (Dank Phokas gibt es heute noch das Pantheon, denn er war es, der Papst Bonifatius IV das Pantheon schenkte, welcher es im Jahre 609 als Kirche weihte – und so dafür sorgte, dass der Bau bis heute erhalten blieb).

Glücklicherweise hatten wir mit Karo eine kompetente Führerin, denn für den “ungeübten” Betrachter (wie mich) liegen im Forum Romanum erst einmal hauptsächlich einzelne Steine und kaputte Säulen. Es bedarf schon einiger Phantasie, sich vorzustellen, wie es dort einmal ausgesehen haben muss. Dennoch ist es faszinierend, wenn man auf einzelne Teile stößt, denen man ihre rund 2000 Jahre alte Geschichte scheinbar ansehen kann. So ist beispielsweise der “Tempel des Romulus” durch eine Bronzetür verschlossen, deren Schloss angeblich immer noch funktioniert. Und heutzutage schafft man es kaum, einen Bausatz für einen Fertighaus so aufzubauen, dass es nicht nach zwei Jahren die ersten Wasser- und Frostschäden gibt…

Komischerweise sind die vermeintlich aufwendigsten und fragilsten Bauten am besten erhalten: die Triumphbögen. Auf dem Gelände des Forum Romanum finden sich deren zwei, zum Einen der “Triumphbogen des Septimius Severus”, zum Anderen der “Titusbogen”, der etwas erhöht platziert ist und somit auch vom Kolosseum aus sichtbar ist (der Titusbogen war im Übrigen das Vorbild für den “Arc de Triomphe” in Paris). Ursprünglich war der Bogen aus Marmor, jedoch wurde er im Mittelalter in einer Festung integriert, sodass heute beide Seiten vollkommen unterschiedlich aussehen (vgl. Fotos). Hier nun ein paar Eindrücke…

Am Samstagmittag ging es dann weiter, ab ins Kolosseum. Für mich, der seine Vorkenntnisse über das Römische Reich und seine Kaiser nahezu ausschließlich aus Asterix & Obelix Filmen hat, ist eine (wenn auch sehr kleine) Welt zusammengebrochen, als ich erfahren habe, dass Julius Caesar niemals im Kolosseum gewesen ist. Der Grund: Caesar lebte von 100 v.Chr. bis 44 v.Chr., das Kolosseum wurde jedoch erst 80 n. Chr. fertiggestellt. Das nehme ich René Goscinny und Albert Uderzo wirklich Übel… Aber abgesehen von diesem ersten Schock war es wirklich beeindruckend. Zum Einen ist das Kolosseum von innen wesentlich größer, als man vermuten würde, wenn man eine Runde um das Bauwerk dreht. Zum Anderen bekommt man einen Eindruck davon, wie steil die Tribünen damals waren. Die Stimmung muss gigantisch gewesen sein. Die eigentliche Arena ist heute nicht mehr wirklich zu sehen, da diese vollständig unterkellert war und im Laufe der Zeit eingestürzt ist. Dafür hat man jedoch freie Sicht auf das unterirdische Labyrinth, in denen die Gladiatoren und Tiere gefangen gehalten wurden. Zudem sind – wenn auch nur rudimentär – die Hebekonstruktionen zu erkennen, mit deren Hilfe die Tiere auf Plattformen durch den Boden in die Arena gehievt wurden. Man mag sich gar nicht vorstellen, was die Jungs damals mit den technischen Möglichkeiten von heute auf die Beine gestellt hätten…

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008)

“C’est Si Bon”

“ I Want To Be Evil”

The days get shorter and the nights get cold.
I like the autumn but this place is getting old.
I pack up my belongings and I head for the coast.
It might not be a lot but I feel like I’m making the most.–Modest Mouse

Well the weekend was yet another in Guada. Thursday we went out, Friday we went out, oh, and Saturday we went out too. In between we somehow visited the Pantheon (one of Guadalajara’s biggest attractions…not saying too much). Basically it is an above ground church and an underground mausoleum for a very rich woman who lived in Guadalajara a long time ago. It’s supposed to be the best privately owned pantheon in the world (although my guess is that it’s the only privately owned pantheon). We also went to an art opening by an English-speaking Ghana native. And we made breakfast for dinner (I made pancakes!)

In other news, I just wanted to discourage anyone who is worried about me while abroad from seeing the movie Taken (just watched it). Also, I would like to say that I am currently in love with the 2 new Shakira songs “Did It Again” and “Give It Up To Me”. Finally, they have opened a 2 euro store here and it has made my weekend.

I am already giving thanks for Thanksgiving this week because it gives me something to discuss in every single one of my lessons (handprint turkeys, anyone?). Although, we are doing a rather elaborate American feast with about 20 guests and I am going to attempt 3 dishes. More to come later on that (as well as a sappy “what-I-am-thankful-for” post).

Une fois n’est pas coutume, les avis sont très partagés, entre reconnaissance légitime par la Nation et récupération médiatique par le Président.

When I studied Albert Camus at University, his novel “L’Etranger” striked me. His intellectual spirit took shape of individual freedom over authority. While France is ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Albert Camu’s death, Nicolas Sarkozy would like to move his remains from a cemetery near Avignon to the Pantheon in Paris. I agree with Jean Camus, one of the writer’s children, who doesn’t want the Frech President to move his father’s remains! It should be a stupid paradox: Camus wrote about humilty and refused state pomp. Why should he rest in a triumphant grave at Pantheon? What’s about the sudden passion for literature of French President? Albert Camus isn’t a political icon. Please, don’t move his remains! Let him rest in peace in that little cemetery.

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2009/11/21/le-fils-d-albert-camus-refuse-le-transfert-de-son-pere-au-pantheon_1270456_823448.html

Après les stars poussiéreuses remisées au fond de nos armoires (Mireille Mathieu, Enrico Macias et les autres), c’est au tour d’Albert Camus d’être propulsé sur le devant de la scène médiatique par notre cher président.

Et voilà qu’en plein pseudo-débat sur l’identité nationale, Albert Camus, pacifiste patenté,  symbole de la France-Afrique des petits, devient le nouveau chouchou du Président. Celui-là coûte moins cher au contribuable que son excellence Carla, il est vrai. Tout de même, on peut se questionner sur le choix d’un homme de littérature -et celui-ci en particulier- pour figurer sur la liste des “nomminés” du Panthéon 2009…

Albert Camus : le brainstorm

Afrique du Nord, Algérie, Mère, Voiture, Pied-noirs, L’étranger, La chute, La Peste, Prix Nobel, Albert Memmi, The Cure.

Tiens tiens, un écrivain de gauche, pacifiste patenté, qui s’est opposé -mais avec mesure- au Général de Gaulle… Tout un symbole, pour notre cher Nicolas !

Toute une réserve électorale, surtout…

Der Sohn von Albert Camus möchte nicht, daß sein Vater ins Pantheon kommt. Er fürchtet die politische Vereinnahmung. Die Camus scheuen das sarkozyanische Pantheon wie die Pest. Was für eine Naivität. Man pantheonisiert immer aus schlechten Gründen: die Pantheonisation ist immer Mißbrauch des Genies für die (zeitweiligen) Bedürfnisse der Republik. pardon: des Präsidenten der Republik.  …

Nie wird man den Marquis de Sade dort erblicken, nie Céline. Man wird weder Rimbaud noch Lautréamont einlassen, und es ist gut, daß Péguy nicht drin ist. Jean Genet kommt nicht hinein. Und wenn Proust hineinkommt, dann aus unguten Gründen. Vielleicht kommt Sartre hinein, denn er tut keinem mehr weh, aber immerhin hat er vielen wehgetan. Doch hat man viel zuviel Angst, daß sich sein Leichnam weigern wird. / Yann Moix, La règle du jeu 21.11.

Je n’arrive pas à choisir entre la nécrophilie politique et la xénophobie mathématique
(Albert Camus 0 – Eric Besson 1)

J’étais donc samedi après-midi au lancement de Terre Démocrate, et je n’ai pas pris de photos de Christophe Ginisty qui a pourtant animé cette rencontre   ! (Juste une photo de la salle  au début de la réunion où Corinne lepage, toute petite devant l’estrade, parlait avec les gens qui étaient là…)
Oui ce fut réellement une rencontre, un dialogue entre tous ceux qui ont envie que ça change, enfin!
Venus du PS, du Modem, de CAP 21, des verts, de nulle part, du milieu associatif, de la justice, des élus, des gens venus des quatre coins de France! L’amphi de la Sorbonne était rempli à craquer, et  pas d’éléphants ni d’éléphanteaux à la tribune (ni ailleurs)!

Ca fait du bien de voir que certains n’ont pas envie de monter sur l’estrade pour “causer dans le micro” et se faire voir! Ca fait plaisir un vrai échange sur ce que nous souhaitons FAIRE  ENSEMBLE, pour qu’enfin la politique retrouve sa noblesse, sa crédibilité et pour le sens commun. En tout cas moi, j’ai apprécié!

Donc l’idée de ce club est de rassembler, mais pas derrière des “éléphants” venus se montrer ensemble comme à Dijon avec Vincent Peillon, avec les résultats que l’on sait. C’est avant tout pour rassembler des citoyens venus d’ici ou d’ailleurs mais qui ont le souhait d’oeuvrer pour la justice, pour le bien commun, et pour construire ce nouveau modèle de société dont nous sommes si nombreux à rêver, le capitalisme “sauvage” ayant montré et montrant encore ses limites!

Vraiment c’était un moment fort et l’APPEL DU PANTHEON est un texte qui fera trace me semble-t-il…

En cliquant, vous pouvez visionner la vidéo de Jean-françois Kahn qui soutient Terre Démocrate et, ci-dessous vous pouvez lire l’appel du Panthéon
Nous lançons aujourd’hui le club Terre Démocrate pour agir et permettre à tous ceux qui se disent « Que puis-je faire » ? de trouver un lieu pour faire.

Le constat et la critique n’ont d’intérêt que s’ils sont suivis d’actes.

Face :

- aux défis immenses auxquels nous sommes individuellement et collectivement confrontés,

- à tous ceux qui n’ont pas pris conscience que la terre est finie,

- à une démographie  galopante et une réduction des terres cultivables qui produisent déjà 20 millions de réfugiés climatiques qui seront 200 millions en 2050,

- aux Tartuffe ou aux irresponsables qui croient que la croissance va continuer de manière infinie comme le Général Nivelle qui voulait « attaquer jusqu’à la lune »,

- aux spéculateurs qui ont provoqué, par souci de lucre personnel, une crise financière assumée par les contribuables trois fois : une fois en tant que contribuable, une fois en tant que victime d’une spoliation et une fois en tant que transmetteur d’une dette qui sera payée par leurs enfants,

- à une agriculture intensive et un emploi de produits toxiques qui appauvrissent les sols et les rendent incultes tout en détruisant les conditions de vie des agriculteurs,

- à un pillage sans contrepartie des richesses naturelles notamment celles venant de pays émergents,

- à la  réduction incessante et programmée de nos libertés au nom de la sécurité quand ce n’est pas au nom de la haine de l’Autre,

Que dire à nos enfants sans emploi, à nos aînés sans espoirs, à nos congénères sans avenir ?

Nous ne pouvons pas nous contenter de changer la règle du jeu. Il faut aller beaucoup plus loin et changer le logiciel.

Partout, des femmes et des hommes ont compris qu’il ne faut pas attendre du sommet les solutions qui viennent d’autant moins que des responsables politiques du monde entier sont aujourd’hui suspectés d’être les complices d’un système, a minima, non vertueux. Dans tous les pays, trop nombreux sont ceux, qui  poursuivis ou condamnés pour corruption, trafics en tous genres et convaincus d’entretenir des liens étroits  avec de grands groupes financiers et industriels contribuent à la disparition progressive de la notion d’intérêt général.

En réponse aux dénis  de réalités et aux dénis de République, ils inventent un futur viable.  Ils osent imaginer ce qui n’existe pas encore. “Nul ne leur a dit que c’était impossible, alors, ils l’ont fait “(B.Shaw)

C’est à cette aventure que vous convie Terre Démocrate : participer directement à la naissance de ce monde nouveau. Nous ne sommes ni un tremplin pour les élections, ni une boite à idées théoriques déconnectées de la vie quotidienne. Nous voulons remplacer les mots par des actes et mettre l’imagination au pouvoir, permettant tout simplement aux bonnes pratiques de chasser les mauvaises.

Nous appelons nos concitoyennes et nos concitoyens à reprendre espoir et assumer leur destin, tout simplement en admettant leur propre capacité à animer un réseau social et politique local, allant du bas vers le haut. Il s’agit seulement de mettre en réseau les initiatives dans tous les domaines de la vie, afin de les partager et d’assurer une cohérence entre elles et de changer les règles de droit pour permettre leur généralisation.

Nous appelons nos concitoyennes et concitoyens à reprendre leurs désirs en main pour devenir des consommateurs responsables et réellement libres de leurs choix, non du temps de cerveau disponible.

Notre projet est simple : la construction progressive et démocratique d’un nouveau modèle de développement, de manière pragmatique et dans un esprit de justice. Nous ne sommes pas naïfs.

Un tel projet se heurtera à deux obstacles de taille :

- les intérêts économico-financiers en place qui agissent pour gagner du temps et maintenir leurs privilèges le plus longtemps possible, quelles qu’en soient les conséquences,

- les structures partisanes auxquelles la nouveauté  et  la décentralisation effective font peur .

Nous appelons à la création de sections locales de Terre Démocrate sur une plateforme commune dédiée au changement : changement individuel dans nos modes de vie et de consommation, changement dans la vie de nos territoires, changement de nos modes de production. Il s’agit de changer les rapports de force qui aujourd’hui affaiblissent à tous les niveaux le système démocratique.

C’est de la base que viendra le renouveau et la preuve que les citoyens sont capables de construire un monde nouveau, un projet collectif juste, écologique, social, laïque et démocratique pour contribuer à faire de notre planète une Terre Démocrate.

Les membres fondateurs de Terre Démocrate.

Pizza. Wine. Gelato. Bruschetta. Crostini. Caprese Salad. Sangria.

I’m back in London taking a break in between classes after three delicious and action-packed days in Roma. First, let me say that Rome has got to be one of the most amazing cities in the world – so much to see in a relatively small area, amazingly friendly people, and delicious eateries. From start to finish, our trip was stress-free. Despite having to wake up at 345A on Friday morning to grab our 445A cab to Paddington Station, I was pumped and ready to go for Friday’s action-packed day in Rome.  We arrived in Italy at about 11A (Roman time) and got settled into our super cute hotel, Hotel D’Este, by 1P. The hotels was perfect — we had a huge room and a decent-sized bathroom, plus pretty amazing views of Santa Maria Maggiore church.

Day one, we decided to do a hop-on, hop-off bus tour (€19) to familiarize ourselves with the area and see as much as possible in a single afternoon. Our first stop? The Colosseum!

The Colosseum was breathtaking! We had to pay to get inside (€16 including audio guide), but the views were worth every euro. Check out these views of the surrounding area from the top:

I know this arch is a big deal… Arch of Constantine, perhaps? Beautiful.

After leaving the Colosseum, we hopped on the bus to head over to Piazza Navona for lunch and gelato!

On the way, we saw this amazingness, Palatine Hill – the place where Romulus and Remus were taken in by the She Wolf, according to legend. Pretty awesome sight!

We also caught a glimpse of this amazing building. I’m not 100% sure what it is, although I’m sure the audio guide told us! The backside has a staircase that was designed by Michaelangelo!

We ended up in Piazza Navona for lunch with an incredible view of this fountain that was sculpted by Bernini. His work is incredible! After our jaunt in Piazza Navona, we headed back to get ready for the evening, dinner in Trastevere and meeting the locals. We had a brilliant time practicing/learning Italian while we were there and the people were so amazing.

Stay tuned for Day 2, where we got to see the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and enjoy liters of sangria. Mmmm!

Lots of love,

To check out the rest of the pictures, see my album on facebook here. I have about 150 loaded!

A sunny Sunday morning on the steps of the Sorbonne in absolute silence allows for nostalgic imagination of this spot in a grand but distant past, when education was of the utmost priority in this area of Paris on the left bank of the Seine.

The Latin Quarter is home to a number of higher education establishments – the University of Paris – La Sorbonne, the Ecole Normale Superieure, the Schola Cantorum and the Jussieu campus, and acquired its name from the Latin-speaking students of the Middle Ages.

Nowadays, an early weekend morning is about the only time to bask in the silence, however, as the Latin Quarter is known more for its lively atmosphere and crowded wine bars and bistros lining the thin winding streets. Boulevards St Michel and St Germain cut through the Latin Quarter, and it is here where Hemingway and other famous expat writers and artists used to congregate.

From the Place de La Sorbonne, it is hard to miss is the Pantheon, was originally built as a church in the 1700’s but essentially became a mausoleum for intellectuals, and it is here where Volatire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Marie Curie, Louise Braille and other artists and scientists are buried. This is also where Foucault proved the rotation of the earth by hanging a pendulum from its dome in 1851.

The Moyen Age (Middle Ages) Museum (also known as the Cluny Museum) sits where Boulevard St Michel meets Boulevard Saint German. Built on the ruins of Roman baths, this museum’s major attraction is the series of medieval tapestries called La Dame et La Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn).

Saint Severin is an 11th century Catholic church with 20th stained glass window and the oldest church bells remaining in Paris, cast in 1412. St Severin also boasts pillars in the form of palm-tree trunks

The Latin Quarter is also home to L’ Institut du Monde Arabe, established in 1980 when 18 Arab countries concluded an agreement to establish the institute and research Arabic and Arab cultural and spiritual values. The Institute covers 181,850 square feet (16,894 m2) and the remarkable architecture acts as a buffer between the rationalist blocks of the Jussieu Campus, and the Seine.

Also a must see in the Latin Quarter is La Mosquee de Paris, which was built for Paris’ French Arab community in 1926. It is home to a tea salon and serves excellent mint tea and flaky, rich pastries.

Speaking of Eating and Drinking in the Latin Quarter..

If you are staying in a vacation apartment in the Latin Quarter, you may want to forage for your groceries at the Rue Mouffetard Market(La Mouffe say the locals) or pick up the perfect ingredients for a picnic in the nearby Jardin des Plantes, France’s permiere botantical garden and home to the Natural History Museum ( don’t forget to grab some wine at La Fontaine aux Vins at 107 rue Moufftard!). One of Paris’s best-known markets, Rue Mouffetard is one of the oldest in Paris and feels like a tiny self-contained village where you will find butchers, bakers, cheese shops and wine stores, perfect for eating like a local in Paris. The market runs from just behind the Pantheon down to St Medard Square. Best visit in the morning, as some stalls close in the afternoon. Make sure not to miss the Shakespeare & Co English-language bookstore nearby, with its laid-back anything-goes vibe and excellent selection of literature (read Guardian review of this spectacular shop here).

Around the Rue de La Huchette, you will find several small bars, all good for a cheap drink and laugh with students. Another great place to grab a drink is a tiny bar called Caveau des Oubliettes(TimeOut Paris review here), on the beaten path but often overlooked by tourists. This bar offers strong drinks and live jazz nightly and a bit of history, as the basement here was where prisoners were historically held before their executions.

For more sophisticated dining, Le Coupe Chou on rue Lanneau, was started by three famous French actors Francis Lemonnier, Francis Nani and Christian Azzopardi in the 1960s, and the restaurant/bar quickly became a place where French and foreign performers and stars could intermingle with spectators. Le Coupe Chou has expanded into several neighboring townhouses over the years and time has been taken to restore it to its original 17th century appearance. Lena et Mimile on rue Tournefort is an old-fashioned bistro on a mini-square, and La Perraudin in rue Saint-Jacques still uses red-and-white checkered tablecloths (with old-time prices to match).

Brasserie Balzar, where Camus and Sartre often lunched together, offers not only an excellent menu, but great people-watching property on the rue des Ecoles. The Place St Michel, was once the spot of numerous protests and social uprisings, strikes as well as more light spirited congregations of artists, writers, poets, musicians and dancers. The Boulevard St Michel leads to the Place St Andre, which is lined with bistros and restaurants.

Raclette is a must, and the Saveur de Savoie at 20 rue Saint Severin is about as authentic as the experience gets: a half circle of cheese, melted before your eyes, which you scrape off and pour onto mini plates of potatoes, meats and veggies.

Eric Kayser boulangerie in 14 rue Monge is one of the best bakeries in Paris, and the perfect place to grab breakfast for the next morning. Of course, for any homesick Americans, the authenticBreakfast in America diner offers pancakes, bacon, even huevos rancheros, though if you are looking for the best Mexican food, then the Latin Quarter is predictably the right spot for Anahuacalli at 30 rue des Bernadins that is always packed, so make sure to reserve a spot.

Getting There

The Latin Quarter has several Paris Metro and RER stations to arrive there, but explore the area on foot.

Cluny/La Sorbonne, Maubert/Mutualite, Cardinal Lemoine, Jussieu, Place Monge, Censier/Daubenton, St. Michel, Luxembourg

Latin Quarter Bus Lines – 27, 87, 86, 24, 21, 47, 87, 84

The Left Bank is synonymous with literary cafes, the Existential philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, bourgeois art galleries and gauche chic designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Sonia Rykiel.  Nowadays, the philosophers may have decamped from the Café de Flore, but there are still plenty of students from the Sorbonne university and academic bookshops to keep up its ‘intellectual’ atmosphere.

On one of our many Paris visits last year, Steven and I stayed at the Hotel Design Sorbonne, which is just a few steps away from the Boulevard Saint Germain, the Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, the Seine and of course, the Sorbonne.

The hotel is tucked away on a peaceful side street and is accessed by a quaint courtyard. The reception/lounge area is a mix of a typical French salon interior and bold, contemporary colours, flock wallpaper and striped velvet seating.  There are a number of coffee table books, magazines and Paris attraction maps, as well as an iMac for web browsing. 

The corridor looks like something surreal from a Jeunet and Caro film, with custers of quirky photographs and lines of poetry emblazoned on the carpet. 

Our room had a dark, romantic atmosphere due to colour scheme of chartreuse, silver and black – even curtains and doors were black!  The bed was extremely comfy, with fluffy pillows, crisp cotton linen and a throw in complementing colours.

The bathroom had beautiful dusky brown and gold flock tiles but was pretty tiny, although I’ve heard that they have rooms with larger ones if you’re staying for longer and need more space.

Like most forward-thinking hotel, they have installed an Apple iMac in each room, so you can access the web and watch TV and DVDs without hassle.  It seems that hotels now want to give guests a more homely experience, rather than leaving us detached from the world, charging guests 10 Euros a day for using wifi. It also eases them off unnecessary concierge duties!

We ate breakfast outside and tried out the bakeries around the rue de Buci for a croissant and café crème, although the breakfast room at the hotel looked delicious.  

One thing that impressed me most about the hotel is that they have since kept in touch by email and regularly report on their fabulous meanderings around the city on their Paris newsblog.  I had serious food envy over their tasting session of mille-feuilles by legendary Paris pâtissier, Pierre Hermé and am planning to eat at La Bouche, a laid-back restaurant with innovative cuisine in Ménilmontant, which they visited and recommended.

Hotel Design Sorbonne is part of the Hôtels de Paris Rive Gauche group, that runs three other boutique hotels on the Left Bank, with the hotly anticipated BJ luxury design hotel (formerly the Hotel Ferrandi) opening next Autumn.  If you want a ‘home away from home’ or a more private stay, they also have a designer studio in the Marais, a bijou apartment by the Canal Saint Martin for up to four people and a luxury apartment in the Mouffetard area.

Hotel Design Sorbonne is the perfect base for Paris newbies, as it is within walking distance of the chic designer shops on the Boulvard Saint Germain, the buzzy Latin Quarter, the markets on Rue Mouffetard and of course, the Seine.  The hotel is quiet at night due to its side street position, so if it’s all about getting up and out  in the morning, you’re pretty much guaranteed a good night’s sleep.

Photo Credit

Rates range from 100 – 350 Euros per night and a continental buffet breakfast is 12 Euros.

Hotel Design Sorbonne, 6,  rue Victor Cousin, 75005 Paris. £

Metro: Line 10 : Cardinal Lemoine, Cluny Sorbonne. RER B : Luxembourg.

I loathe weak human cattle. I detest fawning sycophants who squirm and grovel at the feet of their masters, singing the praises of those who make their lives a misery. And I vomit upon all those pathetic drones who just do as they’re told, never seeking a better way, and worship anything they see as greater than themselves, which is basically everything.

I like rebels. I respect warrior-poets who value intelligence and the search for knowledge as much as they do bloodshed. I admire those who have the strength and determination to forever banish their false gods, and even to battle against them vigilantly. I vigorously cheer those who accept the calling to free heathens from the bonds of ignorance, and shout a hearty “Hail!” to those who manage to survive the ordeal of breaking away from their miserable pasts!

We all know of one opposition to the evil Microsoft Empire and its false god WinDOH!s, the Macosians, but they are laughably small in number, hidden away in offices and basements, and mostly comprised of artists and other lowlife degenerates, like conscienceless advertising scum. And they’re actually worse when you look at it, because they pay a hell of a lot more to their church than WinDOH!s worshippers.

Many of us have heard of Linuxians, but think they are probably mythical. But they actually exist, albeit in numbers perhaps matching the Macosians, and are the true intellectual zealots of the modern age. Only the most intelligent, and those not pathetically fearful of change, become Linuxians. And that’s why most people think Linuxians are a frolic of the imagination – because most people are stupid.

But recently, a wave of conversions has swept the world, carried out by a sect of Linuxians known as the Ubuntunese. These magnificent warriors bow down to Ubuntu, now the chief deity in the Linux Pantheon. Ubuntu is a much more friendly god to his neophytes (affectionately known as “Newbies”) than the majority of his brethren – deities like Gentoo and Arch require much more dedication, and acolytes must feverishly pray weird incantations several times a day to appease them.

Valiantly the ever-growing army of Ubuntunese crusaders has fought a relentless jihad against the Microsoftites over the last three years, especially since the end of October, when Ubuntu entered his “Karmic“ phase. The fact that while he is in this particular half-yearly cycle (which was long prophesied, I should add) he is “cuddly as a koala” has seen mass conversions take place all over the globe. While he is even friendlier than usual, he is still a god of awesome power, and of course is not money-grabbing like WinDOH!s and Mac’os’X. So with each conversion comes a new stormtrooper, fighting against the corruption of false gods, and freeing those too terrified to escape the bondage they pay for.

I too have been converted, and now proudly proclaim I am a devout Ubuntunese soldier of enlightenment. I shall ridicule Microsoftites at every turn (I won’t bother with Macosians, since they’re so horrifically self-deluded it’s almost terrifying), and with my comrades emphasise the inadequacies of their religion, while expounding the freedoms we enjoy. I shall convert blaspheming, idolatrous infidels en masse, spreading the message of “Humanity to others“ to the ignorant and morally wretched.

If you want to find more about the road to Truth and Freedom, you can go to the church’s official site, or better yet visit the portal to the mind of my “maker”, the one who baptised me into the ways of Ubuntu. He is a man of great intellect and inscrutable character, which you can obviously tell from the fact that his name is also Frank (although, admittedly, with the grip the Microsoft Empire has on the web, he could be using an alias to avoid persecution, but in that case he has proved himself even more awesome by choosing that name).

Oh, and by the way, my ultimate god, Cthulhu, has no problem with all of this. In fact, he’s quite fine with it, especially since he’s sort of busy lying dead but dreaming in sunken R’lyeh. And, if you want to get technical, he’s more of a massive and horrendous alien with powers far beyond our understanding than a god, and actually he’s the high priest to the Elder Gods (but godlike enough for most of us mere mortals). He telepathically communicated to me simply that I should have a shiny black plastic, white-on-black theme for my desktop, and grab a kickass picture of him for my wallpaper.

Celebrating its 8th year, the Pantheon International Xperimental Film & Animation Festival continues to pioneer within the experimental scene of Cyprus, while the Pantheon Cultural Association in Nicosia strives to enforce its annual festival into a globally well established entity which will continue to keep standards and a niche to those interested in the field. The 8th edition of the festival was embraced by 136 artists and runs for two days, November 27 and 28, at the Pantheon Gallery and Pantheon Tritos on the third floor.
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Trevi Fountain

Day 2 – Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Stairs and a little shopping (23/10/2009)

From the Spanish Steps you can walk towards Piazza Navona, you will come across Nicola Salvi’s  Trevi Fountain, toss a coin to ensure your return to Rome  which of course I did, you just have to, while adding to the collection of those who wait till late night or early dawn to fish them out ( it is illegal by the way but what is there to stop them from doing it). The precise tradition calls for one to throw the coin over one’s left shoulder while standing with one’s back to the Trevi Fountain.

The Dome in Pantheon

Pantheon - a pagan temple but now a church houses the tomb of Raphael is an engineering feat especially the dome. The gray dome measures 43 m in diameter and 43 m in height. Apparently one of a kind – designwise in the world.  The centre of this dome has an opening, called the oculus. The oculus prevents the building from collapsing under her weight and to let light in. It is believed that the circle and square forms repeated all over the Pantheon was inspired by the ancient architect Vitruvius’s notion that squares and circles were the spaces the human body most naturally occupies when his limbs are extended. In turn, over 1 000 years later, Leonardo da Vinci turned this concept into his famous drawing of the Vitruvian Man.

Spanish Steps – this is where the shopping happens. Around Spanish Steps, stretching accross and around the area you will find shops for all pockets. As you move towards Piazza Del Popolo, the shops do get more expensive. The other area I like for shopping is around Piazza Navona, here you find kitchy boutiques rather than your mainstream highstreet fashion labels.

Eating suggestions - many places around Piazza Del Fiori (about 15 mins walk from Piazza Navona north west) or Maccheroni between Piazza Navona and Piazza Montecitero. There is also Cafe Fandango, at Piazza di Pietra close by the Pantheon - a cinema/cultural venue but also for good eats especially for lunch and Giolitti for an excellent gelato or dolce and coffee. When in Rome, you must try either the Tripa (tripe) or Maccheroni Cacio e Pepe (thick spaghetti tossed in pecorino cheese and black pepper) and fyi, the Carbonara’s home is Rome.

I said this before and I will say it again – “Rome was not built in a day, so it was not possible to see Rome in 3 days either!” Essentially Rome for 3 days was possible but you have not seen her properly. If you are rushed for time, like we were and you have only got 3 days – you have to plan your time and sights carefully!

Hotel – through last minute.com we found a 5 star hotel (Hotel Aldrovandi Palace, by Borghesse park in the quiet and affluent neighbourhood of Parioli) with a decent deal, where you stay 4 nights you get one night free. So on an average night it came out to be about €210 per night including taxes and breakfast. The hotel’s location although a little far from downtown where the action and sights were, is still alright. We had a car with us and the hotel has its own parking complimentary for hotel guests and that was mainly the deciding factor. The hotel provided free shuttle bus ride to the Spanish Steps each day every 30 mins. Driving in downtown Rome can be rather nail biting especially if you are unfamiliar with the roads. Smart cars everywhere , they are worse than the scooters/mopeds. Decision made, hotel was ok for our needs.

Verdict: By the way it also has the 1 michelin starred restaurant called ‘Baby’.  The hotel room is of a good size, clean and comfortable. The breakfast buffet was good.

Day 1 – Vatican City (22/10/2009)

I wasn’t sure if there will be long queues for the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel – it is October after all, but I did not want to take the chance as we were on a tight schedule, I bought the admission tickets online (€28 ticket + €8 booking fee for 2 adults) through the official vatican website http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html . As it turned out, on the day itself, the queues were not bad – probably a 15 minute wait all in all. So you could take the chance and come and queue up instead of buying them beforehand. I read that it is alright to do so if you are visiting on Tue-Thurs, but for Fri, Sat and Mon, the queues can be longer and crazier.

Some guidebooks say you will spend at least 3 hours , you can easily max out to 6-8 hours. We spent 6 hours plus a little more. So I suggest to make it a full day trip to the Vatican if you want to savour and really enjoy the Vatican’s art collection to your heart’s content. Although there are cafes in there, it may also be wise to bring some little snacks with you as we forgot to eat! Hahaha – yes but then suddenly we were starving, late in the afternoon – luckily we had muesli bars with us. We happily ate them and when our blood sugar level was up to normal again, we were refreshed and could continue on.

Here are some of the fantastic art pieces awaiting you especially by the Renaissance masters.

Laocoon, 1st AD – studied by Michelangelo the human form and copied them inthe Sistine Chapel frescoes

Raphael’s Transfiguration in Pinacoteca

The ceiling of The Map Room ( I was most fascinated by it) . Coordinated by Giralomo Muziano and Cesare Nebbia, together with a large group of artists, they made the ceiling frescoes. The decoration depicts a series of 80 episodes taken from the history of the Church and the lives of the Saints ; each episode is linked geographically to the region represented below it on the walls.

The Last Judgement by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. If you look at the bottom right hand corner, you will see a man with his genitals bitten by the snake, that is  Biagio , a contemporary of Michelangelo who complained that there were too much nudity in the Sistine Chapel and insisted that these exposed parts should be painted over. Tongue in cheek, and fed up with Biagio’s complaints, Michelangelo painted Biagio with the snake mouth covering his private parts!

We ended the tour by entering the St Peter’s Basilica – impressive as it is, the church itself besides the size and the grandeur, is an art piece herself! I went over to rub St Peter’s foot as it is believed that the Catholic pilgrims rub his foot to give thanks for having arrived in Rome safely. As a show of respect too, I went over and continued that tradition.

Here you can also see the humongous work of Bernini – the Baldacchino – a baroque canopy , which marks the holiest part of the basilica. Under it is the papal altar, where only the pope may celebrate Mass and straight beneath that is the site of St. Peter’s tomb.

Beneath the Baldacchino, my attempt to take a photo of the papal altar…

Also in St Peter’s basilica, you must not miss Michelangelo’s Pieta – he made this when he was 23 yrs of age – you can see why he was one of the best in his time.

By the time we finished with the Vatican city (we started at 11am), it was already 1745hr.  We headed back to the city – towards Piazza Navona . We had dinner at a charming but small vinoteca called Mimi e Coco on Via del Governo Vecchio, 72 (close to Piazza Navona).

NB: Keep in mind many proper restaurants are opened late, from 7.30pm onwards. Quite likely places that are opened all the day long are very touristy and Rome restauranteurs (the more scrupulous ones) are known to also cheat tourists.. so just keep your eyes and wits around you when ordering making sure you ask the price for what you order if they are not stated in the menu.

Jeg er nettopp tilbake etter 3 fine dager i Roma. Her har jeg samlet noen tips som jeg håper andre også vil ha glede av.

Hotell:

Hotel Adriano er et sjarmerende og fint oppusset hotel bare noen få hundre meter fra Pantheon. Hotellet passer både i kategoriene Hip hotels, Shabby Chic og designhotell. Rommene er moderne, romslige og har det du trenger av fasiliteter.

Hotel Adriano

Ønsker du mer luksus, ligger Grand Hotel de la Minerve også like ved Pantheon. Enten du velger å bo der eller ei er takterrassen verdt et besøk.

Pantheon

Restauranter:

Det er selvfølgelig krevende å trekke frem noen få spisesteder fra en så matglad by som Roma. Følgende er uansett verdt et besøk.

- Like ved hovedgaten – Corso – finner du Gusto. Dette er et deilig sted å spise lunsj. På gode dager, og det erkan man jo oppleve langt utover høsten i Roma, bør du absolutt sitte ute.

- I den fantastiske hagen til Hotel de Russie spiser du det som utvilsomt er en av Romas beste lunsjer. Planlegg god tid og lite krevende program etter lunsj, for dette besøket setter spor. Nydelig!!!

- Ønsker du deg et uformelt sted å spise middag, men med mat og vin i toppklasse kan jeg anbefale Wine Time.

Hotel de Russie

22 October, Thursday.

Bit Lit in the morning, then met Caitlin K. after printing my boarding passes for Barcelona. We stopped along the way at a delicious Panini place and ate our sandwiches under the shelter of an arched doorway near Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, the church were we were meant to meet Conty for class. It was raining the whole way, and still drizzling as Conty quickly showed us the outside before we sought shelter indoors. Though small, the church is very pretty, and has a Bernini elephant with an obelisk outside. It is Rome’s only Gothic church, its true nature belied by the blank Romanesque façade covering the outside, even hiding the rose windows behind uncolored glass. Inside the style is unmistakably gothic, with blue ceilings peppered with gold stars, rose windows, and high vaulted ceilings, but with Corinthian columns and marble flooring to add a touch of Roman style. She paid the fifty euro cents to illuminate one of the prettiest chapels for us, where a cruel and old Inquisitor is buried, and then we walked by the altar where St. Catherine’s body lays, her head being in her church in Siena. We were even able to go into her Period room in the back, where the walls from her death chamber are kept. We talked also of a beautifully sculpted statue of Christ by Michelangelo near the altar, which the Church, scandalized by its muscular body and nudity, altered for a more sheltered audience with a twisted shawl of bronze.

After, I talked with Katie C. for a while and then met Matt by the Pantheon, which we did a quick spin around before spending a little time in a cool occult bookstore, which I would have raided if most of the books had not been in Italian. Then we hit Piazza Navona, Matt’s favorite place, for Tartufo, delicious and deadly balls of gelato frozen in a chocolate shell. I took him to my favorite place, the Trevi Fountain, after, and we sat there for a while before hitting the Spanish Steps briskly and then heading home. We met Genie, Marcelo, Katie C., Katie’s twin friends, and picked up Roberto on the way for our dinner trip to Mezza Luna. We met Genie’s four friends at Termini and then headed to the restaurant, which seemed to take, at least to our starving stomachs, an eternity on the slow bus. But we made it there and shared a few plates of Mezze Lune, delicious pizzas, and wine. On the way back, we stopped for a moment at what we decided was too weird a club for us, then talked and had drinks at the Yellow bar. Katie and the twins left early. Genie, Matt, Marcelo, and Roberto and I hit the Metro just after it stopped running, and were forced to take a combination of buses back home. We waited forever for the n6 bus at Largo Argentina, and Genie took to doing a bus dance, which consisted of a unique dance and accompanying song that expressed the current number of minutes left before the bus was scheduled to arrive. At last, it came to take us home.