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Genoa is very old and very new. The layout of the city and the famous harbour are said to be fundamentally unchanged since Christopher Columbus was a boy here in the 1440′s. But if you stop and look, you will see modern life at its best thriving, proudly, in Genoa today. Above is the breakfast room at a hotel in Genoa called Palazzo Cicala, which overlooks a very nifty cathedral, San Lorenzo.
If you stepped outside the hotel–and tilted your head a bit–this is what you’d see. Photo from here.
The architect, Renzo Piano still works from his native Genoa, and he has been busy for more than 20 years adding ideas, structures, and life to the city, especially on the old harbour. He designed one of the world’s largest aquariums there, along with a biosphere (above), seen here.
This is a structure/sculpture called Bigo, designed by Mr P to celebrate the hardworking cranes of the Genoan docks that, along with thick-backed shore workers, have loaded and unloaded the world’s heavy goods for a long, long time. One of the arms of the Bigo now lifts tourists above the harbour for a gull’s eye view. Photo above here.
This painting of the harbour, done more than 400 years ago by a man called Grassi, shows the busy-ness of the place back in the age of wooden boats and sails. More here
The above image is of the harbour about a hundred years earlier, around the time that Genoa’s own C. Columbus set out (with Spanish boats and hopes) for America. It shows the fortifications necessary to keep a harbour secure for its customers.
The lighthouse on the left in the above ancient print still stands at the entrance to the Genoa harbour, and people say it’s the oldest anywhere. Its red cross on a white background is the emblem of Genoa and has come to symbolize “help available” all over the place.
This painting of a ceremony that may never have happened is weird and beautiful, from here. It is among the many many treasures of the swell Maritime Museum in Genoa.
Another example of old Genoa meets new Genoa is the street called via Garibaldi (pic above left found here), whose amazing palaces (along with those of an adjacent street) were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. Outside, these buildings tell you a lot about what people fancied in the 1500′s. Like great heavy doors and great scary doorknockers.
They also cared about eye catching colours combined with the kind of craftsmanship we are unlikely to see again. Seen at Wapedia here
Inside, past the (heavy, scary) doors of these places, you might see almost anything (these neat chairs in Palazzo Bianco, photo here)
Silence and solitude and arches gently hued. And this is a public building! Nice image and more from here.
Or you’ll find a swish contemporary furniture store called via garibaldi 12, which is its address. See more
Hungry???
Genoa claims both Pesto sauce and Focaccia as its own, .
And there is seafood in endless variety, some of it spooky, all of it tasty, wherever you turn.
Above, dinner for two, outdoors, in a plain but life filled Genoan piazza, yummy to the end.
Just go, when you get a chance.
and go back often.
Two pics above from here.
If you’ve spent any time around people who fish, you’ve probably noticed that they are a generally a gentle bunch, long on smiles and short on sentences, and very very patient. Among those who fish, those who prefer fly fishing are distinguished by their preference to be in beautiful places while fishing.
This is Austria.
And above is somewhere in Idaho.
This person is fly fishing at night. Somewhere nice.
Look at that scene behind this man: it’s like a calendar. Put on your rubber pants and wade in.
Or just stand in a sunbeam on the rocky shore of a lake in South Dakota. Here
South to Argentina, above, with a flyrod
North to Scotland, on the River Tay, above.
You don’t always need rubber pants to fish, or any pants at all, in Scotland
At the end of the line, these are the flies, the beautiful tiny feather sculptures used to lure the fish. Most are hand made.
The ‘Silver Doctor’ above is a mixed wing full dressed salmon fly. Invented by James Wright, 1850. Wright was an award winning fly tier. So says fish4flies.
Off to Iceland, nice photo seen here
Wading in Canadian waters, above, with a mountainscape you want to kiss.
This above os Elk River, Fernie, BC, Canada (Pic’s by Ravens Eye Photography at the 2009 Canadian National FlyFishing Championships) seen here.
Well, we have to go now. The fish are waiting, and so are some of the most beautiful spots on earth. This one is in New Zealand: Taupo, Nelson & Southland.
Give yourself a treat sometime. Go fish. And if you can, go where the fly fishing is good. It’s probably one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever see.
When’s the last time you had yourself a good old fashioned picnic. Above from here
The thing about a picnic is that it can be for 200 or just 2, as here on a bench in Central Park, NY.
Or you could just go by yourself. From Time Out New York.
This couple is picnicking in, or just beyond, San Francisco.
Still in SF, above shot is a happy crowd in Delores Park, and some are having a picnic.
In times gone by, a picnic was a big event in the life of a family, etched in your memory. Above is a picnic story from Life magazine seen here.
Fancy people like to dress up when they picnic. These are people from Vogue, seen here.
If you go to Paris, you picnic. By the River. Above pic from here.
Still in Paris (why leave?). picnicking with crafty rachel.
But Paris is also black and white, and sometimes a picnic is just a bench and two hungry people. From here.
These people are picnicking in the UAE. Just like it was Pismo Beach. Seen here.
And these didn’t get to where they wanted to go–because of the Icelandic Volcano–so they had a picnic just where they were, at the airport. See here.
Wherever you go, make sure you take your picnic condiment set, OK?
Get that blanket, get that summer novel, make that potato salad, and get on down to your favourite park or beach. A picnic is a wonderful thing, for 25 people, or 2 or 1.
Public markets are great places, no matter where you find them . I think the first I ever visited is the lively one in Seattle, image above from here
The Public Market on the waterfront in Seattle is known as Pike Place Market, and it’s been going for more than 100 years. Image above from here.
In my town, we have several farmer’s markets that show up around the city bringing the freshest, tastiest, most interesting food to hungry and appreciative people on pre-determined days.
And every day of the week, you can go to the Granville Island Public Market, image above, from here
Our market is blessed with a wonderful waterfront location, above, and it attracts, they say some 10 million visitors a year. Which can make it hard to buy a zucchini some days.
Great cities have great public markets, above is in Chicago, on the South side seen here.
And so does Boston, above. This market, known today as Haymarket, is on sacred land where food has been sold and bought, fresh and direct, for more than 200 years. Left image, the start of the day, seen at Boston.com. The nice shot of the fresh Atlantic fish on the right from the swell Boston blog, clueless in Boston, seen here.
The Boston.com piece reminds us: “Haymarket is iconic, but it’s also messy, loud, and funky”.
Markets that evolve naturally–because people who have food to sell want to connect directly with people who need food, i.e. everyone–seem to be the best. Some turn out to be loud and funky, and some turn out to be beautiful, bliss markets. Which brings us to Paris.
Above is Marché Richard Lenoir, image from a nice article in the Guardian here. As the article says: “Every Parisian neighbourhood has its own “marché volant” – a flying
market – where hundreds of food stalls magically appear on a street for one or two mornings each week.”
Many agree that the Sunday Marché Richard Lenoir is in contention for the best in the city of light. Above image of Richard Lenoir found here.
Another contender among Paris markets is Les Enfants Rouges that has its origins in the early 1600′s and is named for a hospice near the site for orphans who wor red uniforms. Image of the Gate here.
Inside Les Enfants Rouges image here.
Above is a photo that reminded me of something else about Paris street markets. They provide more than just food. I went to a food market and chose one tomato to make a sandwich. I held it up and asked, “how much’? The tomato seller, who looked a lot like this guy, waived me away with disdain, saying something like: “take it, I can’t be bothered”, then he smiled a big warm smile that said: “it’s yours my friend”. Image found here
But wonderful as they are, the markets of Paris have competition in other places. In Italy, in Rome, there is Piazza Campo de’ Fiori.
Above image of Campo de Fiori from a couple named Larry and Jill who’ve been there.
And this view, closer, from here. Italian markets would seem to have the right combination of beauty and boistrousness. It is nutrition plus theatre.
OK we’re all hungry, but before we go to the market, consider a couple of other well regarded choices.
The Market in Cusco Peru.
Montreal, Marche Jean Talon.
Mercat de la Boqueria in Barcelona. Above 3 images from here.
Any of us who are lucky enough to have a Public Market nearby should be counting our lucky stars. The food always tastes better, it’s always more interesting–look purple carrots!–and the food is being dispensed by someone who is either the person who grew it or caught it or made it, or someone who knows who that is. And that makes it taste all the better.
If only the stock market were like that.
Friday is the diving board for jumping into the weekend. Time to look ahead to some time off and some serious unwinding, maybe. And for that, you just can’t beat a day at the beach.
Above is Exmouth Resort in Western Australia, a 1 hour 45 minute flight from Perth. And about a day and a half flight from my house. Damn.
This is closer and and more like something real, though these colours are quite unreal.
Above is a photo of Kitsilano Beach in my home town, Vancouver, via the City of Vancouver website, actual colours not exactly as shown. Photo credit City of Vancouver, from here.
THIS, above, is our own Kits Beach, normal colours, thanks to a post at moblog
If you can find a beach near you, and a spot on it, you want to settle in, and you need some food to last the day.
Above picnic at the beach at Lambert’s Cove, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Nice photo by George Howard from here (it’s from an archived post at 9giantsteps.com and doesn’t always connect)
I mentioned in a previous post (Snacks) about the book Portable Feasts, and it has lots of tips for stuff you can take to the beach. Or you could try this.
A picnic on the beach of Nha Trang, Vietnam. From some travelers, posted here.
You might want to try that. There is no shortage of advice to be found about how to DO a picnic at the beach properly. But don’t let it keep you from just getting up and going. Take some bread, some wine, some cheese, maybe mustard, fruit, Que Pasa Blue corn chips, and a beach book, maybe.
This is a nice, simple French portable picnic, for the beach or a train ride. From here.
But if you want to do it up big, I can recommend the clambake.
Pic above from here
Or, if you are only going to do this once, then this might be the set up.
I think the above was for a wedding, although it might have been a town council meeting at a very lucky town.
But it’s not just about eating, right. A day at the beach is also about…watching other people at the beach.
A very health conscious couple. Photo from here.
Nine sisters, guarding the ocean. Photo here.
And a whole family, with all the right stuff and looking great. From here.
Hey, there’s Picasso at the beach. Great photo by Robert Capa.
You notice the most interesting things at the beach happen in black and white.. Choose your beach accordingly.
But all that matters, is that you go, if you possibly can, just go. To the beach.
