P-R-O-V-E-N-C-E

P is for Provence..
R is for remnants of the romans, massive aqueducts, bridges, river casements, arenas, and of course tiny romantic villages;

O is for old villages, gripping tightly to hillsides and for olive oil, grassy and fresh;

V is for the Verdon, a spectacular gorge plummeting some 2000 feet and the vertigo we felt sneaking a peak over, and the stunning views everywhere;

E is for endless blue skies and 35 degree days;

N is for narrow country roads and near misses with crazy french drivers;

C is for colours of ochre, lavendar, olive groves, green vineyards and sunflowers;

E is for enrichment of spirit from time spent in a little piece of paradise...Provence.

It was wonderful to have good friends visit recently, and we thought nothing of picniccing in the sun under the ruins of an old fortress.  But the more I see, the more I contemplate how things were when these castles were built.   Now we cross borders with no barriers, buy food from all over the globe, share a currency with 16 other countries, share a city with immigrants from at least 20 countries, fly home to NZ in about 32 hours, and watch wars on TV in places far from here. 

A thousand years ago, and up to just a hundred years ago, it was very different. They chose high places to build fortified look-outs and houses; Strategically the best are on steep sided hilltops, with a river running around the base of the hill and 360 degree views to identify any approaches.  They built massive walls, high towers, moats, huge gates and drawbridges. They had weapons to protect themselves from what must have been very real enemies.  They made tunnels hewn into the rock to allow safe passage, while also allowing large outdoor areas for recreation within their walls.

Some were military outposts where a whole community lived within the walls. Others were more like fortified houses for the gentry.   The main similarity between then and now is the value of the views which are incredible every time.  But instead of picture windows and hard-wiring the whole house for electronics and communications, the focus was on walls with built-in cannons and watchtowers, hidden passages and protection. 

I think about the people that lived in these places and how different their lives were to ours.   Its a natural jump to think about the people in the world today that still live in a place of fear and oppression, mostly without a castle to hide in.  

spring review

Spring has arrived with its spectacular display of blossom trees, and the excited chatter of birds that have found new supplies of nectar and insects. The wardrobe changeover has occurred, and I am wondering where to store all the winter jackets for 6 months.

I've been reflecting on the dramatically different four seasons that we have experienced in Luxembourg and how there is always something to look forward to. Maybe that is why they like to celebrate each season with some kind of fair. The latest was the May Fest - mostly a chance to eat and drink local specialities and buy trinkets.


Spring also seems like a good time to reflect on the books I've been reading. A few years ago I made a rule for myself that for every fictional story, I would read at least one work of non-fiction. We brought a few books with us and when we arrived here, the previous tenants had left a whole case of books for us, which was thoughful as it is not easy to buy books in english here (Amazon UK is our best source). So here are my views on few that I have read since we arrived:

Alpha Beta by John Man

An average read, with some interesting info on where the modern alphabet came from (the Etruscans in Italy)

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
This was a book that Phil read years ago, and his recommendation to read it was a good one. I really enjoyed this story about Galileo's life, with personal insights largely taken from letters between him and his daughter who was cloistered in a convent. We have just been watching a documentary on the inquisition, and combined with our travels, we are starting to understand the deep links between politics, science and religion in Europe. Galileo was censured for suggesting that the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around....

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

This was one off the shelf, and surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. The context was the revolution in Iran. A group of women meet secretly with a female professor to discuss books, and also their lives affected by the revolution. I am no literary buff, but I think I learned a thing or two about literature, as well as about people living under restraint and persecution.

The Man who loved China by Simon Winchester

This guy writes good books. This one is the biography of an english scientist, Joseph Needham, who passionately decided to document all he could about the history of science and technology in China. Both interesting and enjoyable.

Married to a Bedouin by Marguerite Van Geldermalsen.

This was a delightful book written by a dutch/NZ woman who fell in love while visiting the village of Petra in Jordan. She married a Bedouin and moved into his cave. It was a fascinating true story that reminded me of some of the rougher experiences I have had in less developed countries, and that people are cut from all kinds of different cloths.

On the fiction side of the list, I've tried out a number of new novelists from the book shelf including Faye and Jonathan Kellerman, MaryHiggins Clark, Dean Kootz and Lee Child. All of these are quite readable, but I quite fancy Daniel Silva and read his 'Moscow Rules' last year.

I'm always open to good book recommendations, so please let me know if you have any!

Great impressions

Apart from the crowds, what we saw of Italy in 12 days made a marked impression on us. The more we see of Europe, the more we think in terms of history and how it shapes and changes nations. In NZ and Australia, there is space, quietness, and vast swathes of natural beauty, but the history is short and recent. In Europe one can easily feel surrounded by buildings and monuments and art that testify to great nations of the past and present. Many of the structures, both ancient and new, are HUGE. They can't help but make an impression.

In Italy, the emphasis on man made beauty, and the historical links between religion and the state and culture are inescapable. The Pantheon (above) which was built as a temple to all gods almost 2000 years ago, is now a Catholic church with crosses and statues of saints adorning the walls. The marble once lining the colosseum (below) was 'quarried' during the construction of St Peter's Basilica. The gold in the mosaics smothering the walls of St Marks in Venice was booty from the sacking of Constantinople.

It seems that the walls of every catholic church are lined with magnificent works of art, mostly commissioned by the Vatican. The emphasis on beauty was an attempt to bring heaven and earth closer together. On a practical level, the paintings, statues and later stained glass windows were used to tell the christian story to the illiterate masses.

The last note is on water. Cities built around or on water need bridges. We saw a few.

crowded out

This was our Easter vacation in Venice....

Florence....

Rome...

and Milan...

I think half of Italy was there with us, along with a few Americans and Spaniards!

We do have pics without people, and I'll get around to posting a few of those soon.

feasting on Prague

Last weekend Phil had a course to attend in the famed city of Prague, which even Hitler thought worthy of saving from Nazi bombs, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to check it out.

Many people talk about the Charles bridge and the view. But to me, Prague is all about the buildings; it is a lesson in 100o years of architecture as the styles change from Romanesque to Gothic, Renaissaince, Baroque to Roccoco. Grand churches (lots of churches and synagogues), public buildings, housing. Seeing all these styles juxtaposed against each other is like a five course feast of design and masonry. It speaks of grand ideas and the bold people that executed them. And beyond the engineering developments, it reflects beliefs and attitudes about what was appropriate and what was beauty - from the simple Romanesque, to the hard and austere Gothic to the lavishly ornate Baroque.

While it was a delight to savour the city, the almost inescapable throng of tourists who were trying to do the same left a somewhat bitter taste. At times it was almost comical to see the herds of people wandering the streets, following the point of an unopened umbrella, and crowding the pavements to hear a few facts that I read in a guide book. The streets are of course cobbled, and most show signs of a million footsteps, and require very sensible footwear to negotiate the ups and downs. But in other places, new cobbles were being laid, ironically to please the tourists and ensure their sore feet.

Sunday 21 March was the equinox, or the day when the times between sunrise and sunset are equal. So there was a spring market set up in the main square, with trees festooned in silk blossoms and streamers, and hand painted egg shells for sale amongst other things. They do like to find excuses to celebrate things in this part of the world. We had been told that Prague was cheap, but that depends on your point of reference. In comparison with Western Europe it is cheap, but so is NZ.