Jewelry, mosaics, glass and sculpture abound at the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne.
The Documenta art fair opens in Kassel in June and runs for 100 days.
A recent addition in Deutsche Welle’s ‘word of the week’ – their word for domestic damage control after ”a few” – Drachenfutter. (e.g., Andy Capp making excuses to Flo after a long night at the pub).
The newest one is the German equivalent of ‘scaredy-cat’ – Angsthase. Cute picture.
From Prague Post – Molson-Coors has plans for Staropramen. such as adding snacks to the end-of-tour beers. Pickled cheese. OK. And that yummy, super-fatty Prague ham!
Here’s the link to the new Visitor Center. Take a virtual tour after you click any birthdate showing you’re old enough.
btw – According to Wikipedia, the drinking age for most of Europe is 18. A couple of countries have two limits, with a higher drinking age for high ABV or hard liquor. Only Iceland has a higher age for all (20). And then there’s the USA. Let’s not talk about that one.
You’ll recognize the cherubs, if nothing else. It’s 500 years since Raphael painted his Madonna and Dresden is celebrating thru August 26th. From Deutsche Welle.
Click on the link for the latest information on travel around London during the Queen’s Jubilee festivities. (Sure, they tell me not to drive into the city, but send me a plane ticket so I can join in the scrum? Not a snowball’s).
I hope any readers who watch the show will send me comments and photos I can post! This may be the last big bash; ya never know.
Only a week after another large quake hit northern Italy, another one strikes in the same area. From France 24.
From France 24. Listing of the events celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee. No beheadings, no abbey destruction; only civilized fun on the official slate. (Who gets to take the leftovers home? Just wondering).
Endless headstones; unfinished lives – Normandy and Luxembourg
From Deutsche Welle – How some of Europe’s airlines are coping with the current economic climate.
From France 24 – A successful long-distance flight by a solar-powered plane. Let’s hope this becomes commercially viable in the next 10 or 15 years. Fingers crossed.
Lots of Tube lines being worked on this weekend. Half will be in effect both days, the others only on Sunday.
The Circle Line between Edgware Rd and Kings X (big pain), Hammersmith/City and Metropolitan will be disrupted on Saturday and Sunday.
Jubilee, Northern and District Line closures only on Sunday, when London Overground will also have some shutdowns.
You can also now get updated London transport info on Twitter. Check out this new link and add to your mobile!
Memorial Day is Monday, May 28th, 2012. It’s a uniquely American holiday and this will be the 144th such observance since the first one in 1865, after our Civil War ended.
A friend emailed me about a recent visit to Ypres, Belgium that included stops at nearby WWI sites. I also visited some of these when I was there in 2009.
Now seems a good time to write an essay on the topic, and I apologize for writing about a European location on the eve of an American holiday that strives to remember all our war dead.
There may no longer be anyone alive who fought in that war, and not many more who lived through it otherwise, but I don’t think it matters which Continue reading
From Deutsche Welle. Aftershocks from the Emilia Romagna earthquake do more damage.
From the Guardian. Cheese warehouses sustain damage from the earthquake.
From the BBC. Photos of earthquake damage.
So now I’m wondering whether I’ll include Bologna on my next trip? If I were younger, I might go to help. Now, though, I’d just be in the way.
From France 24. Alfons Mucha’s heroic-scaled masterpiece, his Slav Epic, has moved to a new home in Prague. Mucha is better known for his Art Nouveau posters, but this collection of 20 paintings was his lifework and Prague was the home he always wanted for it.
Here’s another link with some terrific photos, posted in 2010.
Moravsky Krumlov, where the paintings have lived since 1967 after years in storage, will have to find something else to draw tourists for at least the next five years.
I’m making plans already!
From France 24.
Buckingham Palace, which usually opens to the public in July or August, will open for a week at the end of June this year, close for a few weeks, then reopen from the end of July thru the first week of October. Jewels on display.
From France 24. A flotilla of hundreds of different boats will sail down the Thames on June 2nd for the Queen’s Jubilee. The Queen’s barge (sounds like something out of Cleopatra, doesn’t it?) will include William and Kate. Isn’t that nice.
Virgin Atlantic will begin allowing passengers’ use of their cell phones in the air. My opinion: they need to charge more than they are planning and make texting free – else there could be a new category of air rage.
Prague Spring Music Festival continuing this month.
The train to Versailles from Paris has added a stylish option. From France 24.
A new Daniel Buren art exhibition at Paris’s Grand Palais. From France 24.
This weekend’s Tube closures are minimal. The only Tube closure is on the Central Line between Marble Arch and Liverpool Street. And while a major headache, at least there are plenty of alternate lines to get around the mess.
There are also disruptions on London Overground to the east and west of central London.
Beer and wellies at the Muddy Duck. From Oxford Mail.
From Deutsche Welle. Berliners are coming back to beer.
From Deutsche Welle. Effective July 1, a new cap for cross-border roaming charges goes into effect.
Leipzig’s view of graffiti as art. From Deutsche Welle.
Reblogged from work.failblog.org (odd name for a blog) et al – Dutch help for men
Amsterdam’s Van Gogh museum has acquired another Van Gogh long held privately. From Dutch News.
OK, so I probably will never make use of this piece of info. Still… an interesting look at how wedding traditions, even food, are changing in the Czech Republic. From Prague Post. Helpful note… svíčková, is roast beef with creamy vegetable sauce, served with dumplings. Yumm.
In current news – the Czech Beer festival in Prague runs from May 17 thru June 2.
And Prague’s main shopping drag, the so-called Golden Triangle area, is hotter than the same areas in other Eastern European capitals. Grab your credit card.
Here are this weekend’s Tube closures. The biggest disruption in central London is the Central Line closure, extending east beginning at Marble Arch.
Partial closures on the Bakerloo, Metropolitan and Northern lines are also scheduled, as well as some Overground, Tramlink and Docklands service.
Here is a link to the Planned Works calendar through mid-July, when all Tube line maintenance will be suspended for the Olympics weeks, save on the Waterloo and City line. In theory, at any rate.
Touring the Dutch coast in Zeeland. From London Independent.
Be careful of ‘tourist prices‘. From London Independent’s Simon Calder.
BMI gets gobbled up by British Airways; Virgin loses out (Rats!). Other BMI subsidiaries in limbo. From London Independent.
From Dutch News – finding homes for art and sacred property when churches close. Watch the video to see some stunning religious ‘graffiti’ being applied to a church interior in Barcelona. It’s at about the 2 minute mark.
Ancient art – new research confirms the age of France’s oldest cave paintings; older than Lascuax! From France 24.
Pollution measures may change booze cruise practices and boost prices in Europe. From the London Independent.
Recently, heavy rains flooded Worcester, England, among other places. Not good news for locals or visitors, but I was entranced by the photos that accompanied this item from London Independent.
From Prague Post. A look at Samos, Greece.
Some travel ideas from London Independent…
– Gomera, the ‘forgotten’ Canary Island;
– a look at Guernica/Gernika, the Picasso artwork and the Basque town today
SuzanneTheTravelMagpie 