Happy is England! I could be content
To see no other verdure than its own;
To feel no other breezes than are blown
Through its tall woods with high romances blent;
Yet do I sometimes feel a languishment
For skies Italian, and an inward groan
To sit upon an Alp as on a throne,
And half forget what world or worldling meant.
Happy is England, sweet her artless daughters:
Enough their simple loveliness for me,
Enough their whitest arms in silence clinging:
Yet do I often warmly burn to see
Beauties of deeper glance, and hear their singing,
And float with them about the summer waters.-John Keats
“Great is this force of memory, exceedingly great, O my God; a large and boundless chamber! Who ever sounded the bottom thereof? Yet is this a power of mine, and belongs unto my nature; nor do I myself comprehend all that I am. Therefore is the mind too limited to contain itself. And where should that be, which it containeth not of itself? Is it outside it, and not within? How then doth it not comprehend itself? A wonderful admiration surprises me. Amazement seizes me. And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by.”
— St. Augustine
On the Dolomite Road. Italy 2009
That’s our rental car there on the bottom left. After driving this road (a 65 mile stretch that passes through the Dolomites in the Italian Alps) I understood where all those car racing video games get their scenery for their “Alpine Drive” or “Mountain Run” courses. The groups of Maseratis and Ferraris zipping past us at 2500 meters added to this effect.
Also spotted along the road:
Plaza de Toros, Mijas
The smallest active bull ring in Spain. Located in the lovely town of Mijas on the Costa del Sol. Photo taken Spring 2009.
Vieux-château de l’Île d’Yeu
I shot this last summer. Even in this state (intentionally demolished by Louis XIV) it still humbly holds its own against the Atlantic, as much a part of this French island coast as the rocks themselves. This rugged old castle inspired Herge in his Adventures of Tintin, The Black Island.
Urban society may seem a modern phenomenon but cities have been around for a lot longer than one might think. Indeed, once nomadic tribes began to settle in one location, they saw that it was good, became fruitful, and multiplied. Decades, centuries and millennia passed while war, climate change and human migration all took their toll. Relatively few ancient cities have managed to survive the test of time. Here are 10 that have not only survived, but continue to thrive.
-Web Urbanist
This photo of the Milan Cathedral was taken by me on a rainy evening about two weeks ago. A building this beautiful can make many a soul proud to be part of the whole of human creativity, as it took almost 600 (1386 - 1965) years to build, starting one hundred years before America was discovered and ending after JFK was assasinated, putting it along with the Koln Cathedral among the some of the longest construction projects in human history. I was struck entirely dumb when I first saw it, arriving late to this city in the pouring rain, tired and with no place to sleep. It doesn’t even fit into your imagination even while you are there looking at it (to steal a concept from Márquez). There is architecture, and then there are works of architecture, rare and unique in the world, astounding achievements that only generations of tremendous human ingenuity, cooperation, and labor — or, exploitation and human fatalities —can obtain. If I had a readership, this is where I would be interested to see what other works of architecture that they’ve seen with their own eyes they would award similar prestige.
HANDSOME DROWNED MEN
I am Esteban, the handsomest drowned man in the world. In life I could draw fish out of the sea simply by calling their names and I put so much work into my land that springs burst forth from among the rocks, so that I was able to plant flowers on the cliffs.
- Enjoy this. Click 'random' to get a new post, or check the archives. Leave a comment or an email at handsomedrownedmen [at] gmail to reach me among the deepest waves, where fish are blind and divers die of nostalgia.
- Lo cierto es que la felicidad no es como dicen, que solo dura un instante y no se sabe que se tuvo sino cuando ya se acabó. La verdad es que dura mientras dure el amor, porque con amor hasta morirse es bueno
