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June 21, 2008
Just Rome
Rome. I don't like working here--charitably put, work-life balance is totally out of balance in some regions of Italy--but I love being in Rome. You can play all day long in and around the The Forum and Palatine Hill, where antiquities are still being found. You can stroll the City. There's this guy with a shop at the Piazza Navona--2000 years ago the Piazza was a Roman circus (i.e., track) you can still see if you try--who sells me these unique old prints, beautifully framed, that I bought for my father in Cincinnati and my alleged girlfriend in LA. I go to that shop on every trip. The Tiber River is gorgeous and, like the Seine in Paris, steeped in history, and a bit melancholy and mysterious.
Lots--much of it sad and unbearable--happened in western Europe, folks. The rivers remember it all.
Happily, many of the West's great ideas and institutions, including what became English law, were conceived or at least preserved by Rome. And the obvious comparison of Rome to America these days is both daunting and exciting: the Romans were competent if grandiose empire builders who were great "copiers". Rome got most of its better (if unrealized) instincts about government, and its best artistic and traditions, from a different nation. Americans got theirs from Europe--but old Rome's debt was to Greece.
Back to travel. You can't see, experience and "do" Rome on one trip--same thing with New York, London or Paris--and you shouldn't try. Here's what happens when you do. See at The Exploration of Undiscovered Worlds--Or Just Europe and Myself this recent post "Rome" by an anonymous traveler who otherwise seems to know what he/she is doing and just visited Rome and then Paris back-to-back. Our advice: Learn a little more about Rome first, and then "live in it", taking small bites.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2008
China gasoline up 18%.
In a nation where energy prices are controlled, that's a big deal. At Tim Johnson's China Rises blog (McClatchy Newpapers), see "Paying More at China's Gas Pumps".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2008
It's Bloomsday, June 16, 1904--so take a walk.
Joyce Walks. Courtesy of the cosmopolitan, well-traveled (just ask Ruthie) and well-read Ed. of Blawg Review, take a walk on Bloomsday. Try maybe the Paris walk: A Walk in Paris along the route of the Circe Episode of Ulysses.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2008
Bad King John, good King Edward.
London-based Charon QC notes that today, June 15, is an important day for Brits and Yanks alike: the date of Magna Carta Libertatum. King John's negotiation with his rebellious Norman barons occurred in 1215; the Magna Carta established that the king may not levy or collect any taxes, without the consent of his council, a kind of rough first English parliament. It also bolstered the previously-existing idea of the writ of habeas corpus--the "let-me-out" claim against unlawful imprisonment--and afforded rights and procedures to both free and unfree men. An elected parliament replacing the king's council was first instituted in 1265, and it was "upgraded" by Edward I in 1295. This text of the 1297 statute, as amended, is official UK law. Edward I (for us Yanks, that's the same guy who had Mel Gibson killed) made sure that the 1215 agreement stuck with us.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)