For the last 12 years, Svein Ivar Vinnes has been sailing his floating library through Norway’s fjordland. Focusing mainly on children’s books, the Epsos visits at least three small communities each day. Along with books, librarians, and reading specialists,the flytande bibliotek also offers story hours, plays, and other entertainment for villages along the Møre og Romsdal and in Hordaland.
Red Cabins in Reine, Norway
Yesterday I read a depressing article on New York Magazines digital site about the low success rate of “pay-what-you-want” restaurants. Apparently it doesn’t matter if these schemes are designed to support charitable endeavors, or just appeal to the inherent goodness of people. While there are a few high profile projects here in the U.S., such as the Panera restaurant chain’s Panera Cares Cafes, most of this type of restaurant only stay in business for brief periods.
The story reminded me of the wonderful, and very successful, Trust Café that I visited this summer in Amsterdam. Situated in the heart of the Albert Cuypstraat street market in the lively de Pijp neighborhood, Trust is a small, welcoming restaurant with a simple philosophy that encourages visitors to pay what they want or just what they can for their food and beverages. They sum it up with this quote, “The best way to see if you can trust somebody, is to trust them.”
This very neat infographic was created for the British travel agency Pettitts.
Regular visitors to Travel Between The Pages will be aware of my profound appreciation for the work of the Spanish environmental art collective Luzinterruptus. Just a few days ago, they completed their latest installation in Toronto, Canada called Literatura vs Trafico. The river of books, which was composed of more than 10,000 volumes, was created for the city’s Nuit Blanche Festival. Visitors were encouraged to pick one or more of the donated books to take home.
You may recall that Luzinteruptus created similar projects in Melbourne, Madrid, and New York City. Their continuing message remains the same: “We want literature to take over the streets and conquer public spaces, freely offering those passersby a traffic-free place, which for some hours, will succumb to the humble power of the written word.”
Last month, I was lucky enough to spend a crisp Fall morning at Fontana geothermal baths on the shore of Laugarvatn in Iceland. While I was hanging about, I got to sample some pipping hot rugbraud as it was unearthed from its natural oven in the black volcanic sands on the lake shore. The video below, aptly titled “Volcano Bread”, demonstrates the traditional Icelandic method for baking rye bread in an impromptu oven. The film, which just won the Best Short Film award at the New York Film Festival, was actually shot in the village of Laugarvatn at the very same Fontana hot springs baths.
h/t to Guillermo del Toro for his reading list.
I really appreciate travel magazine Flaneur’s singular focus on just one street in a city for each issue. The Berlin-based publication’s latest actually concentrates on a large district this time. Their new issue explores Moscow’s Boulevard Ring in the center of the capital city. The 190 page, 5 chapter edition is packed with stories on writers, artists, photographers, history, and culture. You can read more about the magazine on the website and find a bookshop that carries Flaneur near you.
Last year, Indonesian journalist and filmmaker Muhammad Ridwan Alimuddina decided to to quit the rat race and make a major life change. Inspired by his love of books and a heartfelt commitment to literacy, he built his own traveling catamaran library. Now he sails the remote islands of West Sulawesi on the Perahu Pustaka bringing books to children and adult learners.
You can always get the latest from the inimitable Tom Gauld at his website.
Travel Between The Pages 