Back in early October, I posted a story about German freelance photographer Sebastian Erras’ project Parisian Floors which documented his peregrinations around the French capital. Now he’s at it again, but in Venice. Based on these beautiful images, it appears that he wandered widely and captured some amazing floors. I think that I have a few of the same photos in my own archives from my early trips to the city, including the one above in Café Florian on Piazza San Marco.
As if we didn’t have enough reasons to visit Japan, now they have this stuff. The Japanese brand Bourbon has brilliantly taken the cheese slice concept and applied it to chocolate. The malleable slices present endless eating possibilities for chocoholics. On crepes, fruit, toast, the options are almost endless. All that I want to know, is when they will be marketing this product in North America.
Dogfish Head is one of our best regional craft brewing companies. Now the microbrewery’s founder Sam Calagione has branched out in an entirely unexpected direction. The former college English major turned brewer has launched a print magazine called Pallet. The quarterly, which will not be available in any digital formats, will have plenty of stories about adult beverages, but will be wide-ranging with lots of features on travel, literature, music, architecture, and culture, as well as short fiction pieces.
Pallet can be found in the U.S. at indie bookstores, Whole Foods, beer outlets and on line at the website All Things Pallet. Individual issues are priced at $14.95 and annual subscriptions are $55.
The University of Southern California’s Rossier Graduate School of education created this “Best Books of the 21st Century” infographic. I’ve got some personal quibbles with the selections. What do you think ?
Since moving to the Big Apple, illustrator Nathan Pyle has been sharing his growing insider knowledge of NYC cultural norms and quirks with his ongoing NYC Basic Tips & Etiquette project and book. Pyle’s insightful tips cover everything from taxis, avoiding scams, NYC geography, sidewalk tangos, riding the subways, and much more. You can follow Pyle’s daily updates on Facebook and his website.
Brooklyn-based artist/designer Kelli Anderson has created an amazing little pop-up book that transforms into a working camera. This Book Is A Camera is a brilliantly designed camera obscura that is packaged as a book that comes complete with B&W Ilford film paper, instructions, developing tips, and lightproof bag. The book is a clever demonstration of the intersection of design, function and science. What a great gift for kids of all ages. It’s available for just $29 at Anderson’s website.
Since 1999, the Canadian Pacific Railway has celebrated the holidays with a special decorated train that visits communities around Canada and the United States. The 1,000 foot long, 14 car train is decorated with hundreds of thousands of multicolor LED lights. Along with seasonal cheer, the Holiday Train has a greater purpose; it collects cash and food donations for local food banks and pantries along its route. Over the years, the train has raised more than CAD $10.6 million and collected more than 3.3 million pounds of food. Check the website to see if the Holiday Train is coming your way.
Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto has been freely available in most countries for decades, but for the first time since World War II Mein Kampf will be legally published in Germany. The book, which will include 3,500 scholarly annotations, will be available as a two volume set totaling 1,948 pages, and it will be released to bookstores on January 8, 2016.
Published by the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, the first run of Hitler, Mein Kampf. A Critical Edition will be just 4,000 copies, with a retail price of €59. Coincidently, the book’s copyright enters the public domain on January 1, 2016.
We have recently seen the clever annotation of maps for the London Underground and the New York City subway system that indicate walking times between transit stations. Now, Paris transit planner Guillaume Martinetti has created a similar map using information from RATP and Google Maps walking predictor function. Based on this unofficial map, it appears possible to spend as little time as three minutes walking between some central Paris Metro stations. A great way to save on your travel budget, spend more time experiencing the city, and getting some exercise to boot.
Travel Between The Pages 