Cruising Biblical Style

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Last year the blogosphere was all abuzz with reports that Dutchman Johan Huibers was building a replica of Noah’s Ark and that he planned to sail it to London for the Olympics. Well, the Olympics have arrived, but the Ark is still safely docked in the Netherlands.

Huibers may not be setting sail for Great Britain just yet, but he has opened up the Ark to visitors. For the fee of just €12.50 you can tour the massive boat and visit with the builders. The 50 cubit by 30 cubit by 300 cubit vessel is even stocked with life-sized replicas of animals and Noah’s family.

Huibers began his project 20 years ago as an act of faith rather than a response to global warming. Although the Ark may come in handy in the near future. The Ark cost $1.6 million to build, stands four stories high, is longer than an American football field and is more than 30 meters wide. The outer frame of the boat is built of pine, but the vessel itself is actually constructed from old metal barge hulls.

If you’d like to visit, the Ark is berthed in Dordrecht, just a few kilometers southeast of Rotterdam.

Posted in Architecture, Europe, Tourism | 2 Comments

Literature By The Pound

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

When I was in Madrid earlier this year, I visited many antiquarian and secondhand book stores, but some how I missed La Casqueria, Libros al Peso. Situated in the recently renovated Mercado de San Fernando in the up and coming Lavapies neighborhood, the book shop has been getting quite a bit of attention for their policy of selling all of their secondhand book at the flat rate of €10 per kilo. With the Euro hovering near the $1.20 exchange rate, $6 a pound for most titles is a real bargain.

Mercado de San Fernando is located at Calle de Embajadores 41 not far from the Lavapies Metro station.

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aMAZEme London

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Inspired by a mutual love for the work of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, Brazilian artists Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo have created aMAZEme at London’s Southbank Centre. Constructed with more than 250,000 books by dozens of volunteers, the labyrinth, which is shaped in the form of Borges’ fingerprint, invites participants to wander through the installation.

The maze, which will stand until August 26th, can be visited at the aMAZEme Facebook page.

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Fire Rainbow

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

photo from Ken Rotberg, Delray Beach, Florida

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Guarding the Museum

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

I am always intrigued by the urban art “interventions” of the Spanish art performance collective Luzinterruptus. Their latest piece titled “Plastic Garbage Guarding the Museum” is a large scale installation consisting of thousands of multicolored plastic shopping bags inflated with air, internally lit and piled in dumpsters.

The work was commissioned by Winterthur, Switzerland‘s Gewerbemuseum to underscore the environmental impact of Europe’s conspicuous consumption as part of a series called “Oh, Plastiksack!”.

The inauguration of the piece last month included a street party where bag “balloons’ were distributed to be paraded through town.

Posted in Art, Europe, Museums | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Yum, Airline Food

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

If you’re a travel geek, or just a glutton for punishment, you don’t want to miss out on the always entertaining website Airline Meals. Curated for over a decade by an anonymous website designer from Rotterdam, this curiously engaging website offers more than 25,000 photographs of airline meals from more than 600 different air carriers around the world. Along with the intriguing photos, the site also provides information on food in airport lounges, airport restaurant availability, a menu card archive and even behind the scenes reports on international airline catering companies.

Beyond the peculiar food offerings, my favorite aspects of Airline Meals are actually nonfood related. The site also has marvelous archives of historic airline advertisements and aviation related photographs from the 20th century.

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London for Free

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

The brand new free London Official City Guide app for iPhone and Android keeps you up to date with the hottest events, outstanding attractions and the must see recommendations for things to do across London. You can also quickly find free events and places to go, and be the first to know about secret events and London offers with the special alerts. The app also features all of the Mayor of London’s free events throughout this summer like no other, from London’s largest ever free outdoor arts festival to contemporary dance and opera performed in unusual locations across London. You can even follow the free Discovery Trails while strolling along some of London’s most scenic streets

Download the London Official City Guide App now from Google Play or the Apple app store. The London Official City Guide App is brought to you by the Mayor of London.

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Is it Really Worth It ?

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Now that we are immersed in the quadrennial celebration of all things sport, it may be an appropriate moment to stop and examine the true costs of all this hoopla. After seeing exactly what the 2012 Olympic Games is costing London and the British taxpayers, other cities may have second thoughts about bidding on future Olympics. You can certainly build a lot of schools, hospitals, parks, community centers and bridges for $14.6 billion. What would you prefer your tax payments funded ?

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Cities At Night

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

“Cities at night may be one of the most beautiful consequences of humanity”

Between 2002 and 2008, astronaut Don Pettit and his colleagues on the International Space Station took more than 4,000 extraordinary photographic images of the world’s great cities at night. Pettit narrates this amazing video orbital tour of the world starting with the city of Zurich, Switzerland. Who knew that Japanese cities have a signature blue glow when viewed from space, or that Hong Kong looks like a dragon from above.

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Not the Route to the Olympics

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

London has many unique features, but few are aware that it’s the only city in Europe that can boast a railway line for the dead. The little-known London Necropolis Railway was constructed in the mid-19th century by the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company to serve their own Brookwood Cemetery, which is located twenty-five miles from the city in Surrey.

The London Necropolis Railway Station opened in 1854 near London’s famed Waterloo Station. Trains carried both caskets and mourners directly to the cemetery grounds. In the always class-conscious 19th century England, even the cemetery train had First, Second and Third Class carriages for the living and the dead passengers. At Brokwood Cemetery there were even separate stations for Anglicans and non-believers.

In 1900, a new London station was built for the railway of the dead on Westminster Bridge Road. Sadly, the station sustained serious damage during an April 1941 German bombing raid. The historic station was closed and never repaired. Today, the station entrance still stands, but few passersby recognize its significance.

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