Travelling

La Corte Sconta detta Arcana

May 18, 2022June 8, 2022 by Mon

Mon

Besides lush palaces and quiet canals, there are many places in Venice that are wrapped in legends, stories and fantasy. La Corte Botera, or, as Hugo Pratt labelled it in one of the episodes of his Corto Maltese (graphic novel/animation) la Corte Sconta detta Arcana is one of them. In…

A long train ride across Europe

May 7, 2022July 5, 2022 by Mon

Mon

A long train ride started early morning from Heidelberg to Venice with just one change in Innsbruck. After an exciting and very productive trip to Nepal, I returned to a Europe wounded by a war that does not seem to end; a pandemic that is still not over and other…

Malpensa Airport

March 11, 2022May 19, 2022 by Mon

Mon

At Malpensa Airport, torn between the excitement of returning to Nepal for the new research, and the concern of the ongoing destruction and suffering caused by Putin in Ukraine. It's got harder and harder to follow the news. On the train to the airport, various conversations that I overheard were…

Breakfast in Paris

January 28, 2022May 13, 2022 by Mon

Mon

From station to station to station. Besides reading quietly, the rewards of reducing one's carbon footprint when travelling this time included breakfast in Paris! Gare de l'Est is so close to Gare du Nord, where the Eurostar leaves, so plenty of time for a stop in between. Returning to London…

Oxford charm

November 7, 2021May 13, 2022 by Mon

Mon

Lovely little exhibition of the Divina Commedia at the Weston Library in Oxford, from early manuscripts to the manga version. Not tempted to re-read it yet though, after it was a compulsory reading in high school for three years😅 I remember The Inferno with all the tortures was interesting, then…

Post-pandemic long train rides

September 12, 2021May 19, 2022 by Mon

Mon

Long train rides are soothing. Landscapes change slowly and so does their ordinary beauty, making space for the mind to wander and create escapes from the strictures of reality. Mixed pics from across Europe: Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, England.

Roots

September 4, 2021May 19, 2022 by Mon

Mon

A faded photo on a tombstone in a cemetery in Wallonie. On the left, a plaque bearing a miner lamp. On the right, another plaque with a cross. I fill the missing parts in my uncle's photo through recollections of the same photo that my mum has kept on a…

Staycations

June 20, 2021May 19, 2022 by Mon

Mon

"Making the familiar strange", we say in anthropology - looking at known places as if they were new. Not easy, although the emptiness in this post lockdown Venice helps at the moment - at least by removing the masses of tourists from the sight. But another way of doing this…

Still empty, Venice

May 14, 2021May 19, 2022 by Mon

Mon

First trip after the lockdown has started to be lifted, at stages. Now fortunately staying in second homes within the region is allowed. But Venice feels like such a different city. Sadly beautiful: rethinking at the many times I thought the number of tourists should be regulated and reduced while…