Category: Uncategorized
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‘What place has deeply affected you and why?’
A writing exercise in response to Condé Nast Traveller’s Future Travel 2023 competition (which I only came across after the submission deadline), which asked respondents to answer the question ‘what place has deeply affected you and why?’. There were many contenders for my answer: Colombia – too vast and no specific location; Krakow and Auschwitz –…
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Canary Wharf: a town full of rubber plans
If memory serves, my first encounter with Canary Wharf was via a TV appearance by Radiohead around 1995, Thom Yorke introducing ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ by informing the viewer that “this is a song about Canary Wharf”. It was the beginning of a near-30 year love of Radiohead and a simultaneous cynicism for that sterile corner…
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Thoughts on The White Ribbon
My first non-travel post. Maybe there’ll be others like it, maybe not. Some thoughts on Michael Haneke’s 2009 Palm d’Or winning film ‘The White Ribbon‘ (Das Weiße Band – Eine Deutsche Kindergeschichte), which I first watched at the cinema on its release, but recently revisited with post-Trump/Meloni/Orbán/whoever-on-the-nationalist-populist-right eyes. **Note that this may contain spoilers** “I…
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Bologna: the red and the ragù
When setting out to write about a visit to Bologna, the first decision that English writers are obliged to address is whether to embrace or ignore the standard clichés about Emilia-Romagna’s largest city. I normally detest clichés, but this time find them hard to resist from the get-go: colour, specifically red, is unavoidable here in…
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Ferrara: a tale of two families
On a gorgeous May Saturday, I take the Trenitalia Regionale from Bologna Centrale to Ferrara; an easy and affordable 30 minutes coasting through the verdant Emilia-Romagna countryside, horizon studded with the hallmarks of the region’s agricultural industry: this land is Bologna’s breadbasket, apt given that it is as flat as a piadina. Despite the perfect weather, the…
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Wrocław: it’s pronounced…
Perhaps it was something about Mitteleuropa Wrocław, crossing bridges between its 12 islands to peals of church bells, the golden glow of sunset radiating from those gilded church fronts, a need to describe the autumnal blizzard of oak leaves along the Oder promenade. Or perhaps it was something about where I am right now –…
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Zakopane, Morskie Oko and the High Tatras: mirror to the mountains
“Niedźwiedź?“ the concerned looking lady a few yards ahead of me gasps, brow furrowed, as she turns her head towards her walking partner. I make a mental note to check whether ‘niedźwiedź‘ is Polish for ‘bear’ (it is), as I too had heard what I took for several deep growls projecting from the other side…
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Kraków Parts 1 & 2 and Auschwitz: sanctuary & slaughter
Kraków Part 1 To begin the Kraków installment of Ramblelogue I could rattle through the former Polish capital’s myriad must-sees: its UNESCO World Heritage Site Old Town, Europe’s largest market square, Wawel Castle, the Jewish Quarter, church after church, museum after museum, the gothic-followed-by-the-renaissance-succeeded-by-the-baroque of its architecture. All mightily impressive, all an understandable draw, and all…
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Prague: soprano and spires
“How do you say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in Czech?” I ask the very young-looking barmaid in the pint-sized watering hole at the end of Blanická Street. The answer is ‘prosím‘ and ‘děkuju‘, but it’s what she tells me next that catches my attention. Mariana tells me that she is Ukranian, not Czech, and has…
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The Elbe and the Vltava: Dresden to Prague on the EC177
Promenades and avenues (Europe Endless) Real life and postcard views (Europe endless) Kraftwerk – Europe Endless With the wide meanders of the Elbe rarely more than a football pitch’s width away, the window seat of the 17.10 ‘EC177’ from Dresden Hauptbanhnhof to Praha Hlavni Nadrazi provided both a cinematographic masterpiece and a documentary glimpse into…
