Dubai – Dawdling and Haemorrhaging Money

February 4, 2015 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | Restaurants, TRAVEL, Ulalume |

The view from The Atlantis

2013 Wandering in foreign countries seems such a luxurious waste that it would shame P, as a working member of the idle poor.  Yet here we are, en route to Rome, stopping for a night in Dubai, described by some as Hell with air-conditioning.  Arriving at 5.30am, we are conducted through an enormous white entry and processing hall, apparently designed by the committee responsible for the repulsive Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. Officials in full Bedu garb loiter as we slowly file past and stare into the passport-face-recognition machines that struggle with asiatic eyes. Our modest hotel in an…

Continue Reading →

Roman Guide – Pierfrancesco Vecchio

January 9, 2015 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | HISTORY, TRAVEL, Ulalume |

If you are new to Rome and can’t stay for more than several months, you would do well to see the Vatican chambers and the Forum Romanum (at least).  Best to do that with a learned guide.  TVC was lucky enough to have Pierfrancesco Vecchio, art historian and archaeologist, from Imago Artis. Francesco, who wears his deep learning lightly and with his trusty tablet at hand, knows just what to cover, what to pass by and he made our experience easy and fun as well as instructive.  Our concierge had recommended him to us and we thank him for that…

Continue Reading →

The Elgin Marbles

January 7, 2015 | Posted by Peter Jakobsen | ART, HISTORY, LIFE, TRAVEL, Ulalume |

Image courtesy Andrew Dunn

‘And so this is Christmas and what have we done?’  Have we been friends of the earth and enemies of the people; open to change and closed to knowledge; fighting for peace and appeasing terror?  Tu se’ pagliaccio! The squabbles over the Elgin marbles continue.  There are many arguments pro and con; some ingenious, some tosh.  Legally, you can paraphrase Mr Gutman from the ‘Maltese Falcon’ and say clear title rests with Pheidias, so how can another claim prevail except by right of possession? The only edifying aspect to squabbles over title is that it reveals a hitherto latent love…

Continue Reading →

The Athenaeum Library – Melbourne

First Floor, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne. Literally a Melbourne Institution, the Athenaeum Library is an oasis among the desert of commerce in the heart of Melbourne, a quiet place to sit, read, reflect.  More power to it!

Continue Reading →

Provence and the Côte D’Azur

(by J McCulloch) The South of France may have slipped down the rankings of getaways for the great and good but it is still a superb region in which to luxuriate. This beautiful guide is not only packed with information; it is packed with the right information, first-hand and canny and laced with photos that are almost better than being there.  

Continue Reading →

© Copyright 2014 The Varnished Culture All Rights Reserved. TVC Disclaimer. Site by KWD&D.