Wien (Vienna)

After spending one night in Roma after the Pre-PWC competition in Poggio Bustone, I explored for a day in Wien before continuing on to Budapest for my 7am flight back to the United States. After a short ride on the metra from the train station, I exited at Stephansplatz, home of the amazing Stephansdom Cathedral.




This Romanesque and Gothic Cathedral is one of the tallest churches in the world and has numerous catacombs and crypts. I have never been in a building or church this ornament.

Poggio Bustone

The Pre-PWC paragliding competition in Poggio Bustone from Sept. 6-9 was the final event of my summer in Europe. The first two days were blown out, but we had excellent conditions for the last two days. This area of Italy has numerous flying sites and I look forward to flying again in Italy, actually anywhere in Europe!








Eike brought this crazy hydroplaning device called an Aqua Skipper and we headed to the lake to pass the time on one of the canceled days.

Roma in 2D

This post illustrates my fascination of 2D artwork in floors, structures and other objects that caught my eye in and around Rome.









There was a brilliant series of early maps on paper and also tapestries in the Vatican on display.

Città del Vaticano & Cappella Sistina

Drivers in Roma all seem to be crazy, and this is true as well for those on mopeds, buzzing around the city at all hours.



I would love to be able to lay down in the Sistine Chapel and absorb the fresco's alone, without the hundreds of others crowding around making noise. Is this possible?





The Vatican had countless rooms of art, mostly paintings and marble sculptures, but also many books, manuscripts, and early maps. Some of these 2D objects are in my Roma 2D post, where my eye was drawn to artwork in all places, often time amazing marble work in the floor.

Basilica de San Pedro

I explored the Basilica de San Pedro, something I had only seen in photographs before, and as usual, a photo often only suggests the intensity and grandeur of something.





After exploring and absorbing this amazing structure I returned outside to a drizzle of rain, the streets had cleared and I was nearly alone in St. Peter's Square.

Roma

Ogni desiderio di bene e felicità è per ciascuno il grandissimo e insidioso Amore.
(..) L'amore è desiderio di possedere il bene per sempre.
Platone, II Simposio, XXIV

Every desire for good and happiness is for each person a very great and insidious Love.
(..) Love is the desire to posses what is good for ever.
Plato, Symposium, XXIV



(Venus) quickly sent for her son,
that winged and headstrong boy who,
with his bad character and his disdain for law and order,
goes running about at night through other folk's houses armed with flames and arrows, ruining everyone's marriages,
and commits the most shameful acts with impunity and accomplishes absolutely no good.
Apeleius, The Metamorphoses, IV



Ho le ali leggere e volo sull'Olimpo, grazie a Eros: non vuole, quel ragazzo, passare insieme a me la giovinezza?
Anacreonte

See, I fly up on light wings to Olympus in search of Love; for does not the boy wish to enjoy the fun of youth with me?
Anacreon



Eros che stempra ancora mi sconvolge dolce amaro, serpente irrimediabile
Saffo

Once again Love drives me on, that loosener of limbs, bittersweet creature against which nothing can be done
Sappho



Let's drink! Why are we waiting for the lamps?
Only an inch of daylight's left.
Lift down the large cups, my friend, the painted ones;
for the wine was given to men by the son of Semele and Zeus to help them forget their troubles.
Mix one part of water to two of wine, pour it in up to the brim, and let one cup push the other along...
Alceus




Scuote l'anima mia Eros,
come vento
sul monte
che irrompe
entro le querce
Saffo

Now shakes my soul,
a wind
on the mountain
overwhelming
the oaks
Sappho

France

Greg and I spent the past week in Southern France, first flying a site near Nice then heading slightly north to Saint André Les Alps.






Next we flew Saint Vincent Les Forts.






The last site we flew was Montagne de Chabre.