Photo of the Day (3-26-08)

by Mike Barish on

The lines, shapes and layers of this shot remind me a bit of a tiny wooden train set my brother received once as a child. It came in a fine mesh gold bag that tied at the top. Along with the train came buildings and simple wooden trees with a shape similar to these. These trees, the real ones, are so perfect and sculpted-looking. There’s promise in the fields…a sense of waiting for the lushness that will set in once spring’s magic happens.

This shot of the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape by Luke Robinson was posted at Gadling’s Flickr photo pool. How is the beginning of spring looking where you are? We’d love to see your shots for a chance at Photo of the Day. Post them in our Gadling group.

Message in a bottle takes a 21-year journey: Mine took less than that

by Jamie Rhein on

Twenty-one years ago, a 4th grader named Emily Hwaung put a message in a plastic bottle and sent it sailing on the ocean near Seattle via a guy with a boat. The bottle was released along with several others as part of a class project. Emily’s bottle was recently picked up in Alaska by Merle Brandell while he was walking his dog in his fishing village town, Nelson Lagoon. Due to his diligent pursuits, Brandell was able to locate Emily, who is now Emily Shih, and well past 4th grade. At age 30, Emily doesn’t remember the bottle project all that much but is tickled her message has come full circle and is not still part of the ocean’s pollution.

The article chronicling this latest bottle-sent /bottle-found story mentions how rare it is for bottles dropped into the ocean to ever be found. This makes me feel even more gleeful about my own experience. The summer after I graduated from undergraduate school I was taking a night ferry from France to Ireland as part of a two-months plus backpacking trip.

After sharing a bottle of wine with fellow travelers, we decided to write a message, seal it in a bottle and send it on a journey. I can’t remember what we wrote–or if we felt guilty throwing a bottle overboard, but I do know that some time later I received a letter from France. A couple had been walking along the beach and found it. I can’t remember which beach or how long it took for the bottle to be found. I’m not even sure where the note is. I did keep it, but with moves and travels, the note is buried in a box somewhere. You’ll just have to trust me that it’s there. I wonder if Emily knows where her 4th grade teacher is. I’m sure the teacher would be thrilled to know that this project did end up with a successful ending despite the other bottles still out there. [via AP]

Paris on a budget: Museums with free admission

by Anna Brones on

In an attempt to make art accessible to everyone, in January, the French government embarked on a 6 month program which opens up several of Paris’ museums free to the public. That means that you have until June 30, 2008 to take advantage of free admission to some of the city’s best museums.

Here are the six museums that are participating:

Musée Guimet – National Museum of Asian Art
Musée Cluny – National Museum of the Middle Ages
Musée des Antiquités Nationales de Saint-Germain-en-Laye – National Museum of Archeology
Musée National de la Renaissance d’Ecouen – Everything from Renaissance sculpture and paintings to furniture
Musée des Arts et Metiers – Houses the collection of the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, which was founded to preserve scientific instruments and inventions
Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace – National Museum of Air and Space

If you are a student, you can also have a pretty complete weekend of Parisian art thanks to the French Ministry of Culture. Four well-known Paris museums are enticing the younger crowd, ages 18-25, with free admission one night a week. This means you can check out the Centre Pompidou (Wednesday nights), the Musée d’Orsay (Thursday nights), the Louvre (Friday nights) and the Musee du Quai Branly (Saturday nights) without spending a penny — except for your Metro ticket.

Eiffel Tower will get an upgrade next year

by Justin Glow on

Next year, in celebration of the Eiffel Tower’s 120-year birthday, the iconic structure will get a temporary, upgraded observation deck made of carbon kevlar.

“Our project will extend the top floor plate of the tower by grafting a high performance carbon Kevlar structure on it. The structure will be temporarily bolted to the slab without requiring any modification of the existing structure. It will expand the usable floor area from 280 m2 to 580m2. The extension is composed of 2 slabs connected to the third floor deck as well as the upper level used as an apartment of Mister Eiffel (a space provided for temporary resting of Gustave Eiffel).”

This is pretty cool, I guess. And what I mean by that is I can’t think of anything snarky to say about it. You win this time, Paris.

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[Via Neatorama]

Sarkozy wants French cuisine on UNESCO World Heritage list

by Anna Brones on

We write a lot about UNESCO World Heritage sites here at Gadling, so I was amused to find out that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is attempting to get French food on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Basically Sarkozy wants to preserve the traditions of French cuisine; in his opinion the UN should protect the right way to prepare classic regional French dishes like foie gras, tarte aux pommes and soufflé.

“We have the best gastronomy in the world — at least from our point of view. We want it to be recognized among world heritage,” Sarkozy said at last month’s Salon de l’Agriculture — the same place that he flipped out and swore at someone.

Sarkozy’s proposal to include la cuisine française as part of UNESCO’s World Heritage list is in response to a two year movement by French chefs who fear that traditional French cuisine is being threatened by the global food industry. I don’t think anyone would dare argue that French cuisine isn’t an integral part of the country’s culture, but France isn’t alone. What about Indian curry, Spanish paella and or German bratwurst? Why should France be the only one to deserve culinary protection?

Not all Frenchies agree with their president however. A food critic at Le Figaro said if French cuisine were to be listed, “opening the door of a restaurant, making a soufflé rise, shelling an oyster, will become part of cultural activity like going to sleep at the opera, yawning at the theater or slumping over James Joyce’s Ulysses.” Interesting.