I love little hidden urban green spaces, the wilder the better. And Berlin was full of these.
Category: nature finds a way
In the Atocha train station in Madrid, we found the platform that leads to Jumanji.
Lousy photo of the lobby of the Aria. . . If you wanna stay in a greenie weenie resort, this one is for you. . . LEED certified. Awesome plant displays. Totally different vibe than the other mega complexes. Oh, sure, it’s got a mall and a casino. But extra power is drawn off the slot machines to help air condition the building. So every time you gamble, you’re saving the planet!
Here’s a lousy photo of a bunny at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. See em? I didn’t want to get too close, because that’s the most cruel, foul, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!
Back when I worked for the USGS Water Resources Division, I often visited the RMA to help maintain computers used by the hydrologists studying the ground water. That’s when the RMA wasn’t a nature reserve, but a Superfund Site where the army had manufactured cruel, foul, and bad-tempered chemicals like mustard gas and napalm. Love the transformation!
in Badajoz, Spain, old castles are being turned into public parks. . .
on our bike ride we saw lots of structures from various civilizations, abandoned and being reincorporated into nature. . .
My wife visited NYC and strolled down the High Line, so I thought I’d show her pics.
First, I LOVE THE HIGH LINE. It may be my favorite park in the universe. The High Line isn’t just an urban park. Nor is it an attempt at rewilding. Nor is it simply a simulacrum. It’s fake nature at its finest. Building a park on an abandoned train platform alleviates all kinds of concerns. You don’t have to sculpt the surroundings to appear more embedded in “nature.” There’s no native wildlife that you have to protect. There’s no worry about invasive species. You can have fake pink trees! In one section they artfully reassembled train tracks to remember the park’s grimy past, and why not? And I love the signs telling people to be “mindful.” Visitors should be aware that the High Line is a meditative, restorative, faux nature experience. Bravo!
Preserving Ruins at Pompeii (including the famous franken-vessel).
It was the mischievous monk Dominic Benedicto San De Carbunkle who first decided to grow weeds on the steeple of the 13th century church, Santa Maria Del Carmine…
Support beams at Square Tower.
There is something quixotic (oxymoronic?) about preserving ruins. Especially sandstone ruins, patched with clay and mud, and built below large sandstone cliffs. Everything is moving. Everything is collapsing. The mesa is a great sand-filled wave, cresting in slow motion. And if you sit still, you can watch it roll.