Category Archives: City Profiles

Hundertwasser

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In Vienna so popped into see Friedensreich Hundertwasser house – an Austrian artist and architect and whilst not a naturist in the traditional sense of the word he did have a deep appreciation for nature and the environment, which is reflected in his work. Hundertwasser believed that architecture should be in harmony with nature and that buildings should incorporate natural elements such as trees, vegetation, and natural light – there are 10 tenant trees in the house. While Hundertwasser did not espouse the naturist lifestyle, his work was deeply influenced by his reverence for nature and his desire to incorporate it into his art and architecture – plenty of pictures of his bits though 🙂

The Jura Massif and Mr Pasteur

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Rode through the Jura massif yesterday and came across Arbois, a little town in the Burgundy Franche-Comté region. Stumbled across a little garden and there was a memorial to Louis Pasteur who moved to the region as a child and undertook some of his most important work to make both cheese and wine taste a lot nicer… as much as I love both wine and cheese I guess for me it was the discovery of the rabies vaccine that puts him in a landmark position.

Latvia – Where is everyone?

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‘Google’ is a dangerous thing – you really do not want to read the reports of driving habits and accident rates if you are setting off for the Baltic States… Be a “bit more Gary” and just take it all with a pinch of salt. Latvia is my new most favourite State, the main roads are well maintained and empty, other drivers give you room and I learnt a long time ago, as I plod along on the XT660, that if you just signal right and let them pass you they will generally always thank you. Turn off the tarmac and you are met with well graded gravel and hard pack and turn off again and you will get sand. Now I hate riding in sand, the adage of power, power, power (I just hear Clarkson when I say that) works well but falling over solo with 230kg of Yamaha and luggage never appeals. Latvia is a hidden gem, think rural French roads with a Swedish backdrop and there you have it. Give Latvia a chance – I loved it.

Latvia - Where is everyone?

Death-knell for a town

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The beginning of the end for Visaginas started at 01:23 on Saturday 26th April 1986. The death-knell for this town, which was created from virtually nothing by the eastern European USSR economy started with the destruction of reactor 4 at the Chernobyl RBMK Reactor. Originally Visaginas was simply a small collection of houses with a population of a few hundred, that grew to support the construction and operational teams that run Chernobyl’s sister plant at Ignalina. Swollen at its peak to almost 34,000 individuals, the four lane roads, the infrastructure and the support services needed to support working families and the 5000 individuals involved in the operation of the RBMK are now decaying. The present from the power plant to the town in 1975 was a giant granite boulder which symbolised the towns birth on 10th August. Wandering around the abandoned grounds, riding the half closed and empty roads and watching children play in abandoned playgrounds amongst the soviet style concrete block housing was a surreal moment.

The town that died

Mamerki – and as Gareth knows I love a good conspiracy…

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But today I had four. In a bunker, hidden deep in the woods of NE Poland, the site of some secret WW2 activities that, wait for it, included;

  1. The supposed site of the plundered amber room, worth half a billion at today’s prices. All we know is that after the war, the Amber Room was never seen in public again, this compounded by the destruction in 1968 of Königsberg Castle suggests it “has to be out there”.
  2. Die Glocke, which means “The Bell” and according to some researchers, was supposed to be a prototype of a machine for controlling magnetic field and gravitation, enabling the Nazis to journey in time.
  3. The UFO project, where the Germans flew a saucer shaped craft (Haunebu III) to carry 40 troops and fly and Mach 10 in silence. Not surprisingly it was a secret weapon of the Third Reich (Wunderwaffe).
  4. And lastly, a secret subterranean complex for the construction of U Boats that then allowed onward transport via a series of interconnected locks via the Mazurian Canal leading to the Baltic sea and overcoming the 110 meter drop.

All I know is these bunkers are pretty amazing, massive structures that are slowly being reclaimed by nature and won’t be moved in a hurry, and remember as Michael Barkun says, conspiracy theories rely on the view that the universe is governed by design, and embody three principles; nothing happens by accident, nothing is as it seems, and everything is connected.

Mamerki Bunkers