Break from blogging

Hello bloggers, have a nice and sunny Sunday!  ☀️

There is a relationship between the two above pictures, which I took last week in Rome. The second one shows many  tourists who have been gathering Vatican Square since late March. It's easy to see how they enjoy that Rome's landmark. 🇮🇪

In addition, I noticed that some tourists also enjoy Italian milk and coffee with custard on top (1st picture ☕). It's great to see foreign people who enjoy both Italian monuments and Italy's typical food. Some tourists who came form North Europe are still wearing short sleeved clothes, although the weather isn't as temperate as it should in late April. 

A blogger friend from Malaysia, Veronica, two months ago published some posts about Rome after the had gone to Italy on holiday. She enjoyed both Rome's landmarks and Italy's typical food. 🍷

I am taking a break from blogging, as next week I will go to Ireland for six days. Many bloggers and friends of our blogging community would never disappear without a word 😊 ... I will get back blogging next month.

Regards,

G

Thoughts about war in East Europe

 

With regards to the ongoing war in East Europe I think that:

I have never heard that a president, and his wife, of an occupied country have    time to take glamorous photos for a fashion magazine while people and soldiers who live in their country are suffering.

I have never heard of celebrity supporters, such as Mila Kunis, Andrew Garfield and Sarah Jessica, who visit the president of a country engaged in a war against invaders. Since late February 2022 the stage in Kyiv has been set for them.

I have never heard of a president of an occupied country asking USA for no-fly zone, although a fifth grade boy would understand it is not possible.

And last but not least, Russian gas continues to flow through Ukraine, mostly to Slovakia and Austria (1). In other words, since the war began, in late February 2022, invaders' gas has always been flowing through Ukraine. Not to mention of sanctions against Russia that have restricted oil and gas supply.  Consequently,  turmoil in energy markets leads to wind fall gains for U.S. multinational companies. 

According to figures, Exxonmobil made a record high profit of $ 56 Billion in 2022. And in 2022 Shell and Chevron had the biggest profit in their history (2). An interesting question may be: who is winning this war? Not Russia. Of course not Ukraine. The winners are United States' oil companies.

I hope I  haven't bored you by writing such inconsistencies about Ukraine-Russia war. 

Have a nice week!

(1) The picture above was taken some years ago by a friend of mine, Stefano, while he was travelling for job.

(2) https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/exxon-chevron-shell-profits-soar-oils-surge

Energy performance of buildings

 

With the aim of modernise the building stock, the EU policy-makers would like to reduce  emission in the next years in the building sector. The EU green building legislation aim to improve insulation and energy efficiency broadening its focus on zero-energy buildings, due to the fact that energy prices have been rising since the begnnning of the Ukraine-Russia war. in this perspective, in late March this years, EU lawmakers and leaders, who previously saw little attention on this topic, last month reached a provisional political agreement to reduce final energy consuption at EU level by 11.7 % in 2030.

On the one hand, EU Member States can exempt certain buildings, such as cultural heritage or historic buildings, from obtaining minimum energy performance standards. On the other hand, the requirements laid down in the energy performance of buildings Directive do not prevent any EU country from maintaining or introducing more stringent measures.

https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/energy-performance-buildings-directive_en

With regards to generating electricity directly from sunlight, the above picture shows a photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert in Chile. My son took the picture last week.

Have a nice week ahead of you! 

Stress on landmarks

Tourists sometimes put enormous stress on local landmarks and historical buildings. According to the Cultural heritage Administration, tourists who visit Italy and its historic sites almost regularly steal bricks. 

Last week I took the two pictures below while I was walking through the Naples' historic centre. On March 25th I also walked past the ancient Roman theatre, dating back to the first century BC. It is located in the heart of the old town and it is literally incorporated into modern buildings, as we can see in the below picture.

https://tropter.com/en/italy/naples/roman-theater-neapolis

The problem is that many tourists sometimes steal ancient bricks, dating back to the 1st century BC, from the wall of the Roman theatre. That's the reason why someone wrote "Tourist go home" on the old wall of the ancient Roman theatre. 

The sentence written in Italian language on that ancient wall means: "Be careful! Some vandal tourists are stealing ancient Roman theatre's bricks with hammer and chisel. Why do we have so much trouble in recognizing them in time?" 

Since 1995 Naples' historic centre has been listed as a World heritage site, by UNESCO, for having been a crucial centre for art and architecture since the middle ages. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/726  

It seems that while local administration units have worked to preserve the UNESCO sites for decades, protection measures have not been as successful they would like. Actually, It is not the first time that tourists have been caught vandalizing or causing trouble at Italian tangible assets that are inherited from past generations. A few years ago two American women, a Russian man and a French tourist carved their initials into a piece of the Rome's Colosseum. And a 47-year-old tourist from India tried to hide a Colosseum's brick in his pocket. 

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/tourist-to-roman-colosseum-caught-stealing-brick-as-a-souvenir-report

I took the above image of the elliptical amphitheatre in Rome last year, on April 9th. The Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever built, which is considered one of the new seven wonders of the world. 

Have a nice weekend!