Strolling to Syracuse

On 6 December 1801, Johann Gottfried Seume set out on the journey to Italy that would make him famous. Over the course of nine months, his stroll led him through lands scarred by the Napoleonic wars: from Vienna, Trieste and Venice, through Rome and Naples to Syracuse, and from there back to Leipzig by way of Milan, Zurich, and Paris.

As for the meaning and purpose of such a journey, he spoke only vaguely:

To be sure, I have nothing particular to do in Italy - unless perhaps to glance a little at the Venus de’ Medici, to warm my hands and gaze into the mouth of Father Etna, and to read a poem by Theocritus at the tip of the Syracusan promontory.

Take a look at the Strolling to Syracuse website

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Seven Days in May

This is the blog for the site, it covers all that Huizinga mentions above (reading, music, fine arts, travel, the enjoyment of nature, sports, fashion, social vanity - knightly orders, honorary offices), and the intoxication of the senses. and more.

Take a look at the Seven Days in May substack

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The Decorators

They came out of West London — Ealing, Acton, the red skies over Wembley. In love with the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Bowie. They sang of cat people and dark streets; romantics to a fault — archangels, sweet love, doomed love, a twilight view.

Too much, too soon. They moved quickly across the city, shone brightly, flickered, and were gone. A forgotten band — undeservedly so.

Take a look at The Decorators website.

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Maps in Books

Maps in Books: mainly non-fiction, historical, travel. Books out-of-print, obscure, forgotten. Maps that tell their own story; authors with a story; cartographers and illustrators named and unknown. Sometimes…books with no maps, books that need maps.

I focus on the map, the person who made it (if known), the book, and the author. The map may not be the territory - but it is the story.

Take a look at the Maps in Book substack.

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