The Arts - Novelist Claudio Magris; Cafe-writing

People from Trieste are not Triesters, or Triestans. This article about Claudio Magris, "novelist, essayist, cultural philosopher, professor of German literature," calls him "Triestine." See www.kirjasto.sci.fi/magris. I understand that he is in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize.

We see too little of European writers in our news. Look up Claudio Magris. He is also a translator who prefers working in cafes to a home office: "Magris is determined to continue loving the intricacies of the city, visiting its cafés and writing at their tables. ‘I can’t write at home, I get distracted. At the café I’m alone, there is no company. I’m anonymous but surrounded by other people, and that keeps me in contact with reality.’"

That is a tiny, fair-use quote from an article by Giulio Zucchini (now, that's Italian) at www.cafebabel.com/en/article.asp?T=T&Id=9469.

Mosaics

Trieste is a city of manageable size, less hectic than London or Paris, and full of riches in art forms that I never appreciated much before - like mosaics. Here is the mosaic at San Giusto - we got there just as everything was closing, but this fills us in. Do go to mosaicartsource.wordpress.com/2006/11/14/mosaic-cathedral-of-san-giusto-trieste-italy/.

The prize for best mosaics goes to the Norman cathedral at Monreale, Sicily, for us. The mosaics cover all the walls, telling stories. Noah is especially good. It almost makes you feel seasick, with the waves. See Sicily Road Ways.This site is a source for many matters mosaic - how to, places where, a compendium.

Look up the "Joy of Shards" from that site - now we know what to do with our bust-ups. More direct access - www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/index.