The Cabriolet Room

Close to Lake Iseo (see the blog's first post), half an hour away from beautiful Bergamo, there is a hotel that has a room with retractable roof! An (expansive) romantic retreat under the stars. Just a notch above camping with the head outside :-)

Hotel L'albereta

The Paramount Mountain

Most people know that the mountain depicted on Toblerone chocolate bars is Swizerland's most famous mountain, le Cervin / das Matterhorn / il Cervino. But where does the Paramount Pictures logo come from ? The paramount logo's appearance has much changed over time, and sources say the original logo's inspiration is a mountain named Ben Lomond, located in Utah. The mountain from the newer logo, however, looks very different and is quite beautiful actually. As a mountain-lover, I was wondering if it relates to some existing mountain. One day I found an article on Internet that claimed the current Paramount logo would be based on a mountain called Artesonraju, in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Indeed, the resemblance is striking, as you can see below. In 2004 I went to see for myself. The Santa Cruz trek brought me to the foot of the Artesonraju. A bit higher, the base camp of the Alpamayo offers a great open-view on the mountain (by the way the Alpamayo is deemed by some as the most beautiful mountain in the world, though I don't agree). However, it seem the resemblance is high only from a specific angle which I couldn't get, or only with a specific amount of snow on the mountain. You can see below a picture taken by me, for comparision.

Current Paramount Pictures logo

Artesonraju, high-resemblance

Artesonraju, taken by me

Open-air Bathing

I'm a big fan of Onsen (japanese hot springs) even since I first tried one after a hike, in a remote mountain valley, 2 years ago. These open-air small rock pools filled with naturally-heated volcanic water are exquisite. When living in Europe I desperatly tried to find similar places, but there just aren't any. Sure, there are thermal baths in Europe, but it's not quite the same atmosphere. Do a google image-search for 露天風呂 and you'll see what I mean. Then I found Therme di Saturnia, in some isolated corner of Tuscany, an inviting mix between a japanese Rotenburo (open-air bath) and the terraces of Pamukkale (though less spoiled than the latter).

♨

Aurora Borealis Gazing

I think northern lights are one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon. I was lucky enough to see one so big, it covered a third of the visible sky. 200Km north of the arctic circle, in the arctic night standing on a frozen river, by -30°C with a light breeze, it was also one of the coldest moment I can remember. One day, while reading Bahn in the german express ICE train (German Rail's own free magazine), I came upon an article about exotic hotels around the world. My eyes opened big looking at the pictures from Kakslauttanen, near Ivalo in Finnish Lapland. Isolated in arctic pine forest, a set of heated glass-igloos. Imagine waking up in the arctic night in cozy blankets, next to your loved one, gazing at the delicate light of an aurora borealis...

Inspiration for the Hôtel Adriano

Since I live in Japan for the time being, I thought it might be a good idea to start this blog with something related. You may have seen the animated movie 'Porco Rosso' (紅の豚) from Miyazaki. I really like the relaxed italian atmosphere in this movie, and particularily the Hôtel Adriano, a central place in the movie. I always wondered if this hotel isolated on a tiny island in the middle of a lake surrounded by mountains was inspired from a real location. I once did a quick google-earth search over the adriatic, where the movie takes place, but there's no such island. Then some day, while randomly browsing the lakes region of northern Italy, I found it! Of course I can't be 100% sure, but by the look of it I bet that's it. Judge for yourself with the images below.

Hôtel Adriano

Isola di San Paolo on the Iseo lake (picture found on Internet)

UPDATE:
I have now been there in 2014, and the resemblance really is striking! Here's a close-up picture I took:

...and another that somewhat matches the atmosphere of the movie: