Ålesund scenic view - Norway

The Coast Road is a stretch of road that hugs the shore along the entire coast of Western Norway. En route, every bend opens up  countless gems – small towns and villages, spectacular bridges, new vistas of sea, fjord and mountains that will take your breath away. There is no better way to get a taste of Norway than to travel the outer coast, exploring cultural attractions as well as the beauty of the land. Apart from the traditional campsites, you can find self-catering accomodations such as cabins and fishermen seahouses in many places along the route.
Because most of West Norway is sparsely populated with limited public transport, a car provides superior freedom and flexibility. Because some roads are narrow and steep, travellers are advised to calculate plenty of time for driving... keeping in mind to arrive just in time to take the last scenic ferry of the day!

Tempura is a typical dish of Japan cuisine and has the peculiarity, unlike our fries, of being light, delicate and digestible, thanks to the particular method by which it is prepared. Another traditional dish are the uramaki, which differ from classical maki because the rice, usually inside, is outside and the nori, the alga which is usually wrapped outside, is in this case inside.
Now think of the delight of a dish made of Japanese tempura combined with uramaki: you got the uramaki ebiten, rice roll stuffed with shrimp tempura inside, sprinkled outside with sesame seeds and grnished with wasabi and ginger. The taste is full and intense. The shrimp stand out and fried taste is softened by rice. Mmmmm....slurpilicious! :-)

The Space Needle, the major landmark of the Pacific Northwest and the symbol of Seattle

There are days when surely many of you would like to be somewhere else, maybe in somebody else shoes, try other lives, situations, emotions. In those days it's nice to play with our minds nad leave it free to think...it's funny to daydream sometimes! Today is one of those days, when I find myself surfing the web without a specific purpose other than to browse at Google and play with the maps of its digital atlas (actually it was one of my obsession in the era of paper as well...). So today I would like to be...in Seattle, sitting on the harbour and playing with the seagulls, breathing the scent of the sea and the spices of the Public Market. And you...where would you like to be today?

I'm starting off the weekend with something fun. Over the week I was playing around with a newely discovered iPhone app, cinemagram, with lots of potential for interesting image animations. You just have to start creating video clips while out, shooting specifically for cinemagrams or, if you have an iPhone, is also pretty fun to use on its own. Just try! Have a great week-end everyone!

There was a place that I have visited during my last holidays that remains clearly impressed in my mind. It was the Bonifacio Marine Cemetery, at the extreme south of Corsica. The Cimetière Marin, the city of the dead that lives in harmony with the city of the living, is a place of great charm. Maybe because is a windswept place, overlooking the sea; maybe because, although it is a cemetery, is strangely pleasant, with funerary chapels that remind sort of villas. It emanates a quiet and serene atmosphere, it is a place for sunsets and a temple of silence and beautifully disturbing at the same time, in front of the cliffs of Bonifacio. "Peaceful overlooking" is the new photo of the month on my website. Enjoy!