TRAVEL TUESDAY 241 - ATHENS, GREECE

 

“In cities like Athens, poor houses lined narrow and tortuous streets in spite of luxurious public buildings.” - Stephen Gardiner

The Zappeion (Greek: Ζάππειον Μέγαρο, Záppeion Mégaro) is a building in the National Gardens of Athens in the heart of Athens, Greece. It is generally used for meetings, conferences and ceremonies, both official and private.

In 1869, the Greek Parliament allocated 80,000 square metres of public land between the Palace Gardens and the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus, and also passed a law on 30 November 1869, “for the building works of the Olympic Games”, as the Zappeion was the first building to be erected specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern world.

The ancient Panathenian stadium was also refurbished as part of the works for the Olympic Games. Following some delay, on 20 January 1874, the cornerstone of the building was laid; this new building would be designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen. Finally, on 20 October 1888, the Zappeion opened. Unfortunately for its benefactor, Evangelis Zappas, he did not live long enough to see the Zappeion built, and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas was nominated by Evangelos Zappas to complete the building. The Austrian Parliament Building was also designed by Hansen and followed the same theme in the exterior.

The Zappeion was used during the 1896 Summer Olympics as the main fencing hall. A decade later, at the 1906 Intercalated Games, it was used as the Olympic Village. It served as the first host for the organising committee (ATHOC) for the 2004 Games from 1998 to 1999 and served as the press centre during the 2004 games.

In 1938, the Athens Radio Station, the country's first national broadcaster, began operating in the premises. The building continued to house the National Radio Foundation until the inauguration of the House of Radio in 1970. A number of historical events have taken place at the Zappeion, including the signing of the documents formalising Greece’s accession to the European Community in May, 1979, which took place in the building’s marble-clad, peristyle main atrium. The head of Evangelos Zappas is buried underneath his statue which is located just outside the Zappeion.

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MELBOURNE CUP 2012

“A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up to and outpace.” Ovid
 

Australians certainly love sport and although renowned for our egalitarianism, we are fond of “the sport of kings” - horse racing. One can find horse racing events around the nation on almost every day of the year. Of course, there is a lively wagering that goes on in association with these events too. Although I am not a gambler I do take part in the yearly flutter that comes with the Melbourne Cup in the form of the office sweepstakes where I hand over my two-dollar coin as I bid goodbye to it - I haven't won once! Anyway, that's the extent of my gambling…
 

The Melbourne Cup is the horse race of all Australian horse races. Every year when this race is run around 3:00 pm, it literally stops the entire nation. Melbourne Cup Day is fixed on the first Tuesday in November and although it is a public holiday only in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, Australians all over the nation are glued to their television screens or listen on the radio (or on the internet too, nowadays, I suppose) to watch this historic race.
 

The race is held over a distance of 3,200 meters, the traditional two-mile cup distance, for horses three years and older and is the richest and most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world. It is held in Flemington Racecourse, located in Flemington, one of Melbourne's inner city suburbs, which is named after a butcher who lived there in the 19th century. I certainly hope he didn't sell horse meat - that would be grand irony!
 

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. There were 17 starters and the prize was 170 pounds and a hand-beaten gold watch (this was the trophy given before the traditional Loving Cup which the Melbourne Cup is known for). “Archer”, the first Cup-winning horse, had been walked to Melbourne from its stable in Nowra, New South Wales, a distance of about 800km. “Archer” won again the following year to a prize of 810 gold sovereigns (£810) and a gold watch. “Archer” went on to win the race the following year once more, making him one of the five horses to win the event more than once.
 

The Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club merged to form the Victoria Racing Club in 1864. The Victoria Racing Club (VRC) had taken charge of the proceedings since then. The Melbourne Cup saw even more promise and popularity under the auspices of the VRC. By 1865, Cup Day was declared a half-day holiday. By 1877 it was declared a whole day holiday to allow patrons to crowd the Flemington racecourse. The Cup was first held on the first Tuesday of November in 1875. It then too adopted the four-day format, which later evolved to today's well-attended Carnival. From then until now the Melbourne Cup was growing to a locally and internationally supported event.
 

The Flemington racetrack is the most popular course in Australia and the home of the organisers of the VRC. The whole field has a capacity of 120,000. Spectators who cannot get into Flemington watch from the television panels outside of the field. The pear-shaped track has a back straight of six furlongs. The final straight to the finishing post measures 450 metres long. The length of the home stretch has decided Melbourne Cup races throughout history.
 

“Green Moon” passed the winning post to take the 2012 Melbourne Cup. Sitting atop the flying six-year-old stallion was jockey Brett Prebble. “Americain”, the favourite, did not even rate a place - as is often usual with favourites! Prebble said on his win:  “It's a lifelong dream. That was super, he was outstanding. He's a machine, you can take him anywhere in the world and he's a high class animal. What can you say, I won a Melbourne Cup.”
 

The Spring Racing Carnival, but especially the Melbourne Cup and the Oaks Day races run the Thursday two days after the Cup, is a glamour fashion event also. Many people simply attend to be seen in their best finery. Women compete furiously for winning the fashion stakes and every year it is amazing to see what they balance on top of their heads in the form of some type of headgear: Caps, hats, fascinators, berets, shades, turbans, titfers, headdresses of every kind, from the sublime to the ridiculous (mostly the latter)!
 

This year, Charles the Prince of Wales and his Consort the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, graced the Melbourne Cup with their presence. The royal couple met some of the jockeys who rode in the Melbourne Cup and they will stay in Melbourne for a total of three days, as part of their Australasian tour.

YELL FOR CADEL AND SCREAM FOR SUSHI

“Sport is a preserver of health.” – Hippocrates

I had a very busy day today, with both desk work as well as a couple of appointments off-campus. One of the bonuses was that I was in the vicinity of Federation Square at lunchtime, when Cadel Evans was being feted for his Tour de France win. In today’s celebration, Evans rode along St Kilda Rd from the National Gallery of Victoria to Federation Square, where he took to the stage to address the populace. Tens of thousands of people lined the route to honour Evans’ achievement and give him a reception usually reserved for AFL footballers and Olympic Games heroes. The feeling was upbeat and euphoric and it was good to see Evans being very friendly with the crowd and showing humility and good-humoured amusement by the massive reception reserved for him.

There were several politicians present, including our Lord Mayor and the Victorian Premier, this being a prime PR opportunity for them, rubbing shoulders with the hero of the moment. Cadel is Australia’s first Tour de France winner, and at 34 years is the oldest rider to win the Tour de France since 1923. It was quite fortuitous to be there and take part in this event, one of several anonymous thousands united in a celebratory moment and celebrating a historic sporting victory.

My mind turned to the other type of crowd rioting in England. Or should I say the throng? In both cases, they were large masses of people joining together with more or less a common purpose or goal. In the one case, they were orderly, celebratory, respectful of each other and the only destructive effect they had was perhaps a few items of rubbish left behind after they dispersed. In the other case, there was a violent rabble that was motivated by anger, barbarism, misplaced angst, greed and hate. In their wake they left fire, destruction and death. We are still lucky here in Australia that we can gather together and behave as civilised human beings do. Even in sporting events, crowds in other countries riot and people kill and maim each other with the excuse of supporting different football sides.

On the way back I stopped and bought some sushi for lunch. Sushi is of course nowadays well-known and popular around the world. It is a Japanese delicacy consisting of cooked rice with vinegar (shari) combined with a variety of other ingredients (neta). Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari. The most common neta is seafood. However, its popularity in many countries and its adaptability and ensured that all sorts of exotic fillings are available.

Sushi originated in the 4th century BC in Southeast Asia. Salted fish, fermented with rice, was an important source of protein and could be preserved without spoiling for a relatively long time. The cleaned and gutted fish were kept in rice so that the natural fermentation of the rice helped preserve the fish. This type of sushi is called nare-zushi, and was taken out of storage after a couple of months of fermentation, and then only the fish was consumed while the rice was discarded.

Over time, this preserved dish spread throughout China, and later, around the 8th century AD, in the Heian period, it was introduced into Japan. Since Japanese preferred to eat rice together with fish, the sushi, called seisei-zushi, became popular at the end of Muromachi period. This type of sushi was consumed while the fish was still partly raw and the rice had not lost its flavour. In this way, sushi became more of a way of preparing food rather than a way to preserve food.

Later in Edo era, Japanese began making haya-zushi, which was created as a way to eat both rice and fish; this dish was unique to Japanese culture. Instead of being only used for fermentation, rice was mixed with vinegar and combined not only with fish but also with various vegetables and dried preserved foods. Today, each region of Japan still preserves its own unique taste by utilising local products in making different kinds of sushi that have been passed on for generations.

At the beginning of the 19th century, when Tokyo was still called Edo, the food service industry was mostly dominated by mobile food stalls, from which nigiri-zushi originated. Edomae, which literally means “in front of Tokyo bay”, was where the fresh fish and tasty seaweed for the nigiri-zushi were obtained. As a result, it was also called edomae-zushi, and it became popular among the people in Edo after Yohei Hanaya, a creative sushi chief, improved it to a simple but delicious food. Then, after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, nigiri-zushi spread throughout Japan as the skilled edomae-zushi chefs from Edo, who had lost their jobs, moved all over Japan.

The important seasonings served with sushi are soy sauce, and wasabi (Japanese hot horseradish sauce). Soy sauce is used as a dipping sauce. Wasabi is put in nigiri-zushi or is mixed with soy sauce for dipping. The most important side ingredient of sushi is ginger. Pickled ginger is called gari and is served with sushi. Gari is eaten between bites of sushi to refresh the mouth for each new taste.

In the 1980s, in the wake of increased health consciousness, sushi, one of the healthiest meals around, has got more attention; consequently, sushi bars have opened throughout the Western world. With the introduction of sushi machines, which combine the mass production of sushi with the delicate skills used by sushi chefs, making and selling sushi has become more accessible to countries all over the world.

I like most kinds of sushi, but particularly so the smoked salmon and fish roe, the teriyaki chicken, the vegetarian variety featuring avocado, and of course the widely popular California roll. Although I find wasabi much too hot for me, I do enjoy the soy sauce and preserved ginger. It is a healthful and tasty meal and perfect for lunch.

A MOVIE ON MELBOURNE CUP DAY

“And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honour and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand.” - George Bernard Shaw

It was a public holiday in Melbourne today, this being the day of the running of the Melbourne Cup, “The Horserace that Stops a Nation”. It was the 150th time this famous horserace was being run this year and despite the cold, grey and wet conditions, the flooded car parks and the threat of much disruption to the racing, the crowds turned out in the tens of thousands to participate in the festivities and mayhem of this most famous horse racing event in Australia. The winner of the 2010 Melbourne Cup, “Americain”, was an American-bred, Australian-owned horse trained by a Frenchman and ridden by a Hong Kong-based jockey exemplified that this horse race is a global event. As was usual, the favourite (Bart Cummings “So You Think”) failed to win and was relegated to third place.

For someone who is not a gambler like me, the Melbourne Cup is a curiosity and a welcome excuse for a holiday. I just pity the poor horses running the races… In any case I had taken work with me and spent all morning doing it, but it was a luxury not to actually go in to the office. A special friend came around for morning tea, so we turned out the freshly-baked scones, jam and cream, this being a very pleasant diversion. As the day became more rainy and grey, we decided to stay in and after lunch watched a movie.

It was the classic action thriller, star vehicle, Michael Mann’s 1995 “Heat”, starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer. It was a bit of an odyssey, with 170 minutes filled with violence, swearing, killings, guns, cops and robbers, murderers and amoral psychopaths in a horribly seamy Los Angeles that is not given much of a chance to be a place likely to attract tourists. This is not the sort of movie that will make you say: “I want to visit Los Angeles soon!”

Yes, the acting and direction were good, the action scenes well-handled, the “private lives” of both cops and robbers inserted seamlessly into the action, but it was neither original as a story nor engaging enough to be seen as an exceptional film, even in its well-worn genre. It is rated 247th in the top 250 films and it is hardly surprising given its subject matter, its moral ambiguity and the sheer unattractiveness of its characters. Ugh!

I sometimes think that if more enlightened times come in the future and the human animal ever becomes evolved into a higher type of spiritual and intellectual being, whether these film seen by our descendants will be reason for them to hide their head in shame and bemoan the fact that they are descended from such savages. I suppose it is the same way we now feel about cannibalistic savages that enjoyed killing and eating their neighbouring tribe, or the way that we feel about Hitler and his killing sprees, or what the way that we view the ethnic cleansing of the former Yugoslavia, or the way the Conquistadors subjugated the Americas, or, or, or, or…

Come to think of it, maybe even to think of the human animal as ever being a more intellectual or spiritual species is a joke!

SOUTH AFRICA

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” - Martin Luther King, Jr

The World Soccer Cup in South Africa has given the world the opportunity to glimpse the changed society of post-apartheid South Africa. I visited South Africa in the late 1990s when apartheid was still fresh and the bad memories still fresh. It was a revelation and I met some of the most amazing people I had met until then. It was a country that still displayed its scars but there was such a feeling of hope and optimism in the air that it was difficult not to be overtaken by it. Walking in Soweto and talking to the people was a revelation. Seeing faces full of dreams, confidence, dignity and positivity was a joyous thing.

Now that apartheid is well and truly over and the South African people have been allowed to fulfil their destiny, the celebration of the Soccer World Cup is a way of showing the world how their nation is capable of great things. The magnificent Soccer City stadium in Soweto in Johannesburg, with a design inspired by traditional African pottery and a capacity for 104,000 fans is a showcase of this country’s confidence and optimism for the future. A way of showing the world that the new climate of multiculturalism and equality will allow the country to move forward and upward.

Apartheid in South Africa was a system of legal social segregation that was enforced by the white National Party government of South Africa between 1948 and 1994. This was a shocking situation where the rights of the majority non-white people were curtailed and minority rule by the whites was maintained. Many basic human rights of the non-whites were ignored or actively suppressed and the rule was one of tyranny and repression, with non-whites victimised, disadvantaged, underprivileged, powerless, abused and maltreated.

June 16th has been observed as the International Day of Solidarity with the Struggling People of South Africa. This date was chosen to commemorate the massacre in Soweto on June 16th 1976, when hundreds of unarmed school children were brutalised and killed by the police as they demonstrated against the imposition of the Afrikaans language and the Bantu system of Education. The Soweto Uprising was a turning point in the liberation struggle in South Africa. Prior to this event, the liberation struggle was being fought outside of South Africa, mostly in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe), South West Africa (later Namibia) and Angola. But from this moment onwards, the struggle became internal and the government security forces were split between external operations and internal operations.

For the state, the Soweto Uprising marked the most fundamental challenge yet to apartheid and the economic and political instability it caused was heightened by the strengthening international boycott. It was a further 14 years before Nelson Mandela was released, but at no point was the state able to restore the relative peace and social stability of the early 1970s as black resistance grew. Many white South African citizens were outraged at the government's actions in Soweto, and about 300 white students from the University of the Witwatersrand marched through Johannesburg’s city centre in protest of the killing of children. Black workers went on strike as well and joined them as the campaign progressed. Riots also broke out in the black townships of other cities in South Africa. Most of the bloodshed had abated by the close of 1976, but by that time the death toll stood at more than 600.

Fitting for this day, a poem by Maya Angelou, born 1928, an author, poet and an active campaigner for human rights and racial equality.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou

ART SUNDAY - DRYSDALE

“Australia is properly speaking an island, but it is so much larger than every other island on the face of the globe, that it is classed as a continent in order to convey to the mind a just idea of its magnitude.” – Charles Sturt

For Art Sunday today, an Australian artist, Russell Drysdale (1912 - 1981). He was born in England in 1912, and arrived in Australia in 1923. Russell Drysdale is regarded as a pioneer of Australian modern regional painting. Breaking radically with the Heidelberg School’s romanticised and impressionistic view of rural Australia and bourgeois scenes styled on the European traditions, Drysdale used the originality of his artistic style and vision to effectively shape an alternative national identity based on his own honest vision of the harsh nature and distinctiveness of life within the Australian inland.

When Drysdale died in 1981 he was regarded as a national hero, his art was widely known and greatly admired. His images of rural country towns and outback landscapes, often with their inhabitants, were instrumental in defining a national identity at a time of tremendous social change in Australian history. For audiences in Australia and abroad, Drysdale's paintings reflected the essence of Australia and its people. Drysdale's themes, including identity, isolation, the land and its people, multiculturalism and indigenous Australians, are explored in his art.

"The Cricketers" (1948) is perhaps Drysdale’s most famous painting, and one of the most frequently reproduced images in twentieth-century Australian art. The subject of three figures set amid the stark walls of buildings in a deserted town, bathed in unnatural light, is a haunting and extremely original interpretation of a familiar sporting theme.

The painting was a loose commission from the English publisher, Walter Hutchinson. Hutchinson's collection of approximately three thousand paintings opened to the public in February 1949 at Hutchinson House, London, and was known as the National Collection of British Sports and Pastimes. Hutchinson wanted a painting of an Australian cricket match and asked his Melbourne office to arrange a commission from one of Australia's best-known artists. The request was referred to Leonard Voss Smith, a noted collector and dealer who worked for Hutchinson. Voss Smith mentioned the matter to Drysdale, who at the time was occupied with subjects of Hill End.

Drysdale's painting of country boys having an informal game of cricket against a building at Hill End was not what Walter Hutchinson was expecting, and he was shocked when the painting arrived in London. He cabled Melbourne and fired Voss Smith. The next day, having ascertained that Drysdale was indeed a distinguished Australian artist, Hutchinson cabled to reinstate him…

MOVIE MONDAY - INVICTUS

“Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.” - Desmond Tutu

Well back home today, but only for a short time as tomorrow I am off to Brisbane for a few days for work. I saw Clint Eastwood’s 2009 film “Invictus” on the plane on the way to Perth in my recent trip. I have gained a lot of respect for Eastwood’s directorial work in the last few years and this film was no exception, up there with “Unforgiven”, “Gran Torino”, “Bridges of Madison County” and “Million Dollar Baby”.

Firstly let me say that I don’t follow rugby and was not familiar with the real story on which the film was based. However, I was aware of Nelson Mandela’s return to power and this for me was the real story. The rugby story was window dressing (which rugby fans will probably disagree with), and for me a metaphor for South Africa, the country and its people, struggling to heal the damage done by decades of apartheid.

The film starred Academy Award Winners Morgan Freeman as South African President Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Rugby Captain François Pienaar. “Invictus” is a movie full of emotional highs and lows, passion and poignancy. It tells the story of Nelson Mandela's first years as President of South Africa in the 90’s, a riven country, which apartheid has scarred. In a master-stroke of unification of his people, Mandela used the country’s love for rugby to connect the whites and the blacks. The national team, the Springboks, have a poor record of winning but Mandela taps the captain of the team to rally his troops and surge into battle for the greater good of his country.

“Invictus” is a short 1875 poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley. The title is Latin for “unconquered”. The poem mirrors the spirit of the film and I give it to you here in its entirety:

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
                         William Ernest Henley

Freeman gives a wonderful performance and one sees that this role meant a lot to him. Damon is less convincing as he is not as hulking as the real rugby player Pienaar, perhaps, but the intensity of his performance does counterfoil Freeman’s cool, calm and collected Mandela. The personality of the leaders (of the country and of the team) is countered well, and the differences between black and white in the divided country are exposed for the world to see by Eastwood’s sensitive handling of the material that is more than 95% true.

I shall probably watch this film again, the second time not on a plane as I am sure there are many bits of dialogue I missed and the screen on a plane is poor substitute for the screen of a cinema or of a TV screen at home. However, even when watched in the less than ideal environment of a plane, the film was very good and I recommend it most highly.