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☆ The No. 1 'underrated' city in the world, according to 175 travel experts: It's the 'new hot city'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Sharael Kolberg | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As a travel journalist for over 20 years, I recently asked 175 travel enthusiasts, experts and agents about what they think is the most underrated city to visit. "Bologna is very up-and-coming and poised to be the new hot Italian city to visit," says Tom Marchant, founder of luxury traveling company Black Tomato. "[Bologna] quite possibly has the best food scene in all of Italy," says Jeff Miller, a travel blogger at Our Passion for Travel. the "Disney World of food"), Bologna's 20-acre theme park entirely dedicated to Italian cuisine. Bologna is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its 38.5 miles of porticoes, or arched walkways.

☆ The German couple who moved to Italy and opened a pizza restaurant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Silvia Marchetti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Living la dolce vita in Italy isn’t just about snatching a cheap dwelling in a charming rural village. Making pizza in Italy and satisfying Italian palates is not the simplest of missions. Only one other place to eat is open year-round – a restaurant serving regional dishes but no pizza. Marco MolinariPaying homage to her Germanic origins she makes pizza with sauerkraut, sausages and veal shin, with tomato salad, pizza kebabs, pizza with goat cheese and pizza with salmon – the latter being the most wanted by clients. There’s Pizza Irene with mozzarella, gorgonzola, arugula and mushrooms.

☆ Çanakkale: Where ancient Troy sits beside the modern city
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Nick Hilden | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —An enormous wooden horse presides over the marina in Çanakkale, a small port city southwest of Istanbul. The clapboard animal is a mock-up of the Trojan Horse of mythological fame. Çanakkale (pronounced cha-na-call-ay) stands adjacent to the archaeological site that was once the ancient city of Troy, best known as the setting of the Trojan War in Homer’s “Iliad.”A giant wooden horse watches over Çanakkale. Today when you visit Truva – either via car or a short bus ride from Çanakkale – a second model of the Trojan Horse looms at the entrance. “We know that there were many wars that occurred at Troy,” Rose explains.

☆ They bought a huge rundown Italian castle and transformed it into a luxury retreat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Silvia Marchetti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“And to think that we never wanted a castle, never wanted to own one.”Castle homeMax and Joy Ulfane spent years renovating neglected Tuscan fortress Castello di Fighine into a luxury retreat. Although it was dilapidated and filled with rubble, the Ulfanes saw huge potential in Castello di Fighine and felt it was the right place for them. Castello di FighineThe Ulfanes later decided to purchase some of the rundown houses in the surrounding hamlet, and began renovating them once they’d completed most of the work on Castello di Fighine. They went on to purchase the hamlet’s old village school, and have since transformed it into a high-end restaurant, Ristorante Castello di Fighine. Built in the 11th century as a military lookout, Castello di Fighine is connected to the main road by one single unpaved public path.

☆ Syria's Assad boosted by return to Arab fold
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Tom Perry | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/3] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad addresses the new members of parliament in Damascus, Syria in this handout released by SANA on August 12, 2020. Now, as Arab states bring him back into the fold, the logic appears to have worked for him once again. In exchange for ending Syria's isolation, Arab states want action, notably towards ending trafficking of the highly-addictive and lucrative amphetamine captagon across Syria's borders towards the Gulf. The threat of a U.S. missile strike was averted when Moscow brokered a deal for Syria's chemical weapons to be destroyed by the following year. But while Assad remained a pariah to the West, Arab states which once backed his opponents began opening doors to him.

☆ Opinion | Women Have Always Chosen Not to Have Kids. Get Used to It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Peggy O Donnell Heffington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

So when Senator Vance and the pope — among many others, of course — express concern about women today not having children, they aren’t comparing us to a past that actually existed. In ancient Rome, women used things like beeswax, olive-oil-soaked cloth or even halved lemons to block their cervices before having sex. From medieval Europe to colonial America, women would have used an array of herbs to attempt to end pregnancies. Nearly 16 percent of white women and 13 percent of Black women born in 1870 had no children; of all American women born between 1900 and 1910, 20 percent never did. Some of them, maybe even many of them, were actively avoiding having children.

☆ Inside Westminster Abbey during King Charles' coronation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Rachel Armstrong | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WESTMINISTER ABBEY, London, May 6 (Reuters) - The explosive crescendo of "Zadok the Priest", Handel's soaring anthem composed nearly 300 years ago for the crowning of King George III, marked the most sacred moment of Charles' coronation on Saturday. Until the crowning in 1953 of Charles's mother, Queen Elizabeth II, the coronations of kings and queens were seen only by those in the abbey. Yet elements of the ceremony, which was a largely solemn and ritualistic service with just dashes of modernity, remained distinctly intimate for those inside the abbey. Charles himself looked occasionally meek, as when he knelt before the altar with four members of the clergy surrounding him. STATE AND CHURCHBefore Charles's arrival, representatives of nine non-Christian faith groups processed through the abbey, in keeping with the king's commitment to safeguarding religious freedom.

☆ Charles Is Crowned King in Ancient Ceremony With Modern Twists
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Mark Landler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Anointed with holy oil and enthroned on St. Edward’s chair, King Charles III was crowned on Saturday in a solemn ritual that stretches back more than a millennium but unfolded with multiple concessions to the modern age. The coronation, the first since Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953, was a royal spectacle of the kind that only Britain still stages: four hours of pageantry that began with the clip-clop of horses’ hooves on Pall Mall and ended with the vaporous trails of acrobatic jets streaking above Buckingham Palace, as Charles watched from the balcony with Queen Camilla, who had been crowned shortly after him. Yet this was a coronation for a radically different country than when Elizabeth first wore the crown. Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh leaders greeted Charles as he left Westminster Abbey, and there were various attempts — not always successful — to make a medieval ritual more inclusive and democratic. Female bishops from the Church of England took part in the liturgy; hymns were sung in Welsh, Scottish and Irish Gaelic; and when Charles, 74, took a sacred oath to defend the Protestant faith, he also offered a personal prayer, in which he promised to be a pluralistic monarch for a diverse society.

☆ ‘Maimonides’ Review: The Greatest Jewish Thinker, in Brief
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Adam Kirsch | Alberto Manguel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Moses Maimonides on a 1953 Israeli stamp. Photo: AlamyThe 12th-century sage regularly described as the greatest Jewish thinker of all time leads a double life for posterity. To this day, students in yeshivas turn to the Rambam’s magnum opus, the comprehensive legal code known as the Mishneh Torah, in navigating the complexities of Jewish law. In this context, the book that matters is the “Guide for the Perplexed,” the philosophical treatise Maimonides wrote in Arabic around the year 1190. The “Guide,” too, speaks the language of Judaism, but the questions it addresses aren’t practical and legal, as in the Mishneh Torah, but speculative and metaphysical.

☆ Afghanistan aid donors struggle with crackdown on women, less money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Last month the Taliban began enforcing the ban on Afghan women working for the U.N. after stopping most women working for aid groups in December. So far the United States has given the most money to the 2023 U.N. appeal: $75 million. When asked if Gulf countries could do more to help Afghanistan, Power said: "That would be one obvious potential set of partners." The United Nations has been trying to carve out exemptions in some areas for women to deliver aid, particularly in health and education. For the year ending April 5, 2024 it has pledged nearly $180 million in aid funding for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Catalonia, Spain CNN —Standing in his field of stunted, withered maize, Santi Caudevilla is very worried. It’s becoming increasingly hard to make ends meet as crops shrivel through lack of water – or cannot be planted at all. “This is the worst period that we have had for the last 100 years,” Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency, told CNN. Allison Nussbaum/NASA Allison Nussbaum/NASA These two images show shrinking water reservoirs in the Catalonia region of Spain. In April, Spain requested emergency funding from the European Union to help farmers cope with the impacts of the drought.

☆ Rome, Sacred Ground for Nearly 3,000 Years, and Counting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( David Laskin | Martin Pauer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“There is not a corner of it that is not full of our cults and our gods.”Rome, in a sense, has been sacred ground right from the start. To many, Rome is the epicenter of Catholicism, the seat of the Vatican and home to a seemingly infinite number of churches. Rome has sheltered polytheistic pagans and monotheistic Jews, adherents of Middle Eastern cults, and, in more recent times, a sizable multinational Muslim community. All have left traces — altars, temples, shrines, mosques, inscriptions — some hauntingly beautiful, others erased to stubs. But Rome and its environs conceal many holy places beyond the ken of the Bible.

☆ Opinion | Read This Before Shopping for Your Bud Light Replacement Beer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Matthew Walther | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In the words of a television spot from 1979: “It’s not city beer. Rather than acknowledge Bud Light’s place in a faceless globalized chain of ownership, advertisements for the beer attempt to underscore its supposedly distinctive American and working-class character. Some years ago a series of advertisements featured the Bud Knight, a character who figured in faux-medieval settings alongside a royal personage known as the Dilly Dilly King. In one spot, the king enters a tavern and orders “Bud Lights for everyone,” eliciting cries of approval from the assembled crowd. The implication is that Bud Light is for ordinary decent people who just want to have a good time with their friends, not smug effete connoisseurs.

☆ Wrexham: An intoxicating tale of Hollywood glamour and sporting romance
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Aimee Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +22 min

In an often brutal and bleak world, the recent resurgence of Wrexham, the city as well as the soccer club, lifts the soul. The Turf pub is a must-see for Wrexham fans. But now, there’s Wrexham with a story that, in hindsight, feels as if it was just waiting for Hollywood. One of Wrexham city center's shopping areas, pictured on April 22. Wrexham fans celebrate on the pitch after their team beat Boreham Wood at the Racecourse Ground.

Charles’ coronation is expected to be shorter than his mother’s seven decades ago. The spot where King Charles will be crowned inside Westminster Abbey Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesWhat happens during the coronation service? Which crown will King Charles use? How is King Charles making the ceremony more inclusive? Don’t missThe coronation of King Charles III brings pageantry, revelry, and new questions – is the monarchy relevant in the modern world?

Just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Moscow’s forces massing on the border, officials in the medieval town of Lützen, Germany, afforded landmark status to a Soviet-era World War II memorial standing outside a kindergarten in the town center. “Glory to the great Russian people — the nation of victors,” reads an inscription that was repainted by local officials in June on one side of the 10-foot, pyramidal monument. Inscribed on another side in bright red is a quote from Joseph Stalin commemorating 12 Soviet prisoners of war who died at German hands while working at the local sugar factory. A bright red star with gold-colored hammer and sickle adorns the pyramid’s peak. Scattered across Germany, but primarily in what was once the Soviet-dominated German Democratic Republic in the east, are more than 4,000 protected monuments commemorating the sacrifices of Soviet soldiers in the struggle against Nazism.

☆ Cheesecake Fit for a Maestro
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Ligaya Mishan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

What kind of cheesecake withstands burning and triumphs, and sears itself into the memories of child and worldly wise alike? The ingredient list is brief: for the filling, only cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract. Oklahoma State University even features a recipe on its website, one of seemingly countless online. Kitsopoulos took a recipe from Pillsbury, developed by Deborah Harroun, the writer of the Taste and Tell blog. Where Pillsbury advises first rolling out the dough for the topping on parchment paper, she just plops it on.

☆ Marsha Blackburn wants her fans to buy $20 pizza cutters from her, so they can help her 'cut the red tape in Washington'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn is promoting her own pizza cutters, which she's offering for $20 each. Blackburn said the pizza cutter sales would allow her to continue to "cut the red tape in Washington." "I'm fighting to cut the red tape in Washington, but it's not easy," Blackburn said in a Monday promotional video for the kitchen utensil. "Together, we can cut the red tape in Washington once and for all," she said. In comparison, pizza cutters of similar functional designs are available at Walmart for $2.96 and $7.98.

☆ Irsina, the Italian village being repopulated by Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Silvia Marchetti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

More than 15 families from the US and Canada have bought old properties in this remote village, known for its premium wheat fields and olive groves. The first foreign “pioneer” to buy a house in Irsina was Sandy Webster, a 63-year-old writer from San Diego. The couple fell in love with the village, bought an old house with thick stone walls, antique furniture and ancient maiolica-tile floors, and spent four years renovating it. “When we got here in 2016, over 80% of the population had fled to the newer district of Irsina, the old Irsina was empty and we loved how it looked. Their house, built into the old village walls, was on sale for 70,000 euros ($77,000).

☆ 10 fascinating theme parks that have closed forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Joe Yogerst | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In April, we’re taking a thrilling ride into the world of theme parks. “We think of amusement parks as vibrant, colorful, noisy, cheerful places,” says Jim Futrell of the National Amusement Park Historical Association. Pripyat Amusement Park (Ukraine)The Pripyat Amusement Park was built right before the Chernobyl disaster. Yongma Land (South Korea)Once in a blue moon, abandoned theme parks find new life by adopting totally new functions. Faced with increased competition from Orlando’s modern theme parks, Cypress Gardens closed in 2009 and was eventually absorbed into LEGOLAND Florida.

☆ Rising sea levels may have forced the Vikings out of a successful settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Why they abandoned a successful settlement is a mystery that historians never have been able to fully explain. The idea that sea levels would have been rising as temperatures fell is a little counterintuitive, according to the researchers. However, Earth’s oceans aren’t like a bathtub, and the study noted that changes in sea level don’t affect all areas equally. The Greenland Ice Sheet readvanced during Viking occupation of the eastern settlement and peaked in the Little Ice Age. That advance caused sea level rise near the ice margins because of the sinking of Earth’s crust, according to the study.

☆ 35 Ways Real People Are Using A.I. Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Francesca Paris | Larry Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +24 min

People are using ChatGPT and other A.I. Here’s how 35 real people are using A.I for work, life, play and procrastination. People are using A.I to …Plan gardens. Chris Norn Researcher at the University of Washington Two years ago researchers cracked the code on using A.I. When you run a Dungeons & Dragons game, Mr. Green says, you have to be creative, but that almost always means pulling from existing fantasy literature.

☆ The Broadway Star Phillipa Soo Sings Her Favorite Pop Song
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Nancy Coleman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Phillipa Soo enjoys fantasy stories: “Lord of the Rings,” “House of the Dragon,” anything magical with kings and queens involved. That’s partly why, she says, she was drawn to this season’s Broadway revival of “Camelot,” based on the Arthurian legend and opening April 13 at Lincoln Center Theater. Soo, 32, stars opposite Andrew Burnap as Guenevere, King Arthur’s wife and ally — a role that’s long been associated with Julie Andrews, who originated the role onstage in 1960. Soo’s goal, then, is to make Guenevere “a real person,” someone driven above all by a desire to be loved. But this past year, she joined the “Into the Woods” Broadway revival as Cinderella, and then did a brief run as Sarah in “Guys and Dolls” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

☆ Photos show how a Medieval English village with a 14th-century church and historic lighthouse is crumbling into the sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Happisburgh, located in England's Norfolk county, has been crumbling into the sea. Coastal erosion has plagued the village for decades, and could be worsened by increasing storms. Million-year-old human footprints were once discovered in the historic village, but they washed away. Happisburgh, located in Norfolk County, has seen dozens of homes wash away to sea as the cliff face edges closer and closer to its remaining residents. Photos show how the sea could soon swallow more of the historic town if the coastal erosion continues.

☆ Medieval monks' observations of the moon reveal unexpected
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Medieval observations of the moon are helping present-day researchers study a mysterious cluster of volcanic eruptions on Earth. Monks, and other scribes from the era, made detailed descriptions of lunar eclipses, when the moon is fully in Earth’s shadow. Guillet believes medieval manuscripts contain an important source of information about a string of large but little-understood volcanic eruptions on Earth. These dates correspond with five major volcanic eruptions identified from traces of volcanic ash found in polar ice cores — in 1108, 1171, 1230, 1257 and 1276. “These eruptions were significantly more powerful than some of the most well-known volcanic eruptions in recent history,” Guillet said.

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