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Author: jdewyze
November 19, 2021 November 19, 2021 jdewyzeLeave a comment
We have no major travel planned until at least the late spring. Instead Steve and I have embarked on a different kind of journey in our own backyard.. We've decided to convert our swimming pool into a pond and water garden. This week the work began. To report on it, I've created a new blog. If you're interested, check it out at pooltopond.wordpress.com
October 16, 2021 jdewyze5 Comments
Steve and I ate countless delicious meals over the course of this trip, but I have to say: few things tasted more satisfying than the glue on the stamp I bought in Monaco, the last of the seven Europeans microstates we had set out to visit.
I started planning the first iteration of our Microstate Tour early in 2020 and had booked virtually every aspect of it when governments at home and abroad prohibited international traveling. I then planned and arranged a second version in the spring of 2021 — that one structured around the two French weddings we were invited to (in Bordeaux and Provence). But uncertainty over lingering Covid regulations forced the respective couples to postpone their nuptials to the fall. So I planned and booked the trip a third time. Heading to the airport at the end of August, I only half-believed Steve and I would complete the itinerary.
But it all came off, almost flawlessly. The worst glitch was Alitalia's cancellation of our three flights (one from Rome to Malta and the one from Sicily to Nice, via Rome). I found alternative carriers, however, and I even nurse some hope we'll get our money back from the canceled legs.
At the second wedding last weekend, several people asked what my favorite tiny country was. What I could tell them was that the one both Steve and I longed to spend more time in was Malta. Ironically, Malta is the one microstate I didn't blog about. We had barely 72 hours there and then went on to Sicily, where we met our friend Michael and blasted around the Italian island like Amazing Race contestants. On Sicily I barely had a moment to sit down, let alone write. And then we raced on to Monaco.
Before going to Malta I had predicted to Steve that San Marino would wind up winning the biggest piece of my heart. I loved the feisty Sammarinese independence and the beauty-drenched vistas you meet around every corner. The vibe is very different in Malta. Roughly four times bigger than San Marino, it's a monochromatic world, at least around its magnificent harbor (the only area we got to).
One of the inlets into the much larger harbor
Almost everything is built out of pinkish tan sandstone, which makes it look a bit like a movie set. Dozens of productions have been filmed here in recent years.
They include Game of Thrones, The Da Vinci Code, Captain Phillips, and more.
Malta the country consists of five islands. We only got to the biggest, most populated one (also called Malta). We stayed in a 400-plus-year-old building on Senglea, a finger of land sticking into the harbor.
Viewed from Valleta, Senglea is the finger on the right. To the left stands the fort that was the site of the great siege.
This side of the harbor was the one-time bastion of the famous Knights of Malta, wealthy Christian noblemen who hailed from all over Europe and hated Islam. In the early 12th century, they fought as Crusaders and over time evolved into something like anti-Islamic pirates. In 1530, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V gave them Malta as a permanent home, and they reached perhaps their greatest moment of glory in 1565 when about 500 knights and a couple thousand foot soldiers held out against a vastly larger fleet of Turkish warriors. After their success in resisting the Turkish siege, Muslim expansion into Europe ended; a pretty good case can be made that because of what happened in Malta 450 years ago, Western Europe today is dotted with cathedrals rather than mosques.
We stayed on this street.
The view from our kitchen window.
Walking down to the main thoroughfare from our byway.
The larger than life character who led the Maltese resistance was a Knight named Jean La Valette. He oversaw the building of a new capital across the harbor from Senglea and its two sister cities. The new enclave became Valletta, which claims the honor of being the first planned city in all of Europe. La Valette designed an orderly grid in which tall stone buildings lined streets made intentionally narrow so that folks walking down them would be shaded from Malta's blazing sun. Valleta is just a ten-minute ferry ride from Senglea. Steve and I made the trip a couple of times in order to sample Valleta's crackling night life, visit a few of its sumptuous churches, and take in some of it scenic viewpoints.
One of the traditional Maltese vessels.
Here's one of the dozens of Valleta's lively side streets
But we were keenly aware of all we couldn't cram in — exploring important archeological sites both on Malta and Gozo (the second biggest island), swimming and snorkeling in the turquoise local waters, visiting other museums and forts, and more.
But you can never see it all, eh? On our Microstate Tour, Steve and I were away from home for 42 nights. We passed through 11 different countries, slept in 22 different lodgings, and on several occasions I felt as tired as I can imagine ever feeling. Yet over and over the sights and people and new insights recharged us. If we didn't see it all, we never regretted trying.
As one final note, I have to credit an excellent book, Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe, by Thomas Eccardt that I stumbled upon after I was well into planning Steve's and my trip. Published in 2005, it's too dated to be a practical travel manual today, but Eccardt's lucid writing about the mind-numbingly complex history of all these places was a great help. To anyone else who's tempted to see Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, San Marino, Vatican City, Malta, and Monaco — or any combination of them — I recommend it. And wish you bon voyage!
Malta, Microstates, Passport stamps
October 13, 2021 jdewyze1 Comment
Of all the microstates, Monaco surprised me most. I had low expectations. I'd planned for us to be there less than 24 hours, partly because all the hotels are astonishingly expensive. (If you want to save money, you stay in the adjoining French town of Beausoleil, but our goal from the start was to sleep at least one night in every microstate.) Also, a friend who lives in Europe had dismissed Monaco as a nothing more than a shopping mall for the rich.
Partly to avoid the astonishingly expensive hotels and partly because it sounded cool, I booked us into an unusual Airbnb accommodation: a power boat (maybe 40-feet-long) berthed in the harbor in the heart of the city-state. Two days before our flight, I had messaged Olivier, the guy who owns the boat. He advised me to get an Uber at Nice airport and tell the driver to take us the "Le Port Hercules a Monaco." He would greet us when we arrived.
Things with Olivier got a little weird when I alerted him we were on way from the airport and should be arriving about 6:30 p.m. (the arrival time I had earlier predicted.)
"OK," he wrote. "I understand I wanted to see you because I have an important dentist appointment at 6:20 p.m. so I may be able to be there to receive you only at 7:45 p.m. Will you go? Best regards, Olivier"
"Oh dear," I wrote back. "I do not understand what you mean when you say 'will you go.' We have nowhere else to go beside your boat. What should we do?"
"I understand," he shot back. "I think you will arrive before 6:30 p.m. these just that I think I be there to receive you at 7:45 p.m. if you do not mind."
"Olivier, We have nowhere else to go," I responded, seeking a tone for my WhatsApp message that would suggest gritted teeth. "I will be very, very sad if Steve and I have to stand on the dock in the dark waiting for you. That will not be good."
Eventually, he messaged that he had moved his appointment "so no worries I'm here and I'm looking forward to welcoming you." That too was a bit of an overstatement. Le Port Hercules, where our driver deposited us, is a large area with several entry points.
Here's Steve wondering: where might Olivier be?
More tense messaging with Olivier followed, and when he finally showed up, he turned out to an exuberant young man who showed no sign of being in the grip of any dental emergency. (He claimed to have rescheduled the appointment, which he said was routine.)
His boat looked like the photos I had seen on the Airbnb website (save for the beat-up condition of the deck cushions.) After Olivier left, Steve and I enjoyed a glass of the Prosecco which Olivier had kindly left for us and reminded each other that we never, ever want to live on a boat — unless it was one of the megayachts like the kind that re crammed cheek by jowl into the docks of the Monaco port.
This was the biggest bed on Olivier's boat.
Those whoppers costs hundreds of millions of dollars, however, so a future residency on one is highly unlikely.
Although Olivier's boat was cramped and chilly and the bed didn't have a blanket, the location couldn't be beat. In one direction, the casinos and high rises of Monte Carlo reminded me of Hong Kong. (Indeed we've read that Monaco is the most densely populated country on the planet.) In another, we could see the royal palace. The flag was flying so we knew that the current prince (Albert II, only son of the late Prince Rainier and Princess Grace) was home with his family.
The next morning, we strolled from the harbor up to the royal family's neighborhood. We had coffee and croissants at a cafe facing the palace. It has a cozy air (as palaces go). Then we ambled through the narrow streets, as charming as any in Europe. Beyond the center of the old city, a cliffside park and plaza reminded me of the best viewpoints in La Jolla, except for the public restrooms. Steve reported the Monegasque ones to be the cleanest and nicest he's ever seen anywhere. A bit later, we wandered into the austere but elegant cathedral where the one-time movie star, Grace Kelly, married the prince. To one side of the alter we found the site she was buried after dying in a 1982 car accident. Her husband lived for 23 more years, but now he reposes next to her.
A plaque outside the cathedral recalls happier days.
One of the cool things about Monaco is that you can walk all over the country. Later that morning we visited the area around the grand Monte Carlo Casino; sadly, guided tours were canceled, due to Covid. But the streets around the place are filled with shops and businesses and markets, some mundane… some not.
I've been in plenty of wealthy neighborhoods over the years, but never in a country crowded with the super rich, as Monaco is. I have no desire to move there. But it was entertaining to visit.
Europe, Microstates, Monaco
October 6, 2021 October 6, 2021 jdewyzeLeave a comment
For a while, I considered skipping Vatican City (aka The Holy See) altogether. It's the only one among the seven smallest European microstates I have visited before (more than once). But when it became clear we had to go through Rome to fly to Malta, I rethought our plan. How could we ignore this enclave that's not just the smallest of the smallest countries in Europe, but smallest in all the whole world? When we learned that our old friend Megan (whom I met as a freshman in high school) coincidentally would be in Rome at the same time we would, the stop was irresistible.
It was Megan who suggested we visit the Vatican gardens. I never knew you could. But she secured tickets online and on a sunny morning, we headed for St. Peter's. Around the back of the cathedral, inside the entrance to the Vatican Museums, we gathered with a group of maybe 15 people. An ebullient Polish-Canadian art historian named Kinga led us outside and down a wooded path.
I took no notes; it was too pleasant simply to stroll through the dappled light and note the horticultural variety as we passed from section to section. Some formal, most less so. We ambled by some flowers, but more of the ornamentation was watery or sculptural or redolent of the distant past.
What tickled me most were the private views; sides of things I'd seen before but never from these angles: a glimpse of that ultra-famous dome… …the stark simplicity of the outside of the Sistine Chapel… …or the homely building where the former Cardinal Ratzinger (aka Benedict, the recent pontiff who retired) is living out his final years.
It's the peach-colored building in the distance.
I asked Kinga if Pope Francis often ventures into his back yard, but she didn't seem to know how often that happens. If it did, she assured us, all the garden tours could be canceled to accommodate him. "We must remember, it's his home!"
After we left the gardens, our tickets also permitted us to enter the museums, so of course we couldn't resist dashing through the endless halls to pay a quick visit to the Sistine Chapel. After that, we walked outside and around the walls of the city state to enter St. Peter's Square. The line to get into the church was daunting. We had to check out of our Airbnb flat and move on, so we settled for just a photo in front of the grand edifice. That was good enough. The gardens had shown us a place where at least a handful of humans (the Pope and a few hundred others) actually live. It felt a bit more like a real country.
Microstates, Vatican City, Vatican gardens
October 5, 2021 jdewyzeLeave a comment
Two weeks ago, Steve and I took the train from San Marino to Rome, where we met our old friend Megan and visited our fifth microstate (the Holy See). From there we flew to Microstate #6: Malta, stayed for three nights, then took a Ryanair flight to Catania in Sicily, the large island off the toe of the Italian boot. We've been here for the last 8 days, a significant side track from the theme of this trip; Sicily is not an independent country, though it sure resembles one. It's been a part of Italy for only 161 years, before that hosting a dizzying succession of cultures and conquerors: Stone Age settlers 5000 to 6000 years ago, North African invaders, Elymians and Carthaginians, Greeks, then Romans, Barbarians, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, a Holy Roman emperor or two, Austrians, Spaniards, Brits, and finally Garibaldi (hero of Italian unification.) I'm sure I've forgotten some. All have left their mark, and for a brief spell after World War II some Sicilians agitated for independence. Had they succeeded, Sicily would have been more a ministate than a micro-one. It's ten times bigger in area than Luxembourg (which in turn could contain all the 6 smaller European midgets.)
Bottom line: Sicily is a staggeringly old, fairly large, and complex place that I've barely begun to comprehend.
To try to gulp down as much as possible, we rented a car at Catania Airport and after spending two nights in Sicily's second largest city…
The centerpiece of one of Catania's main piazzas is what surely must be the coolest elephant statue anywhere.
…we hit the road, moving every morning for the next five days. It's a madcap way to travel, and I don't recommend it. But it allowed us to cover close to three-quarters of the island's coastline and glimpse so many wonders, it seemed worth the price in energy. We made it halfway up Mt Etna… …which wasn't erupting but instead was blanketed in fog (thwarting an ascent all the way to the crater). Later that day, we paid a lightning visit to the ancient Greek theater in the lovely resort town of Taormina.
The next day in Syracuse, we paid homage to Archimedes, the local who became the father of modern engineering.
The adjoining town of Ortygia is very beautiful,
The next day we drove to Noto… and Ragusa
An astonishingly hilly place!
Then on to the remains in Agrigento, where one of Sicily's richest and most powerful Greek cities once prospered.
The 2500-year-old temple in Segesta, which we visited a few days later, was never finished but remains astonishingly well-preserved.
Throughout our travels, Steve rose to the challenges of the road, steering our little Opel Corsa around the hairpin turns…
Like this!
…leading to Erice, maybe my favorite stop on the driving tour.
A medieval town on the top of a hill, it offers views like this.
And wonderful pastries like this, left in the fridge for us by our Airbnb hosts.
This was the view from our private patio there.
Palermo has been a fine and surprisingly finale. It has a reputation for crime, urban decay, and corruption, but in our Airbnb here, which overlooks the main street in the heart of the old city, I've loved the energy crackling all around us.
The window in our living room opens onto the central street in the old town.
It was pretty empty when I shot this photo out the window because it was raining.
But Saturday night it was jammed with tables and revelers.
At one point, a thicket of fans gathered to scream with joy and take photos of some actor. (We never found out who it was.)
We've seen lots of brides being captured in their finery.
Tomorrow we'll have to push back from the banquet table, stuffed but hardly sated. I can see how one could feast on Sicily's offerings for weeks without digesting it all. But we have one more microstate to visit and one more wedding to attend before heading home on Sunday.
Europe, Italy, Sicily
Adrenaline-powered travel
September 26, 2021 jdewyze2 Comments
So far this trip has been spectacular. Steve and I both feel great. It will rank among my most satisfying and interesting journeys of all time, I'm already sure. But our transit to Malta was a reminder that travel in the time of Covid is not for the faint-hearted.
Malta, the third-largest of the European microstates, is smack in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. You can get to it by ferry, and I tried to arrange that. But ferry rides ultimately proved too complicated.
That left airplanes. To get there, I booked us on an Alitalia flight leaving Rome around 5 pm Thursday afternoon (9/23) and arriving in Malta about 6:30 pm. From Malta to Sicily (our next stop), I got seats for us on Ryanair. But then from Sicily to Nice (France), Alitalia once again seemed like the best choice.
I knew Alitalia was iffy. The Italian airline filed for bankruptcy back in 2017, but they've managed to continue operating since then. They treated me well in 2020, the first time I had to cancel our microstate trip (because of the pandemic). They ultimately refunded every penny I had paid. This time around, I spent more for refundable Alitalia tickets because I knew things might get snarled up.
The first hint of the coming disaster arrived in my inbox the day we got to Liechtenstein. Alitalia had canceled our morning flight from Rome to Nice, the email informed me, moving us to a late-afternoon flight that would require us spending most of a day in the Rome airport. At least as disturbing: when I went online to look at alternatives, I found a note at the top of the page saying Alitalia would sell no tickets after October 15. That's how we learned they were finally going out of business.
I scrambled and managed to book flights to Nice on Lufthansa — about the same price, if longer (we'll have to fly from Sicily to Munich to Nice, requiring almost 6 hours in airports and on planes instead of three and a half.) But since our Alitalia tickets were fully refundable, I had some hope of getting that money back.
This turn of events made me nervous, though, and last Wednesday, the day before our flight to Malta, I made sure to check in and get our Alitalia boarding passes. The flight was on time, the website said, and with the passes in my Apple wallet, I felt relieved. Less than two hours later, while eating what we thought would be our last dinner with Megan, I got another email from Alitalia, this one informing me our flight the next day, for which I had just secured boarding passes, had been canceled. No explanation was offered for why.
How could we get to Malta now? Would our microstate streak be foiled by Italian flakiness? Google Flights didn't offer any good alternatives, but when I checked the Air Malta website, I found a 10 am flight Friday morning for a fraction of what the Alitalia tickets had cost. Only three seats were left, but I managed to secure two of them for Steve and me. This change in plan required us to cancel the hotel I'd reserved in Malta for Thursday night. Instead we got a room at the hotel near Rome's airport. Megan was already booked in there to spend the night before her departure on Delta for the US — which coincidentally left at the exact same time as our Air Malta flight: 10 am Friday morning.
In some ways, this change proved fortuitous. It gave us all of Thursday with Megan, and the three of us shared a phenomenally good meal that night at a waterside restaurant near the hotel. Because of concerns over the longer lead time required for a US flight, she decided to take the 6:45 am airport shuttle the next morning, while we would go on the 7:30 one. We said our heartfelt goodbyes in the hotel lobby Thursday night.
I got the first WhatsApp message from her Friday morning, just a moment after we had boarded our 7:30 shuttle bus.
Since our flight was also due to depart at 10, this sent a jolt of adrenaline through my system. Later, we learned that at hundreds of striking air workers were staging a sit-in that morning on the highway between Rome and the airport. To protest EU constraints on the hiring of Alitalia workers by the new carrier that's scheduled to replace it (called ITA), they reportedly brought a fake coffin draped with European flags and plopped it in front of the airport.
The coffin must have gotten there after we did. Steve and I arrived to find the airport eerily empty. Though Alitalia's presence had obviously dominated Terminal 1, all human trace of it had vanished: no staff, no passengers. Happily, we found humans behind one Air Malta check-in counter; there we queued up behind maybe a dozen other passengers. When we reached the desk and the stressed-out clerk asked for our proof of vaccination and Maltese Passenger Locator Form (PLF), I felt almost smug showing her the QR codes for both. She unsettled me, however, when she also asked for our VeriFLY clearance for Malta. VeriFLY is a Covid document-verification app that we had downloaded in San Diego. We'd jumped through all its electronic hoops and had gotten a cheery reassurance that we were cleared for travel there. But we'd heard it was no longer required, so we hadn't checked ours in a while.
When I pulled up the app, a disconcerting message informed me "Needs to be completed!" We protested that we HAD completed it, but the app had somehow forgotten what we'd told it, and besides, we had also just presented our vax proof and PLFs. But the desk clerk was flinty. No green check mark from VeriFLY, no Malta.
Fortunately, we had arrived at the airport with lots of time. So we managed to jump through the VeriFLY hoops again, get our boarding passes… …make it through yet another documentation check at the gate… …and more upon arrival. My bags were searched more thoroughly than any time in memory. (Oddly, Steve received no such scrutiny.)
In the end we arrived, however, and now I can say unequivocally: it was worth it. But that's another story.
Malta, Microstates
Free spirits in the world's oldest republic
September 24, 2021 September 24, 2021 jdewyzeLeave a comment
Although my last post was a paean to train travel, we couldn't take a train to San Marino, the fourth microstate on our tour. A tiny independent realm located roughly a third of the way down the eastern side of the Italian boot, San Marino once was accessible by train. But Allied forces destroyed the line during World War II, and instead of being rebuilt it was replaced with a highway. So most visitors drive to San Marino. The other way to get there is on a bus from Rimini, the nearby Italian city on the coast. Steve and I boarded one of those Sunday afternoon.
Storm clouds drained the color and light from the sky, but after a half hour or so we began to get glimpses of a promontory rising up in the distance: Mt. Titano. It was on that peak that a pious stonecutter from Croatia fled and lived as a hermit at the beginning of the 4th Century. His name was Marinus — later Saint Marinus, aka San Marino. From what I could make out, his beatitude resulted from his being a kindly and inspiring fellow who persuaded lots of people to become Christians. Legend has it that he also miraculously cured the dying son of a local noblewoman, who was so grateful she gave him the mountain and some land around it. San Marino thus enjoys the distinction of being the only country in the world founded by a saint. On his deathbed, Marinus supposedly whispered to his countrymen, "I leave you free of domination by other men." Repeatedly, Steve and I heard that freedom, independence, and self-reliance continue to be core values of the modern Sammarinese.
That alone might have made me love the place, but San Marino has more going for it — at least the old heart of the community on the top of the mountain. Walled and fortified over the centuries with three massive towers, it's a daunting place to penetrate even today. Our bus deposited us in a parking lot more than halfway up the promontory, near the base of the old walls. An elevator took us up to a higher level… …but then we started trying to follow Google Maps' directions up the stony warren of streets. We quickly got lost…
Here's Steve, smiling despite our confusion.
…and for a while were scared we might have to haul our bags up several flights of steep stony stairs.
This photo shows only about a quarter of the total stairs up to the next level.
A policeman finally pointed out a path we could roll up. Here I have to say that if you hate slogging up and down steep inclines (not to mention stony stairs), San Marino might not be your idea of a vacation paradise. But then you would miss out on vistas such as these. We finally made it to our hotel, got a good night's sleep, and awoke to a wonderland bathed in sunshine. In the tourist office, I was able to buy a stamp:
That's Oscar, holding in his arms Federico Fellini, who was born in nearby Rimini.
San Marino has its share of museums, churches, and other modern attractions (a torture museum, a vampire museum, a sort of Italian Ripley's Believe It of Not). Its streets are jammed with shops selling jewelry, leather goods, souvenirs, and startlingly realistic toy guns. None of that interested us much, but we were dazzled by San Marino's three great towers. This tiny enclave for more than 1700 years avoided being overtaken by those who coveted it (including Cesar Borgia, Napoleon, and various rapacious clergymen and nobles). The story of how that happened is so complicated, it made my eyes cross. Clearly luck had something to do with it; probably good diplomatic skills too. But the towers also deserve a bunch of the credit. One looks just right for locking up Rapunzel. The biggest and oldest tower feels like part fort/part castle. We poked among the nooks and crannies and I reflected that being Rapunzel here might not be so bad, providing one got a room with a view.
We left San Marino Tuesday morning (9/21) and took the bus to the train to Rome. There we had roughly two days in which we visited Vatican City and packed in lots of sightseeing with our old friend Megan (who lives in Rhode Island but coincidentally was in Rome just when we were passing through).
The Vatican is the smallest of all the microstates, and I plan to write a proportionally short post about the time we spent there. But now it's Friday afternoon (9/24) and we have arrived in Malta after a hair-raising journey. I'll describe that next.
Microstates, San Marino
Railroad Man
September 21, 2021 September 21, 2021 jdewyze2 Comments
The other day when Steve glanced at our tickets for the Bernina Express, his jaw dropped. "Oh my God," he breathed. "Am I really in seat #61?" "Yeah. You're in 61 and I'm in 63. So what?"
"But that means this morning I will literally be the Man in Seat 61," he replied.
I grasped his wonderment then. Several years ago I became an ardent fan of a website called The Man in Seat 61. I subsequently read an article about the guy who writes it, and if I were home in front of my desktop computer, I could tell you his name and his background. But as I'm working from my iPad with painfully slow hotel internet, all I will say is: if you're interested, Google him. What I recall from the article is that he's a Brit who I think began by writing online about European train travel, with an eye to making it easier for newcomers to navigate. He has since expanded to cover the rest of the world. I think I used his information to take trains in Vietnam. I read him religiously before our trip to India three years ago, and I give him all the credit for enabling me to traverse the subcontinent on rails.
Today his website is a vast repository of information, wonderfully organized and copiously linked. Thanks to him, for this trip I booked seats online for Steve and me from Paris to Bordeaux and back, Paris to Luxembourg, Luxembourg to Zurich, Zurich to Sargans (the gateway to Liechtenstein), Sargans to Chur, Chur to Tirano, Tirano to Milan, Milan to Bologna, Bologna to Rimini (gateway to San Marino), and Rimini to Rome.
It was the Man in Seat 61 who inspired me to route us from Liechtenstein to Italy on the Bernina Express. Poking around on his website I stumbled upon his glowing descriptions of it. The train is one of only three in the world to have been declared a UN World Heritage rail line, and The Man could not praise it highly enough. It was complicated to book online, run by a private Swiss line (the Rhatische Bahn) and requiring two separate tickets. But I did what he said and it all worked.
Steve and I actually have ridden on one of the other two World Heritage railway lines while in India. The "toy train," as it's known, runs from Jalpaigur up to Darjeeling in the Indian Himalayas, and I can tell you: the Bernina Express is about a million times nicer. Like the Indian train, the Swiss one runs on a narrow-gauge track, but the Swiss cars have huge panoramic windows and comfortable seats. The Indian train arrived at its destination more than three hours late, after tortuous intervals of sitting and not moving. The Swiss one took off at 8:16 instead of 8:15 and arrived in the Italian town of Tirano at 12:51 instead of 12:49. Its roughly 4.5-hour-long route took us over one of the highest rail beds in the world, one constructed more than 100 years ago specifically for tourists. It posed devilish challenges to the Swiss engineers who designed it, but it helped make them into the pre-eminent experts on tunneling that they are today. Lots of tunnels on this run!
People say it's a strikingly different experience in summer and winter, and that you really should ride it in both seasons. I can tell you it was beautiful in late summer, on a day that began enshrouded in mist… …but turned golden long before we crossed the Italian border. We had spiffy headphones that told us (in English) about the line's history and highlights. The route literally winds through Heidi country — the part of the Alps where the book was set and movies were filmed. Bridges like this and sections of track that corkscrew through the mountains and meadows are among the attractions. In this view, the train is going under a circular bridge that it just traversed. Views of glaciers and glacial lakes also triggered avalanches of camera clicks. And there was a short rest stop that included traditional Alpine entertainment.
Steve and I enjoyed it immensely, as apparently did all our companions in the full car.
Now we're on our last train trip of the trip, taking us from Rimini on the Adriatic southwest to Rome. Although we have more than two and a half weeks left before we return home, we'll get around on planes and rental cars from here on. That's too bad. When it comes to transit preferences, I'm with the Man in Seat 61.
Microstates, The Man in Seat 61, Train travel
Liechtenstamped
September 20, 2021 September 20, 2021 jdewyze1 Comment
Even now, in this time of pandemics and panic, no one checks and stamps passports when you move around between many countries in Europe. In Andorra, Steve and I asked at the tourist office about getting our books stamped, but all the girl at the counter could offer was something that looked designed for children. (We passed.) Luxembourg appeared to be way too cool for faux passport stamps. But Liechtenstein was into it. In the center of Vaduz (the tidy little capital), we saw signs like this.
Around mid-afternoon last Thursday (9/20), Steve and I walked to the Liechtenstein Center and paid a few Swiss francs to get a postage stamp and this souvenir:
A few minutes later, serious rain finally caught up with us for the first time on this trip. We'd been on the road, moving quite a bit. I was tired, and my umbrella offered only partial protection; my feet got very damp. I felt dispirited. We abandoned any further touristic efforts and retreated to the Airbnb apartment in which we were lodging, not far from the center.
These locals were attending the inauguration of a new piece of public art. Vaduz has a LOT of public art. But the ceremonies were in German, and we were getting soaked.
The next day, the world felt renewed: warm and sunny and inviting. Throughout the morning we stockpiled tantalizing glimpses into the strange but pleasant little country that boasts it's the last remnant in the world of the Holy Roman Empire. It's also the only country named after the person who bought the place: Prince Johannes Adam I of Liechtenstein (aka Hans the Rich). For centuries, his descendants didn't actually live in the land bearing their name, but they're well-entrenched today. The current prince still actively rules the place, and he and his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and four grandkids live in the ostentatious palace that clings to the hillside high above Vaduz.
There it is in the distance.
Another view of the castle, which is closed to the public, being a private dwelling. Note the grapevines in the foreground. You see a lot of those around town.
Probably my most enduring memory of my 24 hours in Liechtenstein will be our ride on the little "train" that once a day tootles around the town.
The operator had installed protective plastic sheets between each row of seats. It gave the ride a slightly psychedelic feeling, which seemed appropriate.
Through earplugs dialed to English, we listened to some minimal commentary and a whole bunch of bouncy Teutonic music. The musical climax was a rousing rendition of the Liechtensteiner Polka. In the city center, we saw vegetable fields and cows munching emerald grass next to the main highway through town.
We also noted many massive buildings that we assumed house the countless companies from all over the world that set up headquarters here in order to decrease their tax burden. (While lower than what those companies would pay elsewhere, that tax money is a significant contributor to Liechtenstein's current wealth.) The soulless structures share the streets with old homes that could have informed Walt Disney's vision of Euroquaint.
We had to tear ourselves away around 2 p.m. to catch the bus back to Switzerland, and the train to the Swiss town of Chur, starting point for our Saturday morning ride on one of the most famous trains in the world. But I left with my stamps and the lingering refrain of that unforgettable polka.
Liechtenstein, Microstates, Passport stamps
To those friends (at least 2 of 'em) who warned we might be bored in Luxembourg, I can only say: no way! Steve and I had some dazzling moments during our stay there (Saturday 9/11 to Wednesday 9/15). They weren't the kind of offbeat or exciting adventures that make for the most interesting blog posts. But I can say with confidence: if you ever get a chance to visit the Grand Duchy, do not turn it down.
Luxembourg, we learned, is the first country in the world to make all local public transportation free. This is a nice amenity! One of the frictions of traveling in any strange country is figuring out how to pay for the bus or metro or train or whatever. We took a high-speed train from Paris to Luxembourg City, where we walked out the door of the train station and got on a spiffy free tram that took us to the city center. In the center, we stayed in the spare bedroom Airbnb'd by Mohit and Prarabdhe, two Indian Ph.Ds who have permanently moved to Luxembourg. The next day we got on a tram going in the other direction to a transportation hub where we climbed on a free bus that took us out into the countryside. It almost felt like having a private driver at our disposal.
This is a country where people are very good at signs.
On board the free bus to Echternach, a 30-40-minute ride from Luxembourg City.
I can also attest that Luxembourg is a great place for walking and hiking. The center of the capital looks extraordinarily prosperous — no surprise, given that Luxembourg, largest of the 7 microstates on our present tour, is also the country with the highest GDP per capita in Europe. I couldn't help comparing what it's like to stroll around Lux City and Antigua, Nicaragua (one of the poorest countries in the world, around which we were strolling just three months ago). In the former, streets and plazas are vacuumed and buffed, not busted up and filthy. Tantalizing shops and restaurants and bars and pastry vendors line the streets instead of tense, hungry looking folks hawking lottery tickets and single cigarettes. On the day of our arrival, well-dressed Luxembourgers jammed the place, ambling, shopping, wining, breakfasting, lunching, and dining.
Built originally as a fortress on a rocky cliff, the city walls command great views of the lower city.
We walked down to the lower part Sunday morning and found postcard views and woodsy paths.
I wanted to visit Luxembourg even before conceiving of our Microstate Tour. What made me think of that was reading Bill Bryson's hilarious account of hiking the Appalachian Trail (A Walk in the Woods). At one point in it, he compares that challenging trek to hiking in Luxembourg, where he reported being able to sleep in cozy inns after days of making one's way along glorious trails. I was intrigued, and I learned that one of the most famous byways in Luxembourg is the Mullerthal Trail, which consists of three big multi-day loops. I tried but failed to find the sort of arrangement Bryson had described. Maybe Covid caused the outfitters to shut down, at least temporarily. But I still wanted to squeeze in a bit of Luxembourgian hiking, so I booked us into a sweet little hotel in the charming town of Echternach, a trailhead for both Mullerthal and other local pathways.
This was the view from the outdoor restaurant in front of our hotel. In one corner of the plaza a brass band played tunes such as Rocky Mountain High and Sweet Caroline.
On Monday the weather was glorious, so we tackled an 11-mile outing that included part of Mullerthal 2.
In the Middle Ages, local folks quarried grinding stones at this trailside spot, creating a man-made cave.
We took it easier the next day, exploring short sections of Mullerthal 1 and visiting the touristic highlights of Echternach. Most of these I won't bore you with. But one I should mention. Echternach is home to the ruins of a villa built by Roman conquerors roughly 2,000 years ago. No walls remain, but all of the foundations are intact, and it's obvious how magnificent the place once was. The Luxembourgers have built a sweet little museum explaining the site. Alas none of the signs were in English. It didn't really matter. We didn't need to read placards to understand that this was one of those small but pleasant wonders you sometimes stumble upon, a bit like the country it's now part of.
Luxembourg, The Mullerthal trail


text:
DJO Launches AltiVate Reverse Short Stem Shoulder Replacement System In US
The shoulder arthroplasty systems provider said that the AltiVate Reverse Short Stem was designed using principles based on a design with a minimum of 10-years of clinical follow-up.
In April 2019, DJO secured the FDA 510(k) approval for its AltiVate Reverse Short Stem, allowing its use in anatomic, reverse, and partial shoulder arthroplasty.
DJO Surgical global president Jeff McCaulley said: "The AltiVate Reverse Short Stem is truly the first-of-its-kind technology: a short, convertible stem based on the philosophy of an inlay humeral stem.
"With the first inlay short stem addition to our market-leading AltiVate Reverse, we are continuing DJO's history of innovation by developing products that are different by design – which allows us to continue our long history of leading innovation and creating the future of shoulder arthroplasty."
Reverse shoulder replacement is a characterised by the ball and socket of the shoulder joint switching sides and reversing natural position.
Originally developed in the 1980s in Europe and approved by the FDA in 2003, the procedure is useful for patients with large rotator cuff tears who have developed a complex type of shoulder arthritis called cuff tear arthropathy.
Currently, reverse shoulder arthroplasty represents more than 40% of shoulder replacement surgeries in the US and most companies offer designs based on 'onlay' humeral stems.
In onlay humeral systems, a portion of the stem sits on top of the humerus, while in 'inlay' systems, stems sits entirely within the humerus.
The AltiVate Reverse Short Stem is an 'inlay' stem designed for easy conversion from anatomic to reverse, without overstuffing the joint, while its 135° neck-shaft angle allows for a more anatomic humeral reconstruction in both anatomic and reverse shoulder arthroplasty.
In addition, the short stem is also more bone-sparing than a standard-length stem that facilitates implant positioning independent of the humeral canal.
Recently, Dr Patrick St. Pierre from Desert Orthopaedic Centre in Rancho Mirage, California, and Dr Gerald Williams from The Rothman Institute in Philadelphia, carried out first surgeries using AltiVate Reverse Short Stem.
Williams said: "The new AltiVate Reverse Short Stem is a major innovation. I now have one system with a variety of options to treat most, if not all, of my patients. This stem is going to revolutionize the way orthopaedic surgeons think about convertibility from anatomic to reverse shoulder arthroplasty, and it's very exciting to be one of the first to use it clinically." – NS Medical Devices

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
3 Retailers Not Named Payless and Sears That Could Be Next to Go Bust
The future is dire for retail.
Lindsay Rittenhouse
More and more retailers are inching closer to the edge, as the list of troubled ones grows by the day.
Discount footwear chain Payless ShoeSource is allegedly planning to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 as soon as next week, and plans to close 400 to 500 stores, according to a report Wednesday morning by Bloomberg.
A Payless spokeswoman declined to comment.
In February, it was reported that Payless would close 1,000 stores, and, in January, the company announced the elimination of 150 employees. Facing $650 million in debt, Payless, which was taken private by private equity firms Golden Gate Private Equity and Blum Capital Partners in a 2012, $2 billion buyout of parent company Collective Brands, is increasingly facing a grim outlook.
Moody's Investor Services downgraded Payless' debts in early February, citing weak liquidity. Payless hired Guggenheim Partners and Kirkland and Ellis after the downgrade to initiate turnaround efforts.
Watch More: 5 Retailers Amazon Could Crush if It Opens Furniture and Appliance Stores
On Tuesday, talk began circulating that teen apparel retailer Bebe Stores (BEBE) is planning to shutter all of its 181 stores and focus solely on e-commerce in an attempt to restructure out of court and avoid bankruptcy. Just last year Bebe, facing diminishing sales, eliminated 45 jobs at its Brisbane, Calif., headquarters to cut $6 million in costs.
And, while this came as no shock to anyone following its situation, Sears Holding Corp. (SHLD) finally admitted it is nearing insolvency. TheStreet broke the news Tuesday night that Sears indicated in its newly filed annual report that "substantial doubt exists related to the company's ability to continue as a going concern."
Retail is not the business to be in right now, as e-commerce giants like Amazon(AMZN) - Get Report threaten the life of bricks-and-mortar businesses and consumers continually turn away from malls.
In the words of attorney Hugh Ray, who heads the bankruptcy practice at McKool Smith, to retailers: "find a new line of business."
A typical day at a Sears store
Just in the past few weeks, Wall Street saw bankruptcy filings from sporting goods retailer Gander Mountain, RadioShack successor General Wireless Operations, everyday value price department store operator Gordmans Stores(GMAN) - Get Report and appliances, electronics and furniture retailer HHGregg (HGG) . Last Wednesday, children's apparel retailer Gymboree cautioned that it was low on cash and may not survive.
The future appears bleak for these three retailers, as well.
Claire's Stores' shaky financial situation suggests no one wants to buy its shoddy accessories.
The business of retailer for lower-priced girl's accessories Claire's is atrocious. The primarily mall-based retailer continues to see dwindling foot traffic, likely because it sells dinky gift shop items with few takers, and has racked up three straight years of losses. As of Oct. 29, Claire's long-term debt stood at an alarming $2.1 billion with its total liquidity at a mere $40 million. For the nine months ended Oct. 29, Claire's saw a same-store sales decline of 4.2% and its revenue fall to $928 million from $1 billion the year before, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Claire's was acquired by private equity firm Apollo Group in 2007 for $3.1 billion.
J.Crew Group just can't generate foot traffic.
Last year, J.Crew's creditors started voicing their concerns that the women's apparel retailer would be unable to pay down its $1.5 billion in secured term debt and $350 million in senior secured debt.
On Tuesday, J.Crew reported that fourth-quarter revenue fell 2% to $695 million and its comparable store sales declined an alarming 5%. For the full 2016 year, the company posted that revenue decreased 3% to $2.4 billion and its same-store sales slipped 7%. J.Crew ended the year with $132.2 million in cash.
And J.Crew also revealed that so far in its 2017 first quarter, same-store sales have fallen 11%.
In a recent research note, Fitch Ratings predicted that J.Crew will continue to see a decline in comparable store sales in 2017 and projected that the company will lose between $50 million and $60 million of free cash flow by the end of the year.
Ascena Retail Group stock keeps plummeting.
Ascena(ASNA) - Get Report , the parent company of women's apparel retailers Ann Taylor and Anny Taylor Loft and teen apparel seller Justice, among others, has seen its stock drop 67% in the past year.
Early this month, Ascena reported a 2017 second-quarter loss of 7 cents a share, compared to earnings of 1 cent a share last year. Its total same-stores sales declined 5% in the second quarter, while comparable store sales fell 9% at Ann Taylor and 2% at its Loft stores during the period.
The retailer ended its second quarter with $300 million in cash and a debt load of $1.6 billion. For the full year, Ascena expects its total same-store sales to decline 3% to 4%.
As of Jan. 28, Ascena shuttered 55 stores, leaving its total count at 4,878 locations.
Related news on TheStreet:
Sears Voices 'Substantial' Worry Over Staying a 'Going Concern'
Has Target Launched a Secret Plan to Destroy Sears in One of the World's Largest Cities?
A Look Back at Troubled, and Beloved, Retailer Sears
InvestingConsumer ProductsRetailConsumer StaplesStocksConsumerE-Commerce


text:
The Swiss Society for Optics and Microscopy (SSOM) (; ) is a learned society for the promotion of optics and microscopy (and more recently nanotechnology) in Switzerland.

It is a member of Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences (SCNAT), one of four of the constituent members of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. It is also a member of the International Commission for Optics, the International Committee on the Science of Photography, the European Optical Committee, the European Optical Society and the European Microscopy Society (regional committee of the International Federation of Societies for Microscopy).

History
Te society was founded on 1949 as the Swiss Committee for Optics. In 1969 following changes in their constitution, it was accepted into the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences which led its name being changed to the Swiss Society for Optics and Electron Microscopy(Société Suisse d'Optique et de Microscopie Electronique/Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Optik und Elektronenmikroskopie). In 1955 the society was split into two sections, one for electron microscopy and the other for optics, each with their own secretaries.

In 1976, during the 6th European Congress of Electron Microscopy in Jeruslaem, SSOM became a founding member of the Committee of European Societies of Electron Microscopy (CESEM), which in 1998 became the European Microscopy Society. In 1987 it joined the European Federation for Applied Optics (Europtica) and the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences (SATW) (which later become the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences).

In 2007 there were 387 individual members and 68 corporate members with 200 delegates, of which 45% were from industry, 40% from academia, and 15% from research institutes.

Presidents and Secretaries
Listed below are the presidents and secretaries of the society from 1947 until 1983.

Swiss Committee for Optics (SCO)

Presidents
H. König, 1947-1952
N. Schätti, 1953-1954

Secretaries
W. Lotmar, 1947-1954

Swiss Committee for Photonic and Electronic Optics
In French: Comité Suisse d'Optique Photonique et Electronique

Presidents
N. Schätti, 1955-1966
L. Wegmann, 1967-1968

Electron Microscopy Secretaries
A. Gautier, 1955-1960
L. Wegmann, 1961-1966
M. Gribi, 1967-1968

Optics Secretaries
W. Lotmar, 1955-1956
E. Millet, 1957-1962
A. Werfeli, 1963-1966
R. David, 1967-1968

Swiss Society for Optics and Electron Microscopy
In French: Société Suisse d'Optique et de Microscopie Electronique

Presidents
L. Wegmann, 1969-1976
W. F. Berg, 1977-1980
J. R. Günter, 1981-1986
R. Guggenheim, 1987-?

Electron Microscopy Secretaries
M. Gribi, 1969-1970
W. Stäubli, 1971-1972
G. Kistler, 1973-1976
J. R. Günter, 1977-1980
R. Guggenheim, 1981-1986
R. Gotthardt, 1987-?

Optics Secretaries
R. David, 1969-1970
C. v. Planta, 1971-1972
F. K. v. Willisen, 1973-1976
W. Balmer, 1977-1980
D. Gross, 1981-1982
E. Mathieu, 1983-?

References

1949 establishments in Switzerland
European Microscopy Society
Scientific societies based in Switzerland
Scientific organizations established in 1949

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


So you want to navigate through the database of bras that Bratabase exposes.
The first thing to do is to visit the brands link on the API's root.
That will show you the list of bras so you can navigate to each of them and from them you can navigate to the list of models for this brand under its models key. Do the same thing to see each model's detail and see its sizes collection to discover the list of sizes we know for the particular model.
For this example I will be using the command line curl. If you have Mac or Linux you should already have this installed, if you are on Windows you may need to install it.
We are interested on the url under brands, so we follow that.
You can see that the body has a bunch of attributes about Panache, its URL, how many bras there are for the brand, a link to an image of the Logo, etc.
Again, we follow the href key to read the full details for the model we want, in this case Andorra Full cup (5675).
Ok, this is a little verbose, but again, all the interesting attributes are under body, there you can see how many bras we have in that model, the name and code of the model, whether or not it is discontinued, but also a link to the official page of the bra by the brand (which many times the brand decides to move) or a picture of the bra and interestingly, a list of official manufacturer's pictures for this bra in case you need to show pictures of this. This response is described on the model's detail page.
Take a look at the links key of the response, it contains a number of other links, to related models and other models with the same cut as this bra. For more information on what's behind these links make sure to follow the model's spec.
I hope that this shows you how to navigate through the API, it is mainly just knowing what is the link you are interested about and following that URL.


text:
Weatherman
BBC One London, 12 September 1983 0.15
BBC One is a television service which began broadcasting on 20 April 1964. It replaced BBC Television.
Feedback about Weatherman, BBC One London, 0.15, 12 September 1983
Please leave this link here so we can find the programme you're referring to: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a57612ba0d994bc89aee9f1e47cbe79f


text:
Video of mentally-challenged man falsely accused of child-lifting shared to stoke rumours
"सिकराय गनीपुर रोड़ पंचमुखी मंदिर के पास पकड़ा गया एक ओर गिरोह का सदस्य आदमीयो को देख कर खेत मे भाग गया मोके पे पुलिस बुला कर पकड़ाया (One more gang caught by people near Panchmukhi temple on Ginipur road, Sikrai. On seeing people, he was running away from men towards the fields. He was later handed over to the police -translated)", reads the message posted by Facebook page Dausa Times on August 7, 2019. The video shows an angry mob pushing around a man whose hands they've tied with a rope. In the video, a person from the mob can be heard asking the man, "how many children have you butchered so far with this", while pointing to an object.
सिकराय गनीपुर रोड़ पंचमुखी मंदिर के पास पकड़ा गया एक ओर गिरोह का सदस्य आदमीयो को देख कर खेत मे भाग गया मोके पे पुलिस बुला कर पकड़ाया
Posted by Dausa Times on Wednesday, 7 August 2019
The message shared along with the video suggests that a member of a child-lifting gang was arrested by the police in Dausa district's Sikrai town, Rajasthan. Facebook page – JK Meena Saray – posted a longer version of the video taken from a different angle but shared with the identical message. The mob relentlessly inquires about an object purportedly carried by the man. Throughout the video, the man kept changing his responses which were sometimes even unrelated to the questions.
MENTALLY-CHALLENGED MAN BEATEN OVER FALSE ACCUSATION OF BEING A CHILD-LIFTER
On looking for news reports from Dausa district, Rajasthan with some generic keywords, we were unable to find any. Alt News contacted Manpur police station regarding this matter. We sent the video to SHO Surendra Kumar Bakolia. He watched the clip and informed us that the man was mentally unstable. He said, "The incident took place on August 7. He was mentally unstable. He said anything in response to their questions. He was sent for a medical check-up and there were no [major] injuries. This man was later sent to an NGO based in Bharatpur which takes care of mentally challenged people."
Alt News reached out to Apna Ghar, an NGO based in Bharatpur district, Rajasthan that looks after homeless and mentally challenged people. "Yes, a man came to us from Manpur, Dausa. He is mentally-ill. He said his name is Jaichand. He hasn't spoken about anything else", said a member of the organization.
In conclusion, a video of a mentally-challenged man falsely accused of being a child-kidnapper and taken hostage by a mob in Rajasthan's Dausa district was shared by some Facebook pages to spread child-lifting rumours. Earlier, a video of a mentally-ill woman in Sri Ganga Nagar district, Rajasthan, held captive by a mob over suspicion of child-lifting, was also shared to stoke the rumours.
No, this is not Mumbai police commissioner warning about terrorist attacks


text:
Q: Out of Memory Exception in C# i am new to C#.
Thus, i am not so sure what the problem is with my program.
The program works with small image but it shows "Out of memory exeception" when it works with a large image which is about A4 size.
However, the program would be useless if it cannot work with large image.
How can I solve the problem?
With thanks.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;

namespace ConsoleApplication6
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //Bitmap objects

            //input image
            Bitmap bmOrg = (Bitmap)Bitmap.FromFile(@"C:\B.png");
            Bitmap bmTransparentLayover = new Bitmap(bmOrg.Width, bmOrg.Height);

            //Create Graphic Objects.
            Graphics gOriginal = Graphics.FromImage(bmOrg);
            Graphics gTransparentLayover = Graphics.FromImage(bmTransparentLayover);

            //Set Transparent Graphics back ground to an "odd" color
            //     that hopefully won't be used to
            //Be changed to transparent later.
            gTransparentLayover.FillRectangle
                                ( Brushes.Pink,
                                  new Rectangle
                                  (0,
                                   0,
                                   bmTransparentLayover.Width,
                                   bmTransparentLayover.Height
                                  )
                                );

            //Draw "transparent" graphics that will look through
            //  the overlay onto the original.
            //Using LimeGreen in hopes that it's not used.

            Point[] points = new Point[5];
            points[0] = new Point(130, 140);
            points[1] = new Point(130, 370);
            points[2] = new Point(420, 370);
            points[3] = new Point(420, 140);
            points[4] = new Point(130, 140);
            System.Drawing.Drawing2D.GraphicsPath gp = new
            System.Drawing.Drawing2D.GraphicsPath();
            gp.AddPolygon(points);
            gTransparentLayover.FillPath(Brushes.LimeGreen, gp);

            //Now make the LimeGreen Transparent to see through overlay.
            bmTransparentLayover.MakeTransparent(Color.LimeGreen);

            //draw the overlay on top of the original.
            gOriginal.DrawImage(bmTransparentLayover,
             new Rectangle(0, 0, bmTransparentLayover.Width, bmTransparentLayover.Height));

            //Create new image to make the overlays background tranparent
            Bitmap bm3 = new Bitmap(bmOrg);
            bm3.MakeTransparent(Color.Pink);

            //Save file.
            //to save the output image
            bm3.Save(@"save.png",System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);

            Image img = new Bitmap(480, 480);

            //the background image
            img = Image.FromFile(@"a.png");
            Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(img);

            //to save the combined image
            g.DrawImage(Image.FromFile(@"save.png"), new Point(-50, -70));
            img.Save(@"final.png", ImageFormat.Png);
        }
    }
}

A:
it is a 9992x8750 image

Yes, you're in the danger zone for a 32-bit process.  That image requires a big chunk of contiguous address space, 334 megabytes.  You'll easily get that when you load the image early, right after your program starts.  You can get about 650 megabytes at that point, give or take.
But that goes down-hill from there as your program allocates and releases memory and loads a couple of assemblies.  The address space gets fragmented, the holes between the allocations are getting smaller.  Just loading a DLL with an awkward base address can suddenly cut the largest hole by more than a factor of two.  The problem is not the total amount of virtual memory available, it can be a gigabyte or more, it is the size of the largest available chunk.  After a while, having a 90 megabyte allocation fail is not entirely unusual.  Just that one allocation can fail, you could still allocate a bunch of, say, 50 megabyte chunks.
There is no cure for address space fragmentation and you can't fix the way that the Bitmap class stores the pixel data.  But one, specify a 64-bit version of Windows as a requirement for your program.  It provides gobs of virtual memory, fragmentation is a non-issue.  If you want to chase it down then you can get insight in the VM layout with the SysInternals' VMMap utility.  Beware of the information overload you may experience.

A: I suspect that your main problem is that you've got a number of bitmap and graphics instances in use at the same time.
It's probably worth trying to reorganise your code so that as few of these are present at any one time as possible, using .Dispose() to remove items you're finished with.

A: Try to work on Windows 64-bit, That's the solution of most of memory problems.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: how to save radio buttons values in db in django forms.py
Date_Format = (
    ('0', ' dd / mm / yyyy'),
    ('1', 'mm / dd / yyyy'),
)

Time_Format = (
    ('0', ' 12 hour AM / PM '),
    ('1', ' 24 hour '),
)

class DateFormatForm(Form):
    date_format = forms.ChoiceField(choices=Date_Format,widget=forms.RadioSelect())

class TimeFormatForm(Form):
    time_format = forms.ChoiceField(choices=Time_Format,widget=forms.RadioSelect())

models.py
class Settings(models.Model):
    user = models.ForeignKey(User, null=True)
    date_format = models.CharField('Date format', max_length=100)
    time_format = models.CharField('Time format', max_length=100)

*

*I had kept the two forms namely,DateFormatForm and TimeFormatForm in template for selecting the date ad time formats.

*In models their are two field namely, i.date_format and ii.time_format for which  forms choices are created.So if the user clicks this format  ('0', ' dd / mm / yyyy'), and press save,the corresponding value is "0" which should be saved in date_format.
3.So date formats are saved in their appropriate fields with "0"'s or "1".
I can't use forms form validation and save because i am not using modelsForm,So how to save it in database.
Please share me a slight idea to perform this with out form.
Thanks

A: I think that your model could be refactored and you should use Django ModelForm.
But, why do you want to save the human-readable part in db if you have hardcored them in your code? do you want get it after?
if you want to get the human-readable part, just use get_date_format_display() for DateFormat model and get_time_format_display() for TimeFormat model. Django generates these methods
see this Documentation
Hope this helpsvalue


This is some thoughts about how to design a campaign.
First of all you need to decide if its a story line driven or mission content driven. What it means is that if you have really good story line, you can manage with slim mission content (however it is at the end first person shooter which you cant forget) or if you lack story line elements you need to beef up the mission content to the maximum.
You have intensive characters which player familiarizes and attaches himself, there is a lot of cutscenes which make movie kind of atmosphere and tells the story. This sort of campaign can be small like 5-10 missions or so.
If the story line is slim, there is maybe no characters to recognize, cutscenes are just something random or similar non interesting, then you concentrate on the mission content game-play for example 50 missions so the player really feels like doing hard work to complete the campaign. The PMC campaigns (except few) are content driven, like in PMC Fury we have over 200 (yes, two hundred) missions where you painstakingly go through the BIS islands with a precision to cover all the landmass available, the cutscenes in this campaign were poor if not totally worthless but the missions then balanced the whole thing. At the same time the mission content can include tight team saving (saveStatus) and/or weapon saving (weaponPool) which also brings the content level up a notch.
When you have decided what sort of campaign you want to have, you must make absolute sure that the campaign description.ext (not the mission!) works perfectly, this can be easily tested with the endmission cheat. Just start your campaign and after the briefing when you are in-game, hit endmission cheat and you get to see next mission, or you end up with error that your description.ext is broken. It is essential that this campaign backbone is working before you release your campaign.
Make sure your mission triggers work, since you do a campaign which is many missions (no, I'm not talking about 2 mission campaign) you should create one set of triggers which you confirm carefully that they work and only then you start to use them in the campaign on all of its missions. Sure some missions require different type of triggers, but same applies here, you must check the triggers in easier conditions than just dropping them into real missions with hundreds of enemies and whatnot.
Put all music files into the campaign root under its description.ext so they are available on all missions, this way you can have many tracks on all missions with only one sound file download per track. It is stupid to duplicate same music track for two or more missions on their individual mission\music\ dirs. For more details please read DtaExt in campaigns.
Put all your scripts into campaign root under "Scripts" directory, this way any scripts used in multiple missions, can be read from one dir instead of copying them on each mission dir.
When I design a campaign I can just start to slam units in editor which shapes itself then into a campaign, this actually was what happened to PMC Command Campaign. It started with one generic mission, then came another one and soon I noticed I already changed island when I did the missions in campaign style. Lateron PMC Command Campaign evolved into its present state which is so much more than it started, even its name evolved to PMC Baltic Command.
Another way is to not even touch mission editor, but open a text file and map of the island terrain(s), then start to plan how you want to missions to proceed by looking interesting places on the map or just to see that you cover each city or landmark. You then proceed to write the mission names, dates, times and small descriptions into the text file. Also recently on the PMC Joint Justice campaign I wrote the normal text file, but also made 1 jpg image out of each mission showing illustration in the island map of where the units are starting, attacking, defending and where the objectives are etc. It became so easy to afterwards start to build the missions in mission editor, as the complete manuscript / design document was already done. In programming circles its been said that you have to design the program first, then the coding itself goes without a problems. I'd say same applies to campaign creation.


text:
Q: How to run celery and redis in Django application I have a problem with a django application that executes stored procedures (oracle database) through celery tasks and redis. The application was running in a linux server but this fall down and then i lift the aplication up using python manage.py runserver but i don't know how to deal with the part that celery uses to run the tasks that call the stored procedures.
here a view
@csrf_exempt
@login_required(login_url='/login/')
def DynamicView(request):
   idc = request.GET.get('idc')
   idpl = request.GET.get('idpl')
   if request.method == 'POST':
      usuario = request.user
      rpost = request.POST
      form = DynamicForm(idpl,idc, request.POST)
      idc= request.POST.get('idcontrol')
      idpl= request.POST.get('idpl')
      if form.is_valid():
        pl_ejecutar = BuildPl(idpl,idc,usuario,rpost)
        mensaje = pl_ejecutar
        dynamicExec.delay(pl_ejecutar,idc,idpl)

      nom_control = BuscarControl(idc)
      nom_pl = BuscarControlPl(idpl)
      usu = User.objects.get(username=usuario)
      nombre_usu = usu.username
      accion = 'Se ha ejecutado el Pl: ' \
                  + nom_pl + '. Para el Control: ' \
                  + nom_control + '. Por: ' + nombre_usu

      RegistroAcciones(usuario,accion)

      return HttpResponseRedirect('/monitor/')

here a task
@task(queue='ds')
def dynamicExec(pl,pidc,pidpl):
    runpl = EjecutarPl()
    spe = runpl.ejecuta(pl,pidc,pidpl)
    return none

here the model that call de store procedure
class EjecutarPl():
   def ejecuta(self, plv,idcv,idplv):
      cursor = connection.cursor()
      query = "begin cbs_django.ejecutar_pl_v2(:ppl,:pidc,:pidpl); end; "
      param = {"ppl":plv,"pidc":idcv,"pidpl":idplv}
      spexec = cursor.execute(query,param)
      cursor.close()
      return spexec

I don't have experience using celery and redis so if anyone can help me would be thankful.

A: I'd recommend looking into supervisor. It will allow you to run multiple scripts in different processes/daemons.


text:
NC Baptist Convention President Calls for Civil Debate on Gay Marriage Ban (VIDEO)
As vote on same-sex marriage ban in North Carolina approaches, those in support brace for backlash
By Luiza Oleszczuk, Christian Post Reporter | Wednesday, December 28, 2011
The newly-minted president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, the Rev. Mark Harris, is one of the local church leaders supporting the "Marriage Amendment" that is to explicitly ban gay marriage in the state constitution if passed on May 8. Although expected to be hit with a lot of criticism, the minister is hoping for a civil debate.
A protester holds up a sign in support of the traditional definition of marriage at the 'Let the People Vote' rally in Manhattan on July 24, 2011. | (Photo: The Christian Post)
Gay Couple Barred From Holding Same-Sex Union at Christian Bed and Breakfast
Newt Gingrich Tells Proponents of Gay Marriage to Vote for Obama
Gingrich and Gay Marriage: Strong Opposition, But Religious Grounds Unclear
Obama Sends Letter Congratulating Married Gay Couple
Gay Rights Activist Fights for Christian Manager Demoted for Gay Marriage Comments
North Carolina is the last southeastern state without such a ban. But that may soon change, as a vote to pass a new amendment that would affirm marriage as between a man and a woman in the state constitution is due to take place during the May primaries. The state senate voted in favor of letting North Carolinians decide on the measure in September.
A North Carolina statute currently defines marriage as "A valid and sufficient marriage is created by the consent of a male and female person who may lawfully marry (…)," therefore already making same-sex marriage illegal. But an additional affirmation of the definition of marriage is necessary, Harris told The Christian Post Wednesday.
"The truth is, without a constitutional amendment that protects marriage, marriage is vulnerable to legal attacks and also liberal activist judges," he said.
"Only a constitutional amendment protecting marriage keeps the issue in the hands of the people and out of the hands of more liberal activist judges," the minister added.
Harris, senior minister at Charlotte's First Baptist Church, was elected to a yearlong term as president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in November, and reportedly represents 4,300 N.C. Baptist churches and their 1.3 million members.
The minister realizes that his campaign to support the amendment will undergo tough criticism from the gay community and other entities that do not support traditional marriage, as he expressed in his recent interview with The Charlotte Observer.
Earlier this week, Harris told the newspaper that he received a threatening voice mail message, right after receiving his post, in which the caller warned him to stop "spewing hatred."
Nevertheless, Harris expressed hope for a "civil conversation and civil discussion."
"It's no secret that there is a lot of emotion on both sides of this issue and my hope is that we can keep that emotion in check and simply have a conversation based on perspective and fact, and be able to move forward in that way. Just encouraging the folks to get out and vote," he told CP.
North Carolina evangelicals formed a coalition earlier this month – Vote For Marriage NC – to campaign for the amendment's passage.
"We very much look forward to a dialogue with North Carolina voters about the importance of preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman," Executive Director of the NC Values Coalition Tami Fitzgerald told CP at the time.
"The marriage amendment ensures that voters and not activist judges will decide the definition of marriage in our state," he added. "Marriage as the union of one man and one woman has served North Carolina well since before we were a state, and it's time we respected the institution of marriage enough to protect it in our state constitution."
North Carolina Baptists want to encourage Christians to make marriage and family a serious commitment – to be "godly moms and godly dads," Harris told CP Wednesday.
"It is important for children to have a mother and a father. We feel it is important for them to benefit as a society from that," so the church wants to do everything it can to promote that idea, he added.
"One of the things that are important in this issue is that this really is an opportunity – when we think of the marriage amendment – to celebrate the benefits of marriage to the society. It's an opportunity to celebrate the timelessness and the special union that marriage is between one man and one woman," Harris told CP, adding that he hopes for that to be the focus of the conversation in the months preceding May.
The amendment could also call into question domestic partnership benefits offered by public institutions and the application of domestic violence laws, according to The New York Times.
The Christian Post Daily Report 12.28.11
How the church can stop following and start leading the culture of economics


What would you have to give up in order to have what you want?
Most of us have dreams, but why is it that so few actually achieve them? Without realizing it, many of us underestimate the effort it takes to get to a big goal. As a result, it can be really easy to have an expectation that starting that business, writing that book, getting out of debt, or losing those pounds should unfold more easily than it actually will. Then when months or even years pass and we don't see progress, we can become disappointed.
When I am moving towards a big goal like writing a book, I have to give up social time. I don't like it. I feel like I'm missing out. But it is a sacrifice that has to be made for a period of time in order to focus. The same can be said of saving money or losing weight. Even if your big goal is about finding a healthy and happy relationship, you may have to give up some old habits that are not so happy and healthy.
What will you have to give up in order to have what you want?
Whatever your answer to the question, keep in mind that you may not have to give it up forever, but be disciplined enough to give it up until you can get to your desired goal. If you set that expectation, you may be surprised at how inspired and motivated you are to do whatever it takes to get there.


Personal injury lawyer gives legal services to people who claim to be injured people from accidents, use of bad products, workplace injuries, traffic collisions or any professional malpractices if they claim to be physically or psychologically injured.
A good personal injury lawyer should be qualified law personnel and one should seek help from them if one has no idea on how to evaluate hi/her claim, when the adjuster is offering structured settlement rather than a lump sum payment, if one is not confident enough to handle the settlement by himself or when one is having difficulty in claiming lost wages.
Accident Attorney should be consulted in hard times of settling the claims where they insurance company are offering low settlement, when the claim is more valuable and one has no ability on how to claim the loss, when the injured person is a minor or when one is seriously injured with high medical bills.
Injury attorneys help one to fully understand the whole legal process of claiming to the insurance and they will enable the affected party to accurately fill the claim forms, promptly and in explained detail increasing the chances of compensation.
Incase of an accident the insurance company is sure that you will go for a trial and to avoid you winning he claim and spending more to pay you, they will engage you first for a settlement which will be always cheaper for them and anyone having injury lawyer besides him will be fully prepared and this will mean a clear win than one who do not have.
Personal Injury lawyers will use their working experience in working to improve your chances of a bigger settlement as they have access to all relevant experts which preferably increase chances of getting compensated rather than going for your claims alone because definitely the insurance firm will rule against your will.
Most lawyers firms operate in contingency fee basis where if they do not win the lawsuits or any monetary settlement, no fee is given to them and this is beneficial to the affected party.


Omna Harjani hails from Ajmer, Rajasthan. Even though she was present in extra curricular activities she was keen on her studies and was working in a high profile job in a multi national company. But Bollywood and it\'s magic was something she could not resist. He decides to quit her job and joined Creative Characters in Mahada, Mumbai for acting., After the course she went for lots of audition and has done modelling for lots of well known brands. Her movie career happened with the movie 1982 A Love Marriage.


Okay, so I haven't left for Cleveland yet, but today is still a big day. Today is Last-Minute Preparation Day. It's the day to finish up some work while doing my final planning. For instance, I spent much of today looking for a new bag to take with me. You see, a bag is an important thing when you're headed to a film festival. You need just the right bag to carry all the stuff you'll need during the day. I, for example, need a bag that will carry my planner and my notebook, a bottle of water and some emergency snacks, my folder of festival info, my digital recorder (for interviews), my MP3 player, a book to read in my spare time, and some knitting to keep me busy while I'm waiting for the movies to begin. Yesterday, I realized that I didn't own that bag — so I went all over town today to look for it. Alas, I didn't find it. Really — how hard is it to find a decent messenger bag? Apparently, it's impossible (unless, of course, you think ahead and order one online).
Then there's the other stuff — the packing, the hotel confirmations, the checking and re-checking of directions and addresses, and, most importantly, the scheduling.
The plan is to leave as early as possible (I'm going to say by 8:30 at the latest). That gets me to the hotel by 10:30ish to check in (if possible) or (more likely) drop off my bags. That'll get me to the festival in time to wander around, pick up some more info (meaning: figure out where all the parties are taking place over the weekend), and catch my first movie at 11:45. Since I'm flying solo tomorrow, I'm planning on heading to five movies (believe me…that may sound like no big deal, but try it once and let me know what you think of that tunnel-vision feeling). Once my partner in crime (and radio) shows up on Friday, I'll probably cut back to four. After all, John's kinda old, and he needs to take his breaks and drink his martinis. And I have to make sure that he stays out of trouble.
Somewhere in between all those movies, I'll eat (I'm guessing McDonald's). I'll write down my notes. I'll run to the other side of the mall to go to the bathroom. Maybe I'll even run upstairs to the special VIP lounge and hang out with my fellow VIPs. Or maybe I'll just hang in the food court with the rest of the riff-raff. And when it's all over, I'll go back to my room and crash. And somewhere between the end of that last movie and the beginning of my first movie at 11:30 on Friday morning, I'll fill you all in on the day's happenings.
If you happen to be at the film festival, keep your eyes peeled for me. I'm planning to bring some fun goodies to give away (that is, if I can find a bag that will accommodate them all).
Until then, as Clay always says, "See you at the movies!"


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text:
Incheon Airport to offer 24-hour unmanned currency exchange service
By Yim Hyun-su
Published : Aug 30, 2021 - 15:08 Updated : Aug 30, 2021 - 15:12
A plane carring Afghan evacuees arrive at Incheon Airport on Aug. 26. (Yonhap)
Incheon International Airport is planning to start offering an unmanned currency exchange service beginning in February 2022.
Dubbed the "unmanned currency exchange zone," currency exchange machines will be installed in the airport's Terminal 2 and will be in service 24 hours a day, officials at Incheon International Airport Corporation said on Monday.
IIAC is currently in talks with major banks to introduce the service. Shinhan Bank is on board with the move, according to one IIAC official.
Woori Bank and Hana Bank are also in talks, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The service will be trialed for around two years with plans to extend the service depending on reception.
Other ATMs and currency exchange facilities within the airport will continue to be in operation during the trial period.
The machines will offer users the ability to exchange currency on the spot in addition to the providing the features of regular ATMs where you can collect foreign currency after applying online.
With the new addition to the airport, travelers can now exchange currency at any time without having to make face-to-face contact.
The move comes as 48.7 percent of currency exchanges took place online in 2019, up from 42.3 percent in 2018 and 36.1 percent in 2017, according to data from IIAC.
By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)


By Elise McDonough Jan. 25, 2018 Updated: Jan. 26, 2018 12:08 p.m.
Somewhere between the gorgeous desert sunset, the cannabis-infused cocktails, the Chinese tea time with a guy named Snakes, the artisanal weed tastings and the rabbit ragu, it dawned on me: I am not at another boring weed dinner.
No longer a secret ingredient, cannabis has lately become the guest of honor at private dinners across California. Top chefs now openly talk of elevating stoner cuisine. High-minded gastronomists seek new and inventive ways to infuse the herb into all manner of dishes. There's even a hit television series, Viceland's "Bong Appétit," celebrating the endless possibilities of cooking with the Golden State's most beloved produce (and largest cash crop).
As the author of a best-selling cannabis cookbook, I've watched this scene evolve from an underground phenomenon into a hot new trend in the culinary world. And the field is starting to get crowded. A few years ago, simply having the gumption to pull off a weed dinner drew intense interest, not just from pot-friendly foodies, but also from the press. But now to stand out, would-be weed impresarios must reach a little — forgive the pun — higher.
Tickets for the extravaganja, which I attended in June, cost $150 and were available to those with a valid medical cannabis recommendation. Now, with cannabis fully legal for all adults, doctor's notes are no longer necessary. With big plans in store for 2018, Mary Jane University is relaunching these dinners under its High Dining brand. The next event is scheduled for April 28.
I first encountered Sommars at one of Mary Jane University's "Sushi and Doobie" workshops in Orange County, which brought together weed experts and a top-level sushi chef. More than half of the participants, who were largely female, didn't know how to roll sushi or a joint, but by night's end, most of them appeared to leave with at least basic competence in both skills. It was a fun, interactive evening, with a friendly crowd, quality sushi, and enough high-end weed sponsors to provide serious value for the cost of admission.
Considered sacred ground by artists, spiritualists and eccentrics, the Mojave Desert offers wide-open terrain and a low cost of living — a perfect combo for those working to manifest strange visions. So while typically I wouldn't travel five hours round-trip for a cannabis dinner, this particular gathering promised truly cosmic vibes. And a quick perusal of the Furst World website revealed the venue alone might be worth the ride.
Is California's pot mecca ready to receive visitors?
As I drove in from Los Angeles, the landscape of suburban sprawl, strip malls and housing tracts blissfully faded as Route 10 cut east through the San Gorgonio and San Jacinto mountains. Following a few twisting dirt roads, I arrived at Furst World and was greeted with a cocktail. The cold concoction of seltzer, mint-infused simple syrup, cannabis-infused Bulleit bourbon and a splash of lime instantly washed the road dust off my tongue and put me in a convivial mood.
Drink in hand, I explored Furst Wurld, a workshop and performance space that consisted of three lofted hangars and several Airstream trailers, plus a wide concrete veranda overlooking Joshua Tree National Park. The space was crowded with objects, including a large iron stove, a wooden Buddha statue, an old wagon and barrels of mannequin parts.
A series of cannabis educators roamed the property. There was Furst World founder Bobby Furst, tan and wiry in a fur hat and glasses; a teahouse steward who went by the handle Snakes and poured out cups of a fermented Chinese tea called pu'er; cannabis expert Jeffrey Rabin, who offered insights on all aspects of the plant; and a mystic named Vega of the Valley, who conducted tarot card readings in a cozy trailer.
Gathered around a small table, guests sat together and tasted several different strains of cannabis, making notes on the aroma, flavor, finish and cerebral effects, considering whether the smoke was sweet or astringent, fruity or savory. The blind tasting encouraged a certain mindfulness, all while priming our appetites for the meal to follow.
From there, I was ushered to a long communal table. Keiko Beatie of Edibles List magazine explained the dinner menu, which included THC infusions staggered throughout the meal. In total, we'd be served about 10 milligrams, a dosage that typically allows for a pleasant, present high.
Our first course: arugula salad with dates, pickled shallots, goat cheese, hemp seeds and a lemon-hibiscus vinaigrette. Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef Eduardo Pineda had infused the vinaigrette with raw cannabis oil that, similar to the infused bourbon, offered a large dose of cannabinoids in their non-psychoactive forms.
"The biggest challenge for any chef cooking with cannabis, and certainly for me as someone experimenting with it for the first time, is properly dosing," Pineda told me.
The main course was a rabbit ragu with cipollini onions, carrots, ghee, thyme and cannabis leaves. Integrated directly into the pasta dough in carefully measured amounts, the cannabis ghee (from Canobutter) delivered a solid 7 milligrams of THC per serving in a tasty, earthy plate where the flavor of the weed melded nicely with complementary herbs.
"To me, the flavor profile of high-quality cannabis is fairly floral, and depending on the strain can also have pine or citrus notes, so I tried to work with those flavors as much as possible," Pineda said. Both courses were delicious and offered enough unusual flavor combinations to make the meal feel adventurous.
Served in the main hangar at a walk-up station, dessert began with a refreshing prickly pear granita with candied Buddha's hands and pickled tamarind, infused with a CBD tincture that imbued a balanced and relaxing high by tempering the effects of all the THC ingested during dinner. There were also low-dose chocolate truffles and an adorable mini "Desert Sands" parfait composed of cookie crumbles, green aloe gelee, hemp coconut pudding, cantaloupe candy and prickly pear caviar dosed at just 2 milligrams of THC.
"We want guests to experience a sufficient amount of euphoria to feel like they're having a magical time, but not be so out of it that they can't leave under their own power," Sommars said.
Elise McDonough is a cannabis edibles expert, consultant and cookbook author living in Santa Cruz.


Yacht Deck only uses the best quality teak available. Our special relationship with overseas teak suppliers provides us the opportunity to take our personal pick of what is available. As a preferred customer, we negotiate the best prices and shortest delivery times, both of which are then passed on to our customers.
Time is on your side – Yacht Deck only uses the best quality teak available. Our special relationship with overseas teak suppliers provides us the opportunity to take our personal pick of what is available. As a preferred customer, we negotiate the best prices and shortest delivery times, both of which are then passed on to our customers.
Live Longer – A better use of raw materials – this is exactly what our working method achieves. Doing this, we enable your decking to live longer, often for the entire life of your yacht.
On-site Templates – Much emphasis is put on preparatory work. The more we learn about your vessel, the more efficiently we can work and the higher the quality. Therefore, our team of highly skilled professionals measure your yacht in full detail. Based on these figures, we are able to construct a very accurate template of your yacht in one of our factories. There, we build your deck in prefabricated panels. These panels are then transported to the Shipyard of your choice, ready for installation.
Be Prepared – Like everything in life, good preparation is a key to success. Surface preparation is a key aspect of our work, as it has a direct effect on the end result. Whether it is a steel, aluminum, or fiberglass deck, our technicians will fair and level the surface to the maximum prior to installation, thereby providing a perfect surface to receive the new teak decking.
Finished in Time – Yacht Deck does a majority of the deck construction at our own facility. During that period, as we are not governed by someone else's timetable, we can finish our work on time. Bearing in mind the ever-tightening schedules of most modern yachts, this is a major advantage for every Shipyard and every yacht owner.