Monthly Archives: May 2010

Positano’s Santa Maria Assunta Church

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When in Positano, you must visit the Santa Maria Assunta Church. Not because of its beauty, but because of its history, which is linked to the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria. The abbey was founded in the second half of the 10th century. The church was rumored to be built because the last Benedictine abbot, Antonio Acciappaccia di Sorrento and his monks, where fed-up with being robbed by plunderers and decided to come to Positano; there are a few manuscripts showing how Benedictine monks, who where on board of their ships that traveled across commercial and fishing routes, carried important relics. This ships were always in danger or being confiscated by pirates, so they needed a place to store the icons until they could safely transport them to new sites.

When at the church, you might hear a story about the Dome made of majolica tiles as well as a 13th Byzantine century icon of a black Madonna and according to legend, the icon had been stolen from the Byzantium by pirates who were headed across the Mediterranean. All of a sudden a horrific storm began to brew just as the pirate ship was passing Positano, the frightened sailors then heard a voice on board saying ‘Posa, Posa!’, meaning “Put Down, Put Down!’. The black Madonna icon was unloaded and carried to the fishing village of Positano and the storm abated, letting the pirates sail off in peace.

Ask the staff at the hotel in Positano where you’re staying for directions, everyone knows exactly how to get to the church. Once there, you’ll be in awe of the majestic organ located just above the central portal and be delighted with a stunning bas-relief of St. Vito in an arch between the right aisle and the transept, dating back to 1506, or the bas-relief above the bell-tower dating back to the Middle Ages, and right above the bas-relief, you’ll notice a grave stone placed there in 1902 to commemorate Flavio Gioia, the inventor of the compass.

A Night on Frankfurt’s Bockenheim Strasse

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Where can you find some of Frankfurt’s most interesting restaurants and bars? You might try Bockenheim Strasse, an area that’s also referred to as Fressgass, variously translated as Pig-Out Alley or Gluttony Alley. A less judgemental translation of Fressgass might be “On the street where you eat.”

Once a district of the working class, the street has transformed into a center for the alternative scene, largely filled with bohemians and students. You’ll be able to find here shops offering cheese and smoked or fresh fish, and a variety of Frankfurter sausages. There is an abundance of unusual pubs, bars, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, bakeries, butcheries, delicatessens, and more.

In summer months especially, it’s a place for locals and travelers alike to fill up the hundreds, if not thousands, of chairs in the restaurant. In winter months, protection from the cold is provided, and it’s still possible to enjoy a meal and watch the world pass by your table.

While you’re booking a terrific room in Frankfurt, you might check to see if the Fressgass will be holding a festival. Several times a year, there’s a festival for wine or Advent. Some people who love the area might tell you to remember that “fressen” is what animals do while humans simply eat or “essen,” providing a caution not to gobble food down, considering that this might be an insult to the ambience, presentation and quality of the food served in Fressgass. Of course, there’s also some fast food chains in the area, too, so “Fress Gasse” might be the correct term, after all.

If you’ve never been to Frankfurt before, this is definitely a spot to try. Whether you’re looking for a full dining experience, such as the kind you might find at Zarges , or a place to round out the evening with a little jazz, such as Jazzkeller , you should have a great time.

Seoul Global

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Anyone who’s experienced the nightlife in Seoul is aware that the club scene is very much alive and kicking. Electronic music is very popular here, enjoying the same enthusiastic crowds and djs as the rest of Asia, and the rest of the world. Add to this the gorgeous success of K-Pop in entering the world music scene, and attracting more fans by leaps and bounds every year, and there’s all the makings of a major cultural scene.

Seoul’s hotels are already enough of an attraction to most world travelers, offering glorious spaces to rest in a very restless city. It’s a fantastic time to travel here, and catch up on the new music scene that’s quickly expanding. For fans of electronic music, there’s even more good news.

Global Gathering , the huge weekend music festival from the U.K., has started to take root here. Last year’s event was a huge success, and this year’s festival looks even better. The event began with the intentions of carrying the same club energy into the outdoors, where clubbers could enjoy their favorite scene for an entire weekend. It has some of the biggest names in electronic music these days, with performers like Prodigy, Royskopp, and Underworld, and even Kanye West has made rare appearances to get the party started.

The tickets are around 80 dollars for a night, or 150 for the weekend pass, which includes camping on the grounds. Since they’ve been doing this since 2001, the organizers have prepared well for the events, which have become something of a global phenomenon. With global in the title, fans should expect nothing less. In South Korea, in particular, this event will prove to be one of the key weekends of the musical calendar, offering a great opportunity to see what’s hot here, and what’s coming for the rest of the world.

Leadership on the Path of Least Resistance

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Today’s contemporary structures in the business world are much different than they were ten or twenty years ago. The trends which are running through the currents today, however, do have their roots back in the earlier decades. In our lifetimes, we have seen a move from one significant paradigm into an opposite paradigm. Businesses that work now are finding that the contemporary paradigm has its roots in something even more elemental than that’s lead to the current models.

It wasn’t long ago that the culture at large was speaking about willpower, and using your own clout in order to get what you wanted. People worked on principles of clever manipulation , and it was even accepted that this was a normal business practice, even if the manipulation had some elements of deception. It was accepted because it was generally acknowledged that everyone practiced this way. Thus, it became the norm, and the ones who could really succeed were the best at deftly covering up the manipulation.

Today’s model, where leadership qualities come from an internal sense of right and wrong, is much more effective, and also efficient. That’s because it’s based on honesty, and transparency . If there is nothing to cover up, then there is less time wasted, trying to figure out how to hide the truth. That’s a basic principle that has always been effective in any kind of setting, including business.

Seeing a return to this transparency in our lifetimes comes from a number of factors, but the single most important contributing circumstance is that it works. Honesty works. It’s something that comes naturally to everyone, but that doesn’t mean that a business training seminar won’t help to refresh ourselves on what’s always been effective. The question of leadership is always one of character, and one of the most successful tools is to start with the assumption that good character is something everyone has. This levels the playing field, so that our natural leadership potential can really come through and shine.