Rösti

First time I had them I was in America, more precisely, California. Somehow that reminded me of fish, but with this fantastic potato flavor penetrating my tongue and nose. Since then, I could never forget this mind-blowing experience. From fast food restaurant’s hash browns to homemade styled ones eaten in small suburban places, I always loved all the variants – I even reproduced them myself, somehow, at home, filled them up with cheese, and damn it tastes good! But I wanted to have the fast food variant one more time. And… Who would say that 10 years later from when I had my first hash brown, here called Rösti (its original Swiss name), I would prove this delicious specialty in Vienna? And I must say… I love how the potatoes are grated in this one, and more than that, it looks great.

Fluvi’s Zaragoza

It is already late in the afternoon, you are on vacations, but, of course, on a run. “What a beautiful place. No problem, I’ll come here again before I leave and take a better look at it”, you think. Well… That is a lie. Something that I learned but that I couldn’t really master the technique yet is to take “all the look” I want right here, right now. The following photographs are all I could capture from the extraordinary area of the former international expo – hosted by the city of Zaragoza, Spain, in 2008 -, during my last month’s visit. The interesting thing is that nowadays all those beautifully designed buildings and artwork, that composed the water and sustainable development themed event, now inhabit what reminds me of a very up to date Ghost Town. There, the out of work chairlift cuts the skies all over the place bringing the feeling that time doesn’t exist.

Another fantastic work from Zaha Hadid: The Bridge Pavilion: Pathway still opened to the public.

Zaragoza’s Water Tower and its water droplet shaped design by Enrique de Teresa.

Where once there were thousands of people facing countless waiting hours long lines, the area of the former expo still attract skateboarders, tourists and lost souls. In the picture above, the sculpture Soul of the Ebro, by artist Jaume Plensa, the Palacio de Congresos building, by Enrique Sobejano and Fuensanta Nieto, that hosts a concert auditorium, and the Water Tower during a lonely-like sunset.

The third millennium bridge, from engineer Juan José Arenas, over the Ebro river. It is the largest concrete arch bridge in the world.

300 minutes in Düsseldorf

Since I have been learning German and had so much contact with the Germanic culture during the last previous months, even before getting to Düsseldorf I was already very excited about the first footsteps I would leave in Deutschland. We were there only for a few minutes, during a flight connection between Vienna and Barcelona and, even though I hadn’t taken great pictures, I must say that I enjoyed every single second we were there on the run.

I Flew Niki. By Embraer.

“Fly Niki, fly Niki!” were my old man’s words every time I talked about my trip to Spain. As a Formula 1 and airplanes enthusiastic, the Idea of flying in Nikki Lauda’s air company is, for him, the ultimate experience on up in the air excitement! And… Guess what: The first time I flew Niki was also my first time riding an airplane made in Brazil (Butterflies in my stomach)!

 

 

Electrical farms

Even before the time I started seeing amazing super-trucks carrying some of their gigantic parts crossing the Brazilian city of São Paulo, I already thought that wind turbines were super cool. Not because of all this Eco-friendship fuzz, but, other than being quite rare for me to see them, there is also this futuristic look and their elegant aerodynamics, projected to collect the biggest possible amount of energy out of nature, that attract me so much.

And even though the subtle noise produced by this modern windmills may drive some people crazy in long therm periods, and that there is some controversy regarding electric farmers making money by shutting down their generators, when watched from some distance they are quiet, tranquil, and bigger then we usually think.

 

It was also the first time I saw Solar panels doing something else then heating water or feeding high school calculators. I really felt like performing a long walk among wind turbines and through T-Solar’s energy farm in Arnedo. I must say that sustainable energy is really good looking!