Notes
Notes Archive: 2013
About our notes
Our Notes are published from time to time to comment on aspects of travel, culture, society and politics in and around Europe.
These are opinions and news-related items that complement both the printed magazine and our Letter from Europe and presented with that same quiet authority and perceptive insight that readers of hidden europe magazine have come to expect.
That long, cold winter
The European winter that is now — all too belatedly — being eclipsed by spring has seemed painfully long. Yet curiously, it has not been exceptionally cold. Across much of Europe, March was chilly by the standards of the average March, but it broke very few records for absolute minima. And a biting north-east wind made some areas feel much colder than the thermometer suggested.
Small is beautiful: the view from the Vatican
Rarely has the Vatican been so much in the spotlight as over the last week or two. The dog days of a papacy have never in recent times been quite so clearly defined as they were in February 2013. Benedict’s announcement on 12 February ushered in 16 days of preparations for that moment last Thursday evening when the Pope stepped back from office. Important ecclesiastic business was immediately shelved. We find it interesting what business was still transacted in the second half of February.