For a hypothetical physical Monastery, what would be the more important consideration, prices being equal?
Large amount of land (50 acres or more)
or
Close to major airports / along major tourist routes?
Debate! :D
Another angle: How far out of your way would you prepare to go to visit a physical Monastery, assuming you were flying in or driving somewhere near the area but not directly past it?
Personally I would think that closer to a major airport is preferable, considering we're all so retired geographically.
If time weren't at a premium and peregrination is the idea, then perhaps a larger area (or a very nice location with a nice view) would be more attractive. In practical terms it well may be that this is a more sensible idea even if less siblings have the chance to visit, as it would be attractive for others to go and rent/stay.
Aside from our long-term Monastery community here, to be self-supporting a physical Monastery would need to attract visitors, whether that be drive-by tourists at the Toadfish store (selling whatever we produce, be it handicrafts, food products, veggies or anything else) or whether it be purposeful guests attending retreats / formal programs or just people coming to stay.
The West Coast, within an hour or so from Vancouver (or alternatively on the southern half of the Island) would be great from a year-round visitor perspective, but land is relatively expensive. The interior of BC is good for summer tourists, especially anywhere near Kelowna (has a decently connected airport), and somewhat cheaper. Some of the less traveled areas (Kootenays, for example) may be cheaper and still have some tourist exposure, but further from connected airports.
This one's not a bad compromise:
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=7967627&PidKey=-569520019
Provided there's road access, I'm not that concerned about infrastructure; lack of power is a good excuse to get off the grid, and water wells shouldn't be hard to install, as water is plentiful in BC.
Note: This is in Useless Speculation for a reason, it'd be a while, but less money = closer to reality.
Can you get internet access there?
A long time ago I posted the coordinates for a location in Norway I'd consider very suitable. Easy access by boat, the road could use some improvements though. Of course Norway is by definition remote.
This famous landmark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preikestolen) is a short way down* the fjord, so it's not actually the middle of nowhere.
Buying real estate is not an option though. Difficult for Norwegians and legally close to impossible for foreigners (in general, not just at the specific location). A lease might be possible.
*or up. The location I have in mind is closer to the fjord entrance
Quote from: MentalBlock996 on August 07, 2010, 06:45:11 AM
Can you get internet access there?
Exactly what I was thinking. Perhaps a wind-up version?
Quote from: Swatopluk on August 07, 2010, 09:06:21 AM
Easy access by boat, the road could use some improvements though.
I don't do boats !
Well, there is a road (maybe even tarmacked by now). But you have to walk the last part of the way in any case and it is a bit steep in places. I doubt that rolling staircases would be fitting.
Quote from: Swatopluk on August 07, 2010, 10:52:12 AM
Well, there is a road (maybe even tarmacked by now). But you have to walk the last part of the way in any case and it is a bit steep in places. I doubt that rolling staircases would be fitting.
Sounds like it would be hard to arrange wheelchair access......
Quote from: MentalBlock996 on August 07, 2010, 06:45:11 AM
Can you get internet access there?
Probably limited to satellite, although one might be able to persuade the telephone company to run a line up there as it's only 15 km outside of Grand Forks.
I kind of like the idea of having a retreat of sorts and your compromise would be fine with me.
Satellite blows. If I can get a real connection there's probably no end to what I would contribute. Is there anything closer?
Quote from: Griffin NoName on August 07, 2010, 10:57:09 AM
Quote from: Swatopluk on August 07, 2010, 10:52:12 AM
Well, there is a road (maybe even tarmacked by now). But you have to walk the last part of the way in any case and it is a bit steep in places. I doubt that rolling staircases would be fitting.
Sounds like it would be hard to arrange wheelchair access......
What are novices for but carrying the honoured but disabled ;)
Or what about a chairlift?
I have always thought of the monastery as a quiet and calm place, a retreat of some sort, so close to a major city and airport would not be attractive IMHO.
I think it is important that there are some means of public transport available close by, but not necessarily all the way to the front door. Some sort of transfer service from the nearest rail-road/bus station would be an option.
I think location is important if you would like the place to attract tourists, lakeside or seaside or with a nice view over a pretty valley is a crucial selling point if you want to attract people to come and stay for the place it self.
If you where just interested in running a B&B or a "stay the night hotel" the priorities would be different.
Personally I rather drive 100 km extra for that special place to stay, and, if it's a place worth building my holiday around (in the vicinity of other nice and interesting places, vicinity in my mind means daytrip) I'll do a 600-700 km drive for a 7 to 10 days stay with out a doubt.
That said. I drive 550 km (one way) to L's summerhouse 2 or 3 times a year and 70 km (also one way) just to visit my mother over a day or two or even for just a couple of hours.
I looked up the climate in Grand Forks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Forks,_British_Columbia#Climate), and it looks very nice!
Here's some transportation information (http://www.city.grandforks.bc.ca/about/community/transportation.asp).
As for trains, I've taken Amtrak's Empire Builder (http://www.cwrr.com/Amtrak/w_empbld.html) from Chicago to Seattle by way of Spokane, Washington (127 miles from Grand Forks- not bad!) and it was one of the best train rides I've ever had. I'd love to do it again!
Surely the location should be half way between the US, Europe and Australia? :mrgreen:
^ what! ^
Are you now proposing an orbiting satellite? ;)
Quote from: Griffin NoName on August 09, 2010, 07:41:58 PM
Surely the location should be half way between the US, Europe and Australia? :mrgreen:
That would be something like Madagascar
We ought to have at least an European Monastery, an American Monastery and an Australian Monastery, eventually. They should all be on water, to make them pirate accessible.
Norway is old pirate country. The very word viking has connections to that.
Quote from: pieces o nine on August 10, 2010, 06:34:46 AM
^ what! ^
Are you now proposing an orbiting satellite? ;)
That would work! :mrgreen:
Quote from: Swatopluk on August 10, 2010, 08:16:48 AM
Quote from: Griffin NoName on August 09, 2010, 07:41:58 PM
Surely the location should be half way between the US, Europe and Australia? :mrgreen:
That would be something like Madagascar
Nah, somewhere in Panamá or Costa Rica, I could consider making one there for those with tropical desires. ;) :mrgreen:
Do we have a geographer here that could decide that question?
I'm no geographer but if you trace a line between Stockholm and Melbourne the mid point** seems to be somewhere in Chiapas, Mexico*. For the North American siblings the mid point could be between Colorado and Nebraska.
*very cool if you like Mayan ruins
** there are 2 alternative routes of which at this point I can't tell which is the shortest, for one of those flying south east, the mid point is in the Adaman and Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean. Flying North East the mid point is closer to Japan.
Quote from: Sibling Zono (anon1mat0) on August 10, 2010, 07:09:52 PM
I'm no geographer but if you trace a line between Stockholm and Melbourne the mid point** seems to be somewhere in Chiapas, Mexico*. For the North American siblings the mid point could be between Colorado and Nebraska.
Ok. We need 4 points A Stockholm B London C Melbourne D the midpoint between Colorado and Nebraska. Draw lines between these points. Find the midpoints of all the lines. Join up the mid points. Find the centre of the resulting object.
I suspect we will end up in the sea. Which is fine if we can build a platform.
;D
Strictly spoken the point wich is closest to all siblings on average will be far undeground ;)
If I average latitudes and longitudes for most active siblings I get Atlantis, that is, about 600 km in front of the Pillars of Hercules or about 500km NE from Madeira.
The average for European Siblings is in the North Sea about 250km east of Aberdeen
The average for North American Siblings is in the outskirts of Little Rock, Arkansas
If I average the European avg with the N. American one and Melbourne I get about 100km SE of Jamaica
You can see the spreadsheet I used to calculate those positions here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As-IIVqWlkeGdGhUVnNHZnk0Rkw5b1MwbndISm5uSEE&hl=en
A proper model would be to treat the active siblings as gravitating bodies, then to calculate the force map for the surface of the Earth looking for minima ;)
I would absolutely love to see the Mayan ruins!
What if we went for political geography instead? Canada seems more like a political climate that I could stomach than, well, anywhere south in the Americas.
Plus, Aggie's got leads. This little fishy would think seriously about migrating.
Iceland should be cheap to buy at the moment. Glaciers and volcanos would be a nice background scenery.
I currently consider to learn Icelandic but the grammar seems to put Greek and Latin to shame.
C'mon, Swato, if you've got Old Norse you're nearly there.
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Quote from: ZonoThe average for European Siblings is in the North Sea about 250km east of Aberdeen
I'm about N52 06 24 W 2 43 38. If you add that in it should pull the average point quite a lot west.
Yeah but as a German there are too many excellent translations available to me. On the other hand Germans are the people most eager to learn Icelandic in the world (though LazyTown might have shifted that to the English). As I got it from a tour guide, few Norwegians learn the language, foreigners trying are usually from Germany.
There are so few native Icelanders (currently about 320000) that it is within the realm of possibility that there are more Germans with a basic knowledge of Icelandic than that.
Hymns to Cthulhu in Icelandic could be interesting.
:offtopic:
I had an icelandic nanny for my children at one time.
It's all a secret plot to take over the world (I could imagine worse).
Iceland would be a geographically apt location. More or less on the route between America and Europe. Large international airport. Moderate climate (it's 100% south of the Artcic circle! The arctic circle passes through a tiny island north of Iceland). But cheap central heating is guaranteed anyway (geothermy). Just trees are a bit scarce still.
Well, wherever it is, we have to grow blackberries, so Mrs. H can make crumble.
:meal:
Yum! Thanks!
If we make it in Moreton-on-Lugg, the blackberries grow in the hedges. We're about as far from the sea as you can get in the UK but we have some lovely rivers.
It's further west than any European sibling except Pachy, but a bit closer to America.
After seeing it up close, I'd take somewhere in proximity to Missoula, Montana if a North American Monastery had to be in the US. Looks very much like home, especially around Flathead Lake.