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Dispatch → Bulletin → News
by 
The Impeccably Arranged Snark of The West Pacific Master Dispatch.
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8 reads.
The Western Post - December 2023
The Wassailing Pacific brings you Midwinter Shenanigans! Join TWP for a month-long holiday festivity extravaganza with card contests, holiday music, movie creation & watching, and much more!
The
3rd World Cup of Football is nearing its end and the champion will soon be known! Stay tuned for an article in a future edition of our newspaper.
Full version hereSolve the anagrams to reveal the letters for the final message, and then use the circled letters from the words in the top part to complete the final phrase at the bottom. Each circled letter is used just once.
Send your finished answers to 
The West Pacific Master Dispatch to be featured in next month's paper!
It is time for another Card Club Update! There are some interesting things to talk about, and you can read them right here.
Firstly, I'll talk about November's card competition called the Fall Card Contest, honoring the autumn and also celebrations that happen during this season, with bonus points for cards featuring turkeys due to Thanksgiving. Four collections were submitted, and then judged by me and 
Laudesia after the November 30th deadline.
Thanksgiving stuff by Campa simpatica
After all entries were judged, Fotisdia's collection was chosen as the winner! They have a very diverse collection, featuring different aspects of autumn such as the months, the nature, and the celebrations of Halloween and Thanksgiving—with a focus on the latter that resulted in many bonus points.
Furthermore, Foressul was chosen as the runner-up! Their collection focuses on the natural aspect of the autumn season, with many depictions of trees during autumn, with their leaves having the characteristic yellow, orange, red or brown colors and being ready to fall.
In the end, Fotisdia and Foressul were each awarded a legendary card for their skills and creativity, Season 3 Myrth and Pogaria respectively. Furthermore, the other two participants Campa and Nihawitan were also thanked for joining and received five epic cards! It was overall an interesting contest, even with the downside of less entries than usual.
Secondly, the contest for December is here—the Card Club is hosting the Tree Decoration Card Contest, rerunning the contest theme from three years ago! Participants will have to collect cards that fit as the best tree decorations in their opinion, with the advantage that cards need not be strictly Christmas themed, although of course there should still be a relation. It's open until the end of the year, so start collecting now!
By Occidius, Minister of World Assembly Recruitment
The Mediterranean moray is not an attractive fish. Its sinuous body oozes mucus. Its eyes are beady and cold. It lurks in holes and slinks among stones, lacerating prey with crooked teeth. Yet despite combining all the malice of a predator with every unloveliness of the worm, the moray was a delicacy in the classical world. The Roman elite were particularly susceptible to its slippery charms. Morays swam in the ornamental ponds of villas, surfacing to snatch bits of meat from jeweled hands.* The most alluring eels became cherished pets, called by name and adorned with necklaces and earrings. Lesser specimens were eaten with rich sauces and considerable gusto.
Only the wealthy could afford to sample the dubious delights of morays. For the vast majority of Greeks and Romans, almost every meal was bread or porridge† flavored with oil, honey, or herbs. Depending on the season and availability, this might be complemented with goat cheese, beans, or a bit of pork or chicken.‡ In the countryside, the monotony of this diet was relieved by hunting and fishing. Religious festivals—which featured communal barbeques of sacrificed animals—were the main sources of dietary variation in cities, especially in the Greek world. Besides a proliferation of pork during the Roman era, the only real change over time was the introduction of new crops, most notably peaches, apricots, and lemons.
That's a moray! Marine mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Author's photo.
Elite cuisine, by contrast, was characterized by vast variety and rapid changes in fashion. Although many cities had taverns, there were no fine restaurants. The Greco-Roman elite dined at home, on dishes prepared by large and exactingly trained staffs of kitchen slaves. They reclined on couches as they ate, leaning on their left elbows, using knives, spoons, and toothpicks, but never forks. As a result, their entrées were served in small pieces and frequent hand scrubbing was necessary. Only the Romans, however, used napkins.*
Since the democratic ethos discouraged ostentatious displays of wealth, elite banquets in Classical Athens were relatively modest. The meal often began with loaves of fine wheat bread served with small portions of shellfish, vegetables, and other appetizers. The main course followed. Although goat kid and lamb were acknowledged delicacies, a truly luxurious Athenian banquet centered on fish. Gourmands canonized a complicated hierarchy of fishes, from the humble anchovy to the lordly tuna. Most expensive of all were the freshwater eels of Lake Copais:* at a time when a skilled laborer earned a drachma for a full day's work, a single Copaic eel could cost twelve drachmas.
As might be expected, there was little fine dining among the Spartans, whose signature dish was a bitter black soup made of blood and vinegar. The culinary hotspots of the Greek world were the prosperous cities of Sicily, which produced history's first cookbooks. The fad for gourmet dining was taken to extremes in the courts of the Hellenistic monarchs. To take one notorious example, King Ptolemy VIII (otherwise notable for marrying both his sister and his niece) wrote learned treatises on delicacies, and—having become so obese from constant banqueting that he could barely walk—came to be called "the potbelly" by his less-than-adoring subjects.
Yet even the banquets of kings like Ptolemy were outdone by the Roman elite. Early in Roman history (or so the Romans later liked to think), rich and poor alike had been content with simple foods. But as they conquered the Greeks—who, they noticed, ate much better than they did—the Roman elite began to import Greek chefs and Greek recipes and to infuse both with a Roman spirit of competition and display. The result was a dining culture of sometimes incredible extravagance.
Every aspect of a Roman banquet was calculated to impress. A dining room typically centered on three couches arranged in a U-shaped pattern.† The setting was as lavish as the host could afford to make it. Mosaics carpeted floors; walls glowed with frescoes; gardens beckoned through tall windows. The emperors, of course, did it best. The main banquet hall in Nero's preposterously opulent Golden House was crowned by a star-spangled rotunda that rotated as guests reclined beneath. Other dining rooms in the palace had ivory ceilings fitted with pipes that drizzled perfume and panels that released showers of rose petals.* In warm weather, the emperors and their wealthiest subjects held banquets among the plashing fountains and manicured greenery of their villas. One senator liked to dine from dishes floating in the fountain beside his garden couch, surrounded by bushes trimmed into the letters of his name.
Fragment of a Roman banquet relief with a reclining man holding a kantharos. Chillin. Now in the collection of the MFA in Boston. Photo by Mark Landon, Wikimedia Commons
Roman banquet began with a round of appetizers—salads, snails, and sardines were all popular—washed down with honeyed wine. The dinner that followed typically included between three and seven courses, carried on glittering silver platters.† The variety of foods was immense: birds of every feather and shellfish of every shape; schools of fish, freshwater and salt; orchards of fruit, gardens of vegetables; and meats from aurochs to wild boar. By modern standards, the flavors were strong: often dishes were dosed with pepper, doused with honey, and served with garum, a condiment made from sun-ripened fish guts.
Foods were displayed, disguised, and dismembered to shock and awe guests into a state of proper appreciation for their host's wealth. At one tasteless banquet described in a Roman novel, the dishes included a boar filled with live birds, a pig stuffed with sausages tied to look like entrails, and a cake shaped like the tumescent fertility god Priapus. From the dazzling variety of foods on offer, guests would sample dishes that struck their fancy, belching occasionally to signal their appreciation.‡ After hours of leisurely nibbling, the pageantry ended with a dessert of honeyed cakes, fruits, and nuts.
The Romans relished a wide range of delicacies. They adored dormice, nocturnal rodents fattened for months in special containers before being roasted, dunked in honey, and served as hors d'oeuvres. The Roman palate was also pleased by the udders, womb, and reproductive parts of female pigs—one emperor, in fact, was rumored to have been assassinated with a poisoned sow womb. Among the more exotic meats, elephant trunk and elephant heart were particularly valued. The heads of birds made up a whole class of delicacies (flamingo tongue was a special favorite). Peacock was eaten with such eagerness that farms dedicated to raising them sprang up throughout Italy. Oysters grown in Lucrine Lake by the Bay of Naples were always welcome. Until pollution ruined the taste, the most valued fish were sea bass from the Tiber. Later, sturgeon (but not yet caviar) was recognized as the premier freshwater delicacy. The most prestigious of all fishes, however, was the unassuming bearded mullet.*
More mosaics from House of the Faun (Pompeii), now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Prominence is given to the sea bass in the fore, and above is it a smaller red mullet. I'm having a nightmare trying to attribute this photo, but I believe it's Werner Forman, Universal Images Group. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Roman dinners could be stupendously expensive. When most men earned between five hundred and one thousand sesterces a year, leading senators might spend a million or more on a single banquet. One emperor is said to have lavished six million sesterces on a dinner for twelve people, during which each guest received a slave, crystal goblets, rare perfumes, and a carriage trimmed with silver.† At an even more extravagant dinner staged by the short-lived emperor Vitellius, a gargantuan platter was brought out, heaped with delicacies from every corner of the empire: lamprey milt and pike livers, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, and glistening fans of flamingo tongues. The culinary merits of this dish may have been questionable, but the message was clear. Food was power.
† By some estimates, cereals—the wheat, barley, and other edible grains that could be made into bread or porridge—accounted for 75 percent of all the calories commoners consumed. Although barley was common, especially in Greece, wheat was always the grain of choice. Whether wheat or barley, the quality of bread varied considerably from the heavy black loaves gnawed by the poor to the fine white rolls that graced the tables of the rich. A shopping list from Pompeii mentions three grades of bread, the cheapest being "bread for slaves."
‡ Early in Greek history, geese were the principal poultry. When chickens were first imported from the east, they were valued more for their cockfighting pluck than for their eggs.
* Pieces of coarse bread served the Greeks as napkins. Since Roman banquets featured slaves with basins of scented water for handwashing, the Romans' napkins were used mostly to protect the host's couches during dinner and to bring home leftovers afterward. A few napkins were made of asbestos, which gave them the useful property of being washable in fire.
* Lake Copais, a marshy freshwater lake about sixty miles north of Athens, was drained in the nineteenth century. Its eels were so venerated in antiquity that especially large specimens were wrapped in laurels and offered to the gods.
† The Greeks apparently acquired the habit of reclining during banquets from the Near East. Although couches were never universal—Greeks in some regions preferred chairs, and informal dining everywhere was probably done seated—they became prestigious. The Romans borrowed the practice of reclined dining from the Greeks (possibly via the Etruscans) early in their history. The habit stuck: as late as the eleventh century, the Roman court still feasted on couches.
* A later emperor was said to have smothered several of his guests by allowing too many rose petals to plummet at once.
† Besides the house slaves who served the meal, every guest brought a personal attendant, who would stand behind his or her couch throughout the meal, filling goblets, whisking away flies, and proffering bowls of rose-scented water between courses. Even more slaves worked behind the scenes in the kitchens. We know from inscriptions, for example, that the imperial palace had dozens of skilled cooks working ;under the direction of a pompous head chef.
‡ Occasional belching was considered polite, and a little light spitting was expected. Overt flatulence was less acceptable, though some doctors claimed that refraining was injurious to one's health. Although the vomitorium (in the sense of a room dedicated to regurgitation) is a myth, some Romans did induce vomiting between courses or after meals. A few were gluttons, but most were acting on the widely held belief that periodic purging was good for the digestive system.
* Cooking mullet was both art and science. Some chefs reportedly thought that only kissing the fish on the mouth before baking could prevent the stomach from bursting in the oven.
† Another emperor was said to have given each of his guests a eunuch as a party favor.
Welcome to the third edition of our newspaper's game called TWP CityGuesser! Our second edition garnered even more answers than the first one and I'm very pleased with that, so in this article we'll be revealing the answer to the second game and proposing another challenge to all readers. Sadly, the game's original creator Tam dao has ceased to exist, but their great idea will continue to live on in the Western Post.
This game is a take on the known game GeoGuessr, where players are given a view of a place and have to guess its location in the world, and use Google Maps to move around and try to catch some hints. In the adapted version of the newspaper there is no such possibility, of course, hence the fact we're restricting the scope of the game to cities and calling it CityGuessr.
For the second edition, a total of seven people participated in the CityGuesser, more than doubling the previous month's participation. It's also the first time we had correct answers, six of them in fact. Adding these points to those acquired in the previous edition, Nas Crustium and Pedandria are tied at the top with 4 points, as the former got 3rd place last time and shared 1st now, while the latter has achieved second place twice.
Willow Gate, 
Bhang Bhang Duc, 
Corbeil, 
Tinhampton, 
Nas Crustium, and Aberketia – Cardiff, Wales – Correct answer! – 3 points
The two photos of Cardiff were sent by 
Sekiya, who volunteered to help with the previous edition of the CityGuesser. The first photo depicts the famous Principality Stadium, the national stadium of Wales and also the home of the national rugby union team. Meanwhile, the second photo shows a part of the Cardiff Castle, built by the Normans on the 11th century on the same location of a Roman fort from the 3rd century.
Secondly, it's time to reveal the next challenge! The rules from the first edition written by Tam Dao are reproduced here, for those new to the game.
CityGuessr, as the name suggests, will ask you to guess which city of the world the photos are showing (both refer to the same city). We will keep the scope of the game to cities only, as we don't have the luxury of moving around to check for clues. We will also provide a single clue of the continent where the city is located. Once you have your answer, send it to The West Pacific Master Dispatch for a chance to be featured on our next month's newspaper (only the first answer will be accepted).
To add a bit of competition to the game, we will rank all guesses based on how close they are to the correct answer. The top 3 answers will be given points: 3 points for 1st, 2 points for 2nd, and 1 point for 3rd. The highest scorer will gain the bragging right of being the CityGuessr Champion of the Month, and the top scorer across 12 editions of the game will be crowned CityGuessr Grand Champion.
And remember, no using outside resources to figure it out, otherwise it wouldn't be a guess!
Are you ready? Let the game begin!
We are heading to a different continent, the Americas, for the third challenge.
This is my third, and final article on Japan (at least for now!)—I was inspired to write these articles whilst on my month-long trip to Japan earlier this summer. This article will have a look into Japan's culture, both traditionally and in the present. Thank you for following this mini-series on Japan, and I hope you have enjoyed my writing!
Shinto and Festivals
Shinto
Shinto is the most common religion in Japan, and is rooted in the worship of nature, ancestral spirits, and sacred spaces. To this day, it plays an integral role in shaping the daily life of the Japanese, and has had a significant impact on culture, customs, and festivals. Shrines are at the centre of Shintoism, serve as a gateway between the mortal realm and the divine, allowing worshipers to connect with kami—spiritual beings that can inhabit objects, nature and even ancestors.
Meiji Jingū, dedicated to Emperor Meiji. This is an example of a shrine dedicated to the spirit of a ruler.
If you want to visit a shrine or temple in Japan, there is a certain etiquette when doing so, to show respect towards both the kami, and to other visitors. When entering the shrine, you should bow before going through the Torii gate, making sure not to walk directly through the middle, and instead either to the left or right—this is due to the belief that the centre is reserved for the divine. Next, you will find a chozuya, a small fountain with a ladle. You can use the ladle to rinse your hands, purifying them. Before praying, you should make a small donation at an offertory box. This money goes towards the upkeep and maintenance of the shrine.
Once you are ready to pray, there are several steps to follow, to make sure you're doing it properly:
Ring the bell, then bow twice.
Clap your hands twice.
Once finished, bow one last time, and walk away quietly.
Left: A Chozuya with a dragon fountain and two ladles. Right: One of the processions in Gion Matsuri, Kyoto.
You are now ready to visit a Shinto shrine, and hopefully you've learned something insightful about Shintoism! You'll find shrines everywhere, nestled away in huge metropolitan areas surrounded by skyscrapers, and even on top of hills, miles away from the nearest road! It's worth remembering that Buddhism is also popular in Japan, and there are many Buddhist Shrines and Temples, so make sure you know which one you're at, as they both have different traditions and customs.
Furthermore, Shinto comes alive in vibrant festivals, known locally as Matsuri, where communities gather to celebrate the changings of seasons, express gratitude and seek blessings. Matsuri often have large precessions, traditional music, dance, and elaborate ceremonies. Possibly the most notable Matsuri is the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto!
Modern pop culture
Anime and Manga
Anime and Manga have recently seen a huge popularity surge in the west, however in Japan, they have been popular forms of entertainment since the middle-late 20th century. Whilst Manga can be traced back hundreds of years, it first came to popularity after the World War II. "Astro Boy" was one of the first popular Mangas, written by Osamu Tezuka, often hailed as the "God of Manga". It blends artistic storytelling with expressive character designs and set the stage for Mangas rise to fame across the late 1900s.
One of the covers of Astro Boy.
Anime is considered the animated counterpart to Manga, with the majority of animes being adapted from a Manga. Anime can come in the form of a movie, or a series, with Studio Ghibli being an early example of the former, and Sailor Moon being an example of the latter. Today, anime has transcended to become a cultural phenomenon that continues to grow across the world. Anime and Manga have many genres, but here are some you may know:
Shonen – Typically aimed towards teenagers and children, Shonen are fun, action-packed and "epic" adventures, typically with male protagonists. Examples include Naruto and One Piece.
Shojo – Also aimed at teenagers and children, however Shojo has an emphasis on romance and relationships. Examples include Sailor Moon and Fruits Basket.
Seinen – With more mature and complex themes, Seinen are aimed towards young adults. Examples include Berserk and Tokyo Ghoul.
Josei – Similarly to Shojo, Josei focuses on romance and daily life with some more mature concepts. Josei isn't hugely popular in the west, but examples include Paradise Kiss and Nodame Cantabile.
Isekai – Possibly one of the most popular genres in the west, the word Isekai literally means "Another World". Isekai are based around a character from earth that has been transported to another world. Examples include Sword Art Online and Re:Zero.
Mecha – Mecha anime is as it sounds: based on mechs, typically fighting against other mechs or giant aliens. Examples include Gundam, Evangelion and Code Geass.
Slice of Life – Slice of Life shows are often more relaxed, and often focus on more realistic relationships, character development, and storytelling. Examples include Nichijou and Clannad.
It's worth remembering that traditional genres, such as Sci-Fi, Horror and Fantasy are present in anime and manga too. A series can often combine genres, for example, Tokyo Ghoul could be considered both a horror anime, and a Seinen anime.
Video Games
Nintendo Playing Cards.
Japan is renowned for game culture and gaming innovation and has played a pivotal role in shaping the global landscape of Video Gaming. The history of gaming in Japan could arguably date back to the 19th century when Nintendo was founded as a playing cards company. Obviously, video gaming wouldn't come around until the 1970s, when Nintendo and Sega both entered the scene. The first major title that came from Japan was Donkey Kong in 1981, which later inspired the entire Mario franchise.
Throughout the later 20th century, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony pioneered gaming consoles, becoming household names across the globe. Japan is also home to many famous studios, such as Square Enix, Capcom, and Konami. Japanese video games often take inspiration from traditional culture and can incorporate traditional art styles and narratives to the world of game. Despite fierce competition from the mighty economies of China and the US, Japan continues to be a driving force in the gaming world through its unique traditional storytelling and cutting-edge technology.
Arcades
Arcades continue to this day as a hugely popular spot for leisure and entertainment in Japan, one of the only countries where arcades are still prominent. Japanese arcade games are on completely another level to the western equivalent, and there seem to be 3 main genres to them:
Rhythm/Music – There are many different Rhythm games in Japan, with many revolving around dancing, tapping buttons or using a control based on an instrument. A popular example is
Taiko no Tatsujin!Fighting – Alongside classics such as Street Fighter, there are many 'new styles' fighting games in Japan. Many of these are based on existing franchises, such as Gundam. These arcade games are as impressive as some PC titles, with many that allow you to save your progression or characters to a card!
Racing – Probably the most common arcade game still popular in the west, Japan has many racing games, ranging from realistic simulators, to drifting games based on Initial D, and Mario Kart!
Left: Taiko no Tatsujin, a popular drumming rhythm game. Right: A row of Gacha machines.
Arcades also have so much more, with a humongous range of claw machines! Whilst in Japan, I encounter claw machines for ramen, drinks, Pokemon cards, an entire PlayStation 5, large and small stuffed toys, and so much more. I managed to win a huge dog-sized stuffed toy, it's absolutely huge and was extremely difficult to fit in my luggage, but I would have felt very sad leaving him behind. Finally, there are Gacha machines—whilst these are common in England and the West, they are crazy in Japan, with entire stores being dedicated to Gacha. For those that don't know, Gacha are small collectable items enclosed within a plastic ball. You put in money, twist a knob, and the ball pops out. There are probably millions of these across Japan, with many different themes, such as toy bugs, keyrings, small anime figures, small plushies, and so much more. Despite being individually cheap, it is definitely very easy to waste money on these!
Conclusion
That wraps it up for my article on Japanese culture! Obviously, I have missed out a lot, however I've tried to focus on what I personally experienced during my time in Japan. If you want to read more, I'd recommend looking into the following: Sado, Ikebana, Shodo, and Hanami. With this article, the three-part column about Japan also comes to an end—again, I'd like to thank everyone that has read through my articles here, and I look forward to writing here again in the future!
Photos of the World is back! After a hiatus in the last edition, the Western Post once more welcomes you to this column dedicated to showcasing photos from different real life countries that has already had four very successful editions. In order to bring this edition and the year of 2023 to a perfect end, there are several interesting photographs this time, each accompanied by its own story and personal insights. The photos are all mine this edition, though I welcome contributions from readers that want to share their own pictures as well or have a suggestion to make—just let me know by telegram or Discord message.
This time, our destination is Italy! I visited it in 2017 alongside Greece, a country that I've already shared some photos from in the second edition, and it was my favorite trip. Three different Italian cities were part of my vacation and I'll share a few photos from each. In fact there's many more beautiful pictures that I could also choose if given the chance, but I've chosen my top three of each city for this edition and might share others in the future.
Rome
The first destination of the trip was Rome, the capital of Italy. Naturally, due to the city's magnificent history and my interest in it there was a lot to visit and many photos to be taken, from which I've selected three. The first photo displays two great historical monuments, the Colosseum and the Arch of Titus. The former is very well known as one of the symbols of the city—building began on 72 CE and was finished eight years later, under the reigns of the emperors Vespasian and Titus respectively, and despite its age the Colosseum is still the world's largest standing amphitheatre. The latter also has a similar age, ordered by Domitian to commemorate the deification of Titus and his victory in the First Jewish-Roman War, and later serving as model for other arches across the world. The older inscription, on one side of the arch, mentions these two happenings, while the newer inscription on the other side, seen in the photo, describes the restoration of the building in 1821 as ordered by Pope Pius VII.
The second photo shows a part of the Roman Forum and its buildings. For centuries the center of Roman day-to-day life, today it is a famous archaeological site with ruins of many great buildings. To the left are the three remaining columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, dating back to the year of 495 BC, built after an important victory by the nascent Roman Republic that ended any attempts from the last King of Rome to regain the throne. The middle of the image features the Column of Phocas of 608 CE, dedicated to the Eastern Roman emperor of same name and notable for being the last addition to the Roman Forum. Another notable monument in the image is the Arch of Septimius Severus to the right, which also celebrates victory in battle like other ones mentioned here, namely the successful campaigns of the emperor and his sons Caracalla and Geta against the Parthians during the end of the 2nd century CE.
Moving to a different part of the city, the third photo depicts the famous Pantheon. This building was originally a Roman temple ordered by the emperor Hadrian, built on the site of an earlier temple from the time of Augustus that burnt down, although the façade of the older building still stands and features the inscription seen on the picture that reads, "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made [this building] when consul for the third time." Later, the building was converted in 609 CE into the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs, and is still in use as a Catholic church today, besides also being the burial place of two kings of Italy. What amazed me the most when I visited the Pantheon was its incredible architecture, being the largest unreinforced concrete dome and also significantly larger than earlier Roman domes. The photo also features a beautiful fountain with an obelisk, the latter originally from ancient Egypt hence the hieroglyphs, but later brought to Rome to decorate an ancient temple of Isis and then moved between various places until settling on its present location.
Venice
The visit to Rome was followed by a three day visit to Athens, and after that it was time to return to Italy, followed by a trip by train to the region of Veneto where Venice is located. The first photo was taken from the Saint Mark's Square and is one of my favorites, due to the different aspects featured together in a single image. The image's foreground shows the Venetian Lagoon and its famous gondolas, I had a great experience traveling through the canals of Venice through one of them. Furthermore, the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore on the island of same name stands in the background. Speaking of the canals, the second photo depicts the city's Grand Canal and a few buildings, part of a much larger group of buildings from centuries ago that line up the canal's banks.
Meanwhile, the third photo displays the Basilica of Saint Mark, one of the city's landmarks! The third on same site, supplanting two earlier designs, this church holds great importance for the city of Venice and its history, being located on the eastern end of the Square and also attached to the Doge's Palace, Doge being the title of the Republic of Venice's leaders during the state's existence from 697 to 1797 CE. The basilica is also very significant from a religious viewpoint, because it's dedicated to and holds the relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist, the patron saint of the city, and is also the cathedral church of the Patriarchate of Venice. The building is impressive, notably featuring a golden version the famous Lion of Saint Mark on the top, a symbol of the city that is also displayed on its flag. Four horses are also prominently displayed on the front, actually replicas from the original ones that are kept safe inside the basilica, which are ancient sculptures depicting a quadriga, a four-horse carriage used for chariot racing.
Florence
Returning through the same railway that was used to arrive in Venice, the final three days were spent in Florence. This is a city known mainly as the birthplace of the Renaissance, and home to famous names including but not limited to Dante Alighieri, Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Lorenzo de' Medici, Amerigo Vespucci, Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci—the last of which is depicted on the first photo, through a statue outside the prominent Uffizi Gallery art museum. Meanwhile, the second picture shows the Gates of Paradise, the pair of gilded bronze doors designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti during the years of 1425 to 1452 CE, each of whose ten panels depicts a scene from the Old Testament. These are the eastern doors to the Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of San Giovanni.
Last but not least, the third photo shows the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) over the Arno river that crosses the city. In fact the bridge lives up to its name, with the earliest mention to it in the year of 996 CE and the current structure having stood since the middle of the 14th century, although it's believed that there might've been an earlier bridge on the same site as far back as in Roman times since it spans the river on its narrowest point. The Ponte Vecchio is notable for the multiple shops as seen in the picture, which have been there since the 13th century and originally were diverse, including butchers, fishmongers and tanners; later the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando I de' Medici decreed that only goldsmiths and jewelers be allowed to have their shops there. The Medici family also ordered the building of the Vasari Corridor, which connects two palaces in the city called the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti, and has part of it directly above the bridge.
That's it for this edition of the Photos of the World column, I hope everyone is appreciating this series of articles and the interesting snapshots of various places in the world it brings. Furthermore, I have a great announcement to make in regards to the next edition, namely that 
Occidius will be writing it and sharing his own photos! Stay tuned for Nox's article in a future newspaper, and have happy holidays and a wonderful new year!
The Western Post Staff - Delegate:
Overthinkers - Editors: 
Fujai and 
Giovanniland - Staff: 
Ageros, 
Bran Astor, 
Hertfordshire and Jammbo, Occidius, 
Podium, Sekiya, 
The Holy Principality of Saint Mark, 
Zhiznovsk, and YOUAll your chocolate belongs to Darkesia
The Western Post is brought to you by The West Pacific Cultural Trust, The West Pacific News Group, and readers like you. Thank you.
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