Foto: ♥ღÐ×ß V¯|¯Ç™ღ♥ / Murano 2009

Über den Qashqai +2 könnte man boshaft sagen: Immerhin kann man ihn auch mit Allrad bestellen *g*. Der Qashqai trägt ja das Etikett "Urban Proof", großstadttauglich...

Und dort fühlt er sich auch am Wohlsten, auch wenn er sicher keine Prinzessin ist. Dank verlängerter Karosserie (21cm) und längerem Radstand (13,5cm) konnte eine dritte Sitzreihe eingebaut werden, so dass man 6 Passagiere befördern kann. Wenn die dritte Sitzreihe nicht benötig wird, kann sie im Ladeboden versenkt werden, so dass dann insgesamt ein Kofferraumvolumen von 500 Litern zur Verfügung steht.

Foto: galmemobscene01 / Qashqai +2 Blick in den Kofferraum

Der Murano gefällt sich ja hierzulande eher als schickes, gut motorisiertes SUV für wohlhabende Individualisten, die selten einen anderen Belag als Asphalt unter den Rädern haben (das ist ja bei vielen anderen Autos aus dieser Klasse auch so). Den Vorgänger fand ich aber wirklich klasse zu fahren, und auch die zweite Auflage kommt wieder mit CVT-Getriebe und starkem Motor, was das Cruisen wieder zum Genuss machen dürfte. Überhaupt leistet der Motor jetzt nocheinmal mehr als beim Vorgänger, statt 234 stehen jetzt 256 PS zur Verfügung, die aus einem 6-Zylinder Benzinmotor geschöpft werden.

In den Handel kommen beide Modelle dann im Oktober.

Für mich wird die kommende Woche stressig, aber ich hoffe mal, dass ich es auf die Messe schaffe. Ein paar Probefahrten durchs Gemüse mit verschiedenen Autos wären auf jeden Fall nach meinem Geschmack *g*.

Foto: CAR & SUV

Das Dach ist kein Stoffdach, sondern ein elektrisches "Hardtop" aus 3 Teilen, das im Kofferraum versenkt wird. Das coupéhafte Aussehen soll in geschlossenen Zustand möglichst gewahrt bleiben. Angetrieben wird der G37 von einem V6-Benziner mit 3,7 Litern Hubraum, der etwa 320 PS leistet...

Dass auch die aktuelle Version des Murano ihr Dach verlieren soll, klingt vielleicht erst einmal merkwürdig, ist aber offenbar so. Über den großen Teich werden aber wohl keine Exemplare kommen.

Als Termin für den Verkaufsstart in den USA wird Anfang 2010 genannt. So in etwa könnte das Murano Cabrio aussehen:

Foto: Carscoop

Um Gewicht zu sparen, wird der Murano ein Stoffdach haben. Als Antrieb wird wahrscheinlich der selbe Motor dienen, der im aktuellen Serienfahrzeug zum Zug kommt: Ein V6-Benziner mit 265 PS und 3,5 Litern Hubraum, der seine Leistung auf ein CVT-Getriebe überträgt.

Giunta nei pressi della Baracca della moda (vedi foto)
cercò subito la postazione della persona con cui voleva parlare ed infatti una donna sulla quarantina, con i capelli che le scendevano fino ai piedi che aveva bisogno di due damigelle per portarli, era indaffaratissima come solo lei poteva sapere facendo lo stesso sporco lavoro!
Stava frustando a sangue una delle sarte perchè aveva sbagliato a fare lo zig zag su una gonna a gonnella!
La donna si voltò casualmente e le ridacchio sott'occhi e sott'aceto subito prestandole attenzione ma riprendendosela subito!

"Giugiara Mantella...qual buon tuono ti porta da queste parti!"
"Non fare la finta quadrata con me Sofia...senza girarci troppo in giro giro tondo...è colpa tua se la mia modella di spunta è caduta ed ora è ricoverata al reparto maternità! Dimmi la verità e la facciamo subito finita!"
Sofia esplose in una fragolosa risata, le macchine cucitrici smisero di lavorare assordate dalla sua risata.
"Tu devi essere finita sotto la prima carrozzina utile Giugiara...ma ti pare che io abbia bisogno di certi mezzucci mezzetti mezzoni per sciacquarti la sfilata? Sei ridicola...vattene come vedi ho molto da fare...sai quanto è laborioso frustare un dipendente!"
"Lo so bene...e poi io non frusto le mie modelle le prendo solo a schiaffi lo dovresti sapere!...Fai la zanzara col ciuffo quanto vuoi cara la mia Sofia Bernoccola...scoprirò il responsabile e quando lo avrò scoperto sai cosa farò?"
"No cara la mia sartina da cinque soldi cosa?...Oooooooo sai che paura mi fai...mi sto per sbudellare l'anima da sola!" Ed ecco partire un'altra risata bellicosa.
"Ti denuncerò all'impresa di pompe funebri...loro si occuperanno di te!" Giugiara lasciò il posto con fare e disfare fiero e insicuro di se.
Sofia si annebbiò in viso, scosse i capelli lunghissimi ma rimasero impigliati nelle dita delle sue damigelle.
"E state attente piccole mammifere insolubili!"

Crisantema parcheggiò la 127 nei pressi della casa di Mascarpona, un ultimo rombo alla Schumacher, si armò dei chiavistelli per la porta, entrò e tagliò via la nuova testa della pianta carnivora all'ingresso.
"Sei sempre stata una gran furbacchiona Mascarpona! Ma io lo sono più di te!"
Crisantema si legò i capelli con il filo spinato e iniziò a guardarsi attorno dove regnava un gran frastuono di disordine.
La donna sembrava però alla ricerca di qualcosa di ben preciso entrando subito nel regno dei sette nani di Mascarpona, la sua cucina.
"Niente...non c'è...possibile che il ragù se lo sia portato via l'assassino? E perchè mai? Forse...forse è un assassino povero e aveva fame?...Bè certo...per uccidere quella vacca ci sono volute tante forze! Ma poi...effettivamente...perchè una taglia?"
"Sono stata io a piazzare una taglia 42 sul ragù!" Crisantema ebbe un sollazzo di paura, si voltò e una donna coi capelli rossi e piena stracolma di lentiggini azzurre la fissava con occhi iniettati di piastrine.
"E lei chi sarebbe scusi?"
La donna coi capelli rossi frugò velocemente nella borsa, infatti si fece notte quando finalmente ne estrasse un distintivo e lo mostrò a Crisantema.
"Detective Falloppia Melavedo...sto indagando sulla morte di Mascarpona Rotondetta...come ha fatto ad entrare?"
Crisantema fu colta alla provvista e cercò di tergicristallare per trovare cosa rispondere nel suo archivio delle cattiverie.
"Io...io...io...ti vengo incontro e...tu...tu...tu...ti scansi in tempo...no mi scusi...prendevo il tempo...io ero una cariiiiiiiiiiissima amica di pancreas di Masca...lei dava sempre la fotocopia delle chiavi ce la faceva anche autenticare al comune...sa era molto precisa!"
Falloppia si accese il sigaro al finocchio che aveva nel taschino e cominciò a fare giro giro tondo intorno a Crisantema che iniziò subito ad innervosirsi come una bufala incatenata.
"Io dico invece che lei sta cercando il ragù...non è cosi? Se è cosi è chiaro che quel ragù fa gola a parecchi!"
"E certo...è un ragù, con la scarpetta deve essere buonissimo!Poi lei ha messo una taglia 42 sopra...io porto la 42 quindi lo cerco..."
Con scatto felino e abile mossa colpirà tutti e tre...Crisantema afferrò il pezzo di pane raffermo dal suo sexy reggiseno a terrazzo acquistato al sexy shop di Titilla colpendo al volto Falloppia che rimase stordita dall'inatteso attacco.
Vide di sottecchi, soqquadro, soppalco Crisantema con il pane raffermo sospeso a tutt'aria pronta a colpire Falloppia nuovamente la quale estrasse la sua piccola arma per le grandi occasioni: un fucile a canne tozze e sparò Crisantema in pieno petto che lasciò cadere il pane, il sangue schizzò sul ripiano di vetro di Murano e Burano, Crisantema sospirò al suolo.
"Che stronzona!" Falloppia accese il telegrafo e chiamò una svolazzante che si trovava in zona.
Una mano guantata di velluto arancione strisciò fuori dal vicino salotto lasciando refurtivamente la casa, la misteriosa figura era in casa già prima di Crisantema ed era stata testimone dell'accaduto.

CONTINUA...stà scritto!!!....

It was one of those things that seemed like a hassle -- finding the right boat to ride, getting tickets, etc. Wessel is much more adventurous in that department, so when we went there last November, I let him do all the work. Love that! Indeed it was a bit of an ordeal figuring out boat details. You'd think that with the hordes of tourists in Venice, they'd make it easy, but then perhaps it wouldn't be such a charming place. Can you imagine not getting lost in the maze of streets and canals? How memorable would that be? 

The 10-minute boat-taxi ride there would have been incredibly scenic -- if we could have seen  anything. Instead, it was raining, so we had to sit inside, and the windows were fogged up. Wessel, of course, ventured out to take photos, and it was indeed beautiful in its own way. When is Venice not beautiful?

Murano, a mile north of Venice proper, is very cute in its own right and sort of like a very miniature Venice. In the summer especially, tourists arrive by the boatload to visit the famed glassmaking studios and galleries. Though the shops vary from low-end to high, most of them quickly blend together.

After popping into several stores along the main street, I was getting a little bored. That is until I happened upon the studio and gallery of Luigi Camozzo. truly an island apart from the others. And, I have to warn you, so are the master engraver's prices. But if you can't afford his museum-quality work, ranging from $250 to $7,500 and up, don't let that stop you from looking.

If you're lucky, you'll find Camozzo, 56, in his small workspace at the back of the shop doing what he's famous for: using an assortment of diamond, copper, and stone-engraving wheels to transform handblown glass vessels into works of art.

Camozzo doesn't blow the glass; he uses existing pieces. But by cutting, marking, and carving into the glass surface, he adds texture and depth to each piece, elevating them into something even more special. He works his magic on everything from modern sculpture to antique stemware, including paper-thin English and Bohemian crystal.

Camozzo doesn't speak English, but his friendly apprentice, Amy West, who hails from Kansas City, Mo., and has lived around the world, will be happy to explain the fascinating history and techniques of glass engraving. She has her own glass and beadwork on sale there as well, and it's of course more affordable. 

Here's the address to the gallery, and good luck finding it! (Be glad it's in Murano and not Venice, but really, it won't be that difficult.)

Luigi Camozzo Studio Galleria, Fondamenta Venier Sebastiano 3, telephone (011) 39-041-736-875.

The exhibit is popular and the first room is crowded, but not so much so that we can't spend as much time as we want. It is also buzzing with sounds of sheer delight, except for the comments of an overly intense woman beside me who says authoritatively to her friend, "This is not art; this is just pop culture." I suppose one could spend one's life defining what is art, but for me art just is. You know it when you see it. I feel a little sorry for her. I want to tell her, "Just let yourself go. Just enjoy it."

This is wonderland. To my right, I half expect to see Alice and the Mad Hatter dash out from among the giant pear-shaped gourds from which giant blooms and tendrils sprout. 

Against the opposite wall there are row upon row of red, blue, yellow, green, and orange vessels of all shapes and sizes recalling, in their very Chihuly way, Venice and the Murano glass tradition. My favorite is a multi-colored millefiori pattered glass vessel wrapped with white tendrils. It reminds me of an ancient garden where the vines have gone just a little crazy.

In the next room giant undulating disks of yellow and orange tinged with blue and black are floating. My first impression is of giant Tuscan sunflowers, but as I get closer I see that the real action is in the reflections of these luminous disks in black mirrors that seem to be everywhere. Now instead of flowers, I see a gathering of fluttering butterflies. I'm not the only one who hangs back and moves around the edges to watch these creatures at play. Another couple agrees that the reflections are the best. We especially enjoy the view from the end of the long mirrored panel.

Chihuly calls the butterflies the Persians and the commentary talks of evoking the sense of awe that Marco Polo must have experienced on his first trips to the Orient. I'm not sure about Marco Polo but these have filled me with awe and I don't want to leave them. But leave them I must for the next surprise.

When not full tilt at play, Chihuly often evokes the natural world and man's interaction with it. In the next room, there are a myriad of woven Northwest Coast Indian baskets with Chihuly's glass vessels interspersed among them. Everywhere are the colors of reeds and dried tobacco with touches of red and deep brown. Lopsided cylinders, balls, and rectangles jostle for space on the shelves. My favorite Chihulys are the diminutive asymmetrical and elegant vessels that fit in the palm of your hand. And, I admit that many of the baskets, although made not to amaze but to serve the necessities of life, do just that. The imperfections of line and form in both the glass and the baskets imbue them with a sense of seeking--seeking perfection perhaps, and when not finding it, discovering beauty nonetheless.

I move on to a celebration. What better way to celebrate life than with a forest of violet birthday candles. Made at the Nuutajavi Glass Factory in Finland these tall glass spikes are delicate yet strong and evoke the winter light of the northern latitudes. In them, I can see the winter light sifting through the birch forests of Finland.

In the next room are ice cream delights--two banana splits--with all the toppings. But, wait. One of them surely is La Barcaccia, the famous sinking boat fountain by Pietro Bernini that sits at the foot of La Scalinata or the Spanish Steps in Rome. Isn't it? I am wrong, but I am right. Although born out of Chihuly's experience watching Finnish children going about in wooden rowboats to collect the glass vessels he had set free on the water to ebb and flow with the current, they can tell your story too.

Moving on I am once again catapulted back to Venice. I enter a dark beamed low ceilinged room like the ones in so many buildings there. Its trompe l'oeil ceiling is an underwater fantasy with squid, star fish, worms, anenomes, and jelly fish suspended among a million brightly colored orbs and vessels. Then I see that this watery world has been invaded by a cherub. He's lying on his belly resting his head in his hands as though in an eternal daydream. Then I spy another doing a lazy back flip, and another seemingly taking a nap, and another, and another. These delectable tiny glass cherubs are suddenly popping out everywhere. I have the urge to reach up, grab one, and stuff it into my pocket. I am not the only one taken with these heavenly creatures. As I am leaving a woman suddenly exclaims, "There are angels!" and smiles as she points.

The final room of the exhibition houses Chihuly's Mille Fiori Garden, but I see Heronymous Bosch's painting of the Garden of Earthly Delights in which he masterly uses exaggeration and distortion to build his amazing landscape. There are spheres, cylinders, and twisted stalks among green blue, orange, and yellow vegetation including ones that look like giant aloe vera plants. At the bottom of the garden is the fiery snake tree twisting upon itself like Medusa's serpent head. As I turn to leave I think back to the millefiori vase in the first room and realize the obvious--that what Chihuly has done is to create a single immense larger-then-life millefiori. Mr Chihuly is not only a master of glass, he is a master of play, too.

All original content copyright 2008 Mary E. Slocum

Mit seinem 3,5 Liter Benzin-Motor, der 234 PS leistet, ist der Murano gut motorisiert. Und dank der stufenlosen Automatik gibt es kein Ruckeln beim Fahren: Wenn man den Druck auf dem Gaspedal konstant hält, bleibt auch das Drehmoment konstant. Dabei dreht der Motor, wenn man nur die Geschwindigkeit hält, in äußerst niedrigen Drehzahlbereichen (<1500 U/min). Überhaupt hört man kaum etwas, auch nicht bei sehr hohen Geschwindigkeiten auf der Autobahn, außer man tritt das Gaspedal wirklich durch. Dann röhrt der Murano ein bisschen und beschleunigt brav los...

Das Fahrverhalten ist gut, weil der Wagen sich unspektakulär verhält und immer gut auf der Straße liegt. Zusammen mit der erhöhten Sitzposition führt das dazu, dass man sich sicher fühlt und beim Fahren entspannt bleibt. In der Hinsicht ist auch der Tempomat eine wirkliche Bereicherung. Alles in allem ist der Murano perfekt zum Cruisen geeignet.

Wenn man will, kann man ihn auch ins leichte Gelände entführen und das Allrad testen. Oder das ESP ausschalten und prüfen, wie auf Schotter die Räder durchdrehen. Dazu muss man aber sagen, dass der Murano kein richtiger Geländewagen ist und auch nicht besonders viel Bodenfreiheit hat. Deswegen heisst es da aufpassen, wenn man nicht einen Teil der ländlichen Vegetation am Unterboden mit zurück in die Stadt mitnehmen will. Das könnte zu leichtem Ärger beim Nissan-Verkäufer führen. Habe ich mir zumindest erzählen lassen. Äh...

Ich hoffe, ich muss jetzt nicht zu einem anderen Autohaus pilgern, wenn ich seinen Nachfolger probefahren möchte.