Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon Travel

Key to the city
The door to Rilke's room in Spain was locked, but it turned out there are other doors to the culture.
By Lucy McCauley
[02/16/00]

Daily Planet
Platform shoes get the boot in Osaka
Police say the precipitous platforms are dangerous.
By J.A. Getzlaff
[02/16/00]

Daily Planet
Hong Kong's rent-a-hawker syndicate busted
Illegal street vendors and corrupt officials were in cahoots.
By J.A. Getzlaff
[02/15/00]

Out of the Blue
Tests, drugs and swollen bladders
Random drug tests for flight attendants mean saving a bladder full of urine. Fair enough, but the tests aren't always right.
By Elliott Neal Hester
[02/15/00]

Daily Planet
Surrealist sculpture stolen in Mexico City
Thieves dump it days later.
By J.A. Getzlaff
[02/14/00]

Complete archives for Travel

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

A Norwegian BASE jumper -- BASE stands for buildings, antennae, spans and earth, the four fixed objects from which BASEjumpers parachute -- claims to know.

According to the Associated Press, a "mystery skydiver" dived off the cylindrical tower earlier this month, but ran away before monument workers could catch him. Authorities aren't convinced the Norwegian jumper is actually the figure who jumped.

Daily Planet is a collection of short news items -- one each weekday -- that evoke and illuminate the far corners of the world. To read previous items, visit the Daily Planet archive. Send all tips to DailyPlanet @salon.com.

The precarious tower, which dates from the 12th century, has been closed since 1990 because it is in danger of collapsing.

Arne Aarhus, the 24-year-old Norwegian who said he pulled the stunt, did not seem overly concerned about becoming road pizza or destroying a building that goes back to the Middle Ages. He was more excited about the reaction he got. He told Oslo's Verdens Gang newspaper, "People were stunned and then there was total chaos."

Because he wanted a picture of himself in front of the tower, Aarhus said he and his accomplice returned an hour after he jumped. He boasted, "People were still standing there pointing upwards, while police collected their statements."

The tower's officials weren't as amused as Aarhus. They have been working arduously to save the structure, and just last year were able to slow down its sinking rate, which had been increasing with each passing year.

So did Aarhus undo all of their hard work? If so, perhaps the Italians should ask him for that extra $4 million they need to finish the restoration.
salon.com | Feb. 17, 2000

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

  Get a printer-friendly version

  E-mail a friend about this article

  Backflip this article to find it again

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon