The desire to dominate is often reflected in real estate. Think of cathedrals, basilicas, churches built high above valleys, huge castles, the manors of British lords and the luxurious properties of the rich and famous.

Adolf Hitler was certainly not immune to the desire to dominate. We know that painting was one of the German dictator’s passions, but it’s through architecture that he best expressed his need for domination, power and absolute liberty—the very essence of fascism.

Apart from his many headquarters, Hitler built three buildings in Bavaria, on the slopes of the Alps close to the Austrian border, near the city of Salzburg. First there was the Berghof, his second home and favourite refuge, where he entertained foreign dignitaries. Hitler designed the plans himself. Built on the side of a mountain, the home overlooked a scenic valley.

In front of the Berghof was a teahouse, the second of his three buildings. Every afternoon, Hitler took his daily walk and headed to this small structure, where it’s said he liked to relax alone, with friends or with his companion, Eva Braun. Perhaps some of the dictator’s political decisions were made during his daily walks there.

The most spectacular of the three buildings is the Kehlsteinhaus, a cottage designed to serve as a Nazi conference centre. A French diplomat visiting Hitler before World War II was so impressed by the building’s setting that he called it the Eagle’s Nest. The building is located on the side of the Hoher Göll (2500 metres), at the top of a mountain called Kehlstein, whose height is 1,834 metres. When you look at the photo, you feel a slight shiver because you sense that the building conveys Hitler’s ultimate goal: to dominate the world by crushing it under his boots.[……]

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It’s astonishing! There are things difficult to describe with words. What do you think about this ceiling?

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When you think about basement ceilings, you usually visualize a suspended ceiling. Practical and ingenious, the suspended ceiling gives you access to pipes and electrical wires. For the esthetics however, forget it.

So what are the alternatives? The possibilities are endless. There are tiles that can be transformed according to current styles, with colours, inlays and suspended objects. Shiny copper tiles and fabric tiles with varied shapes and colours caught our attention.[……]

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There’s Ironside (an American TV series), the Iron Lady (Margaret Thatcher), the Iron Curtain, the Iron Gates (a gorge on the Danube). Real estate has now joined the club by offering us “the iron house.”

The “Casa de fierro” is in the middle of the jungle, in the streets of the city of Iquitos, Peru. The walls, ceilings and balcony are made of iron. Other metal alloys were also used.

The long veranda, which stretches along the entire façade, and numerous archways allow for better ventilation of the building, which is subject to the tropical heat. The Ulysses travel guide describes the house as a strange building. Hard to argue with that. The architecture is rather ordinary. It’s the iron that gives the building a special cachet.

Legend has it that the building is the first prefabricated house built in the Americas. How did it end up in the heart of the jungle? And where does it come from? The story is rather outlandish.[……]

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We drink good wine in Quebec, and more and more of it!

Just 40 years ago, very few people drank wine in Quebec. Other than sacramental wine, this beverage was not well known.

Times have changed. Today, 78.5% of the bottles sold in 2011 at the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) contained wine. In their 2011 annual report, Quebec was among the Canadian provinces where people drink the most wine. Between 2001 and 2010, average annual consumption increased from 16.3 to 22 litres of wine per person.

This change in habit means that consumers decided to keep enough wine at home to meet their needs.[……]

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Bamboo was first introduced into our homes through decorative plants, and also in lawn chairs, which are durable and weather resistant, and make things feel summery.

Bamboo now appears in all decors, from floor to ceiling, serving both as a decorative item and for building materials.

My daughter and I were curious, so we went through the four rooms of her home to find things made from this tropical grass.[……]

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No, not a Trabant, the odd East German car affectionately dubbed the Trabi, but an enormous stork nest!

In Europe, three species of storks prefer to make nests on rooftops rather than in trees according to Wikipedia.

In the GeoGuide de la Croatie, you discover that there’s even a European stork capital in the Lonjsko Polje National Park, in the small village of Cigoc. How many years do you think a stork nest can remain attached to a roof? 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, perhaps 100 years?

If you guessed 50, you’re right. That’s half a century!

And how much does a nest weigh on average? 10, 50, 100, 500, 700 or 1000 kilograms?

700! That’s 1,543 pounds!

Imagine that on your roof! The structure of the house better be solid if you don’t want to have storks landing in your living room like Santa Claus.[……]

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For many people, a house seems like a miraculous investment: Owning a home solves most financial problems and is the ultimate pension plan.

It’s an undeniable fact that a house is a long-term and effective investment. Most property owners and experts agree on this. But placing all your bets on a house is a huge risk.

Patrick Charlebois, investment advisor and manager at Bank National Financial in Trois-Rivières, cautions his clients. He definitely recommends purchasing a home and lists the advantages: good financial investment, better quality of life and a valuable asset for retirement.

Becoming an owner helps you to obtain a good credit file, to develop discipline for the family budget and to acquire the habit of saving money. But property owners may commit an error by placing all their hopes on their property.[……]

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