Renewable energy

This seems to be my hundredth post. That's kind of a milestone!

EnelPark4 opened today. This is the four-sim Italian island that Patrice has been terraforming, building, and tweaking (along with flopsie and others) for months. At least it seems like months.

I messed up though. I was supposed to meet Patrice there at noon SL time. I thought we were meeting at 3. When I went, there was no more opening-day hoopla. I had been there several times during construction, but since the region was now finished and officially open, I gave myself an official tour.

EnelPark4 is a showplace for renewable energy. There are wind turbines all over the island. There are other exhibits for various kinds of energy generation. The houses have solar panels on the roofs. I think the energy generation exhibits are the main point of the island.

At the same time, it's a beautiful place for relaxation and to have fun. There's a beach. There's a beach club. There's an outdoor concert hall. There's an amphitheatre. The landing point is in the middle of a reflecting pool with fountains. There's a dockside area with little houses elevated above the water on a stone-lined pathway, with bicycle leaning against the wall and a gelato vendor in one corner. I know there's a tunnel somewhere, where I rode my Bispa scooter when it wasn't quite finished. There are also more features that I'm sure I haven't discovered yet. I'll need a real systematic tour. One feature is the amount of open water between the land and the region boundary. Patrice says there will be sailboat races at EnelPark.

I walked all over the island, taking pictures. One thing the pictures can't capture is the soundscape, which I believe Patrice was mainly responsible for. As you walk along one path, you hear various bird calls from different species of birds. Down by the docks, there is a gull that flies about, making gull sounds, very fitting for the seaside (the gull also occasionally touches down, maybe right beside you). There was music emanating from the outdoor stage, where I played a grand piano. Well, I looked good anyway. The whole place has a great feel, like there's a quiet but real life going on there. The sounds really help that.

There are also lots of signs about with explanations for the various exhibits. The signs themselves are in Italian, but you can click on them for English notecards.

I missed the boat today, so to speak. I enjoyed exploring the island myself, but I wish I'd been with Patrice earlier. She's done with the project and might want to put it behind her. I know she is already working on a new sim. But I hope she will give me the real tour. Either that or I will have to continue to explore by myself, and get a few of those notecards to see what I'm missing.