Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Frankfurt
And now I am in Frankfurt and relaxing and eating(!) and talking much. In a bit Renate and I are off to look at some of the art galleries here by the river - where there are a row of about 6 and I seem to recall some lovely Franz Marc paintings... Tonight we are watching an important soccer match between Germany and Turkey (maybe in an outdoor place with a screen by the river - depending on the weather - its hot here but overcast...)
Last night we sat up on the balcony talking til midnight - so much to catch up on! This morning more talking with Renate and Bernd snr - and looking at photos etc.
And apparently Markus is in Europe (and not New Zealand) at the moment for some job interviews - and he arrives back home here sometime on Friday - and I will probably miss him by a matter of hours. Bugger!
Last night we sat up on the balcony talking til midnight - so much to catch up on! This morning more talking with Renate and Bernd snr - and looking at photos etc.
And apparently Markus is in Europe (and not New Zealand) at the moment for some job interviews - and he arrives back home here sometime on Friday - and I will probably miss him by a matter of hours. Bugger!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Another day in San Sebastian
and another serving of calamari!
This morning I walked / clambered up the mountain (large hill) to the statue of Jesus that dominates the city. There is a great view across the town from there, and a fab little museum that tells of the history of the place within an old fort.
Since then I´ve had lunch in a little terrace restaurant by the port and wandered around some of the shops. Its cloudy but warm here today - perfect weather for being burnt to a crisp - which is what I think the English girls who are also staying in this b&b are doing right now on the beach. I am back at the b&b thinking about a siesta and repacking my backpack and finishing my book before heading out for a late afternoon swim and plodge along the beach. Then tonight is this fire festival Catholic thing on the beach...
And then tomorrow I head to Frankfurt - and then I´m on the homeward stretch... just think this time next week I´ll be at work (physicallly if not mentally!!! Hope you´re not expecting too much Kelly!)
Looking forward to catching up with people. I have lots of photos to bore you with. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
This morning I walked / clambered up the mountain (large hill) to the statue of Jesus that dominates the city. There is a great view across the town from there, and a fab little museum that tells of the history of the place within an old fort.
Since then I´ve had lunch in a little terrace restaurant by the port and wandered around some of the shops. Its cloudy but warm here today - perfect weather for being burnt to a crisp - which is what I think the English girls who are also staying in this b&b are doing right now on the beach. I am back at the b&b thinking about a siesta and repacking my backpack and finishing my book before heading out for a late afternoon swim and plodge along the beach. Then tonight is this fire festival Catholic thing on the beach...
And then tomorrow I head to Frankfurt - and then I´m on the homeward stretch... just think this time next week I´ll be at work (physicallly if not mentally!!! Hope you´re not expecting too much Kelly!)
Looking forward to catching up with people. I have lots of photos to bore you with. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
One last gallery.
OK - so I´ve made it to San Sebastian - which is a gorgeous little city with three beaches - one of them is even a ´surf´beach!!!! Although from what I´ve seen its not quite the surf I´m used to... The main beach reminds me a bit of Bondi - with buildings all along the foreshore and a crescent shaped bay - but the stretch of sand is tiny - and there were sooooo many people on the beach yesterday, when I arrive at 5 pm it was still 36 C and you could barely see the sand for the people. And there are plastic chairs that live their lives bolted to poles in the sand and available for hire if you dont want to sit on a towel.
The B&B where I am staying is right in the heart of town and a couple of blocks from the beach. I woke up (sort of) early and went for a swim this morning. Today turned out to be cool and cloudy and I pretty much had the whole beach to myself. Luz who runs the place is delightful and a veritable font of knowledge re places to visit and the best bars for tapas and the best retaurants for paella and which days to visit where and how to get there...
Last night I walked around and explored - the place was really happening on a Saturday night. All these people in tiny bars drinking wine and eating pintoxs (tiny two bite tapas), and a band was playing in the square and people were busy promenading, seeing and being seen. I had late dinner in a little restuarant by the bay and had fresh grilled sardines (and thought of Gus - sardines being second only to bbq chicken in his estimation - and it being a month since his sad demise. Not looking forward to getting back to a house without him...)
Today I caught the bus to Bilbao and went to the mad architectural creation that is Frank Gehry´s Guggenheim Museum. It a fantastic yet bizarre building - and has far less gallery space than I was expecting - and therefore less to see. Although there was a great sculpture hall full of work by Richard Serra that was based on spirals and ellipses that you could walk through and around and in, and an interesting LED work by Jenny Holzer. There was also a great retrospective of the work of Juan Munoz - sculptures and installations and the like....
I recall reading somewhere that the Bilbao Guggenheim has become a one off destination - that people visit to see the building and not the art, and thus once seen they dont return. I can see how that would happen....
So in order to get a complete art fix I also visited the other art gallery in Bilbao that covers 1850 - 1950 - and saw a lot of Spanish art by artists I had never heard of and saw the influence of what had happenen in Paris in its Spanish manifestations.... as well as works by Juan Gris, Ferdinand Leger, Mary Cassatt, Paul Gaugin, Marc Chagall, James Ensor....
OK this is for the NAS people - it occurs to me that in all the major galleries that I have visited in the last few weeks - Art Institute of Chicago, MOMA, The Met, National Gallery, Courtauld, National Portrait Gallery, Hunterian, Musee dÓrsay, Lourve, LÓrangerie, Marmottan, Mont Marte, Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen -B etc I have yet to see a work by Euan Uglow.... or if I have, I didn´t recognise it as such. How can that be?????
The train trip to San Seb was uneventful if 6 hours long - although the Spanish countryside is cliched pretty with old stone buildings with terracotta tiles and drifts of red poppies and blue lavendar...
Tomorrow is again meant to be cool. And there is some sort of bonfire / firecracker night happening on the surf beach as part of the Festival of the Annunciation - or something like that - or maybe its to do with Mary ascending into heaven - anyway Luz is taking us with her to be a part of it. Let´s hope its not raining....
Oh yeah - and I was stopped and asked for directions while in Bilbao... unbelievable!
The B&B where I am staying is right in the heart of town and a couple of blocks from the beach. I woke up (sort of) early and went for a swim this morning. Today turned out to be cool and cloudy and I pretty much had the whole beach to myself. Luz who runs the place is delightful and a veritable font of knowledge re places to visit and the best bars for tapas and the best retaurants for paella and which days to visit where and how to get there...
Last night I walked around and explored - the place was really happening on a Saturday night. All these people in tiny bars drinking wine and eating pintoxs (tiny two bite tapas), and a band was playing in the square and people were busy promenading, seeing and being seen. I had late dinner in a little restuarant by the bay and had fresh grilled sardines (and thought of Gus - sardines being second only to bbq chicken in his estimation - and it being a month since his sad demise. Not looking forward to getting back to a house without him...)
Today I caught the bus to Bilbao and went to the mad architectural creation that is Frank Gehry´s Guggenheim Museum. It a fantastic yet bizarre building - and has far less gallery space than I was expecting - and therefore less to see. Although there was a great sculpture hall full of work by Richard Serra that was based on spirals and ellipses that you could walk through and around and in, and an interesting LED work by Jenny Holzer. There was also a great retrospective of the work of Juan Munoz - sculptures and installations and the like....
I recall reading somewhere that the Bilbao Guggenheim has become a one off destination - that people visit to see the building and not the art, and thus once seen they dont return. I can see how that would happen....
So in order to get a complete art fix I also visited the other art gallery in Bilbao that covers 1850 - 1950 - and saw a lot of Spanish art by artists I had never heard of and saw the influence of what had happenen in Paris in its Spanish manifestations.... as well as works by Juan Gris, Ferdinand Leger, Mary Cassatt, Paul Gaugin, Marc Chagall, James Ensor....
OK this is for the NAS people - it occurs to me that in all the major galleries that I have visited in the last few weeks - Art Institute of Chicago, MOMA, The Met, National Gallery, Courtauld, National Portrait Gallery, Hunterian, Musee dÓrsay, Lourve, LÓrangerie, Marmottan, Mont Marte, Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen -B etc I have yet to see a work by Euan Uglow.... or if I have, I didn´t recognise it as such. How can that be?????
The train trip to San Seb was uneventful if 6 hours long - although the Spanish countryside is cliched pretty with old stone buildings with terracotta tiles and drifts of red poppies and blue lavendar...
Tomorrow is again meant to be cool. And there is some sort of bonfire / firecracker night happening on the surf beach as part of the Festival of the Annunciation - or something like that - or maybe its to do with Mary ascending into heaven - anyway Luz is taking us with her to be a part of it. Let´s hope its not raining....
Oh yeah - and I was stopped and asked for directions while in Bilbao... unbelievable!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Yo estoy Madrid...
I am still in Madrid - and not in San Sebastian where I am meant to be right now - enjoying the seaside.
It has not been the greatest of days - starting with the roommates at the hostel clattering around the room and putting the light on at 4 am. mutter mutter grumble grumble....
And then when I got to the train station to catch my train to San Sebastian, the information person that I asked to point me to the correct platform sent me to the wrong one - so I ended up on a train to San Sebastian de las Royes - which is an outer suburb of Madrid (a bit like catching the train to Penrith...) which meant I missed my train - and the only other train to San Sebastian today was already full. Which meant I had to get a ticket for tomorrow, find somewhere to stay tonight and contact the pensione in San Sebastian and let them know that I wouldn´t be there til tomorrow. ¨Not happy Jan¨ Mutter mutter grumble grumble seeth & swear....
Anyway I am now safely ensconced in a B&B (without the second B - guess that makes it a pensione!) and have recovered my ... hmmm... sense of proportion if not my sense of humour. Mutter grumble.... AndI´ve had a restorative shower and siesta and now have a room and ensuite to myself ( I think I am officially over sharing rooms with strangers...) and I have had a chilled out afternoon in a park lying on the grass and staring at the trees. It is very very hot here and there is not a beach (or even a pool) in coo-ee. (The Spanish have a more civilised attitude to sitting on grass in parks - I dont think its officially allowed but it seems to be tolerated!) And as I was planning a chill out day tomorrow I guess I´m not too off schedule
And hey! I know what train not to catch tomorrow... mutter grumble... ANd it occurs to me that its not nearly as dramatic as when Bel & I had our Eurrail passes confiscated by the Danish train conductor for using erasable ink pens and altering the dates of our travel....
Yesterday I spent most of my day at the Thyssen Bornemiszia Museum - they have some great art there. Lots to look at and think about - and lots of works that I was unfamiliar with - so great to see some less well know works by artists such as Van Gogh ( a work in mostly greys... and not a swirl in sight!) And I went to their temporary exhibition on Avigdor Arikha - which was just wonderful - especially his paintings of his flat - which (based on the painting of the view from their window) I think must be in Paris.
Susie - I didn´t get your guide to the gallery - it was a 3 volume hardback publication and more than 1500 pages and about 150 Euro!
Also spent part of the afternoon in the Retiro Park watching ducks and black swans float around a pond and sleep in the shade. And I saw a man walking his ferret - and even better (or more bizarre) a woman taking her well fed orange and white tabby cat for a ¨walk¨ in a stroller! while five park attendants were busy trying to help an injured bird! (I dont think the tabby cat was involved...)
There is a big Mexican festival promotion happening here at the moment - and last night there was a mariachi band playing in the Plaza Mayor.
I´m going to see a film tonight - not in the mood for chatting to strangers - and there are a couple of comedies on that might help restore my mood. Guess everyone has one bad travel day - and today was mine....
It has not been the greatest of days - starting with the roommates at the hostel clattering around the room and putting the light on at 4 am. mutter mutter grumble grumble....
And then when I got to the train station to catch my train to San Sebastian, the information person that I asked to point me to the correct platform sent me to the wrong one - so I ended up on a train to San Sebastian de las Royes - which is an outer suburb of Madrid (a bit like catching the train to Penrith...) which meant I missed my train - and the only other train to San Sebastian today was already full. Which meant I had to get a ticket for tomorrow, find somewhere to stay tonight and contact the pensione in San Sebastian and let them know that I wouldn´t be there til tomorrow. ¨Not happy Jan¨ Mutter mutter grumble grumble seeth & swear....
Anyway I am now safely ensconced in a B&B (without the second B - guess that makes it a pensione!) and have recovered my ... hmmm... sense of proportion if not my sense of humour. Mutter grumble.... AndI´ve had a restorative shower and siesta and now have a room and ensuite to myself ( I think I am officially over sharing rooms with strangers...) and I have had a chilled out afternoon in a park lying on the grass and staring at the trees. It is very very hot here and there is not a beach (or even a pool) in coo-ee. (The Spanish have a more civilised attitude to sitting on grass in parks - I dont think its officially allowed but it seems to be tolerated!) And as I was planning a chill out day tomorrow I guess I´m not too off schedule
And hey! I know what train not to catch tomorrow... mutter grumble... ANd it occurs to me that its not nearly as dramatic as when Bel & I had our Eurrail passes confiscated by the Danish train conductor for using erasable ink pens and altering the dates of our travel....
Yesterday I spent most of my day at the Thyssen Bornemiszia Museum - they have some great art there. Lots to look at and think about - and lots of works that I was unfamiliar with - so great to see some less well know works by artists such as Van Gogh ( a work in mostly greys... and not a swirl in sight!) And I went to their temporary exhibition on Avigdor Arikha - which was just wonderful - especially his paintings of his flat - which (based on the painting of the view from their window) I think must be in Paris.
Susie - I didn´t get your guide to the gallery - it was a 3 volume hardback publication and more than 1500 pages and about 150 Euro!
Also spent part of the afternoon in the Retiro Park watching ducks and black swans float around a pond and sleep in the shade. And I saw a man walking his ferret - and even better (or more bizarre) a woman taking her well fed orange and white tabby cat for a ¨walk¨ in a stroller! while five park attendants were busy trying to help an injured bird! (I dont think the tabby cat was involved...)
There is a big Mexican festival promotion happening here at the moment - and last night there was a mariachi band playing in the Plaza Mayor.
I´m going to see a film tonight - not in the mood for chatting to strangers - and there are a couple of comedies on that might help restore my mood. Guess everyone has one bad travel day - and today was mine....
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Madrid, Madrid, Madrid
Two days in Madrid and it feels like I´ve been here for ages and know my way around. And yes, while sitting casually near a bus stop, I was approached by American tourists who spoke to me in Spanish and asked directions....
And here am I trying to forget all my French and recall all that Spanish I´ve just learnt....
So - the hostel is gorgeous - a former small palace with an enclosed courtyard with marble floor and fountain and mosaic tiled walls and a stained glass roof. Unfortunately all the rooms lead off the central courtyard so its quite noisy. But gorgeous!!!!
In two days I´ve been to both the Prado and the Reina Sofia galleries and seen some fabulous art - lots of Goya - including his picture of Satan eating a child - which appears to be based on a similar painting by Rubens (or is it the other way around - I forgot to check the dates), some amazing Renaiisance portraits, and all those paintings of war that Goya did. Have also seen Picasso´s Guernica - which surprised me coz its all monochrome - grey and black and white. All this time I´ve been assuming that I have been looking at black and white reproductions when really the painting itself is black and white! All the preparatory drawings and paintings for it were fascinating.
The security at all the galleries here and in Paris is pretty intense - bags scanned and checked and metal detectors etc before you even get to buy a ticket...
Met a great English girl - Hi Stella! - and we have been out and about exploring the city at night. We drank sangria and ate paella in Plaza Mayor one night (a bit like the Italian Forum in Leichhardt but way bigger and mroe expensive) and last night we went to Casa Patas and saw some amazing flamenco - 5 piece live band with 2 singers and 2 dancers - all power and intensity and drama - and the footwork was amazing - as was the flourishing & swish of the frilled skirt. And we ate tapas - olives stiffed with anchovies, chorizo, calamari, potatoes with garlic mayonaise - and more sangria! (and allow me to brag - I booked for the flamenco in Spanish! Very satisfying!)
Have also been to the Real Palace (ie Royal Palace) - which apparently has 2800 rooms - not all of which are on display but the ones that are, are pretty wild - chandeliers and Chinese ceramic ceilings and tapestries and silver platters and ceiling murals - and 4 Stradivarius violins!!!!! And seen the statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and the bear kissing the strawberry tree - which is apparently the symbol of Madrid - but I have yet to figure out why!
Madrid has some great parks where I have been sitting and eating picnic lunches and watching the world go by.
Today I am off to the Thyssen museum to see the Impressionist and other modernists in their collections.
Susie - thanks for the post. I know I have to get you a gallery guide but I can´t remember which one. I think its the Thyssen... I´ll see how big they are - everything in my pack seems to have doubled in size!
Looking forward to hearing about the Biennale opening Sarah!
Thinking of seeing a movie tonight - after more tapas of course. Naomi - Las Vegas 21 here is called 21 Blackjack - and Sex in the City is Sex in New York!!!
Oh and did I mention that its like 30 C here and it stays daylight til about 10:30pm????? and 2.50 Euros buys a coffee and a croissant here!
And here am I trying to forget all my French and recall all that Spanish I´ve just learnt....
So - the hostel is gorgeous - a former small palace with an enclosed courtyard with marble floor and fountain and mosaic tiled walls and a stained glass roof. Unfortunately all the rooms lead off the central courtyard so its quite noisy. But gorgeous!!!!
In two days I´ve been to both the Prado and the Reina Sofia galleries and seen some fabulous art - lots of Goya - including his picture of Satan eating a child - which appears to be based on a similar painting by Rubens (or is it the other way around - I forgot to check the dates), some amazing Renaiisance portraits, and all those paintings of war that Goya did. Have also seen Picasso´s Guernica - which surprised me coz its all monochrome - grey and black and white. All this time I´ve been assuming that I have been looking at black and white reproductions when really the painting itself is black and white! All the preparatory drawings and paintings for it were fascinating.
The security at all the galleries here and in Paris is pretty intense - bags scanned and checked and metal detectors etc before you even get to buy a ticket...
Met a great English girl - Hi Stella! - and we have been out and about exploring the city at night. We drank sangria and ate paella in Plaza Mayor one night (a bit like the Italian Forum in Leichhardt but way bigger and mroe expensive) and last night we went to Casa Patas and saw some amazing flamenco - 5 piece live band with 2 singers and 2 dancers - all power and intensity and drama - and the footwork was amazing - as was the flourishing & swish of the frilled skirt. And we ate tapas - olives stiffed with anchovies, chorizo, calamari, potatoes with garlic mayonaise - and more sangria! (and allow me to brag - I booked for the flamenco in Spanish! Very satisfying!)
Have also been to the Real Palace (ie Royal Palace) - which apparently has 2800 rooms - not all of which are on display but the ones that are, are pretty wild - chandeliers and Chinese ceramic ceilings and tapestries and silver platters and ceiling murals - and 4 Stradivarius violins!!!!! And seen the statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and the bear kissing the strawberry tree - which is apparently the symbol of Madrid - but I have yet to figure out why!
Madrid has some great parks where I have been sitting and eating picnic lunches and watching the world go by.
Today I am off to the Thyssen museum to see the Impressionist and other modernists in their collections.
Susie - thanks for the post. I know I have to get you a gallery guide but I can´t remember which one. I think its the Thyssen... I´ll see how big they are - everything in my pack seems to have doubled in size!
Looking forward to hearing about the Biennale opening Sarah!
Thinking of seeing a movie tonight - after more tapas of course. Naomi - Las Vegas 21 here is called 21 Blackjack - and Sex in the City is Sex in New York!!!
Oh and did I mention that its like 30 C here and it stays daylight til about 10:30pm????? and 2.50 Euros buys a coffee and a croissant here!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
More about Paris
Ok ' so Naomi and I have now parted ways - she´s back in London and I am in Madrid - where its hot hot hot (finally I,ve found summer!)
But back to Paris where Nomes and I really did the museum thing hard. We got at least ten visits out of our museum passes - and in places like the Louvre and the dÓrsay we literally spent hours. Nomes freaked when she saw the Manet´s - Olympia and the Dejuener - and I could be found almost drooling over the Caillebottes...
ON Sunday we went to Mont Marte and did the toursity thing - had lunch in a cafe at Place du Tetre and I went to the Musee Montmarte which had all the original posters for the Moulin Rouge etc, and the original wooden painted sign for the Lapin Agile, and we walked down to the Moulin Rouge and tried to get a photo of us and the windmill - which resulted in a lot of laughter and some silly photos - and a Frenchman offering to take the shot for us... Then back to the dÓrsay for another look, then a walk along the Seine to the Musee Quai Branly (which I really didn´t like). We stopped ny the Eiffel Tower for a photo and a nutella crepe! and then headed back to the hostel '- and decided to see another movie.
THis time we saw a French film - "48 hours per day" - a romantic comedy / farce thing. And when I fronted up to the counter to buy a ticket with my limited French(and stating that at the outset) ... well the bloke at the desk smiled like "this ´ll be fun..." and then set about helping me to improve my French - making me repeat the name of the film til he was satisfied that I could say it correctly!
On Monday - yesterday - We walked down the Champs Elysee, had coffee at a cafe. Paris is soooo expensive. A regular coffee - une cafe creme - cost between 4 and 6 Euro depending on where you were. Do the maths. Its scary!!!! We ate baguettes in the Tuileres Garden, looked at the toursit and other expensive shops on the Rue du Rivoli, and then got Naomi off to the Gare du Nord for her train back to London. "Bye Nomes - no matter what happens, we´ll always have Paris!!!!"
And then I wandered down the road and down to Chatelet and then went back to the hostel to collect my bags and get to Gare Austerlitz for my overnight train to MAdrid. And was only stopped twice and asked for directions... Until I open my mouth, I seem to have the blending in thing down pat!
And I can´t get over how many people in Europe (and the UK and US) still smoke - and how stinky they are - especially in a crowded metro train!
There were all sorts of buskers in the Paris Metro stations - a string septet, piano accordian plares, solo violinists, guitarists....
But back to Paris where Nomes and I really did the museum thing hard. We got at least ten visits out of our museum passes - and in places like the Louvre and the dÓrsay we literally spent hours. Nomes freaked when she saw the Manet´s - Olympia and the Dejuener - and I could be found almost drooling over the Caillebottes...
ON Sunday we went to Mont Marte and did the toursity thing - had lunch in a cafe at Place du Tetre and I went to the Musee Montmarte which had all the original posters for the Moulin Rouge etc, and the original wooden painted sign for the Lapin Agile, and we walked down to the Moulin Rouge and tried to get a photo of us and the windmill - which resulted in a lot of laughter and some silly photos - and a Frenchman offering to take the shot for us... Then back to the dÓrsay for another look, then a walk along the Seine to the Musee Quai Branly (which I really didn´t like). We stopped ny the Eiffel Tower for a photo and a nutella crepe! and then headed back to the hostel '- and decided to see another movie.
THis time we saw a French film - "48 hours per day" - a romantic comedy / farce thing. And when I fronted up to the counter to buy a ticket with my limited French(and stating that at the outset) ... well the bloke at the desk smiled like "this ´ll be fun..." and then set about helping me to improve my French - making me repeat the name of the film til he was satisfied that I could say it correctly!
On Monday - yesterday - We walked down the Champs Elysee, had coffee at a cafe. Paris is soooo expensive. A regular coffee - une cafe creme - cost between 4 and 6 Euro depending on where you were. Do the maths. Its scary!!!! We ate baguettes in the Tuileres Garden, looked at the toursit and other expensive shops on the Rue du Rivoli, and then got Naomi off to the Gare du Nord for her train back to London. "Bye Nomes - no matter what happens, we´ll always have Paris!!!!"
And then I wandered down the road and down to Chatelet and then went back to the hostel to collect my bags and get to Gare Austerlitz for my overnight train to MAdrid. And was only stopped twice and asked for directions... Until I open my mouth, I seem to have the blending in thing down pat!
And I can´t get over how many people in Europe (and the UK and US) still smoke - and how stinky they are - especially in a crowded metro train!
There were all sorts of buskers in the Paris Metro stations - a string septet, piano accordian plares, solo violinists, guitarists....
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Monet, Monet, Monet, manet and more Monet
In Paris!!!! Je suis a Paris!!!!! with Naomi and having a great if exhausting time seeing lots and lots and lots of art. And Nomes is very impressed with my (limited) French!!!!!
So far we have been to the Musee d'Orsay, Musee Cluny, Lourve, L'Orangerie and the Musee Marmotten - where I saw the study for Caillebotte's Paris on a Rainy Day!!!!! We have also seen Olympia, Le Petite Dejuener, Monet's waterlillies and heaps more. Have also been to the Pompidou Centre = lots of more modern and contemporary art ....
off to see a movie tonight. Lots to write but time is limited and its a poxy laptop keyboard and i keep hitting the wroong keys....
still have 2 more days here - planning on going to Montmarte tomorrow and the Musee du Quai Branly - abnd maybe back to the d'Orsay and seeing all the Impressionist works again....
So far we have been to the Musee d'Orsay, Musee Cluny, Lourve, L'Orangerie and the Musee Marmotten - where I saw the study for Caillebotte's Paris on a Rainy Day!!!!! We have also seen Olympia, Le Petite Dejuener, Monet's waterlillies and heaps more. Have also been to the Pompidou Centre = lots of more modern and contemporary art ....
off to see a movie tonight. Lots to write but time is limited and its a poxy laptop keyboard and i keep hitting the wroong keys....
still have 2 more days here - planning on going to Montmarte tomorrow and the Musee du Quai Branly - abnd maybe back to the d'Orsay and seeing all the Impressionist works again....
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Three days in Glasgow
Three days in Glasgow and there has been much MackIntoshing (of the Charles Rennie and Margaret Macdonald MackIntoshes - artists/designers/architects in the early 1900s - a sort of Scottish art nouveau / arts and crafts style thing...)
The trip up on the train was fun - I had a little cabin all to myself and coffee and croissants were brought to my door at 7am. Found my B&B - Adelaides - in the centre of town - and dropped off my bag and set out to explore! Glasgow town centre is not that large - and I easily found the Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street - and then had to wait for them to open before I had breakfast! There are 2 sets of Willow Tea Rooms - both are recreations of CRM's original interiors for Kate Cranston and her tea rooms that she establised in the early 1900s - apparently as part of the temperence movement! They are just gorgeous - all white and silver and purple with stained glass details and gesso painted wall panels - but you can see the photos below...
Went on the Glasgow School of Art tour - a CRM designed building with one of the loveliest libraries I've ever seen - although sadly its only staffed for a couple of hours each day and is now a reference library. The main library for the school is located in another building entirely. GSA is busy setting up for its annual Grad Show - which opens this weekend - so there was much bustle and activity - but we weren't allowed to walk through the studios as there were assessments taking place. What I did see felt very similar to NAS - which was reinforced when I met up with Kathy Molloy & David Buri in the library - and they kindly showed me around and we talked 'art school library' - lots of similarities - only they are larger than us at NAS - collection of about 70 000 monographs, 300 journals (shelved A - Z), dvds, graphic novels....
Later that afternoon I visited the Tenement House - a NAtional Trust property. I always equated the word 'tenement' with slum - not sure why - turns out tenements were three or four story sandstone buildings that housed about 4 flats on each floor. The NT one I visited was pretty much intact from the early 1900s and shows how the middle class would have lived. It was four rooms - bedroom, bathroom , kitchen and parlour - and in the kitchen and parlour were additional bed closests - which are exactly what they sound like - a built-in bed behind a door. So the place could easily have slept 6!
Oh and did I mention that I went back to the Willow Tea Rooms for afternoon tea?
At the B&B I somehow got upgraded to a room with an ensuite and full length bathtub and digital tv - so I had a quiet night in watching tv! But sadly Dr Who is on Sat nights....
On Tuesday I moved rooms at the B&B and met Ted - who has a charming Scottish accent and does a mean Aussie accent too - and wanted to talk to me about State of Origin football... Then I hopped on the 'hop on & off' city bus tour and got a glimpse of Glasgow from the top level of a doubledecker bus.
I visited both the Hunterian Art Gallery & MackIntosh House and the Kelvin Grove Museum and Art Gallery - both of which are in the grounds of (or adjacent to ) the University here. The MackIntosh house has recreated interiors from a house that the M's actually lived in - the original building had to be destroyed due to structural problems caused by the motorway - so they built a replica and recreated the interiors. Original interiors from the Tea Rooms (furniture, crockery, cutlery etc) are in the Kelvin Grove Museum.
The Hunterian and the Kelvin Grove both also house a great collection of the works of the Scottish Colourists - Samuel Peploe, George Leslie Hunter, Francis Cadell and John Duncan Fergusson - 20th C modernists which really caught my eye. Ingrid - you'd love it! And some great paintings by the Glasgow Boys including the one of Anna Pavlova by John LAvery that I am sure was in The Edwardians Secrets & Desires exhibition at the NGA a couple of years ago.
Today I visited the House for an Art Lover (yes! more MackIntosh!). This was built about 10 years ago and is based on plans drawn up by CRM & MM for a competition in 1904 (?). It now also serves as part of the Glasgow School of Art. The house itself is set in parkland about 15 minutes from central Glasgow - and it really is stunning! The music room with its totally wild piano and white carpet and furniture and french windows is really beautiful! (if totally impractical - I'd have coffee stain on the carpet in about 30 seconds...) I also went to the CRM designed Scotland Street School - another impressive building in red sandstone with multi level windows and tower details.
Oh yeah - and I dropped into the Willow Tea Rooms for tea with scones & jam & cream. Real leaf tea too in a pot, with an extra pot of hot water, and a tea strainer that I kept forgetting to use.
And I hopped back on the tourist bus and visited Provand's Lordship - which is the oldest building in Glasgow - dating back to the 1500s.
Back to London tonight - another sleeper. And yes, I dropped in to see the station duty manager and got all the appropriate forms etc and I will be lodging a complaint and getting my money back!
Oh and the water in Glasgow tastes sooooo much better than that in London.
Meeting Naomi tomorrow morning and then we are off to Paris!
The trip up on the train was fun - I had a little cabin all to myself and coffee and croissants were brought to my door at 7am. Found my B&B - Adelaides - in the centre of town - and dropped off my bag and set out to explore! Glasgow town centre is not that large - and I easily found the Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street - and then had to wait for them to open before I had breakfast! There are 2 sets of Willow Tea Rooms - both are recreations of CRM's original interiors for Kate Cranston and her tea rooms that she establised in the early 1900s - apparently as part of the temperence movement! They are just gorgeous - all white and silver and purple with stained glass details and gesso painted wall panels - but you can see the photos below...
Went on the Glasgow School of Art tour - a CRM designed building with one of the loveliest libraries I've ever seen - although sadly its only staffed for a couple of hours each day and is now a reference library. The main library for the school is located in another building entirely. GSA is busy setting up for its annual Grad Show - which opens this weekend - so there was much bustle and activity - but we weren't allowed to walk through the studios as there were assessments taking place. What I did see felt very similar to NAS - which was reinforced when I met up with Kathy Molloy & David Buri in the library - and they kindly showed me around and we talked 'art school library' - lots of similarities - only they are larger than us at NAS - collection of about 70 000 monographs, 300 journals (shelved A - Z), dvds, graphic novels....
Later that afternoon I visited the Tenement House - a NAtional Trust property. I always equated the word 'tenement' with slum - not sure why - turns out tenements were three or four story sandstone buildings that housed about 4 flats on each floor. The NT one I visited was pretty much intact from the early 1900s and shows how the middle class would have lived. It was four rooms - bedroom, bathroom , kitchen and parlour - and in the kitchen and parlour were additional bed closests - which are exactly what they sound like - a built-in bed behind a door. So the place could easily have slept 6!
Oh and did I mention that I went back to the Willow Tea Rooms for afternoon tea?
At the B&B I somehow got upgraded to a room with an ensuite and full length bathtub and digital tv - so I had a quiet night in watching tv! But sadly Dr Who is on Sat nights....
On Tuesday I moved rooms at the B&B and met Ted - who has a charming Scottish accent and does a mean Aussie accent too - and wanted to talk to me about State of Origin football... Then I hopped on the 'hop on & off' city bus tour and got a glimpse of Glasgow from the top level of a doubledecker bus.
I visited both the Hunterian Art Gallery & MackIntosh House and the Kelvin Grove Museum and Art Gallery - both of which are in the grounds of (or adjacent to ) the University here. The MackIntosh house has recreated interiors from a house that the M's actually lived in - the original building had to be destroyed due to structural problems caused by the motorway - so they built a replica and recreated the interiors. Original interiors from the Tea Rooms (furniture, crockery, cutlery etc) are in the Kelvin Grove Museum.
The Hunterian and the Kelvin Grove both also house a great collection of the works of the Scottish Colourists - Samuel Peploe, George Leslie Hunter, Francis Cadell and John Duncan Fergusson - 20th C modernists which really caught my eye. Ingrid - you'd love it! And some great paintings by the Glasgow Boys including the one of Anna Pavlova by John LAvery that I am sure was in The Edwardians Secrets & Desires exhibition at the NGA a couple of years ago.
Today I visited the House for an Art Lover (yes! more MackIntosh!). This was built about 10 years ago and is based on plans drawn up by CRM & MM for a competition in 1904 (?). It now also serves as part of the Glasgow School of Art. The house itself is set in parkland about 15 minutes from central Glasgow - and it really is stunning! The music room with its totally wild piano and white carpet and furniture and french windows is really beautiful! (if totally impractical - I'd have coffee stain on the carpet in about 30 seconds...) I also went to the CRM designed Scotland Street School - another impressive building in red sandstone with multi level windows and tower details.
Oh yeah - and I dropped into the Willow Tea Rooms for tea with scones & jam & cream. Real leaf tea too in a pot, with an extra pot of hot water, and a tea strainer that I kept forgetting to use.
And I hopped back on the tourist bus and visited Provand's Lordship - which is the oldest building in Glasgow - dating back to the 1500s.
Back to London tonight - another sleeper. And yes, I dropped in to see the station duty manager and got all the appropriate forms etc and I will be lodging a complaint and getting my money back!
Oh and the water in Glasgow tastes sooooo much better than that in London.
Meeting Naomi tomorrow morning and then we are off to Paris!
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