Saturday, June 7, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
more London
and before i start an apology about the lack of capitalisation etc. i am using a poxy english keyboard and some of the keys are in teh wrong spots - and i accidentally hit a wrong key the other day (y'day??) and lost an entire post - so i'm not trying that again.
more photos coming soon - but the hostel computer doesn't seem to have usb ports - so you'll have to wait til i get to an internet cafe. maybe tomorrow.
jeanie - no, nisa is no longer there - its now a tesco and the smell of jam doughnuts is no longer in the air. but the boots chemist is still on the corner and whiteleys is still as glamorous as ever and the flower seller is still there and so is the dodgy old post office - and i dont think it has had a paint job since 1989... there are more of the junky touristy shops - and i still managed to buy postcards for 5p. and the arabs are still there begging on the streets and the block of flats wwhere we lived on Queensway now has a starbucks on the corner!!!!
yesterday i went back to the national gallery for a proper look at caillebotte's a man at his bath 1884 and the rokeby venus - adn the Arnolfini Wedding by jan van eyck - and botticelli's venus & mars - such wonderful stuff. then to the Courtauld Institute gallery where they hold Manet's Bar at the Folie Berege and a beautiful modigliani nude and cezanne's the card players and van gogh's self portrait with bandaged ear. and i caught an old fashioned red london bus with the running board at the back and the tiny twisty staircase to the upper level. i dropped by the national portrait gallery and had a fun time trying to guess the sitters - and recognising some if not most - lots of british politicians .... then i met up with Ingrid & her husband (!!!!) Jensen outside the Palace theatre where I was off to see Spamalot. Great to catch up with them and hear about some of their travel stories and about househunting here in London (hope that worls out soon!). Sadly i wont get to see them again before I leave - but we had a good gossip in an irish style pub. Spamalot was fun and very silly and my seat was so high up in the threatre that i was beyond 'the gods' and in the lighting gantry!!!! good thing i dont suffer from vertigo!!! Alan Dale is currently playing King Arthur - and he was great - but i still think Peter Davidson would have been better!
Today - Friday - I met up with Naomi. She's now staying here at the Holland Park hostel - and is fresh off a 24 days bus tour around Europe. Great to see her and soooo much to catch up on. And we went to the Tate Britain - saw a great exhibition of British Orientalist Art from the late 1800s onwards as well as the main collection - including Millais' The LAdy of SHallot. and gorgeous stuff by the pre raphaelite brotherhood - rosetti, byrne jones... and lots of turners etc. then we caught the ferry down the Thames past the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye to Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre (which we saw from the outside but couldn't get inside of..) Tate Modern is fabulous - a great re-use of an old factory building - and such a great collection .... Rothko, Turner, Anselm Kiefer, Jackson Pollock, some amazing - ack - no not lucien freud - the other english bloke - the one who did the screaming popes series - you know who i mean.... ack i've gone blank.... got it - FRANCIS BACON!!!! and jospeph beuys and .... its all just so amazing seeing these in the flesh ( or should that be teh oil and pigment???) and them being bigger or smaller or more colourful in reali life.
Tomorrow Nomes and I are off to Portobello Rd markets and to have a turn on the london eye (the giant ferris wheel thing) and possibly to do the Jack the Ripper walking tour - and maybe back to the Natuional Gallery... and Nomes thinks she might come across to Paris with me next weekend....
Anyway havign a fab time in London - and it really does in many ways fell like home. Hope you are all well and over any lurgies and that winter isn't too horrible. Did i mention that its 10pm here and still light - and it has beenr eally warm - although cooler and greyer and even a bit drizzly today....
more photos coming soon - but the hostel computer doesn't seem to have usb ports - so you'll have to wait til i get to an internet cafe. maybe tomorrow.
jeanie - no, nisa is no longer there - its now a tesco and the smell of jam doughnuts is no longer in the air. but the boots chemist is still on the corner and whiteleys is still as glamorous as ever and the flower seller is still there and so is the dodgy old post office - and i dont think it has had a paint job since 1989... there are more of the junky touristy shops - and i still managed to buy postcards for 5p. and the arabs are still there begging on the streets and the block of flats wwhere we lived on Queensway now has a starbucks on the corner!!!!
yesterday i went back to the national gallery for a proper look at caillebotte's a man at his bath 1884 and the rokeby venus - adn the Arnolfini Wedding by jan van eyck - and botticelli's venus & mars - such wonderful stuff. then to the Courtauld Institute gallery where they hold Manet's Bar at the Folie Berege and a beautiful modigliani nude and cezanne's the card players and van gogh's self portrait with bandaged ear. and i caught an old fashioned red london bus with the running board at the back and the tiny twisty staircase to the upper level. i dropped by the national portrait gallery and had a fun time trying to guess the sitters - and recognising some if not most - lots of british politicians .... then i met up with Ingrid & her husband (!!!!) Jensen outside the Palace theatre where I was off to see Spamalot. Great to catch up with them and hear about some of their travel stories and about househunting here in London (hope that worls out soon!). Sadly i wont get to see them again before I leave - but we had a good gossip in an irish style pub. Spamalot was fun and very silly and my seat was so high up in the threatre that i was beyond 'the gods' and in the lighting gantry!!!! good thing i dont suffer from vertigo!!! Alan Dale is currently playing King Arthur - and he was great - but i still think Peter Davidson would have been better!
Today - Friday - I met up with Naomi. She's now staying here at the Holland Park hostel - and is fresh off a 24 days bus tour around Europe. Great to see her and soooo much to catch up on. And we went to the Tate Britain - saw a great exhibition of British Orientalist Art from the late 1800s onwards as well as the main collection - including Millais' The LAdy of SHallot. and gorgeous stuff by the pre raphaelite brotherhood - rosetti, byrne jones... and lots of turners etc. then we caught the ferry down the Thames past the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye to Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre (which we saw from the outside but couldn't get inside of..) Tate Modern is fabulous - a great re-use of an old factory building - and such a great collection .... Rothko, Turner, Anselm Kiefer, Jackson Pollock, some amazing - ack - no not lucien freud - the other english bloke - the one who did the screaming popes series - you know who i mean.... ack i've gone blank.... got it - FRANCIS BACON!!!! and jospeph beuys and .... its all just so amazing seeing these in the flesh ( or should that be teh oil and pigment???) and them being bigger or smaller or more colourful in reali life.
Tomorrow Nomes and I are off to Portobello Rd markets and to have a turn on the london eye (the giant ferris wheel thing) and possibly to do the Jack the Ripper walking tour - and maybe back to the Natuional Gallery... and Nomes thinks she might come across to Paris with me next weekend....
Anyway havign a fab time in London - and it really does in many ways fell like home. Hope you are all well and over any lurgies and that winter isn't too horrible. Did i mention that its 10pm here and still light - and it has beenr eally warm - although cooler and greyer and even a bit drizzly today....
Thursday, June 5, 2008
London
Arrived London y'day morning. Youth Hostel is fine - set in a gorgeous [park and in an old jacobean manor house. and its near where i used to live.
went for a big walk y'day arvo - through kensington gardens, queensway, hyde par, st james park, up whitehall to trafalgar square - and into the national gallery - which has Caillebotte's male nude of the bloke towelling himself after a bath. and Suerat's bathers at Asnieres and Velasquez's rokeby venus!!! going back today to view them properly - and then heading to Courtauld gallery and seeing Spamalot tonight. Also catching up with Ingrid for a drink! And Naomi should arrive tomorrow.
This bit is for Jeanie - Queesway is stillmostly the same - the kerwoffel shop is still there!!! lots of photos to show you1
went for a big walk y'day arvo - through kensington gardens, queensway, hyde par, st james park, up whitehall to trafalgar square - and into the national gallery - which has Caillebotte's male nude of the bloke towelling himself after a bath. and Suerat's bathers at Asnieres and Velasquez's rokeby venus!!! going back today to view them properly - and then heading to Courtauld gallery and seeing Spamalot tonight. Also catching up with Ingrid for a drink! And Naomi should arrive tomorrow.
This bit is for Jeanie - Queesway is stillmostly the same - the kerwoffel shop is still there!!! lots of photos to show you1
Upgraded!!!!
Dont quite know how or why but I got upgraded to Deluxe Economy on my flight from NY to London via Stockholm. And I didn't even realise til I was on the plane and had walked past my allocated seat and realised that I'd passed my row number. And then I figured that someone had made a mistake and that anytime I was going to be reallocated back to cattle class. But no! Luxury plus! I got extra legroom, a foot rest, a quilt!!!, choices of 4 wines with my meal - salmon filet - tres delicious (but obviously not as good as Cedar Plank Salmon - Hi Lou!!!) and a Baileys before bed. And there were hot rolls and hot face washers in teh morning and good strong coffee. I could get used to this very easily!!!!
Monday, June 2, 2008
That damn song lyric...
New York City LyricsArtist: They Might Be Giants
(Buy They Might Be Giants CDs)
Album: Factory Showroom
You called me last night on the telephoneAnd I was glad to hear from you 'cause I was all aloneYou said, "It's snowing, it's snowing! God, I hate this weather."Now I walk through blizzards just to get us back together
We met in the springtime at a rock-and-roll showIt was on the Bowery when it was time to goWe kissed on the subway in the middle of the nightI held your hand, you held mine, it was the best night of my life.
'Cause everyone's your friend in New York CityAnd everything looks beautiful when you're young and prettyThe streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to see
But the best thing about New York City is you and me
Statue of Liberty, Staten Island Ferry, Co-op City, Katz's and Tiffany's*
Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, The Empire State where Dylan lived**
Coney Island and Times Square, Rockefeller Center
Wish I was thereYou wrote me a letter just the other daySaid, "Springtime is coming soon so why don't you come to stay."I packed my stuff, got on the bus, I can't believe it's true
I'm three days from New York City and I'm three days from you
'Cause everyone's my friend in New York CityAnd everything looks beautiful when you're young and prettyThe streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to seeBut the best thing about New York City is you and me
'Cause everyone's my friend in New York CityAnd everything looks beautiful when you're young and prettyThe streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to seeBut the best thing about New York City is you and me.
(Buy They Might Be Giants CDs)
Album: Factory Showroom
You called me last night on the telephoneAnd I was glad to hear from you 'cause I was all aloneYou said, "It's snowing, it's snowing! God, I hate this weather."Now I walk through blizzards just to get us back together
We met in the springtime at a rock-and-roll showIt was on the Bowery when it was time to goWe kissed on the subway in the middle of the nightI held your hand, you held mine, it was the best night of my life.
'Cause everyone's your friend in New York CityAnd everything looks beautiful when you're young and prettyThe streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to see
But the best thing about New York City is you and me
Statue of Liberty, Staten Island Ferry, Co-op City, Katz's and Tiffany's*
Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, The Empire State where Dylan lived**
Coney Island and Times Square, Rockefeller Center
Wish I was thereYou wrote me a letter just the other daySaid, "Springtime is coming soon so why don't you come to stay."I packed my stuff, got on the bus, I can't believe it's true
I'm three days from New York City and I'm three days from you
'Cause everyone's my friend in New York CityAnd everything looks beautiful when you're young and prettyThe streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to seeBut the best thing about New York City is you and me
'Cause everyone's my friend in New York CityAnd everything looks beautiful when you're young and prettyThe streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to seeBut the best thing about New York City is you and me.
More modern art, musicals and medieval Manhattan
So another fun filled busy busy busy New York days.
Yesterday - Sunday - I caught the bus way up the north end of town to Fort Tyron park and the Cloisters museum - which is part of The Met. Its's where they have most of their medieval artefacts - like statues, relics, tapestries, columns, furniture, illuminated manuscripts etc. Its all very atmospheric & gorgeous as they have built a medieval style monastry to house it all and demonstrate how the objects would have been placed in real life. And it has 4 cloisters (central courtyards growing medieval style plants). Such a beautiful and tranquil spot. That took up most of the morning - the bus ride alone was about 40 minutes.
Then I headed back midtown to join the halfprice tix queue, securing a ticket to Legally Blonde: The Musical! More of that later...
Then to the Whitney Museum of American Art - which currently has a small selection of its permanent collection on display and the Whitney Biennial. Loved the permanent collection - great stuff by Claes Oldenburg (giant fries and the like), Georgia O'Keefe, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Robert Maplethorpe.... I wasn't that much impressed with the Biennial stuff - too much video and boring photography...
I was planning on catching a bus back down to Broadway but 5th Ave was closed for a Jewish Parade - 60 years of the state of Israel???? So I walked the 20 odd blocks back to the theatre. Legally Blonde was lots of fun, very silly, stuck closely to the movie and was very very very pink!
Today - Monday - most of the museums etc were closed - apart from the Guggenheim - which was only partly open and mostly covered in scaffolding. Last time it was closed was in 1992. Guess when I was last in NY? Anyway after a walk through Central Park, I got to see a fab show by a Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang - all these amazing installations of life size animals like tigers and wolves that had been made from who knows what (but not taxidermy). And saw some of the permanent collection - including a beautiful Odilon Redon, some Oskar Kokoschka and now i can't remember what!
Following that I headed downtown to Radio City to do the Stage Door tour. Radio City is the most glamourous Art Deco theatre - and it seats about 6000. The tour took us backstage, into the main theatre, we met a Rockette and heard all about the shows etc.
Then I did a little shopping - mostly of the window kind and dropped into the NY Public Library for a look around. (Yes Anne Doherty - its a busman's tour!) The 2pm tour had been cancelled, so I wandered around for a look on my own. Their catalogue is called CatNYP!!!! And did you know that they have the original Winne the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eyore and Roo??? Neither did I - but there they were in a glass cabinet - having been donated by someone (Christopher Robin maybe?) quite some years ago! And they look very well loved and patched and hugged!
Later this afternoon I did a couple of official open top bus tours - Uptown (Greenwich village, etc), caught a ferry out to visit the Statue of Liberty and then did the NY by Night bustour. And now its almost 11pm and I need to get organised for tomorrow. I have time in the morning for a quick trip back to The Met - to see their Modern stuff before catching the shuttle to the airport and heading home to London!
Some other thoughts about NY.... The Lions at the Public Library have names and I have forgotten what they are!
At least 5 people have stopped me to ask for directions! And I've got to the stage where I can point them in the right direction.
I find I am shocked at the profligate use of water in this city. People hosing down streets,, leaving taps running... I have obviuosly taken Sydney's water restrictions to heart.
I have They Might Be Giants song New York City stuck in my brain - except I can't recall all the words and its driving me nuts.
People are friendly and generous and willing to talk and help. And are still out walking their dogs in Central Park at 10 pm....
Yesterday - Sunday - I caught the bus way up the north end of town to Fort Tyron park and the Cloisters museum - which is part of The Met. Its's where they have most of their medieval artefacts - like statues, relics, tapestries, columns, furniture, illuminated manuscripts etc. Its all very atmospheric & gorgeous as they have built a medieval style monastry to house it all and demonstrate how the objects would have been placed in real life. And it has 4 cloisters (central courtyards growing medieval style plants). Such a beautiful and tranquil spot. That took up most of the morning - the bus ride alone was about 40 minutes.
Then I headed back midtown to join the halfprice tix queue, securing a ticket to Legally Blonde: The Musical! More of that later...
Then to the Whitney Museum of American Art - which currently has a small selection of its permanent collection on display and the Whitney Biennial. Loved the permanent collection - great stuff by Claes Oldenburg (giant fries and the like), Georgia O'Keefe, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Robert Maplethorpe.... I wasn't that much impressed with the Biennial stuff - too much video and boring photography...
I was planning on catching a bus back down to Broadway but 5th Ave was closed for a Jewish Parade - 60 years of the state of Israel???? So I walked the 20 odd blocks back to the theatre. Legally Blonde was lots of fun, very silly, stuck closely to the movie and was very very very pink!
Today - Monday - most of the museums etc were closed - apart from the Guggenheim - which was only partly open and mostly covered in scaffolding. Last time it was closed was in 1992. Guess when I was last in NY? Anyway after a walk through Central Park, I got to see a fab show by a Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang - all these amazing installations of life size animals like tigers and wolves that had been made from who knows what (but not taxidermy). And saw some of the permanent collection - including a beautiful Odilon Redon, some Oskar Kokoschka and now i can't remember what!
Following that I headed downtown to Radio City to do the Stage Door tour. Radio City is the most glamourous Art Deco theatre - and it seats about 6000. The tour took us backstage, into the main theatre, we met a Rockette and heard all about the shows etc.
Then I did a little shopping - mostly of the window kind and dropped into the NY Public Library for a look around. (Yes Anne Doherty - its a busman's tour!) The 2pm tour had been cancelled, so I wandered around for a look on my own. Their catalogue is called CatNYP!!!! And did you know that they have the original Winne the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eyore and Roo??? Neither did I - but there they were in a glass cabinet - having been donated by someone (Christopher Robin maybe?) quite some years ago! And they look very well loved and patched and hugged!
Later this afternoon I did a couple of official open top bus tours - Uptown (Greenwich village, etc), caught a ferry out to visit the Statue of Liberty and then did the NY by Night bustour. And now its almost 11pm and I need to get organised for tomorrow. I have time in the morning for a quick trip back to The Met - to see their Modern stuff before catching the shuttle to the airport and heading home to London!
Some other thoughts about NY.... The Lions at the Public Library have names and I have forgotten what they are!
At least 5 people have stopped me to ask for directions! And I've got to the stage where I can point them in the right direction.
I find I am shocked at the profligate use of water in this city. People hosing down streets,, leaving taps running... I have obviuosly taken Sydney's water restrictions to heart.
I have They Might Be Giants song New York City stuck in my brain - except I can't recall all the words and its driving me nuts.
People are friendly and generous and willing to talk and help. And are still out walking their dogs in Central Park at 10 pm....
Sunday, June 1, 2008
MOMA, the metro and musical madness
Day Three in New York...
And with my trusty weekly Metro Card and bus map, I negotiated NY buses and made my way down to Broadway and Times Square and the queue for matinee musical tickets. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to see Cry Baby - and with a few hours before the show I caught another bus and headed up to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).
Oh my - around every corner there was a Rothko, BArnett Newman's Vir Heroicus Sublimus, Modrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie, Trafalgar Square, sculptures by Brancusi & Giacometti, more paintings by Franz Marc, Boccioni, Chagall, as well as more Monets, Van Goghs, Redons.... This town in spoilt for good art. And then the hightlight of the museum... finding Malevich's Supremitist painting Boy with Knapsack - which I stood in front of and just grinned and grinned.
Cry Baby was an absolute hoot - based on a John Waters 1990 film - all 1950s rockers vs the squares - Bad Boy Cry Baby falls for Good Girl Allison - and mayhem ensues... its was so funny and silly and had a great singing and dancing and fab costumes - including a boy in a iron lung who was the mascot for the anti-polio picnic! I had so much fun that when it was over I went back to the ticket queue and got a ticket for Hairspray - which was just as much fun as Cry Baby and as silly as the recent film suggested. Lots of dancing in the aisles at the end of that one.
With a bit of time between shows I dropped by My Museum (that would be The Met - the one where I am a member) to have another look at the Singer Sargents and spend some time with a few Cezannes...
And some one out there (i wont say who) needs to know that Xanadu is currently showing on Broadway...
Today I am off to the Cloisters _ the medieval collection of the Met at the far end of town - and who knows maybe there are still tickets available for a show tonight!
And with my trusty weekly Metro Card and bus map, I negotiated NY buses and made my way down to Broadway and Times Square and the queue for matinee musical tickets. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to see Cry Baby - and with a few hours before the show I caught another bus and headed up to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).
Oh my - around every corner there was a Rothko, BArnett Newman's Vir Heroicus Sublimus, Modrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie, Trafalgar Square, sculptures by Brancusi & Giacometti, more paintings by Franz Marc, Boccioni, Chagall, as well as more Monets, Van Goghs, Redons.... This town in spoilt for good art. And then the hightlight of the museum... finding Malevich's Supremitist painting Boy with Knapsack - which I stood in front of and just grinned and grinned.
Cry Baby was an absolute hoot - based on a John Waters 1990 film - all 1950s rockers vs the squares - Bad Boy Cry Baby falls for Good Girl Allison - and mayhem ensues... its was so funny and silly and had a great singing and dancing and fab costumes - including a boy in a iron lung who was the mascot for the anti-polio picnic! I had so much fun that when it was over I went back to the ticket queue and got a ticket for Hairspray - which was just as much fun as Cry Baby and as silly as the recent film suggested. Lots of dancing in the aisles at the end of that one.
With a bit of time between shows I dropped by My Museum (that would be The Met - the one where I am a member) to have another look at the Singer Sargents and spend some time with a few Cezannes...
And some one out there (i wont say who) needs to know that Xanadu is currently showing on Broadway...
Today I am off to the Cloisters _ the medieval collection of the Met at the far end of town - and who knows maybe there are still tickets available for a show tonight!
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