Day 25 - Rome is Officially Nuts

Rome is like Paris in that it hits you and is just so overwhelming. Dumped my stuff at the Hostel and went to get lost. I headed in the direction of the Vatican but ended up completely in the other direction at the Colussum. Had a look at the nearby ruins, and think I can across a famous statue of Augustus on horseback (not use to seeing famous things that are not in museums).

Also went into the Santa Maria Maggoire. This was another church that I wanted to have a look at. It is one of the first major churches in Christdom being built in the 5th century. Was great to see kinda the 'source' church after seeing churches from the 12th and 13th century (notre dame, ste Chappelle, etc) and getting a sense of development. That was all just this morning.

Crossing the road was an interesting experience. First up, pedestrain crossings in Europe just mean it is a spot marginally safer than anywhere else. Here you kinda walk off the curb and head in the right direction. Somehow cars don't manage to hit you - like Moses parting the sea or something (I still cross next to someone else so they can get hit by the car first).

French .... on strike Again

Well the French trains went on strike for the 4th time in 8 days. From the vagueries that I was able to pick up, something about a staff member getting raped and this is response to that - so I guess I can sympathise. I was lucky that the train was actually running at all as I had a non refundable accomodation booked in Rome was didn't feel like losing a couple of days.

Managed to get to Rome and the train was dead on time which I am a little surprised for a 10 hour trip. Had inspectors checking tickets all night. Cause I couldn't actually book in France because it was an Italian train, I kept getting kicked out of my seat which was irrating. Got to the train station and was amazed that there were absolutely no seats in the whole terminal to sit down - guess that keeps people moving through the station however.

Nice Summary

Time to leave Nice and a couple of thoughts on the whole place. For mine, it was my hosts Rob and Averil that meant I had a blast in Nice. They went out of their way to organise things and Averil is a brilliant cook! Nice, Cannes and Monaco were worth a look but I'd be in no hurry to go back for the sites (exception being the Musee Oceanographique).

Would definately be heading back for the company though. It was great just to chat the hours away over a meal and get a bit of an inside into French culture from an Australian/American point of view (also Robs job sounds pretty funky and logistical which I am always interested in).

Onto Rome .... maybe.

Day 24 - Nicholas Cathedral and Fine Arts Museum

Today went out to a funky Russian church tucked away in a corner of Nice. It was quite and amazing place to go into and contrasted so differently from alot of the more 'western' churches I'd seen. It had a very 13/14th century byzantine feel to it.

After this I went to the Nice museum of Fine Arts and while it was worth a look, nothing really to rave about. Seemed like a lot of the artists were referencing other great masters but not doing anything with it. I guess a modern equivalent is the Simspons/Toy Story/Shrek and how they do take offs of movies - they do it in a clever way. If they were to just do the whole movie, it isn't clever and something similar here.

Day 23 - Australia Day

While travelling, there is a certain amount of nationalism that comes to the fore. Particularly while staying in hostels with foreigners and swapping stories about back 'home', and how it contrasts with the country one is currently in. As an aside, staying in hostels is kinda like a weird version of living in college/dorms. It is a certain type of people about, all of doing various things and so easy to chat the hours away (as there is no 'study' to procrasinate away).

An interesting conversation came up and that was to define what it was to 'be Australian'. Once upon a time it would have been going to the beach, the BarBQ, 'mateship', "G'day" and a certain insanity of religously following sports (or some horrible Steve Erwin/Crocidile Dundee sterotype). Beyond a vague tag of 'multiculturism', what is it that characterises being Australian today?

The French have a strong sense of culture, buying bread daily, bakeries, food and fashion. The Spanish seem to 'enjoy' life with afternoon ci-estas, wild night life and sangrittas (alcoholic punch). I guess it is kinda exciting to be in a phase where we as current Australians are defining it, on the back of being a 'young nation'. Maybe it isn't til you are on the outside of the country til you can see it and be taking active steps about it, rather than a certain level of apathey that seems to exist.

Food for thought.

Musee Oceanographique

The main reason for coming back to Monaco was the Musee Oceanographique. My trusty guidebook had built it up as the best in the world and if you only see one Aquarium, this should be it. Now having grown up near Sea World while younger, and enjoyed the Sydney Aquarium, this certainly sounded interesting to find out what the benchmark in Aquariums look like.

The Aquarium is housed in this fantastic building and has been there, as an aquarium for over 100 years.


Basically, Queen of England likes to hunt in the woods, Prince of Monaco liked to hunt in the ocean (predominately whales). It was also the base of operations for Jacque Coustow so has a whole history attached to it.

The place is pretty phenonmial and until about 16:00, more staff than tourists. Thus it was great just to sit infront of the various large tanks and watch the fishes with no one else around. Being on the mediterranean, naturally enough had a lot of mediterranean creatures which was great to see.

This is one of the wings which has tanks down either side of the room and a funky circular tank in the middle (and no one there)


As for best in the world stakes, the thing I like about the Sydney aquarium is the totally enclosed rooms that have the massive tanks going over you. Thus you get sharks, sting rays and so forth swimming over and around you - which is pretty damn cool. So yeah it is great, particularly the other displays on marine history, and definately worth the visit. Most expensive single museum I've been too at €11 but paintings don't need to eat daily :P

Day 22 - Monaco = Money

I didn't get to do everything that I wanted to do the other day when I came out so I ventured back. I stepped of the train into one of the most modern train stations I've ever seen - the place was spotless. As I walked out of the station into the 300m tunnel going to the street, the whole thing was marble - floors, walls, ceilings. From what I could tell, it wasn't the cheap fake stuff, it was the real McCoy.

Eventually I got to the street and the place was Dee-serted. There were a few crews packing up the remaining tents from the weekends world championship rally but that was about it. The cafes that were filled with people, now had more staff than customers.

This was on Friday before the race weekend so you could imagine a wall of people over the weekend:


This is pretty much the same spot today (note the now snow covered mountains)


Such a major contrast. You could now see all the expensive yachts, some would have more floor space than houses with all the creature comforts.

Source Material Heaven

It should probably come as no surprise I went nuts with my digital camera in the aquarium. The lighting was fantastic, all the various colour schemes and creatures are great reference material for drawing, painting and designing. I literally went til the battery in my camera died ... 400+ high resolution photos later. Here are some of the better ones.





Here is the same type of fish in two different surroundings beside one another. A good demonstration of camoflague (one goes white while the other goes spotted)

Murals Everywhere

Maybe it comes from a culture of museums and art at your finger tips, or maybe I'm in just all the touristy areas, but there are all kinds of funky murals around the place. I seem to wonder why it doesn't happen so much in Australia and seems to be because some idiot will want to graffiti it and put their 'tag' on it.

This one one from Cannes, fun to try to pick out the various character references (ones I could pick out included Titanic, Star Wars, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Batman, Mickey Mouse, Charlie Chaplin and Tarzan):


One on the highway on the drive back from Antibes (not a brilliant photo but you get the idea)


A dude painting some palm trees


As you can probably see, these are some large scale works and have a certain 'charm' to them as public art displays.

Heading into Snow

Getting back was pretty unpleasant. The bus station had wind ripping through it and was poorly signed. Thus initially I was standing in the wrong area, another bus didn't see me and took off, the next couple didn't go far enough, one didn't come but finally I got onto one - and it was heated :D

One the bus ride home, the rain gradually got flakier until it turned into snow. It snows about once a year in this area so it was a little unusual. Having a think about it, first time I've seen snow in over a decade - just a warm up act to Canada I'm sure.

So it was very picturesque but I was too cold to get too many happy snaps. The orange tree in the villa yard during the snow:

Day 21 - Cannes Just Wasn't Meant to Be.

Something about me and Cannes just didn't click. I'd made several attempts last week to get out to Cannes but thwarted by train strikes and not being able to find the correct bus route. So today I was getting a lift out there. The second we walked out the door, it started to rain. For awhile we'd managed to outrun the weather to Cannes but it came with reinforcements.

So it rainned but I wasn't going to be beaten and went for a walk around the port. Always amazes me the extravagence of the wealth involved with some of these yachts in the harbour - a significant number with cleaning crews or being remodelled/renovated.

Walked past the area where they have the film festival. Looked like they were having some classical music performance and/or conference. Thus you got a whole bunch of English speakers standing around doing the classical 'lets do lunch'. I went up to the castle overlooking the area but being a Monday (or my luck), it was closed.

At about this time, I was prety soaked, the wind was starting to get to me and I thought it was crazy to stay out in this weather if all it was going to lead to was being sick for the next 3 weeks. Made the call to head back to the villa.

My crazy old self *enjoying* the weather:

Museum Mad .... or Museum Sane!?

There are quite literally reasonable to great quality museums in every nok and cranny. Is Europe museum mad or something, or maybe there is sanity in the 'madness'. As much as school/old folks groups are the bane of my existance (can't stand being in a room appreciating art and then all of a sudden being ambushed by the lack of manners that people generally have in Europe - that for another time in itself), they are probably the best thing for building 'appreciation'.

Did however get me thinking. While in the Prado (Madrid), it was cool to think that this group of 10 year olds were having a school excursion to appreciate some El Greco work 'down at their local' museum. It was hard enough being in a country school. Not like you could just go and see a Shakespeare play like city kids could. It was such an undertaking for teachers to organise (transport 6 hours each way, meals, accomodation, bathroom breaks etc, and that is before the legal hassle of looking after kids who'd rather be elsewhere), they generally didn't bother.

These kids would be getting art like we'd get a rainy day. Being exposed at such a young age, so frequently, it would have to demistify it. Make it something more tangible than a grand piece of work in some famous museum in a land far, far away. As part of your history, becomes a reinforcing element as part of your culture.

Crepes - "Danger, Danger Wil Robinson"

If the French bakeries weren't bad enough as my Achilies Heel, crepes just make things a whole lot worse. In Antibes, Averil knew a great local crepe place so we went for a snack. Basically they are like a giant pancake (I think you can get them in Australia), you can have them savory or sweet.

I went the sweet option - 'Banana Giant'. It was a couple of bananas wrapped in a giant pancake like thingo, covered in rich, dark chocolate, couple of scoops of ice cream and whip cream. Even my stomach was in damage control mode - not really sure where all the sweetness had come from!

Day 20 - No Renoir, Just Picasso

Today we got up for a relaxed breakfast out on the terrace overlooking some of Nice. Afterwrds Rob had to do a little work for some presentations next week. So Averil and I headed out to the Renoir museum in Cagnes sur mer. One thing about the French, never look for street names, hard to find. Just look for the places that you actually want to go.

So we rocked up to the Renoir museum and it was closed ... until May 2005 - renovations. There was a Picasso museum the next town over (Antibes) so that was the new plan. We get to Antibes and it is a walled city, basically old fortifications. Shown below is an entry point which houses the old city with winding streets and plenty of character:



We yonder in, find the Picasso museum and have a look around. Basically Picasso was in the building for about 6 months in 1946-7 producing work. It is always interesting to have a look at his art to get a feel for what he was driving after (I think he created some 14,000 drawings, paintings, sculptures, prints, ceramics etc. in his life time).

Below is the Grimaldi Castle within which this Picasso museum was housed in. Always amazed at the wonderful array of buildings that end up being museums - at a minimum is preserves the building and keeps it functional but seeing the artworks in the original building in which it was produced, just something cool about it.

Who is Out There?!

Today's post is a little more 'interactive'. I'm curious to know who is actually reading this blog so I could tailor updates to be a little more relevant. At the end of this post is a link saying 'x comments'. You can click on it and will be able to put a comment in. You don't have to register as there is an option

'Or Post Anonymously'

I'd like for people to click on it, enter their name and any other quick remark. It will take all of 30 seconds ... go ahead ... it won't bite.

Day 19 - Mountains of Monaco

Being a weekend, I was able to sit down to a great breakfast with Rob and Averil (the French really know how to do bakeries well)! In the afternoon Rob and I jumped into the car and went for a drive to the hills above Monaco. We wandered down some walking trails and that was all really cool. Also managed to come across what could have possibly have been a WWII bunker in the side of the mountain.

This was the view from the top of the mountain down into Monaco. It is a little hazy cause the clouds were rolling over the mountain top where we were:


A sunset from the top of the mountain qbove Monaco:


Afterwards we went for a little bit of a wander through the neighbouring town and found some ancient ruins. Couldn't get in as it was closed. We stopped in at a bakery on the way home and got some goodies for desert that night. It would be dangerous to live here as the bakeries are just way too sweet!

Some ancient ruins (hoping to see some really cool ruins in Rome):

I've Been Here Before ...

For Christmas my younger brother got a Playstation 2 games called 'Driv3r'. It is a driving games but has 2 whole cities laid out so you are literally driving around them - one being Miami and the other being Nice (were I currently am). Thus it was quite surreal to get to know Nice through the video game and then actually come here.

While walking around Nice, I get to an area that I am familiar with from the game and think 'if I turn around there should be X over there, and Y should be a little further down and an exit lane should be over there'. Sure enough all the details are there in real life.

Monaco was a bit the same. In high school when 3D games were really coming of age, one game you could race around the streets of Monaco in an F1. Some of the streets I remembered today while walking around. I wonder if there is a term for when you experience something in cyberspace, becoming strangely aware so when it happens in real life, seems like recalling a 'real' memory.

Monaco and Monte Carlo - Blind Stupid Luck

So I wandered around for another hour or so trying to figure out away to Cannes. In the end I just gave up and decided to go to Monaco instead. I get there, climb the hill, and sit on a bench to take the view in. Next minute I hear this band playing behind me and they are having the changing of the guard - only happens once a day and I've stumbled onto it - blind stupid luck.

Also, this weekend they are having the World Rally Championships in Monaco/Monte Carlo (the later being a suburb of the former). So the main port has been transformed into pit lane. I was able to walk on the elevated driving area and check out all the teams.

I don't understand what kind of time trials they were doing. They were having staggered 2 minute starts but then racing into the streets with normal traffic. So you could be driving along and all of a sudden have a rally car wip pass. I'm not a petrol/revhead but more blind stupid luck stumbling into the World Rally Championship round.

Below is a happy snap of one of the rally cars driving through the streets:

Day 18 - The French On Strike

The last 3 days have had French 'public sector' employees on strike. So I rock up to the train station this morning and they decide to have another day of strikes. So the trains that normally run every 15-20 minutes, have been reduced to 4 all day.

Putting on my tourist hat for a moment, this is so damn frustrating. Not only do you have problems doing anything, but you can't find out about it. I tried checking the internet before I left the villa, but nothing. On top of the 'dissatisfaction' I've experienced with my Eurail pass, it becomes pretty much useless when no trains are running.

So what are they striking about? From what I can gather, they have very favourable working conditions (up until last year, if they went on strike, they actually got paid for not working). As a member of the EU, they have to change this working conditions to be more inline with common principles of the EU. So naturally they are being dragged kicking and screaming to change.

On February 5th, more strikes are planned as they want to water down the current law which means no employee can work more than 35 hours a week. Australia has one the highest level of unpaid overtime in the world (as I'm sure many of my working professional friends in Australia can vouch for). I just can't comprehend Australia having a 35hour legal working week - that is how companies survive in Australia - danggling the carrot so you work longer/harder and not ask for extra pay - imagine if they couldn't do that.

Yves Klein

I remember Jethro mentioning Yves Klein in a lecture but didn't think much of him. Then I saw his Victory of Samothrane in the Centro de Sofia in Madrid (this blue thing - this is a version from Nice's Contemporary art as you couldn't take photos in Centro - about 30cm tall):



The first thing that caught my attention was the fact it was referenced from this famous ancient sculpture in the Louvre (which I grabbed a couple of photos of - incidently the base was something I'd read about but never seen in photos before, the bow of a ship)



The 2nd thing was the blue used. It is a strange deep blue that is kinda like Yves Klien's trademark - so much so that he is vain enough to call it 'IKB' - International Klein Blue. All modern art prejudices aside, the blue just has a funky quality to it (although I think it is kinda a 'free hit' to reference a famous statue as it has a certain lack of effort by Yves).

Schools - 6 Days of Doing Nothing

Where I catch the bus from, there is a school opposite it. Doesn't matter what time of day it is, kids are always in the playground, and also coming and going from the school. At lunch time, kids were even being picked up by parents. Kids also go for a half day of school on Saturday. Just makes me wonder if they ever learn anything. Catch a bus any time of day and school kids are on it.

The other day they must have been having a fund raiser. The school is on a busy Boulevard with a set of traffic lights out the front. When ever the lights went red, they were running in between cars seeing if they wanted to buy stuff. There wasn't a teacher in sight. Such a contrast to when the NSW state government was freaking out to adults collecting for the Salvation Army at traffic lights.

I think things are a little more lax here. We have a couple of teenagers getting killed in car accidents and there is debate about over hauling the laws relating to young people getting licenses. From what I can gather, here the road death toll is what is it, and that is the way of things.

Also, from what Rob has been telling me, kids when they get to about the age of 14/15 can get a type of license for motor scooters. So you see young kids, even with passengers on the back, weaving in and out of traffic, no helmets on etc. I was beginning to wonder what the parents would think, but they are probably blairze about it all.

Smoking In Europe

One thing that you can't avoid in Europe is the number of people smoking, even right next to no smoking signs. Every body is doing it and alwyas amazed at the number of young kids smoking too. In contrast, I think the whole 'Quit Smoking' campaign in Australia has had an effect on attitudes, also laws/litigation about smoking in the workplace, pubs, restaurants etc.

The funniest instance I saw was in a train station in Madrid. The ticketing office was about 4m x 4m. There were 4 people in it. 3 were smoking and chatting while the 4th was serving customers. The whole thing was enclosed in glass and the ticket window didn't have an opening, just a speaker to communicate. They were certainly getting good value for their 2nd hand, passive smoking!

Day 17 - Matisse and Contemporary Art

I was told that there would be days like this. France is very protective of workers, a maximum 35 hour work week by law and seems to have major strikes every couple of months. I think it was the post office on strike on Tuesday, trains Wednesday and Thursday, schools at some time and it seems when one area of the public sector goes on strike, they all go on strike in some form of demented solidarity. Anyhow this means that for the past couple of days I've been planning to go out to Cannes but thwarted by train strikes. Could take the bus but ads an extra hour each way.

So today I went to the Musee of Contemporary Art in Nice. Specialises in works mostly from the 1960s onwards. They had a general selection of Warhol, Lickenstein, home grown Nicean Yves Klein, and some others. It was literally 6 rooms and you'd be hard pressed to take any longer than 2 hours in there. It was interesting to see the work once but wouldn't go back a 2nd time.

Next I headed out to the Musee Matisse, as he also spent some time in Nice. I knew of Matisse but wasn't really familiar with his work. I thought his 'student' life drwings were fantastic but after that, he tries to simplify forms and I can see where he is heading but probably not my cup of tea. Still it was worthwhile having a look at.

The First Safe Level

In the last 16 days I've taken about 2,500 high resolution photos as I have this cool little toy. Once my camera gets full, I just plug it into my iPod, transfer all the photos across, and start taking more photos. In the back of my mind, I'm always a little worried what would happen if my iPod is stolen, gets broken or for some reason looses data?

I've now managed to make copies onto Rob's computer, kinda like a first safe level. I'm trying not to see Europe through a view finder but at the same time, each photo tells a story that you'd otherwise forget. Quickly having a look through some and they are turning out really well. Here is a couple.

I'll start with me as tourist at the Eiffel Tower


Inside the Ste Chapele (so pleased these photos turned out really well)


And the bascillica I stumbled into a mass

Day 16 - The Long Walk Home

I had a rough idea of where I wanted to go today and that was the marina. I figured I'd catch the bus out and walk back. As I got closer to the marina, I saw a fort around the way and stayed on the bus til I got to the fort.... the next town over. But it was a nice day and the sunset was pretty cool... just that it was probably 8-10 km and walking up the steep slope to the villa at the end is a bit of a killer.

Day 15 - Planning to Get Lost

Another slow start to the day but eventually got onto a bus and hoped to get into town. I got into town alright but kinda ended up .... well I'm not sure where. Usually in Nice you have 3 sides with mountains with a 4th having the Mediterranean. Some how I managed to get 4 sides with mountains so that wasn't helpful. The next scout trick is to use your shadow as a reference point. Day was overcast and miserable so I was stuck.

I just started heading in one direction hoping to get to the sea. Managed to just wander around in rather large circles but stumbled upon Notre Damn in Nice and some other cool sites. Eventually found the Mediterreanan, got my bearings and realised most of what I wanted to find, I walked 1 block away from, or in the case of the train station - waled right under without realising (don't ask).

Managed to find a cemantary and figured out how they could have multiple people in one plot. Still another day of walking around, getting a better 'feel' for the place.

Day 14 - The Long Night of Sleep

Well for the past two weeks I've been trying to squeeze the most out of every second available to see and do things. Thus most days I've tried to be out the door by 9am, wonder the streets/museums for 12 hours before returning to the hostel. Needless to say that after 2 weeks of this, the old asset body welcomed a long sleep in.

So in the afternoon when I finally got going, I had an easy day and just went down to the main strip of Nice on the beach and had a stroll. Just a bit of casual site seeing and a cool sunset.

Nice Ville and Socca

Nice, for those who don't know, is a small city in the south of France on the Mediterranean wedged between Cannes and Monaco (hopefully more about these in a couple of days). So after a great hearty breakfast with Rob and Averil (Robs partner), we headed off into old Nice to have a look around.

The old city was pretty funky and we sat down for a local treat called 'socca'. It is kinda like a savoury pancake that you add salt and pepper to - very tasty. We wondered up the hill to the site of the old chateau/fort and gave a pretty amazing view.

Day 13 - Nice

Last couple of times I've tried to post, the text has disappeared in cyberspace (hence nothing for the last couple of days). Arrived in Nice and my old housemate, Rob who I am staying with, got out of bed on a Sunday to meet the train at 8am (he is a true champion!!).

We went back to his 'villa' on the top of a hill in Nice. The place is pretty amazing with great view and all kinds of fruit trees abound. The hill on the way up certainly takes a bit of getting use to. It is narrow and barely fits a small car yet is a two way street.

Feed the Rich and Bury the Poor

A great contrast came upon leaving Madrid by train. It really was obvious how poor the people in the country were. Most structures where simple brick with holes cut out for windows and doors, and quite simple rooves. Even beside the railway tracks were little plots of vegetables with fences made out of thin strips of wood - basically anything that was close at hand as there was certainly no money for steel posts.

A couple of the buildings had large chimmey like stacks and I'm thinking that they were factories. These were crammed in between houses and I don't even want to think about the diseases children would be getting from it.

It was such a contrast from the previous day walking around the lush parks of Madrid were council workers were everywhere with leaf blowers and just tidying up the place to make it look good. I hope that they know what they are doing with their Olympic bid. On the one hand it would be great to bring Euro's and tourism into the country, on the other hand, if they don't win the bid, they would have wasted a lot of money that could have been really utilised in a better fashion.

Mediterranean

One thing that I realised was that Spain is quite a mountainous country. At one point we are coming over the mountains and I see a large body of water. I'm thinking to myself 'that is the flatest ocean that I've ever seen'. Then it occurs to me that it is actually the Mediterranean. Kinda strange cause I've never seen a body of water that size being flat - use to rolling waves and giant swells.

The other thing about it was how amazingly pictureque it was with the sun shinning through the clouds, and reflecting off the water. The sun itself was a flat, diffuse light and not a harsh, scorching one that I've always known in Australia. Now all of a sudden Italian landscape paintings (particularly Claude Lorrain) and their lighting conditions make a great deal more sense. Here I was thinking that they were extending their imagination greatly when in fact it is something one can actually see.

Going through the mountains had a lot of flog/low lying cloud so as the mountain peaks went off into the distance, it was quite surreal the way that they were layered. Almost exactly like a chinese scroll image.

Day 12 - Trains, Trains and More Trains

I got up early, as per usual, but today to catch the first of 3 trains to Nice (south of France). The first train was to Barcelona and in theory it was 2nd class. It was more like and airline haul with unbelievable leg room. I got wedged in between a couple of smokers who spent most of the time coughing their lungs up and the last time I need is to get sick.

Otherwise their was an in train movie, which was a first for me and felt a little bizzare. It was a Woody Allen movie completely dubbed into Spanish (would have been an interesting one for you Simon!). I was watching it for a bit but had absolutely no idea what was going on. So being the artist, I was watching body language. Woody Allen seems to only have 2 gestures - both hands coming from the head, and swinging one arm around.

Madrid Summary

The time has come to head off for the next destination and have a moment to reflect upon Madrid. If it wasn't for the Prado, I probably won't have ventured into Spain on this trip. The Prado was fantastic and it was great to see all the Velazquez works.

Also managed to check out the other two main museums (Centro de Sofia and Thyssen) and they were both worth a look. The metro was great those few times that I used it, but the hostel had an awesome location, fantastic character, free internet, new/clean fascilities, and fresh breakfast (and for €15 a night, unbelievable value - looks like it is rated as one of the 10 best hostels in Europe)

Outside of that and a couple of parks, Madrid would appear to be more of a party city - with things kicking off around midnight. Thus it was great to visit, but unless I was after the night life or a better look at some of the artworks, I'd probably go elsewhere next time (south to Seville seens to be the tip, but no one speaks English so would really need to know some Spanish).

hmmm.... tastes like chicken

Ordering food in Madrid has been a little tricky cause outside of the museums and large train stations, hardly anyone knows English. I managed to find an all you can eat place with Spanish dishes.

So I picked up what I thought was a chicken wing. After a long day of museuming and walking around, I was a little on auto pilot so just munching away. Then it occured to me that this chicken wing actually had 4 legs. I have got no idea what I´d eaten and think it is better that way (possibly rat or something). Then there was another bit of beef that was really spoongy and had a strange flavour to it ... probably was brains or some other organ.

The Prado Part II

On the final afternoon in Madrid, I decided to head back to the Prado. I wanted to get another look at a couple of artworks that I hadn´t really had a good look at. There was also an exhibition on the development of portraiture in Spain.

The portrait exhibition was great cause they had a sequence of important art pieces beside one another demonstrating the evolution of Spanish portraiture from Velazquez, through El Greco / Riberia, then Goya, some others and finishing up with Picasso (most of the Picasso one´s were serious/realistic and not is primitive, distorted trademark style).

Prohibito

I was on the other side of town so I thought I would check out the state gardens of Campo del Moro. It was really pictureques so my camera was in overtime capturing motifs that will be fantastic reference for a later date.

Then I followed a path up to where I thought I could get out. There was a sign with a whole bunch of Spanish and the word ´Prohibito´. I thought it was the usually ´no skate boards, dogs, rollerblades etc´. So I kept going but found the gate was locked. The more I went around the place, the more ´Prohibito´ signs I saw and no way out.

I eventually found a path without a ´Prohibito´ sign and a gate was in sight. Out comes a royal guard dude waving his disapproving finger. Oh crap! I´m really not where I am suppose to be.... but I can see an exit. Rather than push my luck I just disappeared back into the trees and bushes. Ends up I have to go back out the gate I came in as it is the only entry and exit (despite the maps in the parks showing all these paths with exits). The park was quite large so this is about an hour later.

The ´state garden´ joins onto the back of the main royal palace in Madrid. Needless to say, this hasn´t been one of the smarter things that I´ve ever done.

Goya´s Tomb and Fresco

One of the little churches that I was looking for had the famous Spanish artist Goya buried there and some of his fresco on the dome and ceiling. For those who don´t know, fresco is basically painting with plaster - so you only get one chance with it and lasts a long time.

When I was there, they were just finishing up the restoration work on the roof so it has a ´new´ brilliance to it. It was interesting to see these as they look so much like his normal oil paintings in terms of style. They also had these funky mirrors to magnify the roof images rather than bending your neck.

Day 11 - Searching for Ghosts

Went for a walk this morning to seek out a couple of smaller and more obscure churches. The first one I found the exact street address and heck, it even looked like a church but a bank was in it. Ah well, guess even the church needs to keep track of finances.

So I went looking for the next church and eventually found it, on the other side of the tracks - quite literally. As soon as I walked across the tracks, the old city with winding paths, narrow streets and character, became wide, straight streets with boring personality like any other major city.

They Only Come Out At Night

Having ´done´ 3 museums in 3 days, I felt like I hadn´t seen much of the city itself. Everything is within about 10 minutes walking distance of the hostel (fantastic location) so I took a train outwards and wandered through the city at night.

It is often commented that Madrid is the city that parties at night and I think I can see that. Around 9pm last night the streets seemed to be filled with people and had a vibe about it. I walked through one of the Plaza´s that were filled with restaurants, tables and chairs everywhere, but no people yet. I would imagine that would come later.

So I wondered around, had a look at the Royal Palace and another Cathedral, all lite up in white lights. Really hard to compare after seeing the extravagent wealth and decadence of Paris and Versailles.

Although one does get a sense that Spain is a country still trying to find its feet. More just a feeling than anything concrete. Spain is also biding for the 2012 Olympics but unlike Paris where it was in your face all the time with posters, banners and logos, it is much more low key, and you´d hardly even notice.

Hopper and Constable

The collection today was interesting to see. I knew a fair number of the artists but next to none of the works in this particular museum. One that caught my eye was one by Edward Hopper. This was the first time that I´d seen one of his pieces in the flesh but knew of his work (20th century American artist).

The work itself was ´simplified´to some degree in terms of its modelling of form/shading, and also colour choice. But it just had a fantastic atmosphere about it and the more that I´m seeing, the more I feel my tastes are moving away from my initial obsession with photo realism.

Just as I was about to walk out, I saw John Constables ´The Lock´. It was pretty amazing as well. I´ve seen Constable´s smaller landscapes and studies before but this was about 1.2m x 1.4m and the kind of picture that you just keep staring at.

Another Day, Another Museum

Today´s museum was the Thyssen Bornemisza. Basically it has a selection of art from the 14th century through to the 20th century with pieces from just about every major master. Thus it is a good overview of the last 600 years of art in a ´doable´ way (the Louvre has a fantastic selection but would take months to see it properly).

Few little things about Spain which seem a little strange to me. When you walk into a museum, they scan the contents of your bag with an X-ray, but don´t scan people. So if I was a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to myself, I could easily get in to whatever spot I wanted and go ´bang´.

Photographs - todays museum and yesterday´s museum are the only ones I´ve encountered where they don´t let you take photographs (most other ones just don´t want you taking photographs with a flash as it affects the painting). It is really strange as on balance, they are lessor known works. To my mind, if people are out taking photos, going home and showing people, it is free marketing for them and increases the value and appeal of their collection. I know, your doing it again matt... thinking.

Day 10 - A stroll through the Park

Managed to get up and out the door early so I went for a little stroll through the park down the road. The park is about 5 x 10 city blocks so I was wondering through for about 3 hours. I was a fantastic day and early in the morning, the place was deserted. There were monuments, water features, peacocks and cats...

I came upon some peacocks and accidently scared some cats out of the bushes. One in particular just turned around and starred at me like "there is evil in this one" (not a big cat fan). It was pretty bizzare but must be a universal thing.

20th Century Art

Those who know me well know that I´ve never really thought highly of 20th century art, and in my mean times, what I call "Kindergarten Art" as I think most of us could do the same level of quality in Kindergarten. Funny enough I have always tried to understand it and believe it or not, keep an open mind about it.

After walking around the 4th level of Sofia today, it is starting to make more sense. Normally a few bad apples in anything spoil a whole bunch. With 20th century art, I think it is the other way around. There is a whole barrel full of bad apples but a couple of shinny ones once you wad through it all.

The reason is that today there aren´t ´barriers to entry´. Anyone reading this can buy a bucket of paint, a canvas and start slapping it around. I guess in the past I´ve used the criteria of being able to draw properly first before I will take 20th century artist seriously (hence I love Picasso´s sketches and life drawings but indifferent to most of his other stuff).

Then it occurred to me that we can look at a greek mythology painting and not ´get it´in the same way you could look at a decent modernist painting and not ´get it´´. It is all contextual. If you have someone tell you the story of the greek myth, all of a sudden it can make sense. Similar with 20th century work from someone who has taken it seriously. I still think there are a lot of people out there talking a whole bunch of hot air, but I´m warming to 20th century work of people I feel are ´creditable´.

A commentary today mentioned that in the past pictorial techniques were employed to represent abstract ideas of things that one could recognise, but wasn´t of this world or possible (ie greek myths, religion etc). Abstract art, is funnily enough, better equiped to represent abstract ideas.

Rambling, but the whole 20th century art notion is a ´work in progress´.

Today´s Museum Adventure

When I managed to get everything else out of the way, it was museum time. Today was the ´Centro de Arte Reina Sofia´ which is basically 20th century art with an emphasis on Spanish artists. One of the main pieces that I wanted to see was Picasso´s "Guernica" (which is a massive painting in response to the Germans bombing a civilian area of a Spanish town in 1937).

It was OK. I respect Picasso but never really been an admirer (actually think he was the critical link in the chain in modern sculpture ´falling apart´ - see his cardboard guitar sculpture for further info). I was also a little underwhelmed by Salvador Dali´s lack of representation given he is an important Spanish artist (they had a handful of his works but I think the show in Sydney a few years ago had better quality).

Nothing is Foolproof ... Fools are much too Smart for That

When I was staying in Paris, one of the dudes in my room came out with this wicked comment that I´d never heard before and I thought it was cool. Basically nothing is fool proof cause fools will always find away to bet the system. How does this relate? Good Question.

I had to change some travellers cheques to real currency. So I´m standing in line and pull out my travellers cheques. I realise that I am short 1 cheque for €200 (about $360AUS). I´m freaking out cause I have no idea where it has gone, and was damn sure I hadn´t cashed it. I thought maybe I but it in one of my other bags but had been through all pockets recently to no avail.

Then it occurred to me that I´d outsmarted myself. I´d deliberately put a seperate cheque in a hidden compartment in my wallet so should my money belt disappear with travellers cheques, passport, tickets etc, I´d at least have some immediate money to get around with.

Day 9 - Running Around ... Again

This morning I had to work out my next train leg to visit my old house mate Rob in Nice (south of France). So I went to the train station and it basically turned out that although the train left from that station and it was a major train station, I had to go to the other side of the city to actually get the ticket.

The one thing that I am loving about Spain is that the people go out of their way to help you! She could barely speak a word of English but battled on with a smile on here face. If I ever have my own business again, I´m going to import these people to work (Scott take note - I know you can do the smooth talking in Spanish!)

The Rest of the Prado

Being use to moving through museums at the speed required for the Louvre, I managed to see everying in a day in the Prado. Highlights were the Ruben´s collection (I was really disappointed with the Ruben´s room in the Louvre cause they looked like his work shop paintings ie ones that he did very little on, his assistants did and looked ´dead´), Goya´s, Bosch, Claude´s, Poussin´s and Titian´s. There was also an exhibition of Michangelo´s and Carracci´s drawings/ink studies (brilliant).

The one great thing about the Prado was apart from the Velazquez Rooms, there was hardly anyone there (also cause it is winter). Occasionally a school group would ambush the room you were in but otherwise it was great. I was able to sit in the Titian room with some of his best paintings, and there was no one else in the room.

I came, I saw, I Prado´d

The main reason for coming to Madrid/Spain was for the Prado museum. I´m a huge Velazquez fan and they have 60% of his work here. Once I got in, made a b-line for his stuff and it was brilliant! It was also surreal having written essays on this guy to finally see his work in the flesh.

For those who don´t know, Velazquez was around 1599-1660 as the court painter for the Spanish King Philip IV. Basically meant that he had free raine to do what he liked so his style could develop as he didn´t have to worry about where money was coming from (although Spain was fighting wars around this time and his wages were some times 2 years behind).

Thus towards the end of his career, he would paint with his brush at the end of a meter long stick. Thus it would give an impressionistic effect to the work, only 200 years before the Impressionists would make it big in the later part of the 19th century (around this time they were also ´discovering´ Velazquez´s work as it had been under lock and key in the royal collection, out of public view for about 150 years).

Day 8 - Madrid ... and the Spanish Keyboard

I got to Madrid train station about 30 minutes late (didn´t really care as it was a 13hour train trip to begin with). After Paris, one thing I learnt to mke your life so much easier in a new city, walk into a tourist office and pick up a local train map, and a tourist map of the city (this will normally have all the major landmarks on it and they are free).

So I got my map, and the lady at the information desk couldn´t help you enough - such a contrast from France where if you weren´t French, they didn´t really care too much. So a great first impression of Madrid. Got to the Hostel which is everything the reviews said it would be. Again the person at the counter couldn´t help you enough.

Thought I would quickly check email and now I ran into the Spanish keyboard problem. Basically it is the standard qwerty keyboard, only that all the punctuation keys are different when you press then. So I´m guessing a little at the punctuation keys. Funny how I´ve never really considered this problem before.

Getting Kicked off the Train

I caught an overnight train from Paris to Madrid. The reason I think I had to pay so much additional on my Eurail ticket was because everything was sleeping compartments. I remember reading the guide book that you had to get tickets validated and stuff before hand. So I was running around trying to figure the system out. The staff didn´t want to help (I´m guessing cause my French was terrible and they certainly weren´t going to play ball in English).

So I get onto the train and first up the ticket inspector comes along. An old guy, only speaks Spanish and nothing else. The other two people in the compartment with me were arabic, spoke a little English and a little Spanish. So they were translating, kinda, and the ticket inspector was erratic and animated.

He got me to write tommorrows date on the ticket. So I did. He then absolutely flipped out, spoke to the other guys and then walked off with my passport and ticket. I got really worried right about now.

Turns out with new security post 9/11, they collect everyones passport once you get on, and give it to you once you get off. I´m not nuts about this idea. What does someone else care if they lose your passport. The guy would return several more times and basically he is one of those people who are just stressed out all the time.

So I didn´t get kicked off the train but for a moment there thought I would - which would have been really bad to say the least! I got my passport back which was a real relief and went on my way.

Paris Summary

Paris just blew my mind, it was absolutely amazing. So much to see, do and experience, I only just scratched the surface. The metro was fantastic and made it sooooo easy to get around with a train every couple of minutes. I would have loved to see the Louvre properly (as an indication, I went there pretty much every day, quickly scanned past the major areas of interest of mine and would have only seen about 1/3 of what was there - its frickn´ massive).

The architecture was brilliant - both new and old. A lot of the time I would get off at a random train station as there was always something there to see. Would definately like to spend some more time there to get a better grasp on the language and so forth. The hostel I stay at was average. The major downside was the included breakfast wouldn´t have even filled up my 8 year old brother - it was that small. Reminded me too much of the games the cattering company at college/dorms would play.

Onto Madrid.

Day 7 - Eiffel Tower & The Louvre

Went back to the Eiffel tower as I wanted to go up it. The weather todayt was fantastic and ideal for photos. The last week or so has been overcast and raining. Temperature wise it has been 0-10 which I have been loving (remember - I'm in shorts and t-shirt in Aussie Winters so this is ideal for me). The very top of the tower
was undergoing repairs and won't be open til next month.

Still, managed to go to the 2nd stage and the view was amazing. I wasn't too nuts about the lift going up or walking down stairs between the various stages as I'm not crazy about heights. Speaking of crazy things, they have an ice skating rink on one of the levels.

Had to cut the visit short as I wanted to head back to the Louvre one last time to quickly run over the 14th-19th century French paintings. Managed to do this and saw some cool pieces (a lot of Claude and Poussin which were pretty amazing - for those in the know).

So just have a few moments to kill as in theory I'm about to catch an overnight train to Madrid. The hostel I've got picked out looks absolutely fantastic, and really close to the main museum I'm heading there for - The Prado.

Day 6 - Impressionism and Pantheon

Busy day today. Went to the Musse d'Orsay - almost never got here. It was absolutely fantastic!! Basically it has a lot of Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir and other impressionists. Seeing impressionist work in the flesh is just wonderful. Of all artwork that is reproduced in books, impressionist painting reproductions loose so much of their impact. Also saw Courbet's 'The Artist Studio' and 'Burial at Ornans' and couldn't believe that they were hanging opposite one another! (they are massive at about 5m x 3m each). Also saw 'Whistlers Mother' which was cool but like Mr Bean's variation on it :P

Went looking for another Monet, Turner, Whistler exhibition across town but the line to get in looked to be about 2 hours meaning I would have only had 1 hour to see things in crowds which was pointless. So I went for a wonder over to the Latin Quarter (called so because all classes used to be conducted in latin).

I managed to stumble across the Pantheon which was a church come revolutionary hideout during the 19th century. The building is massive and went into the crypt in the basement. It has the bodies of famous dead Frenchies there: Marie Claire (radiation girl), Victor Hugo (writer Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables), Voltaire (great thinker) and some others.

Eurail Ticket Problems

Just a short note. Lats Couple of days have involved climbing Notre Dame, mass in a Funky basillica (long story and stumbled into this one by mistake), and today went out to Versailles (stupidly massive palace used by French kings just outside of Paris).

Anyhow a few issues with my Eurail Ticket. I bought this pass before I left Australia for 10 days travel in 2 months on the trains in about 17 different European countries. It mentioned that there may be a reservation fee, which I thought might be like a booking fee of say 10%. I went to book a ticket from Paris to Madrid and this reservation fee is about 100% (€59). I can't get any sense out of anyone and this just seems to be stupid (to phase it nicely).

Notre Dame

Around the corner from Sainte Chappelle is Notre Damn. It was getting late in the day and I wanted to go up the Tower. So I was quickly wondering around inside trying to find the stairs up. Turns out it was on the outside and by the time I found it, it was closed :( Need to go back another day. It was funny walking around inside as you felt like a little bit like an old pilgram, travelling all this way to see it (reality check came with the £2 'offerings' all over the place.)

Sainte Chapelle

The Holy Grail of Churches for me. Ever since I first saw a photo of this place a couple of years ago, I really wanted to check it out. I went inside today and it was absolutely breath taking. The way the light floods into it is unreal and you could see why the 13th century common folk would be all religious like. There are stories from the bible in each of the stain glass windows and you could stare at these for hours!

Day 3 - More Louvre

Somehow it feels that today wasn't the most efficient use of time. Anyhow, went back to the Louvre for another looksy at the Mona Lisa which was good as there were fewer people and no staff herding you through in a hurry.

Afterwards I discovered the Large French Paintings and this was fantastic. For those in the know, Liberty Leading the People


and Raft of the Medusa
are almost right next to each other. Seeing is believeing as one of them is 7m high.

Then in the room next to this they were having an exhibition on Napoleon through the eyes of Jacques Louis David (thus they'd bought together a whole bunch of other famous paintings).

Also found the Venus de Milo and a whole bunch of other classical sculptures. Found the Concert Champrete tucked away in a corner and couldn't believe anyone was looking at it.

Night Time

Maybe it was jet lag kicking in but around 4pm, headed back to the Hostel for a power nap. One good thing about working security at night, studying during the day, my body clock is kinda use to weird situations like this and gets over it easily.

So refreshed I headed out to the Arc de Triomph that night. Given the museum pass I bought earlier today, I could climb the top for 'free' (as opposed to paying £18 for the experence ~ $35AUS). Being a windy and raining sort of a day, I pretty much had the whole viewing deck to myself. It was amazing!!

The Eiffel Tower bathed in orange is cool and even just watching the insane traffic was interesting (people seem to have a high tolerance while driving here as people are doing crazy things but I never hear people blasting the car horn - maybe Road Rage is just an Aussie intolerance thing).

Mona Lisa Smile

Naturally in the first day at the Louvre I did the tourist thing and saw the Mona Lisa. I guess for the most recognisable painting in Western art, it has a lot to live up to. It is in a temporary space while renovation is under way. Thus you get hearded through like sheep and was in different to the whole 'experience'.

Questions about whether she is 'smiling' so I guess I will have my 2cents. In all honesty, from a drawing point of view, it looks like she is slightly deformed, missing a few back teeth, so the lip rolls over in a funny way, creating an unsual shadow - which could look like a weird smile.

As people, we are wired to register the slightest up turn of the lip as a smile. Think of little babies - smile slightly at them and their faces light up - instinctual and arises from effectively being socialable monkeys. This just 'read' funny and not really a smile.

It was interesting as immediately after I saw the painting, I saw a reproduction and noticed the shadow is no where near as strongly reproduced in the reproduction - a case where you really need to see the painting in the flesh.

The Louvre

For those who don't really know anything about art, the Louvre has some of the most important pieces in western art. The building is ridicilous in scale. It is bigger than the largest Westfield Shopping centre in Australia, filled with art and is about 700m x 300m.

I really don't know how to describe the place. It is just so overwhelming that you are numb and speechless to comprehend it. Most people seem to be wondering around just taking it all in and appreciating it ....except for the fricken' Americans. They are trying to explain it to one another in really loud voices and massively annoying.

One American guy was saying that Leonardo and Donatello had a competition and Donatello won. One can only hope they were taking about ninja turtles cause they lived several hundred years apart. One was a sculptor while the other was a painter/scientist type dude.

So after about 5 hours, I barely scratched the surface of things to see - it is just that damn big!

Day 2 - Running Around

This morning was about running around. I thought I'd check out the tourist office cause I really hate asking people if they speak english - feels offensive (at least in a tourist office they would kinda expect it). So if found they office, or at least where it was so had to chase it elsewhere.

I found it eventually and they pointed me in the right direction to find a shop that would sell adapters (my digital camera battery was shot and I really NEED it to be working). I was also after a 5 day museum pass which gives you entry to 60 monuments around the place - great value for money at £54.

Turns out the tourist office had just sold out and was on sale at a station I'd been through several times (d'oh!).

Australians Wrapped in Legal Cotton Wool

Just noticing little things but get the feeling our laws regarding neglicence in Austrqlia have gone way too far towards the american system. Just even the way the trains operate (which is great - one every couple of minutes!). It is like we have become a nation of idiots who need to be protected against ourselves, which consequently means we become lax, and take less responsibilty for having a brain. Probably not describing it probably - oh well.

Day 1 - Grand Arc, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower

So I found the hostel, dumped my bags and headed straight out the door. Figured I'd start with Arc de Triomphe - which must be near the La Defense Grand Arc station. Off by about 4kms. So walked to the arc de Triomphe along a street that looked to be insanely expensive - 5th avenue of new york.

So got to the arc, which is a giant roundabout. I don't think there are any road rules but somehow people manage to get around it! The arc itself was undergoing renovations and I wish I knew what the freizers were that I was looking at!

From there wondered down to the Eiffel tower but came across the History of Man museum (!?) along the way. That is one thing I'm finding about Paris - you get off a train anywhere and you are likely to stumble across so,e fantastic museum or architecture.

Made it over to the Eiffel Tower and it was getting on dusk (5pm) so they had flashing lights and bathed it in orange with was cool. Paris is also having a 2012 olympic bid so they have this logo blasted all over major monuments. Not sure that I'm a fan of this. Sydney did it but that was after the bid was won - from what I can remember.

I headed back to the Hostel pretty early - given a long day and walked about 10kms after being on planes for the previous 24 hours. Had a chat with the roomies but crashed early.

Insane on the Seine

Just way too much stimulus here. The engineering is one thing and the architecture is something else! I haven't even gotten to a museum yet but should be unreal. It is just that even the modern buildings, glass silos as I like to call them (office towers), just really suit the environment - something I don't think Aussie architects have a handle on. The parks and water features are every where and spectuacular!

(for those who don't know - Seine is the river running through Paris)

Figuring it all Out

I got to Paris 6am and somehow managed to get around the airport. Ended up in peak hour on the train so I kinda got stuck, missed stops and so forth. A blessing in the end as it meant I got to see a whole bunch of places I otherwise wouldn't have - s much to do, so little time.

First train I get onto, there are ticket inspectors. I'd bought a weekly pass and it had a spot for a photo. In the guidebook that I had, it mentioned that weekly passes didn't need a photo. I thought the text read 'optional'. Turns out it meant 'required'. So I though that being in Paris for less than a day, and already getting a fine. Managed to get off with a warning which was lucky.

Daisy Wheel Printer - Should be in a Museum

The plane was an hour late leaving Sydney which was bad as it meant I only had 30 mintues to get off the plane, find the right gate for the connecting flight. Made it just in time but when I checked in, they had a daisy wheel printer. I haven't seen one of those in use for about 10 years. Overall wasn't impressed with Bangkok airport - seemed dirty, old and the staff would probably kill you if you smiled at them

Exit Rows are your Friend

Following a suggestion in a guidebook, when i made a booking, I asked for an exit row. Very good move! Once i got onto the plane, because their was no seat in front - i had all the leg room that I needed - heaven had come!

French Keyboard

OK. In Paris and managed to find an internet cafe - but the keybord is french _ thus keys are in slightly different spots (so if the following posts seem odd at times, still coming to gripes with the keybord - so frustrating not being able to touch type)!

Day 93 - Glenbow Museum

Holly had mentioned this was a good museum to check and this concurred with my guidebook. I walked into the museum and asked for a ticket and the dude at the counter asked student or adult? I said adult unless he wanted to give me the student price. He said “OK” and gave me the student price – bonus – must try this remark again some time.

Started on the 2nd floor and generally had pieces from Calgary’s early days as they related to resources of the province. I saw this early model chainsaw and from a design point of view, love the rugged, raw industrial feel that it has.



Next up wondered up another level and they had the development of Calgary area since the first white man appeared on the land. They had a couple of tipi displays that you could go into and a commentary on how you had to earn the right to be able to paint certain designs through elaborate ceremonies. That was kinda interesting cause if someone told me I couldn’t draw something, that would almost be the first thing I’d try (reverse psychology stuff).



The display then continued around the varying decades and the 1900s was interesting. They had the old washboards and then the ‘new and improved’ washing machines. Here is a picture of one of the new labour saving devices.



The interesting thing was the promotional material from the 1910s promoting the benefits of the newer washing machines. It is always fascinating to see the marketing techniques from various periods. They relied on upselling the benefits of the product with illustrations where as today, most products seem to be sold on the basis the target market is stupid and will pay attention to sex.



Finally managed to see the old style refrigerator after hearing about these things for years. Basically this is from about the 1920s and you put ice or cold water in the top cylinder compartment. This helps to keep the whole thing cool.



On the next level up was a 5 century warriors display and more great reference material. They also had this bit of ivory which I thought was pretty ironic given my rant yesterday about it. The tusk itself was huge. This was either from one massive elephant or possibly a woolly mammoth – it was about 2m long.



Next up was a rock display and the coolest part was this florescent / glow in the dark rocks. Here are some lights on and off photos of the same rocks so you get an idea.





Around the place was various painting and photography exhibits which I found really interesting. The artists were working from predominately a European tradition but adapting it to the Canadian wilderness and environment. Next time in Canada, I’ll have to come during summer so I can get out doors for some landscapes.

Last up was an African art exhibit. This was particularly interesting as they had numerous woodcarvings with exaggerated features. Seeing this, you could understand Picasso’s style as just a westernised version of African art.

Email Address Stays the Same

An important note for those that I haven't already explained it to. My email address is not going to change while I'm away. It is still the same. I can access my email at my normal address through a web browser thanks to my great hosting service (http://www.anchor.net.au).

The only thing is that if I reply, my email will read "elder@starboard.anchor.net.au". Don't worry about it, my email address hasn't changed. If you hit reply, I will still get mail at the address "elder@starboard.anchor.net.au" so no real need to worry about things. Hopefully that clarifies things.

Happy New Year!!

It is the year 2005, the valiant Autobots ... oops, got carried away (a line from a childhood cartoon from 1985 - damn where did the time go?). If I didn't know it was New Years, I certainly did when one of my sisters called me at 4am to wish me a Happy New Year - ah such polarities between us - The Party Animal vs The Silent Type :P

Just spent the last couple of days getting affairs into order and catching up with old friends I haven't seen in 6-36 months. Also saw the animated flick "The Incredibles" and that was fantastic (extra bonus in friends had 2 for one tickets so it ended up costing $5 - thanks Puckeridges!!).