Wednesday, October 25, 2006
london part 2
becky and i decided to catch the ferry down the river - unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy day (i know, sooo surprising for london)...
under the tower bridge...
got off down near the tate britain to visit the current turner prize exhibition, then caught the special damien hirst decorated boat back to the tate modern. they've just installed the new work in the huge turbine hall, by carsten holler - its a series of covered slides that you can actually ride on! i was actually bouncing up and down like a 7 year old when i walked in and saw this...
and can you imgine the extreme pouting looks on my face when told that there were no more riding slots available that day. i was leaving the next day, so no chance to go back! i begged and pleaded but to no avail, those london gallery people have no mercy BOOOOO!!!!
so we were left to watch all the other people having the time of their life...
holler says in the catalogue essay that one shouldn't assume that to enjoy the work you need to actually ride on the slides. bollocks!!! well maybe not, it was still cool watching the people's expressions as they shot off the bottom. As the catalogue ssays, "For Carsten Höller, the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’".
then walked back up towards soho...
never get sick of the cute squirrels... here's one i staked out - think its just busted me.
and here it is running away from me...
can't decide if this is the best or the worst name for a pub ever...
drinks at the pub (with food but no chef) to farewell becci from london...
x
under the tower bridge...
got off down near the tate britain to visit the current turner prize exhibition, then caught the special damien hirst decorated boat back to the tate modern. they've just installed the new work in the huge turbine hall, by carsten holler - its a series of covered slides that you can actually ride on! i was actually bouncing up and down like a 7 year old when i walked in and saw this...
and can you imgine the extreme pouting looks on my face when told that there were no more riding slots available that day. i was leaving the next day, so no chance to go back! i begged and pleaded but to no avail, those london gallery people have no mercy BOOOOO!!!!
so we were left to watch all the other people having the time of their life...
holler says in the catalogue essay that one shouldn't assume that to enjoy the work you need to actually ride on the slides. bollocks!!! well maybe not, it was still cool watching the people's expressions as they shot off the bottom. As the catalogue ssays, "For Carsten Höller, the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’".
then walked back up towards soho...
never get sick of the cute squirrels... here's one i staked out - think its just busted me.
and here it is running away from me...
can't decide if this is the best or the worst name for a pub ever...
drinks at the pub (with food but no chef) to farewell becci from london...
x
Monday, October 16, 2006
london part 1
and then I hit big ole’ London town...
went to camden town with becci, we were given tickets to be in the audience for taping of a tv show at the mtv studios nearby.
our excitement was dampened somewhat when we realised that it wasn’t a mtv show, but a uktv show – which is the old folks tv station. We were the youngest people there by about 30 years. The show was excrutiating, oh well, you win some…
afterwards wandered towards soho, past the theatre where the queen musical is playing. Hmmm I think I’ll pass on that one.
Then we discovered this brilliant little original 50s café in soho
The menu was a copy of the original 50s one with scribbles and things crossed out all over it.
Dinner was incredibly yummy. I had veal escalope, becci had the cheesiest cannelloni ever, in a really good way. Dessert was steamed treacle pudding.
Went to Brick lane on Sunday for the markets
Apparently if you run an indian restaurant, it helps to have had either prince charles or posh and becks visit for a quick curry.
This glass box was the entrance to an underground club, the ground was absolutely thumping – at about midday on a Sunday.
Every now and then some extremely trashy people would emerge from below and stumble out of the doors. All the people standing around in the pic were trying to get in, but the bouncers would have none of it. The guy on the right spent the whole time bashing on the glass yelling at someone inside trying to convince them to let him in.
Later went to the Frieze Art Fair.
(that’s Jake and Dinos Chapman painting people’s portraits)
Brekkie with Becky, Dan and Jeff – I have been staying with Becky at her wicked flat in Greenwich – have to say a biiiigggg thanks! Also massive thanks to Nora for putting me up at her equally wicked flat in Kentish Town! You ladies rock!
x
went to camden town with becci, we were given tickets to be in the audience for taping of a tv show at the mtv studios nearby.
our excitement was dampened somewhat when we realised that it wasn’t a mtv show, but a uktv show – which is the old folks tv station. We were the youngest people there by about 30 years. The show was excrutiating, oh well, you win some…
afterwards wandered towards soho, past the theatre where the queen musical is playing. Hmmm I think I’ll pass on that one.
Then we discovered this brilliant little original 50s café in soho
The menu was a copy of the original 50s one with scribbles and things crossed out all over it.
Dinner was incredibly yummy. I had veal escalope, becci had the cheesiest cannelloni ever, in a really good way. Dessert was steamed treacle pudding.
Went to Brick lane on Sunday for the markets
Apparently if you run an indian restaurant, it helps to have had either prince charles or posh and becks visit for a quick curry.
This glass box was the entrance to an underground club, the ground was absolutely thumping – at about midday on a Sunday.
Every now and then some extremely trashy people would emerge from below and stumble out of the doors. All the people standing around in the pic were trying to get in, but the bouncers would have none of it. The guy on the right spent the whole time bashing on the glass yelling at someone inside trying to convince them to let him in.
Later went to the Frieze Art Fair.
(that’s Jake and Dinos Chapman painting people’s portraits)
Brekkie with Becky, Dan and Jeff – I have been staying with Becky at her wicked flat in Greenwich – have to say a biiiigggg thanks! Also massive thanks to Nora for putting me up at her equally wicked flat in Kentish Town! You ladies rock!
x
paris fashion moment
rachel and i were in collette, an uber cool shop in paris, and we saw karl lagerfeld.
who? i hear you ask... this is him:
he's the head fashion designer for chanel, like a god in the fashion world. he was dressed remarkably similar to that picture, except he had on black pants with a silver stripe down the sides and silver fingerless gloves. he had a little entourage of boys to carry his (many) bags of shopping, one of whom was wearing a boxing flighter belt.
of course us and karl, well, we got along like old mates and he invted us back to his place for a barbie.
the strangest thing was we were standing at the shop counter right next to him, and there was a whole window of people on the street taking photos of him with their mobiles. we were probably in the background of the photos. should have given him rabbit ears.
x
who? i hear you ask... this is him:
he's the head fashion designer for chanel, like a god in the fashion world. he was dressed remarkably similar to that picture, except he had on black pants with a silver stripe down the sides and silver fingerless gloves. he had a little entourage of boys to carry his (many) bags of shopping, one of whom was wearing a boxing flighter belt.
of course us and karl, well, we got along like old mates and he invted us back to his place for a barbie.
the strangest thing was we were standing at the shop counter right next to him, and there was a whole window of people on the street taking photos of him with their mobiles. we were probably in the background of the photos. should have given him rabbit ears.
x
Sunday, October 15, 2006
paris
ahhh gay par-ee...
so lovely, so romantic, soooo… many queues. I really love paris, I know it’s a cliché, but just can’t help it.
here's the catacombs, a series of underground caves filled to the brim with human bones… not so lovely, but very interesting.
Rachel’s having a good long look to see if she recognises anyone.
Thanks so much to Rachel and her dad, I was lucky enough to be able to stay in their flat in the 4th arrondissement. Reminded me again about how much better it is staying at someone’s place in a foreign city, makes you feel like you can sink a little into the city instead on remaining on the surface as a tourist.
banana and nutella crepe – heaven
creme caramel - never fails
the shrine above the underpass where Diana died (stumbled across this - truly bizarre)
the louvre – i went to go one weekend and the line was about 58 hours long, so went back and luckily got straight in. still huge crowds…
you can't take pics of the mona lisa any more. But this is what it woud be like to be the Venus de Milo. Lots of people taking your photo, more people standing with their backs to you having their photo taken, onkly a few people actually looking at you.
Loved the Palais de Tokyo gallery, I think my favourite works were these:
This boy figure would intermittently whack its head against the wall like a jackhammer, so loud you could hear it in a few rooms away.
The real boy here tried to imitate him, ended up in tears of course.
Its hard to get a sense of this work from the pictures, but it was a small room with a large loop of cassette tape flying around the outside, kept buoyant by airflow from the circle of fans in the centre.
So simple but beautifully effective. The tape kept you pinned against the wall, it would gently brush up and down against you like it was caressing you.
x
so lovely, so romantic, soooo… many queues. I really love paris, I know it’s a cliché, but just can’t help it.
here's the catacombs, a series of underground caves filled to the brim with human bones… not so lovely, but very interesting.
Rachel’s having a good long look to see if she recognises anyone.
Thanks so much to Rachel and her dad, I was lucky enough to be able to stay in their flat in the 4th arrondissement. Reminded me again about how much better it is staying at someone’s place in a foreign city, makes you feel like you can sink a little into the city instead on remaining on the surface as a tourist.
banana and nutella crepe – heaven
creme caramel - never fails
the shrine above the underpass where Diana died (stumbled across this - truly bizarre)
the louvre – i went to go one weekend and the line was about 58 hours long, so went back and luckily got straight in. still huge crowds…
you can't take pics of the mona lisa any more. But this is what it woud be like to be the Venus de Milo. Lots of people taking your photo, more people standing with their backs to you having their photo taken, onkly a few people actually looking at you.
Loved the Palais de Tokyo gallery, I think my favourite works were these:
This boy figure would intermittently whack its head against the wall like a jackhammer, so loud you could hear it in a few rooms away.
The real boy here tried to imitate him, ended up in tears of course.
Its hard to get a sense of this work from the pictures, but it was a small room with a large loop of cassette tape flying around the outside, kept buoyant by airflow from the circle of fans in the centre.
So simple but beautifully effective. The tape kept you pinned against the wall, it would gently brush up and down against you like it was caressing you.
x
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
zurich
I really only went to Zurich because it was a good halfway point between Vienna and Paris. I caught the overnight train there, got a sleeper car coz I thought it would be romantic (sooooo not). But its such a pretty place – just wandering the streets was great.
The first day I followed a walk in my guidebook that took me on a path around the centre of the city. Walking around was pretty much all I could afford to do, this place was sooo incredibly expensive!! Everyone was so loaded, I’ve never seen so many luxury cars and expensive shops in such a small place. It is the world centre of banking so I guess to be expected, but was pretty eye-opening.
Ohhh, some pretty swans on the Limmat river...
The transport system is incredibly efficient. Its said that you can set your watch by the trains, they are so reliably on time.
Surprising - I’m sure you’ll all agree – but I managed to find a bakery or 3. This is Sprungli, one of Zurich’s best known and most revered sweet makers. They make these macaroons which are almost too pretty to eat. But I did.
Zurich is also the home to Freitag, a company that makes bags and wallets out of recycled truck tarpaulin and seat belts. I visited their headquarters, an amazing building constructed out of stacked shipping containers, which were gutted and refitted.
The structure is positioned so that you can watch the trucks on the highway through its glass end walls. Its so cool.
Then you can climb to the top to the truck viewing platform complete with binoculars to spot trucks on the highway.
This is the one I spotted...
Also visited a Le Corbusier building, totally cool. Unfortunately couldn’t get inside (I still jumped the fence and pressed my face up against the glass).
I also found a bookshop that had a whole department of books to describe Swiss etiquette and culture. One book said that Australians think that people everywhere are basically Australian, and are therefore surprised when they encounter people who act differently. The book also described australians as like peaches (ie with thin skin) and Swiss as like coconuts, with thick defensive outer skin that is hard to break through. I'm not really sure what I think about this...
x
The first day I followed a walk in my guidebook that took me on a path around the centre of the city. Walking around was pretty much all I could afford to do, this place was sooo incredibly expensive!! Everyone was so loaded, I’ve never seen so many luxury cars and expensive shops in such a small place. It is the world centre of banking so I guess to be expected, but was pretty eye-opening.
Ohhh, some pretty swans on the Limmat river...
The transport system is incredibly efficient. Its said that you can set your watch by the trains, they are so reliably on time.
Surprising - I’m sure you’ll all agree – but I managed to find a bakery or 3. This is Sprungli, one of Zurich’s best known and most revered sweet makers. They make these macaroons which are almost too pretty to eat. But I did.
Zurich is also the home to Freitag, a company that makes bags and wallets out of recycled truck tarpaulin and seat belts. I visited their headquarters, an amazing building constructed out of stacked shipping containers, which were gutted and refitted.
The structure is positioned so that you can watch the trucks on the highway through its glass end walls. Its so cool.
Then you can climb to the top to the truck viewing platform complete with binoculars to spot trucks on the highway.
This is the one I spotted...
Also visited a Le Corbusier building, totally cool. Unfortunately couldn’t get inside (I still jumped the fence and pressed my face up against the glass).
I also found a bookshop that had a whole department of books to describe Swiss etiquette and culture. One book said that Australians think that people everywhere are basically Australian, and are therefore surprised when they encounter people who act differently. The book also described australians as like peaches (ie with thin skin) and Swiss as like coconuts, with thick defensive outer skin that is hard to break through. I'm not really sure what I think about this...
x
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