LADIES WHO TRAVEL

Female company in Cambridge

2012-01-16T17:35:00.003Z

Last week I made a short visit to Cambridge to do some research at the Fitzwilliam for my Renaissance course and to see friends, those who actually live there and one who came all the way just for lunch (and we had a very nice one at Jamie's Italian where the food was good and the company even better).

I chose last week so that I could go to the Vermeer Exhibition, Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence, before it closed but the plan nearly backfired. This has been one of the most successful exhibitions staged outside London and the queues during the final week snaked right through the museum galleries. Having gone to the Museum on Tuesday to look at the portrait medals for my project, I beat a strategic retreat afterwards, and returned on Wednesday morning to get an early place in the queue. I did get straight in when the museum opened and was able to see the paintings before the hordes overwhelmed the small gallery space. It was well worth the effort (particularly since admission was free to the exhibition as well as to the museum) but confirmed the wisdom of not going to London on spec to see the Leonardo exhibition.

Jacob Vrel Woman at a Window
Image: Fondation Custodia

There were in fact only four Vermeers in the exhibition, the Lacemaker, small and exquisite, is the star of the show and on loan from the Louvre, but there are other works from the National Gallery, the Royal Collection and a private collection - all of them studies of ladies at the virginal. So although the exhibition is marketed as Vermeer's women, the exhibition principally consists of a number of Dutch genre paintings of women in interior settings and private spaces. As such it is full of charm, absorbing images of women absorbed in their own worlds. It is a very cleverly curated show, divided into three stages - the Invitation, paintings where the women invite you into their space; the Threshold, where they hover between the inner world and the outside and the Sanctuary, where their routines continue undisturbed by the viewers. The Vermeers are in a class by themselves, but I particularly liked the paintings by Pieter Hooch, which show the street and courtyard and especially those by Jacob Vrel, the most mysterious and reminiscent of Whistler - what is she looking at through the window? Who would have commissioned such a painting?

The exhibition is over now but you can still visit it on the Big Picture on YouTube

In and out of the museums

2011-12-12T13:54:00.001Z

Bruges has lots of museums and they are on each other's doorstep so you just trip out of one and fall into the next, and if you fancy popping back into one that you liked (as we did with the Memlingmuseum) you can just nip back in as you go past it again.

The main collection is in the Groeningemuseum, which has a permanent collection of Flemish art from the fifteenth century to the present day. Bruges' artistic heyday was the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries but there have been some interesting, if not world famous, artists since. Their own collection has been squeezed to make room for a travelling exhibition Imperial Treasures, from Vienna. The paintings in the exhibition are all by early Flemish artists, and were collected by the Hapsburgs during their long rule, so in a sense they are coming home, for a little while at least. It is an interesting collection but actually the works in the Groeninge's own collection are more impressive, including a beautiful altarpiece by Jan Van Eyck and the affectionate portrait of his wife, Margaret, a companion piece to his self-portrait in the National Gallery. One of the great pleasures of the Renaissance Faces exhibition in London a few years ago was the opportunity to see these two paintings reunited, one the earliest surviving self-portrait in oil and the other perhaps the earliest known portrait of an artist's spouse.

Across the courtyard from the Groeningemuseum is the Arentshuis, a mansion given over to the works of Frank Brangwyn, an English artist, born in Bruges in the late nineteenth century. He was a prolific painter, engraver, designer, printmaker and graphic artist and he left part of his collection to the city of Bruges when he died in 1956. The house itself is quite lovely and the collection is worth seeing. It's not in the same league as the Renaissance art but it's good to see something different.

Interestingly, nowhere in Bruges is the term Northern Renaissance ever used. Art history courses, like my OU course, now routinely refer to the Northern Renaissance - chiefly I think to counteract the overwhelming impression that the Italians had all the great masters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By the time we get to the mid-sixteenth century, the artistic flowering in Northern Europe is overtaken by the Reformation, where the emphasis is firmly on the Word and not on the image. Up until then, though, and certainly in the fifteenth century Bruges, and other Northern centres, are as important in the history of art as any in Italy. Oil painting was far more advanced in Northern Europe, portraiture and landscape were pioneered and printmaking was invented. In Bruges these artists are referred to as the Flemish Primitives, although they are anything but primitive. I prefer the term their contemporaries used Ars Nova, the New Art, they were the radicals of their day.

All in all we got excellent value out of the €15 Museum Passes.

The Bruges Masterpieces

2011-12-08T15:38:00.001Z

Bruges was one of the great European centres in the fifteenth century. It was much nearer the sea than it now is and it was a port of some importance. The Medici maintained a branch of their bank here, just as they did in London, and the city had a cosmopolitan community whose members came from Germany, Italy, England, Portugal and Spain. The Dukes of Burgundy set up court here - they owned extensive lands across Northern Europe and they married into the Hapsburgs, Mary of Burgundy's son became Charles V of Spain. They were fabulously wealthy and great patrons of the arts, employing the greatest Flemish artists of the century.

Hans Memling was not actually Flemish, he was born in Germany but he was apprenticed to the great Flemish artist, Rogier van der Weyden, and he set up his own workshop in Bruges. He was one of the great painters of altarpieces and also one of the early innovators in portraiture, in which the Northern artists excelled. Six of his masterpieces are on display in St John's Hospital, one of the oldest such buildings still existing in Europe, dating from the twelfth century. Now a museum, it is a wonderful space and you do feel that you are viewing these works as they were meant to be seen. Indeed, four of them were commissioned by the sisters of the hospital or for other institutions in the city.

The most spectacular works are the St Ursula Reliquary, which tells the story of the martyrdom of St Ursula on its painted panels, the St John Altarpiece, the central panel of which you can see above and the Virgin and Child with Martin van Nieuwenhove, a diptych integrating portrait and landscape into a devotional work. The Flemish masters at this time were arguably the most innovative and accomplished artists in Europe, and to see the Memling works is to understand why.

Across the street from the Hospital is the Church of Our Lady which houses a Madonna and Child by Michelangelo, the only Michelangelo sculpture outside Italy. It is certainly worth seeing but, in Bruges, Michelangelo is the sideshow not the main event.

The Stadhuis

2011-12-06T12:11:00.001Z

At the end of the walk we ended up in the Burg, a beautiful square in the middle of the city, with a glorious array of buildings encapsulating the history of European architecture from the Romanesque to the Modern, and nearly everything else in between, including the Renaissance and the Baroque .

Gothic Hall
Image Source Wikipedia

The most spectacular of all these buildings is the Gothic Stadhuis, or Town Hall, which was begun in the fourteenth century, but extensively added to and restored over the centuries. The exterior is authentic but the Gothic interior is a late nineteenth century recreation, with a beautiful vaulted wooden ceiling and murals depicting scenes from the history of the city, a collaboration between architects and artists.

It is now part of the network of city museums, one more reason to buy the Museum Card, great value at €15, and we took the audio guided tour.

In Bruges

2011-12-05T16:01:00.001Z

St John's Hospital

There are some places that you visit because the opportunity comes along and then there are those places that have been right at the top of the list (yes of course I have a list, doesn't everyone?) but, for one reason or another, you haven't made it there. Bruges has been in my Top Three for a long time and I haven't gone before because of the logistics of getting to it from here. It involves twelve hours by car, plane and bus to get there and the same to come back, and it is, quite frankly, exhausting and I'm hardly the better of it yet. This may be to do with age and increasing decrepitude and it certainly rocketed me up the crabbit meter, particularly getting up at 4.30 for the return journey. Fortunately, though, Bruges itself did not disappoint, it is an exceptionally pretty city, full of art, architecture and history and the weather was kind, even sunny at times, if cold and windy at others.

It is also a very compact city, and we were never more than ten minutes away from the hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Academie. It was central (although I think all the hotels are) and the staff were very nice and that's about it. You can read my Trip Advisor review here. The Tourist menu is pretty much the same in all the restaurants and it is not easy to find alternatives, all thirteen vegetarian restaurants close in the evening apparently. However, we managed to eat well on two evenings and exceptionally well on the other, at the Baobab, a restaurant specialising in superb South African food. This was the best meal I've had on holiday since we went to the Nourish in Banff. It was Tuesday night and we had the place completely to ourselves. The food was so good it didn't matter and we were very well looked after by the owner whose wife was doing the cooking.

The Beguinage

Normally we travel independently but this time we took a package, as much because it included the transfers to and from Brussels airport. Getting there was hassle enough without having to get ourselves to Bruges via public transport. The package did include a walk on the first morning, and it really helped both to orientate ourselves, and get a feel for the city's geography and history. We started off at the Beguinage, a refuge in the heart of the city and then wandered along canals and back streets, through little parks, to the Markt and on to the City Hall.

Degas at the Royal Academy

2011-11-05T15:50:00.000Z

Poster with Three Dancers,
Landscape Scenery (detail)

I long ago decided that I would avoid the landmark art exhibitions, the ones that attract the huge crowds where you shuffle around with the rest of the rabble, trying to edge your way to the front for a ten second glimpse of the object hanging on the wall. However, there are always exceptions, where my interest in the artist trumps my dislike of the multitudes - although when I realised that our visit to see the Edgar Degas exhibition fell right in the middle of half term, it did give me some pause for thought. Art exhibitions do not always attract families and children but the ballet brings out little girls in large numbers. In any event, I had invested too much anticipation in this exhibition to be so easily deterred.

The exhibition is called Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement. It takes as its premise Degas' own words that his ballet scenes were "a pretext for depicting movement". Dancers, rather than women, or indeed men, of any class, provided him with the opportunity to study the human figure in action, in complex and extreme movements. This, rather than a fascination with the world of the ballet or backstage life, is what drew him to produce hundreds of drawings, paintings, pastels and sculptures of dancers.

Dancer (préparation
en dedans)

The drawings are, for me, the backbone of this exhibition and it is they that show most clearly his attempts to convey how the body moves through space in time. The influence of developments in contemporary photography in building up animated sequences (this of course was just before the development of cinematography) and his own use of photography towards the end of his working life are explored at some length, with examples from contemporary experimental photographers, with whose work he is likely to have been acquainted.

The Royal Academy website has a short video about the exhibition, with many images and an interesting commentary. The lectures linked with the exhibition are available as audio podcasts, I listened to two of them before I went and they added immeasurably to my understanding and enjoyment of the works.

A couple of years ago I blogged about the Degas dancers at the Courtauld Institute. The blog post is here and includes a link to a video of a gallery talk about the bronze sculptures of dancers which are on permanent display, and examples of which are included in this exhibition.

Romans and Victorians

2011-11-02T17:12:00.002Z

Guildhall Art Gallery and Amphitheatre website

The Guildhall does not feature much in any recommendations for places to visit in London and it has never occurred to me before that it might be worth visiting. But it is and I do recommend it.

The Guildhall itself belongs to the City of London Corporation and is an integral part of the history of London. The Corporation has an extensive art collection, some of which is on permanent display in the Guildhall Art Gallery. Currently the gallery features paintings from its Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian collections, including works by Rosetti, Millais and Leighton. There is a statue too of Margaret Thatcher that truly does her no favours.

I had wanted to go to the Gallery because it was hosting a touring exhibition Atkinson Grimshaw, Painter of Moonlight, whose name I could not resist and whose nocturnal paintings of Victorian English cities are particularly atmospheric. I did like the exhibition, and it has been extremely well reviewed, but not all Grimshaw's paintings are of the same quality so the exhibition does feel padded out in places.

Flickr Image: Roman Amphitheatre

The real attraction of the Gallery, we discovered, is underground. When they were excavating the foundations of the building some twenty odd years ago, the remains of London's Roman Amphitheatre were uncovered. These are managed by the Museum of London and are now open to the public in a controlled environment in the underground gallery and you can see parts of the arena walls, the entrance tunnel and the gate. Digital technology is used, very effectively, to explain both the extent of the original structure and the games that were held there.

We did not see much of the Guildhall itself, parts of which are closed to the public when there are events going on. But that's a reason to go back another day.

Fenton House

2011-11-02T16:32:00.003Z

Fenton House from the walled
garden

I lived within walking distance of Hampstead when I was a student but I never walked far enough up the hill from the tube station to find Fenton House, one of the National Trust properties in London. There are two in Hampstead and we planned initially to visit both, but the chaotic lunch service in the café meant that we were too late to get on the tour at 2 Willow Road, a Modernist house built in 1939 and an architectural landmark, and we decided just to go to Fenton House.

It's a very appealing seventeenth century merchant's house, in a lovely red brick, with many attractive features, not least the gallery leading out to the roof, from which there are amazing views out over London. There is no particular history attached to the house, it has passed through different hands over the years, and the Fentons, from whom the house takes its name, owned it a century after it was built. There are a number of collections, of varying quality and interest, although not all of them have any relationship with either the house or its owners. The collection of early keyboard instruments is in different stages of repair, and a volunteer was playing one of the harpsichords during our visit. The actor Peter Barkworth, who lived locally, left his rather good collection of twentieth century English paintings, including works by Walter Sickert and Laura Knight, to the house and they are displayed throughout. In the Hall and the Dining Room, are some lovely portraits and other works by Sir William Nicolson, on loan from the family who commissioned them.

The garden is a major attraction, described in 1756 as "pleasant.., well planted with fruit trees and a kitchen garden, all enclosed with a substantial brick wall" and so it remains. It may no longer be in the country but it does retain the feel of the village around it.

Green Spaces

2011-10-30T10:46:00.000Z

One of the things I enjoy most about London is the green spaces that abound in the city. Wherever any of my friends have lived over the years, there has always been a public green space within only a few minutes walk. In Wanstead, at the bottom of the road, in the heart of East London, is Wanstead Country Park, part of Epping Forest, owned and maintained by the Corporation of London.

The Artists' Eye poster (detail)

There are remains of both a Roman villa and a Tudor manor house, but the most important building on the site was the great Palladian mansion, built in the eighteenth century, designed by Colen Campbell, one of the most influential architects of the day, with grounds extensively landscaped in the Classical tradition. Within a hundred years, the profligacy of the husband of the last heiress brought about the ruination of the estate and the destruction of the mansion. Today only the parklands and the small decorative buildings that form part of its design remain. One of these buildings is the Temple, which this month has hosted an exhibition, The Artists Eye, by local artists working in different media, inspired by the park throughout the seasons. We had a wander round the exhibition, which included some beautiful photographs, jewellery and wooden bowls and then walked through the woods, following the pathways round the pond and along the river. It was a glorious autumn day, with late summer temperatures - hard to believe that we were in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world.

"More Glass than Wall"

2011-10-15T08:50:00.000+01:00

Hardwick Hall seen from Old Hall

I've been getting a little lazy about updating the blog. True, I haven't actually been away but there have been a couple of days out that I never got round to writing about. This post will get me back on track I hope - in time for rather longer expeditions to London and to Bruges in the next month or so.

Hardwick Hall was fitted in at the end of a short visit to Sheffield before going on to the airport to catch the 5pm flight home. Built at the end of the sixteenth century by Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, it is in fact two houses for the price of one. Old Hall, now a ruin, was built shortly before the construction of New Hall. New Hall is generally considered to be one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture, a mix of late Gothic perpendicular with Classical detail and decoration and characterised by its extravagant use of glass in the windows, the dominant feature of the exterior. The house has been described as more glass than wall.

New Hall

The Elizabethan character of the building, and particularly its interiors, has been preserved to an impressive extent - principally I think because, not long after its construction, it ceased to be the main residence of its owners, the Dukes of Devonshire, Bess's descendents from her second marriage to William Cavendish, and was only used occasionally or as a dower house. Their main residence, built originally by Bess and her husband, remains Chatsworth, not too far away from Hardwick. The house passed to the National Trust about fifty years ago.

Bess of Hardwick

Hardwick Hall is suffused with the personality of its builder. Bess of Hardwick was the most remarkable woman in Elizabethan England, after Elizabeth herself. Bess acquired her wealth and influence through a series of four marriages, the first when she was fourteen and her groom, who died shortly afterwards, was thirteen. Her longest marriage was her last, when she was 40, to the Earl of Shrewsbury - it ended in tears and separation and Bess retreated to Hardwick Hall, the site of her childhood home, and built both Old Hall and New Hall. Bess's life is recorded in her correspondence. She was in constant contact with her husbands, her children, her friends and her servants, managing a life at court, a domestic life, her landholdings, her business affairs and, not least, her building projects. The Letters form the basis of one of a number of exhibitions in the house, bringing the Elizabethan world and Bess herself to life.

Thank you to J for her hospitality, chauffeuring and for taking me to see Hardwick Hall and meet Bess.

Discoveries in the Russian Museum

2011-07-13T09:57:00.000+01:00

Anna Akhmatova
Natan Altman

On our last morning in St Petersburg, we went to the Russian Museum of Art. This was initially a disappointing experience but in the end a revelatory one. The tour of the museum begins with the Russian icons, described as one of the most important collections in Russia, but one which is not as well housed nor presented as it should be. The rooms are badly lit, by a single central chandelier, making it quite difficult to see some of the works, and too warm; there does not seem to be any form of environmental control which one would think essential for such old and fragile works.

The collection does not improve much as one goes round. Catherine the Great and her heirs clearly preferred foreign artists, and they chiefly employed Russian artists to paint conventional portraits of themselves and their families. There is little evidence of a distinctively Russian school of painting, and it seems that conformity rather than creativity was what Russian patrons required of native artists. It is not until you get to the newer Modern Galleries in the Benois Wing, that it becomes much more interesting. Here the quality really starts to improve, and with it the gallery conditions. There is a real sense of the strength of the creative energies and cultural forces in play in the years leading up to and immediately following the Revolution, and many of the leading figures of the time are represented, both as artists and as subjects. These include an imposing portrait of Diaghliev by Léon Bakst and two striking portraits of the poet Anna Akhmatova, one by Natan Altman, in dramatic shades of blue and gold.

Sasha and Yura Serov
Valentin Serov

However, my favourite works were those by Valentin Serov, painted from the late eighteen eighties until he died at the early age of 46 in 1911. Serov's exquisite Girl with Peaches, which is in Moscow, is said to have launched Russian Impressionism, although to me his style is more reminiscent of Sargent.
His portraits combine clarity and spontaneity with great charm and empathy, and appealed to me as much as any of the masterpieces I saw in the Hermitage, coupled with the additional pleasure of discovering for the first time the work of an artist new to me.

This is the last of the posts from the holiday but I can't close without thanking P&B for their hospitality, once again, and the opportunity to see new and exciting places.

Peterhof

2011-07-13T09:50:00.003+01:00

There are several magnificent summer palaces around St Petersburg but we had time only to visit one. We chose Peterhof partly because it was the first, built originally by Peter the Great, but also because we were able to get there in just over thirty minutes by the hydrofoil that leaves from behind the Hermitage. Coming by sea, on the Gulf of Finland, has to be the most spectacular way to arrive, just as the Tsars themselves would have done, although they could sail right up the Grand Canal to the palace.

The palace is a fantasy of white and gold, of statuary and cascades, and above all of fountains. This is opulence and indulgence for the privileged on a scale not seen elsewhere in Europe, even Versailles, which I found a little shabby when I was last there - although I am told that it is much improved since the restoration has progressed.

Peterhof was largely destroyed during the war and has been lavishly restored. It is a complex of palaces and formal gardens, each of which you have to queue for, and pay for, separately. We chose to visit just the Lower Gardens, and the Great Palace itself. We got some good advice to go early, and we were almost first in the queue when the doors of the palace opened. Peter produced the initial designs himself but the palace was added to substantially by his daughter Elizabeth and the lavish decoration was commissioned by Catherine the Great. You have to remove your shoes and are provided with plastic slippers and you then proceed, somewhat gingerly, round the rooms in a long orderly queue that keeps moving - no lingering. We had not had the forethought to pick up a floor plan or an audio guide, but we were able to eavesdrop on the guide with tour group just ahead. Really, though, you just need your eyes to drink in the richness and the luxury.

We wandered round the Lower Gardens afterwards, enjoying the fountains and the vistas, to the accompaniment of music from a marching naval band. It was a lovely afternoon and although the park was busy, it was big enough to absorb the crowds. It was a pleasure to be away from the noise and congestion of the city and you can see the appeal for the Tsars. You can also see in the level of ostentation, and what it must have cost to both create and maintain it, why there was a revolution.

If you cannot view the slideshow at the top of this post, you will find the photos here.

Hermitage Highlights

2011-07-12T16:02:00.004+01:00

I attempted unsuccessfully to book our tickets for the Hermitage online but discovered, the day before we planned to go, that the booking had not gone through. We could not face the prospect of queueing and we did give some thought to booking, at some considerable expense, a personal guide. Fortunately, we were better served by the hotel concierge who booked and collected our tickets at short notice, so that we were after all able to go to the Hermitage on our first day, sailing past the queues and going straight in.

The gilded interior of the building is the most spectacular of any of the great world museums, with extravagant staircases, ceilings and chandeliers. The collection was begun by Catherine the Great, one of the great art collectors of history, and it was she who commissioned the building specifically to house her collection. The collection grew apace as successive Tsars added to it. The Soviets nationalised not only the Imperial collections, but those of other major collectors who had continued their patronage of European painters right up to the Revolution. No Western state could have hoped to put together such a collection simply relying on donations, bequests or acquisitions.

Portrait of the Actress, Jeanne Samary
Renoir

We realised early on that it was impossible to see it all, so we split up so that we could concentrate on what we each wanted to see. In my case, the Spanish, Flemish and Dutch paintings from the sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and forgoing the Italian Renaissance so that the French Impressionists might be fitted in. The guidebooks say that the Impressionist paintings in the Hermitage represent the most important collection outside France and there is room after room devoted to individual painters - Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, Gauguin, Rodin, Monet. There was too much to take in and, sadly, no opportunity to go back, at least on this visit. What you will not see here are the works of Russian painters, for that you must go to the Russian Museum.

Imperial St Petersburg

2011-07-12T14:01:00.013+01:00

Peter and Paul Fortress

You will have to look hard to find Soviet Leningrad in the city that we tourists see. The Imperial city is the brand that has taken over and the tourist circuit consists of the Hermitage and the other Imperial palaces, the Orthodox churches, the Neo Classical and Baroque architecture with some nineteenth century literary personalities thrown in. It's a little like Spain, where the Civil War is seldom touched on, but harder to understand - why, for example, would the Russians not wish to memorialise the Siege of Leningrad?

This is a very beautiful city, dramatic and opulent, with much to see and to absorb. In the historic centre, the Imperial city is largely untouched with few modern buildings to be seen anywhere. Clearly, ancient buildings are at more risk from capitalism than they were from the Soviets. Despite this it's also a harder, tougher, noisier and more modern city than perhaps I expected. It's often compared with Venice but Venice, in its decay, is a more refined and mysterious city somehow. And one of the things I like most about Venice, the absence of cars, simply does not apply - the thing I liked least about St Petersburg is the noise and speed of the traffic. This is in no sense a city in decline, but one with a healthy and very loud pulse.

The Hermitage

We stayed in the Petro Palace Hotel, you can read my Trip Advisor review here. We were only a couple of blocks south of the river and the Hermitage and a block west of Nevsky Prospekt so we were more than happy with the location. We were able to walk everywhere and, on the first evening, we took one of the boat cruises of the river and the canals. The city is probably best seen from the water, where you see an array of extravagantly designed and decorated buildings on an urban scale I don't think you will see elsewhere in Europe. When your eye is accustomed to the bare stone of classical buildings, the colours with which the buildings are painted are as striking as the riot of architectural detail. There is no shortage of bling here.

Generally the weather was kind to us. It was cool and damp on the day we arrived, cooler and very wet on the day we left, but the two days in between were warm and sunny. And we were there for the White Nights, the longest days of the year so we were still enjoying the daylight late on into the evening.

Road trip to St Petersburg

2011-07-12T10:33:00.002+01:00

Photo copyright Jon Worth
Creative Commons license

It was always understood that any trip to Estonia would also include a few days in St Petersburg. To be so close and not to take advantage of the opportunity would have been foolish. There were a few moments though during the visa application process, which was both expensive and tedious, when our determination did waver. (If you travel with a tour group and stay for less than 3 days, you do not require an individual visa but independent travellers must have one.)

The next hurdle was how to get there. Train services are suspended between the two countries, air fares are expensive and the ferry trip, via Helsinki, took too long and cost too much. So our only option was the Lux Express which goes several times a day. It's a long drive from Tallinn to St Petersburg, although the coach is very comfortable for the most part (although the seat belts can feel more like full body restraints, and most other travellers, I noticed, didn't bother with them), and there are no stops except at the border. Going, there were long delays on both sides, but coming back, on a Sunday evening, it was much quicker. The Estonians collect your passports on the bus and disappear with them, the Russians get you and your luggage out of the coach and into the queue in the archetypal border hut. I'm not sure which is the most worrying. There is not much in the way of scenery on either side of the border and the roads, once you cross in to Russia, are frankly awful and not even the most luxurious coach can provide an easy ride.

The most unsettling part of the whole experience though was at Baltiskaya Station when we returned to catch the bus back from St Petersburg. There was no bus stop, no information in any language, no-one to ask, and only the knowledge that this was where we had got off the bus three days previously gave us any hope that this was where we could get back on. But despite the delays, the discomfort and the uncertainties of cross border travel these days, one can only reflect that it has been transformed from the days of the Cold War when we could only make the journey in our imaginations, with John le Carré or Len Deighton as our guides.

Kumu Museum

2011-07-08T14:20:00.000+01:00

Kumu Museum is a striking modern building, and was European Museum of the Year in 2009. It's set in a lovely historic setting, Kadriorg Palace and Park, built by Peter the Great. Kumu is the Art Museum of Estonia and its focus is on the national art from the eighteenth century to the present day. It contains no artists nor works that are familiar and I can't say that I came away thinking that Estonian art has been unfairly overlooked.

Nevertheless the museum is well worth visiting. The building itself is very attractive, both architecturally and in terms of the internal spaces. The principal interest in the collections is perhaps less the works themselves and rather what they reveal of the cultural colonisation of Estonia by the Swedish and the Russians, both Imperial and Soviet, who controlled the country for centuries, and also the Germans, who dominated the aristocracy and the administrative classes until the twentieth century. Artists and their patrons, therefore, were reflecting the artistic tastes and preoccupations of their bigger and more powerful neighbours.

We were fortunate enough to go to the launch of Double Portrait,an exhibition of the print works of the nineteenth century Flemish Symbolists James Ensor and Jules de Bruycker. de Bruycker was principally a printmaker and the exhibition reflects the best of his work and his fascination with the city of Ghent - although there are some very striking prints of Victorian London. Ensor, on the other hand, was a painter of international repute and the prints, which feature in the exhibition, form only a part of his output and are not so representative of his most important work.

Tallinn

2011-07-08T14:19:00.003+01:00

We were met at Tallinn Airport by sniffer dogs, fortunately trained to sniff out drugs or explosives and to ignore the bacon and sausages in our suitcases, presents for our hosts who are deprived of the basic staples of the Irish diet. We were relieved not to be deported immediately.

We were based in Toompea, the upper part of the Old Town. This is the highest point in Tallinn, and, on the available evidence possibly in Estonia, and we had wonderful views of the old town and out to sea where we could see the cruise ships. Every day hundreds of tourists disembark, thronging the old town from early in the morning to late at night. These of course are the longest days of the year - this is the first place I think I've visited with longer evenings and earlier dawns than at home.

Tallin is a remarkably pretty city. The Old Town is full of colourful and interesting buildings, reflecting its mixed German, Scandinavian and Russian history from the Middle Ages onwards. The streets are narrow and cobbled so it is mostly pedestrianised which is always a bonus. There are plenty of cafés and a wealth of really excellent craft shops all within a relatively small central area.

We stayed in far greater comfort and style than we are generally accustomed to in the Irish Residence. When we came through the gates in the morning into the thick of the guided tours, we could feel that we were, for a little time anyway, residents rather than intruders.

If you cannot view the slideshow in this post, you will find the photos here.

Island hopping

2011-07-08T14:19:00.002+01:00

View of the Bishop's castle
in Kuressaare

Saaremaa, for the uninitiated, is an island off the west coat of Estonia. It's about a two hour drive to the ferry for the crossing, which is less than 30 minutes, and then perhaps 90 minutes to the main town on the island, Kuressaare. We left Tallinn in warm sunshine and arrived in Kuressare to the cold and the rain (I sense a pattern here although the weather improved greatly on Saturday before diving again on Sunday when we left). Anyway when the weather is so unreliable, you do want to stay in a nice hotel with a spa and a good restaurant, and we were fortunate to be staying in the Georg Ots, which has both. You can read my review on Trip Advisor here.

Kuressaare is a pretty town, when the sun shines. It has an interesting castle, previously an episcopal palace, which is being extensively restored, and some lovely buildings, including painted wooden villas, reminiscent of old seaside towns in the US. The new hotels, built in the last ten years, are modern and bland, one can't help thinking that they are missing a trick here in not reflecting the traditional architecture. There is only one country house hotel, Padaste Manor, where we had Sunday lunch, and it's not actually on Saaremaa, but on Muhu which is linked to Saaremaa by a causeway.

From Kuressaare we explored some of the island, going north to the Kaali Meteor Crater and to the Angla Windmills. It's fair to say that you will see all there is to see in a day, and really what Saaremaa has to offer is relaxation.

The Case of the Disappearing Summer

2011-06-08T15:07:00.002+01:00

Adrienne Rafferty
Dark Strand

We left home in glorious sunshine, baked in the car, but, mysteriously, arrived in Dunfanaghy just over an hour later and found ourselves in decidedly autumnal weather. It went downhill from there and by Sunday temperatures were typically November and the rain was torrential. We were grateful for the fire and the central heating, although it must be said that overall this was not one of our best rental choices. The low point was the collapsing bed - unfortunately occupied at the time by Mother, aged 90. The bed came off worst.

Despite the weather and the other disappointments, though, we had a good weekend. We managed at least one walk every day, between the showers, on the beach at Marble Hill. We ate very well at home, with friends, who were staying in greater luxury than us at the Lime Kiln (that's where I'll go next time), and in McGlade's Bar at the Shandon Hotel. We repaired at regular intervals to the Starfish Café, for a fix of caffeine for me and a steady supply of their muffins and other homebaked treats. And we visited the Green Door Studio to look at the paintings, most of Donegal and by local artists. I already have two watercolours by Adrienne Rafferty, of Italian towers, and I do covet some of her Donegal landscapes. I shall have to start saving - or travel less.

Greenwich, Again

2011-05-31T17:59:00.001+01:00

Greenwich Hospital

Greenwich is a particular favourite of mine; it has a great village atmosphere and a real buzz, it's a major historic site with stunning architecture by both Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones, great views of the Thames and all packed within a comfortably small area, with very nice restaurants and cafés. A big part of the experience is the journey there on Docklands Light Railway, but we were trumped this time by Rosemary, who came by river on the Thames Clipper. This is a must for my next visit although I have done it before years ago.

Queen's House

We had our reunion lunch in the Spread Eagle, an old tavern beautifully refurbished, with good food at an excellent price. Then we had a wander round Greenwich in the sunshine. I had been very keen to go to the Queen's House since I studied it on the recent Oxford online architecture course - and wrote my assignment on it. It was the first Classical building in England, designed in the early seventeenth century by Inigo Jones for Queen Anne, wife of James I. It is an elegant and beautiful building and I've become quite well acquainted with the exteriors through photographs so I was keen to see it in reality and to discover the interiors. Sadly, though, we could not get inside, because it was booked for a wedding reception. Still I was able to admire the outside and to bore the others with my mini lecture on the history and architectural significance of the building. And I will go back on my next visit, after checking that it is open, and have a really good look round.

We did, however, get into the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, a famous dining hall with an extravagant painted ceiling by James Thornhill, who worked on the interiors for nineteen years and was paid by the yard. When one considers the reluctance of current paymasters to pay for any public art, the commissioning of such a work for a hospital for naval pensioners reveals quite a different view of the value of art.

All in all, a lovely day, shared with friends - and still plenty left to see in Greenwich.

Painters from the North

2011-05-30T17:46:00.005+01:00

One of the happy consequences of the absence of blockbuster exhibitions is that you can view paintings in comparative peace and comfort, without feeling you are in some sort of scrum. I've promised myself that I will try to avoid the really big exhibitions although I may make an exception for the forthcoming Leonardo. So on this visit to the National Gallery I saw exhibitions featuring one lesser known painter and one completely unknown (to me) school of painters.

Jan Gossaert A young princess
(Dorothea of Denmark?)
c1530
National Gallery

Jan Gossaert is one of the Flemish masters now associated with the Northern Renaissance. This exhibition placed him in this context so included works by Van Eyck and Dürer among others. His own works ranged from portraits to religious works to erotica. His main patron was Philip of Burgundy (the son I think of Van Eyck's patron, also Philip of Burgundy), a one-time admiral who became a bishop. The bishop had a strong preference for the female nude which explains the erotica. The nudes prefigure in some ways the fashion for and style of nudes later painted by Rubens and Rembrandt, and Gossaert is an interesting painter as he does seem to be a bridge between the clarity of the early Northern artists and the voluptuousness of the later ones.

Gossaert liked to play visual games, often with perspective but also with framing devices, as with the portrait of the young princess. Although I have a liking for portraits, Gossaert's portraits, although charming, are not as compelling as those of either Van Eyck or Memling, who stimulated my interest in the Northern Renaissance.

George Bellows
Blue Snow, the Battery 1910
Columbus Museum of Art

The National Gallery is also featuring, in a much smaller gallery, the work of the Ashcan painters, a group of American painters at the very beginning of the twentieth century, who were principally interested in painting the urban landscape as realistically as they could. These paintings are reminiscent of Whistler and, to their Scottish and Irish contemporaries, with whom I suppose they shared common influences. I've recently begun to subscribe to a blog called My Daily Art Display, and it has interesting posts on two of the paintings in the exhibition, Blue Snow, the Battery above, and The Art Student, a portrait of Joephine Nivinson, who later married Edward Hopper, by Robert Henri, which reminds me of both Whistler and Lavery. This exhibition in particular was an unexpected pleasure.

The other pleasures of the day were going round the Gossaert exhibition with Anne, followed by lunch with her and Sally in the café at the National Gallery and, afterwards, round to the English Speaking Union, for a reception and the chance to catch up with other friends.

The Cherry Orchard

2011-05-28T17:05:00.002+01:00

The Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre has had mixed reviews. It's a new translation and some critics have not cared for the contemporary language but, as I had not seen the play before, I had nothing with which to compare, and so I enjoyed it very much. It was much funnier than I had anticipated, full of unexpected humour. The set is beautiful, bathed in the fading light of the old Imperial Russia. The characters are a mix of the feckless and the idealistic, the naive and the cynical, the well-meaning and the opportunistic. Clearly the aristocrats are doomed and they know it but it is hard, with hindsight, to see any of the other protagonists, not even the merchant Lopakhin, who seems the veritable new man, nor the student Yasha, prospering in the new Russia.

There were many familiar faces in the cast - Zoe Wanamaker as the reckless Ranyevskaya, James Laurenson her unworldly brother, and Kenneth Cranham the old servant, fussing over his charges until the end. All of them a delight. Whatever the shortcomings of the production might be, it is an impressive ensemble piece, combining exuberance, wit and melancholy in equal measure.

Sculpture in the Open Air

2011-05-28T15:02:00.003+01:00

Ai Weiwei
Horse Zodiac 2010

What these two exhibitions have in common are that they both comprise monumental pieces by single artists, and both are staged outdoors. Apart from that...

Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals/ Zodiac Heads, twelve bronze scupltures, are in a formal classical space, the courtyard of Somerset House. They are recreations and reinterpretations of works commissioned by an eighteenth century Chinese emperor, from Jesuit missionaries. So they are originally European interpretations of the Chinese zodiac, designed as a water clock and part of the palace fountain. In the nineteenth century they were looted by the French and British. Some have disappeared and the Chinese would like the rest back. There are all kinds of layers here - Chinese culture given Western form, and then forcibly relocated to the West, then reinterpreted again by Weiwei, and, the final irony, the detention of Weiwei himself by the Chinese. The sculptures are visually stunning anyway, but the impact is intensified by the different histories they represent and the contemporary predicament of the artist.

Henry Moore
Large Reclining Figure 1984

Moore at Hatfield, on the other hand, is a major retrospective of Henry Moore's sculptures spread through both the formal gardens and the woodlands at Hatfield House. The sculptures are set apart in the landscape and you can wander through the trees, first seeing the sculptures in the distance or turning a corner to come upon them. These are monumental figures, some in fibreglass, others in bronze, some pure abstract, other recognisably human forms. Moore's forms sweep and flow, and part of their great appeal is the invitation to touch the work and follow the line through your hands. On a warm sunny day, the bronzes in particular radiated heat, so warm that they felt alive under the surface.

It is Moore's centenary, and also the four hundredth anniversary of Hatfield House itself.

Ravilious in Essex

2011-05-25T14:57:00.004+01:00

I've been interested in Eric Ravilious for a long time but opportunities to see his work seldom come along. I had thought of making the trek to the Towner Gallery, which reputedly has the largest collection of his work, in Eastbourne, but I had the forethought to check out the exhibitions programme at the Fry Art Gallery, which also has works by him, and discovered that their current exhibition is Ravilious in Essex. Ravilious made his living as an illustrator and designer; I have always liked the style and quality of thirties illustration - this I suppose is what drew me to his work in the first place. His work is quite stylised and he paints landscapes and scenes that are both recognisable and abstract, using pattern, shape and light to great effect. He became an official War Artist on the outbreak of war in 1939 and the paintings he produced subsequently are particularly evocative. He was killed on active service. The best introduction to his work is the online exhibition Imagined Realities, on the Imperial War Museum website.

The Fry Gallery in Saffron Walden is an engaging gallery, a small space staffed by volunteers and busy with visitors when we were there. The collection includes prints, paintings and other works by, in the main, artists from the first half of the twentieth century, with associations with this part of Essex. Ravilious, who came from East Sussex, belonged to this group by virtue of his friendship with Edward Bawden.

Part of the pleasure of the expedition was the bus journey from Cambridge, right from the end of the road, in a double decker bus along the narrowest of roads through the tiniest of hamlets, by what was the most circuitous of routes. The high point was the moment in the middle of the level crossing when the alarm went off. But we lived to tell the tale.

Ely by train

2011-05-25T14:14:00.001+01:00

The Ship of the Fens

Ely is only a short train journey from Cambridge - and at £7.65 for return tickets for three people on a Sunday, an obvious choice. The cathedral looms over the town and the surrounding countryside. Quite why the Benedictines chose to build such a great church in what has never been a centre of population is not clear, but one must take it I suppose as an act of faith. Construction began at the end of the eleventh century and the earliest parts of the building are Romanesque, but as building continued into the fourteenth century, more Gothic elements were introduced.

I'm not much in favour of cathedral shops located in the nave. There are always plenty of characterful buildings close at hand that could be adapted, and I always feel it would be more appropriate to move commercial activities outside. But I recognise that the medieval churches were hives of commercial activity, of the most blatant sort, in their day so I suppose today's commerce is comparatively innocent.

We adjourned at lunchtime to Peacocks Tearoom where the quality of the food was matched by the charm of the building.

Cambridge

2011-05-25T13:27:00.001+01:00

St John's College Chapel

I've not stayed in Cambridge for quite a long time but I used to go most years so I suppose I know it reasonably well, but I realised that I really hadn't very often done the tourist things. So this time I decided to take one of the guided walks from the Tourist Office. It was more expensive than I expected (£15), mainly because of the admission charges for King's College Chapel and St John's College, which were the two colleges on the tour. It was interesting and I did enjoy it but I'm not sure that it was value for money - and although it did last for more than two hours we actually covered very little ground. Nevertheless, the colleges are beautiful and the Chapel, with its fan vaulted ceiling, is spectacular.

Bridge of Sighs, St John's

Exams were on while I was there and many of the colleges were closed to the public. However, we did get to the Cambridge Union, where I had not been before, on Sunday for a chamber concert. Not perhaps the most comfortable seats but I did enjoy both the concert and seeing the building.

There was also time for a visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Currently the Italian Drawings: highlights from the collection are on display - if you follow the link you can view some of the drawings online. Although most of them are by Renaissance artists, including Leonardo, the collection does come up to the twentieth century. The Fitzwilliam has a varied collection with much to interest everyone. It was here many years ago that I first saw some of the Degas bronzes of the ballet dancers, and I'm looking forward with anticipation to the Royal Academy exhibition later this year,
Degas and the Ballet: picturing movement

Stubbs in Mount Stewart

2011-05-02T11:30:00.003+01:00

Hambletonian, George Stubbs c.1800
National Trust image

Despite the glories of the gardens, Mount Stewart's greatest treasure is the life size portrait, by George Stubbs, of Hambletonian which hangs on the first landing of the main staircase. The horse won the St Leger in 1796, and famously won one of the great challenge races at Newmarket in 1799, against the other great horse of the day, winning his owner 3,000 guineas, a vast sum at the time - although Stubbs had to take him to court to get his fee of 300 guineas.

Like Stubb's other great portraits, notably Whistlejacket, the horse lives again on the canvas, muscle and sinew straining after the punishing race, as the stable boy and trainer prepare to rub him down. Hambletonian is shown, not at the moment of victory with the triumphant owner or jockey, but while he is still agitated and distressed, paying the price of his owner's ambitions.

Originally I believe, Stubbs painted only the horse but Vane Tempest, the owner and ancestor of the Londonderry family, wanted the figures and the background and Stubbs reluctantly added them. He wasn't interested and you can see this in the naive style he uses - the arm of the stable boy reaching up is impossibly long, the legs of the trainer are ridiculously short, Newmarket is flat like a stage backdrop. But there is nothing naive about Hambletonian, he is dynamic and vibrant against the fading colours and static poses of the man and boy. This is his portrait, not theirs. Stubbs was 75 when he painted this and still at the height of his powers.

Mount Stewart

2011-05-02T10:33:00.002+01:00

Mount Stewart

The lough views on the western side of the peninsula are not as sweeping or dramatic as the sea views on the east, they are nevertheless very pretty and the villages have more to offer those who want to stop and do a little light pottering. Mount Stewart has a prime position looking out over Strangford Lough and was built originally to take advantage of the views although the tree planting, for protection from the wind and the weather, has done away with this to some extent.

The house now belongs to the National Trust, although there are still links with the Londonderry family who built the house. Thanks to my recent Learning to Look at Western Architecture course (highly recommended), I can now appreciate the symmetry of the neo-classical design, with its tripartite facade, pediment and balustrades, all of which you can see in the photo. The house dates from the eighteenth century and was remodelled in the nineteenth century, when the marquess of the day married into even more money.

Tulips in April

The interiors are lovely and well worth seeing on the guided tour but the house is now principally famous for its gardens, designed a hundred years ago by Edith, the 7th Marchioness, one of the great society hostesses of her day. There are formal gardens close to the house with clipped hedges and some witty topiary. The landscaped grounds extend beyond the lake into the woods, with a series of woodland walks. The Temple of the Winds is only open on some Sundays so we could not explore all of the grounds, assuming we had had the energy. The planting is full of colour and interest, and , as you can see, the tulips are particularly stunning at the moment. On a lovely day, it's a perfect place to be and there were plenty of people enjoying the gardens.

And the ice cream from the kiosk is delicious. I can particularly recommend the raspberry and lavender.

Kearney

2011-05-01T10:21:00.003+01:00

Kearney

After a cup of coffee and a cinnamon scone (highly recommended) at the Bay Tree in Holywood (also highly recommended and one of the best café restaurants in the North) we headed down the Ards Peninsula. We're having wonderful weather at present - these are often the most lovely months in Ireland, where the summers can never be relied on except for their unreliability. This April has been exceptionally good and the weather on Thursday did not disappoint with cloudless skies, plenty of sun, comfortable temperatures and a sea breeze. The villages on the east of the peninsula are rather unprepossessing and the roads are in some state of disrepair at present, but the views, on such a lovely day, were superb.

Our first port of call was Kearney. You couldn't call it a village, more a fishing hamlet, now owned and restored by the National Trust. It is very pretty, immaculately maintained and with lovely coastal walks. There is nothing to do there except enjoy the complete peace and quiet, and the sea views. It is out of the way, and it's not easy to find it on the National Trust website, but it is worth the effort. It is a special place. I've been there three or four times now, in much worse weather than this time, but it has charm whatever the season. I daresay it wasn't as tidy and smart when there was a real fishing community living here, it seems idyllic now and it can't really have been then.

The only facility that Kearney offers is the loo (and we were suitably grateful) so we went on to Portaferry for lunch. The hotel looked pricey and the cafés near the pier were a little on the chippy side, and we ended up in a new teashop in the square. Up a flight of stairs, so not ideal for everyone, but it's charming and has the unexpected bonus of a roof terrace so we were able to have our lunch outside in the sunshine, looking out over the lough to Strangford. Then a little retail therapy in the Port, the craft shop run by the local co-operative.

Boucicault on speed

2011-01-18T17:14:00.001Z

We wandered in to the Abbey in the morning in the hope that there would be seats left for the evening performance, and were delighted to find that tickets were two for the price of one. It would have been good value at full price but a good deal is always welcome.

This, as they say, is a high-energy production - a hectic mix of farce, melodrama and pantomime, played like the Keystone Cops, down to the piano accompaniment at the side of the stage. It's imaginatively staged, with a very clever set, and the company play it at full tilt. It's very funny and hugely entertaining. Many of the audience were American students, and I don't know how they were able to decipher any of it. But like the best silent movies, I suppose you just look at the pictures and take your cue from the piano player. So many levels to enjoy it.

You can get a flavour of the production from the trailer on YouTube.

Round Parnell Square

2011-01-18T17:03:00.001Z

Dublin has been notorious for years as the most expensive city in Europe but, surprise surprise, there are amazing bargains to be had. We had a lovely room at the Maldron Hotel Parnell Square - a steal at €59 for the room, breakfast included. You can read my review on Trip Advisor.

Just round the corner from the hotel is the Hugh Lane Gallery. It is principally a contemporary gallery, but the bedrock of its collection are the Impressionist paintings collected by Hugh Lane over a hundred years ago and donated by him in 1917. There are wonderful paintings by a roll call of Irish artists, from Sir John Lavery (again) to Sean Scully. Francis Bacon's studio is a unique installation, the like of which you will not see in any other major gallery. The jewel, literally, is the Stained Glass Room with its illuminated panels. The most exquisite of these is Harry Clarke's The Eve of St Agnes, rich in colour, detail and storytelling.

And outside the gallery, sauntering on the pavement is Julian Opie's animated Suzanne Walking in Leather Skirt, elegant and relaxed.

The Dublin Writers' Museum is only a few doors along from the gallery. There was no time for the tour but I do recommend the very nice café.

Turner in Dublin

2011-01-15T16:12:00.001Z

This time last year we were in Edinburgh for the annual exhibition of Turner's watercolours. This year we saw them in Dublin, whose National Gallery was also a beneficiary of the Vaughan Bequest. They remain fresh and luminous, all are beautiful, though as ever, the Venetian watercolours are particularly charming.

There's extensive renovation work going on and many galleries are closed. However, the great masters are still on view, with Caravaggio, Vermeer, Goya, Velazquez and Picasso all hanging in the same small room. In the Irish galleries, the Laverys continue to impress although I enjoyed the Orpens just as much.

A weekend in the Criagantlet Hills

2010-11-15T15:47:00.002Z

The weather last Thursday was atrocious and we viewed the prospect of a weekend in County Down (or indeed anywhere in Ireland) with some trepidation but in fact the sun shone for practically the whole time and we had a lovely weekend. We stayed at the Beech Hill, a country house bed and breakfast (not to be confused with the equally excellent Beech Hill Country House Hotel which is rather closer to home). This Beech Hill has lovely views of the countryside and the house is both charming and welcoming. The bedrooms are gorgeous, beautifully furnished and very peaceful. The breakfasts were delicious, locally sourced food full of flavour. (Travellers from Virginia would particularly appreciate breakfasting off the Portmeirion.) We had taken all three rooms so we had the place to ourselves, all the better to indulge in the fantasy that this is how we live all the time. But this after all is why you go away - to be even more comfortable than at home and to be cosseted by a hostess who has thought of everything.

The B&B was the highlight of the weekend but we did manage to fit in some shopping in Holywood and Banbridge, a trip to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum to see the Transport Galleries and a visit to McKee's Country Store and Restaurant for lunch. We ate very well and very reasonably both nights at the Bay Tree in Holywood and the Old Inn at Crawfordsburn. And on Sunday we went to Holywood for the Remembrance Service at the War Memorial, and the sun still shone.

Stay or Go?

2010-09-26T21:39:00.002+01:00

The Ampelmann is one of the survivors from East Berlin, a symbol of their identity which East Berliners have held on to. He's on the traffic lights and it has to be said that he has more charm than than the stick figures on our traffic lights. Joe, our walking tour guide, told us that there were early attempts to remove him but, such was the uproar, that not only was he reprieved but that now he appears all over the city, so now, paradoxically, he no longer belongs just to the East Berliners.

Image from Wikipedia

Remembering the Jews

2010-09-26T13:58:00.002+01:00

Had it not been for the walking tour, we would not have found the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and even if we had come across it, I don't think we would necessarily have understood what it signifies. The point of it I think though is its silence, to which both its scale and design, and the absence of interpretative commentary all contribute. It is meant to be isolating and disorienting, to feel that you are being swallowed up in an anonymous dark space, and I think it works.

The Jewish Museum, in its treatment of the Holocaust, also seeks to evoke an emotional experience rather than provide a historical record. On the ground floor, three intersecting axes lead you along the paths of the Jewish experience, to the Voids, spaces for contemplation of events of unimaginable horror. Like the memorial, the intention is to evoke the emotion and not overpower you with the chronological history. Upstairs, the permanent exhibitions tell the story of the Jewish experience in Germany, this was a celebration in many ways, although as we moved through the timeline into the twentieth century, it became increasingly poignant. There was too much to take in late on a Sunday afternoon (although that was true of the other museums on other days) but I found the standards of both presentation and interpretation really impressive, and digital technology was used in a very engaging way to allow real interaction with the content of many of the exhibits.

Because the other museums we visited were principally archaeological, with content brought to Germany from all over the Ancient World, or art galleries, with masterpieces drawn from the rest of Europe as well, the Jewish Museum was the only museum we visited which really told us anything about German, not just Jewish, society and culture over the centuries. I'm really only realising this now as I'm writing this post and reflecting on the visit.

Enjoying brunch

2010-09-19T10:41:00.003+01:00

One of the pleasures of any holiday for me is finding the best places to breakfast. Breakfast in the hotel was far too expensive and we headed out every morning. As the area around the hotel effectively closed down at the weekend, we ate most days in one of the cafés around the Gendarmenmarkt, which was only ten minutes away.

On Sunday morning, anyone who was anyone was making the most of eating out in the sunshine.

East Berlin

2010-09-19T10:36:00.000+01:00

We stayed in East Berlin nearly all the time. It wasn't a conscious decision but it turned out that way, partly because of the location of the hotel and also because there was simply so much to see close at hand. We didn't have time to venture further across the city and we never made it to Potsdam as we originally planned. There were five of us and we all had a list of must sees so we did opt in and opt out, meeting up for meals. But we did do the guided walk and the boat tour on the Spree together.

We took the Discover Berlin tour, starting close to Museum Island and the Berliner Dom, along Unter der Linden to the Brandenburg Tor, getting a good look at Baroque Berlin on the way. The walk was much enlivened by an unexpected piece of street theatre, a large demonstration in support of Civil Liberties by what can only be described as a rainbow conspiracy of the left. I did think a few good flute bands would have added even more to the proceedings, and some of our number had to be held back from infiltrating the march proper.

From Brandenburg Tor we turned south, taking a break at the Holocaust memorial to the Jews, and then following the wall to Checkpoint Charlie. Despite the tourist tat to be found there, the Wall is very evocative and the the story of its building and eventually its fall is still a powerful one. Joe, who was our guide, was fluent and knowledgeable and our interest never flagged, although our feet did, and some of us abandoned the walk at this final stage and headed back for the hotel which, thankfully, was not too far away.

Meeting the Bears

2010-09-19T09:02:00.000+01:00

The bear is the official symbol of Berlin and you will find him cropping up in all kinds of places - under bridges, along the streets

and even outside our hotel...

The Old Masters at the Gemäldegalerie

2010-09-18T14:42:00.002+01:00

With time so limited in Berlin, we had to be selective in what we saw and did, and not everyone wants to spend all their time in museums and galleries. But I was determined to go to the Gemäldegalerie. This is one of the world's great collections of European art from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries and holds paintings by virtually all of the artists I've learned to know on the various Oxford courses.

It's not on Museum Island, so it requires a little more effort to get there and there were definitely fewer visitors, which is a bonus. The building lacked the character and the charm of the other museums, and sadly the lighting was not always good, depending, as it did, on overhead natural light so that whenever a cloud occasionally crossed the sun, it was not always easy to see the paintings in detail. The layout too was confusing at times so we had to keep doubling back to make sure we weren't missing some gem. And there are plenty of them.

The strength of the collection, for me, is in the early Flemish and German paintings, including works by Van Eyck, Van der Weyden, Memling, Altdorfer and Dürer. But there are also paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck and Caravaggio and Titian, and surprisingly (because you don't often see them in European collections) some beautiful portraits by Gainsborough, Reynolds and Raeburn.

It also, by the way, has a good café, where we had a very nice late lunch, as well as a good bookshop, where I had the forethought to buy the catalogue before seeing the paintings. As all captions are in German, this really helped.

Museum Island

2010-09-18T14:09:00.000+01:00

Panel from the Ishtar Gate

The museums in Berlin are astonishing - in terms of their numbers, and also the range, quality and not least the scale of the exhibits. In the Pergamon Museum alone, the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate and the Miletus Gate overpower the visitors. While the facades of the Pergamon Altar and the Miletus Gate are damaged, both by the passage of time but also no doubt by their transplantation from the original sites, the Ishtar Gate still appears in pristine condition, its tiles undamaged and its colour as fresh as ever. Elgin's appropriation of the Marbles is a paltry thing (almost) in comparison with the annexation of these huge structures. And while perhaps we should disapprove, the exhibits are so impressive, and their original sites so inaccessible to us, that in the end we are just grateful for the opportunity to see them and to marvel.

Image Okkofi on Flickr

Size though is not everything. In the recently restored Neues Museum,
the head of Nefertiti is at the centre of the new building. Three thousand years old, still beautiful and entrancing, a testament to the power of her personality and the skill of the sculptor. This is a truly iconic piece, and a controversial one, with ownership disputed between Egypt and Germany.

The museums on Museum Island are nineteenth century buildings, cleverly reworked for the twenty-first. This is best seen in the Neues Museum, where the interior of the building has been stripped back to its essential structural elements, displaying the objects in a clear and simple way which allows them to speak for themselves.

Hello to Berlin

2010-09-18T10:10:00.000+01:00

So despite our adventures on the rocky road to Dublin, we did make it to Berlin. We arrived on a murky Thursday and left on an equally murky Monday, but in between we had three days of glorious sunshine and warm temperatures, for which we were pretty well unprepared. I had come accoutered with a coat, umbrella, and two fleeces, but they weren't needed.

We stayed at the Marriott on Axel Springer Strasse, on the line of the Wall. The statue outside the Springer building is a few yards from the hotel and Checkpoint Charlie was only a short walk. It's a quiet area, still with some expanses of undeveloped land. At the weekend and in the evenings it was deserted and retained some of the eeriness of the abandoned city. For our purposes, though, it was a good location. The underground at Spittelmarkt was on the doorstep, and we could walk from Leipziger Strasse to most of the places we wanted to go, or get the bus. We bought 5 day passes for the transport system, and, as we did so much walking, I can't say that all of us got full value out of them. But they did come in handy when we did use public transport and we did make use of the discounts on tours and attractions.

On the Road to Nowhere

2010-09-16T11:01:00.003+01:00

Image from Bus Eireann's Facebook page

I try to be positive in the blog posts. I save my complaints for offline and I'm quite nice about my travelling companions. However, a moan about Monaghan Bus Station is long overdue.

There is a pretty good bus service from Derry to Dublin Airport. It runs every two hours and it drops and picks you up practically at the airport door. Given the cost of airport parking and the cost of petrol, why would you drive yourself? Well, to avoid the bus station at Monaghan. The bus is forced to take a circuitous route round the town to find the station, which is well away from the town centre. In the olden days, you could choose between using the loos or having a coffee as there was never time to queue for both - the former was the safer option, for what should be obvious reasons. Nowadays, with the new toilet block, you can just about do both but the café (I use the term loosely) remains uninviting, the food options limited and unappealing, and all overpriced. There's no competition so no effort is expended.

Anyway, on this occasion, we were allowed ten minutes so we duly headed for the loo, picked up the coffee and scrambled back on the bus (the bus driver graciously bending the rules so we could bring the coffee on board as long as we spilt none of it). And off we set. Ten miles or so further on he careered into a side road, made a three point turn (coffee fortunately was drunk) and announced he was heading back to Monaghan to pick up a "late passenger". Back round the Monaghan detour we went.

I thought it was at least Brian Cowan's wine merchant, but no. Those with keener hearing than me said there had been a five minute phone call to the bus, with the driver initially resisting all attempts to get him to turn back. A passenger from Derry had presumably taken too long to spend her penny and she had got left behind.

We were 45 minutes late getting to the airport. This is after all an airport service. People had planes to catch. We, thank heavens, were staying overnight at the airport but others may not have been. Customer care is all very well, but a timetable is a timetable.

A Day Out in the Glens and the North Coast

2010-08-30T15:22:00.002+01:00

August has been a pretty miserable month, more autumn than summer with the evenings drawing in quickly and the weather cool and all too often wet. So we headed off for our day out with a Plan B (retail therapy in Co Down) but fortunately it wasn't needed), although the sun didn't appear until the afternoon, the rain stayed away.

We went first to Glenarm, wandered about the village and then the Castle gardens, before a delicious lunch in the Tea Rooms, and afterwards along the coast, by Cushendun and Cushendall, to Torr Head and the views of Rathlin and the Scottish coast. Glenarm Castle itself is not open to the public, it is not even visible through the trees, but the walled garden is quite lovely and beautifully maintained. the vegetable plot almost as colourful as the borders. The scenic drive around Torr Head was spectacular and, as I didn't have to do the driving, worth the effort on what was a beautifully clear, if brisk, afternoon. Then back through the Glens with a quick stop at Gracehill, founded by the Moravians over two hundred years ago. It's an exceptionally pretty village, of great charm and with an unusual history. The school, which was in disrepair when I last saw it, has been well restored and work is underway on the church.

And the retail therapy? Blew the budget at Steenson's in Glenarm.

Sweet Charity

2010-07-25T10:19:00.003+01:00

We went to see Sweet Charity at the Theatre Royal on my last night. It's a very stylish production full of energy, great songs and even better dancing, with a fine, and very versatile, cast. It's really quite a sad story, without the traditional happy ending, but it's done with pace, wit and panache, successfully balancing pathos with exuberance. I liked it a lot but still prefer Jersey Boys.

Italian Renaissance Drawings

2010-07-24T20:58:00.005+01:00


Andrea del Verrocchio, Head of a woman (detail), c. 1475.

The drawings in this beautiful exhibition, from the collections of the British Museum and the Uffizi, include rough sketches and presentation drawings, those dashed off in minutes, the hand barely able to keep up, as well as working drawings literally laying out the ground for the finished work, and presentation drawings designed to impress. There are works by Leonardo, Titian, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Botticelli. Ghirlandaio's preparatory drawings for the frescos in the Tornabuoni Chapel are here as well, alongside scores of other artists.

Drawing was the fundamental technical skill and underpinned the other arts of painting, sculpture, architecture. In the hands of the Renaissance masters, it has the same power to enthrall, and maybe more to move, as any painting or monumental sculpture.

It is I'm afraid too late to see the exhibition in London. You could head for Florence to see it at the Uffizi, alternatively you could settle for the video or click here to watch it on the British Museum website.

Image © Trustees of the British Museum

Hatfield House

2010-07-24T09:09:00.004+01:00

On Sunday the heat and the engineering work on various parts of the London transport network persuaded us not to go into the City so we took the train north a couple of stops to Hatfield House , one of the great stately homes and still in the ownership of the Cecil family. William Cecil and his son Robert were chief ministers to Elizabeth, throughout her reign, and Robert continued to serve James I and the family remained politically influential for centuries. In the grounds, close to the main house, is the surviving wing of the Royal Palace of Hatfield, where Elizabeth lived as a child. The Jacobean house was completed in 1611, and Robert Cecil employed John Tradescant the Elder to establish the gardens. (Philippa Gregory's novels about the Tradescants, father and son, give a fascinating insight into the period).

Hatfield House is interesting on a number of levels - the house itself and its contents, the long association with Elizabeth, the history of a family which has not faded away and the gardens, with the Tradescant connection. Two of the most famous portraits of Elizabeth are at Hatfield House, the Ermine Portrait, painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1585, and the Rainbow Portrait, painted by his pupil Isaac Oliver in 1600. I've always been interested in Elizabeth - with all her flaws, she was a complete original, the archetype as opposed to Mary Stuart's stereotype. No doubt then where my sympathies lie.

Our visit was the week before the Antiques Roadshow arrived to film, probably just as well - I cannot imagine that the crowds and the heat would make it as pleasant an experience as the one we had. Next year is the 400th anniversary of the house, when it will be well worth revisiting. Among the planned events is a major Henry Moore exhibition in the gardens.

Hampstead Revisited

2010-07-22T10:20:00.002+01:00

I was going to call this post Back to our lost youth, as Hampstead, or more accurately West Hampstead, is where I went to university in London, but truthfully we never spent much time in the restaurants (OK there were student grants then but they never supported much wining and dining) and none of us had any clear memory of visiting Keats' House. And what memories I have of Hampstead in the seventies seem to be clouded with rain and going to see old films at the Hampstead Everyman, which I regret to say is now showing Twilight and not Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. However, that may explain why it is still in business.

We really ended up having our reunion lunch in Hampstead because, for various reasons, we had already ruled out Greenwich, Blackheath and Canary Wharf. However, it was an inspired choice (mine, as it happens)... although I can claim no credit for the glorious summer weather. We ate at La Cage Imaginaire, serendipitously plucked from the Internet, on the basis that it was close to the tube. It is a pretty little French restaurant, just far enough away from the hustle and bustle of Saturday lunchtime, serving good food at a very reasonable price. And we were able to linger over a leisurely meal and catch up.

Then we wandered down the hill to Keats House, where the poet met and fell in love with Fanny Brawne and wrote Ode to a Nightingale. Hampstead was at its most leafy, and the house, which is one of the oldest in Hampstead, and was semi-rural when it was built, still sits in a large attractive garden. As with so many places, lottery money has been spent to good effect. It is a lovely Georgian house built to look like one house, but originally it consisted of two separate houses and it offers a fascinating insight into the movement of respectable but not so well off families in and out of rented houses in Regency England, bringing Jane Austen (not to mention Georgette Heyer) particularly to mind. Jane of course never lived in London, although they rented in Bath, but Heyer's heroines often did.

The connection with Keats of course is what brings people here but it is well worth a visit anyway. It was a lovely way to spend a sunny afternoon, not too much effort in the hot sun but enough to feel like the virtuous tourist.

A Day Out at the Museum

2010-06-05T08:16:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was a glorious day, beautiful sunshine and temperatures in the twenties and we had a day out in Belfast. We went to the Ulster Museum and relished the Irish paintings, back now in the galleries. My current favourites are the Laverys - the portraits of Hazel and Eileen Lavery are exquisite and the brooding portrait of Cardinal Logue is something else.

Ambled back through Botanic Gardens in the sunshine. The Palm House was looking spectacular and then world class sandwiches at the French Village. Rounded the day off in the city centre with some retail therapy and a successful visit to Waterstones, where I polished off my book tokens.

Holidays at home - everyone's doing them these days.

The Glacier Trail

2010-05-22T20:12:00.013+01:00

We went on the Glacier Trail tour with Banff Tours on our last day. Once we left Lake Louise, the weather lifted and we had a glorious day. The tour itself was great - it was a small group in a minibus with Hugh, who entertained, informed and educated us with a mix of geology, natural history and local history. The scenery is truly awesome - for once this is absolutely the right word. From Lake Louise, we drove north to the Columbia Icefields, and took the Ice Explorer tour to the Athabasca Glacier, stopping on the way back at Bow Lake, which was still frozen.

Along the road, we even saw a black bear. The bus did not stop (Park policy) - Hugh told us to burn the image into our brains, and so we did.

A perfect day and the best possible end to the holiday.

Nourished in Banff

2010-05-22T15:54:00.000+01:00

We never had a bad meal in Canada so the competition to be my favourite restaurant on the trip was pretty keen. In Banff we had good meals at both Le Bistro and Coyote, and also at the Castle Pantry in the Fairmont. My favourite, though, by a mile was Nourish, which claims, truthfully, to serve gourmet comfort food, all of it vegetarian. It broke the first rule of holiday dining - you never eat well on the first night. Well we did, and on the last night as well, because we ate there twice.

It breaks another rule for a successful restaurant - location, location, location. It is on the second floor of the Sundance Mall on Banff Avenue, you do have to want to go there as the mall is unprepossessing and dated, and you have to navigate your way up the back stairs to the second floor. The restaurant itself is laid back and looks like a leftover from an earlier hippy incarnation. Do not be fooled - this is good food in a well-run establishment.

I wish we had a vegetarian restaurant this good here. The plates are for sharing, the taste combinations are mouthwatering and the service is friendly, prompt and knowledgeable. It was exceptionally good value for money. If you order more plates than you can eat (and we were tempted), they will tell you. And what combination of starter and main course will work best. We had the yam tenders, twice, the cheese perogi and the blueberry pie the first night and the spanakopita and the apple caramel pie the second night. I can't remember any other menu in this detail, except perhaps the buns at the Café Villaggio in Vancouver.

Watching the traffic

2010-05-20T19:32:00.000+01:00

We hired a car for a day and we used it to get ourselves to Lake Louise. The very helpful girl in the Tourist Office suggested we also drive round Lake Minnewanka, a glacial lake close to the town of Banff (you can see one of the photos of the Lake in the Getting to Banff post). The lake was pretty well deserted, still half frozen and the boat trips do not begin for another month. But the long horn sheep were already taking up position, watching the antics of the tourists slamming on the brakes and rushing to get their photos.

Lake Louise in black and white

2010-05-20T19:19:00.001+01:00

The famous photos of Lake Louise are in technicolor, and you can see the mountains reflected in the emerald green of the lake. But in May the lake is still frozen (with a few crazy people venturing onto the ice) and there are no mirror images. It is stunning nevertheless. We had lunch in the Chateau Lake Louise and we had a window table overlooking the lake. I suspect that if we had come in the summer we would not have got into the restaurant, never mind sat in the best seats.

Getting to Banff

2010-05-19T18:31:00.004+01:00

We flew into Calgary on a singularly cheerless day - snow and sleet and very poor visibility. The ring road around the city was equally uninspiring and my chief thought, as we sat in the shuttle to Banff, was relief that we had not booked a car for the four days and that I was not driving.

We'd considered any number of options for this part of the trip and most of them bit the dust. Our first thought, naturally enough, was to travel by train through the Rockies but the cost was an issue and making the dates work with our flight connections was another one. Then we seriously considered the coach trip from Vancouver to Calgary but the prospect of three long days in a bus was not an attractive one. We then talked about hiring a car for the duration but, partly because of the uncertainty about our travel arrangements, thanks to the ash, we held off doing this. And when we got to Vancouver, the weather reports settled things for us - this and my own reluctance to do much driving. But, as with everything else on this trip, it worked out really well in the end. The airport shuttle may have been overpriced but it made for a fast, convenient and efficient transfer from the airport.

Banff, even when overcast and extremely cold, is a very nice town with a good selection of restaurants, local shops and galleries. We stayed in the Fox Hotel on Banff Avenue. We had been spoilt in Vancouver and although our room here was perfectly nice, it was not as roomy nor as bright, nor did it have a view. But there was plenty of added value - we had a perfectly adequate breakfast included, we were supplied with free bus passes (we made good use of these) and , best of all, was the subterranean hot pool, a welcome treat at the end of the day.

Dine Out

2010-05-17T16:12:00.003+01:00

I've already mentioned the food. We were very fortunate that Dine Out Vancouver, postponed this year so that the restaurants could make their money during the Olympics, was on throughout our stay. The Niece had done her research and we had great food in lovely restaurants at extremely good prices. We ate very well indeed every night and the food was always great value. Wine, however, was very expensive and the cost of the Ice Wine, from local BC vineyards, which I would like to have sampled, was prohibitive. Alcohol was nearly as expensive as books, the prices of which were truly shocking.

Image from Dine Out Vancouver's Facebook page

Weather permitting...

2010-05-17T15:54:00.001+01:00

Our diligent local guides took us in hand over the weekend, taking us to places outside the city that we would not otherwise have found. We started off in Fort Langley at the small outdoor museum, on the site of the Hudson Bay Company's first trading post in British Columbia. It's a compact site, with only a few buildings but it does have some interesting exhibits. It does convey something of the isolation and danger of the early trading post, but, having some knowledge of the desperate conditions people had left behind, you can see why they took the risk.

We spent a little time in the village of Fort Langley, ambling along the main street with its cafés and shops, before heading for the seaside town of White Rock where we did a little more ambling along the seafront and the boardwalk, before an exceptionally nice meal at 14981, an interesting fusion of Asian food and tapas.

On Sunday, we went to Deep Cove which was beautiful even in the persistent rain. But the weather was against us and we spent a good part of the day in the shops and the mall. This proved to be a wise move as it allowed my personal shopper to see that I was properly equipped for the freezing temperatures in Banff.

Art and Anthroplogy

2010-05-15T16:34:00.002+01:00

This was not the first visit to the Museum of Anthropology (the previous visit was in 1998 on a trip to the Pacific Northwest) and it was the one place I really wanted to go back to. The Museum has, like every other major cultural institution you can think of, just recently completed a major capital programme and reopened earlier this year. The main difference is the addition of a Multiversity area. This is essentially a public access collections resource facility, making available to visitors more items from the collection than can be accommodated in the exhibition areas. It's a great space and a great concept - pity then about the name, which is pretty meaningless.

The anthropological artefacts are world class but my favourite objects are the modern interpretations of the traditional themes, stunning works of art like the iconic Raven and the First Men, by Bill Reid, which remains the centrepiece of the collection, and the image that has stayed with me since my last visit to the city.

And I really enjoyed Gu Xiong's engaging installation Becoming Rivers, part of the Border Zones exhibit, two rivers, flotillas of tiny white boats, flowing along the outside of the building, meeting then merging and passing through a window, and at last following a single course, floating through the gallery, making good use of inside and outside space and really working as an idea.

We arrived at the Museum just in time to take the gallery tour, an excellent introduction to the highlights of the collection by one of the volunteers.

Coal Harbour Comfort

2010-05-15T14:48:00.002+01:00

The Coast Coal Harbour only opened in January and I kept rechecking Trip Advisor to see if anyone was actually staying there and was there any kind of a consensus about it. After a slow start, the reviews were really very good, apart from the inevitable moaner that every hotel gets, and the hotel ranking moved ahead of the other places we could afford. As it turned out the room was lovely, a corner room with lots of space and fabulous city views, particularly at night, up Pender Street. The location was ideal, a block from the waterfront downhill, a couple of blocks from Robson Street uphill, a walk along the waterfront to Stanley Park in one direction and Canada Place in the other. Staff were lovely, and we ate really well in the restaurant one night. We discovered the Café Villaggio, further along Coal Harbour, a little bakery café, with a view of the inlet, and we went there most days for breakfast. I can particularly recommend the cinnamon buns and also the scones, all freshly baked every morning. The walk there and back hopefully did moderate the calorie intake.

Waiting for the dust to settle

2010-05-15T14:29:00.003+01:00

We were not entirely sure that we would get our trip to Canada but in April the dust cleared (apparently), the airspace opened again and our flights to Gatwick and Vancouver were without incident. Indeed our flight to Vancouver landed early, and we whizzed through Baggage and Immigration, while the Niece was still making her way to the skytrain. Of course, the dust did return and we spent the last few days of the holiday watching BBC World (thus failing to avoid the election) and checking the Internet (thus confronted by the accumulating e-mails). And in the end, we were delayed on the way home, re-routed over the Pole, threatened with a diversion to Germany, held up at Baggage, taken aside at security, and then we discovered that we were too unfit to run to catch a plane at Gatwick. Although catch it we did, by the skin of our teeth and by walking very very fast at a coronary-inducing pace.

However, it was worth it. All the uncertainty, the rain in Vancouver and the freezing temperatures in Banff didn't matter in the end. We had a great time and put every day to good use. Many thanks to the Niece and her Significant Other for tour management, restaurant guide, route planner and personal shopper services, chauffeuring and sundry other activities - in short for making a return visit to Vancouver such a success.

Glenveagh

2010-04-15T10:06:00.003+01:00

Glenveagh is a testament to the Victorians' obsession with building Gothic piles in the most isolated and apparently inhospitable places. Glenveagh takes advantage of spectacular views, on a lovely day it is truly idyllic, but one can only marvel at the tenacity required to create an estate in such a remote location and the wealth to maintain it.

I have not been there for over twenty years. We went then in August, when I was unlucky enough to be bitten by one of the clegs (horseflies) which infest the place in the summer - I bore the scars of that encounter for a couple of years. April is much safer proposition and I left unscathed.

We negotiated a special pass for the car to get us all up to the castle, as two of our number could not have walked it and one of them was not allowed on the bus. We walked in the Pleasure Gardens and then the Walled Garden and down to the lake to take in the stunning views of Lough Veagh. To contradict Dr Johnson, it's both worth seeing and worth going to see.

Fanad Drive

2010-04-15T09:52:00.000+01:00

After Sunday lunch at the Waters Edge, to celebrate the 89th birthday, and a short siesta, we took the windy road north to Portsalon and on to the Fanad Drive. Above Ballymastocker Bay, we stopped, along with everyone else, to enjoy the view over the bay to Portsalon and beyond, before carefully making our descent down the steep switchbacks.

Life can be a beach

2010-04-15T09:24:00.005+01:00

When the sun shines in Donegal, there's no need to get on a plane. After a long hard, very cold winter (we could still see vestiges of snow on some of the hills) we could not have picked a better time to go to Rathmullan. Beach at the end of the garden, blue skies, sunshine from start to finish and just the sounds of the tide and the birds singing. There were a few people about on Saturday and Sunday but after that we had the place pretty much to ourselves.

We've nearly found the perfect holiday cottage. Next time we might move next door - for the better view, the conservatory and the downstairs bedrooms for those who can't cope with the wooden stairs to bed. Most surreal moment - clearing up the cornflakes from the garden before we left (you had to be there).

Subscribe by e-mail

2010-02-19T14:36:00.001Z

To make it easier to get the regular updates, I've added a new feature which allows you to subscribe via e-mail and get the latest blog posts directly in your e-mail. You can see it at the top of the right hand column.

Those of you who already subscribe via Feed My Inbox can continue to do so but, now that Feed My Inbox have introduced charges (if you subscribe to more that 5 blogs), I decided to look for a free alternative. This service is provided by Google so I'm reasonably optimistic that it will stay free.

Enjoy!

On board Britannia

2010-02-15T16:59:00.002Z

We headed off to Leith, once again on the trusty No 35 bus to its final destination at Ocean Terminal, where the Royal Yacht Britannia is berthed. It's now a major tourist attraction and is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of the docks area. I can't say that I had particularly high expectations but actually it's rather good and well worth the effort of getting to Leith. The weather was perfect for visiting, although very cold indeed on deck, and on a January Saturday , while we didn't quite have the place to ourselves, it was uncrowded. We did not have to compete for a table in the Royal Deck Tea Room. I imagine in the height of the season, it is packed to the gunwales and an altogether less appealing experience.

The exhibition and displays tell the story of the Britannia and its predecessors in an engaging way, the boat itself is immaculately maintained and the royal suites are decorated in the style of an English country house, circa 1953 and I was somewhat taken aback to find how much this was to my taste.

We've now been back two weeks, and it has taken me rather too long to get round to posting this time. So this will be the last instalment from the Edinburgh trip. I'll post occasionally perhaps over the next couple of months - the next big trip will be to Vancouver, the flights are already booked!

Burns at the Guid Crack Club

2010-02-06T14:33:00.000Z

In fact we missed Burns Night, although it does seem to be a bit of a movable feast as the hotel had at least one Burns Night during our stay. Not that we went.

Quite by chance, though, we did go to the Guid Crack Club at the Waverley Bar, just around the corner. On the advice of my friend Liz, a famous storyteller herself, we lunched at the excellent café at the Scottish Storytelling Centre at the John Knox House on the Royal Mile. There we saw a poster for the Guid Crack Club on Friday evening (it meets regularly on the last Friday of every month), advertising an evening of Burns and friendship. We went because, after a day's tramping about, it involved less effort than the Ghost Walk and was closer to the hotel than the cinema. Fortune rewarded us and we had a really enjoyable evening for the princely sum of £3 each and a drink from the bar. The connection with Burns was tenuous at times, the invited storyteller was not that great, but the contributions from the floor were all entertaining. I myself was not moved to get up and speak but my travelling companion did ensure that the side was not let down and was a palpable hit.

Turner in January

2010-02-06T14:01:00.003Z

The original plan was not to go in January - that was just the way things worked out. However, one of the benefits of the change of date was that we were able to see the Turner watercolours, which, in accordance with the terms of the original bequest, are only on display in the month of January. These New Year outings are a tradition in Edinburgh and Dublin, both beneficiaries of the Vaughan bequest. Vaughan originally made the stipulation to protect the works and although this is no longer necessary, the tradition bestows a special pleasure to the opportunity to view the paintings.

Turner's watercolours are luminous works of arts, the later ones in particular dazzle with colour and light. For anyone who has been to Venice his studies are wonderful evocation of place and mood, although it is invidious to single out any of the works. They are all a source of light, illumination and delight.

The Piazetta, Venice JMW Turner (1835 approx), National Galleries of Scotland

Edinburgh in the sunshine

2010-02-06T13:28:00.001Z

Given how awful the weather has been over the winter, we were exceptionally lucky during our three days in Edinburgh. Although it was very cold, the sun shone throughout and we saw neither rain nor snow. In short, it was perfect for a winter city break. We walked up and down the Royal Mile, over to Princes Street and down through the Grassmarket, a part of the city I had never seen before, and round the back of the castle.

We stayed in the Radisson Blu, a great location on the Royal Mile and a very comfortable room, at an affordable price. My review is on Trip Advisor

City Center

2009-12-27T10:37:00.003Z

City Center was still opening during our visit. It's a huge hotel, retail and residential project in the middle of the strip. Instead of themed hotels, they have employed, among others, Richard Foster and Daniel Libeskind, to produce cutting edge architectural designs, a world away from the pastiche buildings elsewhere. The buildings are stunning and you feel as if you have arrived in a completely different city. The project was conceived in better economic times and it is opening probably at the worst possible moment. You do wonder who will have the money to stay in the Aria with its 4000 rooms and shop in Crystal.

The only hotel which was open was the Mandarin Oriental where the introductory special rate starts at $525. We wandered in and were immediately outnumbered and outclassed by the staff. We did make it to the Sky Lobby on the 23rd Floor and as far as the Tea Lounge, where the views at night will be beautiful but in the daytime the parking lots and the air conditioning plant on the tops of the other buildings are a lot less inspiring. Our luck ran out in the Mandarin Bar, where they are still doing the fit out, and we were very politely asked to leave. I did start to find all the empty luxury oppressive and I wasn't sorry to go. It needs the buzz of people to make it feel inviting, and more money than I have to make you feel that you could hang out there on a regular basis.

Cracking the code

2009-12-26T10:15:00.000Z

Texters Anonymous in Las Vegas - two co-dependents getting their fix in the Venetian. These addicts are never knowingly without their mobile phones.

Thursday - must be Venice

2009-12-26T09:45:00.003Z

If you're not a gambler, then the point of going to Las Vegas is to enjoy the hotels and to have a good wallow in all the different styles. The hotels where we stayed (the Mirage, the Flamingo etc) are pretty boring in comparison with the newer ones. Downstairs you will never see the light of day - the focus is all on the business of gambling and there are no distractions. The themed hotels though are really entertaining - inside most of them there's still no natural light but you can wander the streets of Paris, New York, Venice and Rome bathed in an unearthly glow, popping into the cafés and shops. In the Venetian, you can take a gondola on the Grand Canal and have your coffee in St Mark's Square, or as we did, have a lovely lunch in a neighbourhood trattoria. Next day, have a drink in the Irish pub in New York. OK you're not really in Venice or New York but it's a pretty good facsimile - and great for a reunion when you've little chance of meeting up in the originals. The shops though are really expensive in all the hotels (how many branches of Louis Vuitton does one city need?) - the casinos must be subsidising the shops as we saw very few people actually parting with cash in any of them. But the Wynn Hotel did have a Jo Malone shop (lovely perfume if you don't recognise the name) and I was able to replenish my stocks.

Breakfast heaven

2009-12-22T20:56:00.004Z

I love to go out for breakfast and I learned to love it in the USA, the first time I went. We're still not set up for it here although there are a few places you can go - but it's not the same. As we were staying in different hotels, it made sense for those of us whose hotels were close to have breakfast together. The first three days we went to Denny's, an American institution as far as breakfast is concerned, and I overdosed on French toast, eggs over easy and bacon and generally wallowed in cholesterol. Loved it.

But on our last full day we broke with tradition and we had breakfast at the Terrace Pointe Café at Wynn's, at the other end of the culinary spectrum. Although we were really too late for breakfast, they very kindly let us order from the breakfast menu. This was a real indulgence but so worth it.

Jersey Boys

2009-12-22T20:19:00.002Z

There's not much on in Vegas in December. Bette Midler was in London, doing the rounds of British TV, and Love, Cirque du Soleil's tribute to the Beatles, was taking a break too. Cher did not appeal, and the report back from the fan who went, was not great - but he spoke better of Donny and Marie.

The more discerning among us went to see Jersey Boys. The music of course is great - that's a given. But the acting, staging, the choreography and the storytelling are also wonderful. I expected to enjoy it and I absolutely did. (The video shows the London cast.)

We also went to see Cirque du Soleil's Mystere show. Cirque du Soleil shows are all over Las Vegas and are obviously a licence to print money. I hoped to enjoy it but regrettably did not.

The Mirage

2009-12-22T18:58:00.002Z

We stayed at different hotels as we all had different deals, depending on where and when we booked. Ours was the Mirage, which turned out to be the best choice for our budget. Rooms were great and the beds were super comfortable - perfect if only my body clock had adjusted and I had managed even one night's sleep. And a great location, very close to the hotels like the Wynn and the Bellagio where we would have stayed if money had been no object.

You can tell the quality of the hotel by the level of noise in the casino as you plough through the slot machines and the poker tables on the way from the reception desk to the elevators. The plusher the hotel, the quieter the machines. The Mirage was pretty noisy but by no means the worst

Santa Claus is coming

2009-12-22T18:20:00.012Z

Of the hotels we saw, it was the Bellagio that really entered into the Christmas spirit. The Mirage, where we were staying, had a few garlands and baubles, and other hotels had even less. But the Bellagio had lovely Christmas scenes in their conservatory. My favourite though was the flying Santa at the soda fountain in the patisserie, where we went twice to indulge in the sorbets and icecreams. Not very seasonal I know but they were spectacularly good.

Six go to Las Vegas

2009-12-21T11:02:00.001Z

Finally, something new for the blog. Six people (four ladies who travel and hangers on), four hotels, three sets of flights - despite storms, cancelled flights and long,long journeys, we all met up in Las Vegas. Las Vegas has long been on my list of places to see and it didn't disappoint. It was unseasonably cold but most days the sun shone and it was crisp and bright, perfect winter weather for walking long stretches of Las Vegas Boulevard. I never touched a slot machine, although others did. I walked past rows and rows of them every day but found them completely resistible. When we arrived on Tuesday, there were not too many people about and the taxi driver told us that the recession was affecting the tourist trade, but by the end of the week the strip was full of people and the casinos were doing good business.

The joys of travel

2009-09-14T17:15:00.004+01:00

Some ladies who travel get quite jaded and can't be bothered getting out of the car.

Glencar between the showers

2009-09-14T16:44:00.005+01:00

It rained every day but not all the time. These photos were taken last Monday, on the road from Manorhamilton to Sligo, overlooking Glencar Lake and with Benbulben in the distance. There's a quality, which I love, to the light after the rain - makes the landscape liquefy and melt.

www.flickr.com

Blown about in Fermanagh

2009-09-12T12:24:00.005+01:00

I spent last weekend with various members of the family in Fermanagh, in a cottage on the mountain road between Garrison and Derrygonnelly. The wind howled, the rain poured and the house creaked - snow would not have been a surprise. The Indian summer turned out to be a monsoon.

However, there were compensations. There was the hot tub across the yard, to which we sprinted through the rain - me in my plastic mac. And I had my stack of library books to read (no reading in the hot tub I hasten to add) - I'm getting great value from the requests service at present. When there was a break in the weather, we had a wonderful view for miles as you can see from this photo - although only one of our number claimed to be able to see the surf at Bundoran. This was a stretch for both his eyesight and his credibility.

We stayed in Mountain Lodge - it was comfortable and certainly warm, too warm though as we know to our cost this is better than too cold. The hot tub really made it and has raised the bar for future rentals.

More blog housekeeping

2009-09-03T12:50:00.006+01:00

I've added Reactions boxes at the foot of each post. See below. This will appear on all posts. Click on whichever applies. Even if you're not ready to comment (I wish you would), you should find this an easy way to give some feedback. Try it out - at least I'll know if it works.

Away day on Rathlin

2009-09-02T16:59:00.014+01:00

I threatened to call this post the works outing. Linda and I went to Rathlin to spend the day with Jessica - this might have been a team building course, assuming the university could have been persuaded that it was work (always unlikely). Amazingly, given the travesty of a summer we've been having, we had a glorious day - the perfect day to see Rathlin at its very best. For those who don't know it, Rathlin Island lies off the Antrim Coast, with views of Scotland on a good day.

The boat trip out to the island was a much improved experience from my last visit, this time, on a new and faster boat, the trip only took twenty minutes. We had an excellent lunch at the Manor House, leased from the National Trust, another welcome improvement. We spent the rest of the time walking first on the southern tip of the island and then up at the Lighthouse, before visiting both churches.

One of my favourite things to do is to travel somewhere by ferry, preferably a small boat on a short journey, on a beautiful day if possible, and with great views thrown in. This was one to really appreciate - an idyllic day, breathtaking scenery, and great hospitality.

You can check out my photos on Flickr below. Pictures are worth a thousand words in this case.

www.flickr.com

Blog Housekeeping

2009-08-27T08:48:00.009+01:00

Since I added the Tag Cloud (that's the keywords at the top of the left hand column - the bigger the word the more relevant posts there are), I've realised that some of the links in the earlier posts no longer work. This particularly applies to the Madrid museums. I've gone back and refreshed the links where I can and deleted those that are gone for good. If you come across a link which does not work, please let me know!

And if you have problems loading photos and slideshows, it may be the browser you are using. Internet Explorer has its limitations and you may well find that it is worthwhile upgrading to Firefox. You can download this for free from the Web.

Titanic in Belfast

2009-08-19T18:04:00.010+01:00

While we were in Belfast to see the Tall Ships, we did the Titanic Walking Tour. Despite the pouring rain, this was hugely enjoyable. We had an excellent guide who walked us through the Titanic Quarter, which at present is a huge building site, to the only remaining original buildings on the site - the Harland & Wolff Drawing Office, the Pump House, a marvel of Edwardian engineering and to the dry dock, where Titanic was built. The Drawing Office is not on the regular tour but it did open to the public during the Tall Ships event, so this was a unique opportunity to see the building as it was. It is derelict now and won't be accessible again until after its restoration, when it will open as a hotel. The Pump House, however, is always open and both the building itself and the multimedia presentations are used imaginatively to tell the story of the shipyard at its high point.

It does seem ironic, to say the least, and perhaps in dubious taste, to put the Titanic, which after all sank on its maiden voyage, at the heart of a celebration of a great shipbuilding tradition and maritime heritage. But in Belfast, they don't let a small detail like the greatest sea disaster of them all stop them and the marketing slogan is "she was alright when she left here".

Click here or on the title to visit the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum's Titanic website.

Tall Ships

2009-08-19T17:16:00.006+01:00

I've been very sceptical of Belfast as a tourist destination (familiarity does breed contempt of course) but in fact it turns out to be pretty good. Chris and I went to see the Tall Ships and treated ourselves to an overnight stay in Malmaison, which was lovely and a bargain, always a winning combination. You can read my review on Trip Advisor. It was also a great location for the 45 Tall Ships, taking part in the transatlantic challenge race, docked on the quays on either side of the Lagan. The crowds were huge, reportedly 800,000 people over four days, streaming across the bridges and along the waterfront, queueing to get on the boats, packing the Continental Market and risking life, limb and the contents of their stomachs on the rides at the funfair. All this despite the pretty awful weather, as you can see from my photos on Flickr. After a very nice meal at the hotel, we walked back to the Odyssey to see the fireworks. By nine o'clock it had turned into a lovely evening, still with plenty of people about, enjoying themselves. You could have been in Barcelona on the Ramblas watching the nightly paseo. The riverside at night was lovely and you can see the huge potential of the waterfront as a destination for both tourists and locals.

It would have been even better to have been there for the Grand Parade of the ships, and to have seen them in full sail , but even so they were spectacular and we really enjoyed the whole event.

Ballycastle

2009-08-19T09:53:00.008+01:00

I had not intended really to post on this - my mother and I went for the day when Olive and Colin (and Lucky) were staying in a cottage on the North Coast. The weather was disappointing, as it has been for most of the last month, and we didn't do very much, other than walk on the beach. But the photos turned out pretty well and the coastline is lovely whatever the weather. What we lack here in architecture (and I suppose cultural destinations, for want of a better term), we are more than compensated by the beauty of the landscape - and the older I get the more I appreciate it.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

London Walks

2009-08-03T13:21:00.008+01:00

Even if you know London well, or think you do, there's a huge selection of guided walks to take you to new places and introduce you to the hidden history of the city. I've gone a few times now with Chris who has lived in London all her life (if you count 30 years in Potters Bar)and who still says the walks take her to places she has never heard of. This time we did the Ancient London walk which starts at Tower Hill Tube and wends it way through part of the City of London to Liverpool Street, taking in the remnants of the Roman wall, medieval churches and streets and the impact of the Reformation. You can listen to a short soundbite from this walk and it will give you a taste. We've gone with London Walks and as well as Ancient London, we've taken the Jewish Old Quarter Walk and a special group walk, Whitechapel Women. All of these have been around the East End and take you to a London which is still a world away from Oxford Street and the usual tourist haunts. In this part of London you'll find Brick Lane, the heart of immigrant London, Spitalfields, where the old streetscape still survives, and the Restoration churches of Wren and Hawksmoor.

To go further into the past try to visit 19 Princelet Street, an unrestored Huguenot silk weaver's house and Dennis Sever's House in Spitalfields, a time capsule which recreates the house as it might have been in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These are magical places, quite unlike any other museum or historic house you may have been to. Opening hours are very restricted so you will have to check the websites. But they are well worth the extra effort involved in organising a visit. It's a couple of years since I've been - both these places survive on a thread, so if you are interested, go soon.

This is the final post from my trip to London last month. I'll be adding some posts in a few weeks from closer to home

Greenwich

2009-08-02T09:33:00.003+01:00

On my last day in London, I went with Sally (by now I was staying with her and Ray) to Greenwich. We travelled down on Docklands Light Railway - one of the best journeys to make in Central London as so much of it is overground. At Stratford we could see the construction for the 2012 Olympics from the train, then on through Docklands down to Greenwich. I love the names of the stations on the way - Pudding Mill Lane, Bow Church, West India Quay, Canary Wharf, Mudchute (straight out of Dickens), Island Gardens and Cutty Sark.

Although it was raining when we got to Greenwich, by the time we had finished an excellent lunch in one of the cafés in the village, the sun was out when we toiled up the hill in the park (from where as you can see there are great views of the city) to visit the Ranger's House. This was the official residence of the Ranger of Greenwich Park, an honorary appointment for minor royals until 1902, and now owned by English Heritage. The house now contains the Wernher collection of medieval and Reniassance works of art, comprising paintings, porcelain, silver and jewellery. It's an interesting collection but quite an odd experience. The house and the collection have nothing to do with each other. The collection was left to the nation and it was decided comparatively recently to house it here. The house has very restricted opening hours and you can only visit it on a conducted tour. The doors are firmly locked when you arrive so you have to wait outside for it to open. At the set hour, the doors open briefly and if you are not quick enough getting through the door, it is firmly closed in your face - as it was with us, so we had to knock loudly to get in.

It is worth it, although I would advise visiting Greenwich's other attractions first. Greenwich itself is lovely and is a World Heritage Site because of its maritime history, and its royal connections. The architecture is beautiful, and you can visit the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, one of London's Royal Parks, as well as Greenwich Market.

Whistlejacket

2009-08-02T09:02:00.010+01:00

One of my favourite paintings, at the National Gallery or anywhere else, is George Stubb's portrait of Whistlejacket. This huge painting stretches from floor to ceiling and dominates the space. It is as impressive as any royal portrait (and as clever a piece of image making) by Velazquez or Van Dyck. I absolutely love it and I go just to look at it and the Turners which are in the same room, on the opposite wall.

I love the scale of it, the colour and sheen of Whistlejacket's coat against the neutral background, the power of his musculature, the drama of the pose and, above all perhaps, the knowingness of the look in his eye. Whistlejacket is caught for a moment on the canvas but never confined. Both the horse and the artist at the very height of their powers - a bravura performance, full of power and charisma.

Whistlejacket, about 1762, George Stubbs. National Gallery

Corot to Monet,with Turner thrown in

2009-08-02T08:34:00.012+01:00

Corot to Monet is an exhibition running at the National Gallery, it is subtitled a fresh look at landscapes and follows the development of landscape painting in the open air during the nineteenth century, principally in France. It's not a blockbuster exhibition and is drawn exclusively from the National's own collection. It is a very nice exhibit and I know that's damning with faint praise. The early rooms have paintings which predate Corot so you can see what he was leaving behind - and they are not very interesting. There are some good paintings by Corot, Boudin, Monet and others. There is a beautiful painting by Turner, the best thing in the exhibition - but I didn't understand quite why he was there in a narrative about the development of French landscapes and the Barbizon School. If we were looking at English influences on landscape, why not include Constable as well? I've just been watching Tim Marlow on Constable, and he makes a strong argument for him as a radical painter of landscapes , in the open air, and as a source of inspiration for the Impresssionists. All in all, not as illuminating as I had hoped for.

The National Gallery's June podcast visits the exhibition and tells you a little more about the Barbizon School.

The real bonus was that I went to the exhibition with Mary, whom I don't see very often - the last time was three years ago in New York. We enjoyed ourselves greatly, criticising the exhibition and wondering what the point was. Then we took ourselves off to the main galleries to marvel at the Turners there and to look at Stubbs.

The Beach at Trouville,1870, Monet. National Gallery.

Arcadia

2009-07-29T17:07:00.004+01:00

Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia has been revived for a short season in London. I saw the original production in the nineties at the National Theatre and as Chris, with whom I was staying over the weekend, had missed it first time, we went to see the new production at the Duke of York's Theatre. The publicity describes it as "Tom Stoppard's dazzling masterpiece", which is an ambitious claim and a hostage to fortune if it doesn't deliver. I remembered it as hugely enjoyable and as one of the wittiest plays I'd seen. It's no mean feat to make you think about intellectual concepts and make you laugh throughout. So I went with some trepidation in case it disappointed on second viewing. I need not have worried. It was as engaging and as provoking as before with another exceptional cast. Dazzling, on reflection, is a good word and maybe masterpiece is too.

Cast photograph, accessed 28/07/09, from the website http://www.arcadiatheplay.com/sights_and_sounds/

Imperial War Museum

2009-07-29T16:43:00.006+01:00

I've not been to the Imperial War Museum before either - at Waterloo, it's a bit off my normal track but I have been meaning to go for a long time, specifically to see the work of Eric Ravilious, who is a particular favourite of mine and who latterly was a War Artist until he was killed in action, which is why he is in the collection at the Imperial War Museum. As it turned out, there were very few of his paintings on current display so I was disappointed on that count. If you are interested, however, the IWM highlights his work in one of its online exhibitions Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities.

I didn't have a wasted journey by any means though. The current exhibitions are well worth visiting, particularly In Memoriam: Remembering the Great War and the Children's War which deals with the Home Front and the Second World War. Both of these exhibitions recount the poignant personal stories of loss and sacrifice - they are genuinely moving and exceptionally well staged.

Degas' Dancers at the Courtauld Gallery

2009-07-29T09:50:00.009+01:00

Despite all my years going to London this was my first visit to the Courtauld although I've known about it and its collection for years. Originally I was not that interested in paintings I suppose and then latterly my visits to London have been short and I've generally spent what time I've had at the big exhibitions. This I now conclude is really a mistake and there is more pleasure to be had looking at great art in a small setting without the hordes of people jockeying for a place in front of each painting.

The glories of the Courtauld collection are the Impressionist paintings - some of the truly iconic works by Manet, Renoir and van Gogh, and my favourites the Degas bronzes of the dancers, both the adolescent girls and the older sturdier women . You can see these for yourself, and sit in front of each of them for as long as you want, on the brilliant virtual tour of the galleries on the Courtauld website. For an insight into the dancers, and Degas' attitudes to the women he portrayed, watch the lunchtime gallery talk by students from the Courtauld Institute - it only takes about 8 minutes.

London

2009-07-27T19:50:00.008+01:00

I go to London a couple of times a year to see friends, look at paintings, and maybe see a play - in that order. So this time there will be no links to hotels or reports on Trip Advisor.

I also like to explore the city a little more each time. I've been going back and forth now for nearly 40 years (it's scary typing that in) and there will always be new things to see and places to go.

This is a photo of the Gherkin, 30 St Mary Axe, the most famous of the new buildings in the City of London. It is a gorgeous building and instantly recognisable - it's nicknamed the Gherkin for pretty obvious reasons. I've seen it often on the London skyline but this is the first time I've walked by it. There are lovely images of the building and the skyline on the Flickr Pool. St Mary Axe is a great address, and survives in the street name from the medieval parish of St Mary Axe which in turn derived its name from the church dedicated to St Mary and a nearby tavern with the sign of the axe, hence St Mary at the Axe.

Suffolk postscript

2009-07-07T13:58:00.004+01:00

Scenically Suffolk is not the most beautiful of English counties, but historically it is one of the most appealing. There are many lovely villages and a very distinctive architecture- the plastering, common to Suffolk's medieval buildings, can be seen clearly in this photo taken in Clare.

And that's it from Suffolk. All my photos are on Picasa if you want to have a browse. I'm also been experimenting with Flickr so you should also be able to find some of the same photos there - and I think they look better there although it took much much longer to upload them.

I'm off London in a couple of days so I will be adding more posts in a week or two.

Thomas Gainsborough

2009-07-07T10:26:00.005+01:00

John Constable is the painter most associated with Suffolk and we did intend to visit Flatford Mill but in the end did not make it. We visited Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich to see their collection of paintings by both artists but we were frankly disappointed - in terms of both quantity and quality.

However, Gainsborough's House in Sudbury, where Thomas Gainsborough was born, is delightful. The collection of paintings, drawings and etchings is well worth seeing and the house and garden have been beautifully restored. There is an active print workshop and the exhibition gallery hosts the work of contemporary printmakers.

Thomas Gainsborough Self portrait. National Portrait Gallery

Ickworth and the Earl Bishop

2009-07-07T09:47:00.005+01:00

We visited Ickworth House on a glorious summer day. Now owned by the National Trust, it was built by the Hervey family, perhaps one of the most dysfunctional families of the English upper classes. The Hervey principally responsible for the building of Ickworth was Frederick, the 4th Earl of Bristol. He was a younger son and succeeded to the title when he was already in holy orders and Bishop of Derry, and was known as the Earl Bishop. He had a great interest in architecture, building not only Ickworth but also Downhill, now a ruin and also owned by the National Trust. Frederick, despite being a bishop, was an agnostic, who supported complete religious equality, and he was a controversial and notorious figure in his day, something he shares with a fair number of his descendents.

Lavenham

2009-06-29T21:23:00.004+01:00

Lavenham is perhaps the most famous and unspoilt architecturally of the small medieval towns in England. It was a wealthy wool town in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and its ancient streets have survived mostly intact, with more than 300 listed buildings, many of them half timbered and some of them leaning perilously. The building on the left is the Guildhall of Corpus Christi (the medieval wool guild) in the Market Square and now owned by the National Trust.

The Scallop

2009-06-29T21:12:00.004+01:00

The Scallop is a beautiful sculpture by the artist Maggi Hambling and sits on the shingle beach at Aldeburgh. It is inspired by the music of Benjamin Britten, who lived in Aldeburgh until his death, and evokes both the music of the sea and the idea that music is for hearing. It's quite stunning, particularly in this setting so close to the North Sea. There has been local controversy about the sculpture but I just can't see what the objection could possibly be to such a lovely and appropriate piece.

Southwold

2009-06-25T13:06:00.005+01:00

The sun began to shine when we were walking around Southwold, adding to its charms - which are considerable anyway. Its historic pier has been completely restored, unlike the derelict or tatty ones you see in too many other resorts, Brighton for example. The beach huts alongside the pier are now highly desirable, with a market value out of all proportion to their size.

Southwold is an old-fashioned, traditional seaside resort that has very successfully capitalised on and updated its between-the-wars image - it could easily be the location for any Agatha Christie adaptation, and possibly has been. It's full of lovely self-catering cottages, some very nice, and quite expensive, hotels (if we could have afforded to stay in one, we would have) and a good selection of pubs and restaurants - it was half term when we were there, and the town was packed.

Image credit Katherine Hamilton Evening Falls, Southwold 2006 www.suffolkcards.co.uk

Dunwich and Orford.

2009-06-25T12:48:00.005+01:00

While we were based in Ipswich, we spent a couple of days on the Suffolk coast, visiting both Orford and Dunwich, where you can see clearly the extent of coastal erosion. Dunwich, an important town in the Middle Ages and the capital of East Anglia, is now barely even a hamlet, and the ruins of the old port are under the sea. Orford is even more remote, and on the windy day we were there, seemed very desolate. We could have taken the ferry from the harbour to Orford Ness, the Nature Reserve operated by the National Trust, but the prospects on such a day were not enticing.

A Night at the Theatre

2009-06-25T07:15:00.003+01:00

On our last night we went to a performance of The Comedy of Errors at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. This was a touring production from the Globe, and was fast, funny and hugely enjoyable and owed much to the Marx Brothers or the Three Stooges - or perhaps, more truthfully, showed just what they owed to Shakespeare.

As it was a Globe production, the staging was designed for the open air but at the Theatre Royal, it had to move indoors. This is a lovely Regency playhouse, very recently, and beautifully, restored. The building is both a historic building, owned and managed by the National Trust, and a working theatre with a busy programme. It's a charming and interesting building, which itself is a big part of the theatrical experience.

Textistas

2009-06-20T09:27:00.003+01:00

Forget about the postcards, this is how ladies who travel get their fix. This is Chris and Chris in the Angel Hotel, Bury St Edmunds.