Monday, August 2, 2010
Lastly, the trip home via Kamakura, Japan
Off to Japan on a pretty empty flight, which was lucky as all the boys could stretch out a bit for a sleep.
The boot is on the other foot, taking photos of tourists in Japan by friendly passers by. You might see that Henry's neck was sore from Rome. All fine now.
The giant buddha, washed off its wall by a tsunami in 1944 or there abouts. The temples around it were destroyed too.
As Tokyo was frightfully expensive and very busy, we thought an easier stop over was reqiured. So we took the fast train for 2 hours to Kamakura, an old village now co-joined to Tokyo. It was once the capital of Edo when the shoguns were the rulers of Japan for 300 odd years and outsiders were not allowed. The people were the friendliest we had yet met as a group. Complete strangers would come up to you and talk for ages about where you were from and then in detail about New Zealand. If they could only speak Japanese they were still very friendly. But even the cheap sushi bars were very dear! It was tropically warm and humid and after the first day it rained on and off. Still the umbrellas make a nice picture. No views of the volcanoes though.
A holiday within a holiday in Umbria
It was hot in Umbria, evidently hotter than you should expect. We had a lovely pool so it was quite hard to get in the car and talk George into visiting a church! It was lovely to be with Bronwyn and Andrew, Rachel and Ben and do some grown up talking and superb eating. We went paddling in Lake Trasimeno. It was as hot in the water and out as the lake is no more than 7m deep. The paddlers saw some dice snakes swimming about and catching fish. We looked forward to our home or THQ (temp. headquaters as Henry would have it) with the pool again. Incidentally the place we were staying at is for sale 1.25 million euros, 5 acres with pool and 8 bedrooms in two apartments. Interested anyone? Your own olive trees and bottling room. I don't seem to be able to find a picture of us swimming and eating and there was plenty of it too.
We did visit Assisi and it was a lovely sight. A slightly pinky/white hue of rock causes all the buildings to match. I have a tourist photo of the duomo in grey hues due to a patina of lead with buildings clustered round, the shutters were painted to match.Everything was very neat and tidy, with hardly any tourists. We had come to expect crowds, especially since it was the holidays then. George was impressed that St Francis church (San Francesco Basicilla) was two churches in one. The Giotto frescos of St Francis’s life were interesting and underneath the church is another church with his altar and tomb under that in the crypt. Sadly we bought our postcards after the crypt or we could have had them blessed for a small fee. We also visited the new Duomo church. It had a hole in the forecourt. (Glassed over) Underneath are roman ruins that became visible after an earthquake opened the ground. It was largely hollow underneath. The last church was St Clares or Chiara who met St Francis or Frank as he was back then and thought his renouncement of material things was all good. She started her own order for the women “the poor Clares” and was good at her work. So they built a church for her too when she died. It is a copy of the bloke’s one but not so well built in that they had to add extra large buttresses to stop it falling down. They also kept some of her hair and her clothes so it was fascinating to see her habits from 1253. The bascillica had frescos also in the Giotto style from his school of painters. But perhaps "The Church" was worried about the women getting too many art admiring visitors and they chipped off most of the art work!
Yummy Gelato
A horse display was visiting our town and they gave pony rides.
Another horse that doesn't make your eyes run was also popular.
Our landlord, Lucca has has own gourmet shop. The hams, salamis, mozzarella, and melons were great with free home grown olive oil and white truffles.The town was so warm and friendly. The sounds of the bells drifted to us on our hill with the views and the pool. It was delicious in every way.
A restaurant in San Gimignano where the owner was very friendly, but it was hot. We poured our own water down our shirts when he wasn't looking. Just a little bit to be sure. We tried to discuss excellent pizza making with his wife down in the hot room, but it was a bit tricky to understand.
San Gimignano has 14 of its original 76 13th century towers! Not only that but they have rebuilt the town from 1300 when it was in its heyday in a large room entirely accurately and out of ceramics. The associated displays and tour guide was brilliant. This is why the focus gives the scale away above.
A restaurant in San Gimignano where the owner was very friendly, but it was hot. We poured our own water down our shirts when he wasn't looking. Just a little bit to be sure. We tried to discuss excellent pizza making with his wife down in the hot room, but it was a bit tricky to understand.San Gimignano has 14 of its original 76 13th century towers! Not only that but they have rebuilt the town from 1300 when it was in its heyday in a large room entirely accurately and out of ceramics. The associated displays and tour guide was brilliant. This is why the focus gives the scale away above.
A licorice allsorts church again in Orvieto, shots below in the same town.
A study of death again
Another study. This was not a set up!!!!
Last Lunch in Citta Della Pieve, a wonderful time
Jazz festival night in our town
Last rays on a perfect holiday (except for the maths)
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Museums, all by the intrepid editor
The United Kingdom
Bristol
Here is the rabbit from one of Aardman's films, "the Curse of the Were Rabbit" with Wallace and Gromit. He was the size they used in filming, about 20 cm tall. The next photo shows his muscles so that when he moves, he looks real. The final photo shows they armature or frame
with the joints that can move. Henry really enjoyed this Science Museum because of the Aardman exhibit.
This sideways shot shows the sound shapes of Wallace's mouth.
London
We didn't have nearly long enough in London, there were so many amazing museums. It would be better to live there for a while and visit one every weekend.
Below are the Elgin marbles, stolen from Greece when under Turk control. They are on display at the British Museum. They used to be on the Parthenon. They were carved in 500 years BC, that is 2500 years ago.
Another few giant rooms held collections of Assyrian carvings. This culture is even older than the Greek one. This is part of a panel showing the king and his helpers going lion hunting. They took dogs and bows and arrows, many of them rode horses.
This is the British Museum from the outside, the architecture is classical and in front there was a display of hot climate plants.The most beautiful museum is the Natural History Museum. The building is made out of bricks. The columns and lots of other details have the most beautiful decorations. Animals and plants appear naturally or make incredible patterns.
Not only that but they have incredible dinosaur displays too. Spot the tourist taking photos with the Science Museum Shop carry bag. We bought some flying things and a mini microscope. There were so many great things you could buy. The flying remote control helicopters were something George and Max really wanted to bring home.
An Apollo landing craft.
Holland
In Amsterdam we stayed in our own museum, it was an old merchant's house (trader and salesman) from 1600. We slept in traditional bed cupboards with a curtain. Down stairs there were lovely paintings on the walls and ceilings as they had no wallpaper then.
Not only that but they have incredible dinosaur displays too. Spot the tourist taking photos with the Science Museum Shop carry bag. We bought some flying things and a mini microscope. There were so many great things you could buy. The flying remote control helicopters were something George and Max really wanted to bring home.
An Apollo landing craft.
I took this photo because it's the original model that Watson and Crick made of DNA. They managed to work out what deoxyribonucleic acid was like, it is the molecule that makes all living things work.
This is the Rocket, the very first steam engine. Below is another rocket from the modern age. There were so many amazing things in the London Science Museum. The display of steam and space were just a couple of outstanding rooms.
HollandIn Amsterdam we stayed in our own museum, it was an old merchant's house (trader and salesman) from 1600. We slept in traditional bed cupboards with a curtain. Down stairs there were lovely paintings on the walls and ceilings as they had no wallpaper then.The Van Gogh museum was on my list. We tried to find all the textures and colours he used.
France
Outside the Musee (Museum) d'Orsay was a sculpture of Durer's rhino print. Durer was great artist who drew and painted lots of lovely animals. For his rhino print he hadn't seen a rhino but was working from descriptions, so it is not quite right. Still it is pretty groovey! The Musee d'Orsay was really good. It was not too big but had impressionist paintings, a model of the theatre, and "Dante' and Virgil in Hell", which you could look up. It is truly horrific.
Aha! After some searching, I found this:
Bouguereau's masterpiece of dynamic composition, a scene from 'Dante's Inferno.'
In the Fifth Circle of Hell, on the banks of the River Styx, those damned for the sin of wrath fight each other through eternity, while the sullen and slothful languish helplessly. Dante and his guide through Hell, the ghost of the poet Virgil, observe from the left, while a demonic angel watches over all.
Outside the Musee (Museum) d'Orsay was a sculpture of Durer's rhino print. Durer was great artist who drew and painted lots of lovely animals. For his rhino print he hadn't seen a rhino but was working from descriptions, so it is not quite right. Still it is pretty groovey! The Musee d'Orsay was really good. It was not too big but had impressionist paintings, a model of the theatre, and "Dante' and Virgil in Hell", which you could look up. It is truly horrific.
From google... What is going on here????? Are they vampires?
They are not vampires, for one thing. You have to find out which canto from the poem that this painting illustrates to find out who these naked guys are and why they are fighting. They're in Hell...
Aha! After some searching, I found this:
Bouguereau's masterpiece of dynamic composition, a scene from 'Dante's Inferno.'
In the Fifth Circle of Hell, on the banks of the River Styx, those damned for the sin of wrath fight each other through eternity, while the sullen and slothful languish helplessly. Dante and his guide through Hell, the ghost of the poet Virgil, observe from the left, while a demonic angel watches over all.
Intrigued?
We couldn't take photos here.
The Louvre was once a palace and so the rooms are very lavish.
Here is the first glimpse of the Mona Lisa. We all thought it would be bigger. She seems so small in this enormous gallery, so you might be surprised to know that she is life-size. Mona Lisa or madam Lisa in English. She has plucked eyebrows, evidently it was all the rage and very fashionable. Evidently her eyebrows were plucked to make her forehead look very high. Yes this is fashionable bit! She doesn't have any eyelashes either. She is sitting in front of a strange landscape. As she looks about, she seems amused, she is smiling ever so slightly. It is this tender yet mocking expression that comes across so strongly, even through the thick safety glass. This was supposed to be Leonardo da Vinci's favourite painting. He kept it with him and finally it was bought by the King of France. Leonardo shapes the face by gradually fading from light to darkness. This "sfumato" technique is so good that there is not a single contour line on her. The peaceful expression was important in the Renaissance as a person's face was supposed to reflect the soul within. The painting was stolen from the Louvre in 1911. The thief was caught three years later when he tried to sell it in Florence, so now she is even more famous!
The Louvre from the outside.
Our visit to the Louvre was too short. You could spend days there if you could keep up the interest level. We kept George and Max interested by studying a few paintings from the Renaissance by some famous artists. This one is the biggest one there at 70 m². It was painted for a monastery so the monks would gaze upon it and think about Christ's first miracle, when Jesus turned water into wine! There are 130 guests at the banquet. The main characters are in the foreground, there is a newlywed couple on the far left, she is wearing blue and white. These paintings had lots of symbols and in them. So the blue and white dress represents faithfulness and purity. The artist painted several religious symbols on an invisible vertical line through the centre of the painting. This is where we find Jesus, he has a halo. He is also the only person looking directly at us so we know he is very important. On the right is Mary. Above Jesus we see some butchers cutting up a lamb, this represents Christ's sacrifice and death later on. There is a jug of wine above them that symbolises the blood that will be shed. On the table is an hourglass, showing the unstoppable passage of time. Lower down there is a dog gnawing on the bone another symbol of death. Together these clues tell us that Jesus is the one who has performed a miracle and that he will be sacrificed. You can see that Mary looks very sad. Our photo is not a very good one, so look up "The Wedding Feast at Cana" if you are interested. It is by Paolo Veronese. See if you can find the hidden clues.
The Louvre was once a palace and so the rooms are very lavish.
Here is the first glimpse of the Mona Lisa. We all thought it would be bigger. She seems so small in this enormous gallery, so you might be surprised to know that she is life-size. Mona Lisa or madam Lisa in English. She has plucked eyebrows, evidently it was all the rage and very fashionable. Evidently her eyebrows were plucked to make her forehead look very high. Yes this is fashionable bit! She doesn't have any eyelashes either. She is sitting in front of a strange landscape. As she looks about, she seems amused, she is smiling ever so slightly. It is this tender yet mocking expression that comes across so strongly, even through the thick safety glass. This was supposed to be Leonardo da Vinci's favourite painting. He kept it with him and finally it was bought by the King of France. Leonardo shapes the face by gradually fading from light to darkness. This "sfumato" technique is so good that there is not a single contour line on her. The peaceful expression was important in the Renaissance as a person's face was supposed to reflect the soul within. The painting was stolen from the Louvre in 1911. The thief was caught three years later when he tried to sell it in Florence, so now she is even more famous!
The Louvre from the outside. Italy
This is the apartment we stayed on in Florence. It was probably the best place as there was lots of room, it was very smart, and very reasonably priced. Even better were the paintings. Every wall had paintings by Alexander Schlatter. You can't google this artist, as all his paintings are kept by the family. We forgot to take many photos but in the next one, you can see a stuffed cat. The owner like stuffed animals!
We were on the lookout for work by Michelangelo, this is one of his pieces of work, but it was never finished. Here is Christ, just taken down from the cross, held by the two Marys and and another chap whose name I have forgotten. However this man is supposed to be a self portrait of Michelangelo. It was never finished because he found a flaw in the marble in Jesus's leg. He hated the black marks that would appear in the marble occasionally as he chiselled into it, so he chopped these bits out and just stopped. This was later finished by one of his pupils but the leg of Jesus and Mary's arm are missing.
Brunelleschi's dome has already been mentioned under the Churches Post. But in the duomo museum the were amazing models and drawings that have been submitted for the competition to build the dome. There was also a display showing the beams and tools used to build the Dome. Since the dome was so far off the ground they could not use scaffolding so Brunelleschi inserted huge wooden beams into the Dome as it grew. You can still see some of the holes from when the beans were removed. He was the first person to invent safety rails to reduce the number of deaths. He also had a cafe up there so that the workers didn't need to come down to lunch. Since it was Italy, I guess they also had beds for an afternoon siesta!
One of the best Museums are we visited in Florence was La Specola, a museum from 300 years ago and attached to the University. Here were huge numbers of stuffed animals in ancient cases. And most famously, some of the 1500 anatomical wax models that they have are on display. These were built to show students dissections. Each has a diagram of labelled parts to go with it. The largest onesreclined upon silk cushions. They were absolutely incredible, in fact they were so graphic that Henry felt a bit faint at the end.
The Estruscans were a culture similar to the Greeks that came before the Romans. This pot looks very Greek, it shows horses in that classic Greek pose with their legs all extended. Interestingly, the artists of Le Chauvet caves from ages ago had a better idea of how horses moved.
Another Etruscan artefact from the same museum in Orvieto, a town in Umbria. I really liked this little (sea) horse figure.
This is the apartment we stayed on in Florence. It was probably the best place as there was lots of room, it was very smart, and very reasonably priced. Even better were the paintings. Every wall had paintings by Alexander Schlatter. You can't google this artist, as all his paintings are kept by the family. We forgot to take many photos but in the next one, you can see a stuffed cat. The owner like stuffed animals!
We were on the lookout for work by Michelangelo, this is one of his pieces of work, but it was never finished. Here is Christ, just taken down from the cross, held by the two Marys and and another chap whose name I have forgotten. However this man is supposed to be a self portrait of Michelangelo. It was never finished because he found a flaw in the marble in Jesus's leg. He hated the black marks that would appear in the marble occasionally as he chiselled into it, so he chopped these bits out and just stopped. This was later finished by one of his pupils but the leg of Jesus and Mary's arm are missing.
Brunelleschi's dome has already been mentioned under the Churches Post. But in the duomo museum the were amazing models and drawings that have been submitted for the competition to build the dome. There was also a display showing the beams and tools used to build the Dome. Since the dome was so far off the ground they could not use scaffolding so Brunelleschi inserted huge wooden beams into the Dome as it grew. You can still see some of the holes from when the beans were removed. He was the first person to invent safety rails to reduce the number of deaths. He also had a cafe up there so that the workers didn't need to come down to lunch. Since it was Italy, I guess they also had beds for an afternoon siesta!
Florence had more treasures than any place. Partly, this is due to the Medici family, who spent huge amounts on art. One of the things Henry really wanted to see was David. Michelangelo's original David is in the Galleria dell' Accademia . Henry and I (ed) queued from 8.15am for an hour to get into the gallery but he was fantastic. You cannot take any photographs. We didn't do too many more early Christain art or Reannaisance paintings there, but I especially enjoyed an exhibition about bedroom art. The paintings found on bed chests and their choice of stories depicted were all cautionary tales for women who should know how to behave. (Lucky old chaps eh!) Florence was lovely and cool early in the morning. There are two copies of David, this one looks over the city. From here the views were beautiful.
The Estruscans were a culture similar to the Greeks that came before the Romans. This pot looks very Greek, it shows horses in that classic Greek pose with their legs all extended. Interestingly, the artists of Le Chauvet caves from ages ago had a better idea of how horses moved.Another Etruscan artefact from the same museum in Orvieto, a town in Umbria. I really liked this little (sea) horse figure.
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