just for fun.

brugge.

2010-05-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

brugge (english spelling bruges), an hour train ride away from brussels, is an absolute gem of a city. i loved it, even despite the annoying drizzle.

markt, the central square.

belfort. a 13th century belfry, whose 47 bells sill chime today.

the wooden facaded hotel was featured in the movie "in bruges" starring colin farrell. maybe i'll watch the movie now.

beautiful canal.

medieval looking arched pathway.

in order to make the most of my few hours there, i decided to take a canal tour to orient myself.

on the left is one of the oldest bridges in bruges from the 13/14th century. the red flags on the right are part of the parade celebrating May Day, the day of the socialists.

stepped gables, typical architecture style of 17th century in the low countries.

fierce magenta facade.

court of justice.

so many swans.

tiny tiny neo-gothic window.

during the entire tour, i couldn't help but be impressed by our tour guide who explained everything in 4 different languages! dutch, french, english and german. by the sounds of it he sounded fluent in the first three! can't wait to learn another language, probably french.

after the 40 minute canal tour, i headed to the....

the chocolate line, famous chocolatier in bruges. and yes, i got chocolate from here as well.

cafe on the canal, and a small, tree-lined antiques market on the right.

cute street sign that is only in flemish, since bruges is primarily flemish city. street light & statue of virgin mary.

bruges is known for its lace work, but nowadays only a very small minority of it is actually handmade in the city.

entrance to beguinage.

"the flemish beguinages are a unique testimony to the medieval mystical movement which produced them. beguines were 'religious women', widows or spinsters who wished to live an independent but committed life outside the recognised orders with their vows of fidelity and poverty. they organised themselves in a self-supported 'cities of peace.' to this day, the bruges beguinage retains a religious and social function. today, it is home to benedictine nuns."

"city of peace"

the trees beautifully leaning towards the small church.

walplein sq.

i know these shots may be getting redundant, but i just love this look of the city!

brouwerij de halve maan. (brewery of the half moon)

brewery that operated from 1856 to 2000, then it was revived in 2005. the same family has been brewing for 6 generations, and it is the only remaining brewery in the city center. i took a tour of the brewery!

after drizzling on and off, it started pouring heavily as soon as i stepped into the brewery. so, perfect timing on my part.

restaurant that's attached to the brewery.

old bottling machine

different types of malt (i really wish i understood the art of brewery better.) old wooden crates with the "henri maes brugge" seal.

beautiful aerial view.

ugly, new concert hall that sticks out in the uniform cityscape like a sore thumb.

old fermentation tanks.

new fermentation tanks.

retro beer cans!

and at the end of the tour, we each got a pint of the signature bruges zot blond beer brewed here. it was absolutely delicious. after 3 months on europe, i've finally come to actually like beer.

i could have easily spent another couple hours in bruges walking in the park, along the canals and also looking at a couple museums. but, I wanted to see another museum in brussels, so i decided to head back.

my last shot of bruges on my way back to the train station. the beer definitely made it easier for me to fall asleep during the train ride.

I wanted to see the rene magritte museum, the ultimate and most comprehensive homage to the belgian surrealist painter. but, it was closed on may 1st, so i headed to the BELvue museum, which covers the history of belgium since its independence in 1830. I spent a very enlightening hour an forty minutes there. learned a lot about belgian history and its monarchy.

yellow waffle & icecream truck on mont des arts.

afterwards, a spectacular view from mont des arts. classic architecture framed by modern buildings on each side. the left is the national library of belgium.

as i was passing by this area at 6, the bell on top of the building started ringing. the man statue had a stick in his hand, and he struck the bell to ring it.

bustling rue du marche aux fromages, early saturday evening.

my last shot of grand place.

my final shot of brussels and belgium. mobs of people on rue de charles buls, heading to see the mannekin pis. here, i had my last waffle to conclude my fantastic two days in belgium.

brussels

2010-04-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

i'm writing this post, unbelievably content after an amazing day in brussels, eating a piece of milk&white chocolate covered in strawberry glaze.

i started the day off by joining an organized bike tour of brussels.

first stop. grand place.

grand place is the old medieval "downtown." this is where the 48 guilds (trade unions) of brussels was gathered. so, these flemish-baroque are old guild offices that were burned down and rebuilt between 1696 - 1698.

the semi-wide building with the greendome, flanked by a statue, was the baker's guild office. now it's the headquarters of InBev, the largest brewery in the world.

brewer's guild.

the white chapel-like structure is the town hall. however, it was built in parts in two different times so it's asymmetrical. the left wing is much longer than the right.

so, the architect used some tricks to mask the asymmetry (thought not very successful). first, the arcades on the right are wider to make that wing seem wider. second, the entrance to the town tall is much closer to the left in order to widen the right side.

afterwards, we proceeded on our bikes to....

manneken pis, symbol of brussels. one of the myths surrounding this statue is that it's commemorating a boy who extinguished a huge fire in brussels by peeing on it. i forget the "true" story, but the important thing is that every now and then it's wearing a costume. in fact, the museum of brussels has thousands of outfits that it has worn during the past years.

on our way up towards marolles. i didn't know this but brussels is a major cartoon city. apparently, it has the highest concentration of cartoonist per capita (not sure how you measure that statistic). some major belgian cartoons include TinTin and The Smurfs. so, walls with cartoon murals are ubiquitous in the city.

marolles used to be a very poor area, but as it happens in most cities, it's becoming very hip, trendy and posh. this area is largely flemish because it's become more and more expensive to live here. (more on the flemish and french dynamic later)

view from marolles, the highest point in brussels.

palais de justice. this is a court building, but it's closing down within the next year for several reasons: impracticality (too huge to be of any effective use), expensive to maintain, insecure (three prisoners have escaped from here in the past year, while they were waiting to be tried), and finally there's apparently no way to cost-effectively/efficiently heat the complex. no clue what it'll end up being used for.

beautiful sablon square.

statues representing the 48 guilds, (they're everywhere!)

my bike @ sablon square.

the white marble status on the right corner (holding a ball) is gerardus mercator. he invented the first comprehensive and scaled atlas, and he also invented and standardized all the symbols of maps (like the cross for hospital etc etc)

then, on our way towards the EU quarter one of the bikes had mechanical issues, the PEDAL CAME OFF. so our guide sara had to scramble to get a new bike for the person while we stalled for about 15 minutes. but, all worked out because around 12:30 we headed to get the famous belgian frites!

at maison antoine! one of the two most popular frite stands in brussels.

classic large fries with mayo for lunch (couldn't finish all of it, or else i would've felt sick biking). i say, anything double-fried is absolutely fantastic.

while eating my fries, i chatted with a couple on their honey moon and a junior from washu in st. louis, who's also spending a semester in london at king's college.

after a nice frites lunch, we headed to the EU quarter.

European Parliament building.

glass monstrosity. here's the most ineffective thing you've probably ever heard. the EP is held in two different cities, in brussels and in strasbourg, france. neither of the cities are willing to give up their housing the EP, so on a weekly week, the 780+ MEPs alternate meeting in strasbourg and brussels. complete waste of energy, money and time. (i already knew this from my EU class. also, thanks to my EU class, i was the only one on the tour to know that the EU has 27 Member States! woot woot!)

brussels gate. it was here that we talked about the fact that belgium DOESN'T HAVE A GOVERNMENT RIGHT NOW!!! the prime minister resigned a few days ago, as have the past two prime ministers during the past two years......this is due to the constant tension between the flemish and french constituency in belgium. belgium is officially bilingual.

belgium is divided into 3 sections. Flanders in the north where they speak dutch, Wallonia in the south where they speak french, and a german portion in the far east. this all gets very iffy because french-speaking people hold most of the government positions even though they only constitute a third of the population. BUT, the flemish people, who are underrepresented, constitute 60% of the population and are the richer population. so, the government has perpetual difficulty balancing the flemish and french constituency. in fact, there's constant talk about the possibility of belgium splitting into two. but, I'd personally like them to stay unified because i think it's fantastic to have two language co-exist so beautifully.

parc de bruxelles, one of the many pretty parks we biked through.

palais royal in the royal quarter.

brussels cathedral, our last stop in the bike tour.

overall, the bike tour was only satisfactory, not spectacular. It was great that we got to cover so much ground in 3.5 hours. also, it was fun riding through the cityscape, feeling the wind in your face. these are some of the negatives. firstly, the guide was very new and today was only her second tour so she wasn't as knowledgable, suave, or comfortable giving the tour. however, i once was an inexperienced tour guide (for exeter and nyu) myself, so i empathized with her. second, we didn't have enough photo opportunities so I missed a lot of things i'd have liked to record, but i took many mental pictures. finally, it made me realize that i am possibly the least graceful person on a bike. you'd think i could manage biking through a relatively flat city, but no. i embarassed myself multiple times so i don't think i'll be going on anymore bike tours.

in order to make myself feel slightly better about being so ungraceful, i bought myself a waffle. it was delicious and it instantly made me feel better.

mont des arts.

musee royaux des beaux-arts. including the ancient art, by which they mean 15th - 18th century art, not ancient greek or egyptian. and modern, meaning 19-20th belgian art.

venus et l'amor by lucas cranach l'ancient. 1531. love this piece, whose artist was previously unknown to me. story: cupid came crying to his mom venus after having been stung by bees while stealing honey. then, venus told him sth along the lines of "loves wounds will sting more."

elongated body in the gothic style. and look at venus' demonically coy smile, while being "covered" in a translucent veil.

rubens room! didn't know peter paul rubens spent most of his life in antwerp, belgium. also didn't know that hispieces were so ginormous.

cool surrealist piece by salvador dali. elephants on spider thin legs. after a good hour and half at the museum, i simply wandered around to explore.

place du grand sablon, where i went chocolate sampling at all the chocolatiers that are concentrated on this little square.

interesting pairing at an antiques shop.

pierre marcolini, one of the more posh chocolatiers in brussels.

i got 8 pieces of chocolate here. 2 of each of: earl grey praline, pierre marcolini dark chocolate, strawberry glazed white & milk chocolate, and another not delicious enough to remember. of course, i finished all of them during the afternoon and had the last piece just now.

hodgepodge of architecture throughout brussels. some parts are really beautiful, and some are ugly. the different quarters all have their distinct look. grand place is flemish-baroque. the royal quarter is neo-classical with modern art buildings. marolles is almost rundown. and the north & EU quarter is disenchantingly manhattan-like, and quite ugly.

street signs with both french and dutch, but the french is always on top. love bilingualism!

cartoon mural mocking the mannekin pis.

frites stand in front of st. catherine church.

one of the last standing original, very modest, friteries.

bilingual metro sign in the north of the city, near the moroccan quarter. there wasn't too much to see. another area becoming gentrified.

grasmarkt

back to grand place before sunset.

petite rue des bouchers & rue es bouchers . little street packed with tourist-trappy seafood restaurants, but i craved the famous mussels, so i went into the cutest looking one i could find.

brussels mussels, frites and belgian beer. what better way to end a day in brussels. that pot of steamed mussels was absolutely delicious!! interestingly, the waiters kept referring to me as "lady." "lady, you want beer?" they'd ask. what? it was a tad awkward. but, after i told them i was from new york they called me "new york." slightly better. but, when i said new york, one of them asked "what part? new jersey?!?" haha. those belgians need to brush up on their geography, but my guess is the americans no far less about european geography. also, one of the waiters asked me if i had an email address, but didn't ask me for it. awkward but cute.

today, i saw a lot of brussels, both the charming and the super industrial parts. i kind of wish i was wiser with my time, so i could've seen another museum rather than being disenchanted after walking through the manhattanesque area. but oh wells. also, i probably overdid my daily suggested calorie intake by 500%, but how else was i supposed to experience brussels?

all in all, great day. I mean, really, how can you go wrong with a day in a city known for its fries, waffles and chocolate?!

(these blogposts are taking me forever. are they supposed to take this long?)

April 21 - 25th; week in review.

2010-04-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

i had a fantastic 5 days and would love to share them in this concentrated blogpost.

Wednesday. 21/04 (this is how they write dates in europe)

I went to St. Aloysius again for the first time since spring break. though i hadn't seen them in 2 weeks, the kids were all very happy to see me. this week's theme seemed to be life in the sea, so i helped a few children decorate and color construction fish. except, not many of them were excited to do it, so i was a little hurt when they unabashedly told me that they didn't want to do the activity with me. afterwards, i went to out recess with the kids for the first time. i usually take my coffee break then, but since the weather was so beautiful i decided to go play with them. they were all running around like crazy, so i just sat on one of the benches and watched them play, and periodically kids in my home room would come show me something or ask me to help them with riding the wooden train.

in the middle of recess, something absolutely bizarre happened. one of the slightly older boys from another homeroom looked at me and screamed "go back to america!" multiple times while running around. it made me speechless and left me dumbfounded. it was my first seemingly anti-american sentiment that i've felt since i've been in london, and it came from a 8-yr old. i had no idea what to think. i could've easily brushed it off as a silly comment from an immature little boy, but it's left quite an impression on me.

after recess, i experienced quite a charming culture shock. the class had gathered for an impromptu 'show and tell.' one of the boys sheepishly stood up, hiding something behind his back. then, he proudly whips out a bear key chain. so, ms. raggio enthusiastically reacted "oh, it's a bear." the boy turns to his teacher and says "no, it's not a bear. it's an ARSENAL bear." all of a sudden, all the 5-yr olds in our classroom starts rowdily chanting "ARSENAL! ARSENAL!" (arsenal is football team that originates around the king's cross area) in response, ms. raggio jokingly says "nah, i think chelsea's better because i'm from east london." the children passionately disagreed proudly showing their local team loyalty. such strongly loyalty to football and to their local team at such a young age showed me how football is so deeply embedded in british culture.

at 11am, i walked out of the classroom to a beautiful day and decided to grab lunch. I had previously looked up this cafe/breadshop called gail's bread that serves great freshly made natural bread. it was in hampstead, an area i'd never been to so i decided to walk there knowing that it'll take me at least an hour.

from euston station i started walking northwest towards hampstead. on my way i passed through camden, and this familiar area helped me connect two seemingly isolated parts of london.

pastel colored houses

uphill towards hampstead

north london, leading to hampstead heath is very residential and has beautiful architecture.

cute little creperie with a sign in french!

hampstead!

finally, after about an hour and twenty minute stroll I arrived at Gail's Bread!! no tourists. just a local bakery. so many different kinds of loaves of fresh bread! amazing sandwich on mixed olive bread. yummmm

Thursday. 22/04

my one thursday class was cancelled, so i slept in and spent most of the early afternoon working on a paper. then, around 4:30 i headed out to attend the annual Shakespeare lecture at the British academy near the river, south of piccadilly circus. The british academy was founded in 1902 in order to promote the humanities. The only reason i attended was because my Shakespeare professor, Michael Hattaway, was giving the prestigious lecture that night. He spoke on the subject of "Shakespeare & Fairies" unfortunately, much of his lecture was stuff he already talked about in our class, so it was very repetitive. so, i enjoyed the lecture much more in ambiance than content. about a 100 people showed up, and my favorite part was the reception afterwards where we were offered wine. felt particularly intellectual attending an event at the british academy. afterwards, my friend from the class and i went out for italian and hung out for quite a while.

then around 9:30, i headed for Stansted airport for pick up my friend DANA, who was visiting from florence, italy!!! we were both super nervous that the volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajokull volcano in iceland would cancel her flight, but thankfully flights started resuming mere hours before her flight! i got there at 11:30 when the flight was supposed to get in, but of course, it was delayed. Dana finally came out through the arrival gate at 1, and though i was tired I was so excited to see her and just glad that she was able to make it through the volcanic ash.

Friday. 23/04

only after a couple hours of sleep, dana and i were ready to start the day bright and early. the first stop, the british museum! Dana is absolutely in love with ancient greek art, and she has been dying to see the elgin marbles from the parthenon since forever ago. i had saved the elgin marbles to see with her, so i was equally excited. what's interesting is that dana was the first one to tell me about the debate surrounding elgin marbles, and got me thinking about cultural property. so it was perfect that we'd get to see it together. we walked around the egyptian and roman sections for a while, then went on a 30 min free tour of ancient greek art that covered greek pottery and the very first sculptures. then, we went on our own to see the ...

ELGIN MARBLES from the PARTHENON

one of the most complex compositions of the elgin marbles. unique v-shape

absolutely beautiful.

gown clinging to the figure's body! the ruffles are unnecessarily plentiful so it's not naturalistic. but they accentuate the delicacy and sensuality of the figure

sculptures from the pediment.

we spent a good half an hour in the parthenon room, completely awestruck. greek sculptures like these always make me wonder if this level and kind of craftsmanship if completely obsolete and irrelevant today. the medium of marble is not very common, and the perfect human anatomy does not seem to be artists' priorities these days. i'd love to see a contemporary artist following greek ideals.

our motto for the weekend was "we can do whatever we want." we didn't set any particular agenda, but we just simply played things by ear, going with the flow. not stressing out about cramming every landmark tourist spot into 48 hours, but simply soaking in london that i know best.

since we were hungry for lunch, we headed to covent garden, which is my favorite area of london. we grabbed delicious pie, and sat at st. paul's piazza watching a rather terribly awkward street performer.

dana loved her butternutsquash and goat cheese pie. mmmm...

then went through soho, and spent a couple crazy hours in topshop at oxford circus. what's perfect was that the entire went on sale just in time for dana's arrival. then walked down beautiful regent st. towards piccadilly circus, trafalgar sq. and finally to westminster to see parliament and big ben.

yay now i have a picture of me and big ben. proof that i've studied abroad in london.

westminster abbey.

we crossed the westminster bridge to southbank and walked northeastwards along the thames. it was just as exciting for me because i had yet to do that. got to see a lot of cool things like the southbank center, and new views of london from the south of the thames.

cool graffiti covered skate park on southbank. oh, gotta love the british punks.

lovely dana & me

cool new area called gabriel's wharf. very boardwalk-esque open area with a bar crowded with peoples. would love to come back for dinner and to hang out at night. after an hour-long walk along the thames, we headed over to brick lane to meet with one of dana's friends for amazing indian food....food coma.

we covered most of central london on foot, and i surprised myself in knowing all the paths and areas as well as i do. tiring, but productive, day.

saturday. 24/04

on our way to tate modern in the morning, we stumbled upon borough market, one of the places i've been meaning to check out! it's this cool farmer's market under a bridge right next to london' bridge underground stop.

so many different kinds of olive oil!

one of the best things ever in borough market. this is a cheese sandwich stall. what they do is that half half-tubes of cheese sitting under fire, so the exposed surface of the cheese is sizzling and that's what you get on your sandwich with rocket and other delicious stuff. must try the next time i go back.

spent the morning at the tate modern. saw a fantastic exhibition on theo van doesburg and the international avantgarde, including some stuff about the bauhaus. there, we bumped into katie, dana's friend from italy and we headed to camden together.

camden is another one of my favorite spots in london, as is for many other college students. my favorite thing about camden is not the shopping, but the food there!! cheap street food from tons of different cuisines, and so many different kinds of desserts. had a fantastic lunch there and spent a couple hours afterwards walking around shopping at vintage, second hand stores.

after camden we were planning on going to the national gallery, but we were too tired and didn't want to stress ourselves out with sight seeing. so we headed straight to leicester sq to buy tickets for les miserables on the west end theatre district. we spent the interim two hours chatting at milk bar, and walking around soho.

then at 7:30 we headed to queen's theatre to see les miserables, the MOST EPIC SHOW EVER!! i've seen a couple broadways in new york, but everything i've been before pales in comparison. the music, acting, set design, story. everything was perfectly beautiful, and i cried multiple times during the show. whereas other shows were spectacular entertainment, les mis left me speechless and genuinely moved me. watching les mis with dana on saturday night in london was probably one of the best decisions ever.

after the show, we grabbed thai food, which is not available in florence like most cuisines. and that was the end of our perfect weekend. we were extremely lucky to have been blessed with beautiful weather for the weekend as well.

showing dana around london got me excited about london all over again, especially because together we stumbled upon areas/sights that are new to me as well. but playing tour guide made me realize that i know london pretty well, and i have my london with my favorite spots and etc. also, both of us, having studied abroad, are determined to go back to nyc with the same exploring mentality. there's so much to see in manhattan alone, and my being in london made me realize that i'm not quite the new yorker that i thought i was.

sunday. 25/04

dana and her friends had to get an early flight, so i dropped them off at the bus station at 8am. not wanting to come back to my room, i grabbed coffee and started reading my book lewis carroll's "through the looking glass." as soon as the bus left and i stepped into the cafe, it started raining as if to reflect my mood. but by the time i left, it stopped raining so that I could walk through hyde park.

took the tube to lancaster gate on the northern edge of hyde park/kensington gardens, and near the giant serpentine lake. thankfully, the drizzle had stopped so i was able to stroll along the water in the peace and quite of sunday morning. few runners, dog-walkers and lots of birds chirping, and a slight mist blanketed the park.

so many birds

the main reason i came to hyde park this morning. to see the richard hamilton exhibit at the serpentine gallery that ends today. richard hamilton is a painter/collagist, and he famously coined the term pop art. i thought the exhibit would feature his famous collages, but instead it was a handful of images dealing specifically with representation of conflict. it was interesting, but not what i had expected. it was a good fifteen minutes in the gallery especially considering it was free. i felt particularly cultured, going to a small gallery on a sunday morning when only two other people were there. very, almost intimidatingly, quiet. made me focus on the images more.

along the serpentine

all in all, beautiful weekend that has left me with absolutely no motivation to do work. but i'm ok with that.

vienna!

2010-04-25T04:02:00.000-07:00

i know it's late, but here's my blogpost about vienna, my favorite city from my spring break, or perhaps even europe in general.

on the morning of april 7th (wow, can't believe it's been that long), i took an early morning train from prague to vienna. absolutely beautiful 5hr train ride. traveled through rolling hills and mountains, and by little streams. it was the european landscape i had hoped to see and admire. I was also able to figure out that i'd be closer to my hostel, if i got off one stop before the one i originally intended. love being able to adapt my plans accordingly and effectively!

Day 1

as soon as i dropped off my stuff around 1, headed out to go sightseeing!

st. stephansdom cathedral

unique tiling

aerial view, very similar to prague but bigger, more open and slightly more modern.

neo-gothic + colorful geometric tiling.

graben, which is the main plaza/cafe-lined street near st. stephansdom.

cafes!

view of hofsburg palace from kohlmarkt.

platz with 3 museums: art history museum, natural history museum and museum quartier for more modern/contemporary art.

museum quartier!!! great space. wish nyc had something like this. i only got to see one of the three spaces here

leopold museum, where i learned a lot about the vienna secession. it's an viennese art movement/artist group that emerged at the end of the 19th century, seeking to bring viennese and austrian art into the mainstream and elevate it to the level of french, german, and british art. its most famous founding member is gustav klimt. strayed from impressionistic and naturalistic art, towards a more abstract one. almost a precursor to the german bauhaus (maybe?)

egon schiele. though not one of the founding members, a very important secession artist. newly learned about him upon my visit to the leopold, and absolutely love his art. dark content, but uses of primitive styles and colors.

beautiful space with spacious display of art, which i really appreciated.

detail from one of the few photographs left of an allegorial mural that gustav klimt did for one of the universities in vienna. unfortunately, the building (or maybe just the portion with the mural) was burned down. beautiful nymph figure. thought of ophelia from hamlet when i saw the figure.

tree-lined walk ways. one of the many things i adore about vienna

royal opera house!! didn't go watch an opera because i don't particularly like it.

schonlaterng. little curved side street off the main plaza.

main plaza around sunset.

Day 2

first stop, hofburg, one of the many many palaces in vienna!

royal silver collection

looked through the silver collection, and the sisi museum, learned a lot about the sad princess of the austrian empire. afterwards, I saw the morning exercises at the spanish riding school. beautiful horses trotting and exercising to beethoven and bach, no biggie. but, something about watching humans train animals always makes me slightly uncomfortable.

ah! love love love this market (or all markets). endless row of small restaurants with tables outside. fresh seafood and a surprisingly wide variety of cuisines/foods. i even saw a korean grocery store here! right next door to the restaurants are stalls selling fresh produce

foreground: semi-chaotic, humble stalls. background: majestic, colorful neo-classical buildings.

after the market, i spent an hour at one cafes with a melange, reading my book!!! enjoyed the great coffee and relaxed ambiance of the cafe culture.

at 6pm i arrived at the kunsthistorisches museum, art history museum. there's no admission fee for teenagers, and i'm 19! so i got in for freeeeee

filled with sooooo many incredibly famous works!!! including those by rembrandt, peter paul rubens, titian, raphael, and pieter bruegel the elder.

definitely appreciated the comfy sofas that are in most of the rooms.

the museum has one of the best collection of bruegel's work in europe. it has 3 of his seasons, one of which is at the met in nyc, and so many others, such as this one: the peasant wedding.

the flemish painter, bruegel is known for his genre paintings showing the lower class, most often peasants going about their daily lives. his paintings usually marginalize the main event, bring to the forefront the grind of daily life. for example, in this painting, the peasant bride, the woman of the hour, sitting in front of the green curtain is barely noticeable, despite the fact that she's in the near center of the composition. instead we focus on the waiters bringing soup around, and the boy in the left corner washing dishes. brilliant use of warm earth-tones.

charming detail. spent three wonderful hours in the museum until the museum closed, and took the tram back home.

Day 3

since I had spent two full days walking around like a maniac, i was considering spending my last day in vienna sitting at a cafe at graben, and relaxing, but i couldn't let myself slack off. especially, after hearing about the beautiful wachau valley, which is considered the most beautiful section of the danube river that runs through austria. I would have loved to take a cruise down the danube, making stops at all the small towns and vineyards on the valley but those didn't start until the day I leave. So, i decided to take a train to melk, the closest town to vienna.

view of beautiful european country side on my train ride to melk.

so much greeen, which happens to be my favorite color.

melk train station.

cute little town

the famous stift melk, or melk monastery

view of wachau valley/danube river from the monastery. made me speechless. no wonder it's a unesco world heritage site

you can see how the river curves from the middle of the horizon line towards the forground.

it wasn't the sunniest of days, but it was still incredibly beautiful. cleansing, fresh air. this beautiful landscape was a nice break& contrast from the european cityscape. spent a good 20 - 30 minutes taking in the view.

monastery library

cathedral!!! sooooo much gold it almost hurt my eyes.

after a quick lunch, i took to the train back to the city center to....

belvedere

belvedere museum to see the famous gustav klimt's the kiss. pretty much the perfect way to end my perfect 3 days in vienna.

vienna isn't huge, but it's packed with things to see, so I only got to see half the things i could have. so many palaces, gardens, and it has an INCREDIBLE art scene. so many museums i wanted to see. also, great food, pastries and coffee. sweet people. clean. honestly, there's nothing not to like. another reason i liked vienna so much is that i had the best weather during those three days.

i miss vienna.

spring break euro trip. part 1: berlin & prague

2010-04-16T13:46:00.001-07:00

it has been a while since I updated my blog, but i have tons and tons of photos from my spring break to make up for it. after the first weekend in paris with jaelim, i spent the following 12 days traveling to four different cities in four different european countries: berlin, prague, vienna and budapest. it was an unbelievably amazing trip. for the first half of the trip, berlin and prague, I was accompanied by my dad, and we had some quality father-daughter bonding time. the latter half, I spent alone in vienna and budapest. though I was initially nervous about being alone in these foreign countries, it was incredibly rewarding and exciting to go exploring on my own.

so, this entry is about the first half of my spring break: berlin and prague.

berlin. incredible city with so much history. my dad, who's a big history buff, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the WW2 museums and memorials. there's so many museums in the city, there's a 'museum island' in the city! Even with so much history, the city is also incredibly modern. lots of modern/interesting architecture, though i must say not always aesthetically pleasing. my overall impression: not a particularly "beautiful" city, in terms of its architecture and cityscape. there are definitely beautiful buildings in berlin, but the ambiance isn't particularly cohesive. the city is so exciting because, you can spend weeks there perusing all the museums, exhibits and palaces! oh, and the beers were excellent.

reichstag, parliament building.

brandenburg gate

jewish memorial. not a fan of the memorial itself, but the exhibit underneath about the holocaust. was excellent and powerful.

memorial for the lost women and children.

berlin cathedral.

hackescher market, where we had the classic berlin curry wurst dinner with beer outside on the plaza.

reichstag at night. we came back at around 9, and had to wait in line for an hour to go inside it. i think its a spectacular piece of architecture. classic exterior, but the interior is mostly class, super modern and environment-friendly. the entrance is free, and you get an audio guide. with the audio, you climb the circular dome and get a panoramic view of the city and explanation of all the visible buildings. DEFINITELY worth the wait, one of the best things i did in berlin.

longest remaining piece of the berlin wall - mile long. now it's a long strip of murals by different artists, called east side gallery.

pergamon museum. one of the 5 museums on museum island!

famous athens freize.

ishtar gate from babylon.

charlottenburg. one of the very few palaces that survived WW1 and WW2, on the edge of berlin. there was a room called "porcelain closet" with more than 2700 pieces of chinese porcelain!

beautiful gardens.

daddy appreciating the fake green marble and all the gold.

after three busy days in berlin, we took a morning train to prague. the five hours went by really quickly chitchatting with my dad. i was a little disappointed because the scenery on the train ride wasn't as naturesque or beautiful as i had hoped. we actually went through a lot of rundown and abandoned old factory towns. but for some bits of the ride, we were on the riverbank, so we got our fair share of nature. what was interesting on the train ride, was instantly realizing that I entered the czech republic when I spotted its unique, russian-esque, onion-domed architecture. saw lots of small towns, and it made me wonder how the local germans of czechs far away from the main cities live.

prague. prague's architecture is beautiful/different/charming, but there wasn't a whole lot to see in the city. we were lucky enough to get there on easter weekend, so the old town square had an easter market going on, and the streets were particularly bustling. the biggest turn off was the czech people. I expected them to be super friendly, but they were cold, expressionless and most often, blatantly rude. my dad and i concluded that it was because of the language barrier, and their reluctance/anxiety to speak english, but their unwelcomeness made me like prague less than i hoped to. the city is small enough to be able to its entirety in two days. so, prague is more about soaking up the ambiance and aesthetics of the bity, and less about "sightseeing." in fact, on our last day, my dad and I just sat at a cafe at old town square, sipping coffee and people-watching.

on a side note, we had a HORRIBLE first impression of prague. as soon as we got off the train, we went all around looking for a currency exchange stand, but we couldn't find any. so we withdrew an equivalent of 100$ from the atm, except the machine dispensed a single prague 100$ bill, with which we cannot buy metro tickets at the kiosk! why wouldn't they dispense smaller bills? so, we went to the tourist info desk, and as soon as we asked how to get to our hotel, the people there LAUGHED AT US!!! no kidding, i have no idea why, but they laughed/smirked in a ridiculously condescending way. so, we finally figured out how to buy metro tickets a the tabak, or convenience store, and the owner was extremely grumpy there too. after an incredibly frustrating hour at the train station, we finally got to our hotel. however, after this horrible experience, my dad and I were very hesitant to step out and explore the city, in fear of more ridicule. But the beauty of prague won us over at the end.

easter market at staromestske nemesti, or old town square. so, usually there wouldn't be these red stalls.

aerial view form old city hall tower in the square. beautiful red roofs, beige/white walls, punctuated with bright turquoise.

restaurant on a rooftop, and a creepy 6-eyed roof next door peering.

my favorite snack in prague: round donut covered powdered sugar. it's tasty because it's not fried but baked! they're literally EVERYWHERE, and about half the stalls at the market were selling these.

cool astronomical clock at the old city hall. every hour, interesting things happen. like the skeleton flips the hourglass in his hand and the twelve apostles appear from the topmost window.

my dad and i strolling through prague at night. lots of outdoor cafes.

view of prague castle from famous karluv most, or charles bridge.

street musician on karluv most.

st. vitus cathedral in prague castle.

aerial view from the castle. vltava river and karluv most on the right.

main hall. the castle itself wasn't outstanding. it was interesting, but not impressive or memorable.

the cathedral was what was most impressive.

beautiful, vibrant-colored stained glass.

church of st. nicholas on the west of the vltava river. ah! so much baroque!!! the pink marble was unique, but in terms of the gold, i think less is more.

the organ that mozart played once.

karluv most during the day. the bridge wasn't as impressive because there was a lot of construction going on.

it was interesting to see berlin and prague consecutively, because in many ways they're complete opposites. berlin is majestic, prague charming. berlin has a modern edge, while prague is loyal to its 16th and 17th century architecture. berlin is huge, prague is small. berlin has 10+ metro lines, and prague only has three. (the prague metro map is charmingly childish with its red, yellow and green metro lines). berliners are friendly, prague....unfortunately, not so much. i enjoyed both cities, but i think prague is a tad overrated and berlin highly underrated.

'part 2: vienna and budapest' will be up within the next two days!

spring break.

2010-03-29T13:11:00.001-07:00

i had amazing week with jae lim, and haven't had the time to write blog entries.

jae lim and I went to oxford, and spent the weekend in Paris, visiting versailles. tons and tons of fun, and the week felt more like a day.

now that I'm on my spring break, I'm scrambling to get some work done before I leave for germany on thursday with my dad, who's arriving on wednesday. so one day to write my shakespeare paper and pack for europe. I can do it!!

here are just a few of the many pictures we took, a lot of which are on facebook.

christchurch college, oxford.

exeter college

beautiful reading room. sad how one of the most seemingly interesting buildings are off limits to visitors, but I can understand why. the students wouldn't get anything done, if everyone who wanted to go in, could.

oh, louis XIV. what a lovely place you've got.

the man doing precisely what the hall of mirrors was designed for: checking himself out.

rowing.

epic.

i want a study room like this, with a giant globe and all the shenanigans.

i like the color scheme.

montmartre.

sitting on the steps of montmartre, overlooking the parisian nightscape. amazing night

the seine.

artsy, cute left bank.

shakespeare and co bookstore, where we saw ethan hawke, looking rather old and grungy.

pont neuf.

yummmmmmm dessert.

did a lot in one week, but every memory is crystal clear. especially the weekend trip to paris. it really inspired me to learn french, so i'm looking into taking classes during the summer.

it was nice to travel with someone. I've been taking all my international trips by myself and really enjoyed the freedom to do whatever I wanted at my own pace. but having company was definitely exciting as well. i'll experience both accompanied and solitary traveling during spring break, as i'm spending the first half with my dad and the second alone.

after having a blast with jae lim, I'm honestly a little nervous about being alone again in a foreign country, but I'm looking forward to some "creative hanging out."

saatchi gallery in chelsea.

2010-03-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

on sunday, when jae lim was sketching and I was watching her at the v &a , an elderly gentlemen approached us and started talking to us about his iPhone. we just nodded along through his iPhone talk, but before saying bye to us, he suggested a couple other galleries worth visiting. one of them was the saatchi gallery, which I'd heard of before, so that's where we spent our monday afternoon.

saatchi gallery is in chelsea, a posh and more luxurious part of london town.

sloan sq.

perhaps, I will become rich enough one day to have an apartment here.

saatchi gallery is a contemporary gallery, composed of 13 smaller galleries. very modern building with all white and glass interior decoration. they hold temporary exhibitions that each last a few months.

currently on exhibition is "the empire strikes back: indian art today."

gandhi's famous speech on british salt tax, made out of clay bone-like small sculptures.

"her suburban dream." by huma mulji.

"the concrete water pipe has forced the vow in her suburban dream into an aunnatural and somewhat degrading position at the mercy of humanity. This compelling work explores change and disorder in the region [of india and pakistan] and beyond."

boy selling books on the streets of mumbai.

representing nomads, whose home is where their feet stays.

installation, filled with petroleum oil. very virtual-space like.

then we headed to covent garden.

the tea house.

a local coffee shop that I found all on my own. monmouth coffee factory.

notting hill, v&a, and jae lim chung

2010-03-21T15:19:00.001-07:00

portobello rd. lots of pastel, colorful houses.

the blue plaque says "George Orwell lived here...(i forget the dates)"

antique store

then jaelim arrives!!!!

v&a museum.

renaissance sculptures.

narcissus looking at his reflection.

sketching away.

one sculpture that stood out of the clutter of v & a. "fallen angel" by rodin.

imperial war museum & rada.

2010-03-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

started my weekend with an early morning visit to the imperial war museum with my art & war class. took the bus to south bank and got a feel for lambeth.

the main hall was filled with what seemed like enlarged versions of simply boy toys. however, our professor brought us to one particular item that wasn't displayed any more prominently than the rest of the items. it was the shell of the little boy bomb dropped on hiroshima on august 1945 during World War II; the first ever atomic bomb. it was almost frightening to see this incredible and historic weapon of death placed among so many others, and almost lost in the clutter. this single object reminded me that no matter how aesthetic a "war museum" strives to be, it is about ultimately about war and death and suffering.

then, after the class was dismissed, I, with a couple other people, decided to walk through the holocaust exhibition. My knowledge of the holocaust was peripheral at best, and I really wanted to learn more in depth about it after studying the art that came out of the event. It traced the history of the rise of hitler, nazi germany, and the genocide that happened in the early 40s. it was truly harrowing. I made it a point to read every plaque and description, and watch all the video clips to really peruse the exhibition; it was less an attempt to retain all the minute details, but to really give myself a chance to place myself in that time and learn as much about the event as possible. it wasn't a particularly jolly note to start my weekend on, but it was informative and necessary, considering I'm learning about WWII.

after i got back from the war museum, i went out to dinner with a few people in my shakespeare class before going to watch a performance. had a really nice, fun dinner at il casaarle an italian restaurant that opened on the 1st floor of our housing building. great food, friendly owner and the proximity is a huge plus. then we made our way to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, RADA, to see another production of Measure for Measure. I was excited to compare and contrast this production with the almeida production that I went to go see about a month ago.

however, everyone, including our professor, found the production mediocre at best. despite rada being the most prestigious acting school in london, none of the actors were spectacular. they all their short moments, but in general it was a very flat and static performance. it made me appreciate everything that the almeida production had: interaction with the audience, the performers' comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of their characters, and staying true to the text and not jeopardizing the power of the text. but due to the extensive voice training rada students go through, all the performers were excellent speakers. their speech also made me appreciate how great it is to watch shakespeare in london and hear it in its intended beautiful british accents. the most disappointing part was that the production WAS NOT FUNNY. measure for measure can be classified as a "tragicomedy" with as much comedy as there is tragedy and problems. unfortunately, the humor was just not there.

during intermission, our professor came over to our class and simply said, "I'm sorry." haha. he apologized for the quality of the production and told us that "productions are like parties, where maybe 1 in 7 is excellent." well, guess we've been really lucky this semester because the past three production have all been fantastic.

in about 7 hours, I'll be at heathrow airport picking up one of my oldest friends, jae lim. and i'm already too excited about the amazing week we're going to have. more pictures are to come to chronicle her visit in london!

midsummer night's dream in kingston.

2010-03-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

yesterday, my shakespeare class went to kingston, a suburb of london, to go watch a production of Midsummer Night's Dream. I'd never read or seen the play, except a ballet performance of it in boston, so I was excited to go see this production.

our class went over to kingston together as a class. it took us an hour to get there via underground and overground. I enjoyed the train ride through southern london to get a feel of what 'real' london is outside zone 1, which is the tube-area with all the tourist attractions. It was rather monotone and dull, but i liked the authentic residential feel. our professor told us that the first time he and his wife from new zealand drove through southern london, she cried because it was so dismal!

after 45 minutes on the strawberry hill bound train, we arrived in kingston. it was a cute little town that retained a market-town feel to it. extremely pedestrian friendly and seemingly modest, but filled with posh shops. turns out, kingston, though an hour outside central london, is one of the most expensive suburbs of london because it's right on the river and relatively carless. it being a major suburb can be proven by its having its own performance theatre, which very few london suburbs/towns do.

our academic dean at nyu in london came with us and he and our professor created one of the most adorable scenes ever. we got slightly lost on our way from the station to the theatre, so our professor whips out his iphone and starts looking at the map. then the academic dean came over with his own iphone and started looking for restaurants. two old men in their late 60s, consulting their iphones, feeling accomplished and tech savvy was really endearing. I think our professor is slightly more adept because he started listing all these iphone apps that impressed our academic dean. oh technology.

based on the iphones' suggestion, we had a class dinner at a japanese restaurant called wagamama. I sat next to the professor, and had a really good time during the dinner. it reminded me that fun, engaging, and intimate class experiences outside the classroom are possible in college too. (maybe just in london, in a shakespeare class). we were all slightly taken aback when he offered us have a drink with our meals. drinking with our professor? slightly bizarre. well, everyone was hesitant at first, and he said "well, i'm having a beer!" and a few others joined in, and it was not a big deal at all. we all had fun watching our professor and each other struggle with chopsticks (except me haha i felt rather special). one of our classmate's food didn't come out for almost 20 minutes after everyone else's so our professor went up to the waiter and "used his charisma," and we all thought that was very sweet of him.

finally, we got to the rose theatre at kingston. only when I got there did I realize that this production was starring Judi Dench! (who I mostly associate as james bond's boss in the new 007 movies.)

I was both excited to see this mega star and shakespeare actor, but also worried that she'd be the only star of the show and everyone else mediocre. fortunately, the production was fantastic and most of the protagonists were all excellent actors. judi dench was titania and she wasn't on stage much, but when she was, she was great.

but for me, the real hero of the show was actor Oliver Chris, who played Bottom. He made the funny subplot, absolutely hilarious and had everyone in the theatre on the verge of tears due to so much laughing. it was a really great theatre experience, and got me excited for the remaining shakespeare plays i'll be going to this semester.

caerdydd aka cardiff, wales.

2010-03-13T14:45:00.000-08:00

had a relaxing and peaceful day at cardiff, wales.

took a morning train to cardiff and went on a short walking tour of all the major sights.

cardiff central train station.

millenium stadium for rugby. the welsh are crazy about the sport.

river taff over the cardiff bridge.

random bar with the iconic red dragon.

one of the many animals on "animal wall."

cardiff central market!

freshly baked bread!

welsh cakes. yummmm

gorsedd gardens

national museum of wales.

cardiff castle. and the locals hanging out on the grass.

view of bute park from top of the keep.

spent about 2 hours at the castle, walking around with my audio guide. learned a lot about welsh history.

then, took a 25 minute boat ride on the taff to cardiff bay.

beautiful harbor overlooking fresh open water, albeit artificial.

welsh millenium center. home to a lot of cultural organizations and performance venue.

VERY modern looking national assembly building.

pink ice cream truck. sunny day on a boardwalk, how could I not have soft serve ice cream?

little norwegian church that held a small local art exhibit.

mermaid quay. a giant commercial complex with lots and lots of restaurants.

sunset.

cardiff bay is currently undergoing a major revamping/regeneration, so there's a lot of modern buildings and the government's planning on building lots of sports centers to make the city one of the social hubs of europe.

in fact, I was surprised by how commercial and young cardiff was. most of the people I saw on the streets were mid to late teens.

it was a rather perfect, sunny day for me to take a day trip to wales, walk along the taff, and the boardwalk at cardiff bay. had plenty of time to explore everything that I wanted to without feeling rushed. it was nice to see 'open' water for the first time in a while.

british library and whitechapel gallery

2010-03-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

finally made it to the British Library to see its famous 'treasures.' I've been inside a couple times to see temporary exhibits, but today I got to see its most prized possessions including the Magna Carta, Lindisfarne Gospels and handwritten Beatles lyrics.

not a particularly aesthetically pleasing building.

no photos of the interior so, you'll have to check out the treasures yourselves on your next trip to london!

then headed to the east end to visit whitechapel art gallery for the first time.

it's a collection of small modern art exhibits, and I was particularly interested in:

Goshka Macuga: The Nature of the Beast.

My Art & War professor had told me about this exhibit featuring the tapestry reproduction of picasso's guernica. In this exhibition, goshka macuga poignantly reminds viewers of the power of picasso's guernica and also the horrors of the iraq war.

heartwrenching detail.

so what's the relevance between picasso's guernica and the iraq war you ask? well, in february 5, 2003 then secretary of state Colin Powell presented to the UN security council, the u.s. case against Iraq. he was supposed to deliver his speech in the Security Council Chamber, except that's where this tapestry reproduction of guernica was hung. Concerned about this powerful and blatant anti-war artwork, the UN headquarters quickly covered it up with a blue curtain, and the piece was hidden from newspaper and tv reporters, and the general public.

makes me wonder how the public would have responded to the proposed invasion of iraq, if people had seen guernica while powell was delivering his speech. would they have realized that powell was proposing precisely to repeat the tragedy of guernica and prolong it for 7 years? and the UN and powell covering the tapestry up, clearly shows that they knew exactly what atrocities they were committing.

cubist colin powell.

on one of the walls of the exhibit, they showed a documentary on the iraq war titled "occupation: dreamland." without intending to, I ended up staying there for about half an hour just watching the video on the invasion/occupation of fallujah. the soldier's treatment of iraqi civilians were hard to watch, and their interviews hard to listen to. asked about the effects of war, one of the soldiers replied "just be prepared to get completely f***ed up."

then, on the way back to my room from king's cross I discovered this little creature.

a blue monkey! just like the pink one i saw on oxford st, yesterday! i can't believe i didn't notice it until today, and I wonder how many of these monkeys are in the city.

clerkenwell & smithfield.

2010-03-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

today, i explored the northeast-ish areas in london called clerkenwell & smithfield.

first stop, st. paul's cathedral. (yes, i've been here 2 months and haven't even walked by it until today) the cathedral is actually bordering clerkenwell & smithfield, and lies inside what used to be the old 'city of london'

st. paul's cathedral, designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren.

largest church dome in europe, second only to st. peter's basilica in rome.

classical/baroque front facade.

corinthian columns and clock tower.

got a quick look inside, but didn't want to pay the 10 pound entrance fee. so, i'm thinking ill return for a service there, since it's free then. it'd also be an interesting/authentic way to experience the church.

right around the corner was temple bar, the only surviving gateway into the Roman City of London.

postman's park. a small memorial park honoring acts of bravery by ordinary people.

then, one of the best kept secrets of london: St. Bartholow the Great.

tudor-style entrance

oldest parish church in london. famous for the being the site of many movies, including Shakespeare in love

then, once i got there the keeper told me it was the background of another famous, more recent, movie: SHERLOCK HOLMES! w/ robert downey junior and jude law. as soon as i came in, he asked me if i'd seen the movie, then whipped out a giant folder full of photos of the filming!

look familiar? this is where they filmed the opening scene with the ritual with the girl tied up.

the window on the far left is the one where robert downey jr. and jude law looked down onto the crime scene.

organ.

cloisters.

i was pleasantly surprised that this church was where sherlock holmes was filmed, but also just how quaint the church was in general. the keeper, who is originally from chicago, was SUPER friendly. he gave me an introductory talk to the church and showed me around. and he showed me a 15 minute video on the history of the church. he seemed genuinely excited to tell people about the church.

my experience at st. bartholomews was the antithesis of the one at st. paul's just twenty minute prior. St. b's was stone, quiet, rugged and unpretentious. and st. p's was marble, crowded, pristine and over-the-top. and i personally preferred st. b's because of its intimate atmosphere. at one point, i had the entire church to myself to wander around and photograph. the best part was the keeper who was so friendly. I left the church without seeing him, but then two seconds later he followed me out door and waved and screamed 'GOOD BYE.' so sweet.

clerkenwell & smithfield is definitely not a 'hip & happening' part of town, but i'm glad i got to see the two churches.

then i decided to go window shopping at soho.

this pink monkey on oxford st. was watching me. maybe it's by banksy? not sure.

(photo taken from google)

found Milkbar, another one of the cafe's featured on the previously mentioned nyt.com article from aspen reese. i had a flat white there, and i like it slightly better than the espresso room's. but only slightly. i plan on visiting all the cafes mentioned in that article. and right across milkbar, i stumbled onto lorelei, which is the italian restaurant recommended by a local. so will definitely be returning to the south of soho sq. on firth st.

royal academy of arts.

2010-03-10T15:58:00.001-08:00

as usual, my wednesday started with my shift at St. aloysius infant school. it was typically manic. it was career day so a lot of kids came in costumes of what they want to become when they grow up; lots of doctors, nurses, artists and an archeologist, who brought a fossil for show and tell. but obviously not everyone had costumes so that caused some unnecessary drama.

today was the first time i realized how under-resourced the school is. the kids wanted to draw on the whiteboard with markers, but the teacher looked around and couldn't find them. so, she sighed and told me, "we never have resources." this is pretty evident in the chaotic layout of the room and its constantly disorganized state. the purpose of the SHINE project, the organization that i'm volunteering with, is to help schools serving underprivileged areas, and today was the first time that actually hit me.

then, i met up with natalie to go check out the Van Gogh exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts.

on the way, we got sidetracked by harry potter and very posh, delicious looking sweets.

on my way to hogwarts.

princes arcade near piccadilly circus. a little shopping area that was made for when the royals/aristocrats wanted to shop in the rain without getting wet.

we got sidetracked by the delicious looking displays on the windows. so we went in and discovered.....

chocolate haven. aka fortnum & mason. i'd never heard of it, but it's apparently a famous company of sweets. chocolate, jellies, shortbread, biscuits and all that good stuff. established in 1707!

as you can see, it was very posh. i was hoping they'd have loads and loads of samples out, but no. just one kind of belgian waffles, which were amazing!

and finally, the Royal Academy of Arts.

had to wait an hour in line in the cold before getting in, but it was worth it.

so here's my shpeel about van gogh.

-in his letters, he included 'croquis' or sketches, that show the paintings he's working on. about 40 of his letters were on display, and it was fun comparing the pen sketches with his actual finished paintings. in some cases, i liked the pen sketches more.

-' the duty of the painter is the study nature in depth and to use his intelligence to put his feelings into his works.'

-inspired by jean francois millet's representation of rural,agricultural, peasant life in the countryside.

-moved to paris in '86, and that's when he started exploring with color and becoming the 'colourist' van gogh we are most familiar with

-"intense colour and not a grey harmony"

- inspired by japanese art. its bold contours and flat tones.

-hated the "dead realism of photography" hmm.......

- in '88, lived with gauguin for 2 months but they got into a lot of fights, and when gauguin left, it ultimately led to van gogh's first mental breakdown and he cut off a part of his ear.

- Art & literature: admired the french naturalist authors like emile zola.

my favorite painting from the exhibit: lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle 1889.

why i like this painting...

- love that it's a portrait of a 'normal' person. a wife of a random postal man he befriended.

- green!

- the implied presence of the baby in the cradle via the role she's holding onto.

- yellow face

- most importantly, the contrast of the patterned wall paper and the flat, velvety red floor. actually, the background is rather ambiguous. the whole thing may just be a piece of interesting wallpaper.

last couple hours in dublin.

2010-03-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

belated post about my last day in dublin. sunday was an incredibly beautiful, sunny day. perfect note to end my visit in dublin.

visited christ church cathedral early in the morning. got there before it was opened. So i sat on one of the benches around the green, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face, and listening to the church bells for thirty minutes.

beautiful tile work.

then, i took a half an hour stroll to dublin city gallery - hugh lane.

along the liffey.

turns out it was the last day for a special retrospective exhibition on painter Francis Bacon! it was perfect because I just wrote a paper on one of his pieces, and I think he's one of the most intriguing painters ever!

hugh lane gallery. modest, but great, museum.

bacon's real life studio moved to the gallery with the help of archeologists!

beautifully chaotic

more than 7000 items in his studio!

room playing video about bacon.

bacon's piece on which i wrote my art history paper.

three figures at the base of a crucifixion. 1944.

here are some random facts about francis bacon. I didn't have a pen&paper with me, so i recorded these as 'notes' on my crap london phone. haha. these are the things that I found interesting enough to jot down.

- "deeply ordered chaos"

-"i attack the canvas with paint"

-"thank god i didn't go to art school."; bacon says he's not interested in the old techniques that art schools teach their students. he wants to create his own techniques.

- he insists that people try NOT to read his work. there is no story. he has none to tell. all about visual shock.

(all from melvyn bragg's interview w/ bacon)

- he rather violently destroys the canvas that he's unpleased with.

- i didn't know this but bacon paints on the unprimed, or 'wrong,' side of the canvas. he started doing this when he ran out of money and fresh canvases to paint on. but once he started painting on the coarse surface, he found that it instantly absorbs the paint and produces the texture he likes best.

- bacon likes to throw the paint on his canvas. and he says, "the first mark always has a vitality"

- he was close friends with american wildlife photographer Peter Beard, for he was interested in wild animals. in bacon's studio there were of Beard's photos of Kenya, and i thought the most powerful ones were of dead elephants. their shriveled skin enclose their once-large mass that has dissolved into nothing but a pile of bones.

- influenced by photographer eadweard muybridge, who in the late 1880s experimented with extremely fast shutter speeds to meticulously catalogue the movement of the human and animal body.

- close ties with portrait photographer john deakin.

- unlike other artists, bacon painted from photographs and not real life.

- fascinated by the body: 'corpus'

- moved by this image that captures the essence/power of the human scream.

film still from Eisenstein's 1925 film The Battleship Potemkim

- he admired silent films for their 'tremendous force and powerful closeups.'

the exhibit was fantastic, so I'm glad I got to peruse for two hours without feeling rushed.

on my way back to the city center.

ah! cute irish boys singing old pop, like "let's twist again"

adorable.

before catching the bus to the airport, i sat on Trinity's campus just to calm myself down and rest in the sun.

so peaceful. the building in the photo is where I went to go see the Book of Kells and the Long Room.

all in all, it was a great, productive visit to dublin.