Travel Log VIII

12Mar2011 [personal]

Arrived home yesterday morning; starting the decompression process with a wrap-up post and a run of photos; herein, a final entry in the Travel Log series, and a collection of random observations.

• Have just published three albums of photos, from the Reims visit (previously), some final pics around Paris, and Edinburgh:
  • Reims 2011 — A City That Never Was
  • Paris 2011 Part II
  • Edinburgh 2011 — A Dream in Masonry and Living Rock
• Went to Edinburgh on something of a whim, with no real idea of what to expect there, and was astonished by how beautiful the city is; the "masonry and living rock" reference comes from a Robert Louis Stevenson quote about the city, and is apt, the look of the whole place influenced strongly by the exposed rock of the mountains and the dark local stone; it's also got a whole range of stunning architecture that fits together very nicely; the city itself is fairly small, all walk-able, though going up and down mountains gets exhausting, and is a true European capital with all the arts and shopping and food that one expects from a larger city; the locals are as good-looking as their city, even if they grow old as craggy as the mountains, and are happy and friendly to boot.
• I was struck too by the thought that the city might better be described as "handsome", its dark stone seems more masculine somehow; I wonder at the sexed language we use to describe places.
• On my last night in London I went to dinner at Acorn House Restaurant in Kings Cross; it's a training restaurant, charity-run, eco-friendly, all of which could be risky but is pulled off remarkably well; their menu's seasonal (it excitedly announced "Winter!") and all the food is fresh and simply delicious.
• London's Royal Opera House has a fascinating program of alternative opera and dance (called, appropriately, "Alternative"); saw the Henri Oguike Dance Company's Butterfly Dreaming, a set of three works; Freq, a curious slightly primitivist short solo piece complete with waterfall in the middle of the stage and dim or strobe lighting, and with music by Brian Eno and David Byrne; Point Of Contact, a take on a tango, with three dancers but delightfully understated where the first was frenetic, and with accompaniment by a live and sombre cello playing Bach; and the title work, which reverted to the dim and primitivist but also featured remarkable storytelling, playing with different paces and tones, and featuring recorded music by Kronos Quartet, who I'm a fan of thanks to the Fountain soundtrack, so bonus; all once again a reminder that I really should see more contemporary dance.
• I'd noticed it at a couple of other events, but it occurred to me at the ROH, that there are a lot of people attending such events as individuals in London (and Edinburgh), which one almost never sees in Sydney; I wonder if that's a reflection of how the city esteems its cultural activities.
• Transport for London's trip finder is hopeless; when looking for an airport connection, if I put the hotel's address as the departure point, it suggested a nearly two-hour round-a-bout trip using buses, tubes and trains; when I used Kings Cross Station as the departure point, just 100m down the road, it got slightly better, but still recommended switching for the Heathrow Express; I instead just took a single tube line all the way to the airport, saving the hassle of switching, the extra cost of the express train, and only costing an additional five minutes travel time.

The Random Untweeted

• saw a blackberry ad; was curious just how unusual it looked to my eye to see people navigating a phone's interface using physical buttons; having considered this, I wonder too if this reaction is partly caused by Apple's advertising, because they were the first to really show the use of an interface in their ads, I suspect that's influenced what I expect to see in a video, even though my reaction in the real world is less startled
• had no idea whiskey could be so flavoursome; drinking an aged single malt that's smoky like a good wine; scotland will be fun; had this first whiskey in Paris, so followed up in Edinburgh with a few different whiskeys, and still amazed, finding a huge range of flavours
• a few minutes scanning twitter is far more efficient than sitting through the #oscars broadcast #lovethefuture
• watching the french victoires de la musique, from which arias could learn; all major nominees perform; great show even when music sucks
• the muppets has ruined swedes for me; no matter how cute they are I can't not associate the swedish chef when they speak
• nice to know I'm not the only one who's a fan of katy perry just thanks to glee's rendition of teenage dream
• sure its collection might be plundered from other civilisations, but the british museum does a great job; well-ordered and educational