Monday 27 August 2012

Olympic triumphs

Watching Mo Farah win the 5,000 metres while we were in a pub in Stratford, two older local (white) men cheering him on "Come on Mo!"
This after a matinée performance of "Much Ado about Nothing" with Meera Syal and a British Asian cast in a setting in modern India. Superb performances and the relocation really worked.

Multicultural Britain is alive and working and the country's richer for it.


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Culture !

London: National Gallery for Veronese, Titian, up to Pisarro, Sisley - both have some beautiful Winter scenes - and some van Gogh, Cézanne ("
Big Bathers as Pete and Dud put it :)).

Impressionist light very welcome after a thoughtfully put together show of Titian scenes from Ovid Metamorphoses, in the dark basement of the Sainsbury Wing.

National Portrait Gallery: London 2012 portraits of athletes and others linked with the Olympics, not least the Head of Catering who's had the biggest peace time catering operation since WW2.

British Museum - Horses through the ages, from early chariot days and the reverse-shot specialists to modern thoroughbreds.
Saudi sponsorship, HMQ too :)

Such wonderful collections altogether, Sutton Hoo remains from Anglo-Saxon England, the Elgin marbles now called the Parthenon sculptures and still disputed ownership...!

No upfront payments for any of the above: I kept away from the blockbuster paying exhibitions of Shakespeare or British writers at the BM or BL, excellent though I'm sure these are.


Location:Out and about around

Sunday 19 August 2012

Stratford

Some photos of Anne Hathaway's Cottage and gardens.
Interesting to hear about Shakespeare becoming a property owner and comfortable materially in his own lifetime. Also, how hard he worked to achieve success in the theatre after he started in London.













Saturday 18 August 2012

Oxford in the Sun

College Garden (Balliol) and a cat :-)













Oxford encore une fois :-)

Another trip to picturesque, historic Oxford on a sunny day for tourists and College gardens.
The Ashmolean has another enjoyable exhibition on, a little pricey but worth it, with paintings, documents, artefacts traced back to a ship returning with these items collected by English Grand Tourists (aristos and others abroad in Europe) in the 18th Century, when the ship was captured by the French and sent to Malaga.
The poor English never got their valuable paintings back, but patient research has brought together pictures (et al) for the exhibition.
Website at www.ashmolean.org .

There's another well-worth-a-visit exhibition on at the History of Science Museum on Broad Street, but I forgot and went to a couple of nice college gardens instead (Balliol and Trinity, Balliol smaller and cosier, a world away from the busy thoroughfare just outside).

King's Arms as ever a handy wood finished old English pub, at the end of Broad Street before Holywell Street, to sup a real ale or a refreshing cup of tea. Found Missing Bean coffee shop on Turl Street for a coffee-to-go on the way back.

Merci beaucoup à L. pour avoir eu du temps pour bavarder et boire un verre l'après-midi :)



Location:Oxford !