Camping la Camassade €23 
Rain was forecast for today so we drove to Tourrettes-sur-loup, stopping for a picnic and a poke around Entrevaux. Had a nice chat with father & son bakers about bread and “brexshit” as the older man proudly showed off one of his important bits of English vocabulary.
After all of the bends in the mountain roads, Gerhild is happy to frolic around the meadow in the campsite Camping la Camassade €23 with borage casually growing by the wayside.
Today we visited Alexandra David-Néel’s home in Digne-les-Bains
But first of all we walked to a park with some Andy Goldsworthy cairns, a butterfly sanctuary and some water-based art installations.
Our camp site’s valley
Digne-les-Bains on quite a hot April day
Musée Promenade
A cool artwork with practical value.
An Asian artist made this which reminds us of a restaurant in Rosenthalerstr. in Berlin.
Alexandra David-Néel sang operas, was a feminist activist like Emily Pankhurst, was the first western woman to visit Lhasa in Tibet and drank tea with yak butter which I thought smelled quite yukky, not yakky (although none of the French sniffers in our guided tour group seemed put off).
wikipedia Alexandra David-Néel.
This portrait of the great lady is supposed to be made of yak butter.
More yak butter work. If it melts in the sun that’s fine, nothing is eternal in Buddhism.
Alexandra was quite a pretty teenager, dressed up here for some unspecified performance.
The simple house where she lived after returning from her travels, until an age of almost 101. Free guided tour in French.
The scholar and opera singer who sneaked into Tibet in the 1920s was also an anarchist, ran a casino and adopted a Buddhist monk
Turn subtitles on and switch to English.
Camping les Eaux Chaudes €19.50
Musée Gassendi a veritable cabinet of curiosities.
The first two curiosities
A perpetual motion machine.
Old master meets a pile of jewel-lined digeridoos.
Two moths clinging to the window (made of banknotes).
Kim in French philosophical conversation with the master of the house.
A tame butterfly who will land on anyone’s hand
Part of the large collection of butterflies.
This museum has the only intact example worldwide of a fossil mermaid!
Camping-les-cedres €15
A song and dance on leaving Avignon
Apt cathedral – we never did find the entrance
Camping Bagatelle, €23 just across the bridge from Avignon
La Petite Pêche, 13 rue St. Etienne. Fantastic 3-course Dorade (whole fish each) lunch with a thyme jelly dessert. Incroyable €15,- each menu du midi.
Watch out Avignon, Gerhild’s coming.
Is it Gerhild or trompe l’oeil?
Now Conservatoire de Musique but used to be where the popes kept their spare change.
Horsing around in the papal garden.
What’s left of the famous pont d’Avignon and the papal palace
Beautiful 4km walk to Baux-de-Provence.
The coolest place to be when it‘s 26 degrees outside.
Carrières de Lumieres Baux-de-Provence
https://youtu.be/n0mDuLFdIi8
Interesting film about Jean Cocteau’s life and work.
The village has some nice restaurants for lunch.
Camping Municipale les Romarins €23
Really arrogant French policeman on motorbike. Incredibly loud TomTom GPS took us to wrong place. Several Michelin-approved restaurants in Maussane-les-Alpilles! Fantastic optician fixed Gerhild‘s sunglasses for „free“.
Fixed for free – formidable!
All of those provencale vegetables!
Time to extend the loft.
After a little rest of course
Supper on the square.
Camping le Vallond des Cigales €19
French people like to bring their pets to the camping site.
45 min. walk to Istres for lunch. Even the giraffes here have that particular French style.
Be yourself! What a motto for our holiday!
Our first BER flight? It all seems to be sagging a bit.
Oktober 2017
Van der Valk Hotel Hildesheim
http://www.hallartfoundation.org/de/location/schloss-derneburg
“Antony Gormley The Hall Art Foundation Schloss Derneburg 2017 CHANNEL” von Hall Art Foundation
Im Stil eines Bänkelsängers trägt Maria Lassnig in 14 Strophen ihren Lebensrückblick vor, während im Hintergrund selbst gezeichnete Schauergeschichten ablaufen: Es ist die Kunst jaja, die macht mich immer jünger, sie macht den Geist erst hungrig und dann satt!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDSZ9GwnCE&feature=youtu.be
Train York to Newcastle. Transpennine Express
Collect ticket at station 385T968X
10:08 York 11:12 Newcastle Central 11:27 Newcastle Central Metro 11:54 Newcastle Airport
There’s a metro from Newcastle Central station every 12 mins & it takes 25 mins to the airport.
Easyjet flight from Newcastle U2 4628 from NCL to SXF 15:00 – 18:10
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Aesthetica exhibition
How difficult can it be to jump from France 🇫🇷 to the UK 🇬🇧
What remains of York’s castle
Photovoltaic cow
Coming out from coffee in the refectory
Burghers of Olde Yorke
Mary bottle-feeding Jesus to spare victorian blushes
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A super sunny Yorkshire Sunday
Zak Ové
Zak Ové at YSP from Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Vimeo.
Q. What do you get if you sit under a cow?
A. A pat on the head.
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Walk to Hebden Bridge. There and back is about 10 miles.
1:30 Lunch in Hebden Bridge – Chapter 17
Arts and crafts work
Mud, mud, glorious mud …
The canal is much easier – Hamden Bridge on LGBT day
Blottworks
Siemens dispatches first turbines from Hull
instagram visible girls
Guardian article on Visible Girls
https://1stwomenuk.co.uk
http://visiblegirls.com/hull/
Visible girls team
Anita Corbin and Deborah Willimott
©Anita Corbin
©Anita Corbin
©Anita Corbin
©Anita Corbin
Pussy hats
Bionic crows
The Deep aquarium
Old dry dock
To Waverley Station it’s a 2 mile drive, 15 min. Edinburgh Central Taxis +441312292468 (book online)
10:00 Edinburgh (Virgin Trains East Coast) F13, F14 (GBP 46 each) 12:28 York 12:47 York (Northern Rail) 13:48 Hull
10 minute walk (1/2 mile) to
Kingston Theatre Hotel
The new, thrilling and heart-stopping performance from the internationally acclaimed Circa (Closer, Beyond, Wunderkammer). Humans is an ecstatic love letter to our endangered species. Created by Yaron Lifschitz and fresh from a storming season at Sydney Festival, ten acrobats go faster, harder and higher than ever before, taking us on a stirring journey of what it means to be human and of how our bodies, our connections and our aspirations all form part of who we are.
Artocrite Theater (Hong Kong)
Three actors are transformed into birds and trapped within a cage – the human world. In this new life they must express their emotions and needs, and explore gender to forge a new, human identity. Artocrite theatre create a multimedia experience bringing intense physical experession together with contemporary music. Directed by Dr Peter Jordan in partnership Hong Kong artists Birdy Wong and Pong Leung, The Venerable Bird’s Eye View is a stunning cross-cultural performance without spoken language.
https://youtu.be/4WGAXwT4fr4
Kim had a little dance on stage with the bearded man in the dress with a shining heart.
Edit walked 16 km
A Heart at Sea uses haunting live music to tell the story of a young Boy who bottles up his heart and throws it into the sea. Original song-writing is set to breath-taking visuals centred around a beautifully carved wooden chest that holds the secrets to the story.
Intricate puppets are swept through a transforming wooden world created by the spectacular chest. Be astounded as backdrops flip up, pirouette and change, sending the Boy tumbling through danger and discovery. Puppets roam on this unique contraption to recount the story of whales, tiny boats, sea captains and beards.
The original songs, composed by Avi Simmons, knit together the atmospheric tale through live vocals, instruments and a loop station. The music sweeps through echoing soundscapes to create a visceral, heart-warming experience. Join our hero as he embarks on a wild, nautical journey to recover his missing heart.
When two sisters flee the commune they’ve grown up in, they discover a harsh and beautiful world they never knew. Playful, visual storytelling with original songs from the creators of We Live By the Sea – ‘Top Theatre of 2016’ (New York Times). Patch of Blue are a multi award-winning company creating fresh, exciting and touching devised theatre with live music. They are the recipient of the prestigious Grahame F. Smith Peace Foundation Award for promoting human rights through theatre, as well as the Best Theatre and Critics Choice awards at the Adelaide Festival.
Performed by a clown duo enrolled in Cirque du Soleil, accompanied by one-man orchestra Bird Radio and comedy directed by critically acclaimed Cal McCrystal, this show is a daring fusion of laughter and tears. An odd and elderly immigrant couple is waiting for their children… A life defined by vegetables, routine and memories is illustrated through grotesque body-mask, mime, object manipulation and live music played on classical instruments and kitchen utensils.
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Easyjet flight: 6978 from SXF to EDI
EZY6978 flight
Departs: 13:25
Arrives: 14:45
Airlink 100 to Haymarket Station (runs every 10 mins)
9 minute walk to
16B ROTHESAY MEWS, Edinburgh, Scotland EH3 7SG (TripAdvisor link)
Choose one day from the list to see just that day. Otherwise use this link to see everything on a very long page.
[catlist id=97]
First today a free concert in Renzo Piano’s “Auditorium“. No nice pictures, just beautiful vibrations.
Zaha Hadid again. This time the MAXXI in Rome.
Haddock it’s not!
Virtual stuff
Nature Forever – Piero Gilardi with a guest appearance by Gerhild (with her shoes on)
Kim’s next desk
Mmmmmmm, delicious. Now for the crunchy bit!
Last sunset in Rome
Start at the Spanish Steps
Small group, no dodgy technology, lots about Bernini
Our magical guide, Gas’, a winged wonder.
It’s all done by mirrors – Sant Ignazio
Streets and streets of amazing Oleander trees near the hotel.
Not to mention these (Bourgainvillea)
No trip to Rome is complete without the Trevi fountain
What to do in Rome on a Sunday – Porta Portese street market. What the Swiss must think of these prices!
EUR – Italy’s preparations for the 1942 world fair, which was cancelled due to the war.
Mussolini didn’t have the Internet, so he found a sculptor to polish his image. Reminds me of Putin riding bare-chested.
