Friday, September 25, 2015

London Arrival and Museums



We arrived Sept 13th to a lovely, modern, light filled home exchange in the heart of London’s West End.  We are surrounded by Soho, the theater district and so many restaurants.  We were warned by cousin Ira and our exchange hosts that our immediate area is undergoing rampant construction: the sidewalk and many streets are torn up all around the building, the major Central Line at our local Tottenham Court Underground is being torn out and replaced.  We find the entire building sometimes vibrates with the drilling beneath during the work day, but still we feel very fortunate that we can easily walk to many places and catch a bus or Northern Line Underground to the others. Here are a couple of pics


From kitchen Danice on the computer

From our bedroom window, Renzo Piano's fabulous design of this complex



Paul’s cousin Ira has lived here since Architecture school and is a dual US/UK citizen, thus a great tour guide.  He and Paul conferred on selecting four plays we have enjoyed, and he borrowed a convertible to give us a wonderful architectural tour of London, crossing the Thames 4 times to see the sunset and the city lights in addition to historic and new landmark buildings. Here are some pics from the car.


 Some classic London building
The Shard, another Piano designed building

Nick-named the Walkie-Talkie, the most hated building in London.  Sunlight reflecting down has melted cars.

 But the best thing about Ira is his fiancee, Camila, about whom he is “crazy “.  No wonder! She is pretty, charming, smart and sweet and is setting an example for Danice of being always positive and letting the little differences just - go - on - by. (A useful quality when involved with a Fagin.)
Camila graciously invited us to lunch Sunday at the assisted living facility where her 80ish year old aunt Anne lives.  It was a sunny room with a beautiful garden and Anne was as smart, sweet and charming as her favorite niece, Camila.  We had a lovely 3 hour visit discussing everything from theater to the war to politics (British and American), to travel, restaurants, and more; but not a bit of OPT (Old People Talk about ailments, medications, prior surgeries, you know.) Anne is a model for all of us on how we hope to keep alert and involved in our later years.  


Museums: London is a trove of historic and modern, British and World art. It is daunting in its vastness, so we chose some favorites.

The Tate Modern:  An “Ohmygod” experience of Rothko’s paintings intended for the Four Season’s Restaurant in the Seagram Building in NY, but Rothko didn’t like the setting there so he kept them.

The lighting was very low so not so great to take pictures
Also the Reichters were amazing.  




And there was a very nice abstract collection pairing sculptures with paintings




 
The British Museum:  We went to see the Elgin Marbles taken from the Parthenon, and saw much more in beautiful sculptures of human bodies in war and peace.  Apparently Lord Elgin made a (now disputed) arrangement with the Ottoman Empire to bring many of the Parthenon statues and friezes back to London for safe keeping.  We enjoyed the Greek and Roman antiquities which the British are “preserving for the world."

The Tate British Museum:  Filled with an amazing collection of British art, but most memorable were the many Henry Moore sculptures and the rooms full of Turner landscapes.  Nice cafe where we rested Danice's weary back over tea with scones, clotted cream and jam (rather tasty we do say.) 





The National Gallery: At this writing we have been twice and still have more to see. It is an astounding museum. Not to mention a very nice cafe where we split a delicious lamb burger and a very nice salad with baked goat cheese. As is Paul's habit he has taken pictures of a small number of the beautiful and fascinating faces to be found in the pictures.


Ever wonder what Jesus would have looked like if he had grown old?

Many wonderful faces in this procession








Love those Botticelli women



The National Portrait Gallery:  Tons of old portraits dating back to the 16th century, but the part we most enjoyed was a contemporary portrait contest sponsored by BP (no photos permitted).  The artists show so much of the person’s inner being and life history in the freer art forms of today.  But those old guys were not lacking for creativity, skill and technique.
















That's it for now.  We'll publish this then work on a blog about walking through London's fine neighborhoods.  

Monday, December 1, 2014

Istanbul: Topkapi and Moques



We made a number of forays down the hill to our favorite T1 Tram, then over the Golden Horn to Old Town to visit Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, other major mosques and the Archaeological Museum.

Topkapi Palace covers a large tract of land (about 7 million square feet) with a number of buildings, some interiors with domes and beautiful tiled walls and floors,

Topaki Park

Ceiling Tiles

Dome and arch



Tiles on wall
but it the buildings themselves weren't as glorious as the movie had lead us to believe.

Hagia Sophia, built 532-536, is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture.  It remained the largest structure in the world for 1000 years until the Seville Cathedral was built.  The designers were a physicist and a mathematician.  Unfortunately the lighting is to serve those who come to pray, not to display the massive domes and arches to admirers; however, many windows were built into the base of the dome to reduce its weight.


Danice showing the way to Hagia Sophia.



Central dome and columns


The Blue Mosque nearby, built in 1617, is larger than Hagia Sophia.  It incorporates Byzantine elements with traditional Islamic architecture and is said to be the last great mosque of the classical period of the Ottoman Empire.


View from the back

Central dome

A beautiful side dome
Arch detail

The Sulleymaniye Mosque, finished in 1558, is also an example of Islamic - Byzantine architecture.  The then famous architect Sinon, masterfully hid the buttresses necessary to support the weight of the dome in the columns and walls of the galleries.






We very much enjoyed the the Archaeological museum which has extensive collection of very beautiful marble statues, pots etc. The entrance way is under renovation.



And here is a sample of some that we particularly liked.

Aphrodite in strange pose


Graceful boy

Hermaphrodite 

Father and son

Medusa

Modest Aphrodite

Wistful woman
Freize

Kiss on sarcophagus 


Man's head
4000 year old snake's head

Plates



Very old pot

Wine goblets from Troy
This was a display on a stairwell where red backed pictures of the pieces on the collection hung three stories high

And they had a very nice cafe in a garden lined with columns and statues

including this headless Aphrodite