Because you just can't help but smile, when you round the corner, and see Big Ben....
on a clear blue sky London day...
...or after a stupendous evening.
on a clear blue sky London day...
...or after a stupendous evening.
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Best Cocktail of My Entire Life
In anticipation of a lovely dinner ahead, I enjoyed The Indian Touch, a sparkler composed of fresh mottled raspberries with gomme syrup and cardamom seed infused Brockman's gin topped with fine French champagne. ($25- ahem)
I can't say I've ever had a memorable cocktail before. This totally qualifies! The bartender took good care of me - I think because at the crowded bar, I was the one who was savoring every sip, every moment.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
London!
And what a pleasure it's been to read the guidebooks and children's literature accounts of London, and hitting YouTube and the Mary Poppins DVD for more inspiration. I'm so psyched she'll get to see some of my favorites - the Tate Modern (and the entire funky Southbank), Big Ben (and the princely Houses of Parliament and Westminster), Mayfair's staid offices (and my falafel and fresh juice lunch shop), the thrilling, one-of-a-kind, London Eye (that pretty much triggers an anxiety attack in me that I must actively manage with deep breathing. But, whatever, SO worth it). We'll make it to the Globe Theatre (or else I'll never get the free pass from the Shakespeare-obsesses teacher for the days out of school), and other London icons like St.Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London. At some point we'll pass through the dreaded Picadilly Circus and Covent Garden going from somewhere and to somewhere. We'll breeze throughTrafalgar Square, because its lovely St. Martin-in-the-Fields hosts daily free concerts, and is the architectural model for our beloved home church, All Souls.
No trip is complete for me without the food teasers. I was delighted to see today's New York Times article by my crush Mark Bittman, "In London, Flavors of India without the Fuss." Such a difficult choice among four delectable restaurant descriptions. I was first tempted by the 70's decor and the incredible descriptions of dishes at Cafe Spice Namaste. I was also momentarily seduced by Sitaaray, and its Bollywood theme (this and other pictures at the NYTimes slide show). But, we have decided quite happily to check out Chor Bizarre in Mayfair, just a few blocks from our London offices. I like its irreverent and self-depracating allusions to pick-pockets and pawn shops, it's cheesy antiques decor, and its Delhi-London pedigree. The black lentil daal sounds amazing, as does the Bhagare Baingan - see full mouth-watering menu here.
I'm so excited to speak British English - I'm teaching Dear Daughter to say 'loo,' 'lift,' and 'lorry' - and to travel by tube, taxi, and doubledecker bus. It's all such a grand adventure isn't it?
Saturday, January 7, 2012
The 45 Places to Go in 2012
 |
| Bali: Eat, pray, love. |
Another favorite annual feature in the New York Times, "The 45 Places to Go in 2012" gets the juices flowing with some enticing travel destinations to go to now and why.
Of those, I've already been to Panama, London (UK), Tanzania, Glasgow (UK), Florence (Italy), Wales (UK), Vienna (Austria), and Uganda. Lucky me!
Of the others on the list, there are several that are especially appealing.
Helsinki (Finland) - for the design and architecture, but not for the herring.
Havana (Cuba) - because one day its gonna be just a bunch of beach resorts with a faux Cuba backdrop.
Chatttanooga, TN because that sounds, tastes and feels like the Deep South, and I'd like to make a go of it.
and Dalarna, Sweden - Midsommer! Need I say more? Nordic countries really appeal to me for so many reasons - the design, the quality of life, the natural landscape, winter nights, and summer joy. I have a friend in Copenhagen to visit on my list!
The real travel plans of this year for work and for play might end up quite enviable, if I do say so myself - New York (of course, and in multiples), London, Paris, Massachusetts, Senegal, Thailand, and Bali (!). If I pull it off, it will be a minor miracle, though all are in the works in some capacity. The Thailand-Bali trip is starting to look and feel a little like the idea was hatched among two friends drinking too much prosecco at a bar at Christmastime - and it was!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
This is so AWESOME, it's SICK!
When I found this data graph for DC's awesome Capital BikeShare, I became nearly giddy. I've been playing with it for the last hour or so, and I'm like a kid in a candy store. My heart is aflutter - for real! All my favorite things! I love metrics. I love cities. I love interactive real time data. I love bikes, and more so bike shares. I love CaBi. so proud to be one of the founding members (as one of the first 2,000 members with a free t-shirt and commemorative keyfob....(geekster grin: Geek + Hipster = Geekster!)). I love public transport, and more so if it's extra-green and innovative public transport.
Here's the link again...now let's play! So much data depicted on first click. First, the overall view of the CaBi program is the homescreen. Larger circles denote larger stations with more bike docks. The color of the circles show how full/empty the docks are - blue is emptier, deep red is an completley full station. The graph is realtime, and the lower right hand corner gives usage stats. Right now, pretty late on a Thursday evening, use is a low, sleepy 3%. The max simultaneous usage for today was 173 bikes, in use, or a respectable 20% of all available bikes in use (more about this later). That lower right hand info box has some pretty cool extra features. You can show or hide a ticker which tells you bikes going in and out of station realtime. It also shows usage and distribution imbalance datagraphs for the day. Around 5pm, today the fewest bikes were in docks - or conversely, the most were in use.
Even more fun...there is an animation button where we can see those station circles go from blue to red and back again in a neato timelapse run. See how, people head downtown, and then back to residential districts over the course of a day. Sounds like a commuter city, until you realize this is by bikes, not crawling on the Beltway! Mixed-use zones - shopping/residential/business like Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill get used all day.
Then, there's a little thrill ride here...Click on a station, and see it's dock stats for the last 24-hour period - the peaks and valleys of rush hour, the sharp zig-zags of frequent use. For example, 16th and U has a precipitous drop from totally full to totally empty during the morning rush hour, as this high-density, young, urban hipster neighborhood heads out to work, presumably downhill towards downtown. The Union Station dock does the same, with an opposite effect - all the bikes are taken from this busy transit hub around 6pm and dispersed to other docks within the nearby residential neighborhood. One of my local stations at 14th and D Streets SE gets decent use throughout the day, but by 9pm, it's docks are full. This matches my recent experience, when one evening, I grabbed a CaBi bike from the pool toward home, and found no docks at this station. I had to ride a few blocks farther, though not too much off my path, to return my bike to a different station. And Eastern Market (8th and Penn SE) and Dupont Circle stations get a fair amount of usage throughout the day.
And that awesome little addictive live data set led me to the supra-awesome blog Suprageography: I see data, I make maps that covers bikeshare data stats for several urban bikeshare programs around the world. WOW! I totally [HEART] that Oliver guy! He recently posted about a big day for bikesharing - Easter Sunday - where he notes there was HUGE usage in DC (in the #1 ranking), Miami, and London - all soaring above 35% simultaneous bikes in use. In DC 37% of our 872 bikes were in use at about 4 in the afternoon (I'm reasonably sure I had a bike out about that time). He notes that usage rates above 30% stress the system, and it is difficult to find a bike in many places. His table shows that not only is DC an amazing bikesharing city, but we have a relatively large program with our almost 900 books, especially with the relative size of our population compared to some of the other bikesharing cities - like London and Mexico City. And, as he kindly points out so I don't have to be all puffy about it, America is beating Europe!
Yay, CaBi! Yay DC! I could eat this stuff all day.
Here's the link again...now let's play! So much data depicted on first click. First, the overall view of the CaBi program is the homescreen. Larger circles denote larger stations with more bike docks. The color of the circles show how full/empty the docks are - blue is emptier, deep red is an completley full station. The graph is realtime, and the lower right hand corner gives usage stats. Right now, pretty late on a Thursday evening, use is a low, sleepy 3%. The max simultaneous usage for today was 173 bikes, in use, or a respectable 20% of all available bikes in use (more about this later). That lower right hand info box has some pretty cool extra features. You can show or hide a ticker which tells you bikes going in and out of station realtime. It also shows usage and distribution imbalance datagraphs for the day. Around 5pm, today the fewest bikes were in docks - or conversely, the most were in use.
Even more fun...there is an animation button where we can see those station circles go from blue to red and back again in a neato timelapse run. See how, people head downtown, and then back to residential districts over the course of a day. Sounds like a commuter city, until you realize this is by bikes, not crawling on the Beltway! Mixed-use zones - shopping/residential/business like Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill get used all day.
Then, there's a little thrill ride here...Click on a station, and see it's dock stats for the last 24-hour period - the peaks and valleys of rush hour, the sharp zig-zags of frequent use. For example, 16th and U has a precipitous drop from totally full to totally empty during the morning rush hour, as this high-density, young, urban hipster neighborhood heads out to work, presumably downhill towards downtown. The Union Station dock does the same, with an opposite effect - all the bikes are taken from this busy transit hub around 6pm and dispersed to other docks within the nearby residential neighborhood. One of my local stations at 14th and D Streets SE gets decent use throughout the day, but by 9pm, it's docks are full. This matches my recent experience, when one evening, I grabbed a CaBi bike from the pool toward home, and found no docks at this station. I had to ride a few blocks farther, though not too much off my path, to return my bike to a different station. And Eastern Market (8th and Penn SE) and Dupont Circle stations get a fair amount of usage throughout the day.
And that awesome little addictive live data set led me to the supra-awesome blog Suprageography: I see data, I make maps that covers bikeshare data stats for several urban bikeshare programs around the world. WOW! I totally [HEART] that Oliver guy! He recently posted about a big day for bikesharing - Easter Sunday - where he notes there was HUGE usage in DC (in the #1 ranking), Miami, and London - all soaring above 35% simultaneous bikes in use. In DC 37% of our 872 bikes were in use at about 4 in the afternoon (I'm reasonably sure I had a bike out about that time). He notes that usage rates above 30% stress the system, and it is difficult to find a bike in many places. His table shows that not only is DC an amazing bikesharing city, but we have a relatively large program with our almost 900 books, especially with the relative size of our population compared to some of the other bikesharing cities - like London and Mexico City. And, as he kindly points out so I don't have to be all puffy about it, America is beating Europe!
Yay, CaBi! Yay DC! I could eat this stuff all day.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Books 2010: Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
I'm a longtime fan of Alexander McCall Smith's #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. These books which are set in pastoral Botswana, tell the tales of Precious Ramatswe, a lady detective or a certain age and a certain size. Each one describes a gentle African beauty of culture, people, and geography with humble respect and dignity. There is something that is both simple and profound at once in the same sentence, the chapter, the entire novel, and the entire series. It is a quick and easy read, but never insulting of one's intelligence.
Until now, I had not found McCall Smith's other novels all that appealing. During the period that I was reading about the ladies detective agency, I was traveling back and forth to Africa. This time, I was traveling back and forth to London, when I became immersed and enamored with Corduroy Mansions.
Corduroy Mansions is a townhouse divided into several flats in the Pimlico area of London. Each flat has its own cast of characters, with somewhat interlinking stories, each totally absurd, yet somehow almost perfectly plausible. One twenty-something flatmate living among the group of young women living together entirely by circumstance, is the junior staffer of an abhorrent MP who ends up firing her by text message. While another of these post-uni young woman works at a health food store, and somehow offers her boy-crush a free colonic irrigation. A middle-aged gentleman is desperate to have his mid-20's son move out to his own place, and schemes ways to push him out of the nest. All this while a desperate divorcee schemes her way into the nest.
The novel has an agreeable pace and tone. McCall Smith carries you easily through each sentence and chapter, but never insult you intelligence. And while the plots unfold in a simple, seemingly one-dimensional narrative, there is an additional plane of biting, droll wit, so subtle it's often almost missed, like one character's somewhat neurotic observation of the fish seller always being prompt, "she liked that in someone who sold perishables." There were many times when reading, I just enjoyed the little subtle joke or the totally nuanced absurdity, and I could imagine McCall Smith's twinkling eyes as he wrote it.
4 out of 5 stars for a good read, an gentle read, and a natural humor...this one's easy on the eyes, and only as taxing on the brain as you want it to be.
Until now, I had not found McCall Smith's other novels all that appealing. During the period that I was reading about the ladies detective agency, I was traveling back and forth to Africa. This time, I was traveling back and forth to London, when I became immersed and enamored with Corduroy Mansions.
Corduroy Mansions is a townhouse divided into several flats in the Pimlico area of London. Each flat has its own cast of characters, with somewhat interlinking stories, each totally absurd, yet somehow almost perfectly plausible. One twenty-something flatmate living among the group of young women living together entirely by circumstance, is the junior staffer of an abhorrent MP who ends up firing her by text message. While another of these post-uni young woman works at a health food store, and somehow offers her boy-crush a free colonic irrigation. A middle-aged gentleman is desperate to have his mid-20's son move out to his own place, and schemes ways to push him out of the nest. All this while a desperate divorcee schemes her way into the nest.
The novel has an agreeable pace and tone. McCall Smith carries you easily through each sentence and chapter, but never insult you intelligence. And while the plots unfold in a simple, seemingly one-dimensional narrative, there is an additional plane of biting, droll wit, so subtle it's often almost missed, like one character's somewhat neurotic observation of the fish seller always being prompt, "she liked that in someone who sold perishables." There were many times when reading, I just enjoyed the little subtle joke or the totally nuanced absurdity, and I could imagine McCall Smith's twinkling eyes as he wrote it.
4 out of 5 stars for a good read, an gentle read, and a natural humor...this one's easy on the eyes, and only as taxing on the brain as you want it to be.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
An Ideal Husband
No plans for tonight, so I considered either returning to some of my favorite places from my last two London trips in spring and summer or exploring some new ones. I decided to get out there in new territory, but was not ambitious or energetic enough for Brick Lane, as I hoped, so I decided to buy some half-price theatre tickets. I'm in London after all.
I found a nice bargain for the newly produced Oscar Wilde play, An Ideal Husband, at the Vaudeville Theatre on The Strand in London's West End. It officially opens with press night next week on November 10. But the soft opening gives the performers the chance to try out their energy and timing on actual London theatregoers and hapless tourists.
It was thoroughly enjoyable. The witty banter and clever observations on social rituals, morals, hypocrisy, gender roles, and marriage were brilliant, though required rapt attention and a quick mind to catch it at its best. I had limitations on both this evening after a long week. This was coupled with a warm, crowded and cramped theatre had me nodding off during the first act, and trying to ignore my mild discomfort in the second act.
Actors Samantha Bond, Eliot Cowan, Alexander Hanson and Rachel Stirling worked well together on stage. Samantha Bond gets top billing in her portrayal of Mrs. Cheveley, and she does indeed likably play this unlikeable character. Her co-star, and real life husband, Alexander Hanson, plays Sir Chiltern in wonderful existential comic angst. But Eliot Cowan's timing and brilliant physical acting, playing Lord Goring, absolutely stole the show for me.
I found a nice bargain for the newly produced Oscar Wilde play, An Ideal Husband, at the Vaudeville Theatre on The Strand in London's West End. It officially opens with press night next week on November 10. But the soft opening gives the performers the chance to try out their energy and timing on actual London theatregoers and hapless tourists.
It was thoroughly enjoyable. The witty banter and clever observations on social rituals, morals, hypocrisy, gender roles, and marriage were brilliant, though required rapt attention and a quick mind to catch it at its best. I had limitations on both this evening after a long week. This was coupled with a warm, crowded and cramped theatre had me nodding off during the first act, and trying to ignore my mild discomfort in the second act.
Actors Samantha Bond, Eliot Cowan, Alexander Hanson and Rachel Stirling worked well together on stage. Samantha Bond gets top billing in her portrayal of Mrs. Cheveley, and she does indeed likably play this unlikeable character. Her co-star, and real life husband, Alexander Hanson, plays Sir Chiltern in wonderful existential comic angst. But Eliot Cowan's timing and brilliant physical acting, playing Lord Goring, absolutely stole the show for me.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Blogging While Intoxicated
It's 930pm back at the hotel, and I've had a few drinks with colleagues - seems like a good time to run through the day.
9am - I'm on the steering committee on a group that works with AIDS and children. We have our two-day business meetings here in London. I'm new to the bunch, and they are well-established as a group of 14 colleagues. Still, my debut on the steering committee was not so bad. We're meeting at the offices of a private foundation in County Hall, Westminster, and the board room windows overlook Westminster Bridge, Parliament, and Big Ben. Speaking of...he chimed twelve times to announce lunch and rang through the open windows that let in that sound, as well as the wind and damp air, and which gave us the varying natural light of the overcast, partially cloudy - no partly sunny - day...which had us alternatively closing and opening the windows and shades to accommodate the ever-shifting London weather. I was right there in the moment. And while new, I didn't say anything too off, despite the technical talk and associated jargon about children and AIDS. I said just enough bright things to earn my keep and not have this be a boondoggle trip, or be a blowhard, like the talk-to-much colleague to my left who drove me batty.
415pm - I left on the early side for a meeting at a hugely, wealthy private foundation. I made my way over to Clifford Street, off Regent and Conduit. What a trip - this little uber-wealthy area - and further proof that I don' know London at all. There on the corner, Louis Vuitton and Burberry, as well as Stella McCartney among other haute designers. It's all kind of ridiculous, but Louis Vuitton windows did have an absolutely stunning display for Dewali - India's Festival of lights. Simply Gorgeous.
5pm - My meeting went well with the evaluation specialist there. I spent a lot of time talking about metrics and measurement, and throwing around technical terms, though also quite a skeptic. It's all a lot of blah-blah-blah...but I also really care about it, so I can bullshit with the best of them.
615pm- I took the Bakerloo line back to Waterloo,and since I chose the wrong "Way Out," I walked all around the bloody station on the streets to get to my destination. When train tracks are in the way there is not a lot of choice. Ugh. I was tired and annoyed that I had - once again - choosen the wrong direction. I pride my sense of direction, but I always seem to start off on the wrong track - once oriented, I'm all cool.
7pm- I met 7 colleagues for dinner, where I enjoyed scallops wrapped in pancetta on pumpkin puree and kale. Scrumptious...with a rocket and parmesan salad with 2 glasses of red. Simply delish- I am rarely happier than eating good food, accompanied by some wine and good people chit-chatting about nothing in particular. John (Canada) and I discussed politics, while Dortje (Netherlands) chimed in on some gay harassment in Utrecht, and Linda (South Africa) helped polish off the after-dinner bottle and told about finding finding temporary housing in Geneva. Stefan (Germany) paid the bill - he's been promoted and has a huge expense account to go with his new stratospheric title. A nice way to bond with this group - and yes, be more effective and accepted tomorrow.
9pm - Catherine (US) and I enjoyed two more glasses of wine at the hotel bar, and talked about the things that smart, professional women do.. fertility, marriage, dating, birth control, and long-distance relationships.
Sigh...I love my life. Lucky me.
9am - I'm on the steering committee on a group that works with AIDS and children. We have our two-day business meetings here in London. I'm new to the bunch, and they are well-established as a group of 14 colleagues. Still, my debut on the steering committee was not so bad. We're meeting at the offices of a private foundation in County Hall, Westminster, and the board room windows overlook Westminster Bridge, Parliament, and Big Ben. Speaking of...he chimed twelve times to announce lunch and rang through the open windows that let in that sound, as well as the wind and damp air, and which gave us the varying natural light of the overcast, partially cloudy - no partly sunny - day...which had us alternatively closing and opening the windows and shades to accommodate the ever-shifting London weather. I was right there in the moment. And while new, I didn't say anything too off, despite the technical talk and associated jargon about children and AIDS. I said just enough bright things to earn my keep and not have this be a boondoggle trip, or be a blowhard, like the talk-to-much colleague to my left who drove me batty.
415pm - I left on the early side for a meeting at a hugely, wealthy private foundation. I made my way over to Clifford Street, off Regent and Conduit. What a trip - this little uber-wealthy area - and further proof that I don' know London at all. There on the corner, Louis Vuitton and Burberry, as well as Stella McCartney among other haute designers. It's all kind of ridiculous, but Louis Vuitton windows did have an absolutely stunning display for Dewali - India's Festival of lights. Simply Gorgeous.
5pm - My meeting went well with the evaluation specialist there. I spent a lot of time talking about metrics and measurement, and throwing around technical terms, though also quite a skeptic. It's all a lot of blah-blah-blah...but I also really care about it, so I can bullshit with the best of them.
615pm- I took the Bakerloo line back to Waterloo,and since I chose the wrong "Way Out," I walked all around the bloody station on the streets to get to my destination. When train tracks are in the way there is not a lot of choice. Ugh. I was tired and annoyed that I had - once again - choosen the wrong direction. I pride my sense of direction, but I always seem to start off on the wrong track - once oriented, I'm all cool.
7pm- I met 7 colleagues for dinner, where I enjoyed scallops wrapped in pancetta on pumpkin puree and kale. Scrumptious...with a rocket and parmesan salad with 2 glasses of red. Simply delish- I am rarely happier than eating good food, accompanied by some wine and good people chit-chatting about nothing in particular. John (Canada) and I discussed politics, while Dortje (Netherlands) chimed in on some gay harassment in Utrecht, and Linda (South Africa) helped polish off the after-dinner bottle and told about finding finding temporary housing in Geneva. Stefan (Germany) paid the bill - he's been promoted and has a huge expense account to go with his new stratospheric title. A nice way to bond with this group - and yes, be more effective and accepted tomorrow.
9pm - Catherine (US) and I enjoyed two more glasses of wine at the hotel bar, and talked about the things that smart, professional women do.. fertility, marriage, dating, birth control, and long-distance relationships.
Sigh...I love my life. Lucky me.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Dispatch from London
Tube strike wreaks havoc on my life (and London, in general): Today's tube strike brought gridlock to London, and a virtual standstill to Underground operations. Limited services meant some lines were completely suspended; some stations were completely closed, and where trains were running they were infrequent and overcrowded. I used a combination of taxi, private hire car service, tube, and walking.
London map starts to stick in my head by way of my feet: I covered a good part of London on foot today from Oxford Circus to Soho to Leicester Square to Trafalger Square to Westminster to Waterloo. I lost my bearings a few times, and started off in the wrong direction, but quickly reoriented and got on my way. I think I'm finally beginning to connect London. I've got the Southwark down from Waterloo to the Tate Modern to The Cut, onward east to London Bridge and Canary Wharf. I also think I get Vauxhall and Battersea Power Plant in the other direction on the south side of the Thames. Today I connected some of the northern side, but without a sense of the river nearby, I get completely dizzy disoriented. Still, I think I now have a sense of Westminster to Hyde Park, Marble Arch and Edgware Road. As well as how Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Regent Street, Soho, Chinatown, and Leicester Square connect - though I have to say, I am not so interested here. Tomorrow, I may actually get to Brick Lane. It's amazing how walking will get you through and around a city - it's finally clicking.
New jet lag remedy discovered: Travel the first week of November, the week between the time changes in Europe and the US. For one week only, when London has already changed back to standard time and before the US changes to standard time a week later, the time difference is just 4 hours. Jet lag is 20% easier to overcome than the rest of the year!
London map starts to stick in my head by way of my feet: I covered a good part of London on foot today from Oxford Circus to Soho to Leicester Square to Trafalger Square to Westminster to Waterloo. I lost my bearings a few times, and started off in the wrong direction, but quickly reoriented and got on my way. I think I'm finally beginning to connect London. I've got the Southwark down from Waterloo to the Tate Modern to The Cut, onward east to London Bridge and Canary Wharf. I also think I get Vauxhall and Battersea Power Plant in the other direction on the south side of the Thames. Today I connected some of the northern side, but without a sense of the river nearby, I get completely dizzy disoriented. Still, I think I now have a sense of Westminster to Hyde Park, Marble Arch and Edgware Road. As well as how Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Regent Street, Soho, Chinatown, and Leicester Square connect - though I have to say, I am not so interested here. Tomorrow, I may actually get to Brick Lane. It's amazing how walking will get you through and around a city - it's finally clicking.
New jet lag remedy discovered: Travel the first week of November, the week between the time changes in Europe and the US. For one week only, when London has already changed back to standard time and before the US changes to standard time a week later, the time difference is just 4 hours. Jet lag is 20% easier to overcome than the rest of the year!
Friday, October 29, 2010
London-bound
Friday, July 16, 2010
Capital BikeShare Launching this Fall
Woohoo! The Capital BikeShare program is launching this fall! As I've discussed in this blog before, city bike share programs are the coolest for quick destination rides getting about the neighborhood. Just like Paris Velib! While SmartBike, run by marketing firm Clear Channel, made DC hip just for trying, the 150 bikes in 15 stations were just plain measly. And SmarkBike, whose program will end with the new one's launch, doesn't even compare to the 1000 bikes at 100 stations throughout DC of the new program. Now we're we're talking Paris cool*. And London cool, too! Barclay's Cycle Hire program launches there on July 30.
*Actually I read in one commentary on the program that to be comparable to Velib in density of bikeshares per capita, DC would need about 5400 bikes. I also read in sleuthing this that another 1000 bikes for program expansion are planned in a matching grant proposal. Exciting!
*Actually I read in one commentary on the program that to be comparable to Velib in density of bikeshares per capita, DC would need about 5400 bikes. I also read in sleuthing this that another 1000 bikes for program expansion are planned in a matching grant proposal. Exciting!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Just in time...
Another cloud of volcanic ash hovering over northwestern Europe has closed Heathrow (again). *So* grateful, I got out on Friday. My life just can't afford anything unplanned right now. ;-)
Ha! Is the universe laughing yet? I'm well aware - more than ever, more than many, shall we say? - that everything in life is unexpected. I just happened to escape this particular surprise.
Ha! Is the universe laughing yet? I'm well aware - more than ever, more than many, shall we say? - that everything in life is unexpected. I just happened to escape this particular surprise.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Tate Modern (Cy Twombly - Take 2)
The Tate Modern is housed in the formidable and re-adapted former Bankside Power Plant in Southwark along the Thames. There were several wings I wanted to explore, as well as the rooftop restaurant, but I was only able to check out one. The others will have to wait for my next visit. Material Gestures, the third floor wing, I visited, is described thusly:
At the heart of this wing is a room devoted to painting and sculpture from the 1940s and 1950s, showing how new forms of abstraction and expressive figuration emerged in post-war Europe and America. The surrounding displays suggest affinities between the radical innovations of this era and the work of earlier artists, but also show the legacy of those ideas among contemporary practitioners who have continued to develop the language of art in new and unexpected ways.Indeed, I saw some of my favorite art and artists, including some presented in completely new ways. As I rounded the corner to the room pictured above, I was in awe. Four great canvases were displayed in this room - one on each wall. The vivid red strokes had such motion. Yet the red on white canvas also suggested some austerity, as well as intensity. The paintings were described as representing - at once- violence and ecstasy. Indeed they were passionately violent, and violently passionate. They fill the canvas end-to-end-to-center with a certain balance, and the size of the loops, while not uniform, are certainly consistent like sound waves or shock waves. These are Cy Twombly paintings - the artist I profess to hate, the one I'm convinced has no talent, and has bewitched the art world. But my reaction was strong and mostly positive (or at least engaged and provoked in a good way) when I saw these, and only a few moments later did I realize, I had be digging on Cy Twombly. A man, an artist, I clearly need to revisit and reinterpret myself.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
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