Travelsmartplanet

Maman the Giant Spider

Most people would not think of taking children to an art museum. However, The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa offers Artissimo,  one of the best children’s programs I have come across  – and at an amazingly reasonable price of only $24 for 2 adults and 3 children. They try to teach kids about the art through different senses.

– First up was the creation of Art Buddies, toys (like dolls or animals) which can be found in paintings. These exact reproductions are given to the kids to hold, and then they are pointed to galleries where they can try to find them in a painting. Our Marguerite Charlotte doll had golden curls intertwined with green ribbon, and was holding a little blue bird in her hand.

– Second fun activity was the touch box which the child wears around his neck. They can put their hands in the sides (like a muff) and feel textures inside. Each box relates to a painting which has these textures in it; they have to guess what they are feeling and what in the painting represents it: a feather, lace, fur, picture frame, etc.

– Thirdly, was a real hit for ages 4-10. In Sounds Like Art, they are given headphones which play sounds. In each gallery, they have to find a painting which would relate to that sound: water, a crying baby, horses’ hooves, crackling fire.

The Arts and Crafts Area

For completing these games, the kids are rewarded with collectors’ cards of the paintings.

– Lastly there is an arts and crafts area set up in the most beautiful setting possible – the Great Hall with its soaring windows. While they are creating their works of art, you (and they) can oogle the magnificent panoramic view of Parliament Hill, the Gatineau Hills and the Ottawa River.

The children also enjoyed finding the surprise garden (from above and at ground level), the ceiling water window in the lobby, the “sound sculpture” in the chapel and, of course, Maman, the giant spider outside.  And yes, there is also the fabulous collection of art. We spent 4 hours there easily.

Location: 380 promenade Sussex Drive, Ottawa ON K1N 9N4
Phone: 800-319-ARTS
Hours: Tues-Sun 10-5 (closed Mon Oct 1-Apr 30)
www.gallery.ca  www.beaux-arts.ca

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The Wittelsbach dynasty ruled the German territories of Bavaria from 1180 to 1918 – that’s 738 years,  pretty impressive.  Munich Residenz,  their former royal palace, is  located right in the center of Munich and very much open to the public. After 4 centuries of building it, the giant palace is made up of  many styles: late Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classicism.

Though spartan on the outside, it is very opulent inside. You can tour it for its architecture, over-the-top room decor (130 rooms), and displays from the former royal collections. After WWII, the Cuvilliés Theatre was built into the Festsaalbau wing. You can also catch the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Hercules Hall. In his time, Mozart performed in this palace.

The Treasury houses the jewels of the Wittelsbach dynasty and spans 1,000 years, from the early Middle Ages to Neo-classicism, and includes: crowns, swords, golden objects, rock crystal, ivory, goblets, icons, tableware and toiletries.

The palace suffered huge damages during WWII, but the curators managed to store furnishings, art and  details of its architecture in mines. When you are wandering around the 10 courtyards, see if you can find this fountain with statues of  fire, water, earth and air on its corners.

The Wittelsbach family’s head, since 1996, is Franz, Duke of Bavaria, and he still hangs out in Munich. During WWII, the Wittelsbachs were anti-Nazi and were arrested when Franz was 11. He spent time in several Nazi concentration camps. After the war, he studied at the University of Munich and became a collector of modern art. Some of his collection is on loan to the Pinakothek der Moderne Museum (see other post).

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

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 Haus der Deutschen Kunst (“House of Aryan Art”) was the Third Reich’s first monumental structure of Nazi architecture and a showcase for  Nazi propaganda. It  opened  July 18, 1937 to highlight what the Third Reich regarded as Germany’s finest art.  Since Hitler thought Modern Art was crap, he intended this as an edifying contrast to it.

Ironically, since, 2002, it has housed the the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Arts and is called the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Just to make sure we get it, crowning the top of the building are 20 words written in Yiddish such as “meshiginer or nudnick” – all words relating to the fact he was a fool.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

Tags: architecture, art, collection, Crown, fool, Germany, Haus der Deutschen Kunst, modern, modern contemporary, Munich, Pinakothek, propaganda, Reich, Third, yiddish

All roads lead to  Marienplatz, the  famous, historic square and the heart of  the Old Town of Munich. Make sure to catch the Glockenspiel show at 11 am or noon (and 5 pm in the summer). The 43-bell Glockenspiel (carillon)  is located on the central spire of the New Town Hall.

When the clock strikes the hour, a  clarion sounds and colorful mechanical figures act out two dramas in the upper and lower windows. The crowd giggles when the rooster crows and the Count gets thrown off his horse.

If you like panoramic views, you can take steps or an elevator up inside the Town Hall.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

It costs $500 a year to join Patrons of the Vatican Museums which means you are a donor to the Vatican museums. For your basic membership, you get to jump the line at Vatican Museums – as in going straight in to the Sistine Chapel in the morning before anyone else. You get private tours of off limits galleries and restoration labs, special access to St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Gardens, priority seating at the Pope’s weekly general audience, and can score coveted tickets to Midnight Mass.

This is not necessarily for Catholics, but for anyone who is an art buff and eager for behind the scenes access. On top of that, it’s a good deal as it is tax deductible.

Three hundred and fifty of this fundraising organization (of about 2500) of Vatican lovers, had a 30th anniversary gala this year. The guests, art loving philanthropists,  were mostly from the US; They had become excited after seeing  a  traveling exhibit of Vatican treasures. For only $1900 a person, they enjoyed five days of touring, VIP treatment, lectures on museum restoration, catered dinners in museum galleries, question and answer periods with top official in the Secretariat about Vatican reform, vespers service in the Sistine Chapel – and even a one-on-one with Pope Francis himself.

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens will clear your head from the buzz of I-95.  You have to walk slowly, deliberately, in order to appreciate the sculpture of leaves, bushes, flowers and branches which are painstakingly maintained. In 200 acres, you will walk Roji-en, through the centuries: Shinden Garden (9th-12th), Paradise Garden (13th &14th), Early Rock garden (14th), Lake Rock Garden (15th), Flat Garden (16 th &17th) and the  Modern Romantic Garden (19th-20th) as well as thru towering bamboo, waterfalls and bonsai, of course.

There are exhibition rooms on art, history, and Japanese culture and you might be able to enjoy a tea ceremony if you arrive at the right time.

The gardens were donated by George Sukeji Morikami of the the Yamato colony, an early 20th century Japanese farming settlement in Florida. In the original building, you can learn about the colony and see Japan Through the Eyes of a Child: school supplies, kitchen, bullet train and a bathroom toilet which washes your butt.

The gift shop sells tea sets, origami, abacus, calligraphy brushes, chopstick rests, kimonos and cool Piperoid Robography. You can dine gloriously in the Cornell Cafe and Tea House with its pan-Asian food overlooking gardens.

4000 Morikami Park Rd, Delray Beach
Hours:  T-Sun 10-5
IconT 561-495-0233
www.morikami.org

Tags: abacus, bamboo, bathroom toilet, bonsai, branches, bullet train, bushes, calligraphy brushes, chopstick rests, eaves, flowers, George Sukeji Morikami, kimono, kitchen, Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, origami, Piperoid Robography, school supplies, tea ceremony, tea sets, waterfall, Yamato colony

On Saturday Sept 10th, My husband and I will be on Radio Centre-Ville’s Centre-Ville Consumer show with Beta Wayne.

Tune to 102.3  between 12:30 p.m.  and 1 p.m. and you’ll hear about our experiences in Holland and Flanders, Belgium in May. It will be the full half hour of conversation between us.

www.radiocentreville.com

Tags: Belgium, Beta Wayne, Centre Ville Consumer, Flanders, Holland

Yesterday the skies shed tears for Martin Luther King with Hurricane Irene pouring down. After 27 years in the making, a memorial to him opened to the public on the 48th anniversary of his “I have a dream” speech.

The Mall in Washinton, DC was always a sacred place for monuments dedicated to ex-presidents so okaying a spot for an African-American who was just a “common” man was remarkable; Of course he was an amazing man of peace who changed America for the better.

The MLK memorial was conceived in 1987 by members of the Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest African-American fraternity in the US and authorized by Congress in 1996. The sculpture shows King emerging from rough stone with his brow furrowed, arms crossed and looking out over the horizon. Long granite walls flanking the sides feature 14 of King’s most famous quotes.

The Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin wanted to show him deep in thought and named it the Stone of Hope. The words were borrowed from his speech “From a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

King proves that one person can truly change a nation.

Tags: Lei Yixin, Martin Luther King, memorial, monument, sculpture, Washinton Mall

SP The brand sparkling new Museum Ann de Stroom, nicknamed MAS (www.mas.be) , is an eye-catching edifice and the new must-see spot in Antwerp, Belgium. Designed by Dutch architects from the firm Neutelings Riedijk, it is made of grids of rectangular stone and astonishing rippled glass walls. It is free to ride the escalators all the way up and then ascend 2 flights of stairs to view the city from its rooftop panorama. The building is an open house and there is a fee only to access the museum rooms.

The museum is a salute to the city, the river, its trade and shipping, the port, Antwerp and the world. Along the escalators there are display cases by eighty young people. In-house composer Eric Sleichem created sound sculptures for each floor. The musical pieces can be heard in the first area of each level. The best view of Museum Square is from the 5^th floor MAS Boulevard. There you can get an overall view of the 1,600 piece mosaic by Luc Tuymans called “Dead Skull”, which refers to the commemorative plaque for painter Quinten Metsys on the facade of the Onza-Lieve-Vrouwekanthedral (Cathedral of Our Lady).

Russian nesting dolls are called matryoshka dolls (North Americans have incorrectly adopted the word babushka, but that just means grandmother in Russian). In 1890, the first one to carve a set was Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter in Abramtsevo.

Matryoshka dolls are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The set separates, top from bottom, revealing a smaller figure painted the same way inside, which has, in turn, another figure inside of it, and so on. The number of nested figures is traditionally at least five, but with expert craftsmanship (they are constructed from one block of wood) can sometimes be up to several dozen.

A block of wood is cut in half and then a chunk of wood is carved out of the top and bottom pieces. The chunks are formed into an oval shape and matching pieces are put together and then painted. The smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby lathed from a single piece of wood. The figures inside may be of either gender but are mostly female.

Over the years, the dolls were painted in a traditional colorful style as a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long and shapeless Russian peasant jumper dress. Nowadays they are painted with any kind of theme from Russian leaders to Walt Disney characters to an observant Jewish family.  The most common amount of nestings is five though his original one had eight.

Tags: babushka, doll, matryoshka, nesting, peasant, Russia, sarafan, wood