Read this blog: The one where we view a thousand different gins Wednesday 19th to Friday 21st March 2025 The forecast for our time in Singapore was not good. We arrived in the dark in torrential rain and were told to expect several days of monsoon weather. Robert therefore researched places we might like to go which were undercover or inside. The following morning after breakfast [see Dish of the day] we set off to see the exhibition The Art of Banksy:“Without Limits”. This was a real treat. As you enter, a useful timeline of the artist’s work sets the scene before you walk through the exhibition [see also Video and Selfie of the day]. Certain images and motifs recur, including the Banksy rats which appeared, amongst other things, as little red carpet doorman at floor level. It has been said that Banksy uses the rats to represent anyone who feels rejected by society. Banksy’s work often subverts more traditional forms of artistic expression, for example classical statues are reimagined as suicide bombers. Bathroom is a working from home [WFH] project produced during the first lockdown. It was first revealed on Instagram and features a series of Banksy’s signature rats […]
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Read this blog: The one where we discover that shorter is higher Thursday 11th and Friday 12th April 2024 The day was to be taken up predominantly with travel so we went to fortify ourselves with breakfast at Wheelers again. This time Robert constructed his own breakfast by choosing items from a pick and mix menu [see Dish of the day]. As a Grab taxi is very reasonable and it was difficult to predict how long we might have to wait for the ferry, we decided to grab a Grab over the bridge to the station in Butterworth to catch our train to Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia. This would provide us with a different view of the crossing. Once in the capital, we went to catch the monorail towards our hotel. We were a bit apprehensive to find that not all the platform gates have been completed so there was a sheer drop down to the rails. We stood well back as the train arrived [see Video of the day]. We checked in to our hotel and as we were too tired to start sightseeing, we took a short walk to the Hard Rock Café. Robert had done his […]
Friday 3rd June 2022 Robert had planned a route, taking in many of the long list which Matilda had compiled of places to visit, for our first full day of sightseeing in the Big Apple. First we planned to walk the High Line. On our way however, we came across Vessel in Hudson Yards which was not on the list and was an eye-catching surprise. It looks a bit like a 16 storey chunk of honeycomb and comprises 154 interconnecting flights of stairs with 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings. It is reminiscent of the optical illusions in one of MC Escher’s graphic architectural drawings. Vessel is designed to give people new perspectives and views of the city and each other as they climb. It opens at 10:00 so we were too early but added it to the list for future reference. A little further on we came to the entrance to the High Line. We wanted to walk this route on Friday as currently entrance is unrestricted on weekdays but visitors are required to book entry times at the weekend. Stretches of track remain amongst the lush planting and art installations. Originally, the New York Central Railroad built an elevated […]
Thursday 4th April 2019 – Afternoon Jallianwala Bagh is close to the Golden Temple and was the scene of an infamous and bloody massacre, on 13 April 1919 by British troops under the command of General Dyer, of unarmed Indian men, women and children who were gathered in a walled garden to celebrate a festival. Many were killed or wounded and others jumped into an open well [below, bottom right] to escape the firing and were drowned. The bullet marks are still visible on the walls [below, bottom left] and it is said that this horrific and unjustifiable incident was a deciding factor in hastening the end of British rule in India. Strangely, this is a calm and tranquil park, as it must surely have been on the day of the massacre before the troops arrived. The topiary provides an ingenious and poignant commemoration of the event, using organic natural forms to create figures of firing and advancing soldiers. Robert had identified the Maharajah Ranjit Singh Panorama museum as somewhere he wanted to visit. Our guide was obviously nonplussed by this request but took us there nonetheless. It was not at all what we had expected but the formal gardens […]