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Always Packed for Adventure!

It's the destination and the journey.

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Palm Springs Art Museum + Unsettled

I can thank a snow storm for giving me the opportunity to visit the Palm Springs Art Museum in early February 2019. We were down the mountain for a dental appointment and could not drive home because the roads were closed. Palm Springs isn’t a shabby place to get stuck. Dan had a lot of work to do, so to give him privacy, I headed to the Palm Springs Art Museum, which is located in the heart of downtown Palm Springs, just a ten minute walk from our hotel.

The first art that I encountered, was a sculpture area adjacent to the parking lot. It featured enormous babies crawling through a sand box. To be honest, a touch creepy. I viewed the art from above, but it appeared that there was a way to walk into the area and right up to the sculptures. I visited on a rainy day and it was drizzling, so I didn’t linger.

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Here are some shots taken in front of the museum, more sculptures and a few banners advertising the latest special exhibition: Unsettled: Art on the New Frontier.

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Adult admission was only fourteen dollars and I easily spent three hours enjoying the museum.

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The lobby featured a huge dog sculpture by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, titled Your Dog.

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Although technically not a piece of art, I had to take a picture of the staircase chandelier. It’s so eye-catching!


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I started with the special exhibition, Unsettled: Art on the New Frontier, which focused on Western expansion, colonization, and the mistreatment of Indigenous people. The special exhibition spanned a majority of the lower level of the museum and I had the option to either start on the left or right. There was no single way to tour the exhibition.

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I started to the right, drawn in by Brian Jungen’s large totem poles created from sports equipment and his mask made from Air Jordans. The pieces are a statement on the sports industry, which often shows insensitivity through cultural appropriation.

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Chris Burden’s All the Submarines of the United States of America, features a model of every submarine in the USA fleet from the 1800’s-1980’s. It is staggering. I could feel the unease of the other museum patrons, as we took in this shocking exhibit. Reading about the installation, it mentions revealing the power of something that is usually unseen, making it visible.

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Ana Teresa Fernandez’s oil painting, Erasing the Border, tackles the opposite issue, Trump’s proposed border wall, a very visible symbol of power, something that is also very unsettling. In her work, she is shown painting the bars to match the nearby ocean, an attempt to render them invisible and to diminish the power. This also asks the question, who is really trapped by the wall?

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A dark and bizarre time in the American west comes courtesy of WW2 and Atomic testing. I say bizarre, because it spurred a whole atomic culture and in a way was romaticized. Bruno Fazzolari pokes at this mix of romantic with horrific, with his mushroom cloud shaped perfume bottle, titled Unsettled. The bottle comes with a companion piece, a poster advertising both the perfume and the art exhibition.

Next to the bottle and the poster, were samples of the perfume created for the exhibition, which could be purchased at the gift shop. A signed invited us to experience the samples, but it was a funny thing in an art museum, where we are generally not allowed to touch the art, so most people observed and would not touch, even after reading the sign. I spent about fifteen minutes surreptitiously watching people react to the Fazzolari’s work.

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Ed Ruscha’s Atomic Princess, also plays with the idea of atomic age romanticism. I like the simplicity of this work, leaving so much up to interpretation. A nearby sign mentioned Atomic age beauty contests, which again, so strange and disturbing with the passage of time.

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Nearby, I was able to experience Ruscha’s Chocolate Room, a room wallpapered with sheets of real chocolate. It had a sickly smell. Many years ago, I attended an exhibit at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where they had a installation comprised of WW2 era chocolate that was rotting. The smell was nauseating. Ruscha’s Chocolate Room is not nearly as old and has undergone refreshes, but it still had an unpleasant smell.

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Also fragrant, were these bowls filled with colorful spices. I could not find the artist who created them, but I found myself overwhelmed by difference senses ( a lovely way, distinctly different from the chocolate), as I took them in.

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Throughout the exhibition, there was poetry by Aku_Matu. I really responded to how Unsettled blended visual arts with the written word.

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This one, I could not stop thinking about and I’ve shared it with many friends.

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After Unsettled, I headed to the two upper levels of the museum, which primarily focused on Modern Art. The show-stopper piece is an enormous blown-glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly.

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Unfortunately, I did not record the name of the artist, but I was taken by this disturbing sculpture of a multi-headed horse.

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I love these two whimsical metal sculptures. The first is Henry Moore’s Helmet Head No. 2 and the second is Picasso’s Angry Owl. The owl was in response to people who insisted on high-brow art and Picasso didn’t want to comply. Plus, he loved owls and even had a pet owl!

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I like art that invites you to participate; peer inside to find an infinity drop. I’m not sure who created this, but it certainly sparked comments from the nearby museum goers, who were also taking a peek.

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Unsettled wasn’t just the name of the exhibition, but also my general feeling towards much of the art through the museum. My biggest reaction came from Louise Bourgeois’ enormous black spider sculpture that was mounted on a wall. As if noticing a real spider on a wall, I kept one eye on it as I toured the gallery. Real or Art, spiders immediately invoke a primal fear from somewhere deep inside of my being.

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Next to the spider, was a cartoonishly tall and ghostly figure of a dress without a body. Also, nightmarish, especially as it casts an intimidating shadow.

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I moved on in the gallery, particularly mesmerized by Deborah Butterfield’s life-sized bronze horse titled Ryuanji.

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The museum was nearly closing, so I quickly ran through a few more exhibits on the lower level: beautiful glass work, mid-century modern furniture, local Native American art and a small section on tourism in Palm Springs, including vintage photographs.

The Palm Springs Art Museum is a real treasure and I look forward to future visits. I cannot believe that I’ve visited Palm Springs dozens of times, yet had never visited this museum. It is not to be missed!

tags: Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs Art Museum Pictures, Palm Springs Art Museum Review, Palm Springs Art Museum Trip Report, My Visit to the Palm Springs Art Museum, Things to do in Palm Springs, Palm Springs Art Museum Sculpture Garden, Palm Springs Art Museum Unsettled, Ed Ruscha Chocolate Room Palm Springs Art Museum, Picasso Owl Sculpture, Dale Chihuly Palm Springs Art Museum, Henry Moore Helmet Head No. 2, Louise Bourgeois Spider 2, Deborah Butterfield Horses, Robert Therrien Stacked Plates Butter, Rachel Lachowicx, Yoshitomo Nara Your Dog, Aku Matu Poetry, Aku_Matu Unsettled Palm Springs Art Museum, Brian Jungen Prototype for New Understanding #23, Chris Burden All the Submarines of the United States of America, Ana Teresa Fernandez Erasing the Border, Bruno Fazzolari Unsettled, Atomic Bomb Perfume Bottle, Atomic Princess Ed Ruscha, William Morris Canopic Jar Fox, Downtown Palm Springs, Unsettled Art on the New Frontier, Atomic Culture, Romanticizing the Atomic Age
categories: Visit
Wednesday 02.20.19
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

A Day in London: January 2019

In early January 2019, I was blessed with three days in England to visit family. On one of those days, I hopped on a train and went to London with my niece, Pippa. London is one of my favorite places in the world and I really didn’t think that I would have the opportunity to visit it on this brief trip. I was thrilled when Pippa asked me to join her for a day trip.

We left mid-morning and arrived in London around lunch time. The first stop was Covent Garden, a covered mall filled with unique shops and restaurants. Although it is very famous, I had not previously visited Covent Garden on my trips to London. We poked around in the shops; a wide variety of both high-end and quirky specialty stores. We spent quite a bit of time in Miller Harris, a fragrance shop. I wasn’t taken by any of the scents, but I loved that they had a collection named after the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The bibliophile in me, nearly opened my wallet! It was a bonus that Covent Garden was still decorated for Christmas. As we were walking around, we heard an amazing voice and discovered an opera singer busking. It added an element of magic to start our day in London.

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We were feeling parched, but it seemed in poor taste to start drinking alcohol before lunch, so we stopped for tea at the St. Martin in the Fields: Cafe in the Crypt.

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Many times, I have passed by the Cafe in the Crypt and had wanted to try it. My husband has even attended a corporate party in the crypt! Just as the name implies, it is a cafe that is located in a crypt. I love the cheeky signs that they have advertising the cafe.


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It’s more of a cafeteria than a cafe and they serve full-on lunch items. We kept it simple with pots of English breakfast tea. Our visit was around 1ish in the afternoon and the place was absolutely jammed, we were lucky to find a table. I would definitely visit again, but likely during off-peak hours. We just don’t have these types of places in California, so it was a little odd enjoying tea over the graves. It made me wonder how I would feel if my resting place was turned into a cafe. I think it would make me happy to know that life was carrying on above me and that I ended up in a place were people were eating cake!

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A quick walk through Trafalgar Square and some snaps. It was chilly outside, so we didn’t linger.

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Under Pippa’s recommendation, we went to Franco Manca for lunch. Franco Manca makes great, inexpensive pizzas. I tried Green Cola. I ordered it not knowing what to expect. It wasn’t green in color and it tasted very similar to Coke, yet it was hyper-effervescent. Every time I took a sip, it would bubble-up so much, that the paper straw would rise and the soda threatened to cascade over the side of the bottle.

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We had already decided that this would be a day of food and drink indulgence, so our next stop was Chinatown for some yummy bubble tea at Cuppa Cha. This was my first experience having bubble tea served warm, but it was the perfect cold day treat. Cuppa Cha is a cheerful shop with a fake-grass, indoor/outdoor theme. It brought color to a grey, London day!

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A quick walk through Piccadilly Circus as we head towards our next drink…

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The BelowZero Ice Bar!

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This was my first experience at an Ice Bar, something that I’ve long wanted to try. The ice bar area is small and they allow a limited number of people to enter in 45 minutes time blocks. It seems that they book-up in advance, but we were very lucky to arrive (without buying tickets in advance,) just as a session was starting. Our session only had about ten people and I imagine that it easy holds triple that amount.

For 13.50 pounds each, we were given entry to the Ice Bar, including our first drink. Before entering the cold, we were outfitted with thick, quilted capes that had a hood lined with faux-fur and warm mittens. This outfit is necessary. We were still very cold and didn’t even last the 45 minutes. We even met a woman that was wearing heels and she was suffering. This is not the place to be fashionable, just dress for comfort!

We entered the Ice Bar to see a display of sculptures featuring icons of London, called London Land. I read on the BelowZero Ice Bar website, that this theme will go on until May 2019 and then will be changed for something new. They even had a taxi made of ice, that you could climb in and watch a video window showing views of London! Half the fun of the experience was taking pictures with all of the sculptures.

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We were able to pick our included drink from an extensive cocktail menu, something for everyone’s tastes and they were served in a thick glass made of ice! This was fun, but slippery- you must wear your gloves when picking up the glasses. As you can imagine, they were also very cold to drink from! The cocktails were okay, but from pre-made mixes and not very high quality. We had the option to open a tab and order more, but one was enough. We were left with the impression that it is a fun experience, but more of a gimmick, than a great bar. To be fair, BelowZero Ice Bar, also has a restaurant/bar, that is separate from the Ice Bar Experience and the drinks might be amazing.

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Amazing drinks were had at Aqua Kyoto. Not only were they delicious, but they were absolutely gorgeous. Aqua Kyoto is a stunning Japanese restaurant, with an elegant bar. I was shamefully under-dressed in my jeans and clunky boots, but I owned it and enjoyed the experience. The next time I’m in London with my husband, I need to bring him here for a date-night. Loved it!

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A perfect day in London is not complete without theater tickets. I was very excited to see Sam Shepard’s True West at the Vaudeville Theatre. But on the walk to the theatre, I had a momentary blip of envy, as I felt the excitement of ticket holders entering to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.



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I can best explain it like this, it was like everyone entering to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was about to go on a brand-new ride at Disneyland ( or more apt-Universal Studios) and we were headed for an NPR event! This is not to diminish the amazing experience that I had watching True West, as it was fabulous, just to say that there was a very different energy outside of each theater.

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But then again, we had John Snow!

After the show, we enjoyed a glass of wine at a wine bar next to the theatre, before heading to Paddington Station to catch the last train home. I’d be remiss, if I did not add that we had a very late-night dinner at the grossest McDonald’s ( and that’s saying a lot!) at the train station. My husband was appalled and has not let me live it down. He keeps calling me “A Dirty Stop-Out.” How British!


















tags: My Day in London 2019, London at Christmas Time, Pictures of London, Miller Harris Covent Garden, Miller Harris Fitzgerald Collection, Covent Garden Market, Covent Garden Street Performers, Covent Gardens Opera Singer, Covent Gardens Pictures, St. Martins in the Fields, Cafe in the Crypt London, London Crypts, Dining in a Crypt, St Martin in the Fields Cafe in the Crypt, Cafe in the Crypt London Pictures, Green Cola, What is Green Cola, Picture Green Cola, Franco Manca London, Best Pizza in London, Aqua Kyoto London, Aqua Kyoto London Cocktails, Best Cocktails in London, Belowzero Ice Bar London, Belowzero Ice Bar London Pictures, Belowzero Ice Bar London Review, Belowzero Ice Bar London Land, London Taxi Ice Sculpture, London Ice Sculptures, Belowzero Ice Bar London Menu, Glass Made of Ice, London's Chinatown, Cuppa Cha London, Cuppa Cha Bubble Tea London, Piccadilly Circus Picture, Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain London, Trafalgar Square London, London Theatre 2019, True West London 2019, Vaudeville Theatre London, Perfect Day in London, Where to Eat in London, Where to Drink in London, Tips for Visiting London, I Love London
categories: Eat, Life, Visit, Watch
Monday 02.18.19
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 

Book Review- Hazel Loutsis' Are We Really Going to Let Mum Backpack on Her Own

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Thank you to Hazel Loutsis, for providing me with a copy of her travel book, Are We Really Going to Let Mum Backpack on Her Own?: My Gap Year Traveling Solo at Sixty, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Hazel Loutsis was a single British woman approaching sixty, when she had a life-altering thought while at the dentist: rather than paying thousands of pounds for a procedure that she didn’t really need, she would spend the money on traveling the world. Loutsis put her affairs in order, bought a good backpack, and flew to India, to begin her year of adventure.

LIKE- Loutsis has an amazing adventurous spirit, embracing all of the experiences that come her way. She picks destinations that are off-the-beaten path, rarely declines trying new things, and truly gets to know the people living in the places that she visits.

I was intrigued by Loutsis style of travel. She keeps it simple, mostly staying in hostels (usually filled with college students) or in accommodations where she volunteers to earn her keep. She is easy-going when it comes to camping, long bus rides, and general discomfort. Honestly, I’m not sure that I could embrace her style of travel, yet I’m envious of the incredible experiences she had during her year abroad. It was certainly a deeper experience than the average traveler. Many times, these experiences seem to come as a reward for her experiencing discomfort, like amazing views after a grueling hike. Loutsis often favored small towns and nature, over big cities- which is also opposite to me. It was engaging to read a travel report from someone so different from myself.

My favorite part was when Loutsis decided to sleep under the stars, while on a tour of the Australian outback. She managed to sleep through Dingos raiding the camp. The Dingos stole sneakers from another woman in the group. Loutsis is told not to worry, since the Dingos don’t usually attack people!

I love travel writing, because it allows me to live vicariously through the author’s journey: Are We Really Going to Let Mum Backpack on Her Own, is no exception. Thanks to Loutsis, I have many destinations to add to my bucket list!

DISLIKE- Are We Really Going to Let Mum Backpack on Her Own, is a straight-up travel journal. It was just like reading a travel diary from a friend and lacked a sense of style that is found in professional travel writing.

RECOMMEND- Maybe. I certainly admire Loutsis and I found much of her book to be enjoyable. That said, I’m not sure that it was unique among the many travel books that are on the market and certainly less polished.

tags: Are We Really Going to Let Mum Backpack on Her Own Hazel Loutsis, Are We Really Going to Let Mum Backpack on Her Own Book Review, Hazel Loutsis Author, Hazel Loutsis Travel Writer, Travel Writing 2018, Traveling Solo, Women who Travel Solo, Backpacking as a Senior Citizen, Volunteer Tourism, Taking a Gap Year in Retirement, Female Solo Traveler in India, Female Solo Traveler in Brazil, Traveling Around the World Solo, Staying in Hostels As Senior Citizens, Traveling with just a Backpack, Backpacking as a Senior, Are We Really Going to Let Mum Backpack on Her Own A Journal of My Gap Year Travelling Solo at Sixty
categories: Read
Friday 02.15.19
Posted by Karen Lea Germain
 
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