25 Apr 06 Got me some Flamborough flu
I wound down after returning from York only to be dragged low by a nasty flu! I’m quite certain I caught it it Flamborough, but laying blame is pointless since I’m nearly free from its grip.
So what about York… what about Flamborough? Well first off, four days would have been enough to accommodate my planned adventures, but I stayed for five. I could have spent the extra time occupying myself with a visit to the Jorvik Viking Centre (seemed too kid-centric) or the National Railway Museum (too enormous to contemplate), but I didn’t.
Some highlights of what I did do in York:
- - Stayed at a clean and respectable ‘inn’, which translates to ‘pub with rooms’
- - Admired the unique medieval architecture around the city, including the Shambles
- - Wandered the inside of Clifford’s Tower
- - Walked a good distance south along the River Ouse
- - Marveled at the interior of the incredible York Minster (especially the ridiculously intricate carved seats in Choir)
- - Toured Barley Hall and discussed a large-scale tapestry project
- - Walked the entirety of the city walls
- - Visited a few pubs, some 400 years old, and enjoyed some live music
As I mentioned previously, I had plans for a day outing to Flamborough which was truly the best part of my trip. I spent roughly three hours on the train (return) traveling from York to Scarborough to Bridlington and back to York.
My purpose in Scarborough was to see the castle, which I was concerned about finding since I had no map or information with me. About twenty paces out of the train station though, I guessed the enormous seaside cliff surrounded with stone walls and ruins (about a mile away) was where I was headed!
After an hour or so exploring the castle grounds, I boarded the train for Bridlington. The town is obviously a summer tourist destination with a seaside fair with rides and midway games, but most striking was the enormous span of white sandy beach. I walked a couple of miles north following the beach, over grassy clifftops to the Flamborough trailhead. The trail winds over farmland, up and down steps built into cliffs leading to spots of beach. I trekked about 6 1/2 miles further with the North Sea to the right of me and chalk formations as far as I could see. The tail-end of the walk got a tad treacherous as winds picked up enough to keep me a safe distance from the cliff edges, then a light rain began to fall (hello flu).
I cut inland from the coast and down the only road in sight which lead me to the tiny, near deserted, town of Flamborough. I did manage to find a reasonably welcoming pub though, had a refreshment then boarded a bus back to Bridlington for the train back to York.
Amazingly, though Yorkshire is only two hours by train from London, the accents are significantly different than Londoners - thicker and more sprawling. At times I was clueless to what people were talking about. I would like to see more of Yorkshire in the future though, specifically further inland in the Dales.
More photos coming soon, of course…
24 Apr 06 How to act British
There was a rather hilarious humour piece by Tim Dowling in the Guardian last week: For all my US pals - here’s how to act British (click to read, it’s short).
I definitely relate to his observation about the TO LET signs, it’s funny cause it’s true.
And here’s a noteworthy snippet:
In the UK overt displays of friendliness are taken as a sign of brain damage. This sounds horrible, but actually it’s a fairly good rule of thumb. Try to match your moroseness to those around you. Occasionally you will run across that rare British person who is not just friendly but outgoing, helpful, charming and loquacious. He is a con man.
Tee hee. I admit I was quite surprised the other day on the tube when I witnessed not one but two people offering help to a frantic tourist trying to understand the tube map. It seemed to me she had the capacity to figure it out on her own, what with the pile of city maps, guides and full tube map she was carrying. Both Londoners were outgoing and helpful, yes, but definitely not charming or loquacious.
I also hear if you tell someone to “Have a nice day” here it’s considered very strange.
9 Apr 06 Morning with Tate
This morning we visited Tate Modern to see the Albers and Moholy-Nagy exhibition From Bauhaus to the New World. Peruse the exhibition room guide, and it’s almost like being there… well not really, but a good number of the pieces are represented in (poor quiality) photos in the order they are displayed. There are no images, however, of two of my favourites from the show - two posters by Moholy-Nagy, this one for London Underground:
and this one for Imperial Airways:
We also recently saw the Martin Kippenberger exhibit - Room Guide - which holds a large selection of drawings he did on hotel stationery.
Back in February we bought a ‘Member and Guest” membership that gives us access to all paid exhibitions at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern, so the plan is to attend as many shows as possible. It doesn’t take many visits before the membership pays for itself, especially if you want to return to the same exhibition. You also receive advance mailings of a bi-monthly guide to what’s on and a quarterly glossy magazine full of arty analysis…
At Tate Britain, Gothic Nighmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination is on until May 1st, and there’s certainly enough memorable material there to cause nasty dreams. I have yet to see the Tate Triennial 2006 showcase of New British Art.
Today I signed up for a Street Photography workshop taking place over two Saturday mornings in May at Tate Modern. It’s in collaboration with iN-PUBLiC, an excellent website promoting the art of street photography and work by a selection of current photographers. I’m quite excited for the workshop as I need some new inspiration!
Some natural, outdoor inspiration is upcoming though. In the morning I’m off to visit York until Friday, with at least one day trip planned to Bridlington for a seaside walk on the cliffs to Flamborough Head and perhaps as far as Bempton Cliffs. Check out this guy David Cotton who has walked 6200 miles of UK coastline! Amazing.
6 Apr 06 Paris photo album is up
Here’s the link to my Paris photos, I hope you enjoy looking through them! I tried not to overload it with too many iconic Parisian images, but there’s a good dose anyway.
Also I’ve added the ‘Albums’ page that I had on the previous blog, so have a look through those archives if you want to take a visual trip through Ithaca, NYC or Montreal, even :O)
GET FED: 