Warsaw with my two favourite teenagers 2007
Washington, Philadelphia and Boston April 2006
Western Balkans June 2013
(Work in progress)
A visit to four West Balkan countries: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia
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3. Plitvice-Zadar-Trogir 28 June
4. Trogir-Split-Dubrovnik 29 June
From sea to shining sea – in Spain
Bilbao, Tarragona and Valencia, June 2014
Bilbao 22-23 June
(Click photos to enlarge)
Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum (it was not allowed to take photos inside):
More impressions from Bilbao:
A trip to the Atlantic coast
Sopelana is one of several beaches within easy reach from Bilbao. Take Metro line 1 towards Plentzia to Sopelana (Sopela), go one block up and take the bus that goes between the station and the beach every half hour, or walk a little less than 2 km. Head for Hotel Goizalde (from there you can see the sea), and – overlooking the beach – El Peñon. By the way, none of the eateries open till 13.00 hrs.
24 June an early-morning train ride to Tarragona
A misty morning en route:
And after a comfortable six-hour train ride, arriving in Tarragona in pouring rain, thunder and lightning:
PS: Be aware that Camp Tarragona, the station for regional trains, is miles away from the centre of Tarragona, and seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There is another station in the centre of Tarragona, but many regional trains do not go there. There is a bus, on paper every half hour, but I waited almost an hour and half before it came. It goes to the main bus station in Tarragona at the bargain price of 2 euro.
The weather cleared in time for a late afternoon walk around the old part of Tarragona:
25 June: Pont de les Ferreres (Roman aqueduct) and “Local forum”
This Roman aqueduct, aka Pont del Diable, is only four km away from the centre of Tarragona (Plaza Imperial). Take bus 85 there in about 15 minutes and then follow the signs. To return to Tarragona, you have to take the bus from the same place and go all the way around. This trip takes about 35 minutes.
If you want to make a day of it, it is a beautiful nature area with well-marked hiking trails. I did not see any signs of any pitstops, so bring your own sustenance.
Back in Tarragona: Castell Monument by Fracesc Angels.
A visit to the ‘Local Forum’ or ‘Colonial Forum’ dating back to year 30 BC:
The market:
And of course the beach:
26 June: A mid-morning bus ride from Tarragona to Valencia
The first couple of hours were quite scenic, the last part less so. After about 2,5 hours the bus stopped for 45 minutes at a motorway cafeteria with relatively decent food (and really good coffee …..).
26 to 29 June: Valencia
Jardin del Turia used to be a river but got diverted after a devastating flood in 1957, and the riverbed is now a very, very long park below street level, flanked by busy one-way streets and crossed by many rivers. There are walking/jogging and bike paths, playgrounds, a zen garden, and spaces for outdoor concerts. In places, it is wide enough for a football patch, tennis courses, and even the occasional travelling circus. It also has a great variety of flowers, bushes and trees.
The central market in Valencia is 8.160 square metres of pure food paradise:
City of Arts and Sciences, Designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, comprises a.o. an imax cinema and planetarium, one of Europe’s largest aquariums, an interactive science museum and an opera house and performing arts centre.
Bioparc (Valencia zoo):
Some impressions from the historical centre of Valencia (which unfortunately is not car free):
Unfortunately, contemporary art seems to be sadly lacking in Valencia. These three galleries are listed, but I did not have time to visit: Kessler Contemporary, Tomás March Gallery, Galeria Puchol. For next time, then. I am definitely not done with Valencia.
Ceviche-type salmon with loads of herbs
Slice up 300 g fresh, non-farmed, salmon. Mix well with juice and grated peel of one organic (or at least un-waxed) lemon, one tblsp roasted sesame oil, a sprinkle of your favourite dried seaweed, a pinch of salt and freshly grated black pepper. Leave to “cook” for half an hour.
Along the way, add a knob of grated or finely chopped fresh ginger, (at least) one finely sliced chili, one finely chopped red onion and at least two finely chopped garlic cloves.
Just before serving, add olive oil to taste, and a handful or two of herbs, whatever you have at hand – oregano, thyme, parsley, mint and – my personal favourites – holy basil and coriander. Coarsely chopped or not at all. And don’t be fussy about the stems. They hold lots of flavour and add a nice crunch. It is a complete waste to discard them.
I am thinking a sprinkling of chopped walnuts might work too.
Udenlandske hjemløse ….
Udenlandske hjemløse skaber selvfølgelig utryghed, i modsætning til de danske hjemløse, for ‘udenlandsk’ betyder jo ‘farlig’ på dansk: http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE2311184/politiet-gaar-paa-sommerjagt-efter-udenlandske-hjemloese-i-koebenhavn/
Rome, May 2012
The focus was on contemporary art and modern architecture, but first some general impressions:
…… from Rome Contemporary Art Fair:
and from Maxxi National Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Zaha Hadid; from Macro Museum of Contemporary Art, and from Auditorium Parco della Musica designed by Renzo di Piano:
Galleries and gastronomy in Berlin Spring 2014
People often ask me what I keep finding to do during my repeated trips to Berlin. In fact I have the opposite problem: I always find I could have used another day or two (or would have liked to just stay forever). The list of things to see and do keeps getting longer.
My first trip in 2014 had two main purposes: A WordPress course for beginners organised by Artconnect (in order to learn to do this :-)), and a detour to Cologne for the two annual art fairs.
But first an InterNations dinner at Korean restaurant Yamyam, recommended by a Korean friend living in Berlin:
Then a trip to Cologne for Liste Cologne and Art Cologne: See the Photos.
Another highlight was the exhibition “Evidence” with works by Ai Weiwei – the largest ever exhibition of his works outside China – in Martin-Gropius-Bau, (unfortunately, it was not allowed to take photos) followed by dinner at Chinese restaurant Peking Ente on the corner of Wilhelmsstrasse and Vossstrasse, near the famous GDR-era Max Lingner mural:
I ventured a little bit off the beaten tourist track and went to Treptower Park via Puschkinallee, to see the Soviet War Memorial. It is located in Treptower Park and can be entered from both Puschkinallee and Am Treptower Park (which is JUST off most maps of Berlin).
Here is a bonus tip for a visit to the Soviet Memorial. You will not find any cafés or restaurants in either of the above mentioned streets (and not inside the park either), and since I am always, at boringly regular intervals, looking for a pitstop (and a toilet) I was happy to find one exception: An Italian restaurant across the street from the Am Treptower Park entrance, Al Colosseo. Open every day from 11.00. I just had a (very nice) salad, but everything else looked good and it was fairly well visited for a Wednesday noon.
Walking back to Kreuzberg and my WP course in Neukölln along the Landwehrkanal, I came across another good pitstop, with a nice terrace: Café/Restaurant Kalle Klein on Lohmühlenplatz:
My next trip, less than two weeks later, focused on the Gallery Weekend 2014 (on the occasion of which I had organised three gallery walks on InterNations, and good food (two dinners organised on InterNations. And then I finally managed to attend a guided tour in Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, conducted by Christian Heidt. (Who says you can’t make new friends on Facebook? :-)). The theme was “animals in the service of man” (of course, since it took place on Labour Day).
But I arrived the day before and started by visiting three galleries with opening receptions already on 30 April: Nolan Judin, with a great show by Adrian Ghenie (photos), Loock, with a show by Anton Henning, and Aurel Scheibler with a show by Philip Guston. As usual in Berlin, it turned out there were several other galleries to visit along the way, which we had not been aware of from the start.
By the way, I also had to spend some time that day getting a new SIM card, since my Danish one had for some reason been deactivated, so I now have a German phone number which I think I will continue to use whenever I am here. Send me a message if you ever need it. Dinner that day was in the Indian restaurant by the river – Shezan, just across from my hotel – Derag Grosser Kurfürst.
The day after, I first made my way to Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, which is Europe’s largest ‘landscape zoo’. Not quite as centrally located as the zoo near Zoologischer Bahnhof, but still just a short U-Bahn ride from Alexanderplatz to U-Bahn Tierpark.
I joined a guided tour conducted by a kind, competent and knowledgable acquaintance, Christian Heidt. It being 1 May, the theme was ‘animals in the service of man’.
More photos from a previous visit.
On the way back, I stopped at Straussenberg Platz for a coffee. This is on the legendary Karl-Marx-Allee, worth visiting for a stroll.
Some impressions from the walk back to the hotel:
In the evening I met up with two friends from InterNations to spoil ourselves with an evening at Michelin-star restaurant ‘5 – Cinco by Paco Pérez.
I cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough. First of all, I started out as one of those slightly difficult customers who was not sure how many people to book for, and also, one of us had some dietary constraints, so there was a lot of e-mailing back and forth, all dealt with by Julia, who was one of the most patient people I have ever had the pleasure of corresponding with. When the evening came around, that spirit continued. The menu for the person with dietary constraints was really well thought through, also in relation to the Experience menus the other two of us had, which consisted of a steady stream of delicacies of varying (mostly very intense) flavours, textures, temperatures …… The accompanying wine menu was perfect and the service accommodating, friendly and impeccable all the way through. If you are ever in Berlin and wanting to really indulge, then you should definitely take this restaurant into consideration:
The next day, a gallery walk in Kreuzberg. In addition to Künstlerhaus Bethanien, we visited the following galleries: Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Chert, Kwadrat, Galerie Rolando Anselmi, and Klemm’s.
…. and went staight on to a farewell party:
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The next day another gallery walk, this time in the Auguststr./Linienstr. area. Among the exhibition places and many – MANY – galleries visited were: ‘I Amsterdam you Berlin’, Galerie Pavlova, Galerie Martin Mertens, Rasche Ripken, 3 Punts Galerie, and four personal favourites: Neugerriemschneider, Kuckei + Kuckei, Galerie Eigen + Art, and Galerie Deschler.
Some of us ended up in Princess Cheesecake in Tucholskystrasse:
Walking back to the hotel, and then out to dinner …..
…. in Long March Canteen. Great dim sum and dumplings, but a little bit too noisy to my taste, and the air was very bad as well.
The next day the fourth and last InterNations gallery walk. We started in the Galerienhaus Lindenstrasse with about 11 galleries, and then went on to the galleries in the Charlottenstrasse/Markgrafenstrasse area: Galerie Barbara Thumm, Buchmann Galerie, Galerie Heinz-Martin Weigand, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Galerie Alexander Ochs, and Carlier Gebauer. And finally on to the galleries in Rudi-Dutschke-Strasse 26, among them Galerie Crone, and Galerie Isabelle Czarnowska.
There was also time to wonder who drew the line along which the Berlin wall was built:
And true to form, some of us ended up having a meal together, again in Shezan.
Also see:
More photos from Berlin 2008-2013.
The legendary Tempelhof Airport.
A stroll around Neukölln spring 2013.
Faeroe Islands July 2002
London 9-14 February 2008
