Archive for November 26th, 2006
One advantage of trips abroad is the opportunity to try out the local food and drink.
When we had a few days in Graz, Austria, coffee arrived on individual trays, each with an additional glass of water. We worked hard to try out coffees in lots of different locations across town - one way to visit stylish places on a budget.
Graz is getting well known for its ‘friendly alien’, the curvy modern art gallery next to the river Mur. Not as well known, though it deserves to be, is the ‘island on the Mur’, a shell shaped structure that acts as a bridge but includes an outside cafe and an inside bar. It’s particularly beautiful lit up at night.
Probably the most beautiful option is the bar near the top of the Castle rock. This can be reached up a slope around the side, but as the rock also includes a glass lift, and an interior that looks like a Bond villain’s lair, you can guess which option we chose. It was so pretty we pushed the boat out…and had a hot chocolate instead.
Sadly we’re not gaining any money from Ryanair for our support of Graz, but let us know if you want any more top tips on where to visit.
November 26th, 2006
No, it wasn’t my joke, but our other Festival treat was seeing Bill Bailey, the comedian, in concert at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The EICC tends to be used for big conferences, and Bill started his set by asking whether we were expecting a PowerPoint presentation…
Having seen Bill on TV in Black Books and some comedy panel shows, it was quite a buzz to see his show live. It included him bringing out an Alphorn (which folded out from something the size of a hat box to a musical instrument several feet long), and exiting the stage hugging a large pot plant.
November 26th, 2006
The Edinburgh Festival comes round faster every year, and it’s hard to fit in seeing shows with work.
This year, however, we made an effort, as the Nederlands Dans Theater was back in town. We managed to see them a few years ago, Dan’s first time to see a contemporary dance show. That time, they put a sprinkler on stage during one of the pieces, so that by the end, the dancers were kicking water at each other and doing skids along the stage, all to very elegant strains of Bach.
This time, no sprinklers, but a combination of films showing on panels and dancers interacting with them. One of the most striking points was when one dancer came up out of the orchestra pit with a huge black fabric train behind her. As she moved further back on the stage, the train filled the stage. If it wasn’t based on part of a real silent film, it deserved to be.
The theatre included a lot of well-dressed dance fans. We hoped that we didn’t let the side down by zooming across the road for a bag of chips in the first interval…but they were well worth it. As was the dancing.
November 26th, 2006
We’ve been lucky on our holidays that we’ve been able to see some great buildings, paintings etc. One particular treat this year was being able to visit Madrid, on a work trip in May. Dan was able to come with me, and we stayed on a couple of days afterwards. The Spanish national agency where the meetings took place was conveniently on the same street as some of the main art galleries, making it fairly easy to plan what to see.
We visited the gallery which houses Picasso’s Guernica towards the end of one afternoon. It meant that we could view this particular picture for longer than we might have done. Looking around other rooms nearby, part of the impact was coming past the entrance to the Guernica room and catching sight of the painting again. It’s surprisingly big, allowing you to move along and look long and hard at different sections.
Stepping back outside into warmth and colour, after the monochromes of the painting, it was great to feel alive. However, just a few blocks down the street from the gallery is the Atocha railway station, which you may remember was affected by bombings. It was certainly a reminder that some of the big themes on display in the galleries are not that distant on the outside.
November 26th, 2006
We managed a night away around Easter time. Having had a great time walking in Slovenia in the summer of 2005, we’ve tried to do a little more of it in 2006.
Fife has a coastal path which stretches through towards the east. We stayed in Aberdour, with its picture postcard station and castle. Heading along the coast towards Burntisland, we followed the train route, and enjoyed great views back across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh. Burntisland is directly opposite Granton, the nearest stretch of coast on the Edinburgh side to our home.
We also came close to Inchcolm Island, one of the islands in the Firth which includes the remains of an abbey. In its day, the abbey was known as the Iona of the east. The island was also where our friends Rachel and David got married, so it was good to be able to see it again.
It’s nice to revisit the walk if I’m going on work trips to St Andrews or further up the east coast. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to see more of the coastal path next year.
November 26th, 2006
Our garden gets a funny mix of birds. Being close to the coast, seagulls are fairly frequent visitors. The area also has quite a lot of mature trees, so we hear wood pigeons too. Probably the most noticeable are the magpies, which strut up and down the garden regularly.
You may have come across the nursery rhyme about counting blackbirds in a tree. The rhyme only goes up to 7, but we’ve regularly seen more than this in one tree. Our top number was 12…Let us know if you can think up a category for that.
The gardens around here have intersecting fences and walls, which makes it perfect for cats, squirrels and other wildlife with enough balance to move from garden to garden.
November 26th, 2006
The classic walk option from our flat is to head down to Granton Harbour. You can walk along the beach, when the tide is down. However, there is also a sea wall which goes out about half a mile, in an L-shape, and it’s great to get out closer to the sea. The best situation is when the wind is in the right direction, and you get a whiff of seaweed too…perfect for pretending you are on holiday.
Although we used to live just up the road from the Botanic Gardens and Inverleith Park, we can still walk down to either from the flat. The park is a great place from which to watch fireworks, as you get clear views of the Edinburgh skyline. We tend to see more of the park, as it’s open for longer hours than the gardens, but both are good to visit.
There are also lots of cycle paths in the north of Edinburgh. At the start of September this year, we picked a bumper crop of brambles (blackberries to those down south), within half a mile of our flat. It’s possible to walk through much of Edinburgh along these paths.
When Dan and I were still at the ‘just good friends’ stage, we used to walk between our flats through the Grange area of south Edinburgh. North Edinburgh offers Trinity instead, with some of the beautiful houses also having sea views.
Walking around the area of Boswall, close to our flat, we can walk under an avenue of trees at the right times of year. We also see urban foxes from time to time. Some months back, returning home quite late, Dan even saw a badger crossing one of the main roads. Not exactly out in the countryside here, but good not to feel it’s too far away.
November 26th, 2006
At least, we think so…Having lunch in a cafe near the University of Edinburgh, on our wedding anniversary back in June, we saw someone writing who looked very like JK Rowling. When I looked across, she hid behind her hair a bit more.
Given that the final Harry Potter is awaited by lots of people round the world, it would have been rude to interrupt…On the positive side, it seemed nice that someone who started her writing career by writing in cafes is still continuing this.
Edinburgh has been given the title of UNESCO City of Literature in the last couple of years. We’ve not tried tailing other Edinburgh authors such as Ian Rankin or Alexander McCall Smith, but there’s plenty of good writing going on here.
November 26th, 2006
After a long time of going past the Murrayfield stadium on the train, finally got to see inside…We went to watch Scotland v Australia yesterday, with my mum and dad. My brother is a rugby teacher, so Dad went to LOTS of matches with him in earlier stages. Dan and I are no way as knowledgeable, but it seemed a good option for a day out together.
They said that the crowd was the biggest ever for a Scotland - Australia match: over 62000! We could certainly see almost all the seats filled. The section before the match included a pipe band, anthems etc. When the Scottish team ran onto the pitch, they let off fireworks at each end (a subtle purple). They also had black boxes on wheels that blew flames at this point.
Best part of the match: seeing a try scored right at our end in the first 10 minutes. Seeing Australia win by over 20 points was less good, but it was still a good match to watch. The crowd was also quite entertaining: at one point, 4 Father Christmases came up the stairs nearest us. Later on after the interval, only 2 returned…was it something in the pies?
Thankfully we had dry weather all match, and came home to a big pot of stew all ready for us. It’s not so much the winning as the taking part in eating.
November 26th, 2006
Spending time with our friends Rachel and David in Italy is also an opportunity to catch up with their kids’ special phrases. Their youngest, Thomas (now 2), is fully conversant with Thomas the Tank Engine stories, and these are the phrases we came back with from our October visit this year:
1) “Chicken in a school…” For use when sounding a note of caution. (Thomas the Tank Engine gets his deliveries wrong one day: the children are delivered to the farm, the chickens to the school etc.) Particularly useful for when grownups are continuing to talk for far too long at the dinner table, and you wish to gain attention.
2) “James happy again!” When you want to bring a happy ending to a situation. This is Thomas’ own invention. It mostly relates to the character James the red engine in the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. Given that Dan also has a colleague, James, there is potential for expanding its use, particularly if bringing James hot chocolate.
3) “Cinders and ashes!” cried Thomas. When words fail, it’s good to know that Thomas the Tank Engine has given us an acceptable way out for expressing strong emotion.
4) “What’s that?” (repeat at 10 second intervals) Mainly used when reading a book together. Thomas knows full well what it is: Thomas a Train, Bertie a Bus, Terence a Tractor etc. But you volunteered to read to him, after all - he has to let you feel included.
We’ll probably need to devote a separate post to all those great phrases we’ve picked up on previous visits - and from other kids we’ve met. But at least you can speak fluent Thomas the Tank Engine after reading this.
November 26th, 2006
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