A day full of culture

Art, literature, music – what more could we ask for?

The weather wasn’t so clear when we set out this morning, with real Alpine skies overhead.  We were in for a changeable day’s weather it seemed.

From time to time, patches of sunshine broke through, though the clouds were never far away.  We were driving south east, towards Vaduz, and over the border into Liechtenstein, where our friends had recommended a visit to the Kunsthaus: the art gallery.

Travelling fast on the motorway, the traffic wasn’t so bad and we hoped we were right in thinking it was brightening up rather.

Though much of the journey was within tunnels and each time we entered one, we could never guess what the weather was going to be like when we came out the other end, several kilometres beyond.

We left that motorway behind, turned left and travelled towards the border.

Not that there was much to see.  Liechtenstein is more of an extension to Switzerland than a different country, from a visitor’s point of view, at least.

We parked the car for free and headed along the modern, pedestrianised main street, finding the Kunsthaus right there in front of us.  As we bought our entrance tickets, the desk clerk felt the need to warn us not to expect paintings in here, for this was a gallery of modern, conceptual art.  Did we really look that conservative (with a small c!) ?  We reassured him that it was fine, we’d be ok…

There was a small permanent exhibition, including a couple of Warhol prints, a small Liechtenstein work (of course!) and one or two works in neon by an artist I didn’t recognise.  But the main exhibition currently was Gary Kuehn’s “Between Sex and Geometry”.  To begin with, it took some understanding.  Reading the background to such abstract concepts auf Deutsch was a challenge, but gradually, we got to grips with what the artist was exploring and really enjoyed the chance to challenge our own preconceptions by chatting further with a couple of the museum staff.  We left inspired to find out more about the artist and his work, though we were ready for a stiff drink!

First, though, we thought we’d walk the length of the main street, as far as the parliament buildings here.  The sun was shining now and it was really warm: such a pleasure to be out and enjoying the fine morning.

The new entrance to the parliament wasn’t exactly a fine example of exciting architecture, I thought, though it sat alongside the older building and perhaps needed to conform.  The royal Family live in the castle/palace up there on the hill, looking down on their realm from above.

I seem to have taken the photograph of the old parliament building at a most peculiar angle.  My apologies!

We returned to the car to find several busloads of Korean visitors still there in the car park, all taking the same photograph – sometimes, it’s interesting seeing places through the eyes of others, isn’t it?

So that was it for Liechtenstein – the border on the road southwards into Switzerland was even less of an event than the other one: a couple of flagpoles and a small stone marker.

Our destination for lunchtime was Maienfeld, a pretty old town with unmissable connections with Johanna Spyri’s character, Heidi.  Though we had no intention of making a pilgrimage, when we’d identified the town as a possible destination this morning, I’d downloaded a copy of the book to my Kindle and was curious to see what was what.

But first, some lunch: a platter of Bunderfleisch and Alpkäse, washed down with a beer, of course.

We made our way through the town following the signs to “Heididorf”, admiring the sunflower heads floating in the water trough as we went.  Maienfeld is a wine growing town, too, and we passed several vineyards on the way – I think those are a relatively recent development, since I couldn’t remember Heidi and Peter snacking on the odd bunch of grapes in the story!

It looks as though it could be a good harvest this year.

Soon, we were in open fields and leaving our car in a well filled car park, we didn’t have far to walk to a wooden bench in the pasture, overlooking the mountains.

Here we were in Heidi’s flower meadow and though there were, of course, other people here, it was quiet and sunny.  What better thing to do than to get out the Kindle and read?

It’s an easy read and in an hour or so, I was already almost half way through.  We could have stayed longer but we were invited to a performance in Glarus, a few miles down the road and we didn’t want to be late!

So leaving Heidi’s meadow over there under the wooded mountain, we joined the motorway again and headed for Glarus.  We left the blue skies behind on one side of the mountain, though, for coming out of the tunnel, the first spots of rain appeared.  By the time we reached Glarus itself, it was torrential and set in for the rest of the day.  Just as well we managed to park right outside the concert venue, then!

So, a day of art, music and literature, though whether Heidi counts in the last group is open for discussion, I think.  Maybe that box was ticked by the readings of Dumas and Tolstoy which were interspersed with the Raff piano duets, then?  No matter, we’d enjoyed every bit of our day again, and saying a last goodbye to our friends for this time round, we returned to Rapperswil tired but happy.

Maybe I’ll manage to stay awake long enough to finish Heidi?!

Gruezi Miteinand!

The day began rather earlier than usual, on a murky M4 on the way to the airport.  A noontime flight was just about our limit for not staying overnight and bearing in mind the potential problems with early morning traffic en route, we allowed plenty of time.  Needless to say, having allowed that time, we didn’t need it and so we found ourselves arriving with time to spare.

No, the airport wasn’t really this empty, but just as I thought to take a picture for my journal, there was no-one in view.  Isn’t it spooky how we can give an altogether different version of reality?!

So, after a morning spent sitting in the lounge, waiting, our flight left a little late at 12.30pm, flying through clear skies directly over Paris, en route to Zürich.

I don’t know which I liked best, the spectacle of the city with assorted landmarks to look out for, or the marvellous patterns of the fields of eastern France, so different from the patterns of fields elsewhere in the world: the envelope shapes of Canterbury, New Zealand and the circular patterns created by irrigation systems in North America, for example.

Or the lush, green pastures of northern Switzerland, for that matter.

Our plane was the golden feather patterned Airbus, now looking a bit shabby, but maybe the one used to transport the Olympic flame?

Anyway, having set off from home early this morning, an hour and a half’s flight later we arrived in Zürich, picked up a car and drove to our hotel in Rapperswil, at the southerly tip of the Zürisee,  How come it was now 4.30 pm and where did that day go?

Well, of course, it didn’t really matter, for after a quick shower and change, we set out across the causeway to Lachen, on the other side of the lake, where the vernissage we’d been invited to was being held.  What a beautiful setting to celebrate the publication of a new biography of a man born just steps away and what’s more, the afternoon showers moved on leaving the most gorgeous sky behind them.

It was a fascinating evening with speeches, music, presentations and lively conversation amongst like-minded people.  We chatted over an elegant apéro, made plans to meet our friends for dinner on Saturday before saying our farewells and heading back over the causeway again.

Needless to say, my hero has some rather interesting bedtime reading.

How easy was that?!

No, not stitching out that intricate design on my machine (though I’m working on it), but fixing up some music in my car!  From time to time, I post something here as a record for myself when I know that sooner or later I’ll think “how did I do that?”.  Today is one of those occasions.

So, just recently I was tired of the radio and bored with the playlist of mp3s I had on a USB stick in my car.  I wanted some more music to listen to, some different music. But it’s all on itunes and I wasn’t sure how to retrieve it in a format my car would play.  Mp3?   Mp4?  AAC?  Who knows?  For the second time today, I retrieved a manual and after five minutes searching for the answer, I decided to wing it…

I’d got myself the tiniest of USB sticks to put in my car, thinking that rather than make a playlist as I’d done in the past, I’d simply copy my whole music library onto it and leave it there. 

I began by copying a few tunes over in different formats to see which it would recognise and play.

Answer = All of them!

My next discovery was that a simple highlight – right click – copy in itunes, followed by a right click + paste into a folder on my little USB stick worked perfectly!  No export, so file alterations, no reformatting needed.   Select.  Copy.  Paste.  In no time at all the albums were flying onto that little stick.

I know, it’s not rocket science.  I haven’t done anything mind blowing or life changing.  But for once, isn’t it good to find that a task is simpler and less complicated than it appeared?

In the audience

Isn’t it strange how, after many months of having no reason to visit Birmingham at all, we find ourselves there again, just over a week since our last visit?  Though we used to be here frequently to enjoy symphony concerts with the CBSO, we found the programmes were getting samey and no longer offered the same thrill as we’d come to enjoy.  We decided to give it a rest for a while but when a flyer arrived advertising tonight’s programme, my hero couldn’t resist and snagged two of the few remaining tickets for Friday night.

We love the Silent Heroes series, accompanied by live orchestra playing Carl Davis’ score and conducted by the man himself.  Tonight, it was the turn of Buster Keaton with The Playhouse on first, followed by The General.

The General

Though the Playhouse was undoubtedly clever with Buster Keaton playing all eight roles at once, it was The General which really made our evening.  The stunts were amazing, the plot was so clever and this particular film deserves its reputation as an all time classic, not only keeping us on the edge of our seats throughout but inducing gasps from the audience at frequent intervals!

Clearly, we’re not alone in enjoying these performances, for the body of Symphony Hall was full by the time the programme began, with only the balcony seats with restricted view empty.  We’ll look forward to the next one – another Charlie Chaplin classic next year.

We joined a different audience last night.  Well, in fact, we joined several audiences around the world including the folks in the picture above, who were at the Met in New York to see Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Florez sing La Cerenentola.

We were in Cheltenham and once again, the “live from the Met” performance was a stunner.  Though we knew bits of the opera, we’d never seen it live before and to watch Angelina (Joyce DiDonato) sing her final aria with as much energy as she sang her first was truly remarkable.

One of the aspects of these performances we particularly enjoy is the sneaky peeks behind the scenes.  We didn’t see anything from this angle though, and although I’d noticed the black box in the centre front of stage, I didn’t give it a great deal of thought.   But today, whilst looking for a link to the production, I came across this interesting article which sheds new light on that box.

After two late nights in a row, we’re at home today, resolving a few technical challenges.  More about that to come

April Showers

Our Californian friends, here for a few days, enjoyed the weather forecast yesterday, which predicted “sunny spells with intermittent showers”.  Well, we are in England, and watching and commentating on the weather is our national sport, isn’t it?  We’ve watched the storm rumble in over the valley but thankfully, it passed over without trouble and our days have been happy and full of joy.  Just how we like them.

There have been a few surprises, starting with a day in Birmingham where the new library was a great place to begin our walk around the city.

The bright, modern structure offered a few surprises of its own, including the Shakespeare room

 

and the Secret Garden, from where there are magnificent views of what we’ve always regarded as Britain’s second city.

Next time we visit, we’ll give one of the Dozens and Trails a try.  Sounds like fun.  However, we already had a plan for our day and the next stop was the Grayson Perry exhibit at the Museum and Art Gallery.

As an introduction to British class and culture, it was hard to imagine anything better and the conversation which followed proved to be a theme for the week.  Such clever observation, so well depicted, we were glad to watch a little of the TV programme where the artist gathered information for the tapestries as well.

Of course, we had to sneak a quick look in Selfridges on our way to visit the Back to Backs, where a one hour tour turned into a rather longer guided survey, as such and the afternoon was whizzing by.

Interesting as it all was, we were keen to move on, because we had plans. 

An early supper by the canal and then…

Another blast from the past, almost as nostalgic as the Back to Back houses: a performance of Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Rick Wakeman! 

We drove home humming that tune, hoping the late night would kick the jet lag into touch