#once I’m at the national maritime museum it will all have been worth it

[crancisfrozier]

I’m going to Europe tomorrow and I’m getting more panicked about it by the second

[wikitopx]

Sydney is Australia’s answer to New York: a cosmopolitan a hive of activity, that ne'er sleeps, however additionally boasts attractive beaches, fantastic weather, and gentle winters.

Sydney has over four million residents, creating it Australia’s largest town, and is additionally the foremost tourist destination within the country, attracting over thirty-two million guests annually.

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1. See a show at the Opera House

The house is also the primary factor to come back to mind once you believe Sydney or so Australia. The world-heritage listed building is beautiful face to face, and it's lit superbly at the hours of darkness.

There are invariably lots of events and shows happening within the house and therefore the close space, and you'll conjointly tour the house or relish a tasty meal within the premises.

2. Stroll Darling Harbour

The Darling Harbour is a popular recreational complex adjacent to Sydney’s city centre, with breathtaking river views and plenty to keep you well-fed and entertained.

There’s a massive variety of attractions in the Harbour, but some favourites include the serene Chinese Garden of Friendship and its lovely teahouse, the Carousel, the National Maritime Museum, and the beautiful Dockside Pavilion.

There’s also a vibrant nightlife scene in the harbour, the excellent Harbourside Shopping Centre (including laser tag), an aquarium, a Madam Tussauds and much more. It’s best to dedicate at least a day to the Harbour to see as much as possible of this Sydney icon.

3. Get a local perspective with a free walking tour

The “I’m Free” walking tours are a great way to get to know Sydney. Guided by passionate volunteering locals who want to share their love of the city with you, they’re a wonderful way to get a deeper understanding of the sights that you’re seeing and the history and meaning behind them.

There are 3 hours per day, and what you’ll learn on the tour makes for a great starting point from which to explore the city.

4. Visit the iconic Paddy’s Markets

These markets are a Sydney establishment for over a hundred and fifty years. Paddy’s is the biggest market in Sydney, with over one,000 stalls between the Haymarket and Flemington locations.

You’ll realize terribly affordable souvenirs, whatnot, and generally fun things, yet as a good atmosphere and engaging food.

5. Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach is one of Australia’s most famous beaches, and a popular hangout for Sydney’s beautiful people, as well as local and international celebrities. It’s always busy here, but usually not too busy, and the atmosphere is exciting.

The surrounding suburb has some great retail and dining options. Bondi Beach is on the Australian Heritage List and is also noteworthy for holding the Guinness World Record for the largest swimsuit photo shoot, with 1010 bikini-clad women taking part.

6. Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge

This picture bridge is another of the foremost well-known symbols of the state capital and is one in all the world’s few climbable bridges.

You’ll be ready with health and safety necessities, and any weather-appropriate gear that you’ll like for the climb, associated venture out on your ascent journey with a bunch of alternative climbers and an intimate Climb Leader.

The read throughout the climb is phenomenal, and it’s a really completely different approach to experiencing the bridge!

7. Have dinner at Circular Quay

Circular Quay is known for its excellent gourmet dining options, and the views of the crystal-blue Sydney Harbour waters are truly stunning.

Some particularly delicious options include ARIA, the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar, Yayoi Garden and Tapavino; there’s also budget options such as Banh You Vietnamese Street Food, burgers at City Extra or the weekly meal deals at the Ship Inn.

8. Visit the Royal Botanic Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens were established in 1816, making them the oldest botanic gardens in Australia, as well as the oldest scientific institution. They recently celebrated their 200th birthday with a series of popular commemorative events throughout the year.

Various guided and self-guided tours are available, and the Choo Choo express offers a quick, scenic way to get around the gardens.

You’ll learn many interesting facts about Australian botanical history, as well as being able to enjoy plenty of gorgeous plant-life! The Royal Botanic Gardens are only a few minutes’ walks from the Sydney CBD and the Opera House and are one of Sydney’s most touristed attractions with over 5 million visitors per year.

9. Enjoy a touch of Australiana with a Home and Away tour

One of Australia’s most best-loved exports, Home and Away is a TV soap opera that has been running since 1988, making it the second-longest drama series in Australian TV history; you can catch it on Channel 7 at 7 pm from Monday to Thursday, for 45 weeks of the year. The show is sold to 80 countries worldwide and is particularly loved in the United Kingdom.

Home and Away is set in the fictional Summer Bay, and filmed largely in Palm Beach; fans of the show will recognize many of the sights of Summer Bay, and you may even be there while filming is being done! Palm Beach boasts stunning scenery – clear-blue waters and pristine white beaches – so it’s also a lovely spot to relax and rejuvenate.

10. Get an adrenaline rush at Luna Park

Luna Park is worth visiting for the so-kitsch-it’s-cool entrance alone; it makes a hilarious photo backdrop. If you’re into amusement park rides, you’ll have a great time here: the Wild Mouse is perfect for that terrifying-yet-awesome rollercoaster thrill.

On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for a romantic dinner, then Luna Park is perfect too – you can actually enjoy first-class dining inside a Ferris wheel carriage on Sundays. There’s also a Coney Island area, inspired by the actual Coney Island in the US: it’s an old-school funhouse with sideshow games, a mirror maze, and traditional retro fun.

More ideals for you: Top 10 things to do in Netherlands

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-sydney-705158.html

[caveartfair]

After Years of Controversy, the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Grand Ambitions Fall Short

Louvre Abu Dhabi. Photo by Roland Halbe. © Louvre Abu Dhabi. Courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi.

After a five-year delay, the Louvre Abu Dhabi will finally open its doors to the public on November 11th. The day will be a milestone for a French-Emirati partnership that hasn’t always been popular in France—and has been marred by criticism of its workers’ conditions. At the press conference earlier this week, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi’s Tourism & Culture Authority and of the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), was keen to put all this behind. He celebrated an institution that will be, he said, a “hub of tolerance,” and congratulated “genius” French architect Jean Nouvel.

Nouvel is a veteran builder of cultural organizations, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi might well be his most accomplished building to date. Conceived like an Arab city, it gathers 55 white blocks topped by a metal lattice dome 590 feet in diameter. The United Arab Emirates’ newest museum is both spectacular and unassuming. From the outside, the dome looks like a fairly modest copula. It only fully reveals its splendor once seen from underneath.

Weighing as much as the Eiffel Tower, this soon-to-be-iconic central dome is attached to four “invisible” points and appears to float above the central low-rise buildings, acting as an umbrella to protect the museum from the Gulf’s scorching heat. Its structure is camouflaged by eight perforated layers, which compose geometric patterns redolent of Islamic art. The sun flooding through creates what the architect calls a “rain of light,” dappling the cubes below and the pools of water that completely surround the building.

“I’m a contextual architect,” said Nouvel. “I imagined the Louvre Abu Dhabi as a neighborhood, as an Arab agora,” he continued, enthusiastically comparing the museum’s shadows to the sun shining through the palms of an oasis. The museum gardens, though, are yet to be completed. The current landscaping is temporary, and will remain in place for a few years “until Sheikh Zayed’s budget is ready,” quipped Nouvel during the press conference.  

Louvre Abu Dhabi. Photo by Roland Halbe. © Louvre Abu Dhabi. Courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi.

While the budget might not yet stretch to the Edenic heights of the architect’s dreams, a gigantic amount of resources have been poured into the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the rest of the Saadiyat Island complex—£18 billion ($23.5 billion), according to the The Guardian. Cultural tourism is one of the avenues the UAE is banking on to diversify its oil-based economy. Spearheaded by the TDIC, the “island of happiness” has been conceived as a global cultural destination, which will host offshoots of some of the world’s most prestigious art institutions: a branch of the Guggenheim designed by Frank Gehry, a maritime museum designed by Tadao Ando, and the Zayed National Museum, designed by Foster + Partners and dedicated to the UAE founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, are also in the works.

The Louvre hasn’t been the only institution plagued by delays. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi was also originally meant to open in 2012, but it is still not built, although work on the foundations has begun. The British Museum pulled out of its 10-year cooperation agreement with the Zayed National Museum after only eight years, as it emerged contractors for the building—initially scheduled for completion in 2013—were yet to be appointed.

It was never going to be plain sailing: The staggering ambition of Saadiyat Island, as well as the cultural and legal differences between the Emirates and its European and American partners, have made the rush to Saadiyat a choppy ride. In the case of the Louvre, the UAE initiated talks with Paris, which led to an intergovernmental contract between France and the UAE, signed in 2007 and reportedly worth €10 billion ($11.6 billion), according to The Art Newspaper. As part of the deal, the Louvre committed to a 30-year cooperation with Abu Dhabi, which included the loan of artworks for 10 years, four exhibitions per year for 15 years, and the use of the Louvre name. In exchange, the Emirati agreed to pay the Louvre €974 million ($1.12 billion) over three decades, providing funds that have been used, in part, to fund the Paris museum.

In 2006, as the French and Emirati leaders were preparing to sign on the dotted line, art historians Jean Clair and Roland Recht and Musée d’Orsay founding director Françoise Cachin published an open letter in Le Monde asking if the Louvre wasn’t “selling its soul,” reflecting concerns widely shared among the Parisian intelligentsia. What was at stake were questions surrounding the price of culture, and what was then a growing unease regarding the transformation of national museums into global brands—questions that, a decade on, seem almost quaint.

Louvre Abu Dhabi, The World in Perspective. Photo by Marc Domage. © Louvre Abu Dhabi. Courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The Louvre’s former director Henri Loyrette was also lukewarm about an Emirati branch, but the project has been backed fervently by his successor, Jean-Luc Martinez, now the Louvre’s president. During the press conference, Martinez described the new museum as “the most ambitious cultural project of the early 21st century,” the “first universal museum in the Arab world”—one that, he added, has pushed the Louvre to rethink its “Eurocentric logic.”

For all the talks of universality, the rights of the mainly South Asian migrant workers who built the Louvre Abu Dhabi remain a sensitive issue, and activists have repeatedly raised the alarm. In the UAE, there’s no minimum wage, trade unions are illegal, and workers are often paid as little as $200 per month. According to several recent reports in the international press, the delay or withholding of wages remains common, as is the Kafala system, which renders the employer responsible for the visas and legal status of its employees, and has been notoriously open to abuse. Strikes in 2011 and 2013 by employees of the Louvre contractor Arabtec have ended up with many of them having to leave the country.

Nouvel reignited the controversy last September when he told The Guardian that there was “no problem” with the workers hired to build the Louvre. He hammered the point home during the opening press day, telling a group of journalists: “We went to see the workers’ accommodations, we checked the equipment, the schedule…everything was done to ensure [the working conditions] were exemplary.”

Yet despite Nouvel’s reassurances—and the Employment Practices Policy issued by TDIC in 2009—activists have found that the conditions of thousands workers employed in the construction of the Louvre were a far cry from “exemplary.” Writer Guy Mannes-Abbott, a core member of the Gulf Labor Coalition (GLC)—which also includes artists Hans Haacke, Naeem Mohaiemen, and Walid Raad—doesn’t mince his words. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is “a universal museum built under conditions of forced labor,” Mannes-Abbott told Artsy via email. “Where is the innovation in that?” he asked. “What’s new? Where’s the pride or even the dignity?”

Ai Weiwei, Fountain of Light, 2016. Photo by Marc Domage. © Louvre Abu Dhabi. Courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Louvre Abu Dhabi, The Great Vestibule. Photo by Marc Domage. © Louvre Abu Dhabi. Courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi.

In an open letter dated October 5, 2017, the GLC asked the Louvre to “refund workers’ recruitment fees and wages lost due to criminalization, imprisonment, termination, and deportation of workers who go on strike.” According the Mannes-Abbott, the museum has yet to respond.

Another embarrassment for the Louvre Abu Dhabi is the recent publication of Alexandre Kazerouni’s book Le miroir des cheikhs, musée et politique dans les principautés du golfe Persique (Sheikhs’ Mirror: Museum and Politics in the Kingdoms of the Persian Gulf), reviewed in the November issue of The Art Newspaper. Kazerouni claims that some of the monies used to fund the museums on Saadiyat Island come from the Offset Program Bureau (later renamed the Tawazun Economic Program), a fund established in 1992 to collect the sums that states selling arms to the UAE are required to invest in the country. According to Kazerouni, assets from the OPB were used to create what’s known as the Mubadala investment fund in 2002. In 2009, the Mubadala Investment fund bought into the TDIC, which oversees Saadiyat Island and its museums. This would mean that monies gained as a result of the arms trade—possibly, even, of arms deals with France—might have been spent on the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is surely hoping some of this contentious background will be eclipsed by its stunning inaugural display, which gathers around 300 loans from 13 French institutions, as well as 300 pieces from the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s fledgling collection. According to Jean-François Charnier, Scientific Director of Agence France-Muséums (the French agency in charge of the Louvre Abu Dhabi), the exhibition is a reflection on what he calls “inter-culturality.” The idea, he explained, was to “de-compartmentalize” the museum’s traditional departments and foster a new kind of museology “consistent with globalization.”

What this means in practical terms is that, instead of having, say, Greek galleries, Roman galleries, 18th-century painting galleries, and so on, the curatorial team in Abu Dhabi has devised a roughly chronological display with objects grouped by function, as well as formal and symbolic affinities.

Jenny Holzer €˜for Louvre Abu Dhabia€™ (2017) Photo by Marc Domage. © Louvre Abu Dhabi.

In the first room, which acts as a sort of manifesto for the entire debut exhibition, gold funerary masks from Northern China (907���1125), Lebanon (600–300 BCE), and Peru (100 BCE–700 CE) float in a transparent vitrine. Elsewhere, an animal-shaped stone from Puerto Rico (1200–1492) stands by a frieze fragment from a Christian monastery (UAE, Sir Bani Yas, 500–800) and an Aztec round stone carved with a feather motif (Mexico, 1325–1521). Marcel Duchamp’s Bottle Rack (1914) is paired with Nkisi, a “magic statue” studded with nails and hailing from early 20th-century Gabon.

The visual effect is attractive, and no doubt helps to dress up the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s relatively scarce holdings (by way of comparison, the Louvre in Paris boasts over half a million objects in its collection). What’s more, unlike the organization in Paris, the display in Abu Dhabi highlights the diversity of civilizations that developed simultaneously around the globe. It’s an all-too-rare approach to human history, one that urgently champions a message of respect. Yet once the point has been made, the exhibition provides very little in terms of in-depth information. The aesthetic experience is engaging, but not always satisfying, as it offers few opportunities to learn beyond the purely formal.

Learning in the traditional sense, however, doesn’t seem to be the point. The Louvre Abu Dhabi isn’t a “school,” repeated Charnier, who said that while specialists will always study the differences between cultures, the important focus, in an era marked by soaring nationalisms, was “to rethink our commonality.”

“People will come to the Louvre Abu Dhabi with questions,” said deputy director Hissa Al Dhaheri during the press conference, “and if we have done our jobs, they will leave with more.” One can only hope too many of them won’t remain unanswered.

from Artsy News

[robertmcangusgroup]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Friday 20th October 2017

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. Lots of high cloud this morning, the tail end of Ophelia blowing through…. No moon to speak of as it has wained to blackness, millions of stars are peeping out from the gaps in the clouds as Bella and I walk in the silence of the early morning….. up the hill to the Hermitage and a moments reflection as I look across the town and waters of the Mediterranean, lights twinkling in the far distance as ship ply their way… I watch enthralled seeing clearly in the early morning darkness, without my glasses……  

STONEHENGE BUILDERS 'ATE FOOD FROM SCOTLAND'…. The "army of builders" of Stonehenge ate animals transported from as far away as the north east of Scotland, according to a new exhibition at the famous Neolithic site in Wiltshire. Analysis of pig and cattle teeth has revealed some of the animals were from as far as 500 miles away. The "Feast! Food at Stonehenge" exhibition includes the skull of an aurochs, an extinct species of cattle. It is aimed at allowing visitors to explore diet from 4,500 years ago. English Heritage historian Susan Greany said: "Our exhibition explores the important role feasts and food played at Stonehenge. "Raising the ancient stones was an incredible feat but so too was feeding the army of builders. "Our exhibition reveals just how this was done." The displays reveal research and stories from a "feeding Stonehenge" project, which has been exploring the lives of the people who lived at the nearby settlement of Durrington Walls. The researchers say thousands of discarded animal bones and teeth excavated at Durrington Walls suggest it was not a typical village but a site of major feasting and ceremony.

SCOTS HAGGIS EXPORTS TO CANADA TO RESUME AFTER 46 YEARS…. Scotland is to start exporting haggis to Canada for the first time in 46 years, it has been announced. Canada lifted a ban on imports of red meat from Europe in 2015 but still does not allow imports of offal. This has left Scottish producers, including Macsween of Edinburgh, working on new haggis recipes to meet local regulations there and in the US. Economy Secretary Keith Brown welcomed the news during his tour of the US and Canada. Scottish food and drink exports to Canada are now worth more than £94m, following increases in recent years. James Macsween, managing director of Macsween of Edinburgh, said he was "delighted" that his family's firm would be the first to sell haggis in Canada for almost 50 years. He said: "My grandfather, Charlie, would be very proud to see how far we've come from his original butcher's shop in Bruntsfield, which he opened back in 1953." Mr Brown, who is currently in Toronto promoting Scottish food and drink to Canadian buyers, said haggis was "a truly iconic symbol of Scotland". He added: "After waiting 46 years I'm sure there will be many Canadians and ex-pat Scots looking forward to having Scotland's national dish at the centre of their table at the next Burns' supper. "This development is an indication of the increasing interest in, and love of, Scottish food and drink produce in North America. "As a government, we have supported Macsween to grow their business and will continue to support Scottish companies in unlocking the significant opportunities to be found in this fast-growing market."

DOG SPOTTED BY RESCUE CREW ON TRAINING FLIGHT….  A dog being swept out to sea has been rescued after it was spotted by a coastguard helicopter which was on a training exercise. The Cockapoo was in the sea near Cummingston, between Hopeman and Burghead on the Moray coast. The helicopter kept watch until the Moray inshore lifeboat based at Findhorn arrived and its crew succeeded in bringing the dog on board. The dog is believed to have been unharmed by its ordeal. Tweeting video of the incident, the Maritime and Coastguard agency said: "During a training session in #MorayFirth today, the Inverness Coastguard helicopter helped locate a Cockerpoo being swept out to sea at #Cummingston. Dog safely rescued by Moray inshore lifeboat #allsafe." The crew of the coastguard rescue were alerted to reports of a dog in the water at about 10:45, while they were taking part in a training session. A coastguard spokesman said: "(The helicopter) was quickly able to locate the animal and alert the Moray inshore rescue boat based at Findhorn to its location."They pulled the dog onto the boat and returned it to its owners who were waiting on shore with the Burghead Coastguard Rescue Team."

SCOTTISH GROCERS REPORT 'BUMPER' MONTH…. Scottish retailers saw overall sales rise last month as grocers enjoyed a "bumper" month, according to new figures. Food sales rose year-on-year by 5%, while total non-food sales fell by 2%. Overall sales for September were up by 1.1% - or 1.2% in real terms - according to the Scottish Retail Consortium-KPMG retail sales monitor. Clothing performed comparatively well in the non-food category, as did smaller home improvement goods.  Growth was also reported in mobile technology, accessories and gaming. Craig Cavin, head of retail in Scotland at KPMG, said: "Clothing was a big winner in September, with mid-season discounts on autumn ranges tempting consumers to restock their wardrobes. "The change in season also positively influenced health and beauty sales, with both high-end and essential cosmetics brands seeing growth following seasonal promotions." Ewan MacDonald-Russell, head of policy at the Scottish Retail Consortium, said the continued growth of online non-food sales was enough to offset the decline in stores. He added: "However, there is no evidence nervous shoppers are committing to larger purchases, indicating that consumer confidence remains at best fragile."

ARCHITECT'S DUNDEE V&A VISION NEARS COMPLETION…. The architect of Dundee's V&A Museum said that he is "delighted and satisfied" at the progress of the £80.1m construction project. Kengo Kuma saw the finished exterior for the first time during a visit to the city. Mr Kuma's design, which sees the building jutting over the River Tay, was inspired by the cliffs of Scotland's north-east coast. Construction of the building will be completed by the end of December. The museum, which has been under construction since March 2015, is due to open next summer. Mr Kuma said: "The realisation of the strong façade is great. We were able to express the dynamic scale of the interior, too - just as we had planned." The architect, who also designed the Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium, said his inspiration "always starts" in the country where the project will be. He said: "In the past I visited Scotland many times, this very beautiful country, and I'm truly in love with the Scottish landscape and nature. "I really hope, once finished, this project will attract many people from the UK, and around the world, to the city and the museum. "I hope as well that people from Dundee will use it as an everyday part of their city; that they will go there to enjoy the building with its surrounding public space and find a harmonious relationship between the museum, the riverside, the city and themselves."

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of Hamnavoe at sunset.

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 20th October 2017 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus