Erica made this video for the Salmis

A Taste of the Venice Biennale

June 22, 2011


NINA The Venice Biennale is an international art exhibition that was started in Venice over a 100 years ago. This is the mother of all contemporary art shows, in which selected artists from different countries install work in permanent pavilions at the Giardini, a huge park at the end of the big island. There's also another big venue, the Arsenale, that hosts well-know artists and also work from countries not represented in the Giardini. This was an amazing event and eight hours on foot was just not enough time to absorb everything.


Erica really enjoyed this one by Han Hoogerbrugge (Netherlands) called Quatrosopus.

The US pavilion represented by Allora and Calzadilla was very interesting. Besides the Pipe Organ ATM machine, there was also this strange overturned army tank with a treadmill on top.

and a statue in a tanning bed called Armed Freedom:

The Israeli pavilion was amazing. Really powerful stuff by Sigalit Landau. I didn't take a video of the video projected on the floor, which was called Askelon, a video of people playing a knife game on the beach. The beach is shared by two towns separated by the Gaza Strip.

Another favorite was from Japan's Tabaimo called teleco-soup:

This was a funky one by Lee Yongbaek at the Korean pavilion:

Here's a site with more really cool stuff in the Korean Pavilion.

And their version of the Pieta...

Can't remember where this was but I love teapots;
they were filled with cement to stay in this pile.

Melting sculptures made of wax

And some souvenir shots of us!

At the Giardini

In front of the Venice Pavilion (Tintorettos and more inside!)

An Epilogue from Cy

The plane ride(s)

CY  We had to wake up at 4am to make it to our plane to London. Our first ride was on British Airways. I slept the whole way so I don’t remember anything about it. Then we were in London for about 5 hours. Then we took a 12 hour flight to San Diego. On the plane I watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (3 times), The Simpsons, Rango, and a couple other things. Then I slept for the rest of the way. Then we took a plane ride to San Francisco. It was on Virgin America. I watched sports. Then we arrived and picked up Devo, Got IN-AND-OUT BURGER for dinner at 11:30 at night, and went home and slept. The end.

Three Hours in London's Portobello Road

July 5, 2011

NINA Our vacation is finally coming to an end. After waking up at 4am to catch a 7am flight from BCN to LHR, we thought we had run out of energy just getting up that early. But a five-hour layover in London meant we could do a short outing and I could not resist. Thankfully Doug and I agreed on a mellow visit to Portobello Road, one of my favorite places to visit in London. We just walked up and down the streets and re-visited shops I loved on my past visits. The kids had a great time, too, because we didn't dare bring them to another museum or famous monument. They were great and hardly complained the whole trip but bringing them to another one would have put them over the edge. Of course this taste of London will make them want to go back for more!

For the kids, it was an experience in itself
to take the London Underground tube.

Books for Cooks is a super charming bookstore on one of the side streets. I LOVE this place. And now they have a Filipino (Visayan) sous-chef working in the yummy cafe in the back of the store.

 

 

  I love this ceramics store, too. Last time I was here I bought a beautiful Italian bowl. They still carry the same brand. A must on any visit to Portobello Road.


The Travel Bookshop has the fortunate (or unfortunate) reputation for being in the Julia Roberts movie called Notting Hill. It really is a great bookstore, small, but has a good selection.

A taste of Italy on a street parallel to Portobello Road...

 

 

 

Woohoo, I love Neal's Yard!

 Erica loved this cupcake store and wanted to grab every piece in there. But it was only 10am!

Super awesome clothing store!

Fun finds at the antiques section of Portobello Road

 

Cy kept screaming the name of this store.

 

Lunch at Gail's Bakery was delicious!

My favorite restaurant!

Banksy!

 

Park Güell

July 4, 2011


NINA On our last full day in Barcelona, we decided to take it easy and visit only 2 landmarks, and they had to be Gaudi creations. So before we headed off to the Sagrada Familia, we stopped by Park Guell, which Gaudi designed for the Guell family, his biggest benefactors.  We got to see the gist of it, but then it started to rain and we just hung out inside the Hall of Columns, along with everyone else visiting the park plus all the street vendors.

 

The famous tiled dragon

Ceramic-tiled ceilings in the Hall of Columns

Erica really wanted to get wet in the rain!

 

Everyone hung out here after it started raining.
It felt like a little refugee camp.