A Panda Frenzy

Xena is currently having a Farewell Tour of DC so yesterday morning we went up to the Zoo bright and early. The pandas, which usually just laze around, were full of beans so it was a very worthwhile excursion indeed (especially because we then had a long lazy brunch on a workday!).





We had a surprisingly productive afternoon back at the office, then I wanted to show Xena this exhibition I'd admired earlier. I'd also mentioned I was seriously considering buying one of the works. As art goes, it wasn't expensive but it was a fair bit of money and I wasn't sure about it. To cut a long story short, Xena then bought the work as a parting gift! I was a bit overwhelmed. It's a good way I suppose to describe her incredible generosity (the most generous person I've ever met)- that she's the one going away but she's buying everyone else gifts when it's usually the other way round.

Drag Brunch was not to be

This morning with a spring in my step I tried to go to drag brunch, but alas the wait was to long so I had a very pleasant time at Tryst instead.


The weather sucked but Xena's roof party for 4th of July was fantastic fun. What I love about it here is that fireworks are legal so everyone is setting them off all around you- it was like a little chain of explosions over the skyline. Amusingly, then you start to hear all the sirens of ambulances and fire engines.

Mexico, Tre

Thursday

It was time to go to Teotihuacan! Enrique, my driver, picked me up and we were off. On the way, the traffic really wasn't bad because we were heading out of the city past some slums which clung to the hillsides rather impressively.

Then, the ancient city of Teotihuacan itself. Teotihuacan is all a bit mysterious, but what is interesting is that each successive Mexica culture just built over it and it was, at its height, the centre of Mesoamerican commerce which meant that there are things like ocean iconography murals when it is 500km from the ocean. The two main pyramids, the Moon and the Sun, are at perfect cardinal points and are so big that when the Aztecs settled here, they thought they were built by giants.


Near the Moon, I took this photo after Enrique pointed out the relationship between the Pyramid of the Sun and the mountain behind. Neat, eh? The Moon and the Sun are actually the same height, but the Moon is marginally higher because of geographic elevation. You can only climb to the first tier of the Moon though, which I did presently.


Then a brisk stroll down the 'Calle los Muerta' or the Avenue of the Dead (a misnomer as the Aztecs thought the smaller pyramids were tombs).


Soon however it was time to face a formidable foe- climbing the Pyramid of the Sun. This is what confronted me.


Those are some serious mofo steps, suckahs. It may not look it, but they're all about 30cm high and it's very steep which means that going up your legs start to shake and then coming down it's so steep as to be a wee bit scary. There is a railing- in parts- but it wobbles. In one place I found it easier to crawl up the stairs almost like a ladder than use the railing.

I got halfway up when I suddenly started feeling incredibly dizzy. I sat down in the shade of the bricks for a while. I was going to go back down- it seemed ridiculous to keep going if I were going to collapse and tumble down- but then an old lady zipped past me so I had to keep going to the top. Luckily, the last two sets of stairs were perhaps the easiest.

Then, the vista.


That's the Pyramid of the Moon from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. Look at all the tiny people!

It was pretty amazing, and chilly at this height. After I'd had my fill I headed back down. At the bottom, I took these two photos to try and impress upon others the difficulty of the ascent. Physically, it was one of the hardest things I've done for a while.



After this, I popped into the excellent Museum. Enrique then took me to the Obsidian/Pulco workshop. I was expecting a bit of a 'my cousin's shop- very good price' moment but it wasn't too bad apart from the pushy salesman who obviously works on commission. I discovered that Pulco (no idea on the spelling, but that's how it sounds), despite being made from fermented cactus juice, is actually really nice. I bought some nick-nacks then it was back for lunch and a kip.

When I awoke from my kip, I discovered that my legs were really rather sore. They still are. I have to sit down like an old man, bracing myself as a I go. I potted around the Zona Rosa for a while, having a few beers. Here is a typical Zona Rosa scene. The big pink shopfront is a sex shop. They're rather open about these things in Mexico City, surprising for such a Roman Catholic country.


So that ends my time in Mexico City. Fabulous place. I don't need to go back for a while, but I wouldn't mind going back to Mexico again soon- the Yucatan or somewhere.

Last night I went to a party with Jack and his friend. I also got totally smashed. There are ten minutes of time I know I was having a really animated conversation with a relative stranger which are a hopeless blur due to a vodka shot. Got home at 3.30am. The hangover should've been far worse, but I suppose it's true that you don't get much of a hangover with good vodka. We went to Halo for a while until I got so hungry I went across to CVS with Jack for a packet of chips. We ran into a guy who recognised me. I looked at his place- a year ago- and he remembered me! Crazy times. In other news, I appear to have made some sort of financial calculation blunder. I'm not in any trouble, but I thought I was much more comfortable than I am. I blame Dell.

I have a new hero, and Mexico Dos

My new hero:



Now for Wednesday in Mexico:


After passing this rather startling building in the Zona Rosa, I began a long trek up the Paseo de la Reforma to the Centro Historico. It was much further than I anticipated. I was headed for the brand new Museo Arte Popular which showcases Mexican handicrafts, which I love (I have only just realised, apart from leaving my pyjamas in the hotel room, I neglected to buy some Day of the Dead stuff, and that saddens me). It was a great museum, with a neat shop.

I then stopped in the Alameda Central, a big formal park, where I saw mounted policemen wearing sombreros, which greatly amused me, so I took a discreet photo.


At the end of the Alameda Central is the Palacio Belles Artes, which has become one of my favourite buildings in the world. It was also hosting the world's largest ever Frida Kahlo exhibition. I like Kahlo's work, but it was very crowded. I was hoping to learn a bit about her, but everything was unsurprisingly in Spanish. However, the interior of the building was so wonderful it was well worth the stop.




I then confidently set out on what I thought was the Avenida Cinco de Mayo. I had this problem quite frequently, in that I thought I was on one street, when I was actually on another heading the opposite direction. This time I ended up in a very scruffy part of town where I would not want to be after dark. One other time I ended up on the shoulder of a highway. After stumbling upon the naked protestors again I eventually found my way to the Central Cathedral and Zocala, the huge town square.




It was very smoggy and quite warm and I started to feel dizzy and faint. The altitude and pollution? What is startling is that Mexico City is at the same altitude as Australia's highest mountain. I didn't get headachey apart from this one time, but I later discovered that it was affecting my sleep. I had thought that the constant bolting awake then falling asleep was just an unfamiliar bed and slightly noisy hotel corridor, but it a common symptom of your body readjusting to a foreign altitude. Anyway, I was also starving to I retired to a groovy Mexican diner (groovy as in wonderfully unfashionable and authentic). Feeling much better, it was time for a kip.

Post kip, I headed up to Polanco, a posh residential area to pay a courtesy call on my colleagues at our Embassy there. There are many lovely houses.


Walking back, I took this photo which for me just screams Mexico City. I took it from the aforementioned highway shoulder.

Mexico, Uno

Back from Mexico DF! I can barely walk, for reasons which will become evident in Mexico Tre. Dulles was the predictable nightmare. I hate how you have to stand around in those stupid shuttles for twenty minutes. What's the point of charging off the plane to beat the lines at Immigration if you all just get herded onto a stupid shuttle? Then all the computers were done at Immigration so we stood around for a while. Luckily my guy was nice, once he saw my visa of course.

So I flew to Mexico City on Monday night. Untied was relatively pleasant. I upgraded myself to Economy Plus, which was a good idea, and I was able to see Breach which I had wanted to see at the cinemas. Landed in Mexico around 10pm, Immigration was painless then I pressed the Customs button and got GREEN so I was GOOD TO GO.

Arrived at the Hotel Geneve, which was great. In the middle of the Zona Rosa, close to Paseo de la Reforma and the Insurgentes Metro stop.

Tuesday

Hello Angel of Independence, on the Paseo de la Reforma!


The Paseo de la Reforma is Mexico City's Champs Elysees (I believe it was directly modeled after it). They have all these roundabouts with various statues and things. Mexican traffic is totally insane. Traffic lights are seen as a mere suggestion, a guideline.

I walked up the Paseo to the Bosque Chapultepec, the big park ('chapultepec' means 'place of the crickets'). There was a monument of some sort:


That's the castle in the background built for Emperor Maxmilian, who was installed by the French around the 1860s. He was subsequent executed by the Mexican people, but his heir currently lives in Melbourne. I was headed for the Anthropology Museum, one of the best museums in the world for bits of Azteca. They also have an astounding courtyard, with a vast concrete canopy supported by a single column.


It was pretty cool. There were jungle ruins:



And an inside temple:


And look what is inside the temple!


I swanned around to the Museo Tamayo for some modern art, but it was pretty sucky so I decided to instead find some lunch and have a kip.

Now whilst Mexican food does indeed taste better in Mexico, they don't really go for presentation in a big way. I had several delicious meals, but all were covered in thick sauces of brown and green which bring to mind all sorts of things I'd rather not think about when eating.

After my lunch, I was heading to Condesa to buy some NaCo t-shirts when I stumbled upon a nude protest.


This was as close I dared get, lest I see more saggy breasts and wrinkled penii than I bargained for. Apparently nude protests are quite common in Mexico. At first, I blush to admit, I thought the lithe Mexican boys in speedos handing out flyers were some sort of gay club promotion until I rounded the corner and saw this (the photo is but a portion, there were also naked drummers, and dancers).

I eventually made my way to Condesa on the marvellous Metro system. It costs like 2c to ride but what I love is that each station also has a fascinating pictogram due to the large number of illiterates in Mexico. My local, Insurgentes, was a bell.

Condesa is all a bit hip and happening. But I stumbled upon a market.


And some rather festively coloured houses:


Once I got back to the Zona Rosa, I hit the beer. Hard. I was successfully mellow enough to brave a gay bar on my lonesome, which is not something I tend to do. Anyway, I was wildly popular perhaps due to my blonde hair. Shennagins were afoot for the rest of the evening, and I dare not commit them to so public a forum.

New York, not really a pictorial report

It is rather early but I woke up because I was so sticky and hot. I've turned on my bedroom airconditioner and sealed up the room to try and refrigerate it a little before going back to bed. I also had a rather hilarious voicemail from Sexy T who is at the beach and, by the sounds of it, completely hammered.

Yesterday morning, Xena and I took the Acela up to New York for some work-type things. We spent most of the day doing such things in a gallery in Chelsea, apart from a side visit to the most amazing office ever. I can't explain how much I covet this office. It's in a building at 601 26th Street, a really elegant old skyscraper with a curve in its design. We took the lift up to the 16th floor to this modeling agency. The interior of the building is still very daggy and industrial- concrete floors, rough white brick walls and the pipes running along the roof but then each office (both Hilfiger and Martha Stewart have their showrooms in this building) is individually decorated rather sensationally. But what really made me covet it was the view- over the river, Jersey and the uptown skyline. It was heartbreaking to think that not only are these people beautiful and rich, they have sensational office space.

Anyway, we ended up at City Hall Park which was unexpectedly beautiful in the late afternoon with office workers and the fountain and a stack of Calder stabiles dotted round the place. Drinks and dinner followed, whereupon Xena and I got totally smashed and played fashion police and at one point were laughing so hard on 7th Avenue that we both thought we would wet ourselves. If only we could remember what was so hilarious.

We staggered to the Met Museum yesterday morning to see the Poiret show. It was a wonderful, nay, superb exhibition. We also checked out their Barcelona Modernity show, which wasn't that great, and then up to the roof for lunch and Frank Stella sculptures. I became very displeased at their no-photo rule of the artwork (not that it stopped me) as I think is particularly wanky not to allow photographs of outdoor art.

This was followed by the exclusive Monet show at the Wildenstein Company, an extremely prestigious art gallery, which was beautiful but their staff made the experience so unpleasant. Sort of cross snooty door bitch with power-mad bouncer in a dark suit. The works were stunning though, and then someone important invited us into his office to show us some works from the Napoleon era which were for sale (starting at $225,000) and he was so nice it greatly improved the whole experience.

A quick coffee at Barneys followed (how I adore it) before leaving Xena and returning to DC on the Regional (Business Class happily so very pleasant). I also totally love Union Station.

Now, some photos from the Roof Garden:

Springtime

I took my camera with me to Safeway this morning to celebrate the fantastic weather and to get some spring floral shots- there are tulips and daffodils everywhere.




This last one is in my secret garden.

Chicago, A Pictorial Report 2

Sunday

Metra trip to the South Side for a bit of a Frank Lloyd Wright love fest. Despite the nasty habit of his buildings falling down, I adore FLW, and Robie House is considered one of his masterpieces.

I cannot explain how much I covet this house. It is two parallel rectangles which meet in the middle at a square- which is also the central fireplace cos FLW believed that was the core of the house. He used roman bricks- which are very narrow- in construction and the dimensions of those bricks are used over and over again in the interior detailing.

Compare and contrast the side of Robie with the new University of Chicago Business School (Robie is in the middle of their sprawling campus):


After Robie I went to the Museum of Science & Industry. Meh. It was full of colour and movement but geared for an audience much younger than I. However were I 12 again, I know I would totally lose my shit over the massive model railway that simulates a Chicago-Seattle route and is too big to fit in a photo (not a great photo, but my point must be made):


Who am I kidding? I totally lost my shit over this railway at 24.

After a long nap, it was time to go up the John Hancock Center, the world's tallest multi-use building and the second highest observation deck on level 94 (after the nearby Sears Tower, which is the multi-level black one in the distance in this photo). Unfortunately the visibility was crap.


Walking back to the hotel I passed the most wonderfully, gloriously tacky wedding cake I have ever seen. Not the greatest photo, but you have to see it in full size to truly appreciate it.


Seriously, is it for cult weddings? Look at all those brides and grooms!

Monday

Not quite sure what to do with myself, I headed to the Museum Campus to check out the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. First, there was a bit of a vista moment.


There's Lake Point Tower sticking out to the right! It sure gets in a lot of photos. Visited the Shedd first. It does look sensational but I was so shocked at the $30 ticket price I only bought an $8 main-level-only ticket. I discovered I am still terrified of octopi, and spider crabs are so unbelievably hideous I almost retched.

The Field Museum is sensational. I loved it completely and without restraint. It has stuff with colour and movement for the kids and rowdy teens, it has sensitive and intelligent displays on human cultures, it has more stuffed dead animals which are both old fashioned and informative than you can poke a stick at, has dead Egyptians and is completely huge. However what I loved most was the HALL OF PLANTS, a section so touchingly dorky and daggy and completely deserted. There is no way to make it interactive or kid-friendly or anything other than rows and rows of mock plants and trees made in wax or plastic or whatever they use. The photo makes it appear much brighter than it is. It has the same effect on me as the Hall of Gems at the British Natural History Museum- so desperately boring and out of date it has a fascination of its very own.


It was then time to hurry back to Midway, where I caught my flight sitting next to a small girl who farted fairly consistently for the entire 90 minutes.

*Fin*

Chicago, A Pictorial Report Part 1

I am rather over Google.

And that they buy every goddamn website on the internet and I innocently come online to do my Pictorial Report and I need a google account. I will not have a goddamn google account Google, I said good day sir! I cried but it soon became evident I didn't have much choice if I wanted to keep this blog.

And I was this close to switching to Gmail but now I shan't out of pure, unadulterated spite even though I use it occasionally for work when we need to send images and our server can't hack it and it does seem kinda neat and I'm always at least several months behind these sorts of trends (apropos- I've started to think I wouldn't mind an IPod at some point).

Chicago, A Pictorial Report

Friday
A sudden cold snap descended upon the USA for Easter and prior to flying up to Chicago on Friday morn I had to get out my overcoat and scarves which I had optimistically stored for Spring.

After an uneventful flight north I was able to check in right away at the Palmer House Hilton. The room was tiny. There was about 30cm between the end of the bed and the TV, and if I were two inches fatter I would not be able to close the bathroom door from inside the bathroom. As I would later discover, the mirrors were very badly lit and the bedside lighting required a serious, ligament tearing stretch from the bed to turn off. Also, I found it kind of cheap that if you wanted a little bar fridge in your room you had to pay $30- extraordinary when most motels will chuck that in for free.

I debated whether I'd made the right career choice and should have gone into hotel design after all, then headed to the famous Art Institute of Chicago. It was real crowded which put me in a bad mood, and I was ready to eat my fist so I wanted to eat first. The line for the cafe was so long I decided to suck it up and go to the posh restaurant instead where I sat at the bar and had an absolutely divine meal.

The AIC has two particularly notable works which are sensational but otherwise didn't do much for me.


Gold stars for those that can correctly name both works (double gold stars if you get the one in French with its original language title).

Strolled through Millenium Park next, saw the Anish Kapoor work which is indeed groovy. Chicago is famous for the beauty of its skyscrapers so I apologise for the endless photos of buildings.


After a promising start, the weather was already turning to the cloudy, windy and freezing shit it would stay as for the rest of the weekend.


The big pointy building at the back is the Sears Tower, which has the highest observation deck in the world and is the third highest building in the world.

From here I charged up Michigan Avenue, known as the Magnificent Mile for its shopping (eh, I don't need to see another Needless Markup or 'nana 'public) to the Museum of Contemporary Art which, asides from its totally fabulous store, was hosting a Rudolph Stingel exhibition. It was kinda neat, the entire hall was wrapped in tin foil and you could write in it and pin messages to it. Another wall was shag carpeting which you dragged your hands through to make your own patterns.

Saturday

Saturday held a special treat for me, the Museum of the International College of Surgeons. I walked from Fox & Obel, which is near one of my favourite buildings in the world, Lake Point Tower. I've loved its curvy form ever since I first saw it in a skyscrapers coffee table book I obtained when I was 13. I did take a photo but it's really crap, so the link is public domain. The walk was so cold I got to the stage when only four blocks from my target I seriously considered hailing a cab.

Anyway, the Surgery Museum is absolutely tremendous and I love it for its old-fashionedess and making absolutely no concession to this day and age of interactivity and kid-friendly exploratoriums. Asides from a rather unsettling concentration on amputation and trepanning I learnt more than I ever thought I would known about cesarean sections (the first success- with both mother and child surviving- was in 1793!). It also, happily, has a superb selection of souvenirs.

Housed in an old mansion on the lake, the former libary is now a magnificent boardroom.


I then walked all the way back down Michigan Ave to Palmer House, quite a hike indeed, but it did mean I could have many crazy photo moments of impressive buildings.


The building right out on the left is Lake Point Tower. The big mama is the John Hancock Center (more on the ol' fella to come).


After an invigorating nap, I headed out to the ArchiCenter Store, where I found Mum a birthday present. It truly is a sensational piece of store, it is. Nearby is the Artist Snack Shop in the rather splendid Arts Building. This is a dump of a diner where all the waiters are obnoxious out of work arty types who talk about their dramatic writing major as if their tutor was Ibsen. Despite listening to the whining of students, it was a great place.

It was time to head out to see Kathleen Turner in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It was, as could be safely predicted, an invigorating night of theatrics. Slightly ruined by the fact that every time someone went upstage their torso got chopped off. It didn't happen much, but enough for me to think it should really be on the ticket as a sightline issue- I know I would've bought a more expensive seat. Also I missed much of the third act because the staff in the foyer were chattering so loudly and I would've had to vault over three rows to go out and teach them some theatre etiquette.

But the etiquette games were not over yet.

I returned back to Palmer House famished and asked the front desk clerk where I could buy a chocolate bar. She sent me to a 7-11 on Wabash, round the corner. I said 'Fantastic, thanks!' and then as I walked away the second clerk mimicked 'fantastic, thanks!'. Outrageous!

Part 2 to follow.