to visit or not to visit

In the past year there has been a lot of talk, discussion and thinking about how to bring more visitors to the National Gallery of Canada. This conversation has hit a certain high note this year with the on-going and numerous, I should say countless cuts to various budgets ordered by our dear Leader Stephen Harper has slowly but surely destroyed many areas of service to Canadians. Many agree that we have entered an age of Corporatist politics, where Corporations are people and their voices count whereas the average taxpayer does not. This means a slow but certain degradation of anything and everything the Federal government does.

In the case of all our National Museums they are Crown Corporations, meaning that they receive a lump sum each year and the rest of their financing must come from the public through sales of tickets and other items such as memberships or donations. It has to be understood that for decades the main source of funding came from the Federal government who financed almost everything. Including building infrastructure and maintaining existing building, renovations, landscaping etc... the public was used to the Providential State stepping in at every turn to maintain these national institutions. Not understanding that they did not pay anywhere near enough taxes to support it all.

In other countries depending on their national history either the King or Emperor maintained private museums of their own collection, i.e. the Hermitage, the Prussian Royal Collections, the Saxon Royal Collection or the collections of the Bavarian Royal House or the Vatican Museums which until not so long ago where not open to the public.

In the USA it was Andrew W. Mellon who was the creator and founder/builder of the National Gallery in Washington DC.  Mellon bought the main European art works from the Bolchevics in Russia after 1919 who were selling off treasures of the Tsars and the Hermitage to finance their endeavours. In turn upon his death he donated to the American Nation all of it for the enjoyment of future generations. In the USA the Spirit with a capital S of endowment and gifts is well and alive, in Canada not so.

In Canada our National Museums were a government creation, unlike the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal which was a private sector creation. In 1905 our first Canadian Museum in Ottawa was the Geological Society of Canada located in a castle like structure named the Victoria Memorial Museum on Metcalfe Street, it is the very popular Museum of Nature today.

The National Gallery had one small room in the basement of that building. Ottawa was a very small town at the time and the development of the museums in general was overseen by Civil Servants. There were some wealthy donors but they were few, unlike cities like Montreal where a well established group of British and Scottish well to do families had their Clubs and Art Circles.

The situation only began to change in our National Museums with the Trudeau (father) era 1968-1982. He had a personal interest in seeing new National Museums built and started a dialogue with the public to get them to involve themselves in the development and enhancement of the collections.
He saw a program similar to the USA where endowment funds and donations would drive museum expansion and not government funds.

The old Lorne building (1959-2012) former seat of the National Gallery until 1987, named after Governor General Sir John Douglas Sutherland, Marquess of Lorne. 

The main idea was that donors would form circles of friends and actively support all the activities of a Museum in particular. This happened with the building of the new Canadian War Museum in 2005, an idea which came about with Barnie Danson (1921-2011), a veteran, member of Parliament and Minister of Veterans Affairs who gathered supporters and to this day continues to thrive on that idea.

The New National Gallery of Canada building opened in 1988, the design alone created a buzz and people where fascinated with it. On the opening year close to one million visitors came to see it.
However this was not a sign that the public was more interested in art in general because suddenly there was a new building dedicated for the first time to our National Art Collections.

National Gallery of Canada (1988)

Whereas in the case of the Canadian War Museum where every Canadian, Veteran or active military is sought after and welcomed, the National Gallery had an image problem very often based on false assumptions and opinions. The public had and has to this day the overall impression that it is a place for the elite and the wealthy. Amongst our French speaking population it is seen as an English institution not open to others. Nothing could be further from the truth but it is a tough perception which will not die easily. Thus an empty museum with the lowest attendance record of all our National Museums including the currently closed under renovation Science and Technology Museum.

The Alarm bell has been ringing and the Board of Directors of the National Gallery have decided that something must be done. I remember prior to 1988 when the National Gallery was located in the old Lorne Building on Elgin Street, a converted office building, the museum was empty then. It was a small dark crammed display area. Not really enticing to promoting the arts and it had that academic approach in the display of the art collection.

This academic approach to the collections is still very present and that is a big turn off for a lot of people in this day and age, when education and intellectual pursuit is ridiculed and seen as worthless in Canada by a clear percentage of the population which includes our Prime Minister who was often quoted in the last 10 years with negative comments towards Arts and Culture. The Media in general has not helped either, a certain popular press is quick to pounce on any type of art which is not appealing to the masses, this includes contemporary, modern and lesser painters of any era.
The tone of the articles is always the same, ''Your tax dollars bought that thing your 5 year old kid can paint'' This type of populist attack which appeals to the lowest common denominator is very popular and sells well.

The other problem, and this is one of society in general, the lack of conversation in Canada about what kind of society do we want to live in. Everything in the last 10 years has come down to the notion of not wanting to pay taxes, having lots of rights and no responsibilities for anything or anyone, the promotion of excessive consumerism, not needing education, i.e. traditional schools, we need more babysitting services instead, not needing arts or culture which is seen as too expensive as long as we have big name sports team and stadiums and prioritizing shopping malls and highways.
As one of our Conservative politician put it so succinctly, ''We are not in Europe here, we don't need that stuff'' meaning arts and culture. A good example of this current political way of thinking is the sudden announcement two weeks ago of the renovations and rejuvenation of the National Arts Centre of Canada on Elgin Street. This is a much needed project however if you look at the details you will quickly notice that we are renovating all the public areas, bar, restaurant, lobby, parking and toilets, nothing is done to the concert halls themselves. This does not mean that more people will be coming to the performances.

The same is true with block buster Art exhibits, one quick solutions to bring people in. Two years ago we had a Summer exhibit of works by Van Gogh, which gave the National Gallery the highest attendance records in decades. However other Summer shows by equally great names like Monet and Renoir have failed miserably to attract record numbers. We did have a show organized with the Tate Modern London in 2010 entitled Pop Life with artists like Andy Wharhol, Jeff Koons and many others, it was a flop despite being a North American exclusive. The cost also of mounting theses big name exhibits has become exorbitant, one cost is the insurance, transport and logistics. Such exhibits need a minimum work of 5 years in planning.
It would appear that Ottawa, the region and as a tourist destination fails to promote/market its museums or maybe the interest is just not there in the Ottawa Valley.

The National Gallery could for starters become more visitor friendly, while retaining a certain academic approach could vulgarise and popularize exhibit space, market the museum as open to the public and at the same time tell the public at large of what we have in our collections. Many Canadians are not aware of the vast richness and diversity of our collections making the National Gallery of Canada one of the truly great world museum.  Maybe the public in general should be asked to support financially the NGC and make a donation upon entry or at any other time. Why rely only on big name donors who are a few hundred at most.

Given that our public often has no information or knowledge on art and may not know artists beyond a famous name and is unable to recognize a work of art by any artists it is crucial to bring things down to a level that is inviting and inspire the imagination. Before we jump to the conclusion that our National Gallery is not at the level of museums in Europe like the National Gallery London or the Louvre in Paris or any other museum in Italy or Germany, we should remember that Europe suffers from the same problem. The Louvre director was saying recently that if it was not for 5 works of art everyone wants to see, the museum would be empty, same phenomenon in Rome, St-Petersburg, Vienna, London or Berlin. Because we live in an anti-education age, the dawn of a new Middle-Age perhaps, the attention span of the public is extremely short, they must be brought to climax quickly because they have other things to do.

The secret of our success in Ottawa depends on how far we are willing to go to reach
a public who is difficult to please or simply unaware of the beauty around them.

Scotland!

Referendum day has come and I am listening to the BBC World Service running commentary on what is happening. It is odd really listening to this event taking place, shows how little I knew of Scottish politics in the UK.  It appears that the turnout is high or very high more than 88% in rural and suburban areas whereas in the Cities the turnout is much lower around 75%. Scotland is hoping to have as high a turnout as in the Quebec referendum of 1995 which was 93.5%. It looks likely they will achieve that given the importance of the vote and the question. The big story tonight is how incredible the voter turnout has been. Usually during British general elections the turnout is around 65% the numbers tonight are very high in comparison.

The population of Scotland is small at 5.2 million Scots, somewhat smaller than the population of the City of Toronto. This does not count all the Scottish diaspora around the world, who cannot vote in this referendum. Scotland is portrayed as more left leaning and liberal than Britain. Because of its small population it cannot influence Parliament in Westminster and has little say in the budget. Scottish Labour is seen as unable to disassociate itself from the free-market and austerity policies of the moment, which makes it unpopular. By tomorrow the results either for or against independence, one thing appear certain the old certainties of the past will be dead and gone. The consequence for Cameron and the Conservatives are huge, it would probably mean the government will fall and Cameron will have no choice but to resign. As for Labour it will also be a shock and their future will be also uncertain. No Prime Minister wants to be remembered as the one who lost the Union. However watching the vote results come in Scotland appears divided, there are strong opinions in either camp.

Either way Britain tomorrow morning will be a different country. What I like about the coverage is how there is talk now even before the final results are in of change and how Westminster needs to change, respect for the aspirations of the Scots. It will be interesting to see how this evolves between now and 2016. What is also impressive is the level of respectful dialogue between people on either camp, except maybe for Ukip. There is none of the insults and bad language and immature attitudes we so often find here in Canada when there is differences of opinion after elections.

I would agree with commentators that Canadians and people in Quebec all have a lot to learn on how to run a referendum on such questions, much more mature and respectful in this case.

A special Honour Guard in London, UK

This year the Royal 22nd Regiment of Quebec City is celebrating its Centennial year of service. It is
a regular infantry regiment of the Canadian army and one of the most prestigious. H.E. the Governor General, the Rt Hon. General Georges Vanier (1888-1967) was one of its members and a hero of the First World War.

Insignia of the Royal 22nd Regiment 

The Sovereign shaking hands with soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment yesterday at the barracks at Windsor Castle. She surprised them by arriving at the Mess unannounced.

For this special occasion, the Queen who is the Colonel in Chief of the Regiment invited them to Buckingham Palace. The soldiers of the Regiment are all French Canadians and it has been thus since its foundation in 1914. They are garrisoned at the historic Citadel of Quebec City on Cap Diamant, high above the St-Lawrence River. The Citadel is also the Summer Residence of the Governor General of Canada. The Regiment has distinguished itself in many battles in both the Great War and the Second World War including the liberation of Italy, Korea and Afghanistan and has received many battle honours.

The last time they guarded the Palace Gates was during the Second World War. The language of orders and business in this Regiment is French. Their mascot is Batisse XI a white goat with golden hooves and horns.  See the web site in French, http://www.r22er.com

Royal 22nd Regiment soldiers receiving orders and

guarding Buckingham Palace during the Second World War

Royal 22nd Regiment this week in London 12-19 July 2014, guard duty at the Palace.

Regimental mascot Batisse XI 

Though the jacket is red and looks a lot like all the other grenadier guard regiments, note the black bear fur hat is much larger and has the regiment insignia of the Canadian beaver and the collar has a Fleurs de Lys.  

As a comparison here you have the Governor General David Johnston inspecting his own troops the GG Foot Guard, note the insignia on the collar is the Star of the Order of the Garter with the Moto Civitas et Princeps Cura Nostra. They also have a big red plume on the left side of their busby.

 A rare photo of H.E. the Governor General at Rideau Hall addressing his guards. He is wearing his Colonel of the Regiment uniform.

Endings and souvenirs of the past year

We travelled this year to Europe twice, once in May at Pentecost to the Salzburg Festival and then in November to Italy, Spain and England.
We were lucky weather wise, with lots of sunshine and only minimal bad weather.
In Canada we travelled to the theatre Festival at Stratford, Ontario and met with our new friends,
D and M of Phoenix.

Our old home but still our home

Me and our dear friend D. at dinner at friends on Via Tronto

The Christmas Italian Puppies

They will be 5 years old in February 2014. Strange to think that five years ago we were meeting them in Capena just outside Rome at the farm. 

Salzburg Festival, May 2013

Hellbrun Palace gardens outside Salzburg

Having a glass of bubbles at Café Bazar in Salzburg.

 Stratford street 

Donation by Will to the Stratford Theatre archive collection

Travelling with my own physician nowadays 

Will with Will in the background

Then when we renewed our lease here on McLeod street we decided to ask our landlord to replace the broadloom with hardwood, he agreed readily and it only took 3 days to do two rooms, very happy with the results.

In November our cruise on Azamara Quest from Rome to Seville, 23 days of pleasure in many lovely ports.

London street decorations for Christmas enjoyed the shopping and food. London has quite a few very good restaurants nowadays.

On 28 September by mother died after a 14 year battle with Alzheimer. 

A sad moment but for her it was a deliverance from a terrible disease which is little understood.

It was a very full year with many events.

Food and Food programs at Christmas time

At this time of the year there are a multitude of food programs with recipes for that perfect Christmas meal, cocktail, drink, party. All guaranteed to impress your guests to death and make you a celebrity.

It is all a bit silly when you think of it because unless you are a regular cook, someone who is comfortable in the kitchen and has imagination when in comes to food preparation and combination of different foods, well it can be a challenge to say the least to prepare a meal or a dish for that special Holiday event. Not to mention make it picture perfect like in that magazine.

I do however love to watch cooking shows at Christmas time, some of the recipes are intriguing and depending on the presenter/chef you can get that good feeling about a recipe and how beautiful it looks and how good it must be.

One Chef that I do like is Nigel Slater on the BBC Player, see www.bbc.co.uk/food

He is one of several chefs who present various recipes. What I like about him is that his recipes are or appear to be easy to make. I have tried a few and yes the result were as promised, no fuss and good.

I also watched another Chef on BBC, Delia Smith and she has a segment on Christmas Cakes, it looks easy and she certainly presents it that way, minimum fuss and preparation appears simple enough. Her method of presenting on air is old fashioned, first will show you the ingredients all pre-measured on a work table in her kitchen, then she puts all ingredients in a bowl and does a minimum of mixing, then jumps to the final product, voilà. You do not see her put the cake into the oven or take it out or even cutting the cake or tasting it. It is somewhat a little too surgical and just a little too pat. She also speaks to an audience of women, somewhat formal, no nonsense and no humour, you know she is not talking to men in the kitchen.

Rick Stein is another chef on the BBC, Rick has a restaurant and he is in business, big business.
He prepares dishes more to show you what can be done at Christmas time, I do not get the impression that you could do this at home. His preparation take place in his restaurant kitchen, it is all professional and he has other chefs to help him out, they work for him.  The results are great and he serves the food at a party for about 40 guests. It is fun to watch and you get the feel good of the Season.

But I return to Nigel, I have read his books on his life as a kid and love his recipes, he makes it easy and fun. The only one problem I have with his 12 Christmas dishes is how his producer for the series staged it all. We are told it is at his house in North London, a very modern and nice place with a great garden. Then the filming or shooting effects, the camera goes soft, zooms in and out of the kitchen, some shots are from the garden looking in or from the kitchen looking out, somewhat wistful, as if the cameraman is distracted by some external thought or souvenir. In the end it all looks a trifle recherché. Nigel also simpers to much a bit like an old lady.

In his Christmas special, he is in Scotland and Norway. First in Scotland in the Highlands with two good looking lads, he calls them the boys who cook a dish for a family dinner. Nigel watches them prepare a cocktail and a meat dish for an upcoming Christmas dinner and there is some double entendre banter throughout. Nigel purses his lips a little too much and needs a haircut.

Then off to Norway to select a Christmas Tree for Trafalgar Square, the tree has to be more than 20 meter high, a very big tree. So there is lots of walking in the woods with two Norwegians looking for the big tree. Finally finds one, a superb tree, 115 years old. We are told that since 1946 Norway has given Britain a Christmas tree every year as thanks for the help received during the Second World War.

This of course is a segway to another of his recipe, the Salmon Wellington which is very easy to make and looks wonderfully delicious.

This year we are not having Goose or Roast Beef or Crown of Lamb. My cousin is cooking and we will have a tourtière and a ham, vegetables and Plum Pudding and other desserts.
Though next year I do want to return to Roast Goose a favourite dish of mine at Christmas.

One tradition if we can call it that, is our friend John who for 30 odd years has produced wonderful
Fruit cakes at this time of the year. John has a unique talent to produce the most wonderful fruit cakes
from dark to light coloured ones. His fruit cake is the sort that you could eat in one go if you did not restrain yourself, they are that good. He also introduced a long time ago, the notion that his cakes keep for one to two years because they are soaking in Brandy or Rum and remain moist and delicious.  Indeed it seems that the vintage cakes are better tasting, richer and more flavourful.

My personal favourite is his light golden coloured fruit cake a real treat.

Dateline London

Centre looking towards Trafalgar Square.

We arrived in London for a short 48 hour stay before our return to Canada. Wish it could have been longer, London offers so much in terms of exhibits in its museums, Daumier presently at the Royal Academy, Elizabethan Portraits at the National Gallery and a very special exhibit until 24 November at Houghton Hall of all the fantastic collection of paintings Sir Robert Walpole sold to Catherine II the Great of Russia, the painting have been at the Hermitage ever since. This is the first time since the 18th century that the collection has return for a special show in England. http://www.houghtonhall.com

There is also lots of theatre and at this time Christmas shopping with beautiful window displays. I went to visit Liberty the great department store for the first time, I had never been there, the building alone is a marvel of wood timber construction.

 Liberty department store on Great Marlborough street, London

inside the store all timber framed

We managed to have dinner in two wonderful restaurants, one was ZEDEL Brasserie http://www.brasseriezedel.com in the former Regent Palace Hotel at 20 Sherwood street by Piccadilly Circus. The public rooms have been restored as they were when the hotel first opened in 1900, it is a very faithful restoration based on notes and photographs of the public rooms, lots of gold leaf, marble and beautiful wood paneling. The Regent Palace hotel is gone the rest of the building is use for offices.

The other was a wonderful fish and seafood restaurant which opened in 1896, J. Sheekey on Saint-Martin's Court, near Leicester Square, www.j-sheekey.co.uk . This was a suggestion by our friend David N. who always has nice suggestions to make when we come through London. He and J. are in the know when it comes to exhibits, plays, opera or whatever is of interest, their suggestions are the best.  The Oyster bar is very elegant with a wonderful menu and great wine list and the other room is the restaurant proper with a different menu. The fish is probably the best in London without a doubt according to critics. 

 J.Sheekey Restaurant 

J.Sheekey Oyster Bar

 Zedel Entrance hall 

Zedel Brasserie 

We also saw a play at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, One man two govners by Richard Bean,     based on a the play of Carlo Goldoni, hilarious, crude, rude and highly entertaining vaudeville. The music by Grant Olding, the title role was played by Owain Arthur, who was excellent in this role.

I have not laughed this hard in a long time, there is some audience participation in the play and I am amazed to see how people are very willing to laugh hard at other people's embarrassing moments, you laugh because better them than me on stage. 

The story is very simple but the rendition makes it all the more entertaining, quite a few good lines. In this version the play is set in Brighton and it's 1963. The principal role of the play is Arlechino or Francis is this case, not too smart and easily confused but he knows how to take advantage of any situation while trying to serve two masters.

What I did notice is how in Canada we are dying of Political Correctness, at the theatre they will warn you in advance by way of a poster that what you are about to see has smoking, bad language, nudity and whatever. In London, you are an adult, you made a choice and you are respected for that, the play we saw had, bad language, crude remarks, smoking, no warning, you know what you are going to see since you bought a ticket and read the synopsis. No member of the public died as a result. Looking at the program, I saw an advert for another play by the National Theatre and the warning at the bottom said; Bad language, lots of bling and a fake tan, I think we should tried that approach with the Ottawa crowd.

During the play, the characters make predictions of what will happen one day, say in 20 years time (1983), one character says I predict that Britain will have a women PM and we will have no more wars and a caring and just society where the poor will not be forgotten, a reference to Margaret Thatcher who despite being a women did not turn out to be much different from previous male PM.  Putting the lie to all that Feminist propaganda which did not turn out to be true.

London remains a fascinating city, it is full of energy and I found it to be much cleaner than Paris who has a sorry look these days. We came out of the theatre at 10pm to find the streets hoping with crowds of people, bars and restaurants are full, very often in the case of Pubs spilling out unto the streets where you can see dozens of people having a drink. Another line from the show is about Pubs, we forget that Pubs only sold drinks and chips until very recently. In the play the character learns that the Pub around the corner is now a ''Pub serving Food'' He says ''Think of that a Pub with Food what a novel idea''.  

The subway is crowded, main subway station shops are open until midnight, serving food and drinks. There is lots of trafic and people on the streets, not bad for a Tuesday night.

Shopping is always a pleasure, so many nice things on display and so much choice, products you do not necessarily find in Canada. I also love Heathrow Airport though it seems to be in a perpetual state of construction. I cannot remember once in the last 35 years that I have been through Heathrow that something is not under construction.

What I really like about the Airport is the Duty Free Shopping, real bargains and so many products. This time around found a Single Malt Scotch which is not available in stores, they have tasting stations to entice you to buy and sales people who promote products and can talk about it. I also got some of my favourite shower soap Molton Brown, a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne 2004 Grande Cuvée and a beautiful Plum Pudding for Xmas. They also have many beautiful shops like BULGARI and Hermes. Many restaurants and bars for a varied clientele, not everyone wants a packaged sandwich.  One bar serves a selection of Caviar, smoke salmon and Champagne just the sort of picker-upper you need before a flight. It is very different from any other airport I have been through in all my years, Heathrow has that special something, it's not just Starbucks or tacky souvenirs. Everything is there to entice you to buy a luxury item.

 Talisker Dark Storm Scotch not available in stores.

 Vintage 2004 a very good year

 A favourite soap of mine Molton Brown

For our Xmas dinner

We also discovered another way to get to the airport. We were going to use the Express Train from Paddinton Station but then our friend C. suggested we take this Limousine service called London Airport Cars, it is cheaper than the train and just as fast. We saved, being two persons, 30 Pounds, nothing to sneeze at and we did not have to carry our luggage, we had too much luggage for this 23 day trip. http://www.londonairportcar.co.uk

The weather in London was very nice, we were expecting rain, this according to the weather map but I have learned with time that London being close to the sea, the weather changes very quickly, sometime surprinsingly so, when we arrived in late afternoon, the sky was gray, then the next morning beautiful sunshine and blue sky though with a cold wind. Before our departure again cloudy and gray but by the time we got to Heathrow around 11am, it was sunshine and blue sky. As we took off we flew over Windsor Castle and got a good look at the park and Castle. 

So this is how our 35 Anniversary celebration trip ends. Very memorable what shall we do for our 40th?

Eurostar Train from Paris to London

Arrival at Gare d'Austerlitz, Paris

We arrived on time in Paris on our train-hotel after a bumpy night, the rails in Spain are not what they could be, the rails are much better on the French side of the border making for smoother ride. Train-hotels are designed for Europeans in mind, it's practical travel, This type of train is now being replaced slowly by the new High Speed Trains who can do the same trip in half the time. From the Gare d'Austerlitz we took a taxi to the Gare du Nord which is on the other side of the city, you have to cross the Seine River to get to it, with luggage it was an 18 Euro ride in light traffic.

Gare du Nord is a huge rail station in a less fashionable neighbourhood of Paris, the EuroStar Train leaves on the hour in a specially designed area of the old Station. It has it's own entrance and Duty Free Shopping given that London is considered an International Destination. We took the elevator to the Second floor and went through check-in, tickets and passports in hand, then a first passport check by agents who are there to detect any false documents, then UK Immigration for passport inspection as you are leaving the Shengen Zone and finally X-ray baggage inspection by French Custom, done for security only. This is a high speed train and we are flying towards the tunnel and the crossing of the English Channel, which takes about 25 minutes. At each departure the EuroStar is full, a very convinient way to go to the UK from Paris, far more convinient than the plane since you arrive at St-Pancras Station in Central London.

Once in the departure zone, you cannot leave it, there are two coffee shops, and about 5 Duty Free shops and a currency exchange desk, (Euros to Pounds) but nothing else. The departure zone is not very clean and given it is heavely used all day by thousands of passenger, it seems that better or more thorough cleaning should be the rule. The public washrooms (despite the fact that we are in France) are not clean at all, you go if you really have too. The seating area is also not very clean and I was surprised given that the EuroStar is a private concern you would think they would be a little more concerned with image, but it does not appear to be the case.

Boarding is done 30 minutes before departure and it is well organized by car number and fairly fast.

You can if you want reserve a seat in the Quiet Section of the train, 5 cars are so designated, meaning NO kids and NO cel phones. There is also a Business Class for people who wish to work or talk quietly, two cars are Bar Cars.

Some 85 minutes after our departure from Paris we reached Calais where the EuroStar entered the Tunnel and 20 minutes later we were out on the otherside in England. Some interesting stats on this journey, it is 20 Km from Calais to Ashford across the Channel, the train travels at about 300 Km per hour, the chunnel is 195 meters below sea level, the lenght of a tunnel is 50.4 km, there are 3 tunnels one for passenger trains, one for service or emergency and one for trucks and cars being transported across on a freight train. Total time of the trip from la Gare du Nord is 2hrs and 35 minutes, that is a lot faster than taking a plane and going to airports. 

The St-Pancras Station has been totally redesigned and expanded but has retained all of its architectural beauty. London is a bit cold tonight and cloudy but otherwise fine.

Official song of this Blog.

Thanks to Ella Fitzgerald and this 1941 song, The Muffin Man, Larry Muffin at Home now has an official theme song.

A happy little song which I am glad to associate with my blog. Heard it on the radio the other day on one of those international Jazz radio stations, I think was broadcasting from France.

The Muffin Man lives in Drury Lane, that would be the Covent Garden neighbourhood in the West End of London.

First Day of the rest of my Life.

Well today marks my official retirement day from the Foreign Service, so I am officially a pensioner now. Would like to join these fellows ( see photo below), smart uniform, nice hat, living in London in Chelsea no less. Apparently I do not fit the bill to become a pensioner at the Royal Chelsea Hospital, pity, I do fancy those tricorne hats.

At any rate I am busy with different projects as a volunteer at the National Gallery of Canada and at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Social Sciences. I have the dogs to look after and lots of other things, like Mr. W. I have also started to read more books, thanks to our friend in London, D.N. who has come up with lots of nice books I can order on my Kindle. What I like about the Kindle is it takes no space at all and books are a lot cheaper electronically, I love reading so its a good fit. I just started reading Sonechka by Ludmila Ulitskaya, a very popular Russian author at the moment.

What is fun about retirement is that I have no stress anymore about the job and what to say and not say and a million details about policy and decisions. I can also express an opinion now which I could not before since I had to be mindful of Government Policy or position papers. Someone said once that being retired was like getting out of jail, I see what they meant now.

Strangely enough I just learned of the death of General Norman Schwarzkopf who led the American forces in Kuwait against Iraq in 1991, I remember that time well, I was posted to Cairo and we went down to the Suez Canal to see the Canadian Warships cruise down towards the Red Sea. These were events that marked my years there.

So this is my new image now, having lunch in Vienna in the old greenhouse of the Hofburg Palace

Or watching the Tiber flow by on Tiberina Island in the centre of Rome

To celebrate this first day we are going to Al's Steak House on Elgin street, love the place, it is a sort of a Who's Who spot and they have my favourites on the menu like the giant shrimp cocktail served with the spicy sauce and the steaks are always done perfectly, good wines and good friendly service, very much the way restaurants use to be 40 years ago, best of all no families and no kids. Have nothing against children, I just believe they should not be seen.

Blue bird of Happiness!

Bronze at the Royal Academy

Currently at the Royal Academy in London there is a beautiful exhibition entitled BRONZE. The exhibit presents bronze works from around the world. It is grouped by subjects, figures, Bronze casting, Animals, Groups, Objects, Reliefs, Gods, heads. You can see some exceptional pieces such as the Dancing Satyr, a Greek sculpture of the second half of the Fourth Century BCE. This piece we had seen in Sicily at Mazara Del Vallo or St-John the Baptist preaching to a Levite and a Pharisee by Giovan Francesco Rustici from Florence, The Chariot of the Sun a 2400 year old piece from Denmark. or a Buddha Shakyamuni in AbhayaMudra from Bihar India. The exhibits presents also a series of lectures, events and walks. You may want to consult the website www.royalacademy.org.uk

The quality or property of bronze is that in can lead you to believe that a statue will speak, giving it a life like quality, this is accentuated if the statue has alabaster eyes. Marble on the other hand has a cold remote quality, bronze has warmth.

If in London it is well worth dropping by the Royal Academy in front of the Ritz Hotel, the exhibit is on until 9 December 2012.

the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts with the statue of its then President Sir Joshua Reynolds.

London shopping

London retains all the flair of a great city when it comes to shops, is it not said that Britain is a Nation of shopkeepers. Service and Courtesy is the hallmark of the British shop. I love to go to Jermyn Street to shop, Fortnum and Mason is located on that street, they have a wonderful restaurant and so are many other shops like shirtmaker Pinks or for wonderful cheese Paxton and Whitfield. Even if you buy nothing it is well worth to look at the shops windows.

Gentlemen's wear.

Beautiful cravats, shirts, vests, cufflinks, etc...

 the selection is truly gratifying

Gentlemen's silk bathrobes