The Outlander Odyssey begins

The first guy we meet
and he winked at me

¸Palace of Holyroodhouse abbey ruins 

The lovely staff wear kilts

Arthurs Seat

Palace of Holyroodhouse

Climbing Nelsons Monument

National Memorial from top of Nelsons Monument

Looking down Princes Street to Waverley Station and castle

Scotts Monument with everyone
collapsing in shade from the heat

Exhausted but happy

BA8704 ready for take off, ack, balh, be, bob, what did they say? We haven’t even left the ground and I don’t understand the Scottish accent. One hour later we are circling our destination straining to check out where is the castle, all the houses are in very straight rows and what is that big mountain in the background. Everything is bathed in sunshine and green.

Our taxi driver knows we are tourists, how did he figure that out? And gives a great running commentary of all the sites along the way, what a great way to be introduced to a new country. Time to dump the bags and get out into sunny Edinburgh.

Off down the Royal Mile with a plan to keep Jane on track, our destination is only open today as then it shuts for the royal garden parties. Someone keeps getting distracted by shops and photo opportunities and its not Jane! We arrive, where are the unicorns, distracted by Arthurs Seat and finally tickets exchanged and we are in. The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the Queen in Scotland and has a long history including Mary, Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie. Audio guide in hand we explore all the rooms and get generally confused by all the Charles' and James' in history. The bits I like most are the embroidered chairs with fancy ladies and the room where Sean Connery was knighted. No photos allowed throughout the palace so it's a very sedate experience for us.

Ejected out into the ruins of the abbey now the photo frenzy starts, then onto the garden. It's beautiful and so glorious in the sunshine. All the staff wear kilts and are so friendly.

100’s of people look like little ants walking up to Arthurs Seat, they must be hot. Onwards and upwards we go in the other direction towards the top of Carlton Hill. Cutting up through the burial ground Jane jokes that we will end up with sunstroke and the headlines will read, ‘two Aussies admitted to hospital with sunstroke on their first day in Scotland’.

Arthur’s seat and all of Edinburgh laid out below us looks just amazing in the sunshine. There is lots to explore where do we go first. As usual I am drawn to the highest point and you can enter, will we go? Of course we will, its so cool inside Nelsons Monument and we slowly climb the 132 steps to the top for a photo frenzy.

Now onto National Monument, I cant get up the wall, most people get pushed up, Jane gives me a good shove but its not to be, too high. A rest in the shade and then a gradual walk down to explore more of this beautiful city.

The Balmoral Hotel, very fancy, Scotts Monument, the largest monument to a writer in the world, Jenners a famous old department store and gradually make our way back to base to collapse.

Note: London City Airport is the chosen departure point, its a business airport much closer to the city that I want to try out. Well, that was a mistake its an overcrowded, disorganised throwback from the 70’s.

A date with Grayson

Squirrel at Ladywell Station

One of the many rooms at Summer Exhibition

Royal Academy - Summer Exhibition

Royal Academy - Summer Exhibition

Anne the model make of Google's new campus

Royal Academy - Summer Exhibition

Another new friend? 

With Grayson, the curator of this years exhibition

Lunch in the new restaurant

In the room of fun with Grayson

Making another friend

250 years in the making we are here at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. Every year 1000’s of artists from around the UK submit new works, a small proportion of the works are finally selected. This years exhibition is curated by Grayson Perry an artist that we both admire. 

Tickets in hand, in we go. Wow, a 5m high textile sculpture, a dog riding a unicycle and inside outside. Which way do we look first? Time to split up and explore the craziness that is the summer exhibition. Next room, unicorns in a forest made of wire (my fav), donkeys, Donald Trump doing rude things, typography, political statements, beauty, symmetry. Everything is a visual feast for the eyes and senses. 

Now I am in the architecture room, what are those French people talking about? Let's listen in, ah, its the designer of this model. Time to join the conversation :). So the model is of Google's new headquarters in California, designed by a UK firm and built by Ann, my new friend. We have a conversation about the intersection of digital and physical space in the workplace and then I get her to sign my catalogue. Fun all round! Especially for her proud family as the son photographs Mum autographing catalogues. 

Onwards to more art with attitude as I go I mark my favourites in the catalogue. All will be researched and re-explored in full post-holiday with the online explorer.

Now let's go into The Great Spectacle an exhibition curated to celebrate 250 years of the summer exhibition. The very first painting titled, A private view at the Academy has all the establishment dressed in their fancy clothes viewing the paintings in 1881, a stark contrast to the crowds today, in trainers and jeans.

The RA has been undergoing a major renovation for the last few years and it finally opened last month. So now onto to explore where the students worked, the permanent collection, the new cafe, the new restaurant and of course we exit through the gift shop. I love the little touches like the paint palette from Millais.

Today it's a lot quieter than we would have expected for a beautiful sunny Sunday We found out from Jeff and Mary that England has played football (soccer) today in the world cup and scored a 6-1 victory over Panama. Well, that explains the lack of crowds (except for tourists).

Finished off the day perfectly at home with a champagne and Antiques Roadshow. Now its time to pack.

Sunshine in Little Venice

Back together again

Little Venice

Little Venice

Little Venice, plus stand up paddle boards

Little Venice, with just one
 example of decorations

Happy tourists reenacting famous Beatles photo

My attempt

Jane, captures my over excitement
as I run back to other side of road!

Abbey Road studios

Squeeeel, now the real fun can begin Its beautiful and sunny, a cup of tea and toast, a quick bath, a debate on all the possible things we could do today, fete at Kew, ferry to Richmond, new Westminster Abbey museum, its is settled we are off to visit Little Venice.

No work for me to do here, Jane knows London like a black cabbie and the first thing she spots when we walk up the stairs is a green box. There are not many of them left around nowadays. They are very small and where built so cab masters (the ones with horses not cars) could get out of the rain and have a break. They are still used today and have many rules and regulations like you are not allowed to spit and must have your pants on at all time. Unusual?

Little Venice is all big houses and fancy cars set around a canal. The canal was oncean important link to transport goods to the centre of London from places as far away as Birmingham.  Today it is all people enjoying the sunshine from their canal boats, on hire boats and even standup paddleboards. The tow ways (paths along the edge) are full with people and dogs enjoying the sunshine.

What I like best is the colours and decorations over all the canal boats. The cost to moor a boat is determined by its length and can be about 10,000 pounds a year. On the plane on the way over I watched a movie I had never heard of, Finding your feet its full of great British actors with grey power tackling the complexity of life in a romantic comedy way that I really enjoyed (and cried buckets).  I can’t believe the coincidence that I am here where some great scenes from the movie were filmed.

We now hook up with a London Walks tour and are getting an insiders tour of where the famous people live, how the area was developed in the 1840’s, where the oldest part is and how the wider area was named Paddington after Padda a chief from Anglo-Saxon times. With ‘ton’ meaning chief. 

The guide is brilliant from memory he recites poems with passion, sings dirty ditty’s with a schoolboy laugh and shares details about scientific discoveries like the Enigma machine in plain English like he is a Nobel prize winner. A fascinating chap!

Time for a stopover in a gorgeous old pub the Prince Alfred and now we head on. Because google maps tells us that another London landmark is only 15 minutes away. So along we go walking in the sunshine. The streets are empty, which seems strange. I wonder how we will know the spot when we arrive. But its really easy, there are happy tourists annoying all the traffic trying to get just the perfect Beatles reenactment photo. It's like organised chaos and a lot of fun!

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4897516

Singapore vs Dubai for transit

The flying kangaroo

Selfies 'cause there is nothing else to do

High tech dot matirx printer at Singapore airport,
assume its fit for purpose

Can you spot Tower Bridge? I did!

Friendly driver who delivered me
 the final leg to Lewisham

Paztizzis!

Upgrade, yes! Menu - pastizzis! What’s this, everyone’s favourite Maltese treat is on a Qantas flight? Makes me wish I was going back to Malta. Alas, they come served with tomato chill sauce on top that I scrape off.

Qantas has changed the route for QF1 from a stop in Dubai back to Singapore. As we descend into Singapore I remember the inaugural trip to London and how disorientated I was on arrival in Singapore. Today it is pretty much the same, but at least I know it will pass. Anyhow, we have 30 minutes before we have to reboard so let's go and find Kinetic Rain, a sculpture that is a key feature of Terminal 1. Walking, walking, avoiding the travelators keep that body moving. After about 1km there are finally shops. Don’t stop, keep on going. Oops, thats the end. Confused, info desk? No madam, that sculpture is outside the main terminal. Well, google did not tell me that. Give the cactus garden a miss, did the last time and nearly expired from the Singapore heat.

Back on board for the longer leg to London. More food, another movie, this time Goodbye Christopher Robin, then sleep, wake, sleep, wake, sleep, finally the smell of breakfast wafts through the cabin so we must be getting close. The captain announces Rotterdam is on the left hand side of the plane and the channel awaits. Then we start doing uturns and end up going right over the city a few times with the morning sun glistening on the buildings. Tower Bridge, The Shard, London Bridge station looks finished everything is laid out and waiting for me. A grand entrance for the happy tourists on board. So excited to be here again! 

The final verdict for me Dubai is much easier than Singapore as the longer section is first when I am ready to sleep and you arrive at a more civilised time for our Aussie body clocks to start the adjustment.

The 2018 adventure begins today

Testing out the new waterproof jacket.
Ready for any occasion? I hope!

On train to airport

Its a beautiful blue sunny day in Sydney, is the weather teasing me? We will see. After a week of being sick its good to be out in the sunshine and on the mend, a quick train trip and we are here at the airport. A tearful goodbye and then its the razamattaz of duty free I may have become a new fan of Guerlain products.

Stephen says, “the moment I return from one holiday I start planning the next” and that might be true. The planning for this trip has been epic, which road, how many days, what to leave out, what is essential, why does all the accommodation have stairs, do they really expect me to drink whisky in every town?

First up is a weekend in London, then Jane and I fly north to Edinburgh to check out the sites. Once we have our bearings we pick up a car and drive to the Highlands to explore castles and meet Nessie. Will we try fried mars bars and Scotlands other national drink, Irn Blu or will we chicken out?

Books set in Tokyo

Happy tourist, Tokyo Sky Tree,
rickshaw ride and cherry blossoms, April 2017

Tokyo as a city, amazing. Tokyo as a source of reading, challenging. Immersing myself in books set in Tokyo actually created a reading slump. So many of the books focused on the personal angst of the main character with lots of unrequited love, and loneliness and little else happened. By the end of my literary journey, I figured out it was hard for me to connect with stories by Japanese authors and discovered Western authors with an authentic voice from years of experience in Japan was much more my style (from the point of view of a 50+ female from Australia).

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

MY RATING: 5 of 5

What a tale, alternating between Nao, a teenage girl in Tokyo and Ruth, a writer on a remote island in Canada. Or is it? Nothing is as it seems in time. Along the way, Ozeki deftly covers different cultures and ways of being.

A novel to savour as you are taken on an emotional journey along with all the characters. Looking back as far as kamikaze pilots in WW2, starting with the dot.com bubble in the US and written in a maid cafe in Akihabara this novel changes pace perfectly.

After traipsing around many temples on my Japan trip I particularly enjoyed gaining some understanding of Buddhist Zen traditions and thinking through Nao’s great-grandmother, Jiko.

After reading the book I discovered more about the author, Ozeki and found a video book trailer.

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

MY RATING: 4 of 5

This book follows the path of a collection of Netsuke, ornately carved toggles that were worn with men’s kimonos that originated in Japan. The netsuke collection starts in Paris in a rich Jewish banking family and traverses the highs and lows of living through Europe in the last 150 years.

What makes this book so extraordinary is that it is a memoir of a real family, the author Edmund de Waal is a potter living in England today. De Waal’s love of art shines through in each generations story right up to the present day.

Set in Tokyo at the start and the end only, the bulk of the story takes place in Paris in the late 19th century and Vienna in the first half of the 20th century. But overall a worthwhile addition to any Tokyo book list.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama

MY RATING: 5 of 5

Two orphaned boys, Hiroshi and Kenji live with their grandparents in Yanka. Through trial and tribulations, we watch each boy grow up and follow their own paths, at all times trying to honour the sage advice of their grandparents. 

Covering from pre WW2 to the 1960’s this book made real the horror of living through WWII in Tokyo. I did not realise the hardships suffered by the Japanese people before the bombing started. But best of all was the immersion in two Japanese ancient arts, sumo wrestling and noh mask making.

Some books by Japanese authors that I finished:

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishigur

MY RATING: 3 of 5

Set before and after WW2 the central character Ono, an artist looks back on his life and reflects what he has done and how this has impacted himself and others. 

We follow his career as a painter and father, at the same time learning about how families behave and what is acceptable in Japanese society. What I liked about this novel is the way the story deftly weaves backwards and forwards through the years and shares a life from the perspective of a painter. 

Overall I enjoyed the journey however by the end it felt a little like nothing happened. But maybe that is the story of all our lives to an outsider. 

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

MY RATING: 2 of 5

A student at a university in Tokyo shares his journey as he becomes an adult in the 1960’s. The story focusses on his interactions with two girlfriends, one troubled, the other slightly crazy. 

Through Wantanabe’s first-person narration, we see changes in himself and the characters as he wallows in a state of hopeless love. The words flow beautifully across the page, the characters are so real you can touch them, however, this book was not my cup of tea, teenage angst, suicides and the demons that live within us all. 

By the time I got to this book, I was starting to think that every book set in Tokyo has undertones of craziness. My favourite character was Reiko, as she had a bit of common sense, which is surprising for a patient at an asylum. 

Murakami is a very successful international author with many other works, maybe one of those would have suited me better?

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami 

MY RATING: 3 of 5

(also published as The Briefcase)

Many years after leaving school a student and her teacher meet by accident at their local bar near the train station. They continue to meet in sake bars in Tokyo as their past and present unfold and their lives start to entwine. 

I liked the contrast of generations between the main characters Tsukiko, a 30 something female who is frustrated with life and a bit of a loner whereas Sensei is more senior and exudes a calmness that only age can bring. 

Along the way, I also learnt about the seasonal aspects of Japanese life including mushroom picking, food and cherry blossoms. 

Many books were discarded along the way (an unusual occurrence for me), some examples:

• Spring Snow (The Sea of Fertility) by Yukio Mishima - felt like another teenage boy with anxiety albeit set in an interesting time amongst the aristocracy of Tokyo at the turn of the 20th century.
• Geisha in Rivalry by Kafu Nagai - another man behaving like a naughty boy in Tokyo’s Shimbashi geisha district.
• The Book of Tokyo: A City In Short Fiction - The first story has a modern writing style but was just plain weird. Goats? Had had enough of Tokyo books by this stage.

An accidental Vermeer

Art Gallery of NSW

The lady in black and white that would not move
for anyone

By Dutch Golden era women painter, Judith Leyster.

The older demographic on a Friday

There she is, Woman reading a letter by Vermeer

Every good exhibition has some kind
of a gimmick at the end for taking photos,
this one was through mirrors

A few months ago as I was flying home from London and thinking how lucky I am to have had this extra trip. However, in my travels, I have not seen any new Vermeer paintings this year. Oh well, there is always next year. A few weeks later my Vermeer google alert tells me that the Art Gallery of NSW has a new exhibition with a Vermeer from Amsterdam. What? How did this happen? Have I seen it? A quick google to establish which one, Woman reading a letter. Yeah, I have not seen it!

Then in another bizarre coincidence, out of the 100’s of books on my to-read list I ignored them all and clicked on an ad on Facebook. The book was on sale for $3 so one click and as they say, the rest is history. The book is called The last painting of Sarah de Vos and was set in Amsterdam in the golden age of Dutch Painting (the 1600’s), New York in the 1950s and Sydney in the year 2000, mainly at Art Gallery of NSW.

Fast forward a few weeks to today and I am on my way to the Art Gallery of NSW. Walking along in glorious sunshine a route I have walked often and described so well in the Sarah de Vos book. A quick stop at the ticket counter and I am in. Its the middle of the day so not too crowded and I can enjoy the exhibition, except for one lady in black and white that wants to be in front of everyone.

The paintings I enjoy the most include the key players from the book, members of the art guild and a Dutch Golden era women painter, Judith Leyster (pictures above). Until reading the book I did not even know women painters of the golden era was a thing. Finally, I lost the black and white lady and found the Vermeer. The women looks engrossed. I wonder, is the letter is from a long lost love or her mother telling her to eat better?

Moving on, the final painting is another of my favourites by Jan Davidsz de Heem, I am pleased to see it here and am even more pleased that I changed my mind this morning and did not wear the t-shirt I have printed with this painting. That's would be called a wardrobe malfunction, though it could have been a funny selfie.

So now I have seen 21 of the 34 known Vermeer paintings in the world, let's see which one is next.

Video review of the book by the publisher includes spoilers.