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April 16, 2022

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The World Clock is perfectly precise, perfectly symmetric, and perfectly beautiful. In other words, it's a perfect man-made object - and, as such, it strikes as being somewhat cold and even faintly aloof. One to be admired and celebrated but not interacted with. Visually compelling, it's less than visually engaging as it deflects one's attempt to fathom its perfection. As opposed, the whole exhibition of Copenhagen Tycho Brahe Planetarium is extremely both observer- and user-friendly.

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It's easy to praise and enjoy the Planetarium's cutting-edge IMAX movie theatre, but the actual exhibition is not less fascinating - even though its subject, astronomy, is not exactly intuitive. So, intuition is helped by visuality. Various moons are on display, and one can clearly see how drastically different they are when it comes to just about every physical characteristics - shapes, sizes, colours...

The Asteroid Belt is equally vividly shown, but the real cherry on the cake is a hands-on lottery-wheel-like device, where spinning balls represent cosmic bodies - and the pattern of the balls' movement replicates the corresponding bodies' behaviour under gravity. Quite an experience that is easy both to understand and to remember. If so inclined, right before leaving the exhibition, one can peruse facts related to Brahe-inspired four observatories, including the one in Upsala...

 

 

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April 23, 2022

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Planetariums were not meant for entertainment but rather created for scientific and - later - educational purposes. However, there is, at least, one establishment that owes its very existence to the well-known idea of combining business with pleasure, while still featuring an IMAX movie theatre next to a star-studded space. The stars also feel close and personal - quite literally. Close enough that you can touch them, and personal enough to perform their best pieces just for you (all you need to do is put on headphones and step right in front of a stand sporting the star-in-question's poster and personal information), and as many times as you would care to listen to it. It's easy to ensure it's not a trick of some sort, too - just look at the big screen right behind the stand, and here (s)he is, singing that very song you are listening to, dancing, and obviously having the time of hir life. In other words, feeling very much at home - maybe that's why many stars decided to bring some of their personal belongings with them. To name a few, John Lennon and Yoko Ono "War is Over" postcards, Freddie Mercury's antique chair, Madonna's bustier, not to mention numerous guitars owned by different stars at various stages of their careers. Finally, if you feel like listening to several stars ensemble, there is a puppet show run by a computer (as the puppeteer) using infrared rays rather than regular strings. The characters' puppets might be nothing but imitations but the voices are still very real...        

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Kasadoo images

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April 30, 2022

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Impressive and famous as it is. London's Rock Circus is, in a way, a byproduct of another renowned institution created by a French immigrant who had barely escaped with her life during the so-called "French Revolution".  A wax artist since her teenage days, Marie Tussaud came to England in her 40s and toured the country for 30+ years displaying her exhibits. She opened her first permanent exhibition in London in 1835 - and that was the beginning of what has ever since been called "the biggest attraction in London".

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The distinction is well-deserved because the quality of the waxwork and attention to detail is mind-boggling. Probably that's why all Marie Tussaud's guests share two main features - dropped jaws and fidgety fingers yearning to touch and run to make sure THAT isn't actually alive. "THAT" literally means "any star character in any exhibition hall". Enough to say that, for smiling characters, their artificial teeth were made by professional dentists using ultraprecise tools! Every garment, accessory or device - be it Elizabeth Taylor's carrot-coloured evening dress, or Queen Elizabeth's black velvet, jewel-studded one, Harry Cooper's smoking jacket with a tie, or Mao Zedong's field jacket, Boris Becker's  tennis shirt or Charlie Chaplin's cane - is completely authentic, a 100% real thing...

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It's very quiet in the first couple of halls closest to the entrance. People don't talk, they take their time to get used to a miracle. Then they loosen up. Some march through the halls - look to the right, look to the left, take a selfie with your favourite star or two - to be able to say proudly "I was there!" Others prefer to slow down and socialize. The more they touch and feel, listen and imagine - the more they connect to whoever they are next to at that moment. And then a miracle happens: wax fingers suddenly feel warm and responding 

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May 7, 2022

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While the Rock Circus looks completely in place in London, and Marie Tussaud's first permanent exhibition took next to no time to become that city's "number one attraction", both museums can be easily imagined elsewhere. As opposed, another - and much less conspicuous - attraction would feel completely out of place not only anywhere outside of the capital of England, but also at any other physical address in it. The official Sherlock Holmes museum is by definition inseparable from 221b Baker-Street, London, England.

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Friendly museum attendants are quick to explain that Sherlock Holmes was a literary character, not a real person - and he didn't even have a prototype. Being but a character, Holmes had to share the apartment with his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who had a stint as a renter there. All the museum exhibits are genuine items dating back to Doyle's own time - many of them coming from the remotest villages visited by Holmes enthusiasts who had for years criss-crossed the country in search of such items necessary to recreate the aura and spirit of the time. Somehow, the more the attendants are trying to demystify the place, the more magical it becomes! In fact, the guardian spirit of the place's magic appears right on cue - just as a well-trained gateman in a bright uniform smiles at you: "14 shill... I am sorry, pounds, Sir!"

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From there on, it's all about the power of the visitors' imagination. Holmes' violin and pipe, Watson's hat and roomy bag - those and similar items are so recognizable that it's really hard to resist the temptation to use them right away. So, Holmes after Holmes would appear in the cozy room as the guests keep donning the hat, making themselves comfortable in the armchair, putting the pipe in their mouth (for that very purpose, the pipe is equipped with disposable mouthpieces), and propping the violin against their chin. All the while, the glowing fireplace would smile at them and send forth its flames to lick at their shadows...

    

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May 14, 2022

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Authentic objects and high-quality wax-and-teeth (as opposed to flesh-and-blood) exhibits are informative and aesthetically pleasing but, in some way, they are only a means to an even more important end described by several thinkers (such as, for instance, Edward Everett Hale or Antoine Saint Exupery) as "the greatest luxury in life". Depending on how close to each other people are, it might go by "socialization", "rapport", "friendship" and such, but the common denominator for all those concepts is "connection". 

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That's exactly what those, who care enough to take their time and make an effort, are trying to do while visiting one of the recently mentioned museums - to connect with their fellow human-beings, be they represented by a wax image or even just implied by the setting (as Sherlock Holmes is). And that's exactly what's lacking in otherwise perfect hop-on-hop-off guided tours or even more traditional ones (because there are too many people and too much to cover - to leave the actual human guides any time for taking a more discerning approach to their groups). At some point that niche of need was filled by so-called "walking tours". 

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"Kevin - a famous archeologist, Margaret - a writer, Nina - an art historian, Richard - an actor and...a restorer of old buildings. He is brimming with competence and...that special panache typical of someone who really knows what he is talking about..." The quote is from a brochure published by and agency called "Walking Around London". The agency promotes those and other guides without employing them, because all the guides are freelancers coming from all walks of life (quite literary as one of the guides is a former factory worker). They specialize in walking tours, which means they can't take their group (a very small one, usually no more than 5 people) too far - so, they provide depth rather than breadth. Whatever they tell about is seen point-blank, and the scope of their knowledge concerning all those little streets, lanes and passages is nothing short of amazing. No such knowledge can possibly come from books but only from personal experience. Some choose to tell about the area they were born in and spent their formative years around - so, it's hardly surprising none of their stories are superficial or matter-of-factly. The guides are passionate storytellers, and passions are infectious. As a result, visitors start feeling like they don't learn about the places in question but rather...recall them - and, once recalled, those places remain forever associated with the city and the whole life experience gained during the trip that brought those visitors to that city...

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May 21, 2022

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Knowledgeable guides specializing in walking tours are invaluable when it comes to uncovering local hidden treasures - and yet, even they would usually overlook what might be called a given city's "worst kept secrets".

 

Famous cities are famous for a reason - or, to be precise, for a variety of very specific reasons, such as buildings, structures, locations, even cultural traditions. For instance, Sydney is celebrated for - among other things - its unique Opera House and amazing harbour. Vienna has an outstanding Opera House of its own, as well as coffee-houses dating back to 15-16 centuries and representing a deep rooted life-philosophy. Cannes, Venice and Berlin are renowned for their film festivals. Many cities around the world would list art galleries among their most important attractions. One such city is undoubtedly Paris - even Martians, if they somehow found themselves there, would probably immediately inquire how to get to the Louvre! Prado in Madrid, Uffizi in Florence, Metropolitan in New-York, and Dresden Art Galleries might be considered slightly less eminent but all of them are very much household names - and that's exactly what seems to be lacking in London, as far as Fine Arts are concerned. Many perennial buzzwords come to mind when the capital of England is mentioned (the Tower, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace...) but there is hardly a name of an art gallery among them. Even those who google "London Art Galleries, might be hard put to recognize such names as "The Courtauld Gallery", "Wallace Private Collection", or "Tate Art Museum". One might therefore conclude that London is on the outskirts of the artistic map of Europe - and nothing can, in fact, be farther from the truth!  

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Some say that the king is played by a retinue - if so, an art gallery is definitely played by its menu.

Here is what's on offer in Cortauld: Room 1 - Renaissance, 16th century, including Veronese and Tintoretto. Room 2 - Rubens and his school. Room 5 - 18th century, Portraits. Gainsborough and Goya. Rooms 8-10 - Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Gauguin... Even the Louvre itself might find it hard to match that creme de la creme of painting created over the last 5-6 centuries.

On a personal note: ever since I sampled that true Temple of the Art of Painting, I couldn't help wondering, how on Earth (and elsewhere!) did such a remarkable place manage to dodge prominence for so long!

 

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May 28, 2022

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Pondering over the reasons of some museums being more popular than others is a pleasant distraction provided by, essentially, idle curiosity. After all, there is a variety of plausible answers none of which can be proven or disproven convincingly (for instance, just like the height of a mountain is arbitrarily determined by its highest peak rather than the average height of all peaks, the popularity rating of any given museum might depend on its most famous exhibit - and it's next to impossible to compete against da Vinci's Mona Lisa). That said, a related question - why are seemingly non-essential activities like art or, say, sports so popular, to start with? - might offer a deep insight into human culture.

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Human beings have aspired to run and swim faster, jump farther and hit targets, be it with stones, arrows or, later, bullets since the prehistoric times - and not in order to qualify for the next Olympics!

Catching food or escaping enemies were much higher priorities, and those who managed to achieve them might have been popular simply because they were the only ones remaining! Likewise, cave paintings weren't created to pass time or show off one's skills. Prehistoric people seemed to believe that the better they would capture the image of their prospective food, the more likely their next hunt would prove successful - so, primeval artists were considered, first and foremost, meat-winners. Hence their initial popularity, preserved and enhanced over millennia. As a result, art has ever since been affected and even shaped by social issues. 

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In accordance with the medieval and even pre-medieval society heavily dominated by the Church, artists living in those times would express themselves through painting Christ and his family, saints and other similarly approved of characters. The Renaissance eventually brought life on Earth back into focus, and many artists shifted their attention to earthly topics and characters of flesh and blood - yet, for a while their interest was limited to royal (or, at least, noble) blood. It was not before the Age of Enlightenment that fine arts began to feature so-called "common people". Arguably, it was because of that change of focus that the art of portrait entered its Golden Age as ceremonial portraits were gradually replaced by psychological ones. While most artistically represented people were not necessarily "rank and file", they owed their fame to their talent and skills rather than birthright.  

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Thomas Gainsborough's Portrait of Sarah Siddons (also known as "A Lady in Blue") is permanently displayed in the National Gallery in London but it so happened that for a short period of time it was borrowed by Wallace Collection - and that's where I saw it for the first time. There was something utterly symbolic in the fact that a private museum served as a virtual meeting point for a remarkable actress, dubbed in the 18th century as "tragedy personified", and one of the most distinguished portraitist of his time (if not the whole history of the art of painting). The result of that meeting is right in front of you - an exquisite representation of femininity incarnate, and a case study of psychology in art. 

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Portrait of Sarah Siddons (Vikimedia Commons)

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June 4, 2022

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"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet...", and so far Kipling's simple and powerful description almost applied to the natural and man-made wonders featured in this blog. People would build majestic cathedrals, splendid palaces and impregnable castles - and turn them into museums filled with art exhibits full of light and shadows, depth and contemplation, energy of desires, and disappointment following on the heels of dashed hopes. They would also design spacious parks and decorate them with refreshing fountains, proud or sad statues, and ever-beautiful flowers. Every now and then they would take a rest from their daily routines and indulge in little escapes (like day trips) or go on vacation, and travel far and wide - to see Nature-created snowy mountain peaks, cascading waterfalls, gushing geysers, mysterious and somewhat intimidating caves...For ages, the world of Men and the world of Nature would come together, temporarily rub shoulders and grow apart. In other words, these two worlds would permanently coexist but only occasionally interact, with only few and far-between exceptions - and even those have mostly been associated with remote fishing or hunting communities fully reliant on natural resources for survival. However, "mostly" doesn't mean "exclusively - and a notable example of not a small community but a big city, or even a bigger part of a country dovetailed with Nature, is Amsterdam and the Netherlands.

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As late as the second part of the 16th century, it was actually known as "Spanish Netherlands" (literally, "low lands") - an insignificant province belonging to a mighty empire. It took the Dutch 69 years to convince Spain that the adjective was quite superfluous but in 1648 the newly liberated country was finally able to say to its former master "Thank you very much but here we part ways - and nice to never meet you again!" Soon after that the Dutch East India Company founded in 1602, began to take full advantage of the country's proximity to the Northern Sea. A simple trade route was established: textiles, rum and manufactured good went from the Netherlands to Africa - to be traded for slaves whose destination was the Americas where they were paid for with sugar, tobacco and cotton. Unheard of in Europe, the "big three" were sold at an exorbitant profit for long enough to turn the Dutch East India Company into a maritime superpower, and the whole country - into an economic one. As always in such cases, successful business owners wanted even more but they ran into a logistical problem: the overseas luxury goods had to be delivered to warehouses located in the city proper, and in the 17th century that was a slow process...

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Shrewd merchants, the Dutch turned out to be inventive problem-solvers as well. Not happy with the necessity to bring warehouses to the Northern Sea, they did the exact opposite by creating a mind- blowing canal network that ran through the whole city of Amsterdam allowing laden ships to come literally next to warehouses in the trading areas. The turnaround time was decreased ten- and hundredfold - and the city's appearance was changed forever. Commerce reinvented the Netherlands and almost created it anew, as the mythological Pygmalion had created his Galatea - and both natural and artificial waterways became the chisel enabling that creation. In modern Amsterdam canals are as popular and efficient transportation routes - if not more! - as major thoroughfares. The canal network is a major hub of the city's social life, and quite a few families even live on them - quite literally turning old boats into summer cottages and even permanent residences.

Waterways (in particular, fast moving rivers) inevitably shaped the very toponymy of the country, as multiple dams were built to harness their energy for the sake of numerous mills. Villages were founded around the mills to serve their needs - and, as the mills grew, so did the villages. Towns appeared that later turned into cities...It so happened that the Dutch never thought twice about naming things. The main four churches in their capital are "creatively" named "Northern", "Southern", "Western" and "Eastern" - no wonder that those original villages had been named according to a similar principle: "a dam on such-and-such river". In short, "Amsterdam", "Rotterdam", "Volendam"... Even the capital's main square is known as "the square of the dam" - Damrak... 

 

 

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June 11, 2022

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Amsterdam's transformation into what can be called a "natural city" had happened by choice prompted by commercial considerations. As a result, the Dutch capital managed to keep the best of both worlds: its waterways network was added to the already existing regular urban structure - such as streets, squares, transportation means... As opposed, Venice had no such luck - or luxury. It had no choice of how much land should be allocated to which element, no say in the matter whatsoever. Created on - or out of - 118 small islands, it had to throw itself on the mercy of the god of the sea, Neptune.   

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I have to clarify that, in many cases, "small" islands actually mean "tiny". That is, small enough to be easily traversed on foot in 10-15 minutes. Unsurprisingly, such islands have space for but one-two streets  - and often enough, even those might be better called "paths". While a handful of houses can usually be found on those paths, there is hardly a store, a bank, a post-office or a hospital among them. For such and similar services, one would have to travel to a bigger, more central island. Just like elsewhere, traveling implies buses, taxis, private vehicles and the like - only in Venice all that moves exclusively over water. In other words, the first four letters for each and every transport unit there are exactly the same "AQUA".

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Other than the utter preponderance of water, using Venetian transport isn't particularly difficult or confusing. Every pier has a copy of the aquabus current schedule, and boats-buses seem to pretty punctual. Aquataxies take the same 10-15 minutes to arrive - a splash outside your window will inform you that your captain-driver is waiting for you. The above-mentioned private vehicles are usually parked right under the house - quite literally, because most houses have stairs leading straight into the water where the family boat is moored . To be fair to Venetians, many of them do have actual cars necessary to travel around the country and abroad - it's just that they have to keep them where there are also streets and roads! Namely, in Mestre, the mainland suburb of Venice. I should also mention that the waterfront is not only the busiest part of the city but also the neatest one - maybe, because it's the only actual "street" in Venice proper. The rest are essentially back lanes - and, away from the waterfront, it's rather easy to go astray and even get lost...

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All the above could be mistaken for a description of a routine fishing village - except for Venice being one of the most striking and original - as well as aspiring and somewhat conceited - cities in the world.  

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June 18, 2022

 

Building a city on next to no land available is quite a challenge but Venetians must have been inspired by a Scandinavian proverb: "The north wind made the Vikings!". Venice reinvented and reimagined itself as a living organism, its circulatory system running through the main canals, its vitals hidden in the extremely narrow back lanes (most structures were built literally next to each other because every bit of land had to be accounted for and taken advantage of), its lungs resting on some of the most picturesque islands (such as Burano, Murano and Torcello). Venice's living heart is beating on St. Mark square that, among many other attractions, turned the city into a tourist sanctuary, and tourists from all over the world - into Venice's lifeblood. 

 

Venice is full of vitality and...paradoxes, and the most obvious paradox is that a near landless city has become renowned for its architecture (of all things!). While St. Mark Cathedral, located on its namesake square, is quite famous and impressive, it's the Doge's Palace that has through centuries remained one of the most  riveting landmarks in Italy, if not the whole Europe. So much so that it became synonymous with a unique architectural style named after the city itself - Venetian Gothic. It would take an expert to talk about pointed arches, light buttresses and similar professional characteristics of the style. A mere layman, I have to restrict myself to mentioning the obtained from local quarries pink and white marble that somehow renders the building a sense of unrivaled elegance and airiness, almost playfulness - and that's another paradox because the rule of Doges was anything but playful. Elected representatives (formally, Venice was a republic), they usually ruled with a rod of iron, and many a citizen, nobles included, ended their life in an underground cell or on the chopping block. That brings me to another twist in the tale leading to yet another Venetian feature (this time, an easily anticipated one) - namely, bridges. There are hundreds of them in the city - some being real masterpieces - but the most ominous one is the so-called Bridge of Sighs leading from the interrogation room in the Doge's Palace to a prison cell...  

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The discrepancy between buildings' appearance and their essence isn't limited to the Doge's Palace. Many former churches, scattered along the Grand Canal, look like true seats of medieval Inquisition - painted brown and copper, they are heavyset and gloomy, their windows narrow enough to serve as firing ports. Come inside, and there are museums and art galleries featuring some of the most famous paintings in the world! The last but not least item on the "deceptive appearances" menu is called "private palaces". While hugging the waterfront, they are so close to the Grand Canal that they create a perfect illusion of floating above its waters... 

 

 

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