SHARING WITH ME

The proverb, «safety in numbers» does not apply to me! I prefer the complicity of «one» and yet in London this week, I picked up a second lover! The first one is already perfect. There when I want him.  Never pesters me. Always as I want him to be and leaves me alone when I don’t need him. You don’t get better than that. So discovering a second one in the citizenM on London Bankside could be termed as infidel - but you’ll see.... Would I get to the UK at all? The snow had fallen heavily since my return from Florence and Eurostar had been cancelled from Brussels to London.  Finally we left - on time - and arrived ten mintes or so late. Down to Meldreth and there the countryside did not seem to be as white as Normandy had been. In the afternoon we wandered up to Cambridge and there Kings College looked beautiful in white although the ducks were not finding too much to eat.  On our return th snow was melting King's College The following day we were coming to London to

Florence Florence was to be a 48 hour trip and then when I thought perhaps Gianni could join me, I prolonged it to three days - or nearly. Which turned into four days as I was stuck at Pisa airport for nearly 8 hours before we were informed that the plane was canceled. Not because of the snow in Paris but because of an army plane which was grounded on the runaway. If it hadn’t been for Gianni, I would have stuck to my usual ritual of exhibitions and for once taking in the Uffizi and that would have been it. Instead as you can see from the above map, we walked Florence and saw an awful lot. Santa Maria Novella Not being overwhelmed with churches, although I would have liked to see the Basilica di Santa Novella but it wasn’t open the couple of times we went.  I liked the Ognissanti Church. (All Saint’s Church) Not very impressive from the outside but baroque in the inside. It’s a Franciscan order completed at the beginning of the 13th century. What I liked about it was

This was another block buster event. «Van Gogh - Dreaming of Japan» and «Hiroshige - The Art of Travel». I have been in front of the Pinacotheque a couple of times since they started but the crowds have daunted any enthusiam until today. There was no-one. I would think that everything that can be said about Van Gogh’s (1822-1885) physcological problems, his schizophrenia, his crises which all had an effect on his work and the way of seeing the world generally. He must be the one artist who is known by everyone I would think we can all describe one of his paintings be it a sunflower, a night scene, his bedroom.....etc. etc. Every time I see an exhibition of his, the colours flash in front of my eyes, his unmistakeble brush techniques along with his use of paint. However, I had never thought of his relationship with the art of Hiroshige or Japan. To my knowledge, there has not been such an exhibition done which confronts both artists and looking at the landscapes today, it was not diff

There are quite a few exhibitions that I «umm and ahh» at. Will I or wont I go. «Impressionism and Fashion» and a retrospective of Mary Cassat’s etchings were two such events. Both are ending next week. The first had very mitigated criticism from friends. "Brillant" or "boring". You can’t get too much between the two. Upon arriving, this is what I faced. On the left crowds without tickets and on the right, groups or priority passage. I noticed that the latter was moving so sighed and made the effort. 20 minutes later I was in the exhibition.  The fast line Three lines deep There was no possibility of reading the documents. Heads bowed and bobbing to see them prevented this. So I contented myself with the fashion and what I could see of the impressionist portraits Trends may have changed and a lot but even in the 19th century men and women wishing to keep up with the current fashions could consult a number of fashion magazines that disseminated and co