Distractions, reflections

David Ing, at large … Sometimes, my mind wanders

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2011/07/22-25 London, UK

London was on the way home after the meeting in Hull, so we scheduled three days for some family touring.
Routing back from the ISSS 2011 meeting in Hull, Diana, Adam, Thuy and I stopped over for a few days in London.  From King’s Cross, we rode the underground to go to the hotel in Earl’s Court.  I might have checked the map more closely, as the West Kensington or West Brompton stations would have have been closer.  Our luggage is on wheels, but we had a long walk.

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[See the Earls Court album of 9 webphotos (with a slideshow option)]

Our sightseeing started around Pimlico, where we unexpectedly found a summer show of graduate works at the Chelsea College of Art and Design.  The installation by Minji Lee was one of the more intriguing.

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[See the Chelsea School of Art of 15 webphotos]

Across the street, at the Tate Britain Gallery, we encountered voices in the upper gallery, so we timed a response to oooh back at them.

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A body movement artist mimicked anyone who entered her range, so Adam tried to challenge her with less conventional poses.

[See the Tate Britain album of 6 webphotos]

The Borough Market offers a wide variety of fresh local produce and meats.  We moved from place to place to dine al fresco (i.e. standing up).

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[See the BoroughMarket album of 12 webphotos]

The Design Museum has features notable objects, both everyday and unique.  Guitar Hero is part of the everyday.

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[See the Design Museum album of 3 webphotos]

The Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern was vacant on this visit.

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[See the Tate Modern album of 7 webphotos]

From the South Bank, we crossed over the Millennium Bridge, to walk towards Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown.

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[See the MillenniumBridge-Picadilly-Chinatown album of 13 webphotos]

DY and I saw the Saatchi Gallery on Boundary Road in North London, and I visited the gallery when it was in County Hall on South Bank.  This was our first visit to the location at the Duke of York’s HQ near Sloane Square.

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[See the Saatchi Gallery album of 24 webphotos]

Dav and LJ joined us for shopping at Petticoat Lane Market, and then Indian cuisine at Brick Lane.

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[See the PetticoatLane-BrickLane alboum of 28 webphotos]

We arrived at Camden Town late in the day, so most of the temporary stalls either closing or closed.

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[See the Camden album of 8 webphotos]

We budgeted a few hours to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The venue is mammoth, so we tried to be selective, wending our ways through the mazes of hall.

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[See the Victoria & Albert Museum album of 12 webphotos]

To close the loop on some history of science, I had contacted the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, and scheduled to visit their offices in East London.  This satisfied a personal curiosity, since I had visited the old site near Swiss Cottage in 2009, .

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[See the Tavistock and Chinatown album of 3 webphotos]

I travel through London regularly, know the city well, and am comfortable getting around.  Travelling with the family at tourist speed is a luxury.

2009/07/22-27 Vancouver family stopover

On the way back from the Sydney adventure, our family stopped over in Vancouver for five days to visit the west coast branch of the family.
Since Vancouver is on the air route from Sydney to Toronto, our family planned a five-day stopover to visit the west coast family, and partially adjust to the cross-Pacific time zone change.  One of the first sightseeing activities was a drive up to UBC — considered a family jinx, with two parents both dropouts from the university!  Our sons didn’t show much jet lag on the view over Spanish Banks.

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Back towards the city centre, we returned to a favorite haunt from our past:  Granville Island.  We negotiated the usual traffic jams to park on the dock, facing the Burrard Bridge to the northwest.  The place essentially hasn’t changed much in 25 years.

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Looking to the east, it’s possible that all of the towers in the West End weren’t there in the 1980s.

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Inside the Granville Island Public Market, the berries and fruit always look great.

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We made a habitual stop to Seafood City for cold barbequed salmon.  It’s local cuisine out west, and a treat for visiting Easterners. Continue reading2009/07/22-27 Vancouver family stopover

2009/07/18-19 New England Highway (Brisbane-Hunter Valley), Cruickshank Estates, Eastwood

Our return from Brisbane south took a route along the New England Highway inland. We stopped in Hunter Valley to tour Cruickshank Estates.
After the week in Brisbane, we loaded up the minivan for our drive back to Sydney to catch our flight back to Canada. We had taken the drive north along the coastal route over three days. For a change of scenery, we planned the drive south on the inland route, over two days. The New England Highway is a two lane highway, with only a few major settlements between Brisbane and Sydney. Driving past farms and pastures, the altitude gradually rose.

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Stopping overnight in Armidale, we were rudely reminded that July is Australian winter, with an overnight temperature below freezing. From the middle of the Northern Tablelands, the second day of driving through mountain ranges, leading to gradual descent.

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We were making good time on the second day. I calculated that if we aimed for one of the most northmost wineries in the Upper Hunter Valley, we could arrive in time for a 2 p.m. tour. A brief stop at the Muswellbrook Visitor Information Centre clarified directions to Cruickshank Callatoota Estates, since they had moved within the previous year. Off the main roads onto side roads, we navigated up a long drive to find a modest operation, with a small tasting building.

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We were welcomed by one of the partners of the estate, who said that the scheduled time was just for publication, and tours can be given on request. He explained that the business is essentially run by two partners year-round, with itinerant help to work the land, and bring in the grapes at harvest time. The winemaking process begins with grape vines run through a destemmer.

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When the harvest is brought into the main processing building, the grapes are put into a press where the juice is separated from the skins. Continue reading2009/07/18-19 New England Highway (Brisbane-Hunter Valley), Cruickshank Estates, Eastwood

2009/07/17 GoMA, Queen Street Mall, South Bank — Brisbane

On the Friday afternoon after the conference, our family visited the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, the Queen Street Mall in Central Brisbane, and the Stanley Street night market on South Bank.
Having completed a week at the conference, our family took the Friday afternoon at leisure to look around central Brisbane.  We started our visit at GOMA — the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.

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The exhibits began before we even entered the building, with The High/Perpetual Xmas, No Abstractions 2008, by Scott Redford to the south of the walk.

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On the north side of the walk was a patch of Maiwar Green, and the view across the river.

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We happened on The China Project exhibition, including a larger-than-life sculpture of Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong by Wang Wenhai.

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Down one side of this hall was a series of bronze sculptures titled Metaphysica 2007, by Ah Xian. Continue reading2009/07/17 GoMA, Queen Street Mall, South Bank — Brisbane

2009/07/09-11 Lower Hunter Valley, Port Macquarie, Byron Bay

Driving from Sydney to Brisbane along the coast took us through the Lower Hunter Valley wine country, Port Macquarie and Byron Bay.
We had chosen public transportation for our week in the Sydney area.  To transport the six of us from Sydney to Brisbane, we opted not to fly, instead reserving a minivan (called a people mover, down under).  Diana and I woke up early to catch buses to the rental location on William Street in central Sydney.  We drove back over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and missed the freeway exit by the Lane Cove Tunnel.  We circumnavigated back to the hotel, our sons loaded up the luggage, and we embarked following directions leading through the narrow streets of Pymble.  We reached the Sydney Newscastle Freeway in time for a traffic jam.  I gradually became more comfortable driving on the left side of the road.

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Our plan was to route through the Lower Hunter Valley to visit some wineries.  We had a short list of potential places to visit, but no real sense of the region.   Trying out Broke Road around Pokolbin taught us that the wineries are spread across vast distances in this region.

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Some random decisions led us to Hunter Valley Gardens.  We got out to stretch, but we didn’t find any lunchtime alternatives to suit our palates.

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We doubled back to Cessnock, where our son enjoyed Portuguese-style chicken for lunch.  Watching the clock, we figured that we had time to visit only one winery.  We headed northeast via Wine Country Drive to Dalwood, passing by some well-developed residential areas on the way to Wyndham Estate.  In Australian winter, we weren’t expecting to see any grapes on the vines.

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The tasting room would probably be busier in the fall harvest season.  The casks outside are for show rather than for aging. Continue reading2009/07/09-11 Lower Hunter Valley, Port Macquarie, Byron Bay

2009/07/08 Chinese Noodle Restaurant; University of Technology, Sydney; Powerhouse Museum; Newtown

For our last day in Sydney before driving to Brisbane, we had a northern style Chinese lunch, wandered around the University of Technology Sydney and the Powerhouse Museum, and finished the day with a quick visit to the inner west suburb of Newtown.
For our last day in Sydney before departing for Brisbane, we got a late start.  We decided to have lunch in Chinatown, and had heard about Chinese Noodle Restaurant as specializing in northern style food.  We wandered around Quay Street looking for a storefront and eventually walked around a corner to find a plaza with multiple restaurants.

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The exterior of the restaurant was modest.  When I saw the short stools, I knew that we were in for a Beijing-style experience.

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The tapestries on the wall seemed foreign to us as Southern Chinese.

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Adam and Eric said that the grape leaves hanging from the ceiling mimicked a natural form of cooling in China.

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Having left Beijing less than 2 weeks earlier, Eric led ordering from the menu.  We asked for the meat and the noodles to not be too spicy.

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The dumplings were definitely a northern style. Continue reading2009/07/08 Chinese Noodle Restaurant; University of Technology, Sydney; Powerhouse Museum; Newtown

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