Distractions, reflections

There can be a difference between vacation photos and travel photos.  Seven days in the UK in five cities wasn’t a leisurely plan, and business called for a few more train rides than originally planned.  For a coordinated series of research meetings, I arrived at Heathrow from Finland, and Gary arrived almost the same time from the U.S.  We took the tube to Waterloo station, and dragged our luggage to our hotel along the scenic South Bank of the Thames, seeing Westminister Abbey across the river.

Having already been away from home for week, I craved Chinese cuisine.  We rode the tube to Piccadilly Circus, and wandered to find Chinatown on Gerrard Street — an easy street to remember, since the Chinatown at home bears the same name.

With the history of the Tavistock Institute at top of mind, we rode the tube up to Swiss Cottage to look at the Tavistock Clinic.  The Institute and Clinic used to be colocated, but are now independent entities.  On a late Sunday evening, the facilities were closed.

As a change from riding the London underground, we decided to return to the hotel on a double decker bus to see more of the city.  We rode from Swiss Cottage on a path including Wellington Road, to Victoria Station.

The next day, I acted as scribe while Gary conducted an interview with Sir Richard Bowlby, on the ties between the research between by John Bowlby and cybernetics.  Upon learning that the Bowlby archives are at the Wellcome Library, Gary and I decided to change our travel plans to reroute back through London for one day.

Accommodating a tight schedule, Dav and LJ met us at Paddington Station a few hours before we caught the train to Oxford.  LJ found a pub and then a restaurant nearby, after consulting Internet reviews on her mobile phone.  Read more... (974 words, 16 images, estimated 3:54 mins reading time)

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.

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.

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

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

Down one side of this hall was a series of bronze sculptures titled Metaphysica 2007, by Ah Xian.  Read more... (852 words, 41 images, estimated 3:24 mins reading time)

To see the other Tate Museum in London, I took the tube down to the Southwark tube station.  I observed the Blackfriars station as closed, when I walked north.  Approaching the former Bankside Power Station from the south side, the Tate Modern is an imposing building.

Walking around to the west side of the building, I could see the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in the distance.

From the west side, the entry of to the Tate Modern is down a long ramp.

The ramp continues inside the building into the Turbine Hall.

The galleries are on the upper floors.  I went up to Level 3, and saw some red benches with display terminals.  Read more... (609 words, 24 images, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)