Posted Sunday, September 21, 2008, 6:56 PM by Lonely Planet
They're everywhere - in books and magazines, on postcards and tea towels, coffee mugs, fridge magnets and t-shirts - artistic masterpieces so familiar and endlessly reproduced they could be wallpaper for our collective consciousness. Warhol's soup cans, Monet's waterlilies, Van Gogh's swirling skies, Munch's The Scream, Picasso's Weeping Woman... our world would look a whole lot different without them.
But nothing can compare to seeing these artworks in the flesh, exhibited in the great galleries of the world. To be taken by surprise by a painting's presence - overwhelmed by its power - can be an emotional experience that's hard to put into words.
On a recent visit to Spain, I had the opportunity to see Picasso's masterpiece Guernica in its current (contested) home, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. Wandering this stunning gallery, I wondered what it'd be like to see this painting I'd studied and read so much about over the years... I should've known.
I'm always amazed when I see Picasso's paintings in the flesh - the energy and life force they emit is intense. Guernica, painted as a protest against the Franco-sanctioned bombing of the Basque town Gernika by Hitler's troops in 1937, is no exception. This huge canvas explodes with the artist's fury; the effect on the viewer is devastating. Its black-and-white colour scheme is grimly powerful, and its myriad details - so much starker when hanging on a wall in front of you - are chilling. Seeing Guernica up so close in all its enormity is like being punched in the face.
Not far away, at the Museo del Prado, it was Velazquez's luminous, painstaking portraits of 17th-century Spanish aristocracy and their servants that blew me away. There was something unexpectedly poignant about all these posturing royals, long gone and forgotten; while the artist's empathy for the clowns, freaks and lackeys common to the Spanish courts of the day could not be missed. Las Meninas brought tears to my eyes.
Yet reproduced on the printed page, Velazquez's paintings are more striking for their historic interest and fine composition than for their overwhelming emotional impact.
What work of art has most affected you on your travels? Where did you see it?
- Suzy Watusi
Labels: Art, Madrid, Picasso, travel blog
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Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008, 7:08 PM by Lonely Planet
What's the age limit for travelling with your parents? I'd say there isn't one. I've been travelling with mine for 26 years. We've visited more than 100 places in 24 countries and our experiences have been wide ranging: we've shopped in Paris, road tripped through 15 states of the USA and volunteered for one month at a primary school in Cusco with Peru's Challenge - collectively our most incredible travelling experience. Next of the list: Hong Kong, quickly followed by Brazil.
These trips have firmly planted the travel bug in us all, and my brother, two sisters and I travel as much independently as we do all together. But it's the family trips I like best.
- Gab Nancarrow
Labels: family travel, travel with children, travel with parents
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Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008, 9:58 PM by Lonely Planet
Lamenting the loss of the old slippery slide in the backyard, and pounding your pals with water bombs? Worry not, climate change may have heralded the end of the backyard splashfest, but there's still plenty of summer fun to be had...
Take
Alice Springs, Central Australia, one of the driest places in the country. Not an obvious spot for a boat race, there being no water and all, but that hasn't stopped the locals. This outback town is famous for its annual dry-river-bed boat race, the
Henley-on-Todd Regatta.
Every August, locals and tourists in the thousands throng to the Alice to construct bottomless boats, jump in, and carry them around a race circuit. It's completely insane and hugely entertaining to watch (with a cold beer in hand, of course). The nautical nuttiness doesn't stop at boat racing – there's a Bath Tub Derby (four people carry a fifth around in a bath tub), a Boogie Board event (a lucky crew member sitting on a board gets towed around the circuit), kayaking, rowing, and a whole of other run-around-in-the-sand-and-make-like-its-wavy fun.
And if boating isn't your thing, check out the sand skiiing. Or, further afield, sandboarding (not-snowboarding) on sand dunes in
Dubai,
Cape Town or
California.
We can do summer fun without water, we can.
- Lou Clarke
Labels: Alice Springs, Boating, water
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Posted Sunday, September 07, 2008, 11:38 PM by Lonely Planet
There's going to be a little less sparkle on legendary Coney Island as the lights go out on the landmark 'space-age' Astroland amusement park A breakdown in negotiations between owner and developer, and the place that wrote the book on gritty charm falls by the wayside.
'This is a tragic loss for the City of New York and visitors around the world,' said Carol Alber, the co-owner and operator of Astroland. It's pretty heart-breaking to see such irreplaceable heritage so easily trashed. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Relive Coney Island glories through these photo galleries. Or post a comment and share your memories of Astroland - your laughter, your tears, your hot-dog puke after a Top Spin.
- Dee Dee Luxe
Labels: Astroland, Coney Island, New York
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Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008, 11:36 PM by Lonely Planet
The Kindness of Strangers
One of the best things about travel is experiencing random acts of generosity from strangers. It reminds me that for all the scams and troubles travel can present, kindness usually prevails.
I've been reading The Kindness of Strangers, an anthology of short stories. It led me to reminisce about the many times I've been in a pickle, and have been levered out of the jar by strangers who expect nothing in return.
Don George introduces the stories with these wise words:
'I have learned two things: the first is that when you travel, at some point, you will find yourself in a dire predicament... The second is that someone will miraculously emerge to take care of you – to lend you money, feed you, put you up for the night, lead you where you want to go. Whatever the situation, dramatic or mundane, some stranger will save you.'
Indeed, I have found myself in most of those situations – both dramatic and mundane – and have been saved countless times.
My first, mundane, yet to this day most memorable experience of this kind was in Helsinki. In an act of teenage foolishness, I arrived in the city with no cash when the banks were closed and the snow heavy. I had a whole day before I was to meet my Helsinki contact.
As I wandered around town with an empty stomach and a heavy backpack, a little old lady approached me at the traffic lights. She wanted to know if I was from New Zealand, and, quite reasonably, what I was doing wandering around in the snow. When I explained my stupidity she took me to a Scouts stall and bought me a big bowl of hot soup. She then took me to the art gallery - she was a retired art teacher - and spent hours leading me around explaining Finnish art movements. When we left the warmth of the gallery, she took me for tea at Café Engel. In one of Helsinki's oldest buildings we whiled away hours chatting about nothing in particular before she took me to the station to meet my contact.
When we parted ways we exchanged only names; there was no expectation of any recompense, not even a postcard.
I'll never know what she had planned to do with her day, but I will always be grateful she chose to spend it saving me from my own stupidity. She was the first, now one of many, and undoubtedly not the last.
- Louise Clarke
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Posted Sunday, August 31, 2008, 8:37 PM by Lonely Planet
Working at Lonely Planet, you'd think I would have picked up a few hints by now on being a better, more independent and well-adjusted traveller. Ha! That's a good one. I am the ultimate travel dummy, and while some of my colleagues don't think twice about going hard or going home, I'm lucky to make it on to a plane without incident.
And so, following my experiences on a recent European trip, I'd like to share my tried-and-tested survival tips for the, ahem, less practically inclined traveller. Because I simply refuse to believe I'm the only one...
1) If you're transiting at Singapore's Changi International Airport, be careful what duty-free purchases you make at your airport of departure.
I'm talking alcohol, specifically. When I saw Grey Goose vodka selling for $10 less than its usual hefty retail price at Melbourne Airport, I did what anyone in their right mind would do: I bought a bottle and popped it in my hand luggage. Ooh baby, I thought, that'll go down nice and smooth once we get to Madrid.
Imagine my horror when I was hauled aside by a customs officer at Changi as I queued to board my connecting flight, and asked to open my bag. 'But it's duty free!' I squawked once I realised he was about to confiscate my precious bottle. 'You should have bought it here and got it specially sealed,' he told me brusquely, before dumping it in a rubbish bin. Further protests on my part got me nowhere, and eventually his scowl shut me up altogether.
2) Upon landing in your destination after a sleepless long-haul flight, it's not wise to hit the town immediately for an all-night bender.
Take it from me - my friend and I made this fatal mistake when we got to Madrid, setting out on a bar-crawl through Malasana the evening of our arrival. Many beers, wines, and inordinately strong vodka-and-sodas later, we staggered back to our hotel at about 5.30am (we only know this because we've got the photos to prove it), to spend the entire next day holed up in our room with life-threatening hangovers, seriously considering calling an ambulance. What a criminal waste of precious holiday time! So much for shopping, sight-seeing and soaking up the Spanish sunshine.
3) Always pack at least one change of clothes and necessary toiletries in your hand luggage in case the airline loses your suitcase.
Guess what? I didn't, and paid the price when Iberia managed to lose my case on the half-hour flight from Madrid to San Sebastian. It soon became evident that a bunch of vinyl records, some presents, loads of unsent postcards and a bottle of vodka (yes, the contents of my hand luggage) were simply not enough to see me through this kind of experience. Luckily, the friend I was travelling with wears the same size clothing as me, and had brought a bathroom's worth of toiletries with her, or I would've been up the proverbial creek without a paddle.
Two hotels, countless phone calls, zero apologies and 36 hours down the track, I was finally reunited with my stuff. Travel dummies - don't let this happen to you!
4) When travelling by train between countries, don't dawdle when you disembark.
Goes without saying, right? Sure - unless you're a travel dummy. We travelled from Paris to Rotterdam by train, but when it came time to battle our way down the crowded aisle, retrieve our bags and get off, we just didn't make the two-minute cut-off point. Our hearts sank as the train started pulling out of the station; no matter how hard and desperately we pushed the button, the door refused to open. "Oh god, oh f**k!" my friend wailed repeatedly - before yanking on the emergency stop lever. Still nothing happened. So she yanked it again. Bingo! Not only did the train grind to a shuddering halt, but a posse of train attendants burst into the carriage to see what was going on. And once they figured it out, they made their displeasure very clear. One threatened to fine us 300 euros, while the others couldn't get us off the train quickly enough. Yeah great, welcome to Rotterdam...
Anyone else out there who's game to share their own dumb holiday hints? Please, spill the beans - we travel dummies need all the help we can get!
- Suzy Watusi
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Posted Thursday, August 28, 2008, 4:55 PM by Lonely Planet
I have never been more in love with food than the night I tasted my first slice of pizza from Ray's in Prince St, New York City. It was 3am and the simple, greasy creation - folded in half in true New York style - was poetry. The crust was thin, crunchy and charred to perfection; the mounds of cheese oozed oil. It didn't take long for my passion to become an obsession and soon I was eating it cold for breakfast.
Since pizza is so personal, there will always be debate around which cities or countries produce the best. The battle continues to rage between Chicago and New York, while LA and Berlin are also staking their claim. But for many the home of pizza cannot be beat. So what makes great pizza great?
- Gab Nancarrow
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