Archive | family

a night at the museum

October 4, 2011 at 5:17 pm

Tuesday evenings at the San Antonio Museum of Art are free, a discovery we made on our long walk to the farmer’s market a week ago. We could see the beautiful brick building rising from manicured lawns as we passed by on the River Walk. The beautiful Café des Artistes floated out from the grounds and hung over the River Walk itself; patrons of the museum sipped cool drinks between visiting Greek and modern art displays. The museum itself is the old Lone Star Brewery complex, rich with historical significance and San Antonio flair.

We set off for the museum on a 2-mile walk down the River Walk on a beautiful late September evening. These two goofs make life so much more fun.

Inside the beautiful gardens of the museum we saw more magnificent passion flowers, some of our favorite foliage in Texas.

The first display we visited inside the museum was a bit of a shock to the senses. Photographer Daniel Lee has combined human and animal faces in his photography, creating bizarre anthropomorphizing animal features in creepy human bodies.

From left to right, Lee created a monkey/man, ox/man, and a cock/woman.

Or what about this one? The funny side of it is that you really have seen people that sort of look like these dogs, or dogs that sort of look like these people. Or dogs. Or people. Whatever these creatures are.

Inside the museum we discovered a wonderful glass elevator, the “skywalk” between buildings, and a room full of ancient Greek sculptures. Around us in the sculpture room an art class diligently sketched the muscles of a marble arm, the flowing folds of a stony dress, the shadows of an ivory face.

We’ll readily admit after this experience that visiting museums isn’t easy with a little one after she’s seen enough Grecian urns or Roman coins. But every now and then it’s worth it for an hour or two, her parents believe, and hopefully one day she’ll agree!

0 :: in arts and crafts, family, Lena, Texas

a night at the museum

October 4, 2011 at 4:17 pm

We set off for the museum on a 2-mile walk down the River Walk on a beautiful late September evening. These two goofs make life so much more fun.

Inside the beautiful gardens of the museum we saw more magnificent passion flowers, some of our favorite foliage in Texas.

From left to right, Lee created a monkey/man, ox/man, and a cock/woman.

0 :: in arts and crafts, family, Lena, Texas

Venice, Part III

September 18, 2011 at 5:24 am

After a whirlwind Saturday where we hoofed ourselves all over Venice, we were ready to relax on Sunday. We enjoyed our peaceful apartment that morning and then set off for a long walk around the city.

Before long we got lost. What looked like a bridge on the map turned out to be a dead end. Or at least a potentially very wet end.

Undeterred, we journeyed on. Signs pointing to St Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge were generally helpful, unless they pointed the same way. They are not very close to each other.

We went back to St. Mark’s Square to get a picture with the famous lions, the symbol of Venice. I think Lena looks so stinkin’ cute in this picture!

Later that day we went back to the Rialto Bridge to watch part of the regatta (boat race).

I love doorways like these in Venice. I mean, what is this used for? A gondola garage?

Later that evening we found a grocery store and I cooked up dinner in our little kitchen.

Spinach gnocchi, vegetable and pork kebabs-cum-stirfry, and peaches. And wine, which is the red liquid in the plastic water bottle on the table. Elliott bought this wine in a shop full of old wine kegs. He studied the labeled kegs, chose a Malbec, and then the shopkeeper tapped the keg and filled an old 2-liter water bottle with the wine. And it cost 2 euro!

Lena is ready to eat real food. Elliott offered her a taste of his peach a little while back, and now when she sees us eating peaches and nectarines (of which we eat about 3 apiece these days) she reaches for it and sucks on it. Rice cereal–the standard first food for babies–is going to be such a let down after sweet peaches!

1 :: in family, Italy, Lena, travel

Venice, Part III

September 18, 2011 at 4:24 am

Before long we got lost. What looked like a bridge on the map turned out to be a dead end. Or at least a potentially very wet end.

Undeterred, we journeyed on. Signs pointing to St Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge were generally helpful, unless they pointed the same way. They are not very close to each other.

We went back to St. Mark’s Square to get a picture with the famous lions, the symbol of Venice. I think Lena looks so stinkin’ cute in this picture!

Later that day we went back to the Rialto Bridge to watch part of the regatta (boat race).

I love doorways like these in Venice. I mean, what is this used for? A gondola garage?

Later that evening we found a grocery store and I cooked up dinner in our little kitchen.

2 :: in family, Italy, Lena, travel

Venice, Part II

September 16, 2011 at 4:35 am

Saturday morning in Venice dawned sunny and inviting. After a leisurely breakfast in our little kitchen, we set off to explore the city.

We found a gondola waiting for us right outside our apartment door! Just joking. Gondola rides cost 80-100 euro (US$110-140) a ride. We’ll save our gondola experience for another time.

We found the local hospital in a nearby piazza. So this is where I might work as a nurse if we lived in Venice? And spoke fluent Italian? And were Venetian?

Venetian tourist shops are filled with papier-mâché Carnival masks. And, occasionally, cute dogs.

We found a lovely bookstore with the self-appointed status of “the most beautiful bookstore in the world.” We bought vintage Venetian postcards for our family here.

A common sight in Venice. The pink wine bottles on ice are Bellini, a local drink made from prosecco and peach juice. Mmmm!

And finally… St. Mark’s Square! It was a little bit of a euphoric moment (hence looking dumb on tip-toe) to stand here with St Mark’s Cathedral and the Doge’s Palace behind me. I have read about this place since I was so little. (Siblings, do you remember Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery on tape when we were young?)

A close-up of the Doge’s (duke’s) Palace, back from the days when Venice was a dukedom. Do you remember studying the salmon-colored building in architecture in 8th grade, siblings? Finally I’ve seen it myself.

The perimeter of St. Mark’s Square is lined with cafes. We took this photo for you, Eden.

The famous pigeons of St. Mark’s Square.

A lace shop along the Square. My mom owns a strawberry-embroidered linen set just like this one.

At the end of the square we caught this couple kissing on the pier.

It was such a good shot that I walked up to them after their kiss and offered to take a picture for them. And then they returned the favor!

We walked on along the southern edge of Venice away from St. Mark’s Square and towards a public garden. According to Rick Steve’s, this is the only place in Venice where picnics are allowed. So, of course, we picnicked on our packed lunch. And gave Lena a welcome break from the baby carrier.

And then onward. The Chiesa (church) di Santa Maria della Salute is in the background here. It’s across the Grand Canal on a separate island entirely. Venice itself is built on thousands of little islands, and the water is so shallow that you could walk from island to island through the water without getting your hair wet. Hence Venetians have their traditionally flat-bottomed gondolas. Nowadays the canals are often deeper to allow for heavier water traffic.

Outside Harry’s Bar, once a hangout for characters like Ernest Hemingway, we spotted an excited crowd around some Italian film celebrities. They were total hams, posing for photographs.

The most fashionable street in Venice. Elliott wasn’t sure what to think of some of these dresses…

Versace and gondolas.

One of the water taxis is about to pass under the bridge. These gleaming wooden motorboats are so 1940s in their appearance that I expected to see Grace Kelly sitting in one of them. Meanwhile, a forgetful gondolier left his straw hat on the railing.

We found an art display by a Ukranian woman named Oksana Mas. She had used thousands of hand-painted wooden eggs to create a beautiful iconic portrait. It was breathtaking! Here’s a close up:

And here’s the whole art display.

Lions are the symbol of Venice. I found hundreds of lions on door knockers and doorbells all over the city.

The Scala Contarini del Bovolo, which has magnificent views from the courtyard at the top of the staircase. Unfortunately we didn’t see these views because the scala was closed for construction. Boo.

And then down a final alleyway…

… and out to the Grand Canal, with the famous Rialto Bridge in sight.

The bridge was a cacophony of tourists and overstuffed shops. The view from the bridge, however, was reward enough for being jostled and over-stimulated. The crumbling, watery, romantic Venice in all her glory.

We stepped off the bridge into the quiet back alleys of Venice to find the fish market for our supper supplies. Along the way we spotted a bride and groom! This was not the first wedding we found in Venice. One wedding procession we came across was entirely American. Quite the destination wedding.