Wine Country

Frist stop on our visit to Australia was down south of Perth to Margaret River. As Perth is so small we wanted to see something new and Hipster Dufus wanted to show me where he holidayed when he was a young boy. The only sad thing about it was that this is the second time we've travelled to a wine region where Hipster Dufus can not fully enjoy the benefit of the experience. While I would make the perfect designated driver (I don't drink wine) I don't know how to drive. Nevertheless we survived, picking up a few bottles along the way and bringing them back to New York with us.

Fabulous

Finally I've managed to shake off the jet lag from Australia, catch up on pressing issues and sift through the mountains of photos I took. I really tried to be careful but I did see a lot of new things this time round and loved getting in the practice after a few months of no inspiration. As these were obviously far too many photos for just one post over the next couple of weeks I will be posting digital albums of the various regions of Australia (and Dubai) that we explored. 

But I really wanted to just start with the flight there. For the first time ever I got to experience a business class flight and wow! It's hard to think that people spend this much money on just one trip. But I have to say of all the flights that you want to travel in comfort for, a 26 hour flight to the over side of the planet is probably the one you want to splurge on. And even then the flight was still brutal. It was fun though, from the flat beds to the excess baggage allowance. The super wide TV screens to the 3 course meals served on real china. This apparently is how the other half live.

 

Exploring Long Island

Last weekend we continued on our exploring and ventured into yet another borough of New York, our aim is to get all the five boroughs. So far we've done the obvious, Manhattan, Brooklyn and even Queens. At the weekend we ventured into Long Island (which technically Brooklyn and Queens are part of, and it's not a New York borough...). There's actually not much there, but Hipster Dufus was responding to the call of the MoMA outpost, PS1. As is the case with him he'd done his research on where to eat, what cafe's to stop at and which shops were worth popping into. We found that most of the shops were closed (or had closed down), but there were a few little cafe's to stop at. We were enticed by afternoon tea, Long Island style, it was lovely. After that we headed straight for the MoMA. 

This was definitely worth the visit, the art was all contemporary and I found two exhibitions that related to my field of study (I know, I know, I'm a geek). The building was an old school that had been converted which always makes for a great setting. Each classroom was yet another gallery space and even the cafe came complete with school desks as tables and blackboards with the menu on. We finished the day with a drink at the Dutch Kills bar, a saloon style bar with delicious cocktails. I won't be returning to Long Island in a hurry, but I would love to go back for the art and a drink. I already have plans for Staten Island and then all that's left is, gulp, The Bronx! 

At Sea

Ok so spring isn't exactly here yet but it's coming and is right around the corner. I can feel it. Plus I know it as the weather man says it is. With the new season coming in I'll be able to adopt a new form of transport in the city. River travel is a very much underused mode of transport in most cities and it's a real shame. You get the best views of a city from the river. London in particular having many of it's iconic landmarks lined up by the water. New York in comparison does not equal this beauty in my opinion as it doesn't really seem to have cottoned on to the value of river front real-estate. All of the buildings facing the river are warehouses, factories and motorways and the areas are completely underdeveloped. Even so the views from the river boats are still amazing. On a partially cloudy day the scenery is magical with the sunlight beaming through, delicately lighting up the buildings. I was lucky enough to find myself on one at sunset.  

Photo Challenge: Steamy Grates

A couple of months ago I asked all of you to set me some photo challenges. I love the idea of being set projects by people, however I think I asked prematurely. We were heading into winter and I completely underestimated just how cold it gets here. It gets bitterly cold here and it's consistent. Staying indoors was just the way to go and I didn't mind not doing much. Some of the challenges were for places that were far too exposed (Ellis Island requiring traveling by ferry first and then being outdoors for a long time). Some of the challenges just ended up being impossible. Jo set me steamy grates an iconic image of New York. However I found that the grates don't steam up that much, unless they have pipes placed in them to release the air, there's an example below.

It was only recently when we had the first of the horrid snow that the grates in the street were going crazy. The extreme low temperatures finally allowed enough of a difference in temperature for the steam to show. So here's the first of the photo challenges. Now with spring coming up I'm back out and about exploring the city again. Jo, Hope you enjoy these!

Movie History

Once again I've been missing for a while. A new job is the reason for it. I will post pictures of this super cool museum soon but really I just want to geek out for a minute here. My last job was a museum all about British popular music history. I will never forget how super cool it was to suddenly have my job be learning about current music and brushing up on my knowledge of The Beatles and Lord Kitchener.

And now I've moved from the history of music to the history of film. My research takes in the chronophotography of Marey to the the first version of Alice in wonderland (from 1910 lasting 10 minutes). It includes a look at the first television sets, special effects props and Yoda... Yes he lives in the exhibition. To get more knowledgable on the history of movies I have started watching films such as the first "talkie" The Jazz Singer from 1927. The term "talkie" being used loosely as there's actually only 2 minutes of dialogue in the whole film. The rest being synchronized musical numbers and title cards. And this is what I love about my job, it's constantly researching and learning. Taking in what I never managed to catch at school or what I never got introduced to while there. And now I get to build this amazing general knowledge.