Wednesday, April 27, 2011

MOMA - NYC - Old Friends . . .

Wyeth - One of those pictures so moving in person . .  .
 Picasso - and what more to say . . . .

 I just love the colored chirascuro of de Chirico
 and Modigliani . . . I remember seeing this in Houston, overhearing a man and his young son discussing it . . . she's got hair under arms . . . well, son, this is a modigliani . . . she's italian . . . 

MOMA - NYC - new to me . . .

Philip Guston - The Edge of Town . . . I recognized this. It was used as the logo for the Prague Writer's Conference a couple of years ago . . . when R.Crumb and G.Sheldon spoke at the US Embassy . . . 
 Don't know -- didn't save -- who by this is . . . 
 Wilfred Lem -- The Jungle . . . stored out-of-the way, by the restrooms . . . lot of traffic there. . . lot of attention . . . hard to get an un-obstructed picture . . . 
 a very Capek-derivative-looking picture . . . 

MOMA - NYC - Unexpected . . .

 Rothko, above, and Pollock, below . . . oh, Oh! OHHHhhhhhHHH!

MOMA - NYC - Is It or Ain't It ?


 OH! The Courage and Craftsmanship that went into this . . . 8^D . . . it was a paint spot on the floor . . . please do not touch . . . UFB . . . 
it's hard to believe people are still milking the penny candy in a corner . .  .
what got me this time was that the guard in the room kept saying in a loud voice, "It's ok to take a piece of candy" . . . 
I went over and asked him in a low voice, Äre you a real guard, or a performance Artist?
He looked peeved & puzzled and said, Ï am a REAL guard.

I will never learn.

MOMA -NYC - Le Courbusier

something about these classic archtectures were alive and vibrant -- in their day -- and NOW they are dead . . . 


and 


something about how one needs, NEEDS, to be definite in one's opinions, unequivocal, with the strength and courage to use the big red x

MOMA - NYC - axe grinding

a significant portion of the exhibit dedicated to women decrying the lack of attention to themselves


Meanwhile, the busiest corner in the whole museum had these two pictures from Frida,
Dudes & Dudettes, draw your conclusions.

Rodos Day 3

After our standard brekky on the patio in the courtyard of the hotel, I arranged with the owner for transport out to Afandou (and back) for golf . . . .played and zoomed back by 2 or 3 . . . hungry as all get out . . . so we tho't we'd walk around New Town, have some lunch at a place Mrs had found and trek up to the Rodos Acropolis . . . .
 So: at Koykos, we sat outside at a small table on the street, and had our pies & buckets of wine. Never had known about Greek Pies before, now it's a favourite.
It's true, the rodos acropolis pales in comparison to Athens, but it IS a nice view . . . 
 you can get an IHT here at this news stand not too far from old town, in new town . . . 

 just miscellaneous statuary we saw on the walk around new town

Monday, April 25, 2011

au Pain Quotidien - NYC

so before we headed to the Whitney, we wanted to grab some brekky at the Pain. . . and Natily & the SIL assured us we could get soft-boiled eggs . . . . Natily complained the Pain's website sucked for directions . . . but she was using her mobile in the rain, which may have tainted her opinion when we had to backtrack . . . 
 Mrs & Natily had the spinach quiche ...
SIL & I both had two eggs, but he had smoked salmon while I opted for the Paris Ham . . . I 've gotten so used to Prague Ham, I figgered Paris Ham had to be *some* good, too . . . but no competition . . . Prague ham is still the king. . . . they had giant mike-meyers-in-I-married-an-axe-murder-size Cappucino Grandes and Bio OJ out of a jug that was *almost* as good as fresh-squeezed.

T's - East Greenwich RI

after golf at Goddard State Park, if you can call it that, the golf, not the park . . .  we swung by T's for a quick lunch before we caught the bus to NYC.


 I have to say, the clam chowda at the rhino in worcestor was better than this . . . and the spinach & tuna salad on marble rye was awry, somehow, if you see how I mean . . . 
 both Mrs & Bitsy had the Fish & chips . . . it looked great, smelled great, and when I borrowed a crispy end of Mrs' it tasted great . . . 

Flying Rhino - Worcester MA

After a trip to the Worcester Art Museum, we went for lunch at the Flying Rhino . . . 
Started with a cup of New England Gumbo -- chowda -- a little too creamy, as one would expect from an inland restaurant, but fine enough.

 I forget whether Mrs or Bitsy had which . . .
Smokedhouse Chicken ~ $10
Pan fried breaded chicken, smoked mozzarella, bacon, roasted red pepper, and grilled onion on sourdough bread with chipotle aioli 
or the mahi-mahi with maki . . . 

 The Babe had 
Pastrami Panini ~ $10 
warm pastrami piled highwith Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and red cabbage slaw on multigrain bread
 . . 

 I had gyros, pronounced by our comely waitress like a helicopter part . . . 
not bad for pub grub . . . and as I say . . . the staff was awesome, tho' my wife & daughter may have been immune to her charms -- left a big tip, just because of her 10,000 watt smile and the story she told us:
... it's called the Flying Rhino because the owner is a world traveller, and when he was on safari in africa, they came across a wounded rhino, and ferried it -- with some trouble -- by helicopter to a hospital . . .



Italian Nosh - JFK Terminal 3

Didn't notice the name . . . don't know why we were so non-plussed . . . pre-travel flustration, I guess . . . 
by gate 15 in terminal 3 . . . doesn't show up on any JFK restauarant list . . . might be new . . . the manager / waiter was very busily taking care of us and others, efficiently . . . we got the bottle of Prosecco & the cheese plate to go with our Big Bang re-runs while we whiled away the time till our flight . . . given that the food on our flight was the worst we'd had in a long time, it was good we indulged here . . . .in retrospect, seemed a little pricey, but one always has that feeling a tthe airport, does one not? We felt frightfully pleased with ourselves to have been so prepared with video & a happenstance nosh.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Rodos Day 2

Breakfast at the hotel every morning . . . ho hum . . . 

out in the sunshine, with the tang of sea air in the wind, even if the ocean was out-of-sight . . . it was so much warmer than Prague we were delirious with happiness. This sun is kinda their logo / motif, ever'where. . . done up in small smooth stones set on edge into concrete, must take ages.
 The plunger coffee, rather than cappucino made it all seem restrained and elegant, despite the greek yogurt . . . I didn't know, but Mrs said she did . . . she was on this like a chicken on a june bug. We've added it to our regular weekend brekky, but with Czech yogurt -- good, but not as good, if you see what I mean . . .
 Then scrambled eggs and bacon . . . oh, they must cater to americans all the time . . . 8^D . . .
So we turned around 3 times up in the room after breakfast, then headed out to score Old Town . . . we walked up and down some streets we'd already seen, taking the circuitous route to the Archaelogical Museum, parts of which were excellent, parts were just/only very fine . . . like, everywhere you look is amazing architecture . . . 
both inside and out . . . 
with amazing nooks and crannies -- niches full of round stone balls . . . our hotelier told us later that the balls were used to discourage moorish attackers . . . 8^D . . . 
there was a little gazebo like place outside with this ceiling . . . 
and numerous examples of very fine tile work . . . 
Oh, wait, this excellent tilework is from the Palace of the Masters . . . the rest of the photos we took are not that interesting, tho'the palace is . . . 

there was a section of the Museum where they discouraged photos, actively... with docents giving me the fish eye everytime I got close to something . . . can't imagine why . . . but Mrs bot this postcard later to make me feel better about my missed opportunity . . . this is one of the finest sculptures I've ever not photoed. .  .
I don't know why they gave it this cheezy red background or posed it like this -- which is nice, but not really the best angle: The Rodos Aphrodite.

When we'd finished the self-guided tours, it was nearly 2 pm. . . time for lunch no matter where you are . . . but Old Town Rodos was running over with tourists from the big cruise ship docked in the harbor. . . we walked back down the Avenue of the Knights, past our hotel, to Socrates (and just how long has this street been called Socrates, we wondered . . . is it just a touristy PR play, or is it from time almost immemorial?), past all the gift shops doing land-rush business, looking for a restaurant that looked interesting with a table open.

We settled for Sarris. Some of the cruisers had already eaten and left, so there were tables outside, in the sun, away from the smokers.
A half-carafe of white wine, a greek salad, and a mixed platter with pastitio, stuffed bellpepper, spinach pie, mousaka, meatballs, and sausage-like links. It was very pleasant, if not gourmand, there in the warm sun, eating and watching the feral cats beg for food.

We walked around some more, trying to find streets not thronged with the boat tourists . . . impossible, of course, but that takes you places you wouldn't see ordinarily, we think . . . 
 Like this tree on the road by the moat. . . nobody else was around, and we'd walked by here before without noticing it. and we tho't nobody else knows . . . but the next day we saw 3 tours queued up to photo it, dozens if not hundreds of people . . . so there you go . . . the most photoed tree on Rodos.
 The jewish temple and the moslem mosque minaret. . . . Mrs liked this blue door, I hardly paid attention to it, but when she pointed it out, I said you have to have a pic of it, or we'll regret it . . . it's a very fine door, I think you'll agree, a very fine shade of blue.
So we wound home, after stopping at a grocery store for some nibbles and wine and some ice, took our jacuzzis, sat outside on the upstairs terrace for sunset, when it DID finally get a little nippy, and went inside to watch a few videos on my laptop . . . 




Rodos Day 1

Flew to Rhodes. Taxied to our hotel The Tikos Nakos Fashion Hotel . . .

it's not as grand as it sounds, but it was a hoot . . . we were almost the only off-season guests . . . If we stood on our toes and leaned out the window we could see the ocean, and the periodic Cruise Ships berthing.




We enjoyed the cool blue beadroom, and the funky Moorish architecture and Furnishings.


But the capper was the jacuzzi, nothing soothes the anxieties and exhaustions of touristing like a jacuzzi . . . 8^) . . . 


So we turned around 3 times and headed out to lunch . . . the place we had our eye on wasn't open we found til dinner, so our hotelier sent us to a friend of his, the first of many kindnesses he showed us.


We were staying in the heart of Old Town Rodos . . . near by the Palace of the Grand Masters, on the Avenue of the Knights . . . if we hadn't been so hungry we might never had made it thru the tiny ancient streets filled with modern shops . . . so very interesting . . . even if full of tourist crap . . . 
With no cruise ship in harbor, the whole town is practically asleep, but that made them all the gladder to see us, we felt.
 This very fine and not-too-expensive wine is ubiquitous on Rodos, a celebration of the round-number anniversary (2400)

 just when you think you can't be surprised by a Greek Salad, this place added Caper Leaves . . . we love greek salad, but after a week, any little change is special . . . 
 I forget what they called this, we did see it other places, too, it's like a very thick split-pea-soup. and that's ok, we LUV split pea soup, even without Prazke Sunka.
 Another local treat, Simi shrimp. Mrs took the bigger ones and picked off the shells; I took the tiny ones and ate ém whole, excepting the very tail. No problem.
Then some fried calamari. very lightly battered, not rubbery at all, fresh as it could be. SaaaaaaaaWeeeeeeet!


At the end of the meal, the gracious host gave us these liqueurs. We spilt the first one, but he just laughed and brought another.