Brian’s PhotoPile

As I mentioned in the last post, I rode down to Florida with John. John offered to pay my expenses in exchange for doing most the driving of a fifteen foot Budget rental truck loaded with artwork to be sold through a agent in St. Petersburg. With the cab loaded with an ice chest full of food and water, a boom box with plenty of CD’s we trucked on down there. I probably could have taken photos of all the rest stops and gasaterias, but didn’t seem interested. On reflection I wish I had. Even in St. Petersburg I only took photos on my walk along the beach and from our room. But I did take a few photos that John requested. He had reasons for wanting each one. The signage just outside of our lodgings’ parking lot provided three pictures: John in the path of a small flying fire truck; John, aka Scoop, holding one of his favorite treats; and the I scream for ice cream yell. The other three where taken by the Salvador Dali museum: Dali and John together; wiped out on melting bench; and rejuvenated by the hostess at the neighboring cabana. We went there for lunch, great food, and John received the beads as part of the national Pirate’s Day festivities.

We made it down to St. Petersburg, left John’s house Wednesday about 2 P.M. in the afternoon drove till 1 A.M., up again at  7:30 on the road by 9 arrived in St Pete at 11:30 P.M. Thursday. The drive was pretty uneventful with the exception of the three hours in the heaviest downpour I’ve ever experienced between Jacksonville and Tampa… lightning, thunder, road flooding, the works. Thursday we unloaded the truck, about 50 paintings to be sold by dealer down here. Spent the afternoon at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art, had what is supposed to be the towns best Cuban sandwich at a deli John’s friend here reccomended, came back to the lodge we are staying at and then I walked out to the ocean and went wading as the sun set. The water was really warm. I could see where it would be fun to come down here for a vacation and just laze about in the sun. This morning where getting ready to go to the Salvador Dali Museum and we plan to stop at “Florida’s largest new and used book store” after the museum closes this afternoon.

I took a few photos today, but haven’t downloaded them from camera yet. These are from Thursday night while at Lux Lounge where I had a $1 pbr. Businesses on South Avenue where helping customers fight the recession with special discount prices. I didn’t know what a pbr was, but ordered one anyway. Turns out it’s a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon; not my favorite beer in the world. It’s been about thirty-five years since I last drank one. I once worked for the grandson of the Pabst brewery’s founder when I was on the newspaper staff in Aspen, Colorado… a toast to him. A full moon and while over at the George Eastman house I found Paul Dodd surrounded by pretty women on a really big bed. Saturday Mike Burns and I went down to Italy Hill to see Harry. It’s been about a year since I last saw him and he’s been growing a beard ever since. He lives in a cabin he built about sixteen years or so ago in the middle of the woods. He spends most the time there with his two dogs, the rabbits, birds, racoons and other creatures of the forest. I enjoy the peace and solitude but it would be quite a change for me to adapt that kind of life. I posted a YouTube link on my Facebook page of Harry playing his new Gibson guitar.

It’s at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_9hKE90u08

I’m going to try to get up to date on this log/blog. On the 23rd of April I drove to Buffalo to pick up Kathi Carey for the Rochester International Film Festival. I went early so I could check out the new Burchfield Penny Art Center and also go to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery for the Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976 show. The museums are right across the street from each other so it was really convenient. They had these really cool parking meters at the Burchfield-Penny where you can put money or credit cards in and punch out how many hours you want at a dollar per hour in return for a slip of paper to be placed on your dashboard. I did 3 hours. However, when I got back home a friend told me she usually parks along the side road near the museums for free. I was in between shows at the B-P but saw some great art from their permanent collection. “Travelog”, 1991 by Richard Kegler struck my interest right away. I love classy bookbinding and this was really cool. It was in a glass case so I couldn’t open the compartments but I think the box on the upper left was for pencils, pens, etc., the notebook is on the upper right. That’s a real globe of the earth, with compasses and maps. Burchfield was an accomplished artist and one of his centerpiece paintings on display was the “Song of the Telegraph” completed in 1952. The painting was started in 1917 with several variations over the years. They also recreated his studio on the premises; I doubt that it was always that neat. There were a couple other paintings I liked: “Frozen Assets” 1926, with all the snowbound cars by Anthony J. Sisti and “The Quiet Street” 1952, the steps and storefront, by Virginia Cuthbert. The show at the Albright was a knock-out. Looking at photo exhibits so often I forget how large paintings can be.  The Albright-Knox doesn’t allow photos of shows that are on loan, as do most museums.

I arrived back in Rochester Friday evening. The effects of jet-lag were not too noticeable until Saturday night, probably because I hadn’t slept much on the flights home and stayed up late when I arrived. Anyway, after being up nine hours during the day Saturday I went to bed at seven-thirty and slept until five this morning. I feel pretty rested now and will complete this little travel blog. It took a little over twenty-six hours to get home counting the five hours in Detroit’s airport and the hour at Tokyo; not to mention the time spent just sitting in the planes after boarding while waiting for departure. That’s probably another two hours. I didn’t get around to reserving my seat assignments until the last minute so I wasn’t able to find any window seats. I watched a couple Nicolas Cage movies between Singapore and Tokyo: “Bangkok Dangerous” and “Matchsticks”. I know a lot of people, my spouse included, can’t stand Nicolas, but for some reason I like him so I thought this would be a good time to view them. It’s a good thing I didn’t drag Judy to see “Bangkok Dangerous” in a theater, she has no desire to see violence portrayed on the screen. Overall, I thought the film portrayed this snippet of life well. I liked the ending of “Matchsticks”, but as with the first film wondered why I felt so compelled to watch it. In the Tokyo airport I found a candy shop where I purchased a few sweets. Detroit airport has one of those passageways I’ve seen in other airports that have flashing colored lights which change color along with the music. Many of the diners have car themes, and there is a flashy red express tram to take you from one end of a terminal to the other quickly. Here in Rochester we have snow on the ground from the New Years day storm. This morning when I got up the temperature was 11 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of O degrees.

After booking into the Fullerton I went for a swim on their terrace swimming pool that overlooks the Singapore river. I had made some arrangement with Steve Black to meet somewhere in Little India around 8 P.M. The concierge recommended I take a taxi, but I felt like walking so with map in hand off I went. I no sooner got across the bridge opposite the hotel than I discovered that the Asian Museum was open and had free admission for the New Year holiday. What a fantastic place; great exhibits of artifacts from many Asian cultures. The Tibetan robes are worn on special events and are about twice the average persons height. The little hole you can see in one of the robes is for whoever is in costume to be able see where they are going. Back outside I was approached by this little old man to ride his tricycle. I asked if he could take me to Little India so off we went. I soon realized I got more than I bargained for when we started weaving through side streets as he pointed out various landmarks. I enjoyed the ride and all the places he showed me before we finally arrived in Little India on time. Steve and I had a beer then went to a record store that a sort of punk rock like band was playing in. He knew the guitarist/singer and planned to video tape them. About 11 P.M. I returned to the hotel to be with the family and see the fireworks show that we would be able to view from the hotel room. Huge crowds had jammed the bridges as midnight approached and then we were treated to a stupendous show. Jae and I stayed in the room for the night and then had a stupendous continental breakfast in the ballroom. About two in the afternoon the rest of the family showed up and we dined on the largest buffet with the most exquisite food I’ve ever seen. On one of my trips to the buffet I tried a selection of shell fish, something I more than likely wouldn’t have an opportunity to do in the states. As much as I love seeing these little critters exist in their natural habitat, unmolested by mankind, I must say they were delicious. We’ll be getting up at 3:30 in the morning tomorrow, if we can sleep, to be ready to catch the taxi to the airport at 4 P.M. for our flight back to the USA.

Anna treated us to a “Duck Tour”, a ride on an amphibious vehicle. I’ve seen these vehicles on the streets of NYC and wondered what it would be like to see the sights in one. On land it was noisy and bumpy, it’s more at home in the water, but even there somewhat slow and the motor still roars, definitely not a stealth vehicle. It seemed weird cruising around city streets in a boat but it was kind of fun. We toured the mouth of the Singapore river and the streets in the government section, an area where the large office buildings and old hotels are. The balls on the water are placed where the New Year fireworks show is going to be. They prevent boats from getting too close and have New Years wishes residents and guest have written on them before they where placed in the water. We cruised by a couple large construction projects for three hotels and a gambling complex. A botanical garden is also being landscaped in this area. The lion mermaid, Merlion, is the symbol of Singapore. It’s said that a south sea islander landed in what was then a small fishing village and saw a lion and named it Singapore, which is lion in his language. The lizard was sunning itself on the rocks as the vehicle came up out of the water. In the evening we went to Justin’s favorite Italian restaurant. I tried spaghetti with squid and a black ink sauce. It was good, very garlicky, the sauce was quite thick, but yummy.

Some days adventures are more exciting than others. In the morning I took a quick walk around the peak of Sentosa Island, viewing the ships, the professor, and a large construction project. Matt and I took a cable car over the water around noon and ended up at Vivo City for a shopping mall experience. We got there about one o’clock and where scheduled to meet the rest of the family at a central location in the mall at 4:30. So for three and half hours, outside of grabbing a bite to eat at a food court, I wandered around Singapore’s largest mall. It’s not like there are all kinds of exotic stores to spark my interest. Everything is pretty much like what one might see if all of Rochester’s malls are combined. Prices for goods are about the same, maybe a little more that what one would spend in the US. In the states I do a fair amount of my clothes shopping at 2nd hand stores so I wasn’t inclined to want to buy anything. I did wander up on the roof and was surprised to find water ponds and play areas for the kids. On the way home Matt & I stopped in Chinatown where I showed him the impressive Buddha Tooth Relic Temple with the big statue of Maitreya, who is supposed to be the future Buddha.

River trade is where it all started here so I thought I’d see what’s left. For about $12 US I took a 45 minute cruise on one of their tour boats.There appear to be two competing companies offering tours. I took the one with the quaint wooden boats with wood paneling, quiet engines, and an 19th century ambiance. Trade is no longer carried out on the river, unless you consider what goes on in the mega office buildings along the river bank. Most everything is brought into the harbor on container ships that are unloaded at giant terminals. However, the architecture and scenery was impressive. I purchased the ticket for the ride at Clark Quay, which is pronounced Clark Key, and had about a half hour before the boat would pick me up. While waiting and wandering around I found a Art Museum nearby and low and behold in the bookstore there was one remaining copy of a book of photos by Stephen Black who I had mentioned in an earlier post. Of course I bought it and now have to find Steve again to have him autograph the book. The boat ride narration was prerecorded with music and historical information, all in all quite pleasant. I found myself sharing the enthusiasm of the speaker as he described the scenes before us. Took the subway (MRT) back to the resort, went for a quick swim and then headed over to the amusement section of the island to hook up with the rest of my family. We met at the Luge and Skyway park where we proceeded to take two rides up to the top of the hill on the Skyway, climb into our little luge carts and then shoot down the hill on a course with hairpin turns, steep inclines, and breathtaking thrills. It was fun… that’s why we did it twice.

Jae and Matt and the grandchildren hit the Forest Adventure park again to swing between branches while I sat under a tree watching them and writing post cards. Then we headed over to Sentosa island to check into the Sentosa Resort and Spa (http://www.thesentosa.com/) where we are going to spend the next couple days. A large part of this trip seems to be eating great food. I tried the Singapore noodle dish which comes with a couple shrimp and some sliced pork. I haven’t explored much of the area yet but did catch a glimpse of all the ships in the harbor. I took a quick ride on a shuttle bus to pick up a few supplies at the local mega mall, VivoCity (http://www.vivocity.com.sg/home1.html). I was blown away, never before have I seen so many shops, even National Geographic had a store about the size of a basketball court. The flower ball is an outside sculpture about 25 ft in diameter.