All posts tagged: Travel

Living art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

We all love the Met for their fabulous Costume Institute, and for the other costume-related masterpieces in the Museum, but there is another artwork in the museum that I love. As a visitor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art one of the things that intrigued and amazed me was the gorgeous, enormous flower arrangements in the Great Hall. They were so big! And spectacular! I noticed them every time I was lucky enough to visit the museum, and later, when I interned at the Met, I got to find out about the flower arrangements, and watch their creation. The flower arrangements happen thanks to a generous bequest to the museum that pays for their creation. The same florist was responsible for them for decades, and when he finally retired, his son continued the family business, and the link to the Met. The flowers are installed weekly on Monday mornings, the day the museum is closed to the public. The florist and a helper arrive first thing in the morning, and set to work creating their …

What I did in Melbourne: the wrap up

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve told you lots about the Melbourne trip already, but I wanted to give you an overview of the week, with lots of pictures. So what did I do? Got lots of exercise: Went to three shows in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Ate lots of delicious food: And, of course, went to concerts! I’ve already told you about Great Big Sea, but we also went to see Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot. The show was great, but the audience was unenthused. They didn’t dress up, they didn’t dance, they barely bobbed their head. They applauded. They seemed to like it, but they just did’t get involved! We dressed up of course. Catch me going to a rockabilly show and not dressing up! I managed to get Theresa’s hair into perfect Victory rolls, and wore my Love at First Flight dress. And we danced! We bobbed up and down and tried to lead each other (man, I suck as a lead) until someone finally asked us to dance. And then another couple saw us and was …

Qantas 37 – Melbourne to Wellington and the spaces between

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m on the flight between Melbourne and Wellington (unfortunately I don’t think they call it Melly, so I can’t say Melly to Welly), catching up on the Big Bang Theory, reviewing my week just past, planning the week ahead, and considering the Melbourne experience. Travel writers love to compare Wellington to San Francisco. And Wellingtonian’s love to tell me that “I’d love Melbourne — it’s the Wellington of Australia.” So somehow I pictured Melbourne looking like Wellington and San Francisco. It doesn’t. It’s flat. In fact, it’s not like Wellington or San Francisco at all. Welly and SF are both unmistakably themselves — they may remind you of other places, but you could never be in either and not know where it was. Melbourne is a chameleon, reminding you of everywhere you have been, hiding itself. It takes a while to see Melbourne, rather than bits of New York, Toronto, Chicago, Wellington, Oakland, San Francisco, St Louis, and all the other cities people said it reminded them of. But Melbourne is fantastic — not Wellington, …