Leonardo da Vinci…à Londres!

“Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan”, au National Gallery de Londres

Un trou dans l’agenda d’affaires – prévu cependant puisqu’il fallait acheter un billet d’entrée chronométré, et au gros prix également : 8 fois le prix marqué, encore que le fournisseur, via le concierge de l’hôtel, en voulait d’abord 10 fois! Très courue, cette exposition, vantée comme la plus grosse de l’année à Londres!...

Voici comment les organisateurs de l’exposition la présentent: “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan’ is the most complete display of Leonardo’s rare surviving paintings ever held. This unprecedented exhibition – the first of its kind anywhere in the world – brings together sensational international loans never before seen in the UK. While numerous exhibitions have looked at Leonardo da Vinci as an inventor, scientist or draughtsman, this is the first to be dedicated to his aims and techniques as a painter. Inspired by the recently restored National Gallery painting, The Virgin of the Rocks, this exhibition focuses on Leonardo as an artist…”

Da Vinci a fait très peu de toiles, pas plus d’une vingtaine tout au cours de son existence, et encore, il ne les a pas toutes terminées! La plupart de ces toiles ont été peintes du temps où il était effectivement à Milan, d’environ 1482 à 1499, pour le compte de Ludovic Sforza, dit le Maure, comte de Milan, comme artiste salarié - je présume que çà réduisait considérablement la précarité associée autrement au métier! (La Joconde a été peinte à Florence, après le tournant du siècle, quelques années après son départ de Milan).

Je n’en ai compté que 5 ou 6 à l’exposition, des toiles, auxquelles il faut ajouter l’énorme murale de la Cène, reproduite grandeur nature quelque vingtaine d’années après que l’original fut peint; celui-ci se trouve, très endommagé –presque complètement délavé, dû à la technique non éprouvée qu’a utilisée Léonardo à l’époque –toujours sur le mur du réfectoire du couvent Santa Maria della Grazie, à Milan. Il aurait mis plus de 6 ans à compléter le tableau!

En fait, ce qui frappe à l’exposition, c’est le grand nombre de dessins qui sous-tendent chaque peinture (je dirais qu’ils constituent près de 80% à 90% des objets exposés)! Il faut voir par exemple le nombre de croquis qui ont inspiré chacun des 12 apôtres – sans parler du Christ lui-même –sur la Cène.
Peu de toiles, mais combien prenantes! Notamment ces visages de femme que sont les portraits respectifs de Cecilia Gallerani (la Dame à l’hermine), jeune maîtresse de Ludovic, à 16 ans.

( Voici comment un contributeur à Wikipédia commente l’œuvre : « Le tableau concentre toutes les innovations du portrait inspiré à Léonard: la pose de trois-quart, le visage tourné vers le spectateur, la grâce du geste de la main… « la définition de la forme par la lumière », et « le sens du mouvement interrompu7» (Cécilia semble tourner la tête comme si quelqu’un lui parlait)…Le décalage entre la richesse des vêtements, le geste ferme et le visage encore juvénile ajoutent au charme du tableau…. »)

Et celui de la Belle Ferronière(portrait de sa femme, dit-on, à en juger par son air plutôt soupçonneux!...ou qui sait, peut-être celui d’une autre maîtresse, rivale!) .

Sans parler des deux versions de la Vierge aux rochers, réunies dit-on pour la première fois, peintes à plus de quinze ans d’intervalle, dont l’une réside au Louvre, et l’autre en permanence à la National Gallery de Londres. Remarquable également ce dessin aux dimensions hors-normes, de la vierge assise sur les genoux de sa mère, Anne, avec le Christ enfant et St-Jean Baptiste. Presque sans couleur, mais combien vivant!

L’exposition est bondée – impressionnant de voir tous ces gens (la plupart d’un « certain âge » - ils ont le temps!) patiemment faire la queue devant chacun des dessins et peintures, autoguide à l’oreille et livret en main!... Elle se tient essentiellement dans l’aile Sainsbury, la plus moderne du musée, et se termine dans une salle (« Sunley Room ») au cœur de la National Gallery – ce qui vous permet de déambuler nonchalamment parmi les hauts faits de la peinture du XVe et du XVIe siècle de l’Europe – un véritable temple de la culture et de l’art que ce musée!…

Londres, le 12 décembre 2011

"Maya - Secret of their Ancient World" - exhibition at the ROM

Preview of exhibition, uniquely for members of the Museum (they are doing well: lots of members!...)http://www.rom.on.ca/maya

Covers the Classic Period of the Maya civilisation (the first 8 or 10 centuries AD - or CE for Common Era, in the more politically correct (non denominational) way of the Museum...)

Focus on Palenque, the city, the temple, the palace, arts and science in general, followed by the inevitable gift shop - picked up a small guide to the exhibition - just what we need as we are getting ready to move again! But how could you not get something by which we will be reminded of our visit...besides, it is a rather interesting "plaquette"...

Very didactorial, these exhibitions... Museums are good at making culture and history more accessible and palatable to larger segments of the population - they may be decried by some as "pandering to the masses", but that is precisely what they are for. Anyway, I find them excellent for the busy and "diversely-interested" persons that we are...

All of that reminded me of my visit to some of the Maya sites near Cancun - Chichen Itza and Ek Balam 3 years ago (see blog dated Nov 2008)

Toronto, November 18, 2011

Algonquin Park – fall of 2011

The Algonquin Park – the oldest, but only the third largest, in Ontario - is iconic in Canada…and likely in many people’s mind around the world! Famous for his camps, boys and girls come from faraway places to enjoy its wilderness! (I remember, as a teenager, considering going as a “counselor” to the Taylor Statten camp – Camp Ahmek for boys – probably the oldest camp in the Park, established some 90 years ago; but then plans changed that summer…

It’s fall and it is beautiful! And we are lucky: warm (it reached 24 degrees one afternoon) and not a cloud in the sky -I even went in the water, even if below 15 degrees! And it is "2011 - The International Year of Forests", proclaimed by the UN!

The park is huge: more than 7600 square kilometers (that is as big if not bigger than PEI or Delaware!), of which a good 80% is considered “backcountry” where you go for multiple-day canoe trips (there are, according to an official publication, some 2456 lakes, 2100 backcountry campsites and 2000 kilometers of canoe routes in the park!).

The park was founded in 1893; there were, and continues to be, logging operations, already going on since the middle of 19th century (Ottawa loggers – J.R. Booth, lumber baron, builder of a railroad between Ottawa and Georgian Bay) – very lucrative harvesting of the white pines, now carried out by a provincial crown agency (the Algonquin Forestry Authority which replaced, in the 70s, some 27 separate operating companies). The founding of the park stopped any wish for agriculture from expanding in the area (which could have been tempting for those who came “late” to nearby Muskoka area to settle and farm (see blog entry, September 2009). A chronology of the Park’s history is contained in a “Technical Bulletin” (#8), reprinted in 2002. There is also a “Logging Museum” in the Park, and a publication tracing the history of logging, reprinted in 2008.

The Park is crossed in the south by Highway 60, on a distance of some 56 kilometers, going on an east-west axis. That is the zone most people coming to Algonquin Park experiences. A “Master Plan” was established in 1974 by the Ontario Government setting preservation and activity “zones”, including a “Development, Access and Natural Environment” one (less than 5% of the Park’s land) along the highway where the organized campgrounds and other “high-intensity uses” are located – such as Arowhon Pines Lodge, and the only 2 other lodges in the park: Bartlett Lodge on Cache Lake, and Killarney Lodge on Lake of Two Rivers, further east along the highway. The Park is well "used": more than 210,000 day-visitors a year, plus some 100,000 campers along Highway 60, and 65,000 campers in the backcountry!

The Algonquin Park was of course named to commemorate one of the great Indian tribes of North-America. The Algonquins themselves though (“of Golden Lake”) proposed in 1988 to take control of the Park (the Constitution Act of 1982 recognized aboriginal rights, and I suppose it is on that basis that the Algonquins are pursuing their claim). The land claim dispute, which extends now to lands beyond the Park, and includes not only the Ontario Government but also the Federal Government as parties in the dispute, has not been settled yet, to my knowledge, and negotiations are still carrying on toward what is referred (see below) to as a “modern-day treaty”… (http://www.algonquinparkresidents.ca/assets/documents/algonquin_land_claim_update_sept2010.pdf)

I was curious how the management and maintenance of the Park were paid for; I thought perhaps out of the logging operations – no! I learn that Ontario has some 329 parks (119 of which are “operating”, that is offering recreational facilities) and 294 “conservation reserves” protecting major natural features, visited each year by millions of people. 80% of what it takes to manage this is funded through user fees and other park revenues such as firewood sales, canoe rentals and park stores, leaving (only) 20% to be paid out of the “Consolidated Revenue” as we say in government circles (read the tax payers…

I read as well that one can rent cabins, all around the backcountry – I have seen advertising for at least a good 15 of them in the Park's "Information Guide" annual newspaper – most of them only reachable by canoe. That is an idea: you go on a canoe trip and then rest for a few more days in a rented cabin…maybe for some summer vacation in the next couple of years…

Arowhon Pines, October 8, 2011

Arowhon Pines Lodge

We discovered the place, Arowhon Pines Lodge, by chance, a month or so ago when looking for a place to lunch, crossing the Algonquin Park, coming from Pembroke on our way back to Toronto. We were enchanted by the site and booked a room then to come back for the (Canadian) Thanksgiving week-end. It’s only when we mentioned the place to a few people in Toronto that we realized it was very well-known (“Everybody in Toronto knows the place” to quote Cynthia!)

It’s been written up several times in many newspapers and magazines over the years (clippings of some of which are featured on the walls of the dining hall – the NYT, the G&M, Saturday Night – August 1976 edition!) The lodge and its picturesque dining hall were built in the late 1930s (I heard 1940) to accommodate parents of campers who were coming to Arowhon Camp, a co-ed facility that legendary (we found out) Lilian Kates had started a few years before (1932) in the Park, on Teepee Lake, nearby. She ran the lodge until her son Eugene took it over in the early 70s; he had then to fight the Ontario Government to keep this privately, family-run hotel in the Park (the Government had apparently decided to phase out leases, so that no privately-owned facility would remain as such in the Algonquin Park – there were apparently several privately-owned lodges, among which the Arowhon Pines). He succeeded, on the account it would appear that it had been profitable since the beginning, in spite of the fact that he had no license (and still does not) to sell liquors! I think it is a great feature of the place, as you can bring the wine you want to dinner, at no extra cost!

“Arowhon”… I thought initially an Indian word, but no; Lilian would have christened the place based on a contraption of “Erewhon” – the title of a Samuel Butler’s famous novel (published in 1872) about some kind of utopian place, and itself an anagram for “nowhere” – and “arrows” (because of Indians one can presume!)

The dining hall itself is quite an accomplishment. The2-brothers team that built it in the late 30s managed to get the lumber out of the surrounding woods, pine trees – there was lots around – and operated without the support of any electrically-powered devices –there were no roads either leading to the lodge then. They installed a huge metal chimney in the center of the hall to accommodate the large fireplace that still adorns the hall today. This is where we had all our meals while here – breakfast, lunch and dinner, at fixed times – you pick your table (first-come, first-served) some of which distributed along the windows of the hexagonal-designed place, giving on the lake. Excellent food, your own wine, and an array of desserts spread out on a central table…

These are the last few days the lodge is open this year; it then closes for the winter – it operates we found out for 18 weeks only during the year. It will re-open I presume in late-May next year. We feel privileged to be here at this time, enjoying a superb weather – sunny and comfortably warm – amongst a forest that is “fired up” with multicolored trees!

Spent a splendid day as it should be, in this wonderful nature: after breakfast (and a stimulating conversation with this “7th generation Pennsylvanian, German-descent Canadian” older gentleman, Maynard Snyder if I recall correctly, from Waterloo, who now lives in a plush retirement home in San Francisco!), we went rowing down a canoe from Little Joe Lake, to Joe Lake, and then, after a little portage – easy, no more than 300 meters or so on a gentled sloppy wide trail – to Canoe Lake where mythical Canadian artist, member or precursor of the Group of Seven Tom Thomson would have drawn, in mysterious circumstances we are told (accident, suicide, murder?), almost a hundred years ago (in 1917 actually). He came periodically to the park starting in 1912, and immortalized this part of the world in his various paintings – that lonely giant black tree against the lake-and-mountain scenery so familiar to this place! – (the best collection of which I can remember is at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, a place not very far north of Toronto).

3 hours and a half of rowing opened up a healthy appetite for lunch – vegetable broth and salmon, not overcooked, and Trius Brut from Niagara-0n-the-lake Hildegard winery! Time then for a healthy digestive walk along one of the trails that start at the lodge – went for the “yellow” trail (it could have been named after the yellow that prevails in the tree color at this time of the year!) that goes deep in the forest behind and around Little Joe – again enthralled that we are by the colors of nature that a mixture of evergreens and leafy trees creates – every possible shades of green, yellow, brown, red, orange, etc…, shinning in that bright, warm sun…
Too warm and tempting to resist any longer a dip in the water! Went in for a few minutes – twice actually – in 59 Farenheight degrees water (not as daring as this French woman that went in after me and swam to the floating platform, a good 200 meters away from the deck!) Cynthia is reminded of this soap commercial on TV where the virtues of cold water are celebrated by a woman clamoring that “after all, we are Canadians”, just as her husband goes in, shivering very loudly! She also believed that the older white-hair woman that was on the deck and checked my hand to gage how cold I was having gone in, is Helen, the wife of now deceased Eugene, son of Lilian Kates – which makes her the owner of the place now, I guess! (This was actually corroborated the day after!)

A bit of a rest, late afternoon, before going for an early dinner (the hours are indeed early: 6:30 to 8pm) on cooked ham and venison (Ontario deer – we are told that deer are now domesticated around here!) and a wonderful bottle of Spanish (Ribera del Duero) 1996 Balbas. Followed by a long walk in the moon-lit night, enjoying (me!) a cigarillo… a full, so ever enjoyable day!

We will be back – booked before we left for Labor Day week-end next year…

Arowhon Pines, October 7, 2011

Arowhon Pines, dans le parc Algonquin – le dépaysement!

Oui, quel dépaysement! Après Miami Beach (et ses nombreux hôtels prestigieux bien rangés le long de la mer, la semaine dernière), New-York (et ses sirènes et marteaux-pilons, cette semaine) et Toronto (il y a quelques heures)… Esseulés en pleine nature, sur un lac, et les coloris d’automne dans la forêt et les montagnes qui nous entourent… En plus d’un soleil brillant sur fond azuré –il fera bon ce week-end, nous a-t-on annoncé à la météo…21 à 25 degrés! C’est le long week-end de l’Action de Grâce (canadien, un bon mois et plus avant celui des américains!), et le dernier week-end pour cet endroit de villégiature avant de fermer pour l’hiver…

Le parc n’est qu’à quelques heures de voiture de Toronto (un peu plus de 3 pour être exact), et Arowhon Pines, le lodge, n’est qu’à huit kilomètres, au nord de la route principale (la 60) qui traverse le parc; on y accède par une route de gravier, tout en détours mais très praticable.

Le lodge regroupe quelque dizaine de pavillons parsemés dans la forêt en bordure du lac, pas loin du pavillon principal que constituent les cuisines, la réception et la salle à manger : très pittoresque, niché sur une pointe qui s’avance dans le lac, bâti en bois rond, en forme plus ou moins hexagonale, entouré d’une véranda où il fait bon s’assoir, lire, tout en dégustant un verre de vin!

Nous logeons dans le pavillon Tanglewood qui donne, avec deux autres pavillons avoisinants et de taille semblable – le Sherwood et le Bridgewood – directement sur le lac. Chacun de ces pavillons doit bien loger 8 à 12 chambres à coucher, qui donnent sur un corridor et accès à une salle commune au centre du chalet dotée d’un grand foyer fait de pierres (c’est là que je me réfugie, aux heures creuses de la nuit, pour écrire et lire…).

Le lac – Little Joe Lake – est hachuré : de taille plutôt modeste, il s‘élargit en face du Lodge, puis il s’étend, plus rétréci, vers le sud, pour donner sur un plus grand lac – le Joe Lake - que l’on accède en canot… C’est tout un réseau de lacs – il doit bien en avoir quelques milliers (2,456 selon des sources officielles!) – et de cours d’eau qui parsèment l’étendu du parc.

Le jour commence à faire surface; le ciel s’éclaircit – il est à peine 6h30 du matin. La brume se disperse sur le lac encore très calme… On va déjeuner bientôt, mais pas avant d’avoir pris une bonne marche! Je pense même à prendre une nage dans le lac en face – l’eau y est plutôt froide – mais j’hésite à cause d’un rhume qui m’a accablé tout au cours des 10 derniers jours et dont il reste encore des traces…je vais réveiller Cynthia…


Arowhon Pines, le 7 octobre 2011

Business in Miami Beach

A week here, for working meetings of Societies'reps to deal with issues related to Information Technology - common network and tools without which we would have to rely on archaic methods to identify foreign repertoires in each other's jurisdiction. Miami, because it's central - well, as central as it can get when you have people coming from Europe, South America, Asia and US/Canada! And it is also affordable...

Staying at the Soho Beach House, on Collins Avenue, a boutique hotel that operates like a club, part of the British Soho House group - other hotels in London, Berlin, New York and a few other places in the US, I believe. Room (#17) rather cosy (read small - great shower though!) but a large librairy space on the 8th floor, overlooking the beach, where I spent most of my working time at the hotel (wireless everywhere).

Great food on the premises, at Cicconi's - reminiscent of the eponymous restaurant in London - where I had all my breakfasts and a few luncheons. (Funny, one night, great party, it's their first anniversary in Miami - the place is packed, literally, with "the young and hip, rich and beatiful"! Conversation with, among others, a real estate agent who is ready to sell me some condo that gives on the beach - not ready to buy! Music by the pool, food and booze - until 4am! I could hear the noise from my room - not the only one, apparently, but did not bother me...

Meals with selected colleagues, here and there: Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, Rosinella, Morton Steakhouse (twice - à mon corps défendant!), Mr. Chow (Chinese, at the W Hotel), Hakkasan (more Chinese, at the neighboring mammoth Fontainebleau Hotel, etc...

Meetings held at the Eden Roc Hotel, nearby - huge structure, very nice but for tour groups!

Took half an hour on the beach during the week!

And runs along the Boardwalk (about 2km from one end to the other) in the morning - a wood structure that runs along the beach - you wonder sometimes if the girls that run there are in "for the show" or for the exercise...

Weather not great - warm (much warmer for sure than Toronto at this time!) but overcast all week, with a storm and heavy rain to cap it all on the last day!

Miami Beach, September 30,2011

“Commune by the Great Wall”

For a good look at the hotel: http://www.commune.com.cn/

The original concept: get 12 architects to provide 12 original designs and build 12 unique villas spread around the hilly, rugged woods along the Great Wall! Then replicate several times these villas to constitute an ensemble of some 50 such habitations, add a central facility housing common services (registration, restaurants, meeting rooms, etc.) and you have “Commune by the Great Wall”, a fascinating secluded hotel, ideal to hold a conference such as the one I came for (gathering some 100 to 150 people). No chance that people will escape from attending sessions – the place is one hour and a half driving to Beijing!

Stayed in the Courtyard villa (10 rooms; was in 305).

Great place to run…and to see the Great Wall, either going from here to one of the 2 nearby sections that are open and equipped for tourists (coming by bus), or right on the premises, by walking up a natural path to an unrestored section of the Wall – great view of the Wall running on top of surroundings hills, and of the hotel complex, with its scattered villas…

This hotel would be a good base, if we ever return to Beijing to visit the Great Wall and the nearby Ming Tombs - would have to ask to stay in one of the original houses...

Sept 17, 2011

L’ «Œuf» de Pékin – Centre national pour les arts de la scène (ou NCPA)

Ai assisté lundi soir à un concert de musique traditionnelle chinoise donné par l’Orchestre national de Chine lors de la Fête de la lune, ou Fête de la mi-automne, à Pékin.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Centre_for_the_Performing_Arts_(China); and http://www.chncpa.org/ens/

(picture by Evilbish)

Çà se donnait au nouveau Centre national pour les arts de la scène, l’ «œuf» comme on le désigne ici! Un immense dôme, de verre et de titane, entourée d’eau – on accède aux différentes salles à l’intérieur par un souterrain (çà doit être toute une tâche que de le garder propre, ce dôme, surtout dans une ville aussi poussiéreuse que Pékin!...) Bâti sur la grande avenue Chang-An (avenue de la Paix éternelle), en plein cœur de la ville, tout juste à côté du très monolithique Grand Hall du Peuple et en face de la résidence du « leadership » chinois, à ZhongNanHai (cachée et gardée par des murs à la couleur vermeille traditionnelle de la vieille Chine – la même que celle de la Cité Interdite voisine!) . Presque sorti de l’imagerie de la science-fiction, le dôme recouvre plusieurs salles de spectacle – opéra, concert, théâtre Construit à grands frais – près de 500,000 RMB par siège, a-t-on calculé! – selon les plans de l’architecte français Paul Andreu; plutôt controversé au début! Mais je pense que les détracteurs se sont réconciliés à l’idée, depuis son ouverture en 2007, et que l’ «œuf» a trouvé sa place dans l’iconographie de l’architecture locale.
(La ville par ailleurs est parsemée de récentes prouesses architecturales – toujours à grand frais! Qu’on pense au « nid d’oiseau » du stade olympique (au coût de plus d’un demi milliard de dollars…un peu cher pour 15 jours – que peut-on en faire maintenant?), ou encore l’imposant édifice CCTV (on dirait les jambes d’un corps sans torse!) ce nouveau centre névralgique de la télévision chinoise, tout juste opérationnel, depuis quelques mois peut-être, et construit au coût cette fois de plus d’un milliard de dollars. Tous deux, fruit d’architectes étrangers…)
J’y allais pour voir cette merveille d’architecture, je dois dire, mais j’ai quand même été séduit par cette musique chinoise, au point d’y retourner (mais pour un temps seulement – le dîner m’attendait!) après l’entracte. Très mélodieux et même enlevant par moments. Je ne pense pas que l’acoustique de la salle de concert soit particulièrement formidable – à en juger par le « délai » dans la voix de la présentatrice – mais tous ces pipas (luth), erhus (violons), et même la zheng (cithare)! Dirigé avec panache je dois dire par Xu Zhijun. J’inclus ici le programme :

1) Festival Overture
2) Pipa and orchestra A Moonlit Night Along Spring River (ancient piece)
　Pipa: Zhao Cong (national level-A actor)
3) String quintet Happy Night
　Erhu: Zhan Lijun
　Liuqin: Wei Yuru (national level-A actor)
　Yangqin: Shen Xiangyang (national level-A actor)
　 Pipa: Yu Yuanchun
　Zheng: Zhang Lu
4) Erhu and orchestra Moon Over the Two Springs
　Erhu: Tang Feng (national level-A actor)
5) Dance of the Yao Tribe

——Intermission——
6) Erhu, cello and orchestra Waterside
　Erhu: Yang Chao
　Cello: Tian Weiyang
7) Bamboo flute solo Herdsman's New Song
Bamboo flute: Wang Ciheng (national level-A actor; winner of the Excellent
　　　　　　　　 Repertoire of the Ministry of Culture 2010)　　　　　
8) Moon Over the Lotus Pond
9) Vocal and orchestra A Moonlit Night Along Xiangjiang River
　Vocalist: Wei Jinying (winner of the Excellent Repertoire of the Ministry of
　　　　　　 Culture 2010)　　　　
10) Deep Night (Peking Opera tone)
　Jinghu: Liu Bei
　Jing erhu: Wang Nan
　Sigu: Zhu Jianping (winner of the Excellent Repertoire of the Ministry of
　　　　 Culture 2010)
11) Dragon Dance
　Leading percussion: Zhu Jianping, Zhang Ming, Yu Xin, Li Zixi


Je me suis procuré un coffret de musique chinoise traditionnelle mais je n’y ai pas retrouvé exactement la musique du concert, un peu plus stimulante à mon avis…

Pékin, le 12 septembre 2011

Running and swimming in Beijing

Beijing is not the healthiest place where to exercise outside; as we all know the air is rather polluted! (Still, there are areas in the city where, if the air is not totally pure, you can enjoy doing it – see below the recent review published by China Daily, “Runners’ retreats”.) Inside activities are probably less challenging health-wise, like swimming (see review of where to do it, published in this month’s Time Out Beijing – “Making Waves”.)

For the first 3 days of my stay this time, in the city proper, I did not to worry: the Fairmont is well equipped: a large, clean, state-of-the-art gym, plus a 25-meter long pool (and, as in many hotels where I have stayed over the years, under occupied!) Such beautiful facilities!

Once at Commune by the Great Wall, well there, one has Nature! Ran a couple of times along the road, downwards one way, all the way upwards on the way back!

Beijing, September 17, 2011


Runners' retreats
By Tiffany Tan (China Daily; 2011-09-12)

From Chaoyang Park to the Ming Tombs, Tiffany Tan takes a glance at some of the favorite outdoor training grounds for running lovers ahead of Beijing's annual international marathon next month.
With the annual Beijing Marathon just a month away, participants are stepping up their workouts. To prepare for the 42-kilometer challenge, they usually do daily "short runs" of 10 kilometers and weekly "long runs" of 20 kilometers, often in wide, open public spaces. Beijing members of running8.com, the country's largest online network of amateur runners, share their favorite training grounds around town.

Olympic Forest Park, Chaoyang District
The 680-hectare park, north of the Water Cube and Bird's Nest in the Olympic Sports Center, is the most popular site with local runners. Again and again, they commend its wide trails, green surroundings, fresh air and atmosphere of camaraderie among runners.
"Runners consider it their paradise," says Long Xugou, who joined the group a couple of years ago.
Recent, welcome additions to the park are synthetic surface tracks that have been laid on its 3-, 5- and 10-kilometer running routes, as well as signs marking the distance between each kilometer.
If there's one complaint about the place to note, it's that the park does not provide lockers for valuables, so only bring what you can run with.

Chaoyang Park, Chaoyang District
Chaoyang Park, probably the top pick of Beijing's foreign runners, is but a distant second among the Chinese. Still, at 290 hectares, it's one of the capital's largest parks and sees a lot of competitive runners on its grassy fields and winding trails.
"It's the Promised Land for runners on Beijing's east side," says Eric Band, citing the park's lakes, ponds and greenery. But he adds that it does charge an admission of 5 yuan.

Temple of Heaven, Dongcheng District
Once used by the Ming and Qing emperors to implore the heavens for good harvests, divine consent and atonement of sins, the Temple of Heaven is set in a 267-hectare walled park, where neighboring residents like to take walks.
For Wei Gongming, one of Beijing running8.com's administrators, it is among the best places to go for a run in the city - even if he has to pay 10 to 15 yuan to enter. "The greenery, consisting of centuries-old pines and cypresses, is amazing," the 35-year-old says, "and the quiet and seclusion make runners feel carefree and happy."
But he cautions runners to be careful they don't knock over the many elderly men and women doing their exercises.

Yuyuantan Park, Haidian District
Yuyuantan, with its centerpiece lake, as well as springtime cherry blossoms, peach blossoms and tulips, offers urbanites a scenic run on the west side. At 140 hectares, it's the smallest park recommended here, but each lap around it should still give runners a good 4-kilometer workout.
"It's quite ideal for training for long-distance runs," Long Xugou says. The view and space come at the cost of 2 yuan.

Ming Tombs, Changping District
This is a location that's definitely not meant for that daily or weekly run; rather it's something to keep in mind when you need a routine change during the warmer months. Located 50 kilometers northwest of central Beijing, the imperial burial grounds, as prescribed by fengshui, are surrounded by hills, mountains and a body of water, the Ming Tombs Reservoir.
"It's quiet and secluded, and you can swim, then go for a run," says Shi Yan, one of the newest additions to the Beijing runners' group.
Wei would rather take a dip after a run, and suggested rounding off the trip with a visit to the local farms.

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Hotels in Peking – a changing scene!

Wow! What a change! Granted, if you choose to compare to some 40 years ago, there will be changes, but still. In the 70’s there were essentially 2 hotels that were open to foreigners in Beijing: the rambling composite (5 parts built at different times since the beginning of the 20th century) Peking Hotel, on Chang’An, near TianAnMen,

and the H’sin Chiao (Xin Qiao) Hotel, in the old Legation Quarter.

Here is how a tour book (Odile Cail, Fodor’s guide, “Peking”, 1972) described them then: “The rooms in both are gloomy and badly furnished…the lighting is feeble…the carpets are threadbare…the plumbing is archaic, but nearly all the rooms have a bathroom – though it is rare that both the toilet and the shower to be working properly…the service is generally slow…but the staff are full of good will and are anxious to understand you even if they can…be prepared for a waiter to come to your room without knocking at any hour of the day or night…!”. One gets the drift! It was cheap, a few dozen of Yuan if that much (the Canadian $ then was worth about Yuan 1.35 as I recall – it takes now 6.5 Yuan to make a dollar!), but you got what you paid for. you could count on a clean room though, I should add.
Not that you did have much of a choice either between the two: you stayed where your ‘host’ had managed to get you a room. For right up to the early 80’s, you would show up at the airport, and if your host was not there to receive you, you would not know where to go!

Beside these 2 hotels, there were 2 more that were available while we lived there: the Minzu Fandian (Nationalities Hotel) and the Qianmen Hotel. We were more familiar with the first one, where they had a "European" restaurant.

It reminds me of the celebrated DongFeng hotel in Guangzhou (Canton), the first hotel I ever stayed in, in China. This was the “headquarters” for the foreigners who came to the semi-annual Canton Fair. (In that the Communists had not changed the century-old practice of isolating the trading activity to a specific place and a specific time!) This was my first incursion in The Middle Kingdom, fall of 1978, for several days while “manning” the Canadian suite during the bi-annual fair for the benefit of the then few Canadian businessmen. Very strong first impressions…the heat, the net that covered the bed at night, to protect against mosquitoes, the noisy streets – the incessant music of the klaxon, early in the morning (I think it was the law – you were responsible to alert other cars or people on the road of your presence…Also it was still the practice of warning people of the presence nearby of foreigners, by shouting “waiguoren”! as this older man did when I walked around the city, to go and see the small island of Shamian. Was on language training in Hong-Kong then, and I had come up to Guangzhou for the occasion (before shooting up for my first intro to Peking).

Already, in the mid 80’s, there were many more hotels – the Beijing Municipality boasted then that there were some 64 of them – this must have included the Beiwei (one bathroom per floor!) where I remember the Power Ministry had lodged a Quebec electric power delegation in 1980! Perhaps only a dozen of them were frequented by foreigners, most of those being joint-ventures – this was indeed the era of foreign joint-ventures (‘You foreigners venture, we Chinese join!” as the saying went at the time amongst foreigners, to illustrate the uneven and risky nature of such arrangements!) The first of these hotels was built with Canadian money (that of a Mr. Noble, a construction entrepreneur, from Toronto I think), the JianGuo. Noble had made money out of another real estate deal in Beijing, and since he could not take his profits out of the country, he invested it in that hotel!

For official delegations, there was not a problem: it was totally controlled and they were put in the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, a secluded complex in parkland, in the west side of the city.

(Picture from rahuldlucca)I believe it became commercially available in the early 80’s. (As I was told then, “speak towards the chandelier if you want a change of towels”!) The Intercontinental Hotel – “Financial District” must be in that area as well, although I went somewhere else, as the “deal” was better…

Nowadays, there are thousands of hotels, a hundred of which I would have no problem staying at! All major international chains have one if not several venues here – for one, The Raffles has taken on and restored parts of the old Beijing hotel (Block B and Block E); plus a whole bunch of luxury boutiques ones, nested away around the city in hutongs and courtyards (the Yi House, Hotel Côté Cour, The Emperor, with its “Yin Bar” at the top, overlooking the roofs of the Forbidden City, the “retro chic” Red Capitalist Residence, Stark-style and modern Japan-inspired The Opposite House, etc. – see the Beijing 2012 Wallpaper City Guide), and countless “local standards” ones. There is even an Aman by the Summer Palace – I am staying at the Fairmont Hotel, just south of Jianguomenwai dajie. It looks brand new (this Canadian-managed chain has done such a good job in restoring the Peace Hotel in Shanghai – see blog, October 2010). Very luxurious; has a great gym and a 25-meter inside pool. Upgraded to a suite on the Gold floor, plus a deal: 3 nights for the price of 2 (a measure of the competition, plus the fact that business must be slow – this is no longer the peak of the tourist season!)

Beijing, September 12, 2011

Beijing – in the fall of 2011

Roaming around Beijing from meetings to meetings is like roaming in my past, some 30 years ago, when I lived here as a diplomat (1979-81)…except that if Beijing was a big city then, it is now huge: more than 18 Million people in the greater area! And things have changed so much – I notice now more than on my previous visits (I have been here many times since I lived here).

A few other illustrations of the changes: They are now building the 7th ring road, when they had just completed the 3rd one when I left in 1981! Sanlitun, then on the north-eastern fringe of the city where Embassies and diplomats were suitably isolated, has become the “trendiest” place in town, with its “SanliTun Village” complex of modern stores, eateries and cinema houses (picture below)

– this is where I attended the opening of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in China (at the MegaBox) with the Ambassador, my former colleague with whom I “re-opened” Shanghai 25 odd years ago to a Canadian presence (got to watch a few films of “extreme” adventures – The Longest Way, Fly or Die, and WildWater, the latter with shots of the Grand Canyon water rafting. see http://www.banffchina.com/)

A stone's throw away from where I used to live (Block 2-1 on Sanlitun Dong San Jie),

is this very hype hotel, The Opposite House, built by modernist Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma, a square structure shrouded in translucid glass panels, in various shades of green; I had lunch at their café.

Not far from there is “1949 – the Hidden City”, a series of restaurants and other facilities have been lodged in what used to be a factory in the industrial part of Sanlitun, which has been “retooled” (as they put it!) in 2008 to create this “neo-industrial chic”, commune-like, venue, nested amongst non-descript high-rises. (The Peking duck at the Duck de Chine restaurant is said to be one of the better served in the city…)

The concept is not new as the Dashanzi Art District (or better known as “798”), a little bit further North and further East was also, a few years before, developed on the ground of a disaffected factory. It is now the arts’ Mecca of Beijing were numerous galleries and “ateliers” are established amongst cafés and eateries – I took a moment to meander in the UCCA complex, located in a 1950’s industrial Bauhaus factory, a non-profit art center for contemporary artists (it sponsors all sorts of exhibitions, events and education programs) founded and built by arts collectors Belgian couple, Guy and Myriam Ullens, in 2007 (picture below).

(IP lawyer – he represented Google in China for a while – David Ben-Kay, who attended the conference, a long-time “China hand”, told me he built his house around there as early as 2003 – with Google house allowance, no doubt! – even before “798” existed per se – he now runs a business “incubator” facility there – Yuanfen-Flow New Media Art!) A new boutique hotel, the Yi House (and its Mediterranean cuisine restaurant, Fennel), has very recently opened, on the outskirts of 798.

Would have been fun to go back and visit old staples such as The Forbidden City or the Temple of Heaven, but better stay on my memories of these places, which by now must be crowded with visiting tourists (I remember spending a very leisurely afternoon, meandering in the numerous palaces and courtyards in the Forbidden City, with our photography teacher…). Besides, I have to leave the city and go to the site of the conference, Commune by the Great Wall, an hour and a half, westward, on the outskirts of the city…

Beijing, September 17, 2011

P.S. a few restaurants worth apparently to go to (a couple of them I have tried): Dali Courtyard (Yunnan food; rustic); The Courtyard (on the moat of the FC); Maison Boulud (in the former – before 1949 – US Embassy compound); Duck de Chine (at 1949 – the Hidden City); Tiandi (fine dining, on Nanchizi Lu, east side of the FC); Paper (contemporary Chinese; Gulou Dongdajie); Noodle Bar (at 1949); Da Dong (kaoya; 3 restos; go for NanXinCang); Capital M ( M on the Bund owner; near TianAnMen Square, near old gate); Bei (at The Opposite House hotel); should have checked also Green Tea House where I dined with Joseph Caron, Ambassador then, in the early 2000s.

Stratford - late in the season

The last planned visit to Stratford this year...perhaps!

Planned around our 15th anniversary of being together...Celebrated at Langdon Hall hotel we had discovered 2 years ago, at this time of the year (see blog August 2009)

Really charming place! Dinner on Friday night, a few hours after seeing "Hosanna" at Stratford (more on this further down). Delicious: greens from the house garden and a wild rice risotto with chanterel mushrooms - especially good - for apetizers; lobster and grilled halibut for main courses; we shared our dessert, a toasted sesame cannelloni full of ginger ice cream! All that paired with une coupe of Pommery, some Vouvray, Pinot Noir from the Niagara peninsula and Chardonnay.

Very large room in the Cloister, across from the Main House; equipped with a wood-burning fireplace, which of course we lit up (the picture below)! Expansive grounds with a vegetable garden, a pool, tennis courts, and miles of walking tracks in the surrounding forests. Went Saturday morning for a run, equipped with a map. Got lost though - for no fault of ours I might add - had gone for 5 km, ended up running for an hour or so, all the way to Blair along the surrounding highways, a good 8 or 9 kms! Followed by a - earthy or hearty, if not healthy - breakfast on the patio at the rear of the Main House (the picture above), with the sun shining - oughly enjoyable!

Back to Stratford, to catch "the Misanthrope", English version. Excellent! I had forgotten how witty Molière could be. Well translated, "en vers". Cast, as usual, superb! Bedford was supposed to direct that play and be in it (Oronte), but had to cancel because of health reasons. Ben Carlson as the main protagonist (Alceste) is as ardent as ever in his rendering. I think he is very much "defining" the Festival these recent years. I have seen him in many varying roles over the last 3 or 4 years: so talented, in drama as well as in comedy. I have seen him in Hamlet (Hamlet) and Julius Ceasar (Brutus), but also in The Importance of Being Earnest, and this year singing in Twelfth Night (Feste). Comes from the Shaw Festival where he had many years. Born in Canada, I believe, but of American parents. Very active in film as well...Great and long career ahead of him, one would think.

Saw Michel Tremblay's "Hosanna" the day before. Thought I had seen it in Montreal some 40 years ago when it came out at Théatre des Quatre Sous in 1973, but I was already abroad then; perhaps it is extracts I have seen since on TV... Anyway, I knew the story very well, as it is a play that has marked its time in Québec. A topic not particularly addressed in theatre in those days: homosexuals and drag queens, and done "en joual", which added such realism to the piece (François Rozet would have not approved!) It is also very "scorching", the couple, Hosanna and the ageing homo biker Cuirette, being so mean to each other! The language is very crude, as it is in the French version. Character was played by Richard Monette when it came out in English in the early seventies, first in Toronto then for a short stint - it was not apparently very successful - on Broadway. Monette was to become longest serving director of the Festival later on - died prematurely a few years ago!
Looking at the crowd that afternoon, primarily people old enough to be retired, I wonder to what extent they appreciated the play...

NYC & SFO in August

NYC – August 13 & 14, 2011

Took advantage of the sun, shortly after we arrived from Toronto, to go for a stroll along one of the latest and very popular attractions in NYC, the High Line Park,

a mile and a half of elevated promenade built on a railway that was used in the yesteryears of New York to transport cargo along the port on the Hudson River. It was disaffected in 1980 and was destined to be demolished when, through the effort of a few local dedicated citizens and politicians, it was saved from destruction, and opened as a park by Bloomberg in the summer of 2009. The second section was inaugurated only earlier this summer. It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking district to the 30th street further North, between 10th and 11th avenues; there is a final section to be built that will curve towards the river to end at 34th (work has not started on that section which one can see at the very end of section 2; I am not even sure if its construction has been “approved” yet…)

I read somewhere (was it in the G&M Saturday?) that it was not cheap to build: $33,000 the linear foot! When I mentioned this to a couple of volunteers for the Park, they pointed out its popularity with people – 5 million visitors since its opening 2 years ago, far more than expected, and we could attest to that this Saturday afternoon! Plus the tremendous economic impact it has in the on-going revival of this once dilapidated area of town – new restaurants, new boutiques, etc… (the NY Times reported when the mayor inaugurated the park in 2009, that the 2 sections had cost $152M, $44M of which would have come from “Friends of the High Line Park”...there is indeed along the park signs of sponsorship at work…) Regardless, it is considered a rather expensive way to go about city greening or reviving. The park is apparently featured in the Toronto design magazine Azure, this month.

P.S. featured as well in the Sunday Styles section of the NYT, August 28, 2011 (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/style/index.html)
Had picked up Dominique in the East Village (on 7th Street, between Avenue C and Avenue D, also known as avenue Crazy and avenue Death as she says, close to the East River) on the way to the High Line Park. Walked back to the hotel on 44th Street – the City Club Hotel – via busy as ever Times Square. Dinner at Bar Boulud (one of several eateries under Boulud’s brand around NYC – another one is right at our hotel, Cuisine Boulud, where we had dinner a few years ago, and known for its foie gras burger!), across from the Lincoln Center, before going to see “Freud’s Last Session” (conversation imagined between C.S. Lewis, the believer, and Freud, the atheist, near the latter's death)at a nearby theater.

Rainy day on Sunday – very rainy! Brunch at Tribeca Grill – everybody knows about this very good eatery (“Robert de Niro is one of the founding owners, and other bla-blas” – he is also credited for starting the Tribeca Film Festival some 10 years ago), and where we learned that TriBeCa means “Triangle Below Canal Street” – once an industrial area, now probably the most expensive and sought after – particularly by “celebrities” – residential area of NYC!

Visit to the New Museum of Contemporary Art, further up and eastward on Bowery (in a neighborhood known as NoLIta – “North of Little Italy”!) The latest home of the Museum, conceived some 40 years ago as an alternative place for contemporary arts. Very modern-looking to say the least: a tall stack of unevenly lined boxes – declining in size as they go up – and shrouded in a shimmering skin – a mesh made of aluminum. Open in late 2007. Went to see the exhibition “Ostalgia”, a play on words, referring to the apparently nostalgia inspired by Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall; recent works by eastern European artists – very “alternative”…

Coffee and cakes nearby – very attractive neighborhood – then off to the airports (LaGuardia for Cynthia, going back to TO; JFK for Dominique and I) with a pit stop at Dominique’s flat in East Village to pick up our luggage.
Then, the long trek to the American West Coast – Dominique to Portland, me to San Francisco…

San Francisco, 15 & 16 of August, 2011

Back in town for the yearly “Bandwidth” music/technology conference – they have been holding it now for a few years in the former local Federal Reserve Bank building in the Financial District – the Bently Reserve Conference Center; holding a dinner as well in nearby Stock Exchange Tower on Sansome – opened in 1930, one of the best examples of Art Deco in SFO: there is a great mural from Rivera in the stairways leading up from the floor (11th?) where the dinner is held.

Lunch at the nearby Prebecco restaurant, on California (sister to Barbecco, nearby).

Staying at the Intercontinental Hotel – the Mark Hopkins, a landmark in SFO, at the top of Nob Hill. Great view from the "Top of the Mark" where you take breakfasts.

Stopped by favorite local bookstore – City Lights Books – corner of Broadway and Columbus, “home” of the beatnik generation – Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Dylan, etc. Picked up a few books: Bob Dylan in America for Cynthia, Décadence Manchoue for me.

Picture below: From the top of Broadway Street, just before the fog starts settling in...

“Redeye” back to TO.