THE FREAK ALLEY GALLERY IN BOISE, IDAHO: A STREET ART WALK, Guest Post by Caroline Hatton at The Intrepid Tourist

One of the Freak Alley Gallery murals in downtown Boise, Idaho

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, enjoyed taking the photos in this post in October 2022.

Mural on the back of the West Elm store, Boise, Idaho

While traveling by car through Boise, Idaho, my husband and I jumped at the chance to see the FreakAlley Gallery, a collection of diverse outdoor murals painted by many artists over twenty years, so far. The gallery is in the alley that goes from 8th to 9th Street through the city block between Idaho and Bannock Streets in downtown Boise.

Nine artists painted these. See the Twinkie and cockroach holding hands--the only nuclear apocalypse survivors?

At 8:30 a.m. on a sunny October Friday, the streets were still in the deep shade of buildings, car traffic was light (compared to L.A. traffic… maybe traffic is incomparably lighter most everywhere else?), and only a few pedestrians walked along the sidewalks carrying cardboard cups from coffee shops. Finding a parking spot at a meter was not difficult.

Buildings’ side walls = space for more paintings.

I like blues and black and white.

Freak Alley was covered with more paintings than I expected, not only on the back walls of buildings, but also on side walls and doors and doorways. I looked for interesting photos to take or works I liked, feeling a bit overwhelmed by how much there was to see.

My favorite: cats in kimonos.

Most of the artworks were big and loud and weird, with few exceptions such as the cats in Japanese kimonos inside one doorway. You can see more photos at the above link, including by clicking on the down-arrow on that web page, then on 2019. The Freak Alley Gallery is a testament to the ongoing community support that makes it possible.

Some filming in progress.

I was glad I visited before 9 a.m. on an October Friday, when the trash containers smells had barely begun to develop in the mid-50s F (~13 C) temperature. We were alone in the alley except for two delivery truck drivers unloading restaurant supplies, and a cameraman on a hoverboard filming his subject.

Before the parking meter expired, we strolled around the Capitol and past the City Hall, and sipped lattes on a coffee shop patio on one of the two pedestrian blocks lined with restaurants, closed at that time, as were gift shops and art galleries. Then we drove a few blocks to the Basque Block a charming cluster of Basque buildings and businesses with a community center.

From left: explorer and merchant ship; farmhouse; fragment of Picasso’s Guernica; historic tree, buildings, dance teacher, accordion player; Boise cathedral; weightlifting contestant; sheep camp

At the Basque Market shop and eatery, we admired cheeses and sausages, and chatted with the chef who was cooking the Friday seafood and chorizo paella on the outdoor patio. Some other time, we might visit the Basque Museum to learn how some 16,000 Basques ended up living in Boise now. This time, I just took a photo of the very well done Basque Mural.

 Downtown Boise seemed like a safe, clean, and interesting place for a walk.

 All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

  

FOUR DAYS IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: Old and New Along the Canals

Copenhagen in Danish is Kobenhavn ("Koben Harbor")

Why Copenhagen? 1. We had never been there before. 2. We are big fans of Danish TV—Borgen, The Bridge, Seaside Hotel, The New Nurses—and 3. Copenhagen is an easy train ride to northern Germany where Art was scheduled to attend a conference in Hanover. With a nine-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Denmark, we needed a place to spend a few days to recover from jet lag before the conference started. So in early October, my husband Art and I spent four days in Copenhagen, Denmark--visiting museums, eating delicious food, immersing ourselves in Danish culture.

Drawbridge tower on the Knippel Bridge and
our hotel, the NH Collection, a modern glass structure at the side of the canal.

On our first morning, after a lavish breakfast at our hotel--eggs, meat, cheese, fruit and, of course, Danish pastries--we set out, crossing the Knippel Bridge into the center of the city. I had not previously realized that Copenhagen is a city of canals, much like Amsterdam, crisscrossed by bridges and waterways. 

Glass topped canal tour boat, Copenhagen

Tour boats circle through the canals and this seemed like a good way to get an overview of the city; so we bought tickets and joined the crowd waiting to board the next boat. The tour was narrated in English, which turns out to be the universal language in Denmark, since few people outside of Denmark speak Danish.

Colorful Nyhavn

The boat made two stops during the one-hour tour, one of them in Nyhavn, with its colorful houses, once filled with rowdy sailors, now with tourists and canal-side restaurants. 

National Library, its windows reflecting the water and  a passing ferry.

Among the other sites we saw in the course of our boat tour were: the Queen’s residence; the Opera House (where we were told a diving competition is held once a year from its roof overhanging the canal); the Little Mermaid (less impressive than in pictures); rows of old warehouses, now turned into expensive apartments; the National Library (known as the Black Diamond because of the way light from the water sparkles off the dark glass). Later that day we visited the library, taking an elevator to the top to view the canal from the inside.

Display of the Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates.

In the center of the city, two long streets lined with shops are dedicated to pedestrians. While shopping was not our goal, we were drawn into the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain shop, where we discovered a display of the classic Danish Christmas plates. We have three (from 1967, 1970 and 1972)—they hang in our kitchen at home—given to us by Art’s aunt, Carolyn T. Arnold, who collected them on her trips around the world. (Portions of Aunt Carolyn's travel memoir have appeared on this blog.)

View from the top of the Round Tower, with the bridge connecting Denmark to Sweden in the distance.

Also in the city center is the Round Tower, where from the top one gets a 360 view of the city--a sea of tile-topped roofs punctuated by skinny, church steeples. Tourists walk to the top of the tower, but King Frederick famously rode his horse up the ramp.

Danish Design Museum. Model of collapseable housing for use in emergency centers. Exhibits at the museum include both state-of-the-art products made with new materials as well as historic examples of fabrics, furniture, and so on.

Over the next three days we visited several museums, including the Danish Design Museum; the old Natural History Museum, which was featuring an exhibit of Neanderthal discoveries; the Palm House and Butterfly House at the Botanical Garden; and the National Historical Museum, with exhibits beginning with prehistory and progressing to Vikings and beyond. 

Meteorite in courtyard of Natural History Museum. Inside was a Neanderthal Exhibit

At all of the museums, helpful explanatory labels were in both Danish and English.

At the Butterfly House in the Botanical Garden.

We devoted a whole day to the Louisiana Modern Art museum, a forty-minute train ride north of Copenhagen—worth its own blogpost.  It, like all of the museums, has a nice cafe—the perfect stop for lunch or afternoon coffee.

Walkway along the canal. Copenhagen is a mix of old and new.

Copenhagen is a very walkable city. By law, all the canals must have pedestrian walkways along the side and streets through the neighborhoods generally have little traffic. However, as a pedestrian, one has to watch out for both bicycles and cars. Bicycles are a preferred mode of transport and get a separate lane on main roadways.

As a major port in the North Sea, boats and shipping are at the center of Copenhagen's history.

We dressed in layers for the cool fall weather and always carried an umbrella for the occasional shower. But overall, the weather was perfect for exploring the city. 

King Frederick on his horse.

We didn't see everything on our visit to Copenhagen (for instance, Tivoli, the famous amusement park, was closed for the season) but we got a good taste of Danish culture. At the end of our four days we knew a lot more about Denmark than before and had significantly reduced our jet lag. 

Inside the dome of the Marble Church.

 

 

 

MOROCCO: GARDENS AND MORE Part II, Guest Post by Susan Kean

Cape Spartel lighthouse.

I thank my good friend Susan Kean for sharing her excellent photographs and impressions of her recent trip to Morocco. This is a continuation of Part I, which posted last week.

Beautiful streets of Tangier.

The last part of our visit to Morocco was spent in Tangier in the North on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. A beautiful town with European influence--since it’s literally almost only a stone’s throw from Portugal/Spain and Gibraltar.

Courtyard of El Minzah hotel. Our room was on the second floor.

We stayed in a traditional modernized Hotel El Minzah, which was good.

Lord’s Prayer written in Arabic around the arch in the sanctuary of St. Andrew's Church..

Our first day we visited a public garden and then were taken to St Andrews Church, which was a gift from the King of Morocco to Queen Victoria. 

George signs condolence book for Queen.

Those who wished could sign the condolence book for the Queen, which the Ambassador was going to deliver to London the following day.

Straits of Gibraltar. Atlantic to the left; Mediterranean to the right.

Next day, a visit to the Cape Spartel lighthouse, which is at the junction of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea… the Straits of Gibraltar.

Rohuna garden. It was a long walk to get there!

Followed by a visit to the Rahuna Garden, the result of a dream of writer/ horticulturalist Umberto Pasti.

Inside the American Legation Museum. This was a representation of a battle that interested George greatly, where the Moroccans chased out the Portuguese in 1578!

Welcome to US Legation Museum. Embassy moved to Rabat and philanthropic US folks decided to keep this beautiful building Lots more to the story!

Last day we spent at the American Legation Museum and a glorious private garden owned and designed by New Zealander,Veere Grenney.

Gazebo Garden, our last spot.

 

Check out these other posts for more about Morocco at The Intrepid Tourist:

Marrakech, Fes and Rabat, By Kathryn Mohrmn  

16 Days in Morocco Part 1, By Tom and Susan Weisner  

16  Days in Morocco, Part 2, By Tom and Susan Weisner