ON TOUR IN EUROPE WITH THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY, 5 CITIES, 14 DAYS--Guest Post by Tom and Susan Weisner

The Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg Symphony Hall, Germany.

Our friends, Susan and Tom Weisner, went along with their son Jeffrey and granddaughters and family on a tour of Europe with the National Symphony in February 2024. Jeff plays the double bass in the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) in Washington, DC. Seven flights, six train trips, and many bus transfers later, here are some highlights from five cities along the way of the 14-day tour.

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain--still under construction.

Mercado de la Boqueria, Barcelona.

First stop, Barcelona, Spain, capital of the Catalan region of Spain. The Antoni Gaudi designed and imagined La Sagrada Familia Cathedral is a highlight, as is the Ramblas walking street off of Catalan Square, and the Mercado de la Boqueria open market.

View of Toledo, Spain.

The Gothic style cathedral, Toledo, dates from the 1200s.

The narrow streets of Toledo--cathedral dimly visible in background.

We then took a train to Madrid, and a half day train ride and tour of Toledo – a wonderful historic Spanish city about 40 minutes from Madrid.

Berlin Wall Museum.

We all then flew to Berlin with the NSO. We visited the cold war era Berlin Wall museum and model of the former “Checkpoint Charlie” crossing; the new glass dome on the German Parliament or Reichstag Building, and the Holocaust memorial site near the Brandenburg Gate. 

In Berlin we toured the new German Parliament glass dome which looks directly into the parliament chamber.

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin.

We also took our granddaughters to the Computer Games Historical Museum in the former East Berlin on the Karl Marx Allee, the Illusions museum, and the Spy Museum (sorry, no photos)! There are huge shopping and walking streets and parks in Berlin as well. The rest of the family flew home from Berlin – school and work!

In Cologne, on the way to the train station.

Next Susan and I took the train to Cologne, Germany, where we met up again with the orchestra, and went to a concert in their  beautiful concert hall. We then took the train for one day to Kassel, Germany, for a brief visit, where Tom’s father and grandparents had lived until they fled Hitler in 1938.

La Scala, Milan, Italy.

The NSO chartered a plane to Milan, Italy, to play a concert at La Scala for one night. The La Scala experience was great, but no time for anything else to see in Milan, because we flew the next morning to Hamburg, Germany, the last stop on the tour. We and the NSO stayed at the Elbphilharmonie, an amazing new building. (See first photo.) The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany, which opened in 2017 with multiple concert halls and hotel all built on top of an existing former warehouse. The hotel is in the building with the symphony halls, and the public can walk up to see the views of the city.

Concert hall, Hamburg.

The Brahms Music Museum in Hamburg, Germany. Can you name the seven famous composers?

Inside the Brahms Music Museum.

Many thanks to Susan and Tom for sharing highlights of their trip with The Intrepid Tourist!

MEETING CELEBRITIES IN AUSTRALIA – KANGAROOS AND KOALAS, Guest Post by Caroline Hatton at The Intrepid Tourist

Wild kangaroos: joey sipping milk, Halls Gap, Victoria, Australia

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s book writer and frequent contributor to this blog, captured these images in Australia in November 2023, springtime Down Under.

Why Australia? Because it was on my husband’s bucket list well before the phrase was coined. A long-time dream of his was to see exotic Australian animals in the wild, including koalas and kangaroos, the top celebrities.

We thought that seeing them in a wildlife sanctuary first would give us a better idea of what to look for in the wild. And that calibrating our eyeballs to the size of target species at various distances would increase our chances of spotting them.

Relaxed kangaroo, Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria, Australia.

To pick where to seek such guaranteed sightings upon arrival, we ranked the species we most wanted to see, and cross-referenced them with urban zoos, non-zoos and closer-to-natural sanctuaries near Sydney (New South Wales) and Melbourne (Victoria), two destinations for many choices of flights from the U.S.

The Healesville Sanctuary, a two-hour drive from Melbourne, won hands down. There, napping kangaroos and koalas presented front, back, and side views, and one kangaroo even scratched an ear with a back toe. Starting our tour of Australia in the state of Victoria turned out to be optimal because that’s where we found all the wild kangaroos and koalas we saw on our entire trip.

 KANGAROO MOBS

 A kangaroo mob is a group of kangaroos, a fun word that seems to suggest that they’re up to no good.

The first place where we went looking for wild kangaroos was the Anglesea Golf Course, named on many web pages about driving the scenic Great Ocean Road. Without paying for a guided tour, only one side of the golf course perimeter fence was approachable. Our itinerary brought us there at noon, nap time for the animals, so our chances of success were dim. All we saw was one pair of sleepy kangaroo ears above the grass in the shade of distant trees.

Wild kangaroo family outside our rental cabin, Halls Gap, Victoria, Australia.

Doe and joey outside our cabin. Doe licking forearms to cool down.

Two days later, after reaching the western end of the Great Ocean Road in Warrnambool, we drove inland for two hours to the town of Halls Gap, a vacation destination in low mountains, the Grampians. Tons of wild kangaroos live there! Good places to look for them include the town park and any other open grass, such as any meadow and the golf course.

Fate spoiled us with the wild kangaroo stampede in this video. During a torrential downpour, at first, all the kangaroos in the meadow outside our rental cabin sat still as statues… until they suddenly all hopped away for reasons unknown to us.

Wild doe and joey, Halls Gap.

The town park was all theirs, its lawns littered with generations of kangaroos. Like tourists, they lounged, dozed, and snacked (on grass). Moms brought their offspring to the park to play and enjoy quality mommy-and-me time. The “roos” generously left paved paths and benches to us humans. After work hours, this video shows locals exercising at the park, the kangaroos kickboxing, oblivious of the human jogging past.

LONE KOALAS

What surprised me about koala sightings was how un-subtle they were. The glaring contrast in size and shape between slim eucalyptus (“gum”) leaves and obese fur balls made detection unavoidable.

Wild koala near Kafe Koala, Australia.

To look for wild koalas on the Great Ocean Road, an obligatory stop is at Kafe Koala on the Kennett River. Parking lot attendants (“wild” parrots) watch for food crumbs, like pigeons in Paris or Venice. There, tour buses let passengers out, perhaps as much for souvenirs and snacks as for walks up the dirt road looking for giant pompoms perched high in the gum trees.

When we arrived mid-afternoon, we were the only ones there. Gums are so tall that before looking up at those near me, tipping my head back as far as my neck would bend, I made sure my feet were securely planted on even ground, so I wouldn’t fall over.

Wild koala scratching--a high action shot!

My first wild koala was awake! Scratching! Changing venue in this video. Then I noticed the drops, falling one at a time, seconds apart, drawing a graceful arc against the tender blue sky in the steady breeze. My koala was urinating! How many lucky tourists can say they witnessed such a rare event?

We saw four more koalas on that hour-long walk. One reached for leaves and munched on them. One male bellowed, part of his job description during the mating season.

Another koala destination off the Great Ocean Road is a few miles inland of Cape Otway, along the dirt road to Bimbi Park, a campground. While my husband drove as slowly as possible, we both scanned treetops ahead and on the sides, but not too far in the forest, only as far as we might be able to detect our targets.

See the wild koala, spotted from inside the car?

“STOP! KOALA!!!” I shouted a second before taking the above photo through the windshield. We saw two more koalas on this 15-minute drive, enough to make us happy.

Other wildlife we saw in 25 days spent in three states (Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania) included many wallabies, pademelons, wombats, possums, echidnas, bats, water dragons, and oh, so many colors and species of birds! But that’s another story.

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

THE EXPLORATORIUM, SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Pi Day and Hands-On STEM Heaven

Entrance to the Exploratorium, Pier 15/17, San Francisco, CA.

The Exploratorium on the Embarcadero in San Francisco is a museum for science nerds young and old and everyone else who is curious about the world we live in. Almost all the exhibits invite you to participate, revealing science principals in amazing and fun ways. On a recent visit to the Bay Area, I spent an afternoon there.

Native oyster colony exhibit on roof of museum.

The museum is organized in six sections: Human Phenomena (math and illusions); Tinkering (making and building); Seeing and Reflections (light, mirrors and sound); Living Systems (life from DNA and cells to organisms and ecosystems); Outdoor Exhibits (winds, tides and natural phenomena); and Observing Landscapes (history, geography and ecology of the Bay Area.) 

Pi Toss

After purchasing our tickets at the entrance, we headed toward the math section. I have always loved math and was motivated to visit the Exploratorium because I wanted to see their exhibits about the number Pi. (Pi is the ratio of the diameter of a circle and its circumference.) Calculating Pi is a complicated mathematical problem, but there are some simple demonstrations that come close. At the Pi Toss, circular disks with a line drawn across the middle (marking the diameter) are tossed onto a surface marked with parallel lines double the length of the diameter. When the number of disks whose diameters do not cross the lines are divided into the total number of disks, the result is surprisingly close to Pi--3.1416. Knowing the value of Pi is important for any calculation involving circles. The celebration of Pi Day, March 14, originated at the Exploratorium.

In another part of the museum you can learn about wave motion by manipulating a giant, slinky-like spring.

Bell Curve.

Tiny balls rolling through a pinball-like grid demonstrate the bell curve, with the majority of the balls falling to the center and fewer and fewer toward the outer edges.

                                   

Revolving disks.

As the painted disks of this giant spinning top turn, the images are reflected on the mirrors and appear to move--the same effect that is created by a movie projector as film passes the lens and the image is projected onto a screen. Here the horses appear to run and the figure appear to dance.

On the second floor of the museum is a door to the roof deck, with more exhibits and a magnificent view of San Francisco Bay.

Entrance to Camera Obscura

A small tent on the roof deck houses a camera obscura--in which a pinhole lens and a mirror project the outside image onto a surface inside the tent.

Image of Bay Bridge projected on a table inside the tent. In real time, one can watch tiny boats sailing on the bay and cars driving across the bridge.

At the far end of the museum, in the biological section, there are exhibits of plants and animals, including a view of carnivorous plants growing inside a greenhouse, a demonstration of the process of decomposition in nature, an example of water-resistant plant leaves and more.

With a digital magnifying glass you can project images of dried flowers onto a large screen.

Fish swim inside a large aquarium.

Here I am standing beside a 310 year old Douglas fir tree slice.

About 1691 a pine cone fell from a Douglas fir near Olema, California, in Marina County. About six months later the pinecone sprouted and this tree began its life. When the tree fell down 310 years later, a slice was cut and brought to the museum. The rings tell the story of its life--wet seasons, dry seasons, invasion by insects.

Fantastic structure built of toothpicks--and still under construction!

An ongoing exhibit is an amazing structure built with toothpicks, depicting iconic sights of San Francisco. It is one of just a small sampling of the many exhibits we saw. Another day we'll have to go back to see more.

We visited the Exploratorium on a weekday afternoon, after the large school groups had left for the day. While the museum was still busy, it didn't feel crowded. At the end of our visit we stopped for a snack at the Seaglass Restaurant before driving back across the bridge to Oakland. 

The Exploratorium is located at Pier 15, between the Ferry Building and Pier 39, along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

For tickets, hours, and more information about visiting  the Exploratorium, go to their website.

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR WOMEN IN THE ARTS, Washington, D.C.: More Than Just a Museum

Oil painting by Amy Sherald at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC

In early February I went on a short trip to Washington DC with my husband, and while he was at his meetings, I went with a friend to museums, including the newly renovated National Museum of Women in the Arts. The artwork there, all by women, is historical/political/educational/thought provoking/fun. It ranges from pieces produced in the 16th century up to the present day--in all kinds of styles, from traditional to abstract to conceptual. The collection includes paintings, prints, ceramics, sculpture, photographs, and more, some created by recognizable names like Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, Berthe Morisot, Frida Kahlo, plus many more by artists I didn't know. The painting above by Amy Sherald, done in 2009, is titled "They Call Me Redbone But I'd Rather Be Strawberry Shortcake." 

Scorch Song by Alison Saar, 2022

Marriage portrait of a Bolognese noblewoman by Lavinia Fontana, 1589.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, located in the heart of the city not far from the White House, opened in 1987. In 2021, it began major renovations and has recently reopened. As the visitor’s brochure proclaims: “NMWA is more than an art museum. We aim to create gender equity in the arts.”

One of four posters by the Guerrilla Girls on exhibit at the museum.

The museum collections include more than 8000 pieces of art. Galleries on the third and fourth floor, mezzanine, and ground floor display pieces from the permanent collection. 

Entrance to The Sky's the Limit exhibit on the second floor of the museum.

The second floor is for special exhibitions, which at the time of our visit was “The Sky’s the Limit”. (This exhibit closed February 25, 2024, shortly after my visit.) At the suggestion of the woman at the front desk where we got our tickets, we started by taking the elevator to the top, and then worked our way down.

Pregnant Nana by Niki de Saint Phalle, 1995.

The gallery exhibits are organized by theme, although it was a little hard to figure out how the themes related to some of the pieces. As usual, I took my camera and photographed many of the pieces. There's never enough time to see everything at a museum and read every label. This way, when I get home I can look at my pictures and enjoy the museum again. Here are a few of my favorite pieces.

Faience Dog covered in crochet by Joana Vasconcelos, 2005.

Yam Story, painting by Australian artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye 

Suspended Sky by April Gornik, etching and aquatint, 2005.

Young Woman in Mauve by Berthe Morisot, 1880.

Orion, acrylic painting by Alma Woodsey Thomas, 1973.

Woman in white dress seen through screen of black combs. (The Sky's the Limit)

Thirty Pieces of Silver, sculpture by Cornelia Parker (The Sky's the Limit.)

My silhouette reflected in color photo print on metallic paper by Mariah Robertson (The Sky's the Limit).

The Museum of Women in the Arts is housed in a historical building that was originally a Masonic Temple. On one wall of the elegant main hall/ballroom are black and white photos of prom couples through the years. When I asked at the information desk if the room had ever been used for a prom, they didn’t know, but they said that it is often rented out for weddings. The National Museum of Women in the Arts is well worth a visit the next time you are in Washington, D.C. It puts a new perspective on the role of women artists and will make you rethink your understanding of art history.

What if women ruled the world? Neon sculpture by Yael Bartana, 2016.

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Admission is $16 for adults, $13 for D.C. residents and seniors. It is free if you are under 21. For more information and directions go to the museum’s website www.nmwa.org .

At the time of our visit, NMWA did not have an onsite café. (They plan to have one in the future.) We walked two blocks down the street to a restaurant called Tatte Bakery and Cafe, and had a delicious lunch. 

Still Life of Fish and Cat by Clara Peeters, after 1620.