Stranger things

Aaaah. Slightly delayed post. After having not travelled abroad for nearly two years, I’ve ended up going on two trips within a week just recently. The first one was four days away (Stockholm), and the second one two weeks (Amsterdam)! I guess you’ll see the pics from there by xmas…? Doh. So back to my fun Friday, that now happened a whole month ago, and our second cultural outing of the day. G suggested we visited the Viktor Wynd Museum, a place I’d never heard of, but which made total sense that he had (this is the same G who showed us London’s only remaining sewer gas light that runs on biogases from peoples asses) - because he knows everything about this city.

So, through the door we went, into The Last Tuesday Society, the absinthe bar that the museum is in the basement of. The writing on the door says: “Those easily offended by death and decay should stay away.” A fair warning I reckon.

The ceiling of the bar gave an indication of what was to come. It’s so weird to look at these pictures now, as they’re so grotesque. On the day, everything was just intriguing, eccentric and quite funny, but I see now how weird it all must look to you.

Well, it gets just weirder and weirder. Believe me.

Walking down a tight spiral staircase you end up in a small, dank and mould smelling basement, greeted by a taxidermied fusion of a shreiking monkey/fish. Viktor Wynd has been an avid collector of the very strange for many years. He initially started out as an artist, but got disillusioned with it all, and decided to make money by opening a museum, where people would pay to see his vast collection of the freakiest shit you’ve ever seen. Literally. There are jars there with turds by Kylie Minogue and Amy Winehouse. There are also a hell of a lot of taxidermied stuff, as well as a lock of Elvis’ hair, strange skeletons, art and general weirdness.

So let’s have a look at some of this freakery then. How about some toads having a drink in a Corona bar (topical!)? There are also a lot of erotica about, and I had to do some hasty photoshopping to make the picture in the background here decent enough.

I quite liked this miniature artwork of a shop, but I don’t remember who it was by.

And this tiiiiiiiiiiiiny fairy skeleton was really cool too.

Hey, let’s have an intimate chat with a cow and a puma. No you say? Why not?

A lion then? Still no?

Well, how about a fly covered dinner on top of a spider crab? I’ll pay.

There was so much to look at, and so much to take in. I’m glad places like this exist, where you get to see something else, away from the conventional.

Once we were done we went back upstairs to the bar, to have ourselves a drink.

And when you’re in an absinthe bar you have to try the stuff right? We tried two different flavours, turning on the dripping taps that would water the drink down, through a sugar cube to sweeten it, using this amazing contraption, which made it really feel like an occasion. Have you tried it? I thought it tasted a bit like Pernod, and very aniseed-y.

D was the only one who liked it, so she got to finish it up, all by herself. Weirdly, none of us felt even remotely tipsy, which was strange, as it was late in the afternoon and pre-dinner. I suspected foul play, haha. How can something be like 67% alcohol proof and not in the slightest affect you? Hmmmmm I say.

To correct the disappointment we ordered Pisco Sours, which were just delicious, but I think these were alcohol free too. Well, it didn't matter, as it was a nice way to round off a really fun day. If you want to read a bit more about Viktor Wynd and the museum you can - here. Cheers!

A Fri-yay

Time to jump forward in time a bit, to Friday a couple of weeks ago, which is still back in time, but not as far back as all my recent posts. D & G, my old work friends, both had the day off, so we decided that we should have a day of culture. We were to spend the day in East London, and D showed me this crazy looking building she had spotted the evening before. And having just googled it I’ve learnt that it’s Nobu Hotel. How very swish. The actual rooms look nowhere near as interesting as the outside though.

Walking down Brick Lane we walked past this building and the tiled ‘Mayfair’ caught my eye. “Must’ve been a cinema back in the day” thought D. She was right.

This fool knew that we were going to a gallery and on to other things, but I needed to do a bit of ‘getting ready for winter’ shopping, so I felt a bit like a pack mule with my two bags (you can only see the shoulder strap of the other one here). I also dressed way too warm for the day, in fact just remembering that has given me a hot flush this very second…

Soooooo, we went to Whitechapel Gallery to see the Theaster Gates exhibition and great it was too. The initial exhibits where a selection from the ceramic collection at the V&A that Gates had chosen for the exhibition.

An amazing looking tool that Gates makes bricks with. It almost looked like a sculpture. I guess you could argue that if you put any object in a gallery, it looks like a sculpture.

D’s friend K came with us too, and here they both are, not looking at what was in front of them at all, haha.

Walking up to the second floor of the exhibition we had to try out this ‘social sculpture’ (not by Gates, can’t remember who it was by), which was built so whenever people sat in there, their knees would touch.

From two ladies with knees touching to two heads with necks joined together. I’ve wanted to see Theaster Gates’ art for a while now after having read about him in Will Gompertz book ‘Think like an artist’. Gates has over the years put the money that he has made from selling his art back into the community in Chicago’s South Side, where he lives. He’s been buying up derelict properties, turning them into cultural community spaces for everyone, but in particular for local residents. You can watch these YouTube videos and find out more here and here. I really admire his way of thinking, and all that he’s done.

So let’s look at some of what pays for his community projects. These pots had been glazed or covered in tar, and the inside was filled up with it too. The scent as you stuck your nose in it was tar-iffic.

So many cool huge ceramic objects in this room. We were really in awe.

Finished with the exhibition, we walked down the road to catch the overground. I had to excuse myself at one point to walk over to take this.

And seeing this guy squashed against a shop window like this made me very happy.

We got off the train in Haggerston and walked along Regent’s Canal.

And around Broadway Market for a little bit, in search for a something hot to drink and sweet to eat. This place didn't make the cut, but had great light.

Bellies full, we walked back along the canal, and these coots seemed to be squabbling over something.

“Run Forrest, run!”

This little doggie just missed the action.

G, K and D, ahead of me - rhymes yo.

Canal abstract. We were actually walking to our next cultural stop of the day, but that’s a whole post of its own.

All in all, a great day, where we felt like we were on holiday, doing only nice things as one does when away. Even just waiting for the train back home looked good.

From the saddle

Went out for a bike ride with my friend H on Saturday. We’ve been going for a few bike rides recently and I’ve always forgotten to bring my camera, so I made sure I did this time. Good thing too or I wouldn’t have been able to snap this beautiful maple around the corner from where I live.

We headed towards east London, which is like another city to me. I really don’t know that part of London well, which is great, as it really feels like traveling elsewhere when I do go. The view of this church made us think that we were in Oxford or Cambridge, as there was no traffic and people were either on foot or on bikes.

We cycled through De Beauvoir Square where these kind of Dutch style houses were a happy discovery. I sent a little film to my pal Z in Amsterdam and wrote: “Not quite Amsterdam, not quite London.” Maybe I’ve discovered a new city… Amsterdon? Londam?

A few minutes later into our drive you could tell we were no longer in north London. I’d love to know if the interior is as colourful.

We did a pit stop in London Fields to have a break on a bench and eat our packed lunches. I’ve only eaten lunch out twice since March; I now always bring a packed lunch (and a cup of tea in a thermos!) if I’m out in the day. Weirdly I kind of prefer it as it just less hassle. No decisions over what to eat or eating something meh. And tea is never as nice out as it is at home!

It’s hard to take pictures while you’re cycling. The framing is trickier and as I always shoot manual the exposure can leave much to be desired. This one came out ok though.

This street had a couple of artist’s studios in it with people working in them, which was great to see, as art should always be part of life, regardless of whatever else is going on.

I’ve never cycled along Regents Canal on the east side, and I really want to, but it’ll have to be on a weekday and maybe when we’re not in lockdown, as it was crazy busy. We’d arrived at Victoria Park at this point, which was so rammed with people on the paths it almost felt like we’d arrived at a festival. It did not feel like the last lockdown at all, and how sitting down on a blanket with friends and a bottle of wine qualify as exercise is beyond me.

Oh well, at least in some parts of the park you can pretend you’re somewhere else.

Or go somewhere else - within the covers of a book.

We planning on cycling to the City next time, as it’s bound to be deserted. Looking forward to it.

And finally a last looking up, on the way home, before it got too dark. Must remember to bring bike lights next time.