Under the coastal clouds

One of the locals told me in November that the winter here is lovely but the summer is always a disappointment. I am starting to understand what she meant. The sun is up there somewhere and when it shines it is hot, but so often there are clouds along the coast and Dunedin sits under the cloud. You can see where the clouds finish, just over the hill.

I notice in the newspaper that they have just put a new temperature gauge in the city that they think will measure the temperature more accurately. Dunedin, they said, has unfairly become the brunt of unfair comment by other New Zealanders and this new gauge will help. We will see!

18C

Today when I got up the thermometer in the kitchen said 13.2C but then the sun popped over the horizon and it was suddenly warmer. It is 29 January and18C is forecast. Quite a change from Sydney.

There seem to be varying 18Cs. Sometimes it is 18C and warm and other times it feels more like 14C. I think I will become like the Eskimos who have lots of different words for snow. I shall have lots of different words for 18C.

New beginnings

I bought a piece of greenstone recently in Greymouth. For years I had thought to buying a piece of greenstone, but only now did it feel like the right time.

I bought a 'Koru' which is a circular piece. The Koru is a symbol of new beginnings and I thought it very appropriate.

Digesting the changes

If you had not guessed, the photos in my November logs are of Dunedin.
If you had asked me before I moved if it was possible to move countries in 10 days I would have said No, its not.
But it is ....... I know because I did it!

It is more than 6 weeks since I posted to this blog and I have been travelling most of the time since. I went back to Sydney and tied up loose ends, went to NZ North Island for Christmas then trickled on down to Dunedin via the west coast.

In the meantime I have had time to digest the sudden changes in my life. The decision to move was made quickly but I think it will turn out to be a good decision. Dunedin is a lovely spot and I am looking forward to starting my art course. Somehow I am not worried about the cold weather here. I think I must have psychologically decided that since it is the best place for me to be, the cold doesn't matter.

Better photo

A better photo (marginally) of my new 'Heimat'.

Where am I?

For some time now I have been feeling as if I was on the cusp of change. I just didn't know the direction.

Now suddenly I am living in a different city, a different country. I have moved from Australia to go to art school.

But where to? Well the picture attached shows you my new city. Northern hemisphere? Southern hemisphere?

Parsifal

The acoustics in the Festspielhaus at Bayreuth are just as amazing as everyone reports. The music glides out from under the covered orchestra pit at the front and swells into the hall, bringing the voices of the singers with it. It is no wonder that people queue for tickets to the Wagner festival and are willing to sit on very hard seats for 4 hours at a time to hear the music. It is glorious and for days afterwards, everytime you are in a quiet place you hear the music in the back of your head.

The performance of Parsifal (directed by Schlingensief) was probably the most controversial of all the operas I saw. Most people I heard talking about it seemed to find it really repugant. I had the opposite reaction and found it the most moving opera I have seen. I was so affected I had to go for a walk in the first interval to recover my equilibrium.

I bought an icecream to help recover. The man in the queue behind me was making very loud aggressive remarks about how awful he found Schlingensiefs´s Parsifal and the man in front of me remarked to his wife that those were his thoughts entirely. I wandered off down to the lovely park (the intervals are one hour long) in front of the Festspielhaus. I noticed a group of young people sitting having a picnic and as I wandered past I asked if they were enjoying the performance. Two young glowing female faces turned towards me and nodded . The looked at me shyly, not quite sure of my reaction. I told them I was delighted to find at least someone who thought it as good as I had.

Need that jumper

The paper today reported that July temperatures in northern Germany were 5 degrees C above normal.

I imagine people going to Bayreuth for the second ring cycle (now playing) packed for hot weather. They will be feeling the cold as in the meantime it has turned really cold. Here in Hamburg it is cold enough for the heating to be turned on and I read that in central Germany it is even colder. 12-16C. Brrr! I was going to leave my jumper here and travel lighter to Bayreuth (and home) - that would have been a bad move.

Harvest time in Hamburg

The rye field around the corner from where I am staying is ready for harvest. It glows golden in the evening light. 

Horses

Horses are a feature of the fields around Rissen and in June I spent a good deal of time drawing them. In June many of them had foals - but not this beautiful black stallion. 

Walmdachhaus in Rissen, Hamburg

This thatched roof house in Rissen village has just been renovated and is occupied by the local real estate agent.

Back in Hamburg

I am back in Hamburg. Arriving at the airport felt like coming home. It has been hot but now the first feel of autumn is in the air, a reminder that Hamburg is very far north.

When I open ´blogger´from here everything appears in German. The machines must know which country you are logging in from.

Suspension Bridge at Clifton

This is the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. It appears on many postcards of Bristol and is the city icon.
More paintings of Bristol here

Bristol

Bristol is a pretty place, built on steep hills, population of 400,000 and a tidal river that runs into the sea. Why did I expect a big industrial town?

There is a replica of an old ship in the harbour of the type that would have sailed from Bristol to discover the new world a century before the ships of convicts set sail for Sydney.

View from the espresso bar

 

Watching the world pass by

 

Bristol

Today I decamp. Off to Bristol about an hour north of Frome which I have not visitied before but heard nice things about. Then onwards to Germany.

High heels and cobblestones

Walking with high heels is a challenge at any time, but particularly walking down the steep cobbled lane called Gentle Street. I followed this young woman down Gentle Street as she carefully place each heel on a cobble.




The street eventually leads to St Johns Church. There was a service on but a pianist rather than an organist so I didn't stop to listen but went on to La Strada which is just down the steps on the other side.

(I discovered while writing this that if you mis-type high heels, you get high hells.)

Paintings of Frome here.

Ethel

My walk this morning took me past this church where I hovered a while to listen in case there was an organist playing.









As I listened I looked at the view from the front of the church over the graveyard. Then I stooped to look at the inscription on the wonky stone at the front.


















Ethel
Only and Beloved Child of
Philip and Kate Edinger
Died July 11 1898
Aged 14 years.

Rook Lane Chapel

Today I walked the Frome historic walk. This is the Rook Lane Chapel built in 1707 . It is, to quote the tourist brochure, a grade 1 listed building and the front is one of the most beautiful facades in Somerset. It was recently rennovated and is now an arts centre.