Welcome to a Room with a View

Mr. Hunter would like to share with you a bit of the bliss

that comes from waking up in in Florence, Italy.

How you pad across the darkened room, 

how you reach up to unlatch the heavy white interior shutters,

and there, just outside your window,

the glory of your particular view.

The sun is rising over the bell towers, over the red rooftops of Florence.

You are on holiday here. You have the chance to ask yourself:

How shall I spend this delicious day?

Buongiorno!

                        

Here's a longer look at the morning view,

this time featuring a hint of the Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio

and, ah, the chiming church bells!

Florence, Italy

October 2016

Honeymooning in Croatia

Mr. Hunter got a taste of paradise on the Adriatic Sea 

when he tagged along on Becky and Brian's honeymoon.

Here he is apres swim, wrapped up cozily in a towel at the hotel pool in Split.

Here he is in Split again, waiting for the ferry to Hvar.

Thanks for taking Mr. Hunter on his first trip to the Balkans, Becky!

Split, Croatia

May 2013

Senor Hunter and La Sagrada Familia

Flat Mr. Hunter admires the gothic side of La Sagrada Familia, which has a nativity scene

Mr. Hunter's keeper has longed to visit Gaudi's famed Barcelona cathedral ever since she saw Irving Penn's marvelous photo of a funeral procession passing in front of La Sagrada Familia.

Funeral Cortège in front of La Sagrada Familía
Irving Penn
Thanks to the Pebbles From Paradise blog.

Flat Mr. Hunter and the austere Passion facade

Beautiful!  Mr. Hunter can't wait to see this cathedral with his own wooden eyes.  A big "Gracias!" to Liz for taking Flat Mr. Hunter to Barcelona in the meantime.

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona, Spain

June 2011

Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Mr. Hunter had tickets for the Buckingham Palace State Rooms tour, so we walked down The Mall and figured we might as well check out the changing of the guard.

Changing the Guard

Buckingham Palace

London, England

September 2011

The Thames and the Millennium Bridge

Mr. Hunter stopped while to pose for some photos while he was crossing the Millennium Bridge.

With the Thames and the City of London in the background.

The Thames Festival was going on in front of the Tate,
so when we first headed across the river, the
Millennium Bridge was so crowded.

Amy Winehouse's protege, Dionne Bromfield, was performing at the festival.

The Millennium Bridge and the dome of St. Paul's.

Shakespeare's Globe and Sir Christopher Wren's house.

Looking down the Thames toward the Tower Bridge.

Millennium Bridge

London, England

September 2011

Tate Modern Tour: Gerhard Richter

One room of the Tate Modern was lined with six Gerhard Richter paintings.  

Mr. Hunter has posed with a Gerhard Richter piece before, at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.  

The Richter series at the Tate was inspired by composer John Cage.  Mr. Hunter liked the dark green painting best.

Take a photo tour of all six pieces on the Tate site.

Gerhard Richter

Material Gestures: Cage (1) - (6)

Tate Modern

London, England

September 2011

Summertime: Number 9A

I think Jackson Pollock's painting, Summertime: Number 9A, makes a perfect backdrop for Mr. Hunter.

About Summertime: Number 9A

Jackson Pollock's signature

detail from Summertime: Number 9A
Jackson Pollock

Tate Modern

London, England

September 2011

The Tate's Water-Lilies

Mr. Hunter has spent some quality time with Monet's famed Les Nymphéas paintings at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, and he was curious to see the water-lilies at the Tate Modern.  The painting at the Tate turned out to be a more muted look at water-lilies at Giverny.

Water-Lilies
Claude Monet

(Mr. Hunter has a confession: 

He likes the vivid Monet water-lily paintings at l'Orangerie much better.)

Tate Modern

London, England

September 2011

Standing Hunter with Giacometti's Standing Women

From St. Paul's Cathedral, we walked across the Millennium Bridge and headed into the Tate Modern, the contemporary art museum housed in a former power station.

Mr. Hunter felt an affinity with these elongated Alberto Giacometti figures,
even though he's more of a squat sort of figure himself.

three figures, each entitled
Standing Woman
Alberto Giacometti

information from the Tate.org.uk web site:

Standing Woman - the one on the left

Standing Woman - the one in the center

Standing Woman - the one on the right

The Tate Modern, seen from the Millennium Bridge.

Tate Modern

London, England

September 2011

St. Paul's Cathedral

After our pilgrimage to the Courtauld, we walked down The Strand and paid a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral.  We arrived just as they were finishing up Evensong, so we had a chance to sit down and listen to some of the soaring and lovely music.

Here's a YouTube video somebody posted 

that shows a snippet of Evensong music at St. Paul's.  

    

The day we went to St. Paul's happened to be tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.  It felt odd not to be in the U.S. on the 9/11 anniversary.  

At the Blitz and Firefighters Memorial across the street from St. Paul's, 

many people had placed wreaths, including some to honor the 9/11 victims, and this gave us a good chance to stand and remember that day, to think of all the people whose lives were lost or destroyed, to reflect on how our world has changed so profoundly because of what happened that Tuesday morning.

The card reads:
In memory of our 343 New York Colleagues
Who made the ultimate sacrifice 10 years ago.
The UK Firefighters Memorial Trust
London
11th Sept 2011

I had especially wanted to return to St. Paul's Cathedral since I'd watched a documentary called The Blitz: London's Longest Night a few years ago.  The film is a affecting mix of interviews with survivors of the Blitz, re-enactments of some events on the night of December 29, 1940, and even some footage of the fires that surrounded and threatened St. Paul's.  

As I stood at the Blitz and Firefighters Memorial, I thought of 9/11, and also I thought of the Blitz and those firemen and other Londoners whose stories I'd heard in the documentary.  There was one fireman in particular -- he had survived simply because another young firefighter had come to relieve him about one minute before a huge brick wall collapsed in flames right where the survivor had just been standing. The documentary took the time not just to listen to this man's story, but also to show him sitting quietly, still grieving and stunned by this vision of the wall falling down.

St. Paul's Cathedral

London, England

September 2011

Mr. Hunter Recommends: The Courtauld Gallery

The Courtauld Gallery is a wonderful, friendly little museum on The Strand.  I've visited the Courtauld every time I've been to London, and each time it has been a pleasure to wander the galleries.  They have many Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces on display, including works by Renoir, Manet, Van Gogh, Seurat, and Cezanne.  

About this painting by Amadeo Modigliani

One of my favorite paintings at the Courtauld is this piece by Modigliani.

I think I'd seen and admired this image in a book long before I'd ever gone to London, and I remember turning a corner when I was first visiting the Courtauld, and there she was, this Modigliani nude.  

I had a similar experience once at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. At home I had a framed print of a delicious Klimt landscape, but I'd never seen that particular painting in person.  And then, tucked into a corner of a room in the Musee d'Orsay, there it was.  

I love running into paintings that are old friends.

Man with a Pipe, by Paul Cezanne

Portrait of Ambroise Vollard
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Edouard Manet

Haymaking
Paul Gauguin

Guess who.

Another favorite painting.  I fell in love with this piece.
Child with a Dove
Pablo Picasso

The courtyard of Somerset House.  The Courtauld
is to the right of where I was standing when I took this picture.
They were building a structure for London Fashion Week.

We had lunch at The Gallery Cafe.

The Courtauld Gallery

Somerset House

London, England

September 2011

People I Have Asked: The Dishoom Waiter

Dishoom turned out to be one of our neighborhood restaurants on this trip.  

We stumbled in early on our first evening, jet-lagged but determined to stay up long enough to get ourselves on London time.  

(Note: Mr. Hunter probably wasn't jet-lagged.)

Our super-friendly waiter gave us the lowdown on the ways of Dishoom, which bills itself as a Bombay Cafe.  Smaller portions, so it's fun (and yummy) to order a few different items and share them.  We had cafe crisps, garlic naan, raita, and a wrap called a Dishoom Frankie for our first dinner at Dishoom.  And the waiter was so helpful that Mr. Hunter had to ask him to pose for a photograph.

Garlic naan and raita

Another night: chicken berry biryani, garlic naan, raita, and a Dishoom Frankie

Can you tell that we were into the garlic naan?

Dishoom

London, England

September 2011

Pret A Manger

As soon as Mr. Hunter had checked into his hotel, he was ready to eat, and there was no better place to begin than the nearest location of London's ubiquitous Pret A Manger.

I had a hard time picking out the flavors for my first Pret sandwich of the trip.  My mom, on the other hand, went right for the Mature Cheddar and Pret Pickle sandwich (served on a baguette), and that particular mix proved to be a classic that she chose all the other times we hit a Pret for lunch.

For breakfast, we both tended toward Pret's "yoghurt pots," in particular the one that combined Greek yogurt, pomegranate seeds, dried cranberries, pistachios, and shredded apple.  

Here's a short video of the scene at Pret one morning:

I was in London on a business trip, so on several mornings I walked down to our "neighborhood" Pret for a quiet breakfast on my own, and then -- bliss! -- I'd take the super-short walk to work.  I loved walking to work in London.  I loved being one of the people who was walking to work in London.

On the day we had tickets for the Buckingham Palace tour, we visited the Royal Mews, too.  Once we'd finished with that tour, we had a bit of time before Buckingham Palace, so we asked one of the Mews employees if there were any Pret A Mangers close by.  (And really, isn't there usually a Pret A Manger close by wherever you go in Central London?)  The guy we talked to said, Yeah, there's one across the street.  Well, not exactly.  The place he was talking about had a name that also meant "ready to eat," only it was a Pret knock-off that called itself Pronto 'A' Mangia.

We headed a few streets over toward Victoria Station and found an actual Pret a Manger.  And yes, my mom had the Mature Cheddar and Pret Pickle sandwich that time, too.

Pret A Manger

London, England

September 2011

A Travel Totem Who Was Inspired By Mr. Hunter!

Mr. Hunter and I were honored to learn recently that the original Mr. Hunter Wall outside my old office inspired one of my former coworkers to start his own travel totem project.  Meet BeeTuu.

I love how BeeTuu's beak presents interesting compositional opportunities.

Paris, France

June 2011

BeeTuu's caretaker, John, tells more about this traveling toucan's background: When I was new to Yahoo, I was wandering around and saw a cube wall decorated with photos of what I now know is Mr. Hunter.  I filed away the idea of getting my own talisman.  Much later I watched Inception. They called their talismans "totems."  I then filed that idea away.  My girlfriend and I went to Costa Rica and I saw BeeTuu on a table with other carved animals.  I knew he would be my totem. 

When I was in fourth grade, my class published a newsletter.  Of course we needed a mascot.  Our classroom was the second bungalow so our room number was "B2".  Of course our newsletter needed a tagline. "If the B2 Toucan can, so can you!" Naturally, my totem had to be called BeeTuu. 

BeeTuu has taken me to France and around California.  This summer, we're going back to Europe and I plan to take more photos. 

Ötzi the Iceman

Our friend, Ötzi the Iceman, has been in the news again lately.  

Mr. Hunter and his family have such fond memories of seeing the Ötzi exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology in Bolzano, Italy.

See how pleased Mr. Hunter looks?

One of the most extraordinary sections of the Ötzi museum featured his clothes and his equipment.  It was a transporting experience--like time travel, somehow, and mind-blowing enough to bring tears to my eyes--to stand before Otzi's bearskin cap, his leggings, and his famous shoes, which you may have read about in this New Yorker article.  

A bonus feature of the museum: some notable souvenirs and postcards.

I could not resist this admittedly strange snowglobe that recreates the scene where Otzi's body was first discovered in the Italian Alps.  

If you're lucky enough to find yourself in northern Italy, Mr. Hunter and I heartily recommend a visit to Bolzano and this special museum.

South Tyrol Museum of Archeology

Bolzano, Italy

June 2008

Eight Heads

Mr. Hunter felt a kinship with these Heads of the Kings of Judah when he encountered them at the Musée National du Moyen Age 

(aka the Musée de Cluny) in Paris.

The statues of the Kings of Judah were displayed on the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral until 1793 and the French Revolution.  These particular fragments were unearthed in 1977 during some construction in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.  

The Cluny web site tells how the original statues had been sold to a builder after they'd been dismantled, but that the heads had later been purchased and "buried with respect" in 1796.

Musée National du Moyen Age

Paris, France

May 2010