Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Austin – Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum

    I’ve been slowly making my way around all of the Presidential libraries in the United States and I’m nearly half-way through them. Unfortunately, some of them are more accessible than others in terms of their locations. The library and museum of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, is located at the University of Texas in Austin and so is one of the more accessible.

    I took quite a few photos when I was at the museum, although unfortunately a combination of my limited phone camera of the time and Google’s compression of the photos has meant they’re not particularly clear. Behind this talking animatronic of Johnson, who was President from 1963 until 1969, are numerous caricatures of him.

    A series of photos of former Presidents and their wives.

    A recreation of the Oval Office as it would have looked during Johnson’s time there, with this recreation being a common theme at Presidential museums.

    I liked this quote.

    These photos aren’t very clear, but a few weeks before I visited the museum it had been also been visited by President Barack Obama. It’s not very clear, but the upper photo above is of Barack Obama listening to the exhibit’s phone, which I decided to also use whilst standing in the same location knowing I’d then listened to the same phone as a former President. I’m easily pleased…

    On the subject of recordings, President Johnson secretly recorded many meetings and phone calls, around 800 hours of them. Many of these recordings were available to listen to at the museum, a fascinating record of the times and it gave a real feeling of being there when political events were unfolding.

    As a museum it was cleverly put together and it was accessible in terms of the information provided. I don’t know a great deal about the politics of the United States in the 1960s, but this was an interesting overview of the work undertaken by the President of the time. All rather lovely.

  • Austin – Please Feed Me

    This is a bag given to me by the tourist information office in Austin, and it’s one of the cleverest worded anti-litter campaigns that I’ve seen.

  • Narbonne – Narbonne Cathedral (Finished Bit)

    Not all of the Narbonne Cathedral is finished (the unfinished bit) and the above photo shows what there actually is. What would have just been the choir area was built, but the crossing area where the tower would have been and the rest of the nave weren’t finished.

    This is what the cathedral looks like inside, all rather crammed in compared to what the original plans would have envisaged. The choir area has been pushed back to a small area at the rear and what is effectively the nave has been constructed in the space that’s been freed up. The proportions are now of course entirely wrong, as the height is way too high for the floor space, although that doesn’t take away from just how impressive this building feels.

    I can’t help thinking of just how irritating it must have been for the architects to see their designs never quite completed.

  • Narbonne – Hotel F1 Narbonne Sud

    Hotel F1 is the cheapest brand of hotels in the Accor chain and they’re mostly, but not entirely, located in France following some rebranding of many of these locations as Ibis Budget. The remaining Hotel F1 locations are normally just outside of town centres and they’re keenly priced with plenty of car parking (not that this element matters to me).

    The rooms are similar to Ibis Budget hotels, but they have shared bathrooms. As shared bathrooms go though, these are some of the best as it’s clear which ones are in use and there are also so many that there isn’t usually any wait. The rooms, like Ibis Budget, have bunk beds and are relatively small in size.

    Hotels in France are usually expensive, so these locations offer a much affordable option. This particular hotel in Narbonne cost around £28 per night, as opposed to the nearly £100 per night accommodation options in the town centre. This hotel was clean and well presented, with the staff members being helpful and friendly. It’s all rather basic, but it’s well managed so that it’s still sufficiently comfortable. There’s also free wi-fi offered at the hotel, and it was surprisingly fast.

    The breakfast costs around £2.50 and allows for unlimited bread, jams, cereals, orange juice and coffees. It might be one of the most basic breakfasts offered by Accor hotels, but the price means that it’s still excellent value for money.

    The F1 hotels routinely get poor reviews, so perhaps they’re not managing expectations particularly well. This hotel is 20th out of 21 accommodation options on TripAdvisor for the town, and I sometime wonder what people actually expect.

  • Narbonne – Narbonne Cathedral (Unfinished Bit)

    I’ve told a lot of people how much I was fascinated by Narbonne Cathedral following my visit there in 2017. It’s really intriguing as it’s a cathedral which was never finished, with only the choir section having been completed. So what is left is the first part of the nave and the choir area, with the nave section having never been roofed.

    The unfinished nature of the structure gives an indication of how buildings like this were constructed, and it almost feels like being on a medieval building site. Where the rear of the nave would have been is now built on, but the central nave area has remained as it would have looked in the thirteenth century.

    The cathedral was never completed for numerous reasons, partly funding but also it would have meant moving the city walls and this would have been an expensive and time-consuming exercise. The cathedral itself was also one of the largest which was being built, so it would have been a huge commitment to see it through to the end.

    The unfinished elements are also visible from the side of the cathedral.

    This is the bit of the cathedral that was finished, which was effectively only the choir area. Today though the interior has been reconfigured to try and make the whole cathedral fit inside the space that they have. I’m unsure why the first section of the nave area was never finished, as this could have been done relatively cheaply since the walls were already up, but perhaps there was just never the need.

  • London (Central) – Kindertransport Statue (The Arrival)

    I don’t usually use this entrance into Liverpool Street Station, so have missed just how much of a wonderful statue this is. It’s a commemoration of the 10,000 Jewish children who were able to escape from Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of the Second World War and who arrived at the station.

    The statue was designed by Frank Meisler who as a child was evacuated from Gdansk (or what was then the Free City of Danzig) to London Liverpool Street station.

    There’s a parallel statue at Gdańsk Główny railway station (above photo which I took in 2016) by the same sculptor.

  • London (Central) – Frame Break by Jack West

    This sculpture at Spitalfields is entitled Frame Break, and was designed by Jack West and installed here in 1988. Personally I thought it looked confused, but I really like the premise behind it which is that it’s a reference to the Frame Breaking Act of 1812. This was introduced by the Government to increase penalties for those who damaged industrial machinery, mainly people known as Luddites. It became a capital crime to try and deter vandals from destroying equipment and along with other measures the action was generally successful in quelling the growing rebellion.

    I think I’d have liked something that looked less like a smashed up guitar and something which more resembled the looms from the period. It’s a really nice concept though, another reminder of the history of the area as it makes reference to the migrant Huguenot weavers who worked and lived in Spitalfields.

  • Costa – Iced Latte

    Just as another of my irrelevant asides, I got this drink free as part of the Vodafone Rewards app, and I’m not entirely sure that I understand these coffees. I’ve become quite a fan of cold lattes and espressos mixed with cold milk, so the drink is refreshing but still has a taste of coffee. The Costa version of iced latte, and I assume other brands, has half a cup full of ice.

    This means that the drink is now primarily a shot of weak coffee, a small amount of milk and a heap of ice. Which makes for the most watery and tasteless coffee that I’ve had in a long time. Perhaps it’s important to drink the coffee immediately in an Italian style, because otherwise it’s a pretty dreadful drink in my own very limited opinion…..

    Perhaps I’m just very exotic in my tastes.

  • London (Central) – Wooden Boat with Seven People

    This interesting artwork in Spitalfields is an actual boat which was used to transport refugees from Turkey to the islands of Greece. It has a wider meaning of showing the suffering, terror and struggle of migrants around the world who have to make such perilous crossings.

    The artwork was created in 2011, although it has been in its current site since 2017. It was designed by Kalliopi Lemos, a Greek-born sculptor and painter, who specialises in artworks relating to the politics of forced migration.

    Very much a thought-provoking piece and the location in Spitalfields is also deliberate, it’s a reminder of how the area has been welcoming to waves of migrants over the centuries.

  • London (Central) – Truman’s Black Eagle Brewery

    There was a brewing industry at this site, at Brick Lane, in London in the sixteenth century and it continued until 1989 when this enormous brewery was closed down. For a period in the nineteenth century this was the largest brewery in the world, taking its name from the nearby Black Eagle Street.

    This map from the turn of the twentieth century shows just how big this brewery had become.

    Today the area has been repurposed with numerous restaurants, residential units and offices around the site. There’s something of a creative edge to it, with numerous art events and performances taking place.

    This is the former Head Office of the brewery, a sadly once grand site now looking a little forlorn. FWIW, which isn’t much, I think the site is seriously underused, there is no museum of the brewery or area, no explanation to its history and it seems primarily used for commercialised events which have a tenuous link to the local community.

    I’m sure that there are some marvellous businesses in the area which have taken the opportunity of being in one of the most vibrant parts of London, but I felt that this area was all rather underwhelming in terms of the brewery buildings themselves.