MUSIC. I have heard so much beautiful guitar music that I have been reinspired to take my music studies seriously. Another reason to drop the languages.
At the other end of the scale, the trip to the big show in Berlin gave us contemporary razzle dazzle music in spades. Pure energy music to match the dancing!
BOOKS. It will be nice to go back to reading for pleasure instead of reading just to learn, because I saw so much that inspires reading. There are different categories of books just waiting to be read. There are books that I've read before, but now that I have the places that the books describe I can read them again with greater insight. Having seen Barcelona, I can reread George Orwell's "Homage To Catalonia" Because I have stood in the locations he writes about, I can see places and events better.
As the guide said,
"When Orwell wrote that he walked into this building, it's more evidence that when he arrived, the worst of that period was over. Had he turned up a week earlier and tried to get in, he would have been shot."
Now you don't get that sort of stuff from study aids.
It will be good to reread "Les Miserable" again. The story that includes the French Revolution. I stayed just just down the road from The Bastille and walked down roads where some of the action took place. I've actually been to where Victor Hugo wrote it.
There are also books that I didn't know existed but relate to a particular place that I saw. I didn't know Carmen the Opera was based on a book that was set in Seville.
There is also another famous book that the people of Córdoba are very proud of called "The Ring Of The Dove."
On our Berlin Caberet Walk I heard about a couple of books based on a real life cabaret performer named Anita Berber. Anita was a bit like Amy Winehouse and Janis Joplin rolled up in to one. A real wild child but ten times worse.
As our guide said,
"Details about the books about this lady are on the web site, because I've found from experience, EVERYONE wants to know about Anita!"
VISUAL ARTS - PAINTING AND CERAMICS.
The classical paintings I'm O.K. With. The Impressionist paintings are still beautiful but perhaps by now a bit too familiar. Before the journey that was how I felt but I wasn't sure what should come next. As I wrote in the blog Julie and I have seen so much of Picasso's work in all his styles and "periods" that I think I am starting to understand it, and even like some of it.
So perhaps this is a good place to start with the modern stuff, then move on. Before we went on our journey, ceramics to me meant either decorative plates to put fruit on, or nice vases to put flowers in. Ceramic tiles were something that I thought only people thought about when redecorating the kitchen. Now I can apprecIate that ceramics are an art form in themselves and I can see why people enjoy looking at them as pieces of art.
So in summary, the mind has broadened as a result of our travel. But what about the body? That's the next part in the assessment.
No comments:
Post a Comment