Edinburgh 2024 - an Aide-mémoire

Friday 16 August 

Up on the Lumo, joke seat (B61) - see below!

A pint in Cloisters, dinner in the flat.

Saturday 17 August

Elaine Robertson at Stand 2

Scottish National Portrait Gallery for cake and toilets

Simon Munnery 3pm at Stand 1

Fine dining at 6pm: Dean Banks at the Pompadour

Sunday 18 August

Best of the Fest Daytime at Assembly Rooms, George Street 

• Chloe Petts (MC) 
• Circolombia: Giant hoola hoop, circus
• The Passion of Andrea 2: 3 blokes, physical theatre/dance
• Jo Griffin: stand up comedy
• Pete Heat: tall magician

Vietnamese early dinner at Sen, West Nicolson Street

Ahir Shar at Pleasance.

Monday 19 August:

Art

• Fruitmarket Ibrahim Mahama: Songs about Roses
• City Art Centre Adam Bruce Thomson:The Quiet Path
• Talbot Rice Gallery El Anatsui Scottish Mission Book Depot Keta 

Ben Hart Spiegeltent Palais de Dance, magician

Curry at Gurkha, Brougham Place

Tuesday 20 August: 

Lumo back and another joke seat with no view! B74.

Edinburgh 2018

Again, just an itinerary:

Wednesday 8 August 2018
Travel via St Pancras and Kings X with a cheeky pint at the Parcel Yard, to Waverley
19.30 Waiting for Godot at the Lyceum
Much more entertaining than I expected!



Thursday 9 August
Art bus day
To The Museum of Modern Art 2  (the Dean) for Emile Nolde
and the other one for more art
National Gallery for Rembrandt (very brown) and Barbara Rae's North-west passage
19.10 Limmy's Vines at the Stand New Town Theatre Grand Hall... 'Fine wine!'

Friday 10 August
14.30 Ali Brice's Lemonade Stand at the Hive (Heroes of the Fringe) - recommended by Mike Powell



Saturday 11 August
Eevee day with Pokemon on the meadows
Walk to Summerhall via Bristo Gardens
Orson Welles drawings, Kurt Schwitters portraits, Pussy Riot, John Keane

Sunday 12 August
13.00 Mark Thomas. Check up: our NHS at 70 at the Traverse 1
15.20 Simon Munnery The wreath at the Stand
18.45 Kevin Quantum: Vanishing Point at the Underbelly Cow Barn

Monday 13 August 
14.15 The Bench Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre Attic (oh those stairs!)



Tuesday 14 August
Away day to Newcastle
Laing Art Gallery for Glenn Brown
Baltic: Lots of art
18.00 Graham Fellows at Newcastle Stand Completely out of character
with Niopha Keegan of The Unthanks

Wednesday 15 August
13.20 Foxdog Studios: Robot Chef at Boteco do Brasil Basement - computer games fun
Evening meal at Thrive, Bruntsfield



Thursday 16 August
Home by delayed LNER train and slow Thameslink (should have waited for the brighton one)

Guildhall and Pokemon Go

It was Romans day for the kids

I've been living in or near London for nigh on 50 years. I've visited the National Gallery, the Tates, you name it. But thanks to a heads-up on Facebook by Mary-Lou, on Tuesday I was about to visit an Art Gallery I'd never even heard of, the Guildhall Art Gallery, in the City of London.

The 1999 exterior

What attracted me was a photo of Rossetti's La Ghirlandata, a gorgeous picture of Alexa Wilding, with May Morris (Jane's 10-year old daughter) posing as the angels above. It's full of symbolism, described in detail to a small group of us taking the free guided tour. The only thing Rossetti got wrong were the flowers at the bottom of the picture. I didn't expect a lot more to be honest, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Photography was allowed too.

Rossetti and others

Almost every Pre-Raphaelite and follower is represented: Holman Hunt's Eve of St Agnes, a smaller version to that in the Walker; Millais' The woodsman's daughter and the pair of Sermons, My First and My Second. Then there are other treasures, such as Lord Leighton's The music lesson [Fun fact: Leighton became a Lord on his deathbed, the shortest peerage in history, just one day], and Paul Delaroche's The execution of Lady Jane Grey, our forgotten queen, so poignant as she was tried for treason in the Guildhall next door, and William Shakespeare Burton's The wounded Cavalier, also full of symbolism.

Burton and Holman Hunt

Take the free guided tour (Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays) and you'll be taken to all the nooks and crannies (mind you, I'm convinced I missed a room under the main gallery, where the bottom half of John Singleton Copley's The defeat of the floating batteries at Gibraltar, 1782 resides. What a whopper, the largest painting in Britain. There are several big 'uns on display. I was taken by the more formal The ninth of November, 1888 by William Logsdail depicting the Lord Mayor's procession. Beautifully painted, it looks almost 3D. The collection of London paintings are down below, and even deeper is a Roman amphitheatre!

Another whopper: Michele Tedesco A Pythagorean school attacked by Sybarites

The building itself, though founded in 1886, was reopened in 1999, after being mostly destroyed in the Blitz. I got the bus from London Bridge and spent the rest of the day chasing Unown and Kangaskhan in the Pokemon Go city event. They were not as plentiful as I'd been led to believe, but tracked down a Kanga at Victoria station and a couple more at Green Park. My one and only Unown was found in Lincoln's Inn Fields. And I was so pleased that I treated myself to a pint of something welsh-sounding at a nearby Wetherspoons, Penderel's Oak, named after another Cavalier.

BTW the last exhibition I went up to London for was Alma-Tadema: At home in Antiquity at Leighton House, back on 12 July, the day of the David Devant and his Spirit Wife gig at the Monarch in Camden Town. No photography allowed, but a fine exhibition. [Fun fact: Alama-Tadema was born plain Mr Tadema, he added the Alma so he would come first in catalogues.] There's an Alma-Tadema in the Guildhall catalogue but not on display, or maybe on loan to Leighton House*, or maybe in that room I might have missed!

* A Pyrrhic Dance was indeed in the Leighton House exhibition.

Clogs, steam, art and pace-eggers: Part 1. Art

I've wanted to see the Britannia Coconut Dancers for a long time, and this year made an effort to fulfil this ambition. The only guaranteed gig is Easter Saturday on their home turf of Bacup, a bus ride away from Bury. I also discovered from a Facebook group called Bury Olden Days that the Bury Pace-Eggers would be performing in Ramsbottom on Good Friday. And that the Middleton Pace-Eggers would be doing their longer mummers play with more characters on Easter Monday. And that it was Pacific weekend on the East Lancs Railway featuring A4 Union of South Africa and West Country Class City of Wells. But first, some Northern art...

Tiffany glass vase

I've been ticking off Northern art galleries - last time it was Blackburn, this time it was the turn of Accrington and Burnley... two in one day! I travelled up to Bury on Tuesday 11 April via the Doric Arch bar at Euston station. Had a rest day on Wednesday and on Thursday set off to the Haworth Art Gallery as you go into Accrington. I arrived at 11am, but it didn't open until 12. Luckily the cafe was open and there were Pokemons to catch in the grounds. The Haworth has the finest collection of Tiffany glass this side of New York, taking up the whole upstairs of the hall, thanks to Joseph Briggs who in 1891, aged only 17, left Accrington to seek his fortune in America. He worked with Tiffany all his working life and sent his collection back to his home town in 1933. They do have a small collection of Victorian art too, but most of the downstairs was taken up by local artists.

Towneley Art Gallery, Burnley

So, it was on to the central bus station and the M3 bus to Burnley. I knew getting to the Towneley Art Gallery would be tough, as it was in the middle of a park, but underestimated the amount of walking I had to do. Their website said bus no. 1 went near, but it was not that close - a dog walker said it'd take me half an hour to get there! So, plodding along the side of a stream, I finally made it to the stately home and got in free with my Art Fund card (a fiver to anyone else). After a few wrong turns (turn right at the mummy, the front desk woman said) I found the art gallery floor, and a splendid collection it was: with Burne-Jones, Alma-Tadema, Leighton, Poynter, Waterhouse and many other minor pre-Raphaelites represented. They also had a fine collection of Pilkington pots, and the postcards were only 25p each! Photography was forbidden, but the attendant allowed me to take some general views.

Pilkington Royal Lancastrian pottery

On my way out, I asked the ticket woman the best way to the nearest bus stop and she told me people generally call for a taxi. Oh, if only I'd taken her advice... I got totally disoriented and even the GPS on my phone was no use. At least it wasn't raining. But eventually I skirted a golf course and caught a bus back to Burnley bus station - and stayed on it as it travelled back to Bury.

 < Clogs, steam, art and pace-eggers: Part 2. steam and pace-egging

Edinburgh 2016

Again, not much more than an itinerary:

Friday 12 August 2016

Travel up by train. Because Southern is so unreliable, get taxi to the station. Virgin East Coast delayed due to person on line at Newark, so had a half at the Parcel Office. Arrive Haymarket an hour and a half late, pint with Sam at Lock25 and go and inspect new BBC venue at George Heriot School. Raining.

Saturday 13 August 2016

£4 bus day ticket to Stand 3 for

12:00 Daniel Kitson presents an insufficient number of undeveloped ideas over ninety testing minutes, basically him talking to biologists on the front row, very funny though, and he's so quick witted.

Bus to Serrano Manchego on Leith Walk for tapas, then to Leith docks for the Dazzle Ship. Bus back to Pleasance, thence to Mandarin House/Star Sea for chinese food and Blue Blazer for drinks then back to Stand 3 (same seats) for

22:05 David Kay, the self-effacing Scottish stand up. 

Sunday 14 August 2016

Taxi to Pleasance for 

13.45 Teatro Delusio by Familie Flöz - puppets and mine in masks, backstage at the opera.

Walk to Summerhall for

15.55 Meet Fred by Hijinx Theatre - another puppet becomes self-aware helped by learning disabled actor Martin Vick.

Pint of porter and a quick look round the art before walking through the Meadows looking for Pokemon, where I put my right leg down a dangerous hole!

Monday 15 August 2016

Art day. After a quick look round Daubigny Monet Van Gogh at the Mound with Mad, 14.30 art bus to Modern Art for Surreal Encounters: Collecting the marvellous to re-acquaint myself with all the paintings from the  Edward James collection that used to be in Brighton, now in Rotterdam. Back to Summerhall for more art and with a comp from Max, saw 

17.40 Molhados & Secos - Wet and Dry at Zoo - Argentinian physical theatre

Walked to Pleasance where I bumped into Jo Neary and Pad and saw

20.00 Pete Firman Trix at Pleasance Beyond - magic, with Sam dragged on stage!

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Brisk walk to Traverse for

13:15 Mark Thomas : The Red Shed - socialist comedy where we got to sing The Red Flag, Wakefield style.

Sunny walk to Book Festival, then bus to Dovecote and Talbot Rice galleries, then walk to George Square Gardens where we met Millie flyering, and home after a pint or two and a bowl of chips - spotted Paul Zenon and Alisdair Darling.

Wednesday 17 August

Walk to George Square Gardens for 

12.30 'Best' of the Fest in Spiegeltent Palais de Variete - with drunken woman (Holly Burn), conjurer Chris Dugdale, Regency comedian Penny Ashton and Hoola Hoops by Flip FabriQue from Attrape Moi, all compered by Lloyd Griffith, who does impressive impressions of diy tape.

To Tanjore for Indian 'pizza' (uthappam) then back to Summerhall for

17.15 Adler & Gibb a play by Tim Crouch about a student doing a dissertation about a woman making a film about a reclusive American artist and her partner and an art dog (played by a child). Powerful stuff, as you'd expect. Then half an hour later it was back into the same room for

19.15 Robert Newman: The Brain Show - with Rob disagreeing with the experts and playing his banjolele

Then it was a final pint and a Mac and Cheese toastie and home. This year I didn't get to see Simon Munnery, nor the Fruitmarket, nor did I walk down the Royal Mile!

Thursday 18 August 2016: Off to the western isles...

Mumbles and South Wales

Explore South Wales Pass

When Jackie and Rob, Pam and Steve said they'd rented a cottage in June on the edge of the Gower, I jumped at the chance to mop up a couple of heritage railways and art galleries. All did not go to plan, however, and I'm not talking about the weather! At Swansea station, I bought an Explore South Wales Pass, which would give me four days of rail travel and eight days of buses, though many of the bus drivers I encountered had never seen one before and were wary! It cost £45.55 with my senior railcard. I subsequently found out that with my English bus pass, I could have got a day saver on the buses for £3. The Welsh, by the way, get their bus passes at age 60.

Gatwick Express at Barry Island

We travelled down on Saturday, changing at Bristol Parkway and getting a taxi from Swansea station,  and Sunday 12 June was the only day the Barry Island Tourist Railway would be open. Sunday was also a day of few buses, so getting to Swansea bus station, then the not-nearby railway station was a trial. Anyway I got to Barry Island to find that the train running was a vintage Gatwick Express, operating as a Park and Ride shuttle - it was also the day of Barry Festival of Transport, with the Red Arrows (who didn't turn up due to weather). Anyway it was only £2 and on the way back (driven from the guard's van) I had the train more or less to myself.

view of Mumbles Pier from Oystermouth Castle

Monday it was a trip round nearby Oystermouth Castle, up and down lots of steps and spiral staircases, and a look at Mumbles Pier (closed), coincidentally meeting up with Rob and Steve, then Jackie at The Pilot of Mumbles for a pint, sheltering from the rain. I caught a bus into town to buy some kippers and cockles from Swansea Market.

Me and Magritte

Tuesday it was a trip to Cardiff for the National Museum of Wales, getting off at Cathays station. Unfortunately seven galleries were closed due to industrial action, including 19th Century British and the Blaschka glass sea creatures. Plenty of good stuff though: lots of Augustus and Gwen John and a big exhibition about the Battle of Mametz Wood. But I did get to meet my Facebook friends Nerea and Jo, who took me for a pint of Brains at the Old Arcade. They live up the Rhondda at Treherbert so suggested I stay over Wednesday then they'd drive me to the Brecon Mountain Railway on Thursday.

Replica Trevithick loco

So Wednesday it was into Swansea for the National Waterfront Museum and Swansea Museum - I knew in advance that the Glynn Vivian art gallery would be closed. First though, there was supposed to be a guided tour of the Brangwyn Hall and Guildhall at 10am. I turned up, but it'd been cancelled due to lack of numbers, so I booked in for Friday. The Waterfront museum is modern, with big things like the replica Trevithick loco on the ground floor, and smaller pieces upstairs, including a first world war postcard exhibition. I had a coffee in the cafe first, then braved the various school parties visiting. It was raining stair rods outside!

Swansea Tram Shed

When it stopped, I popped in to the Tram Shed annexe of the Swansea Museum to see the trams, then on to the main building, which again had a big WW1 exhibition. Two galleries upstairs were closed, leaving only Egyptology and the Swansea Mummy. I was told that on Wednesdays, the Swansea Museum’s store, housed in the former Hafod / Morfa Copper Works in Landore is open to the public,  but I didn't have time to find it.

Diesel replacement at the Brecon Mountain Railway

So it was on the train up the Rhondda valley, a chippy tea and some tv at Nerea and Jo's. On Thursday we drove over the mountain, past old mines and wind turbines to find that the German steam loco at the Brecon Mountain Railway had broken and there was a diesel replacement. Ah well, it was a fabulous journey anyway, but it would have been nice to hear a steamer working hard up those inclines. We saw the other US locos in the shed (through windows) and the viewing gallery over the workshop, plus another two in the Steam Museum at the cafe stop. Then it was a lift to Merthyr Tydfil (home of Trevithick) and the train back to Swansea.

Brangwyn Hall, Swansea

Friday was the guided tour of the 1934 Guildhall, with its viking theme, and especially the Brangwyn Hall and murals. Frank Brangwyn was commissioned to decorate the House of Lords with panels depicting the British Empire, but they were considered a bit too colourful and lively and were rejected. After a showing at the Ideal Home exhibition, they were snapped up by Swansea, and the half-built Hall was altered to accommodate them. They are magnificent, with lots of topless women, all painted in Ditchling using local models! Then, after welsh cakes and tea, it was a bus ride to lots of places beginning Ll... in the Gower, a Coffee Crunch cone at Joe's Ice Cream Parlour and a pint of Plum Porter at the Mumbles Ale House, thence home without incident on the Saturday.

More photos on Flickr.

Liverpool, again!

Ye Hole in Ye Wall, Liverpool

So, on Sunday I travelled down to Liverpool with NUJ DM Delegate Melita on the train and got off at Moorfields. When researching the pubs near my hotel, I discovered about five good ones were situated between the station and the Z Hotel. We popped our heads in the first one but Melita didn't like the look of the big screen, so i asked the barmaid the way to Ye Hole in ye Wall, and she took us there!

Ye Hole in Ye Wall gents

It's a quaint old pub with lots of snugs. There was a session going on in the first one, and a Sports screen, but the beer looked good so we settled on an empty snug next to the Men's (women weren't allowed in until 1975, their leaflet told me). Mine was a pint and a half Peerless Oatmeal stout, made in the Wirral. I was convinced the crooner and guitarist next door had been in Liverpool beat groups back in the day!

View from Room 614

Melita headed off to Lime Street and I crossed the road to find my hotel. It was a converted office building, with the bar and reception on the ground floor. It was next to one of those enigmatic Art Deco buildings without windows that are ventilation shafts for the Mersey Tunnel (but not at all noisy). I was on the 6th floor, with a view of a magnificent building with a sun dial. At 5pm we were promised free wine and cheese - but only one (large) glass per customer, that did me for tea, so it was upstairs to watch my 40in tv and bed.

Walker art gallery

 Monday morning I walked to the Walker art gallery to see the Pre-Raphaelites: Beauty and Rebellion. With my Art Fund card and concession it worked out to be £2.50 entrance, so after a cappuccino in the cafe it was upstairs for the art. The exhibition was more about the Liverpool collectors and contained many lesser local Pre-Raph followers, plus some old favourites, including Rossetti's only nude Venus Verticordia. George Rae had a copy painted with drapery because he found it 'too voluptuous for a respectable  old timer like me'! A great exhibition and more outside in the permanent collection. Of course, I bought the catalogue!

Paul Brown at FACT

Then it was to The North Western, the Wetherspoons under Lime Street station, for a beer with Rob and Jackie, who were up for a sundial conference. Now FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) was supposed to be closed on Mondays, but I risked it anyway and found the cafe and lobby, where there was a Paul Brown and Son exhibition - Scouse roots: Art that makes itself - open. I had some soup in the cafe then enjoyed the computer art. Then on Melita's insistence I patronised the Roscoe Head, opposite, for another pint, of St George - another pub with many rooms. In my snug was a canoodling couple and I didn't know which way to look - no music either to mask their snogging! They eventually left to be replaced by a little old man who told me how much he'd saved by cancelling his landline.

Soup at FACT

The Bluecoat shut at 6pm, so I headed down Bold Street to find it. The exhibition on was Double act: art and comedy, which was slightly interesting. I ended up watching a 40-minute video of stand up by 'Karen' of Common Culture, which despite being rude about short men and old people, had some good lines. Her imaginary audience was called Fred! I nearly got locked in…

So, it was back to the Z Hotel (which I discovered was a stone's throw from Mathew Street), for free wine and cheese, then tv and bed. Tuesday morning I got the tube from Moorfields to Lime Street and caught the train before the one I had scheduled for - I had an open ticket. Found an unreserved seat in Coach U and was delighted to spot 46100 Royal Scot in steam, at Crewe

Brussels: trains, trams and Magritte, part 4

Atomium

 Day 5 Monday 8 February: On Mondays most museums are closed, so a long tram or metro trip was in order. And as it was windy and absolutely throwing it down outside, I stopped for a while at the Natural Coffee House on the corner. Bought a croissant from Teddy L and jumped on the 73 tram (temp stop outside the Michael Collins irish pub cos the road was up) to Louise then down to the M6 metro to Heysel and the Atomium. "Built for the 1958 World Exhibition, the Atomium is shaped on the model of an elementary iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times."

ADAM

I was planning to buy a combo ticket, to include the ADAM art and design museum, but the price was considerably higher than the website said (it would have been €14) , and there were hoards of kids in the queue. Also, they warned of stairs, so I figured they'd not repaired the escalators since last I went up it with Jonny the Lodger.

Plasticarium

So I headed back towards the station and into the modern building that is ADAM. It was €8 to get in and very disappointing - unless you love plastic chairs. It was basically the Plasticarium Collection (that I think used to be housed in the Atomium) plus a lot of big empty rooms. The cafe was tiny and the shop expensive. Bad choice, I should have gone up the Atomium. Ah well. I walked up towards the Art Deco building (Palais des Expositions from the 1935 Expo) and back to the metro station.

Palais des Expositions 1935

On the way back I took a detour on the metro to find Central Station, which I did and discovered I was literally yards away  the other day! I bought a crusty sandwich from Exki and skirted the Grand Place heading for Bourse. I'd been tipped off on Facebook (by Tamsin) about an Art Nouveau bar called Le Cirio.

Central station, designed by Horta

It was late afternoon, so first I had a coffee at another Natural Coffee Cafe, then had a couple of Grimbergen dark beers in this wonderful bar. A strange woman on the next table to me, who was eating her way through the not so appetising menu, gave me a praline! Then it was the metro back to Gare du Midi and a try out on tram 81 back to Bailli (one of those older ones with three steps up.) I popped into the Cock's Fresh (yes!) supermarket to buy a couple of cans : Leffe Brune, and Palm, and watched tv in my room. The building work outside went on all night!

Day 6 Tuesday 9 February 2016: I struggled to get my case up the three-step 81 tram in the rain (it was easier getting off). A slightly goth young woman sat opposite me and pulled from a brown paper bag a brand new copy of Mein Kampf, with day-glo cover. I bought another crusty sandwich from the station Exki, had a cappuccino in the departure lounge, and soon I was back in Blighty.

More photos on Flickr.

Brussels, part 3 >

Brussels: trains, trams and Magritte, part 3

Main Magritte museum at Place Royale

Day 4 Sunday 7 February: Today I'd planned to take a tram out of town to the Tram Museum and a vintage ride through the forest, but it doesn't open properly until April! So, it was to be the other bigger Magritte museum, the Musée Magritte Museum, in the city centre, near Royale tram stop. Now, although this has its own building, the entrance and ticket office is round the corner, through security. It's in a complex of four museums so I opted for a combo ticket at €9. After leaving my bag in a locker, we were taken by lift up to the top, and enjoyed three whole floors of Magritte art.

Still not a pipe!

I've seen many a Magritte exhibition - the last one in Liverpool in 2011 - and remember well that Brighton had its own collection courtesy Edward James (long gone), but there are so many more paintings of his to discover, albeit many of them variations on a theme.

Gavin Turk homage

After some cauliflower soup in the cafe (€4 plus €1 for bread), it was downstairs to the Fin de Siècle Museum. This is even bigger than the Magritte museum and doesn't really get interesting (to me) until the deepest rooms, of Art Nouveau paintings and sculptures, including a nice Burne-Jones. There are some very strange ones too, like the waterfall of naked children tryptic by Baron Léon Frederic! Thankfully there was a lift back to the surface and after a quick whizz round the Old Masters to see the Bruegels emerged into the sunlight.

The wee Manneken Pis

Now for some sightseeing. I walked down through the gardens behind the museums, past the impressive Musical Instruments museum and across the Grand Place to check out the wee Manneken Pis and have a De Koninck beer in the Taverne Manneken Pis in front of a roaring fire.

Entrane to La Fleur en Papier Doré

Thus revived it was just a short walk to Magritte's favourite bar La Fleur en Papier Doré, polishing off my leftover sushi. Inside I had a glass of Le Forte and another Leffe Brune (yes, Belgian Special Brew, but I like it, OK?).

Le Fort and some nibbles, that's Magritte second from right

I didn't fancy the veggie stoemp option so it was a walk up to the Sabon and a 73 tram to the hotel and Call the Midwife, followed by War and Peace. There was building works outside, replacing the cobbles between the tram lines, which went on all night!

Road works on Avenue Louise

More photos on Flickr.

< Brussels part 4 | Brussels part 2 >

Brussels: trains, trams and Magritte, part 2

Day 3 Saturday 6 February: After breakfast at the Train Hostel (the egg could have done with a bit longer), I packed my things and took the 92 tram to Bailli and checked in at the Four Points by Sheraton, a very swanky hotel off the Avenue Louise. I'd been allocated the hotel by lastminute.com top secret deal, and it worked out even cheaper than the hostel! I was on the ground floor in 125.

Magritte's flat

 Now, there are two Magritte museums in Brussels and today I was to seek out the one in the suburb of Jette, and luckily the 93 tram went all the way. First I thought I'd walk to the Horta museum nearby, but when I got there late morning I found it didn't open until 2pm! So, I bought a croissant and took the tram to Cimetière de Jette and followed the sign to the Musée René Magritte at 135 Rue Esseghemstraat, arriving as a Spanish couple were outside ringing the doorbell. This house, or rather flat, is where Magritte lived and worked from 1930 to 1954. Coincidentally be died in Schaerbeek!

Magritte's bedroom

After paying €7.50, we were guided round the ground floor of best front room (very Northern), bedroom and dining room, where he painted every morning then cleared away his things for teatime. There is also a smarter studio (Studio Dongo) in the garden where he did his commercial work. The guide pointed out all the features that appear time and time again in his paintings - the fireplace, the windows, the floorboards, the furniture. After donning overshoes, we were led upstairs to wander round two storeys of fascinating ephemera, minor works and recreated 'lost' paintings (his first London show was bombed!).

Magritte's front room, note the 'loco' coming out of the fireplace

Then it was a tram, metro and tram back to the hotel. I fancied some moules frites for supper so wandered over to La Chou de Bruxelles, early to get a seat. It wasn't open yet, so had a beer in a rough pub nearby until 7pm then wandered back to find it was fully booked, and closed on Sunday and Monday! The only eating place I could find on Avenue Louise was Sushi Factory, so I made do with cold sushi and warm miso soup! The chips here are apparently cooked in beef or horse fat anyway! Back at the hotel I had a beer in the bar - Leffe Brune at €4.50 - and retired to watch Casualty.

More photos on Flickr.

< Brussels part 3 | Brussels part 1 >