Mardi Gras

It was just a coincidence that I happened to be in Mexico for Mardi Gras. The main reason for the visit was to go into the mountains to see the thousands of Monarch butterflies that migrate to this area. But more about that in another post. On our way to the Nature reserves we spent a couple of nights in a small town called Patzcuaro. Everywhere we travelled, villages and towns were celebrating.

Going across to the tiny island of Janitzia we were serenaded by this local group.

 As we arrived on the Island it was obvious that something was happening as the whole town seemed to be following one another in a procession.

They were off to the bull ring for a rodeo.

 The bulls had been brought across from the mainland earlier in the day.

 We were told that it would be a rodeo not a bull fight but we didn't stay to watch. We needed to return to the mainland.

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Mexico

I am in Mexico and today is Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday. Internet reception isn't great but here are a couple of photos from Patzcuaro:

 There was lots of dancing in the Square in the afternoon. This is a traditional dance with the participants wearing masks.

In the evening there was a small parade with men dressed as women and everyone wearing masks .This handsome young man was my dancing partner!











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Abbey Road

If you have been a fan of The Beatles you will have heard of the Abbey Road studios. You may also remember the cover of their album Abbey Road. Well a few days ago I happened to be on Abbey Road walking past the studios.

The graffiti on the walls made for some interesting reading. The studios invite people to write on them and not anywhere else to avoid annoying the neighbours.

Approaching the studios I could see numerous people at the zebra crossing, trying to replicate The Beatles crossing but the car drivers were not too happy having to stop so often to allow people to cross the road.

This group almost got it right but I am on the wrong side of the crossing.

It was from this side that I should have been taking the photos. I waited and waited but I got fed up in the end waiting for four people to get in the right position. I assume The Beatles had the road closed for a short time whilst they did their photo shoot.

Royal Opera House

This is the Royal Opera House, often just referred to as Covent Garden as that was the site of the original theatre. It is home to the Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet companies. This is the third theatre built on this site with the previous two both destroyed by fire, a serious hazard prior to the discovery of electricity.
During the 1990s the whole complex was redeveloped with the help of 'Lottery' funding. It took 3 years at a cost of £178m to completely transform the theatre with the building of new technical and rehearsal facilities as well as the rebuilding of the almost derelict Floral Hall.



Although it looks like another window at the other end of the  Paul Hamlyn Hall (still known as The Floral Hall) it is a mirror creating a wonderful reflection of the iron and glass frontage. The name Floral Hall goes back to when this was part of the Covent Garden fruit and flower market.

Cleaning these windows is quite a major job whereas across the road the windows appear not to have been cleaned for quite some time.




















The window is part of  Bow Street Police station and magistrate court completed in 1881 and closed in 2006. It was here that London's first professional Police force was founded in 1749 known then as the Bow Street Runners. The old cells are going to  become a small  Police Museum and the old magistrate's court will be a boutique hotel and restaurant.

This extension to the Opera House was part of the 1990s redevelopment. The building is also used for the annual BAFTA ( British Academy of Film and Television  Arts) awards which will take place this Sunday so I thought an apt time to show you around.

This is the Sky Bridge that connects the Royal Ballet School to the Royal Opera House.

I wandered inside to have a look at the Floral Hall and then went upstairs onto the roof. Not sure if it is open to the public but no-one challenged me so with camera in hand I took these different views (for me) of Covent Garden.

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The Cast Court at the V and A (London Museum #16)

 There are two vast galleries at the V and A Museum, London which house reproductions of sculpture and architecture from around the world all cast in plaster. Plaster casts played an important role in many museums in the 19th Century. The collection at the Victoria and Albert is the largest surviving one in the world.

This is a cast of Trajan's Column in Rome. The original one is made of marble and was erected in AD 113



It has a continuous relief carved into the marble showing the history of Trajan's campaigns. The frieze is 200m in length and shows 2,500 figures.

This is the portal from the Cathedral of the Santiago de Compostela dated 1188. The bronze doors were originally made for St Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany in 1015 but were removed by his successor and taken to the Cathedral.

Details from the doors.

Pulpit for Pisa Cathedral (1302-1310)

This life sized cast of Michelangelo's  David  was a present to Queen Victoria from the Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany. The cast was produced from a mould made up of several hundred pieces and is held together by metal rods. Although nothing can compare to the original  sculpture in Florence, this cast allows visitors to have an idea of the size of the sculpture and marvel at a masterpiece carved from a single block of marble.

According to a popular anecdote, this fig leaf was created for the cast because it was said that Queen Victoria was shocked by the figure's nudity. In truth that is unlikely as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert collected many works of art featuring nudity. Nonetheless the fig leaf was put in place for visits by royalty up to the early 20th cent.

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