A Culture Vulture
01/06/2011 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaThe serpent is being a lazy snoozy creature taking time out from a week of festival frenzy.
Yesterday's events included a behind the scenes tour of Fremantle Prison. As the theme was conservation and preservation, we went to places that weren't on the usual tourist trail. Was a good little serpent not snapping and clicking like most of the other folks. But that was until getting to the old library which was temptation beyond endurance in spite of the fact that the shelves were all empty. It was a poky little room and there was even a large green mesh barrier that marked off the restricted section. Turned out from the shelve titles not to be maps of the grounds or stories of great escapes but merely riveting titles on the topics of constitutional and parliamentary law and other legal matters. Maybe it wasn't the restricted section after all but the punishment cells
Izzie was the last out of the dusty old library and as the tour guide was rattling his keys remarked that it would not be the first time to get nearly locked in a library
Well it turned out that this was the very moment the pissy little mobile phone camera declared that it was out of memory and piccies would have to be deleted. That's what we got for procrastinating and not downloading last week's adventures.
Was supposed to spend the evening indulging in nostalgia for the events of the last month and expectations for the new one as well as doing a bit of general tidying up around the Big Mac and sorting out stuff for tomorrow morning's book binding course.
But it was Tuesday and being in Fremantle figures that this particular day and location do not coincide very often so it's the perfect opportunity to do the Mexican Kitchen restaurant Happy Tuesday half price nachos.
Turns out they were as big as an ancient Aztec pyramid. Apart from the muddy and rather bland beans at the very bottom it was very tasty too. But the problem was that like a greasy pizza this cheesy corny calorie laden creation was very snooze inducing. So the grand plans of the evening were abandoned for an 8pm curl up in the serpent snooze basket listening to Radio National
The Fremantle Heritage Festival officially started on Friday but that day got devoted to sitting in the garden watching the birds before slinking off to Stamp-it's Scrapathon
So started on Saturday with an afternoon tour of St Patrick's Basilica. The architect was talking about the processes involved in restoration. While interesting, it lacked all the juiciest gossip about this particular church most of which involved the rivalry between the Irish and the Italians. At the insistence of the Italians, poor old Patrick and his serpent friends got demoted from the alcove on the altar in a bit of prime real estate normally reserved for God and his immediate family and relegated to a dark corner on left side of the church.
This time there was no organ concerts or visits up the very steep spirally staircase to see the birds eye view of the gorgeous instrument and the actual keyboard itself.
Sunday's schedule included a Vamps and Vixens retro fair mainly concerned with fashion and collectibles. This was scheduled at the same time as an Open Door event where several heritage buildings were open to the public for an hour each time. This was going to be the obvious winner not just because it was free but because the buildings themselves were so fascinating
One was the headquarters of one of the oldest family companies in Australia. Their main trade was wine, spirits and liquors and the tour included a most amazing basement and wine cellar.
Will be going on another two hour tour there on Friday morning so will save that gossip for another day
Next building on the agenda just down the road with a gorgeous green Cuppola and grand facade got pulled from the open day at the last minute to be replaced by the National Hotel.
This hotel was badly damaged by an arson attack several years ago and is in the process of being restored. It looks nearly done on the outside but in the building tells a rather different story
What was really amazing was less the dilapidated state of the interior but that the place was open to the public at all. There were stairs down to the basement with no rails at all and rooms with lumpy floors and stones strewn around and a spooky damp dungeony smell.
Upstairs were very steep metal stairs for the builders going right to the very top and all sorts of possibilities for twisted ankles and other injuries and not a single sign anywhere warning anyone of the dangers or notices at the entrance with small print demanding signatures in blood warning that entry is at one's own risk and no liability will be accepted for death or injury
It was gorgeous sitting on the old balcony - especially the second one which was such an effort to get to. It was so sad to see how easy it is to destroy something but how difficult and time consuming it is to rebuild and restore
Like all the other buildings, there was only an hour for each site so did not get to go to the very top where the bell tower was.
Next stop was the Chamber of Commerce building where the most intriguing thing was the door to the cupboard under the very grand jarrah staircase. Pity it was locked.
It was a boring old Boys club and not really worth a second glance.
Of more interest were the old Pilot's cottages on the hill near the Roundhouse. Got all nostalgic over these as one used to be a cafe many moons ago and used to love sitting out on the balcony looking over the town.
Turns out that it was not just the cottage that was of interest. For a gold coin donation there were glasses of very delicious reds (beer, cider or juice were also options) and assorted nibblies
Even got a top up at no extra charge but then pottered off with another gold coin to get a third glass of delicious D'Arenburg.
Got to chatting with some of the members of the Historical Society, some of whom the Izzie had met on the tour of the basilica on Saturday
Sitting on the balcony of an old cottage with a glass of red, nibblies and interesting conversation would have been infinitely more interesting than a visit to the vamps and vixens down at the town hall with their shoes, furs and handbags
But the festival does not finish until this Sunday so there's still more to see and sniff.
Tomorrow will see the various displays and exhibits at the arts centre and former lunatic asylum. Here's hoping the Izzie will not be the brain dead zombie of February and March
Was supposed to be doing a felting course on Fridays there but that got cancelled due to lack of numbers so transferred over to the book binding course in spite of having already done it earlier this year.
First found out about this festival six years ago and was on holidays at the time. Have been going ever since and it is still worth having a week off specially just to get behind the scenes of the fascinating buildings and history of Fremantle.
Must find some way to sneak some of this stuff into this year's nano creation even if it is set in a different town down south. A burnt down hotel or two or dusty basements filled with ancient bottles might be a good place to start
Yesterday's events included a behind the scenes tour of Fremantle Prison. As the theme was conservation and preservation, we went to places that weren't on the usual tourist trail. Was a good little serpent not snapping and clicking like most of the other folks. But that was until getting to the old library which was temptation beyond endurance in spite of the fact that the shelves were all empty. It was a poky little room and there was even a large green mesh barrier that marked off the restricted section. Turned out from the shelve titles not to be maps of the grounds or stories of great escapes but merely riveting titles on the topics of constitutional and parliamentary law and other legal matters. Maybe it wasn't the restricted section after all but the punishment cells
Izzie was the last out of the dusty old library and as the tour guide was rattling his keys remarked that it would not be the first time to get nearly locked in a library
Well it turned out that this was the very moment the pissy little mobile phone camera declared that it was out of memory and piccies would have to be deleted. That's what we got for procrastinating and not downloading last week's adventures.
Was supposed to spend the evening indulging in nostalgia for the events of the last month and expectations for the new one as well as doing a bit of general tidying up around the Big Mac and sorting out stuff for tomorrow morning's book binding course.
But it was Tuesday and being in Fremantle figures that this particular day and location do not coincide very often so it's the perfect opportunity to do the Mexican Kitchen restaurant Happy Tuesday half price nachos.
Turns out they were as big as an ancient Aztec pyramid. Apart from the muddy and rather bland beans at the very bottom it was very tasty too. But the problem was that like a greasy pizza this cheesy corny calorie laden creation was very snooze inducing. So the grand plans of the evening were abandoned for an 8pm curl up in the serpent snooze basket listening to Radio National
The Fremantle Heritage Festival officially started on Friday but that day got devoted to sitting in the garden watching the birds before slinking off to Stamp-it's Scrapathon
So started on Saturday with an afternoon tour of St Patrick's Basilica. The architect was talking about the processes involved in restoration. While interesting, it lacked all the juiciest gossip about this particular church most of which involved the rivalry between the Irish and the Italians. At the insistence of the Italians, poor old Patrick and his serpent friends got demoted from the alcove on the altar in a bit of prime real estate normally reserved for God and his immediate family and relegated to a dark corner on left side of the church.
This time there was no organ concerts or visits up the very steep spirally staircase to see the birds eye view of the gorgeous instrument and the actual keyboard itself.
Sunday's schedule included a Vamps and Vixens retro fair mainly concerned with fashion and collectibles. This was scheduled at the same time as an Open Door event where several heritage buildings were open to the public for an hour each time. This was going to be the obvious winner not just because it was free but because the buildings themselves were so fascinating
One was the headquarters of one of the oldest family companies in Australia. Their main trade was wine, spirits and liquors and the tour included a most amazing basement and wine cellar.
Will be going on another two hour tour there on Friday morning so will save that gossip for another day
Next building on the agenda just down the road with a gorgeous green Cuppola and grand facade got pulled from the open day at the last minute to be replaced by the National Hotel.
This hotel was badly damaged by an arson attack several years ago and is in the process of being restored. It looks nearly done on the outside but in the building tells a rather different story
What was really amazing was less the dilapidated state of the interior but that the place was open to the public at all. There were stairs down to the basement with no rails at all and rooms with lumpy floors and stones strewn around and a spooky damp dungeony smell.
Upstairs were very steep metal stairs for the builders going right to the very top and all sorts of possibilities for twisted ankles and other injuries and not a single sign anywhere warning anyone of the dangers or notices at the entrance with small print demanding signatures in blood warning that entry is at one's own risk and no liability will be accepted for death or injury
It was gorgeous sitting on the old balcony - especially the second one which was such an effort to get to. It was so sad to see how easy it is to destroy something but how difficult and time consuming it is to rebuild and restore
Like all the other buildings, there was only an hour for each site so did not get to go to the very top where the bell tower was.
Next stop was the Chamber of Commerce building where the most intriguing thing was the door to the cupboard under the very grand jarrah staircase. Pity it was locked.
It was a boring old Boys club and not really worth a second glance.
Of more interest were the old Pilot's cottages on the hill near the Roundhouse. Got all nostalgic over these as one used to be a cafe many moons ago and used to love sitting out on the balcony looking over the town.
Turns out that it was not just the cottage that was of interest. For a gold coin donation there were glasses of very delicious reds (beer, cider or juice were also options) and assorted nibblies
Even got a top up at no extra charge but then pottered off with another gold coin to get a third glass of delicious D'Arenburg.
Got to chatting with some of the members of the Historical Society, some of whom the Izzie had met on the tour of the basilica on Saturday
Sitting on the balcony of an old cottage with a glass of red, nibblies and interesting conversation would have been infinitely more interesting than a visit to the vamps and vixens down at the town hall with their shoes, furs and handbags
But the festival does not finish until this Sunday so there's still more to see and sniff.
Tomorrow will see the various displays and exhibits at the arts centre and former lunatic asylum. Here's hoping the Izzie will not be the brain dead zombie of February and March
Was supposed to be doing a felting course on Fridays there but that got cancelled due to lack of numbers so transferred over to the book binding course in spite of having already done it earlier this year.
First found out about this festival six years ago and was on holidays at the time. Have been going ever since and it is still worth having a week off specially just to get behind the scenes of the fascinating buildings and history of Fremantle.
Must find some way to sneak some of this stuff into this year's nano creation even if it is set in a different town down south. A burnt down hotel or two or dusty basements filled with ancient bottles might be a good place to start
no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 08:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-02 12:17 pm (UTC)Tomorrow's agenda includes a club crawl and a visit to the Samson family museum with morning tea in their very well stocked wine cellar.
Then there's a forum on insanity and creativity in the asylum that is now an arts centre and last but not least a 'tram tour' visiting various sites that got saved from the goblins, government, real estate and developers.
Some of these gorgeous old buildings would have been converted into car parks!
Do they do that kind of stuff in the Badlands of Sydney? Surely the town must be full of culture vultures or do they all migrate to Melbourne?
no subject
Date: 2011-06-02 01:57 pm (UTC)There is also the January Sydney Festival every year with lots of international and local acts in a wide range of the arts, followed closely by the Gay & Lesbian mardi gras. There is Musica Viva festival at the Conservatorium of Music and the Sydney Writer's festival is very popular - was on a few weeks ago and at the moment Vivid Sydney is on, but for the last night or two it has been pouring down so trying to see some of the lighting in the city would be a bit of a washout. The Sydney Film Festival will be on in a few weeks.
There is a food festival held during the year as well as the annual Sculpture by the Sea along the Bondi to Coogee walking track and various other smaller community festivals throughout the year. I really should do more.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-03 01:50 pm (UTC)Over here that one and the Mardi Gras get lots of publicity but the rest don't rate a mention outside of Auntyland.
We also get the Sculpture by the Sea several months after you folks and it is definitely one of the biggest cultural events on the calendar here and certainly one of the best
The Festival of Perth sucks since the yuppies took it over in 2000 but at the rate the crazy weather is going here, they will have to move it to June. Some otherwise amazing street theatre got completely ruined by 40 something temperatures and 100 and something percent humidity and that was just the audience. Got help the poor Frenchies stuck inside those crazy giraffe costumes. Bet they won't be coming back in a hurry
Don't know about over there but lately in this bit of the Wild West, the National Trust have got into the habit of taking over the best historical houses and then just closing them to the public and letting them gather dust.
And it's not like we've got that many compared to the rest of the country
no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 11:47 am (UTC)