This or This.

If you're around Houston this weekend and like creative stuff, you should take part in Art Workshop: Dyeing in America at Bayou Bend. Make your own organic pigments with textile expert Katie Knowles! Ever since my short stint at the Fabric Workshop and Museum where I created unique chemical dyes in the dye lab, I've been interested in mixing colors. Our summer adventure included a trip to Ikonium, a felt making workshop, where they also make their own organic dyes for wool and silk. The end results are gorgeous. I'm totally going to start doing this on my own. Look at these colors made from onion skins!

Oh man I really wish I were going to this dye workshop (go for me and report back!), but instead I am fulfilling a long standing dream of attending this...

Fourth Annual Anne d’Harnoncourt Symposium - The Art of Sculpture 1100-1550: Sculptural Reception.

Yes! Two days of medieval madness. 
The University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art (Paris), and Philadelphia Museum of Art announce a series of conferences and study days organized over the course of 2012 to advance the study of medieval sculpture:

1. January 2012: Paris, Institut national d'histoire de l'art (30-31 January) (with study sessions at the Musée du Louvre)

2. May 2012: Kalamazoo, Medieval Institute Annual Conference

3. November 2012: Philadelphia, Phila. Museum of Art & Univ. of Pennsylvania(with study sessions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Glencairn Museum)

I didn't make it to the first two conferences, but the third is the most interesting to me anyway. 

I'm especially excited about this lecture: They Are All the Work of Artists (Jer. 10, 9):  The Romanesque Portal as Liturgical Performance, Manuel Castiñeiras, Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. I can't wait to hear what this Catalonian scholar has to say regarding the expression of liturgical performance in Romanesque portals. I wonder if he will mention my beloved Ripoll, which has sadly been ( temporarily!) abandoned by me. I have very high hopes for this conference as it, in many ways, falls in line with my QP topic from Tufts. Now that my library has arrived from Boston I can get back into inspired research and finally open that major book I actually bought at Ripoll.

¡¡Me at the Ripoll portal!! September, 2011.

To get in the medieval spirit and because it's Halloween, we watched Army of Darkness last night. It's fantastic and Bruce Campbell is dreamy.

Army of Darkness, 1992.

Japanese Views of the Westerner

Soga Shōhaku, Western Hunter, c. 1765–70, ink and color on paper, the Kimiko and John Powers Collection of Japanese Art, MFA Houston

On the last day of the exhibit at the MFAH I saw Unrivalled Splendor: The Kimiko and John Powers Collection of Japanese Art. This was preceded by a fascinating talk by John Carpenter, curator of Japanese art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, entitled "Interaction between Text and Image in Japanese Paintings." My companion may have nodded off from time to time, but I was absolutely riveted during the talk, not by Mr. Carpenter's speaking style, but by the content which was mostly familiar but still exciting. 

Though there were many beautiful and intriguing works, one of my favorites in the show is the above Japanese painting of a European. I love these kinds of paintings because they are so rarely shown in art history. We Westerners usually only see or critique depictions of "the Other," a term that encompasses anything other than white and Western. It seems that, for a more complex understanding of the world, we should analyze how we are seen by our others.

Increase Your Quality of Life: Good Stuff in Houston and Los Angeles.

The last three weeks have been full of cultural adventures. Here are some recommendations and interesting things to inspire you.

HOUSTON:
This weekend we met up with a friend of mine from Philadelphia. We go way back to pre-graduate school German classes on Spring Garden Street. These days, she's in a PhD program close by in Austin. Hooray for old friends together in new cities! Together with her sweet Texan boyfriend, the four of us (two art historians and two mathematicians!) wandered around H-town.

On the stereo:

Dave "Diddlie" Day / Tony Ray Combo - Blue Moon Baby, 1957. Love that organ.

Drinks:
Pliny’s Tonic with Gin, Lime, Cucumber, Mint, Habanero Tincture. In my favorite neighborhood, Montrose, at Anvil. I love spicy drinks (recall my ongoing obsession with chai). For great Mexican and a KILLER spicy drink, I also recommend Ninfa's On Navigation for a spectacular mango margarita with habanero. There are no better drinks anywhere.

Art:
We were excited to catch The Artist is Present, a documentary on the artist Marina Abramović, at the MFA Houston. Claire, Alex, and I had seen, and were stunned by, her retrospective show at the MoMA in 2010.

It's an incredible documentary, she's an incredible woman, and everyone should watch it. I still can't believe I witnessed this art historical milestone. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. 

Afterward we looked at Constructed Dialogues: "Concrete, Geometric, and Kinetic Art from the Latin American Art Collection." The mathematicians loved it. Thanks to our awesome curator, Mari Carmen Ramirez, Houston has a super, fantastically extensive Latin American art collection. Read more about dynamo Ramirez and her career trajectory here. 

Next stop: the Menil, one of my favorite museums, for the Silence exhibition. This show had a kind of connection to the Abramović doc. Her idea for the in-museum performance, "The Artist is Present" at the MoMA, came from an earlier ongoing performance piece, "Night Sea Crossing" from the 1980's. Together with her collaborator and lover, Ulay, Abramović sat for days on end, in different locations, with no talking, no eating, no moving. One of the major points in her most recent performance was to maintain silence and stillness in order to slow time down and enhance and uncover the feelings created by the experience. The sustained eye contact and shared physical presence of another person, with no talking or moving or any other diversion, has the potential to shock the human system. At least those humans that are accustomed to short attention spans and overindulgence in sensory exploration. For me, even watching the performance on video is viscerally jarring and moving as it intensifies the minutiae within silence and stillness. 

Night Sea Crossing, 1981.

The curated works at the Menil, with the theme of Silence, often evoked Jacques Derrida's concept of sous rature (under erasure) in which words or images that are crossed out are even more enhanced. 

Many of the artists represented wished to include silence as a valuable medium, especially the composer John Cage. The exhibition coincides with and celebrates what would have been his 100th birthday. Cage thought that the absence of sound or conventional music opened up a deeper perception in listening. So the partial excision or layering over of text, music, imagery, places a greater focus on the experience of reading, hearing, looking. In paintings Jasper Johns called this as "additive subtraction." 

I was thrilled to see and interact with Robert Rauschenberg's seminal White Paintings from 1951 which inspired John Cage's 4'33" and perhaps Abramović as well. Works by the three artists involve the participation of audience.

As usual taking in all this creative output made us hungry. We drove a few minutes downtown to Bombay Pizza. Yes! Italian and Indian together. Best pizza: Mr. Nehal's (tandoori paneer with bell peppers, red onions, mozzarella and Bombay pizza sauce, topped with fresh ginger). The pizza crust was thin and crispy and coated with black sesame seeds. I'm obsessed with sesame seeds in all iterations from Japanese to Middle Eastern to NY bagels. 

LOS ANGELES:
Last week we visited Los Angeles mainly for a wedding, which included a mariachi band and Brazilian dancers, but of course we fit in some cultural explorations. I love LA so much.

Curious X-ray Giraffe Deli in LA.

On the stereo: 
Nothing. Our super cheap rental had no radio at all. 

Sights:
On our first night we stopped off to see the Walk of Fame and all those handprints at Grauman's Theater. I'm glad we went after dark, that's when it gets really atmospheric. We agreed that walking around those old prints and signatures was totally creepy. 

The next morning we headed straight to Malibu (or Pacific Palisades) to see the Getty Villa. 

Ancient Greek Vase with proto-animation style, Getty Villa.

Fayum Period Sarcophagus Portrait

The Villa, filled with thousands of antiquities, features reproductions of ancient Roman architecture and gardens. They had an interesting exhibition called The Last Days of Pompeii. The show mixes works from all over the timeline, including Warhol, B movie footage of ancient Rome, and paintings from the turn of the century inspired by the novel of the same name by Edward Bulwer Lytton (1884). I also learned about Gradiva, a novel by Wilhelm Jensen. The concept behind this is fascinating and I'm looking forward to reading his book. 

Written in 1903, Gradiva is the story of Norbert Hanold, an archaeologist who becomes obsessed with the image of a young woman in a classical marble relief that he sees in a Roman museum. Harold names the woman in the relief Gradiva, the girl splendid in walking.

Overcome by longing for this woman and consequently in a delusional state of mind, Hanold travels to Pompeii in search of her. In Pompeii, believing that he has traveled back in time, he locates the woman whom he believes to be Gradiva, but who is actually a childhood friend of his from Germany.  This woman, understanding what is happening to Hanold, helps him by accepting it fully and playing the role which he has assigned to her. 

The concept of Gradiva served as a muse to many of the Surrealist artists and writers. It reminds me of some of the Latin American magic realism books I've read by Julio Cortázar and Márquez and that other one about the mysterious gypsy girl. I can't refer to my library because my entire collection is STILL in storage. Fine.

I haven't seen Ruby Sparks yet, but it looks like a cute, modern version of similar concepts. Compelling. Plus, Steve Coogan! I'm in.

Ruby Sparks, 2012.

Toward the beach! Culver City: The Museum of Jurassic Technology. 
This place was highly recommended to me by a Tufts colleague/LA native. I had no idea what to expect and my mind was blown. It's the kind of thoughtful, genius museum that I dream about and obsess over. I don't want to say too much about it because the mysteriousness is part of the experience. Amazing. Amazing. Go.

In one room we saw The Floral Stereoradiographs of Albert G. Richards. On the wall were several pairs of special glasses which when worn made the floral images 3D. All the while dramatic music played. I was the only person in this claustrophobic gallery draped with black velvet. The combination of the waving ghost flowers, reaching toward me from all around, and the music, scared the hell out of me. I loved it. How many times have you ran skittishly from a gallery? Not counting the Mütter Museum with its saponified lady.

Star Magnolia.

Once you make your way through the absolutely fascinating galleries, you are rewarded with a staircase ascent, lit by sconces with actual candles (fire in a museum gave me a shock), leading to a cozy tea room with a samovar and plates of cookies. Totally charmed, we took our tea and cookies out into the aviary courtyard. WHAT. 

The Museum of Jurassic Technology, LA.

Just go, you'll be so happy. Afterward, go to Santa Monica for tacos drenched with spicy red sauce at Tacos Por Favor and pumpkin pie and decadent chai at Urth Caffe. 

We also fit in some important tourist sites: Little Tokyo for some streetside Japanese octopus balls and fresh red bean cakes, the house where Nightmare on Elm Street was filmed, the house where Michael Jackson's Thriller video was shot, a late night, first time visit to Amoeba Records (where I found one very special rare LP, which I am so so so excited about)...

Together with a couple more formerly Philadelphian friends, we finished the evening at the Silent Movie Theater for a midnight screening of Argento's Inferno.

Incredible underwater scene in Dario Argento's Inferno, 1980.

MORE NOTABLE FOOD: 

Probably my favorite was Viet Noodle Bar in Atwater Village. I tried their house made black sesame soy milk and wished I could swim in a sea of it. The other stuff was great too, white fish with turmeric (a delicious anti-bacterial wonder spice) and noodles, jack fruit everything, tofu bahn mi. I really wanted to go back another time, but there were too many places to try. We had exceptional Japanese, Thai, Mexican, six times, and Californian cuisine. Also LA has the best tea selection and presentation of any other city so far, but I still haven't been to England or Asia (Major), so maybe my opinion will change. 

Tomorrow we're off again to another wedding, this time in New York. Planning my art/food tour (and wedding speech for an audience of 350, yikes). Ciaociao.

La Bamba Makes Me Cry: Fall Inspirations.

For the first time since high school, I have cable TV. This is great news for my current insomnia, induced by the too quiet streets and the possibility of lurking bugs and silent killers. Plus we have a lot of catching up to do since we only saw TWO movies all summer. Oh man, were we craving movies in Europe. We did see To Rome With Love, in Florence and The Dictator in Athens. That one, silly, but satisfying, was outside with a view of the Acropolis! It was hard to stay indoors though and we only did so when absolutely forced, by the unrelenting heat, to take a siesta.

La Bamba, (1987) based on the true story of Ritchie Valens, was on last night and so we said yes, let's watch it. Both Alex and I remember watching this (and Overboard) repeatedly when we were 10 or so.

What a tearjerker! There are so many emotional threads especially dealing with family strife; tenuous sibling relationships, Cain and Abel tinged disappointment and competition. Fears, disabled apotropaic devices, and deadly wintery weather eventually mix together in tragedy. That last phone call Ritchie makes to his brother is heartbreaking! Wow. I never realized how much I love family movies.

I also noticed the costumes this time. The 50's style is marvelous! I love those vintage outfits, from the shirt dresses with feminine sweaters to the dark blue jeans rolled up with T-shirts and old man cardigans. Oh and I really want a leather jacket. My dad has a great one, but he said I'll have to wait awhile longer til it's mine. Well, it's still 90 outside, so maybe a leather vest to put over my white T? These, with a little Mexican twist, are the looks inspiring my "fall" wardrobe. Ok. I'm off to mine the thrift stores.

One part Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday...

With cat eyes!

one part Japanese version of American rock n' roll in Mystery Train...

Add a little bit of print and color (Dolce and Gabbana).

AND one part rebel biker style. Yes, I want to dress like Marlon Brando. So?

Around the same time as I was watching this movie in the 80's, my grandfather introduced me to classic country western music which I loved. My absolute favorite was Marty Robbins, especially El Paso. This will be the soundtrack to my southern fall.

Marty Robbins, El Paso, 1964

Travel Tips From My Summer Adventures.

Before I get into the art stuff, I want to mention a few of the indispensable items that kept us happy for our two month trip.

1. Maps and Travel Books.

I don't like to bring those very thorough, yet totally unwieldy 500 page travel books. I have in the past, but this time we were packing light. Carry-on luggage only! The best solution for a slim site seeing book with great shopping and eating picks PLUS manageably sized maps is the Knopf MapGuide.

The genius behind these books are the fold-out maps. Here we have an example of useful origami! The image above shows, on the left, a description of the neighborhood and a small map to mark its relation to the rest of the city. On the right you find restaurants, cafes, bars, and shopping. Once you flip the page from the bottom up you will find a larger detailed map and cultural destinations listed along the bottom.

Snacks in Rome. 

Looking for a pizza rec in Flo.


A long leisurely dinner at La Beppa near St. Miniato in Florence. 
On this night we had the best pizza of our entire trip.
Thank you guidebook! GO THERE.

Planning tomorrow's Florentine adventure.

With this classy design you actually want to display your travel guide.
On the train from Padua, heading toward Venice.

From Venice to Athens!

Passports in hand! Next destination in the bag.
En route to Istanbul via the seaside airport in Iraklion, Crete.

Surprise upgrade to FIRST CLASS. Thanks to Turkish Airlines we flew to Stockholm (with our MapGuide in place), surrounded by complete luxury and lots of space. What a lovely experience.

Now you can see some of the major cities that we traveled to: Rome, Florence, Venice, Athens, Istanbul, and Stockholm. Lucky for us there was a book for each one on our itinerary. Knopf MapGuides are not published for every destination under the sun. I kind of like that they are selective. Our future trips will have to be based on which cities they offer.

Take note:

Make sure that you always get the most up to date edition. For some reason I ordered an older copy of Athens and it turned out that many of the recommended places had closed. This was especially devastating when we went looking for Greek bakeries. Not getting those lovingly described pastries at the end of a long, sweaty trek is the worst. 

Although the recommendations for food, shopping, and top ten neighborhood sites were always fantastic, these guides do NOT offer extensive information on works of art or architecture. You will need supplemental books if you want to learn about these things while you are looking at them. We saw a lot of people reading from their books in churches and museums. We didn't really need them in this case, since I am an art historian after all. However, we did get some small art books here and there along the way just to be sure we didn't miss anything. Even though we filled every single day with a dozen stops, barely remembering meals, seeing way more than I thought was possible, we still managed to miss a few very important things...

Like Bernini's 17th century St. Theresa in Ecstasy in the Cornaro Chapel at Santa Maria della Vittoria and Bramante's Tempietto. I am utterly devastated that these were in reach and went unnoticed. More trips to Rome!

Tempietto, Rome

Completed in 1508, Bramante's Tempietto was modeled after the early Christian Roman martyria. It was thought that this spot, where the "little temple" stands, is the site of St. Peter's crucifixion. Bramante was one of the architects involved with St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican City. Even though the basilica did not follow the central planning that Bramante wanted, his plans for the dome, finally designed and built by Michelangelo later in the 16th century, were partially included in the final product.

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

2. Camera case. 

This was such a good investment for us. Twenty bucks probably saved us another 700 and possibly invaluable documentation. I have a history of bad luck with digital cameras. I usually break them while on important adventures. This has happened three times already! First in Berlin, a separate trip in Stockholm, and finally last year in Barcelona. That was the most painful occasion since I had traveled far to see the church I had written about during my graduate program. Luckily we had a film camera so I was able to take a few pictures for my archives. I also invested ninety euros in a very thorough book I found in the makeshift souvenir shop. It is massive and filled with hundreds of images that were taken with a crane. So this story turned out okay, but we were determined not to be foiled again.

Part of the problem here is the lens. If the lens is mechanical, the camera is more susceptible to malfunctioning. If the lens can't open, then the entire camera is unusable. This time we got a Nikon1 which has a manual lens and a nice leather case for complete protection in case it gets dropped. You can wear the camera on the strap instead of fishing it out of your bag and then throwing it back in. This setup made taking 7000 photos easy, exciting, and somehow a little bit classier. Of course I still took lots of pictures with my phone like everyone else.

A Pentax photo on real film! 
But notice my Nikon digital camera all safe and cozy, Roman Forum.

3. Avene Products. Especially SUNBLOCK.

You really need good sunblock (and a hat) to brave these cities in the summer, especially if you've ever had the lucky chance to have some mysterious mole carved out of your leg and are now terrified of skin cancer. On our first day in Rome we went to the apothecary and consulted with the saleswoman. She took one look at our pasty white skin (summer hadn't reached New England yet) and recommended a French brand, Avene, which uses thermal spring water as its base for every product. The best option for us: very high protection, very water resistant 50 SPF.

This is the good stuff. We never once got a sunburn, which is saying a lot considering how much time we spent outside in the sun. We barely ever saw any clouds at least for the first month, only a lot of sunburned tourists. It's so water resistant that sometimes we didn't have to reapply every day even after sweating, swimming and/or showering. I also discovered some of the other marvelous Avene products such as thermal spring water in a can. These spray cans became indispensable for refreshing cool downs and energizing sweat cleansers. 

Now that we live closer to the equator, I'm using Avene now everyday, all year, forever. 

In conclusion: I highly recommend these travel products for a safe and happy adventure of any kind! 

Nobody Can Stop Me While I'm High On Chai, and Ben-Hur.

My TO DO list is long these days. It's always that way when you relocate to a new state. I should know. I'm on my fifth! I started this morning by brewing a strong batch of chai for making iced lattes in the afternoon. I'm on the hunt for an exceptional iced chai latte in my new city, but so far have been quite disappointed in that department. I'm trying to be patient! I did find some good loose leaf Masala Chai at The Path of Tea to which I added black pepper, slices of fresh ginger, cinnamon, and honey for my own brew. Check out this tea blog from Samovar in San Francisco. I was totally lucky to eat there a few years ago. They pair tea with food and it is such a delightful place. Amazing chai by the way. I love that tea gets its rightful place of importance just as coffee, beer, and wine do.

I really wanted to enjoy my best homemade chai with the homemade blondies that we made last night. This combination has, in the past, led to great advancements.

It's a dark, humid, and stormy day here in Texas. I like these kinds of moody days. Especially when I'm productive-happy with my caffeine companions.

My battle cry for today is "Ramming Speed" from William Wyler's 1959 epic Ben-Hur.

I think Judah had my iced chai and blondies beforehand.

I saw this for the first time recently and I absolutely loved it. Especially the scene above. I said if I ever formed a rock band, this guy would be my top pick for drummer. His range may be limited, but he's pretty awesome especially in that leather tunic.

I need to watch more classic epics. Any recommendations? We picked Ben-Hur because it reminded us of our recent trip to Rome. Also because the closest library had it.

The film is set in Ancient Rome and features a chariot race in what is supposed to be Rome's Circus Maximus. We were just there! There's nothing left at all, no ruins, just a huge open space.

Hello from Circus Maximus and the bewitching Palatine Hill, Rome.

Judah Ben-Hur and Messala: rivalry between former best friends.

Ben-Hur (1959) Chariot Race by mariusangol

Circus Maximus track with Palatine Hill in the background. 

Judah and Messala trade out their chariots for a Vespa and make amends.

Excited About Contemporary/Collage Art.

Thinking back to a work of art that I was so very lucky to see in Boston last year. The artist is Christian Marclay and the work is The Clock. I've written about it here and Alex walks you through our memorable experience seeing Marclay's 24 hour film at the Boston MFA.

This clip features a bit from Picnic at Hanging Rock.  

Seeing The Clock (several times) was one of my top art experiences. It's unlikely that I will ever forget it. I recently came across this fantastic article from the New Yorker which I think is well worth reading, even if it is twelve pages. You get a real sense of Marclay's personality, his history, his work ethic, and if you ever wondered how exactly he edited together, visually and sonically, thousands of film clips to make one continuous 24 hour film that tracks each minute of the day, this is your chance. It's an inspiring read for those of us that are interested in how things are made, from concept through problem solving during the process. I dream of seeing this again, but for now I will happily settle for the piece currently on display at the Menil, as part of the Silence exhibition, and of course I look forward to seeing those Japanese scrolls, and whatever else Marclay is working on.

Our Italian Adventure In 5 Cinematic Minutes.

After days of driving south from Massachusetts we dropped our cat and our car with loving caretakers and took two carry-on suitcases to the airport. Our adventure abroad would take us through the entire summer and four countries. What a strange experience to spend a a full season away from home. Even the home changed: from comfortable Cambridge to unfamiliar Texas. More to come on that.

Over the summer we managed to take more than 8000 pictures: a combination of digital, film, and cellphone. With our Nikon 1,  I discovered a setting that takes a series of photos at one click, creating a natural cinematic effect as you look back at them. This feature led to the creation of the video below, which Alex quickly put together during the jet-lag of our return. 

Follow along as we explore Rome, Florence, Ravenna, and Venice. How many masterpieces can you spot?!

El Bueno, El Mal, y El Feo.

Welcome to my new, very different landscape. Part of my ongoing acclimation process includes heavy doses of:

My dreamboat: the well dressed, dusty mercenary, in the "Dollars Trilogy." In fact almost everyone is these films is well dressed. I can't wait to get my sewing machine here so I can begin my new Western inspired wardrobe.

 Shopping sprees at this celebratory amazingly multi-cultural market (sorry, but this place beats out Market Basket). Fireworks are legal here, they have churros in the bakery section, and a kick-ass chile section.

 This was the first book I read that got me excited about the Southwest, Texas, Mexico. The descriptions of food, clothing, and culture kept me daydreaming for the last seven or eight years. I totally bought this book based on its cover. Isn't it beautiful? I'm a sucker for black and white photos a la Lola Alvarez Bravo or Tina Modotti and the juxtaposition of red and blue.

Frida and the Mirror, Lola Alvarez Bravo, 1942.

Woman of Tehuantepec, Tina Modotti, 1929.

Ever since I read Caramelo I've been wanting a rebozo to wrap around me and save as an heirloom for my children. Reading more from Cisneros thanks to our new library membership.

She's got her teal rebozo on today.

Leaving the drab colors of the north for the vibrant fecundity of perpetual warmth. Here's a room from my future home. There will be palm trees and friendly green lizards outside my window!!

Spending lots of time at the The Menil Collection, one of my very favorite museums. They have an especially exciting schedule this fall coinciding with their current exhibition Silence. There will even be a performance of John Cage's 4'33" later this month. There are nineteen museums within a two mile radius, the latest one is Asia Society. No shortage of great art around here!

As for el mal y el feo. Well, those categories are mostly filled by the large number of tropical insects that lurk around and the hellacious traffic patterns preferred by local residents. Oh and the confusion my body goes through as I move between the sultry, unrelenting heat to the deep freeze air conditioning that is used by every building. I suspect that I will adapt quickly to this in the next few weeks as we transition into "fall," better bicycling and eating weather. I have plans to try every taqueria and cajeta offering in this city. This recipe for San Antonio chocolate cajeta flan cake has been a staple in my recipe box ever since I copied it from a bookstore in that city nearly a decade ago. I swear I was meant to live here even if it is a tough lifestyle change.

Lots to look forward to as long as that earwig keeps his forceps pincers away from me.

Moni Dafniou, Attica.

Today was a big day for this art historian as I got a chance to climb the scaffolding inside the 11th century Byzantine church here. The monastery and church, which stand on the site of an ancient sanctuary of Apollo, were severely damaged during an earthquake in 1999. The site had been closed until recently. Even now the hours are strictly limited: Tuesday and Friday from 9-2. As we headed back to Athens from the marina at Piraeus our lovely taxi driver made a detour (and happily accompanied us inside) to Dafni (Daphni, Dafniou). Photography is forbidden, this is no longer a surprise, but the plasma screen television that runs through a collection of photos captures the details of the Byzantine mosaics. These are photos of the screen.

We were able to see many of the mosaics, including the famous Crucifixion, but not the pantocrator Christ in the dome. I suffered a temporary heartbreak, but again this is something I'm getting used to. On one of our first days in Rome we raced to see Borromini's spectacular dome only to find that we could not enter. That first disappointment sent me into overwhelmed tears, but I'm seasoned now! We finally got in after the third attempt and it was stunning. Finding my way to certain works of art has often been, sadly, unsuccessful. I long to meet these. Later I plan to talk more about the things I didn't see, and the reasons why.

But here, notice the depiction of John baptizing Christ. It's a nude Christ! Very rare and beautifully done. Also, here is the dome mosaic and this new way of showing Christ, as a judge looming disapprovingly over the earthly realm. The detail work in the mosaics is incredible and loaded with gold!

The experience of climbing some unsteady steps to peek through support systems, discovering only bits of these mosaics, was a terrific thrill. All the while we could hear workers continuing the restoration process.

I am just now figuring out how to post remotely as I only have my iphone with me. Please forgive any irregularities while I learn more about posting from afar. I'm hoping to write a little now and then along the way. We've already been in Italy for two weeks and Greece for 12 days so there have been many, many remarkable things. I'm keeping track in my hand written Odyssey journal and I want to share here as well.

Tomorrow we travel to Mycenae and then Crete.