Going Troppo ....

Had a great time with Giles and Suzanne who left for Spain on Sunday. Had a last hoorar at the village bar with friends and crazy locals. Then onto huge thanksgiving lunch that lasted 10 hours and ended up in drinking games with inevitable consequences. Rose and I going with Danielle and Nikolai to Paris for a long weekend this Friday, kid free! There is a Cy Twombly exhibition at the new Gagosian Paris Gallery, a major Basquiat retrospective at the Musee de art Modern and the Pompidou has a Gabriel Orozco exhibition - should be fun!

Pont du Gard

Many adventures this week but none to surpass the Roman built Pont du Gard. One of the greatest roman engineering achievements. We are being treated this weekend to a huge thanksgiving dinner with a couple of American writers living in the village who have become good friends. We are fully settled in and now all reluctant to leave except Evie! Still coming home but who knows what the future holds...

Looking for Bouillabaisse...

Exploring Marseilles with Giles and Suzanne and the Uzes market for supplies. Getting cold but sunny days on the whole. Village life is great - hanging out with some cool people, consuming too much van rouge and generally getting into the swing of things. So many artists and loving the easy access to Europe. Pulled Evie out for some home schooling as she is getting hassled by girls in local school - much happier. All others are progressing well with language and loving new friendships.

More Corsica....

David Byrne....

David Byrne on architectures influence on music on TED - cool site!

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_byrne_how_architecture_helped_music_evolve.html

Corsican Feast....

Returned last night from Corsica where Rose is putting together a white Vermentino for Ulithorne - its a beautiful refreshing white wine variety and is widely grown on both Corsica and Sardinia... will be a good addition to the brand. She also has a mission to find a quality Rosé from Provence and maybe a Tempranillo from Rioja Spain. The plan being to source single variety organic grapes from the best sites in the world for that variety, make a great wine with the grower and put them under our label - also a good excuse to travel. The 5 hour boat ride over to Corsica was a bit rough for the kids but we loved the Island's rugged interior and villages on the West coast. It would be great to sail around - next time. Rose has to go over again in December to do the final blend but that wine should be back in Australia in March next year.

Copenhagen Danish....

Have had 2 days here which was definitely not enough but did see a great Anselm Kiefer exhibition just up North. Images attached. Back into the fold tomorrow then Tuesday we are all driving to Nice and getting the Ferry to Corsica where Rose is making some wine with a local dude....

Munich.....

I was in Munich for 2 days and have taken in so much quality art....my feet and mind are in overload.... images of Cy Twombly work from Brandhorst Museum which was amazing and then onto a portrait exhibition of Marlene Dumas..... it couldn't get any better. Landed in Copenhagen this am and seeking contemporary art and design.....

Deutschland Detour....

I have been scouring the Galleries of both Dusseldorf and Cologne which is considered the home to contemporary art in Germany past and present - a huge retrospective of the work of the inexplicable Joseph Buyers and visits to the private collections of several billionaire industrialists. Vast quantities of art by those I most admire including Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz, Pier Kirby, Cy Twombly, etc etc...... Thats just the beginning of an avalanche of quality work that predominates the consciousness of everyday European life....