A winter weekend in Berne

Hiya

If you've been wondering what's been going on here, I have been very busy indeed, but not all of it has been work. Last weekend, for example, two friends and I went on a gallery walk organised by Kunsthalle Bern -- very interesting tour of the current exhibition there (Jutta Koether -- an in-your-face self-made artist who has managed to overcome many inhibitions. Not necessarily stuff I'd hang on my walls but definitely powerful and, in its own way, beautiful). This tour was followed by visits to two private galleries. Most inspiring.

In the evening, I saw the film Blood Diamond. Powerful and moving, but far too much violence and gore. Too Hollywoody. At times unbearable to watch, especially because I could never think "this is just a movie": too much violence of this kind is going on all over the world. The message is fine, though, and if this film helps make people aware of how much violence and blood is attached to jewellery, it'll have achieved its goal. But I doubt it. And I'd have liked to see a note saying that half of the proceeds of the film would go into rebuilding the lives of child soldiers, for example.

Sunday saw me with another old friend taking a long, leisurely walk in the cold sunshine to the traditional Rosengarten park with its stunning view of the old part of Bern (a bit tricky against the sun) ...
... and on to Zentrum Paul Klee with its three waves sitting just below the horizon beyond the snow-covered field:

Here's yours truly outside the stunning wave-shaped museum (it's just been nominated for the Best Museum of Europe Award):

We took in a cup of strong coffee and a sweet at the airy, sunny café before looking at Klee's works in the Main Gallery. They've re-hung many of them, showing a lot of paintings I've never seen. Later in the afternoon, the Camerata ensemble performed a concert at the auditorium: Mendelssohn (Swiss Symphony in c minor), Toshio Hosokawa (Voyage VI for viola and strings -- excellent piece by a modern composer, b. 1955 -- I'd love to have this to listen to very frequently), Britten (Lachrymae -- beautiful and sad) and Dvorak (String Serenade in E major -- very familiar but always uplifting). The encore was Lachrymae by John Dowland -- heartbreakingly beautiful.


Just heard that January 07 in Switzerland was 3-5°C warmer than the long-term average and the warmest January on record, despite a very cold spell these last few days. Some rooftops still have patches of snow, leftovers from late last week.

Nuff said. Peace, Happiness!