London, Finally!

Katja is pleased to report that she had a wonderful time on her long overdue trip to London, not that she would have expected otherwise. Only her second trip abroad this year (thankfully she has another one planned next week), she was extremely happy to put her new passport to use. She misses her old tattered one, filled with stamps reminding her of her many travels, and hopes it won’t take long for this one to start looking the same.

It probably won’t come as too much of a surprise that a large portion of her time in London was devoted to enjoying bubbly and art with friends. Of course there was also plenty of shopping

and simply wandering around London’s lovely neighborhoods; she particularly loves the many small parks scattered throughout the city.

Katja arrived to surprisingly nice weather, something for which the city is certainly not known. She thus took full advantage of the rare London sun, and spent her first night there outdoors, catching up with friends

over a lovely vegetarian feast and a few too many Aperol Spritzes (made with Veuve Clicquot instead of Prosecco, they’re fancy girls, after all). Perhaps a Pimm’s Cup would have been a more appropriately English welcome cocktail (and she certainly wouldn’t have said no to one of those), but London is, after all, a cosmopolitan city. Plus, the Aperol Spritz is one of Katja’s favorite summertime cocktails; she highly recommends trying one if you haven’t.

The following evening Katja did her arty thing, and attended two gallery openings. First she stopped by David Zwirner to see Belgian painter Michaël Borremans’ show Black Mould. She had been unfamiliar with Borremans’ work before the show, which she very much enjoyed, especially as she always loves discovering new (to her) artists.

Then it was off to the Marian Goodman Gallery to see the show of Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco's work.

Of course there was more bubbly to be had that night, as there was at the Sugar Dandies’ High Tea fundraiser for Dance UK, ADAD and Youth Dance England, held one afternoon during her visit at the Rambert Dance Studio, a wonderful space on London’s South Bank. Upon arrival they were greeted with Sprizzato cocktails and Prosecco (Italian beverages apparently a theme of the trip), and afterwards enjoyed a Spanish themed high tea and performances by dancers from

Rambert (Britain’s oldest dance company) and the English National Ballet, amongst others. The guests also got the chance to strut their stuff when the event’s hosts, ballroom champions the Sugar Dandies, taught them the Lambeth Walk. Katja is not certain how well she and the other guests mastered it (or if there was even anything to master), but then she’s never been particularly concerned about the possibility of looking silly. Life is too short for that, and one would miss out on so much fun. That said, as much as she enjoyed learning the Lambeth Walk, she doesn’t think she’ll be straying from her ballet routine any time soon, and while in London took class at Danceworks almost every day.

Of course Katja is also perfectly capable of enjoying art without bubbly, and spent a lovely afternoon at the National Gallery visiting some of her favorite paintings, including Ucello's The Battle of San Romano, Cranach the Elder's Cupid Complaining to Venus, and Redon's Ophelia among the Flowers. And she’s always amused by Masyss' An Old Woman (The Ugly Duchess) (a work that reminds her not to forget to moisturize and apply sunscreen daily, as she certainly plans on aging better than the poor old duchess).

Katja also stopped by the gallery Carroll/Fletcher to catch the last day of John Wood and Paul Harrison: An almost identical copy, and on her last evening attended an extremely interesting talk at the British Library between the artist Cornelia Parker and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. The primary subject of the talk was Magna Carta (An Embroidery), a work that replicates in stitch the Wikipedia article on the document, as it appeared on its 799th anniversary. It was not, however, just high culture for Katja;

she must admit that a highlight of her trip was the evening she spent with friends, who very concerned that she had missed seeing the Eurovision Song Contest this year, presented a well curated viewing of the 2015 highlights (with a few older classics thrown in for nostalgia's sake).

A truly cultured girl knows that one should always enjoy some low culture along with the high in order to live a well-rounded creative life. The bubbly, however, must always be good.

London Bound

Katja has been counting the days until her trip to London and is happy to report that the day is finally here…she's sitting in the United lounge drinking red wine (surprise, surprise) and eating snacks she doesn't need while waiting to board her flight.

She hasn’t been to London in over six months, which seems like a lifetime to her. That said, the time has flown by, as she’s been keeping busy with ballet, museums, and socializing over wine and bubbly. In other words, the usual. And of course there’s always travel of some sort, even if not to the most exotic of locales.

Katja has become quite a regular on the Amtrak to Boston, mostly for Boston Ballet performances and events (sadly performances are over until next season), although her most recent trip was for the opening of Getting There, a friend’s exhibition at the St. Botolph Club (go see it if you can!). She also ventured down to Philadelphia to catch up with a friend she hadn't seen in quite some time.

While much of the afternoon was spent gossiping and leisurely sipping bubbly at Rouge, a restaurant right off of Rittenhouse Square, they did find time to go to the Dance: Movement, Rhythm, Spectacle exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the tiny but very charming Rodin Museum. Katja does, after all, love culture as much as she loves her cocktails.

Katja was less excited about her trip to Cleveland for a bar mitzvah, neither the city nor the occasion holding much appeal. While she is young at heart she prefers a crowd slightly older than 13 year olds, yet not quite as old as the parents of the 13 year olds. There was, however, a carousel at the Western Reserve Historical Society, where the party was held. She’s never gotten over her childhood love of merry-go-rounds, so that, along with the open bar, helped her survive the evening, and perhaps even enjoy herself a little bit.

Katja really enjoyed her excursion the next day to the Cleveland Museum of Art. She was most impressed by the beautiful space, great collection, and sophisticated interactive activities, and she loved the small exhibition The Novel and the Bizarre: Salvator Rosa's Scenes of Witchcraft.

Of course she’s also been indulging in lots of culture and cocktails in New York (never difficult things to do in the city). She attended a party a MoMA (she always appreciates the open bar with bubbly) for the Yoko Ono show, saw ABT’s production of La Bayadere, and, on her birthday, caught one of Cedar Lake’s final performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

This was followed by sparkling red (her favorite) and some yummy German food at Berlyn.

In between all of these various activities, she did, believe it or not, find time for researching and writing (social butterflies have day jobs too), and could often be found working hard at Ballet Academy East, which has become something of a second home.

Of course her hard work would probably pay off more if she made an effort to in indulge in a little less red wine/bubbly and to go to bed at a more respectable hour, but what’s the fun in that…