This major exhibition in Trinity College is based around the Book of Kells, an ancient Celtic manuscript housed in the beautifully restored Old Library. Written in around 800AD and one of the most beautifully illuminated manuscripts in the world, it’s been on display in Trinity since the 19th century and has always been a big draw on the tourist trail. Tickets to the exhibition include entry to the Long Room, the main chamber in the Old Library – nearly 65 metres long, it houses around 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books and also has a collection of busts and sculptures around its walls that was started in the 1700s.
Monthly Archives: February 2009
Audrey Hepburn: A Woman, the Style
As soon as Audrey Hepburn burst into public consciousness in her Oscar-winning debut in ‘Roman Holiday’, she became a major style icon. Each subsequent movie became a must-see event as Hepburn appeared in a series of luscious creations from Givenchy, Ferragamo and Valentino. This exhibition features 110 examples of her clothing dating from the early 1950s to the late 1980s, from both her on- and off-screen wardrobes, as well as assorted movie memorabilia including the Vespa scooter from her debut film.
Oscar Wilde: From the Collection of the Clark Library, UCLA
Wilde was one of Ireland’s greatest playwrights and certainly its most controversial. His life story is the stuff of myth and legend, and this exhibition presents virtually every book by or about Wilde and every manuscript, proof, letter, photograph and illustration done by Wilde’s contemporaries. It’s one of the best collections in the world and clearly shows the wit, flamboyance and creative genius of the ‘first modern man’.
Mickaël Bethe-Selassie’s The Magic Woods
Ethiopian artist Mickaël Bethe-Selassie has created a forest of towering and colourful papier-mâché sculptures, which evokes a magical world of wombs and warriors, ghosts and mutant beasts. He sees himself as a symbolic reconstructor of those forests, which supplied the wood for the paper he works with. While strongly drawing from the mythology of his country and the rest of Africa, his work also resonates with influences from Tibet and Japan.
Restaurant Nabuchodonosor
The service here is really splendid, with droll, friendly waiters who know how to take the starch out of the regular crowd of blazered gents, streaked-blonde ladies and young yuppie types. It’s comfortable, too, with air-conditioning, oak panelling and velvet banquettes at generously-spaced tables. Excellent starters, such as a salad of mushrooms and haricots verts and ‘ravioles de Royan’ (tiny cheese-filled ravioli) in mushroom cream, are followed by very good main courses of grilled tuna on a bed of green beans and red peppers, or a generous and delicious côte de boeuf with sautéed potatoes. The blackboard wine list is both serious and generous, with a Guigal Côtes du Rhône at a reasonable 130F, as well as pricier Bordeaux. Finish up with the cheese plate or a red-fruit filled millefeuille.
La Diva Divina: Fatale, Hysterical and Fragile
The Italian divas of the 1910s were the first female stars of the silver screen, but sadly they’ve been largely forgotten. The Filmmuseum has put together this three-week ode to the origins of such film archetypes as the ‘femme fatale’, the ‘femme fragile’ and the ‘femme hysterique’. Nine films (including ‘Rapsodia Satanica’) are being shown, all with a live music accompaniment.
The America’s Cup
Originally settled by the Maori people from the islands of the Pacific more than 650 years ago, Auckland’s numerous extinct volcanoes bear the scars and terracing of previous use as fortified villages. From atop any of these hills, such as One Tree Hill,Mt. Wellington, or North Head, you can obtain commanding views of the city and the islands of the gulf. Just off-shore, Rangitoto Island, a long-dormant volcano, offers the cheapest vantage point for viewing the races. A ferry from Pier 3 in the city will set you back only NZ$18. The assent to the summit is a pleasant one-hour hike, or you can jump aboard a narrated tour by 4WD. The view of the racing arena is so clear and close that you could even leave the binoculars at home ? just don’t forget your suntan lotion and sandwiches. Grab some cheap flights to Auckland and I’ll see you there 
While the massive sleeping form of Rangitoto dominates the horizon out to sea, it is the curiously pointless Sky Tower casino that commands the cityscape. Auckland’s Central Business District throbs with power-walking suits and overworked cell-phones. By day, the ultra-chic and the multi-pierced mingle in the High Street cafes that spill out onto the sidewalks. At night, the cafe-culture hubs of Ponsonby and Parnell offer superb dining opportunities. Though New Zealand is justifiably famous for its lamb, the huge array of freshly collected seafood is also guaranteed to tempt the gourmand within you. Seafood is also the perfect partner for New Zealand’s impressive white wines ?the Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays from the Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay regions have recently proved themselves by winning a number of prestigious international wine awards.
A spectacular temple complex in deepest Cambodia
A.K.A.? A complex of temples built by the Angkor empire-one of the world’s most stunning architectural wonders.
Which came first, the place or the empire? The empire is named after the temple complex built near Jayavarman II’s capital city as a lasting tribute to his descendents.
Jayavarman was a great builder, then? Well, he started the whole thing but it wasn’t until the reign of Suryavarman II that Angkor Wat, the largest religious edifice in the world, was built.
How do you get there? You have to go to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh which is quite a trek. You can either take an eight-hour “express” boat trip up the River Tonle Sap and then suffer a vertebrae-crunching truck ride or take a plane.
Pretty isolated? Three years ago Siem Reap boasted only four guest houses. Today there are over 20 with more on the way. Tourism has developed enourmously since the 1991 peace accord and the town is doing its best to look after travelers.
But is it a bargain? Accommodations and food are incredibly cheap as in most of Southeast Asia. Entrance to the temple, however, costs $20 for a one-day pass and $40 for a three-day pass.
Little Child, Don’t Go There
Modernity has brought a new ease and savvy to traveling in Beijing, and only masochists would have a quarrel with improved safety and convenience. However, for the traveler who braves a long flight, or an even longer Trans-Siberian Railway ride, to visit the City of Imperial Splendor, the comfort with which one can glide through the city, barely scratching the surface, is almost cause for resentment. The more tourist-friendly the city becomes, the more it seems to keep you out, herding you away from the best renegade experience of Beijing. And Beijing is a city so full of secrets, so ripe with age, that its dignity demands to be discovered anew by each visitor.
This is all to say that it can be done. There are hidden neighborhoods smelling entirely of mutton and barbecue stands, where a feast can be had for the price of a candy bar. There are sections of the Great Wall that are not crawling with postcard vendors or scrawled with “SS Loves JJ.” There are corner grandpa stores bearing non-generic treasures. Despite the best efforts of a simple-minded tourism policy, cavities of authentic adventure abound and await revelation. If the usual maps and manuals are going to show you only the most common beaten paths and the faces of salesmen at every bend, then you must trust your straying instincts to find the real Beijing of hearty Uighurs, stranded Mongolians, and other inspired foreigners. When you find it, it can stir you on a scale that few other man-made places have the power to do. And when you hear them say, “Little child, don’t go there,” you know you are on your way.
