This tiny new museum has devoted itself to the study of the paranormal. Two rooms are covered with pictures of UFO sitings and people with kinetic powers. If you catch any of the museum’s founders around, they should be able to tell you some good stories. The museum director claims to have his own psychic powers and the landlord teaches Japanese students how to lie on a bed of nails and once saw a flying saucer in Siberia.
The Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz records his work as an artist. His unusual images capture him sketching the Mona Lisa in strawberry jam, depicting street children with sugar, painting Marilyn Monroe in chocolate or using such materials as garbage, barb-wire and spices to re-enact a famous work from art history. After getting messy, he documents his work for posterity with a photo. The resulting work becomes an engaging exercise in recognition for the viewer.
Florence nightlife moves outside in the summer, and one of the most pleasant ways of spending the early part of the evening is at one of the many open air cinemas that appear from mid-June. Some eight screens show two films per night, every night. The first screening is usually of a latest release, while the second might be something a little more off-beat. Some films are shown in original language.
St Thomas’s Hospital, 2 Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 (020 7620 0374)
Westminster tube/Waterloo tube/rail. Open 10am-5pm Mon-Fri (last entry 4pm); 11.30am-4.30pm Sat, Sun (last entry 3.30pm). Admission ?4.80; ?3.60 5s-15s, OAPs, students, ES40s; ?10 family. Credit AmEx, MC, ?TC, V.
Website: http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk
The world’s most famous
nurse is celebrated in the well thought-out displays of this small
museum, close to Westminster Bridge. Nightingale’s chief achievement in
a long career of social campaigning was to establish nursing as a
disciplined profession (indeed, ?her lady and the lamp’ care in the
Crimea was but a small part of her life’s contribution to medicine);
and she set up the first nursing school at St Thomas’s in 1859.
Galerias del Paseo, Paseo, esquina a 1ra (553475)
Open 11am-3am daily. Admission $10 drink minimum.
This is Chuchó Valdés’ turf. His group Irakere and other famous Cuban jazz bands often play here in two sets starting at 8pm and 11pm. Afterwards the place turns into a lively disco. The atmosphere is mellow and sophisticated. The café also operates as a restaurant, so come early to nab a good table.
29 E 36th St between Madison and Park Aves (212-685-0008)
Subway: 6 to 33rd St. Tue-Thu 10:30am-5pm; Fri 10:30am-8pm; Sat 10:30am-6pm; Sun noon-6pm. $7, seniors and students $5, under 12 free. Concessions. No credit cards.
This beautiful Italianate museum – also an extraordinary literary-research facility – was once the private library of financier J. Pierpont Morgan. Mostly gathered during Morgan’s trips to Europe, the collection includes three gutenberg Bibles, original Mahler manuscripts and the gorgeous silver, copper and cloisonné 12th-century Stavelot triptych. A subtly colorful marble rotunda with carved 16th-century italian ceiling separates the three-tiered library from the rich red study. Guided tours are available Tuesday through friday at noon. There’s also a modern conservatory attached to the museum, with a tranquil courtyard café.
Recently established in a former refrigerated warehouse in downtown Mestre, Terminal bangs out cool tunes and chilled anthems to the weekend masses. This is, without doubt, the closest Venice gets to a proper club – complete with spicy pizza slices and the obligatory scantily-clad podium dancers to get the boys in the mood. Music is generally of a commercial house flavour, with decent mixes of Italian and international dancefloor favourites by a selection of top local DJs. Next door is a pretty decent bar should you need refuelling – though be warned, you will need female company to enter.
Vienna’s flourishing array of English bookshops is a big plus for ex-pat residents. The Big Ben has been around for years, tucked away in Servitengasse at the leafy end of the 9th district. However, from January 2001 the shop is moving to new premises on the university campus located on the site of the old general hospital. Hoping to cash in on the student market, Big Ben will be offering a broader selection of academic books, as well as their usual staples – contemporary literature, teaching materials and videos.
St Mary Overie Dock, Cathedral Street, SE1 (020 7403 0123)
Monument tube or London Bridge tube/rail. Open 10am-6pm daily (phone to check). Admission £2.50; £1.75 4s-13s; £2.10 OAPs, students, disabled, ES40s; £6.50 family. Credit MC, V.
Website: http://www.goldenhinde.co.uk
This full-size reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake’s sixteenth-century flagship looks impressively pristine considering the two decades it has spent circumnavigating the world as a seaborne museum. It’s hard to believe that the dinky ship travelled over 100,000 miles, many more than the original. Years of research went into producing this authentic reproduction, now in a dry dock, and it shows: the interior has been recreated in minute detail and the diminutive proportions of the gun deck and hold feel painfully real. The atmosphere on board is fleshed out by åcrew’ in Elizabethan costume. A big hit with kids. Tickets are sold from the card shop next to the ship.
