9 June 1991 - a drive through Simplon Pass Switzerland ; a video never to be repeated !

To run 21 km in below 2 hours 15 minutes !

Very decent time of 6 minutes 53 seconds per km for up to 20 km. 

As I was running through some old photos in my IMac, I chanced upon a picture taken in 2015 in the leadup to my last race - the SC marathon in 2015 ; the distance of 20 km and with a very decent training time of 2 hours 17 ; Oh I am really stoked up now !

The days of running sub 2 hours are probably gone, but at least I will continue to train and give and get some decent times for 2018 ! My running days are not over yet ! Not by a long shot ! 

Almost There !

Wolves secured an emphatic 3  - 1 win over Burton Albion (the Brewers for short). How times have changed for them. This weekend is the international break and there are reportedly 9 players who will be called up for international duty. Among them are :

1. Reuben Neves (Portugal - senior squad)
2. Reuben Vinagere (Portugal Under 21)
3. Romain Saiss (Morocco - senior squad)
4. Barry Douglas (Scotland)
5. Matt Doherty (Republic of Ireland) ; my favourite player in this current squad
6. Alfred N'Diaye (Somalia)
7. Benfik Afobe (Demcratic republic of Congo)

This match showed the true class of Neves, Costa, Cavaleiro, Cody, Jota and Boly to name at least half the squad.

This team is the team to beat ; lets hope next year NES can get them in the top half of the Premier League ! 

1. Magpie 2. Banana Trees - Claude Monet (I do not own the rights to these pictures) ; just sharing.

Magpie in Winter - Monet 

More paintings from the Impressionists era  (Claude Monet, Manet, Renoir, Sisley and Rembrandt). Above is the Magpie in winter, an oil on canvas which shows the lovely winter's day with the sun shining and the shadows long. In the background, it is anyone's guess whether that is a lake or field. I mistook the frame for part of the painting (on the kleft hand side !)   

Banana Trees - Monet 

This must be painted in some tropical country but I felt the Magpie painting to be of better quality than the Banana trees. While the colours are vivid,somehow the subject matter of the magpie is in stark contrast to the numerous subjects in this banana plantation.

The Seine river in winter 

A beautiful painting capturing the houseboats in the foreground and one of the bridges (Paris has 13 if I recall) in the background. Some boats have chimneys on them as this was the age before electric heating and solar panels.

This is done by Auguste Renoir in the late 1800s.  He (as was Claude Monet) was a chain smoker, and a small wiry man who drank coffee while painting. The made several films in black and white of the Impressionist masters and it was fascinating to see that though they were poor by those standards, they did not go hungry and had benefactors supporting them. 

Carpe Diem. 

Residenza Bistrot de Venise 6 Dec 2017

Provides lodging and Exquisite Food, On the Michelin Bib Gourmand list  

The best time to visit Venice for my wife and I was December, not least both of us have very busy work schedules and there was a window either in mid October and most of December. We did not want to fight with the Christmas tourists either, so we elected to book for the first 2 and a half weeks of Decemeber 2017 for a glorious getaway in romantic Italy. Venice is all what they say about it ; full of history, the Piazza St Marco is practically empty this time of year, yet in the winter coolness the sun still shines brightly practically every day we were there. What luck ! 

I recall we booked several guided tours,one was the tour of the Basillica St Marco, the Doge's Palace (old name for the Duke or Emperor) and another day we had a tour to the neighbouring isles of Murano and Burano> Murano is famed for its glass making factories and Burano for its pretty mediterranean like cottages, a church and romantic waterways with many small boutiques selling Italian handicrafts and trinkets most likely made in China ! 

Their Piece de Resistance or Signature Dish 6 Dec 2017 

The fine dining is Venice is there, and Residenza Bistrot de Venise is located at San Marco 4865 Calle Dei Fabbri, VEW 30124. It has an exceptional hotel (rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on Trip Advisor) and a really fine dining restaurant. I had the Venetian suckling pig 'Civiro' with orange, which required a slow oven cooking for 24 hours. Potatoes and stewed pear were the accompaniment to this extremely tasty dish. My wife had the seabass with brocolli and mashed potato together with some fine Venice port (if I recall correctly).

The pork was well cooked, fried but the skin was not as crispy as the way the Chinese roast pork sellers in Singapore offer it.  The meat was extremely tender and flavourful, and fatty.

The potatoes were lightly stir fried with a sweet sauce and pear accompaniment. For starters we had the brocolli with beetroot powder and a cheese base altagio. 

For the price of EU 120, our lunch for 2 was no means cheap but well worth the experience.

Will we come again, well if we do venture to Venice again, I will make it a repeat stop to dine at the Bistrot e Venise. 

Me at Piazza Saint Marco 5 Dec 2017 

Marco Polo was an Italian (Venetian) as was Chistophero Columbus (Florentine) ; the days of the Renaissance saw many Italians make great their names. There are so many of them, Leonardo da Vince, Michalengelo, Rafael and Donatello to name a few. Coincidentally the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles copied their names unahamedly. I guess imitation is the greatest form of flattery !

I hope to put up more of this unforgettable trip soon. 

Art Gallery Singapore Permanent Exhibition

Ang Ah Tee 1943 "Alley Chinatown" 

On the left hand side of the voluminuos Art Gallery lies the exhibition of South East Asian artists, and I highlight some of the more striking ones.  While viewing the pictures, I am transported vicariously to another Singapore before I was born ; the use of oil on canvas above creates a subtle image and the art is exquisitely beautiful.  

Lim Cheng Hoe 1995 "Singapore River"

Another art piece, by Lim Cheng Hoe. This is using water colour on canvas (I think) ; and  the colours make it striking to the viewer. 

Unnamed 1958 "Picking"

This piece shows what happens when the National Environment Agency authorities come and chase away the street vendors in the 'old days'. The expressions on the faces of the ordinary people on the sidewalk show how each one reacts to the situation ; it is really a great piece of art and the poor vendor is left picking up his strewn fish from the floor which probably dropped off when he was running away from the authorities. 

   

Century of Light ; Impressionists Exhibition 10-11 March 2018

         In the last 2 years, I have had the opportunity to visit several museums in Europe, in particular, the Louvre and the Musee de Orsay in Paris as well as the Church of Santa Maria della Grazia in central Milan to name two.

My interest for fine art was stoked by these visits, especially Leonardo da Vinci's "the Last Supper"  which I will put up in another post.

This last weekend, i had the opportunity to enter for free 2 days to view the Century of Light (I will assume it is the 19th century) whereby the many Impressionist painters lived and plied their trade in Paris and Florence. The paintings were on loan from the Musee de Orsay
and the museum goers which attended the viewings while I was there was mainly an eclectic bunch, of tourists, foreign expats and locals.  

The 2 - 3 painters works which i was privileged to admire and was enthralled (yes it was fascinating to say the least) with was Claude Monet. Manet and Auguste Renoir. There were dozens of artists living and ekeing out a living in Paris, and almost all were dirt poor. It seems like poverty and a basic necessity driven life are the prerequisites for creating a masterpiece.

Here are 2 of these from the Impressionists

Lillies in the garden (his) - Claude Monet 

Monet ; painting by Auguste Renoir

While I was much younger I spared no time appreciating the Masters. Now, I am well into Middle Age, suddenly the paintings seem to be speaking a language of another time and message to me.

Carpe Diem