European Masters (18th December 2010)

Argh, sometimes I wish I had less hair! It takes forever to straighten it (about 20 minutes) which is why I hardly do so. “You have such long and strong hair – you really should put in the effort to make it look good, all the time…” said my new hairdresser Kim, somewhat aghast when I told her my hairstyle was au naturel, even though she too agreed I’ve got A LOT of hair and it takes twice the effort to straighten them compared to most people. I told you so! But I have to admit, it does look shiny and sleek when I do straighten it (plus Jono likes it too) so I promised myself I would make an effort to straighten my hair every time I washed it and today was one of those days – we’re going to be late meeting James and Carly at Te Papa for the exhibition!

Jono and I finally left home for Te Papa around 1pm, half an hour later than the time we agreed to meet James and Carly. Darn hair! Thankfully I had told James to go ahead without us which they did. This is SO not like me, being late!

Cost us $10 each for the European Masters exhibition at Te Papa that is on till the 27th of February 2011 (normally cost $22.50 but I got the discounted tickets from GrabOne). Finally we’re here and going to the exhibition! Jono and I have been meaning to head over to see it but kept putting it off doing other outdoor stuff during the weekends (can’t let the good weather go to waste!). The exhibition features 19th-20th century art from the Stadel Museum, featuring a collection of works including sculptures from 70 artists. We slowly worked our way through the exhibition, admiring the works that span from Neo-classicism, Realism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Nabis and Modernism. I really liked The Jealous Lioness (Paul Meyerheim) which had an angry lioness baring all teeth at the lion trainer who was stroking the male lion’s mane – a beautiful painting yet there was a dark side or feeling to it. Other amazing paintings on display included Goethe in the Roman Campagna (Johann H W Tischbein), Orchestra musicians (Edgar Degas) and After the luncheon (Pierre-Auguste Renoir). Well worth the visit to the museum to check it out if you’re a fan of European artworks!

2 hours later and no James or Carly in sight (they must have left – sorry guys!), we left the museum and headed to Mac’s Brewbar for lunch. It was a glorious sunny day and lucky for us, we managed to migrate from our shaded table to the tables set up near the waterfront in the sun to have our meal :) Mmm, green-lipped mussels…yum! We took a stroll down Oriental Parade and a short walk on the beach (eek, so many jellyfish washed up on the beach!) after lunch before heading home. A chilled out Saturday spent with Jono – ah, bliss :)