Savannah to Daytona Beach

Savannah River

We started the day with a walk along the Savannah River waterfront.  The entire area is one long road of gallery, shop, and restaurant after another on one side of the road facing the open river.  My mission was to find the best peanut shop I have ever been to.  Twice, I've bought nuts here, but this time I couldn't find it.  However, the weather was warm, the walk pleasant.  It is early spring here and the trees are blooming.  It was about a 3 hours' drive to Daytona where we are staying with John and Kathy.  The house is beautiful with two outdoor living spaces with fireplaces.  John had prepared oysters on the half shell, crab legs, shrimp and cheese.  For dinner he served the wonderful mussels and pork dish that he is soooooo good at making.  Some photos are here at flickr.

Savannah

The Olde Pink House

Most of today was spent driving from Durham to Savannah.  We're listening to Ian Rankin's latest Rebus book, which helps the time pass and also reminds us of our time in Edinburgh where the book is set.  Our hotel is on Bay Street overlooking the Savannah River.  It is a perfect location to enjoy the sights of Savannah.  Tonight we walked one block to The Olde Pink House, a significant historic home turned restaurant for dinner.  We have eaten here before and knew it to be good.  This time we did not make reservations but walked in and requested a table in the cellar tavern where jazz is played.  On our first try we were there an hour before the Tavern opened so we walked to a local pub, The Churchill, to kill time.  There the bartender chatted with us about the trip.  He had recommendations for restaurants in Daytona Beach.  Back at The Olde Pink House we worked our way through throngs of people and waiters to the cellar.  It was packed to the gills with diners.  Playing jazz at the piano was quite a character; a woman of significant age wearing bright red sequined gown, bright red plumed hat and lipstick to match.  Her voice was so-so.  The room is very nice with  a large fireplace lounging area, an end to end bar and small tables along the wall.  We were told there would be a 1/2 hour wait.  We stood and listened to the chanteuse for about 15 minutes.  The hostess told us there was a table cancellation and took us to a small domed adjacent room where the wine was stored.  It was delightful.  We overate but had great fun as we were catered to by a charming waitress from Maine who knew of Joe and Lex.    See some more pictures here.

Durham, NC

Duke University Gardens

We are definitely south of the Mason Dixon Line today.  While yesterday we were bundled up against sleet and cold, today we shed our jackets to enjoy the 70 degree sunny weather of Durham, North Carolina.  We started our day at Duke University and the Nasher Museum where a fabulous show of 50 works collected by the Cone sisters of Baltimore was on view.  The Cone sisters began collecting art in 1905 directly out of the Parisian studios of Matisse, Picasso and more.  They were great friends with Gertrude and Leo Stein who introduced them around the Parisian art scene. The collection is just beautiful with pieces I've seen only in reproduction like Matisse's Large Reclining Nude.  You may link here to see a few of the pieces.    There is one other gallery of several enclaves that holds a few acquisitions, some Greek & Roman antiquities, and a show of works chosen from the collection, Exposing the Gaze: Gender and Sexuality in Art. Here, I saw a Mickalene Thomas, the artist currently showing at the ICA in Boston.  I was pleased to see a Petah Coyne (having met her several times at my old Fairhaven neighborhood B&B)  The last time I saw her work it was all white wax.  This piece was black.   
Later, we visited the Duke Chapel, which is a strong example of collegial Gothic architecture.  The organ was impressive, but we were puzzled by the representation of Girolamo Savanarola in the door jam statues.  He was responsible for the Bonfire of the Vanities, a most sad campaign of burning art and other vanities.  
A final campus venue was the Duke Gardens.  Extensive and already showing spring life, the gardens are 55 acres that include rose and iris gardens, a koi pond and 5 miles of pathways.  
We drove downtown for lunch where we found The American Tobacco & City Center.  Here, the old tobacco factories have been converted into a mixed use place of restaurants, businesses and schools.  We had a nice lunch at Cuban Revolution.  Nearby was the Bull Durham baseball stadium.  
Tonight we found Nana's, a very above average restaurant.  Wayne had a scrumptious short rib dish and I had risotto with a duck confit salad.  The waiter was professional.  The art on the walls superb, Jane Filer.  
See some of our day at flickr.

The Philadelphia Barnes

The Barnes

We had a 10:30 docent tour at the new Barnes this morning.  The last time we visited the Barnes it was in Merion.  Today the collection is in downtown Philly adjacent to the Museum of Art.  After much finagling the court allowed the Barnes to move its collection. While the exterior and the entrance areas are unlike the Merion building, the interior layout for the collection is identical to Dr. Barnes original setup. And what a fabulous collection it is.  Every room is packed with the greatest art from the 19th & 20th century.  The representations of Cezanne, Renoir, and Matisse are mouth watering.  Wayne and I had great fun visiting each room and then each of us deciding which piece we would take home. The foundation posses more than 2,500 objects, including 800 paintings estimated to be worth about $25 billion.  Dr. Albert Barnes derived his fortune from the development of the antiseptic drug Argyrol, used to prevent blindness from infection in newborns.  It was his goal in life to use this art to educate the greater public about art.  Still, today that is the mission of the Foundation.
We left a snowy and cold Philadelphia around noon and arrived in a much warmer Durham about 7pm.  We're settled in for 2 days here.  
A few more pics of the Barnes are at flickr.flickr

Philadelphia

Philadelphia City Hall, Broad St.

We had a really nice day.  We left West Haven about mid morning and arrived in Philadelphia around 1pm.  We are staying in the same hotel we used last year, The Double Tree on Broad Street.  It's a perfect location for us.  We can walk to everything.  Broad Street is the central artery of Philly and home to the major performance and art centers.  Out our 25th floor room we look directly down Broad St to the Philadelphia City Hall atop of which sits a sculpture of William Penn.  Much to my amazement I discovered the sculptor to be Alexander Calder, grandfather to the 20th century sculptor of the same name.  Tonight we had a perfect dinner at The Capital Grill. Everything was cooked to perfection, the service was unobtrusive and complete and the setting rich and comfortable.  After dinner we saw Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband at the Walnut Street Theater, America's oldest theater.  It is over 200 years old and has had such notable performers as the Barrymores, Will Rogers, The Marx Brothers, Helen Hayes, Henry Fonda, Sidney Poitier and Jack Lemon.  The play was funny and the acting good although a bit dated in its take on women.  

Yale University Gallery

Wayne admiring Abbey

Our winter trip began today with a short 3 hour hop from Wareham to New Haven, CT.  I had read Sebastian Smee's account of the new Yale University Gallery and wanted to visit.  The collection is marvelous, second only Harvard as a university collection.  According to Smee, 

"The result is wonderful.  For breadth, depth, and that crucial ingredient (call it the 'umami' of gallery-going), a sense of delectation and surprise, there can't be many museum-going experiences anywhere in the country to rival it.  The collection, like many other college art galleries (but with greater claim to success than most), aims at universality. Yale’s justly famous collections of American, European old master, and modern and contemporary art are complemented by more than respectable holdings in Indo-Pacific, African, Ancient American, Ancient Mediterranean, and Asian art, each of which have dedicated galleries. Photography, prints, drawings, Islamic art, and coins and medals also get a look-in. The American decorative arts displays are a knockout.

Both of us remembered Edwin Austin Abbey's  Richard, Duke or Gloucester and The Lady Anne from a visit several years ago.  Abbey painted several large paintings to illustrate a book of Shakespeare plays.  Hamlet Play Scene is hung on the adjacent wall to Richard.

The area around the Yale Gallery is filled with cafes and book stores as one would expect on a university campus.  We ate at the counter of the Atticus Book Store where we were waited on by a beautiful, friendly and funny Hispanic woman who had the features of a Mayan.  The entire wait staff of about 20 people hustled and bustled around, never stopping for a moment and all jabbering in Spanish and English.  It was simply delightful.

Later, we had clam pizza at the famous Pepe's Pizza. The line was out the door and about an hour's wait.  Since is was about 15 degrees, we went to the original Pepe's in the back of the new Pepe's and waited inside for about 15 minutes.  

A blurry me waiting for pizza.

There are a few pictures at flickr.

Location:West Haven,United States