jupiter artland

jupiter artland

5 Jul 2011

When we were looking at things to see and do during my weekend in Edinburgh, Alison suggested Jupiter Artland, a sculpture garden. She'd not been before so last Sunday we drove the short distance there. I didn't really know what to expect but what I found exceeded all my expectations. The experience began as we drove through the front gates and past the gate house with the purple front door. Warning - there are quite a few photos in this post.

We drove past a gorgeous private house, Bonnington House. At the entry way was an Airstream caravan - Jupiter Artland's cafe.

A sample of some of the sculptures.

We were given a map to explore the grounds and the sculptures. We were there for close to 3 hours as we wandered the grounds, climbed the life mounds and fed the sheep, then stopped at the cafe for some lunch.



This sculpture is called 'Love Bomb'.

 
Who can resist donkeys?



Both Alison and I had our favourite sculptures. She loved the Stone Coppice and Life Mounds, whilst we both loved In Memory and the Weeping Girls.

How about this? A knitted sculpture called 'Over Here'.

 

A cute sheep and no, we didn't spy the rampant ram.



The Beautiful Temple of Apollo.

So much has happened since my last post. I've had a few days in London and I'm currently in Paris and the sun is shining. Next post will be about my London stay. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed my visit to Jupiter Artland. 

Happy 4th of July and see you all again soon,

Jillian

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edinburgh and a mini anthroplogie shopshoot

edinburgh and a mini anthroplogie shopshoot

1 Jul 2011

My visit to Edinburgh was a little unexpected as originally I was meant to be staying with friends in Glasgow. I'm lucky to have 2 close friends who live on the train line between the 2 cities, so I managed to see both of them.

The weather wasn't too great but it's Scotland in summer, so you take what you get. My friend Alison could remember the 2 sunny weekends they'd experienced since April.

Edinburgh looks so different from Glasgow and the Royal Mile was crowded with tourists. To escape the throng, we ducked down to one of my favourite graveyards belonging to St. Cuthbert's Church.

Along the way we passed the 'stinky cheese shop'.

But I was on a mission. I'd heard that Anthropologie had just opened a store in Edinburgh so we trekked along George Street until we found the building.

So what did we find? Firstly, a gorgeously restored building over 2 levels.

 Secondly, the usual eclectic Anthropologie mix of fashion, art and design.

After almost 4 hours of pain at the Apple store in Covent Garden on Tuesday, my laptop seems to be working again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though. 

I'm off to Paris this weekend so check back next week. I've one more post from Edinburgh for you and it's truly the most amazing place I've visited on this trip. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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in the garden - glasgow

in the garden - glasgow

29 Jun 2011

It's been an interesting day or two. On Sunday my laptop came down with a catastrophic bug which disabled it. Instead of shopping or sightseeing in London, I spent most of the day at the Apple store at Covent Garden. The laptop is operating but I only have intermittent access to the part that runs photoshop. I managed to prepare and upload these images last night, so I have a few blog posts from Scotland for you, but after that????

These photos are from my friend Kay's beautiful garden, which I took during my very brief stay in Glasgow.

It was a grey day but that just makes the colours so much more vibrant.

Kay doesn't grows thistles in her garden, I just threw this one in because I was in Scotland after all! 

Fingers crossed, next post will be from Edinburgh,

so until then, 

Jillian

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shopping in amsterdam

shopping in amsterdam

27 Jun 2011

As you know, I love to shoot shops and I wanted to shoot shops in Amsterdam but where to go and what to see? I had Pia's book for guidance and Desiree's guide to help me out.

One of the first places I visited was the Noordermarkt flea market and as the weather was so dreary on the Saturday I decided to revisit the area a few days later.

I loved the vintage china and if I'd had more time and wasn't travelling for another 4 weeks with a backpack, I'd have slipped a few pieces into my luggage.

Directly across the street from the flea market is the Cafe Winkel. I watched in awe as they served the largest slices of apple tart with cream I'd ever seen. I was on my own and I thought eating a piece solo was a bit too much like gluttony but I was tempted.

I found these gorgeous little splashes of colour outside the market and Pompon, a lovely flower shop.

I really liked this store and if it were in Sydney rather than Amsterdam, I'd be a regular visitor.

De Weldaad had an eclectic mix of rustic and industrial wares along side decorative pieces.

Isn't that dresser the most amazing shade of green?



Just in case you were wondering, I did stray from the Jordaan but the weather was so wet I decided against taking photos. I really liked Utrechtsestraat but I was struggling to hold onto my umbrella that day let alone wrangle my camera. Look what I found in my travels though - Holly's window display for her book, Decorate. Unfortunately I'd left Amsterdam before the book signing took place.



Here's another favourite store, the Sissy Boy store in KNSM Laan.

Sissy Boy is a bit of everything - clothes shop/home wares and a cafe. The store had the most amazing chandeliers and I'm a sucker for a good chandelier. I have a blank green wall in my kitchen and a few of those copper letters would have been just perfect. I did buy a few bits and pieces, but even I couldn't have squeezed the letters into my pack.

That's the last of my posts from Amsterdam. I hoped you enjoyed my little shopping spree. I'm having major laptop dramas, so I'm not quite sure when I'll be seeing you all again but when I do, it will be with lots more images, fingers crossed.

 

Jillian

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another postcard from amsterdam

another postcard from amsterdam

23 Jun 2011

I'm conferencing at the moment so I haven't had much time to get to my laptop. I spent all yesterday cooped up in an auditorium and spent most of today doing the same thing. I can't believe that I've only one more day left in Amsterdam.

Do you want to see some of the places I visited during the weekend?

I picked up an I-Amsterdam card on Sunday and raced around to as many museums as I could. It also happened to be the weekend of The Open Garden Day so I managed to see a few of the secret gardens as well.

The Museum van Loon, FOAM and the Museum Geelvinck are all in the same street.

From there, I walked to the Portuguese Synagogue, trying to avoid being run over by one of the many cyclists. Pedestrians don't appear to have any right of way in Amsterdam.

I found the synagogue covered in scaffolding due to renovations. It's a remarkably austere yet beautiful building lit by candles.

Just a short walk from the synagogue is the Hortus Botanicus, the Botanical Gardens. My favourite part of the garden was the butterfly greenhouse, where a very large butterfly planted itself on my head.

I had just enough energy left to take a few more photos before it was time to head home for the day. 

Tomorrow is my last day in Amsterdam and the plan is to do some shopping before getting on a plane to Edinburgh. I won't have any internet access during that time but I should be back again some time next week. 

So until then, 

Jillian

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postcard from amsterdam

postcard from amsterdam

20 Jun 2011

Whoever said jet lag doesn't exist, has never flown a long haul flight from Australia or New Zealand. I've been awake since 2.00 a.m. and what better way to fill my time than blogging?

I arrived to a wet and windy Amsterdam on Saturday and made my way across town to where I'd be staying - misc eatdrinksleep. I was way too early to check-in, so off I went with my new camera in tow.



The hotel is located on Kloveniersburgwal so I took a walk along the canal to see where it would lead me.

Any time I found something interesting, I'd duck into a side lane or alley to take a photo. Eventually, I found myself here at the Flower Market.

I kept walking until I found the Farmers Market at Noordermarkt where I picked up some tasty treats for my lunch. By this stage the rain was pelting down so hard and my jet lag had kicked in. I knew it was time to head back to my hotel for some much needed sleep.

This is what I found when I climbed the stairs to my sweet little room with the most comfortable bed in the world. I should know as I slept for 10 hours straight the first night.

I've lots more to share with you but that's for later in the week, when I'm feeling a little more human. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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