My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen...

Knowing that I was going to want a really good cup of tea when I got back from New Orleans I asked Julie for recommendations on somewhere in Santa Monica. She suggested the Tudor House and I gave it a go. Good call.

Tea Cup

adjectiveusing or characterized by irony : his mouth curved into an ironic smile.• happening in the opposite way to what is expected, and typically causing wry amusement because of this : [with clause ] it was ironic that now that everybody had plenty of money for food, they couldn't obtain it because everything was rationed.

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Today, Massimiliano and I visited LACMA. It's a great museum, with an excellent selection of art movements and styles, although it doesn't seem to have a permanent photography exhibit. On the other hand, it seems to cater well for kids, as there were several interactive art-creation stands in and around the campus.

But I suppose that it was inevitable that having travelled over 4,000 miles from Belgium, the painting I most enjoyed from the collection was this one from Magritte, one of Belgium's most brilliant artists. It's always struck a chord with me. I expect it stems from my love of paradox and patterns. And as much as the statement is true (it's an image of a pipe), it's also funny.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

Before visiting the museum I hadn't realised quite how close it is to the La Brea tar pits. I've wanted to visit them ever since seeing them in movies when I was a child. Standing next to them, smelling the tar and seeing it bubble away was excellent fun. 

The museum and the tar pits both look like they're worth a second visit.

Tar Pit with Bubble

Ground Sloth

I don't have a kitchen to cook in at the moment, so I bought a different set of foods than I would normally choose at the Santa Monica farmers' market, this morning.

Dried Persimmons and Fuji Apples

I'm not normally a big fan of dumplings. Possibly because I look a little bit like one and possibly because I'm always a bit wary of any kind of food that comes with a 'wrapping' or sauce. Surely, if the ingredients are good, there's no need to coat them in pastry, dough, batter, bread crumbs or thick syrupy, creamy, unctuous sauce?

Pea_pods

Show us a photo of you with a funny haircut.

This isn't actually my hair. It's a hat I tried on in a shop in Alaska. After checking in a mirror I decided against buying it.

Last July I managed to lock myself out of my apartment when I lived in Amsterdam and... opened the door with what I thought was the same technique as the locksmith who'd helped me the year before. he was more skilled than me and had a special sheet of plastic for opening locked doors. I sort of destroyed the door frame and it had to be rebuilt. That really did teach me not to lose my keys.

Bits and Pieces

Lockless Door

So now that I've visited Colorado and China for the first time I've updated the maps of the countries and US states I have visited. Frankly, I think there's still not enough red on these maps. So much more to see. I'm hoping to add New Zealand and Ethiopia soon. And I'd like to see more of Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland and Chile if possible.

Worldmap

Statemap

I'd never been to mainland China before and so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Beijing.

But as you can see in the picture below, it's not really possible to see the blue of the sky. There's a thick layer of smog over the whole city and you can taste it in every breath. But that doesn't seem to put most people off a visit, as the many visitors we saw confirmed. In fact, it was so popular, I couldn't get a shot that didn't have other tourists posing for their own photos.

Beijing Olympic Stadium (Pose)

Show us something bizarre.

These pigeons were found on the street in Montevideo on a Sunday afternoon. Why? No idea.

Beheaded_pigeons_461