Did a web check in online to save time upon arrival at the airport.
Checked out of Railway Square YHA @ 6.30 am and took the train from Central Railway station to Sydney Domestic Airport. No auto boarding passes printed or baggage tags therefore had to wait in the queue to do bag drop and collect hardcopy print out of boarding pass and baggage tag - checked in suitcase weighed 10.1 kg and carry on weighed 7.2 kg (airline is very strict about baggage restrictions) but still allowed ( I took out my contigo full of hot water from the side pocket before placing my backpack on the scales - this should not be counted as I will consume this and I could have lost the extra .2 kg by eating all the samples of Darrel Lea and Lindt chocolates in my bag from yesterday's Chocolate Festival.)
Next was breakfast from McDonald's at the airport - sausage and egg muffin with no cheese but tomato and lettuce with a hash brown instead. I hope I feel OK after this as I haven't been feeling very well the day before with my stomach.
Walk to gate 56 after checking my bag in. Long wait until the flight is due to arrive at 8.45 am .
I forgot the travel insurance and should really purchase some - still have time have not departed Sydney yet. Will look online.
Travel insurance sorted - just as well as I almost missed the flight as there was a last minute gate change. I didn't see any other Tiger passengers waiting at gate 56 they were all Jetstar so I checked the departures board and flight T221 to Melbourne had changed to gate 57 so by the time I arrived at gate 57 boarding was almost complete. I mentioned this to the flight attendants and they said they would have waited for me. I showed them my boarding pass and yes it did say gate 56 and when she checked the passenger's boarding pass in front of me it said gate 57. What the????
Arrived at Melbourne Airport on time. Collect my luggage. Now on the skybus a new double decker one. I can't remember if I've actually been on one of these before so sat in the top deck. Nice and sunny today in Melbourne but showers are looming.
Arrive at Southern Cross Station stop off at Woolworths for some food for tonight. Walk to YHA Melbourne and check in, drop my luggage off and place my groceries straight into the refridgerator before heading off to see the Degas A New Vision exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). Hope it is worth all the queuing to cloak your backpack then for tickets then for headsets to join the guided tour of the exhibition. Note : no YHA membership discount available to see Degas $28 full price adult ticket.
Jeppe Hein Semicircular Space - a walk through circular maze
On the way to The National Gallery of Victoria the Sunday Markets were also on. I did not stop to have a look at the markets as I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon at the NGV.
The Degas - A New Vision exhibition was worth seeing however it was not a good idea to join a guided tour at 1 pm which used a headset and guide as it was a little rushed. I recomment you spend at least 2 hours at the exhibition at your own pace and take lots of photos of the artwork. This exhibition was extremely crowded therefore going at your own pace means you aren't trying to push through the crowds to keep up with the guide and the rest of the group. Rating : 7/10 .
I liked Degas' early portrait work over some of his later work. It is unfortunate he had such a dysfunctional family and that many of the portraits of his family had a sad look to them. Degas' style also constantly changed - to me they became "fuzzier" ie less detailed but then again he had many mentors throughout his career and towards the end started to loose his sight and stopped using oil paints . My favourite later works were probably his paintings of ballerinas, his foray into photography and some of his sculptures particularly The little 14 year old dancer. I did not like any of the paintings and sketches he did of the female form and of brothel workers. Some of his landscapes and at work were quite interesting too.
Running around the exhibition over the weekend were parents with their little "bun head" ballarinas all dressed up in leotards, tutus, ballet slippers, tights, with hair in buns and even makeup. Kids are encouraged to see the Degas exhibition and all around the exhibition there is signage along side information on each piece of artwork information for kids.
The NGV is not all about the Degas exhibition therefore after spending a few hours at the exhibition I went around the gallery to take a cloer look at its exterior and interior architecture as well as spend quite a few hours looking at the other permanent and temporary exhibitions.
Here were two of my favourite exhibitions:
Subodh Gupta Everyday Devine - you walk up the entrance to this exhibition and the first thing you hear people including myself say is "WOW" - right in front of you is a floor to almost ceiling display of stainess steel kitchenware - pots pans bowls cooking utensils all shiny and new. As you walk further everything in the exhibition is shiny and metallic or coated to make it so - bicycles and other large objects such as a line of bamboo stalks all in metal however my favourite would be the back wall of the exhibition which is an organised wall to wall floor to ceiling "kitchen" - think of an IKEA kitchen wall full of hanging pots and pans on steroids again all in shiny new stainless steel - I wish this was my kitchen! I wonder how the gallery keeps this exhibition nice and clean? Rating : 8/10
What goes better with a kitchen on steroids? A Fake Food Park by Marti Guixe for the kids. I just couldn't resist having a play in this fake create and cook a dish exhibition. The kids start by washing their hands then putting on an apron. They then collect a stainless steel bowl (perhaps borrowed from the exhibition above?!) and go around to various stations picking up what are sometimes unidentifiable pieces of food made of plastic wood resin material etc in bright colours. They have a chance to then add heat, add flavours, add smells etc to them at various stations before taking their bowl full of food to a station for pretend "plating up". Now this was the challenging part for me but maybe not for the kids ,there are no options to control your plating up - you now have picked up a resin slab of red raw meat (you can pretend cook it youself), a few slices of felt "yellow" cheese conveniently pre cut into thick triangles for you (you can pretend melt it) , some green felt lettuce conveniently preshreded for you (you can pretend add flavour to it) as well as some other pretend food pieces BUT when you select a station to plate up at , you touch the button on the screen and start organising your pieces of food onto the flat round plate and on the screen pieces of ham oysters or other randomly selected foods appear. I tried to plate up at 2 different stations both came up with very odd combinations of foods. You then have an option to save and share by typing in your email address. I went ahead and did so. An email is sent to you with a photo of the final plate up. Lots of fun for parents and kids (even big kids like me). All the pieces of food after you have finished plating up are then deposited back into the pretend "food bank" . Return of bowls and aprons then onto another computerised activity of creating a "food face selfie" and emailing and sharing it - yes I had a go at this too! Rating : 9/10 (refer youtube video now uploaded)
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