Oh My Goodness!!!

We had the most amazing weekend!

Please allow a moment of self-indulgence.

After doing the Growers' Market at ut si in Perth Tas on Saturday morning (lemon cordial a huge seller!), we packed a quick bag and headed for Hobart.

Saturday night we had a very low key dinner at Tandoor Curry House before experiencing the opulence of Gold Class

We sipped 42 degrees Champagne and watched the action packed "Argo" while reclining in the most comfortable chairs ever. We had won a $30 voucher at a recent trivia night so it was only an additional $44 plus drinks. This style of cinema viewing is a MUST if you are planning to see something like a long movie with plenty of big screen action like "Lord of the Rings" or a special session of a Harry Potter movie.

The next day we had breakfast at a popular cafe in North Hobart called "Raincheck Lounge". The service was superb but a pity the eggs are not free range. You can taste the difference. Owners of backyard chooks will always taste the difference.

image from here

Then it was on to the fabulous Glenorchy Tip Shop.

Yep! It's the shop run alongside the dump.

We found some cute little Tupperware stacking mugs for the cubby house plus another "butterfly wing" AKA triangular saucepan lid 

see here

We found heaps of #27 Fowlers jars but at $4 we thought that was a bit steep as you can buy brand new ones for that! We also found a couple of Tupperware containers at $1 each and a light fitting as a spare for the lounge room for just $4.50. 

But NEXT....

the piece de resistance....

a visit to MONA.

image from the Mercury newspaper

The Museum of Old and New Art.

It was our second visit and just as exciting as the first,

maybe even more so....

While enjoying a Pimms and lemonade and prosciutto pizza after a good three hours of art viewing in Basement 3 alone, none other than David Walsh, the owner of MONA, pulled up a lounge chair next to us!!! Feeling much revived we headed to Basement 2 & 3 for more art appreciation. I discovered

 "The Economical On The Skin of Caracans, Caracas, Venezuela, 2006"

by Santiago Sierra

"The skin on the back of 10 persons who declared to have zero dollars was photographed. A medium tone in greyscale was assigned to that value. The skin on the back of 10 persons who declared to have a thousand dollars was photographed. A different medium tone in greyscale was assigned to that value. Finally, the skin on the back of 10 persons who declared to have a million dollars was photographed. A medium tone in greyscale, different to the other two, was assigned to that value. Once a tone of grey in the scale had been assigned to zero, ten and a million dollars, the value of black and white was calculated in dollars. The value of black turned out to be minus 2.106 dollars; and the value of white 11.548.415 dollars."

A very powerful piece and my stand out experience of the visit. I was so excited about it that when Craig caught up to me I started to explain to him enthusiastically

"What the artist has done here....."

At exactly the same moment,

David Walsh had come up to stand right next to me with a couple of his friends and he was saying at the exact same time....

"What the artist has done here....."

It was a bizarre moment of sychronisity that could only happen at MONA.

My other exciting moment (could it get any better???) was coming across Picasso's "Weeping Woman"....literally, just coming upon it among other works hung nonchalantly on the wall. 

I could have wept!

Even disregarding the thousands of pieces of artwork from Egyptian sarcophagus to Roman coins to the most modern and confronting, the sheer magnificence of the building built into a sandstone cliff face is breathtaking.

Lonely Planet has now documented Hobart as the 7th most visited city in the world and that is purely down to MONA. I do so hope you get to visit this amazing privately owned art gallery.

It was certainly a weekend to remember.