The ‘petals’ of a desert rose are formed from crystals which create a circular array of flat plates, in a shape reminiscent of a rose blossom. The design of the National Museum of Qatar was inspired by these crystals.
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The National Museum of Qatar was designed by the architect Jean Nouvel. He took his inspiration from the naturally occurring crystal formations known as the desert rose. The sprawling structure's interlocking disks suggest a cluster of such formations.
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I wonder what it would be like to live in a town where the sun never sets in the summer and never rises in the winter? A town whose population of 2,400 residents hail from almost 53 different countries? And whose residents stay only for an average of seven years? And how would it feel to have to carry a rifle every time you stepped beyond the town’s limits and to know how to use it against a possible polar bear attack?
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It has to be said that Manila is not the most appealing of cities. While the largely reconstructed old city of Intramuros has its charms, much of the rest of the city is a sprawl of modern skyscrapers, older housing, near-slums, and very congested traffic. It is the world’s fourth largest city and one of its most densely populated. However, there are gems to be found half-hidden in the sprawl.
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The Louvre Abu Dhabi displays art from very early civilisations up to the present day, in chronological order. And unlike many others, it presents various contemporaneous cultures alongside each other. You follow a thread from early self-contained kingdoms through conquest and expansion into empires.
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The master of word invention was Lewis Carroll whose works are liberally scattered with these portmanteau words, that is, words that combine two different words to make something new.
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Sometimes on a trip it’s important to take the pace down a notch. In the end it doesn’t matter if you squeeze in every sight or miss a few. By rushing around you can fail to really appreciate where you are and to notice the smaller details that distinguish one place from the next.
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A few weeks ago I took you for a walk around the colourful Mexican city of Oaxaca. On that occasion I skipped over most of the major sights but promised to return to visit them later. Today is that ‘later’!
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Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropologia has to be one of the most impressive museums I’ve visited, and also one to which I really failed to do justice! My excuse is that perennial traveller’s bugbear, jetlag, compounded by a twelve hour overnight flight without sleep.
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Every trip, every journey, turns you into a slightly different person than you were before you left. The sights you saw, the experiences you had, the people you met; these are all part of you now.
