Day 52: Yale University Art Gallery

A great university should have a great art collection, and Yale does. We first toured the museum in 2006, but one of its buildings was closed for renovation at that time, so we saw only a portion of their collection. This visit, we were pleasantly surprised by how much good stuff they have.

Dan went directly to a painting by Vincent van Gogh called The Night Cafe that he first fell for in an exhibition at the Metropolitan in New York several years ago. He has a print of it hanging in his office, but the scene always seemed dreary and dull to me. The original is breathtaking; I couldn't walk away from it. The magic is in the hanging lamps and the effect of the light on different colors, and my iPad snapshot fails to capture it.

Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890
The Night Café, 1888

On the adjacent wall is a completely different van Gogh, a placid garden path delivered in enough tiny brushstrokes to rival Seurat, the arch-Pointillist. It is astounding that van Gogh achieved such range within two years.

Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890
Square Saint-Pierre, Paris, 1887

The works of Claude Monet are so common that the experienced art traveler develops a certain resistance, but the works in Yale's collection are pretty irresistible. These two examples, painted seventeen years apart, show that his range extends far beyond hazy lily ponds.

Claude Monet, 1840-1926
Camille on the Beach in Trouville, 1870

Claude Monet, 1840-1926
Port-Domois, Belle-Île, 1887

Like Monet, Camille Pissarro had a long and productive career, and he was always relevant in developing art trends. A minor theme in his work is the life of peasant farmers. He conveyed his sympathy and respect very powerfully in this portrait, one of his best works.

Camille Pissarro, 1830-1903
A Seated Peasant Woman, 1885

The collection of American art has equally important works. Dan headed straight for Edward Hopper. It's wonderful to let your eye roam among several of his masterpieces; a real 'wow' experience.

Edward Hopper, 1882-1967
Sunlight in a Cafeteria, 1958

Edward Hopper, 1882-1967
Western Motel, 1957

Edward Hopper, 1882-1967
Rooms by the Sea, 1951

One of my personal favorites is Joseph Stella, and the museum definitely has his very best work.

Joseph Stella, 1877-1946
Brooklyn Bridge, 1920

Joseph Stella, 1877-1946
Battle of Lights, Conney Island, Mardi Gras, 1914

The full history of American art is represented. In fact, the museum was originally built to house their large collection of historical paintings and portraits by John Trumbull, one of the colonies' earliest painters. Moving forward, they have good works by Raphaelle Peale, Martin Johnson Heade, Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.

Their sculpture collection is smaller, but they have two upsetting works by Duane Hanson that make me wonder whether he is the most sympathetic or the cruelest of observers.

Duane Hanson, 1925-1996
Man in Chair with Beer, 1973

Duane Hanson, 1925-1996
Drug Addict, 1974

One of the special exhibits was photorealism, a special interest of mine. My favorite here was Walt's Restaurant, by Ralph Goings. I feel like I've had a soda in that very café, observed that insurance salesman taking a break between calls on potential clients, smelled those ashtrays, heard that screen door slam, watched that empty road.

Ralph Goings, b. 1928
Walt's Restaurant, 1979

Another special exhibit was "Red Grooms: Larger than Life." Red Grooms is best known for his pop art constructions depicting scenes of American life—comical, 3-dimensional models, but he did comical drawings and paintings as well. One of his themes was the contemporary art world. He paid homage to Picasso by showing him at work on his famous anti-war mural, Guernica, with comical renderings of other elements in his biography and paintings.

Red Grooms, b. 1937
Studio at the Rue des Grands-Augustins, 1996

More ambitiously, he skewered most of his contemporaries in the New York school of painting in one mural representing the bar where they hung out, including caricatures of Jackson Pollack, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and others, as listed along the bottom of the frame. For comical draughtsmanship and historical significance, it is very high quality work, remarkably rendered in colored pencil, crayons, and watercolor.

Red Grooms, b. 1937
Cedar Bar, 1986

A special treat for me was that much of the building's decor consisted of wall drawings by Sol LeWitt.

Sol LeWitt, 1928-2007
Wall Drawing #614, 1989

Sol LeWitt, 1928-2007
Wall Drawing #987, 2001

Now comes the bad news. Bad lighting, sometimes shadowy and sometimes glaring, and bad positioning of the work made many pieces hard to appreciate, much less photograph. It's a pity that Yale can't bring its museum-ship up to the level of its collection.

The gallery doesn't have any food service. A guard suggested Atticus Deli in the bookstore right across the street. My salad was exceptional in having a roasted chicken leg on a bed of spinach; the slightly fatty chicken was a good complement to the astringent spinach.

When the gallery closed we walked a few blocks into the campus—past the Skull and Bones Society—to photograph the Gothic style Harkness Tower. Just as we got into range, its Memorial Carillon began a ten-minute performance. It was quite pleasant in the late afternoon light.

For dinner Dan went to Jimmie's at Savin Rock, as he had on our last trip here. He had the swordfish, but it was over-grilled; the corn chowder with crab meat was good. He enjoyed the people-watching. The restaurant is on the shore of Long Island Sound. People stroll a long sidewalk to view the ocean, but it was too cold and windy for him.

Day 51: Worcester Art Museum

Portland, ME to Worcester, MA—137 miles, 2:16 hours
Worcester Art Museum
Worcester to West Haven, CT—103 mi, 1:41

Today's plan was tricky. My objective was to see the Worcester Art Museum, in Worcester, Massachusetts, on the way from Portland, Maine, to West Haven Connecticut. That's three states, plus the highway also crosses the southeast corner of New Hampshire.

Portland to Worcester to New Haven

As I had planned, after a couple of hours of driving, we arrived in Worcester in time for lunch in the museum café. The café was very pleasant and the food was okay.

Worcester's art museum turned out to be even more interesting than I expected. It has art through the ages and around the world, but we skipped the Asian, Mayan, and Medieval sections, and focused on traditional art of Europe and America. Their collection is limited but high quality.

They got my respect right away by having a seascape by Hubert Robert. One of my favorite painters, Robert specialized in scenes of Roman ruins. I've never run across a seascape by him in our travels, and the museum agrees that this is probably the only one he painted; it was commissioned as interior decor for a chateau in France. It is about 8 feet tall and a spotlight created a glare, but I wanted to include this record shot.

Hubert Robert, 1733-1808
The Shipwreck, n.d.

A contemporary of Robert's painted a charming storytelling painting that I studied for a long time. In a composition full of signifying hands, the Neapolitan gesture of the title appears to be the young woman's hand to her chin as a sign of farewell. Her other hand is a pleading invitation to stay. These gestures are directed toward a suitor disguised as a peddler, who retreats regretfully. Between them an older woman reaches to remove the blanket covering his clothes, while simultaneously reaching an open hand across the maiden's middle in protection of her sexuality. For sentimental emphasis, two toddlers and a mutt cower in the corner; or, do the children belong to the tempted woman?

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1725-1805
Le Geste Napolitain, 1757

In the 1800s, storytelling and detailed realism went out of style and painting went through a well-known series of trends, starting with Impressionism. Camille Pissarro kept up with changing styles, and used them with grace and maturity. This is a subtle example of Impressionism.

Camille Pissarro, 1830-1903
L'Ille Lacrois A Rouen, 1883

Later, painters developed a sort of rigorous, theoretical approach to Impressionism called Pointillism. Paul Signac achieved particularly radiant effects with Pointillism.

Paul Signac, 1863-1935
Golfe Juan, 1896

Naturally there was a reaction to these styles that emphasized perception. Paul Gauguin wanted solidity and mass in his forms, broad plains of color, and subjects with emotional depth.

Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903
The Brooding Woman, 1891

In the 1900s, some painters gave up subject matter in order to experiment directly with abstract form. Worcester has a charming example of abstract art by Wassily Kandinsky.

Vasily Kandinsky, 1866-1944
Untitled Painting, 1936

Objective reality always holds a fascination for painters, but each is interested in a different aspect. Russian artist Boris Grigoriev tilted the visual plain and exaggerated the colors to create a striking image. I was happy to discover this powerful artist and I puzzled over how this painting ended up here.

Boris Grigoriev, 1886-1939
Portrait of the Artist's Son, 1920

Although we had enjoyed learning about Canadian art, it was fun to return to our study of American art, and to see new works by our old favorite artists. The museum had excellent examples of three completely different approaches to portraiture.

Alice Neel, 1900-1984
Julie and Aristotle, 1967

Beauford Delaney, 1901-1979
Portrait of Gaylord, 1944

Alex Katz, b. 1927
Ada with Sunglasses, 1969

Ellsworth Kelly followed the path of abstraction but he replaced whimsy and and expressiveness with rigorous statements about the fundamentals of shape, space, and color.

Ellsworth Kelly, b. 1923
Orange White, 1961

During the 1930s Worcester Art Museum had an opportunity to collaborate with four other art institutions in archaeological explorations in Antioch, a town established by Alexander the Great about 300 years B.C. in what is now Syria. The institutions divvied up the loot, and Worcester got several excellent mosaics that were created about five centuries later in the 200s A.D. The museum built the Renaissance court to exhibit them.

Worcester Hunt Mosaic, 3rd century A.D.

Detail of Hunt Mosaic

Mosaic Border from House of the Sundial

We were lucky to meet a couple of other people who knew something about art. We got into an interesting chat with a well-traveled senior with a gentlemanly bearing, trading tips about where to see our favorite artists. There was also a guard there who knew quite a bit about art and was eager to share it. Maybe I felt more chatty after we got back in the states.

We didn't pull ourselves away from there until 4 p.m. Captain Dan was afraid that rush-hour traffic on a Friday would be terrible, but by taking a route that skirted Hartford, we sailed right into West Haven with very little traffic, arriving a little after 6 p.m.

The Best Western Executive motel upgraded our reservation to a Deluxe King on the 7th floor, but it is right by the elevator.

We had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse, on the property next to our motel, a very popular place with very loud country music. The food was okay; I was sorry I ate the big puffy hot roll, because it made me feel hot and puffy, too. Dan's steak was okay. My veggie side dishes were okay. It is food for people who like fatty and spicy.

Day 50: Woodstock to Portland, ME

269 miles, 4:5 hours

Woodstock, N.B. to Portland, ME.

After a month of being in a "foreign" country, it was time to return to the U.S. The experience evoked my dormant patriotism.

The U.S. border is 15-20 minutes from Woodstock, New Brunswick. Our wait at Customs was short and the questions we were asked were few, though delivered with gratifying sternness.

To my amazement, as soon as we got into our own country, everything seemed to improve. The heavy skies and anemic sun breaks of the past couple of weeks gave way to a clear blue backdrop for harmless white clouds. The freeway was larger and better marked, and there was little traffic. We sailed through the mixed forest, thinking that even the trees stand taller in the U.S. I played some music from our childhood, Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw, from the iPod through the car speakers. Being home felt pretty good.

Except for the clouds, which put on a stunning display of changing forms throughout the day, the trip was uneventful. Clouds, I thought, are a good metaphor for the life force—restlessly seeking new forms, appearing to be stable while constantly changing.

We arrived at Best Western Merry Manor at 4 p.m. I might just mention that on July 20, nine weeks ago, we were in Portland, Oregon

In order to add some interest to the day, Captain Dan decided we should have dinner at DiMillo's on the Water, which is located on a converted car ferry in Portland's marina. There was a certain excitement to this. The hotel desk clerk had attested to its popularity. There was a huge sign advertising DiMillo's above the parking lot, which is also a public lot, and cars were streaming in. There was a gift shop and an information booth, and then the long covered gangway to the ship, which had been reconfigured into several nautical dining areas with large windows.

View of Portland Marina through the window at DiMillo's on the Water

DiMillo's is an exceedingly well-run business. The service was excellent, the food was outstanding, the prices were reasonable. This is pretty amazing considering how many meals they crank out per night. The waiter helped me make up a terrific salad. Dan and I shared the special, which was shrimp, scallops, and mussels—all fresh and local—in a marinara sauce over angel hair pasta, a delicate taste. While we ate, the sunset turned the clouds pink. The yachts in the harbor rose and fell in a lulling rhythm. After dinner, the waiter encouraged us to explore the ship, and I took some night shots of the harbor from the top deck. It was all quite romantic.

The Portland Marina at night

Day 49: Amherst to Woodstock

201 miles, 3 hours

The Reversing Falls at Saint John

In order to add interest to our trip west across New Brunswick, Captain Dan decided to go a bit out of our way in order to see the famous Reversing Falls in the town of Saint John.

Amherst, N.S. to Woodstock, N. B. via Saint John, N.B.
Bay of Fundy

"Reversing Falls" is a rather misleading term; it should be called "Reversing Rapids".  Just before it pours into the Bay of Fundy, the mighty Saint John river encounters a narrow gorge with boulders and ridges of rock that cause its rushing waters to swirl and tumble hazardously. This is an interesting place to observe the bay's tidal action because the tide rises and falls 28 1/2 feet. When the bay rises to its full height, it overwhelms both rocks and river, and creates a calm lake.

When we arrived around 12:30, the tide was rising, and the turbulent rapids were rushing upstream into the back bay. We watched jet boats swirling in the eddies from a viewpoint near a bridge over the river. Then we crossed the bridge to a nice little park with a closer observation deck. 

The rapids at Saint John about 2 hours before high tide

In order to observe the tidal flow longer, we returned to the side where we had parked and had lunch at the touristy fish restaurant. The food was terrible, but the view was swell.

When we left about 2:30, the water from the bay had covered the rapids and the water was temporarily becalmed. This is called "slack tide". We wish we could have stayed long enough to see the tide go out. 

The rapids at high tide

During this time, the weather went through changes from heavy clouds to floating fog to hot sunshine. The changes in the weather combined with the changes in the tide were fascinating. We could have spent the day there. Other viewpoints and various boat tours tempted us. We observed a massive cruise ship on the horizon, and Dan longed to investigate. But we still had miles to cover.

We had nice sunshine for the rest of the drive to Woodstock, but the wind was howling when we got here. This is our last night in Canada after four weeks of travel in this country.

Dan explored downtown Woodstock and enjoyed dinner at the Little Mediterranean Restaurant. 

Day 48: Baddeck to Amherst

402 kilometers, 4:24 hours

It was time to head home. We had gone as far east as we could in Nova Scotia. We had completed our objectives in Canada. The weather was unfriendly.

Baddeckm N.S. to Amherst, N.S.
The coast of Northumberland Strait

During the trip from Baddeck to Amherst, along the south coast of the Northumberland Strait, the weather went through a variety of changes, including a wiper-slapping downpour and blanketing fog. Dan took the scenic route near the shore of the coast of the Northumberland Strait, but we hardly dared take our eyes off the road; the two-lane highway was winding and dipping and frequently potholed. Passing approaching big rigs created blinding splashes.

For lunch we stopped in Pictou, where a few days before we had a wonderful meal at the Saltwater Cafe on a sunny afternoon. Today the Saltwater Cafe was closed and we had to push against heavy wind to get from the car to the Lobster House, where the meal was ordinary. Afterwards we got a few supplies at a nearby supermarket, coming out to a pouring rain.

Later in the afternoon, an anemic sun break revealed the charming farmland along the coast. We enjoyed the pretty scenery.

The Wandlyn Inn and Conference Center in Amherst is an older property and a little isolated, but well-suited to our needs. The pool is extra large and warm enough to walk right in, so I managed a brief swim before it was overwhelmed by noisy families. We had a very nice dinner in the hotel's restaurant. Then I forced myself to stay awake long enough to do a load of laundry.

Day 47: Louisbourg Fortress

The main reason we came to Baddeck was because, as they say in their publicity, it is the beginning and end of the Cabot Trail highway, which circumnavigates Cape Breton National Park, right out at the tip of the continent. The cliff-hugging drive is considered challenging because of the tight curves, steep grades, and rough road—like the Big Sur highway, I imagine. It takes about five hours, not counting numerous view spots, eateries, and "cultural" attractions. 

Baddeck is the beginning and end of the Cabot Trail Highway

Cape Breton was socked in the whole of Labor Day week-end: showers, fog, heavy skies. This meant that the risk level of driving a cliffside road went way up, while the possibility of great scenery went way down. So we bowed to reason, and conceded the point to nature.

Another of our objectives was to tour the Louisbourg Fortress, an historical site operated by Canada's national parks. It is a partial reconstruction of a fort that was constructed by the French between 1720 and 1740 for the protection of a thriving fishing and commercial port against British invasion. It was besieged twice and finally destroyed completely by the British in the 1760s. The site lay untouched until the 1960s, when archaeologists began to reconstruct the fortress as it was in the 18th century. About 25% has been reconstructed, making it the largest reconstruction project in North America. It is operated by Parks Canada as a living history museum, meaning that costumed "enactors" give demonstrations of various crafts and activities from that time.

Threading from Baddeck around and over the arms of the Bras d'Or Lake, and passing Sydney, the big city in this area, the drive to Louisbourg, out on another coast of the Atlantic, took about an hour and a half. It was tolerable to walk around outside if you were well bundled-up, though the occasional gusts of mist in my face were unpleasant.

Louisbourg is on the south Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia

A bus took us from the Visitors' Center to the fortress, perched on a rocky point. Near the shore was a sod-covered hut for drying cod. Dried cod was an important source of protein in the 18th century and could be transported to Europe.

Cod-drying hut

The town is surrounded by a mote as well as a wall. Visitors cross the mote and enter through the Dauphin Gate.

The Dauphin Gate

We walked the broad boulevard along the shore to the Frédéric Gate, the entrance for ocean-going vessels, completed in 1742.

Shoreline

Frédéric Gate

Here is a block of buildings facing the sea. None were open to the public.

Buildings facing the ocean

The main street is perpendicular to the ocean and extends from the Frédéric Gate to the garrison.

Main street of town, looking toward the ocean

It was nearly noon, and Captain Dan wanted to photograph the canon-firing ceremony at noon, so we headed for the fort. The structure is huge, built of stone and brick, and decorated with fleur-de-lis—a substantial piece of architecture. 

King's Bastion Barracks building with guardhouse

The guardhouse is right outside the fort

The canon-firing ceremony involved a group of costumed soldiers bearing muskets marching in formation accompanied by drums and fifes. This was entertaining, but I couldn't get within range to get photos on my iPad. I was a little disappointed that some of the "soldiers" were played by hippy women who waddled up the embankment in an unsoldierly manner. 

Before we left the fort, we had a look inside the military chapel.

Catholic chapel within fort

The next event of the afternoon was a public condemnation. Just after we left the fort, a contingent of enactors streamed out the gate, portraying soldiers and a woman who was condemned for a crime. The group stopped on a rise above the town, and the local magistrate read, in both French and English, a decree which said that the woman had been tried for theft and found guilty. As they trooped on down the hill, the actress wailed, "Je suis si désolé. I am so sorry." I got some good video, but no snapshots. Later I got a good shot of the magistrate.

The Magistrate with his decree banishing the thief.

Then we strolled around town, exploring the old homes that were open. 

Modest home on Main Street

Prosperous home with flower garden

Visitors were fascinated by the sheep, geese and turkeys grazing in the yards. 

Sheep grazing in the yard.

Inside, costumed ladies gave demonstrations of 18th century skills, such as bobbin-lace making.

Winding bobbins for lace

Chatting about local history

The lunch service at the Hotel de la Marine was incredible: authentic, healthy, and quick. There was vegetable soup with clear broth; fresh, pan-fried haddock; roasted carrots and turnips; a tiny apple tart. Service was 18th-century style, which means pewter dishes, a napkin the size of a dishtowel, and only one large spoon to use for every dish (you use the handle to stir your tea). Seating was at tables for eight. We enjoyed talking to our table-mates, some from Alberta and later some from Michigan. 

On our way out we stopped by the Artillery Forge. I especially enjoyed a demonstration by the blacksmith. He gave an interesting talk about the bellows used to intensify the heat in the forge, then he demonstrated the forging of an iron hook.

The blacksmith gave an interesting demonstration

We headed back to Baddeck about four o'clock. Near the turnoff for the Cabot Trail highway, Captain Dan decided to investigate the ferry at Englishtown, which he recalled from his map study. Thanks to a sun break, we enjoyed the rural scenery on the little road down there. The ferry crosses St. Anne's Harbour, an inlet from the Atlantic. Actually a spit of land crosses most of the distance and the ferry takes only six minutes to cover the remainder, using a cable for guidance and carrying about twenty cars per trip. We had fun watching and photographing the ferry, and the restless clouds.

The Englishtown Ferry

On the way back through town we returned to the Bell Buoy restaurant for our last meal in Baddeck. We enjoyed our last look at the harbor on the Bras d'Or lake in the pale sunset.

Day 46: Bad Day in Baddeck

Yesterday afternoon, when the scene was so heavenly on the wharf at Baddeck, my enjoyment was quickened by my fear that it might be the one and only sun break of our stay here, since the weather forecast I had seen that morning predicted rain for the next few days. My fear was warranted. Today the sky was heavy and opaque and it rained randomly. I took this photo from the car because the wind was blowing so hard.

Lake Bras d'Or in heavy weather

Nothing is sadder than a resort in the rain. All our plans called for outdoor exploring. What to do? Any museums around?

Yes! The Alexander Graham Bell Museum is located here, because the great inventor built his family's vacation home on a point opposite the Baddeck Harbour; in fact, his family still holds and uses that property. 

Bell was born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada with his family, coming to the Scotch country. His father Melville was an expert on the science of speech. Alexander applied his theory to the teaching of speech to the deaf with great success. He was invited to Boston to teach the deaf, and he began experiments that led to the telephone during that period. 

After his success with the telephone, Bell continued to quest for other new inventions. In this quest, he was like Leonardo da Vinci or Buckminster Fuller, in that none of his plans were actually that practicable, but they staked out directions for other inventors. Living in a windy place, he got interested in kites, and developed his own based on the tetrahedron. He thought kites might work for manned flight. He and a group of young technicians developed a flying machine independently of the Wright Brothers—and a few years later. All of its test flights were successful, but the design was klutzy and steering was awkward. He developed an early propeller-driven hydrofoil boat, a very ungainly tube-shaped craft, but he got it working. He lost financing for this project when World War I came to an end. 

That was way more than I really wanted to know about Alexander Graham Bell. The museum had quite a few visitors. I imagine that most of its patronage is due to bad weather. 

We had lunch in Baddeck at the Bell Buoy Restaurant. The food was light and fresh and thoughtfully prepared. I don't have a lot of experience with shellfish, but I decided to do the local thing and have a lobster sandwich. It was served not on a roll, but on home-made oat bread, very light; it complemented the fresh lobster very well. Dan had a great pile of local mussels; they were good. He has tried just about all the local seafood now. Breaking with my usual dietary austerity, I shared with Dan the homemade blueberry pie with homemade ice cream. What a treat! The crust was thin and flaky, the blueberries were sweet and mild, the ice cream was light and fluffy. The waitress confirmed that they made the ice cream in-house as well as the pie.

Thus energized, and with the sky lightening, we took the Cabot Trail highway north toward Ingonish Beach, the eastern entrance to Cape Breton Park. The highway goes along the edge of North River, and the glimpses we caught between houses were beautiful, even though the colors all tended toward gray. We drove as far as the North River Bridge, but by then the rain was hard enough to make driving dangerous, so we turned around. 

On the way back, we stopped for a latte at the Lobster Galley in the tiny town of South Haven on St. Anne's Harbour. Lobster Galley is located right at the end of a long arm of water and our table had a wonderful view of the scene. We spotted ducks and grebes diving for food. If only there had been some sun to bring out the true colors.