In 1860, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate and 76 Samurai crossed the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco, travelling across Panama by train, and then boarding a different ship taking them to Washington DC and finally, New York City being their last stop before heading back home.

The exhibition consists primarily of gallery labels that give names, dates and a small narratives on quite a number of artifacts. Many of the artifacts actually belong to the museum itself. There are many Samurai sword blades on display that were presented by the Samurai ambassadors to their American counterparts. All of them were forged specifically for the exchange. The swords were passed down through generations and some still belong to families and are on loan to the museum.

The ‘Samurai in New York’ exhibit provides a glimpse into a quite obscure part of New York’s history and that of the Japan-US relationship. This exhibits access to US-Japanese historical resources is the best there is in the world.

The Museum of the City of New York is located on 103rd Street and Fifth Avenue, conveniently next to many excellent New York City hotels .

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Museums and Art galleries are in no shortage in London. People come from all over the world to stay in london hotel while they experience the art and culture of the town. The year of 2010 is filled with fantastic showings of all types of art. The following is a short list of what is coming up in the next 6 months in London, in reference to art shows .

Grace Kelly: Style Icon. This exhibit will be at the Victoria and Albert Museum mid April through the end of September, 2010.

Victoria and Albert: Art and Love. This will be shown at the Queen’s gallery through October 31st, 2010.

Quilts: 1700-2010. At the The Victoria and Albert Museum through July 4th, 2010.

Myths and Monsters. Exhibit will be shown through the 5th of September, 2010 at the Horniman Museum.

Irving Penn Portraits. Portraits by the famous artist will be displayed at the national Portrait gallery through the 6th of June, 2010.

Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance drawings. At the British Museum through the 25th of July, 2010.

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It’s a wonderful opportunity to visit Georgia any time of the year, but February is particularly lively in Savannah, when the commemorations of Black History Month are held.  Hotels are famous here for their generous hospitality, making any stay a memorable one.  With the extraordinary line-up at the Savannah Black Heritage Festival, it’s a ticket for one of the most memorable weeks in the area.  This year’s festival was a usual line-up of stellar performances, lectures, classes, a crafts village, storytellers, and plenty of discussions.  This is a great place to have fantastic conversations.

This year also sees a performance of Sweet Honey in the Rock.  This group from DC began from theatre roots, and branched into music.  They’ve been playing for four decades, and continue to stun audiences all over the world, including the White House recently.  They are certainly a national treasure, and play a wide variety of musical styles, blues, jazz, spirituals, pop, and continue to evolve.  Their instruments are their voices, making for stunning examples of the human spirit in action, working through the body to make glorious sounds.

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For a glimpse at the history of the city on a larger scale there is the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, the Maryland Historical Society and The Jewish Museum of Maryland.  This museum in Baltimore contains the largest collection of Jewish artifacts in the United States.  The collection includes photographs, family histories, art, rare books and everyday objects.  There is a research facility located in the museum and they have an extensive database of information and photographs, more than one hundred thousand, for people who are in search of their family members or ancestors.

The collection of archived manuscripts contains more than one hundred and fifty in the collection, as well as numerous other documents, personal records and books that relate to the Jewish life of the people of Baltimore. And true to a sign of the times, their web database is also very thorough and extensive.  Here one can come to have their family tree built or filled in, with various research facilities and staff that will help an individual recreate their own personal history, and how it fits in to the history of the Jewish community.  This is a great place to visit to discover this section of the history of Baltimore, and for some people, they may even discover a few family members and loved ones along the way.

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The staff at TransGlobe was warm and welcoming and they were now, instead of being stressed out about the move, extremely ready to just get moving, moving to their new life up North.  They could not stop speaking about the level of customer service they received from the employees working at their new complex, and they have an idea that this is how the rest of their Canadian life experiences will be.  The societies of Canadian cities is progressive and forward thinking and moving, and with more than seventy percent of the people in the workforce being immigrants, they know that they will feel right at home, in a sense.  At home because they will be surrounded by others who decided to make the move, and will share similar experiences.

Canada, much like the United States is quickly becoming a cultural melting pot and when people are welcomed into their new living and working situations by the sort of people working for TransGlobe Property Management, the transition becomes not only less stressful, but more inviting.   Both of my friends are self employed, on being an artist and one being a writer, and the community that they have chosen to become a part of is filled with others that are making a living with their creative talents.  Not only are they lucky to be starting this new life in Canada, but Canada is lucky to have them as well.

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There are few cultures who are not represented here, actually, and this provides for a constantly evolving energy, giving the cityscape a vibrant and exciting energy.  With all of this, one would expect excellent lodgings in Jakarta.  Hotels are plentiful, to be sure, with excellent choices for a fantastic experience.  There is an amazing array of sensibilities here, and in the art world this is profoundly visible.  At the recent Jakarta Biennale, one of the most exciting spaces, and one of the most exciting displays, was the Fluid Zone.

Curated by Agung Hujatnikajenong, the Fluid Zone featured works by artists who collaborated in places where they were not locals.  This gave a focus to the works for their ability to cross borders, and make connections.  It is a simple idea on the surface perhaps, but its depth and complexity become immediately apparent when the art begins to work together.  With Jompet’s The War of Ghosts from Java starts to speak to Melbourne-via-Bali artist Tintin Wulia’s (Re)Collection of Togetherness, the idea of border-crossing and common themes starts to become apparent, and the world suddenly becomes infinitely more complex, and also smaller, making heady shifts in consciousness that can only be made when art is the vehicle.

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It was two years ago, and my best friend Steve and I went to Australia for a couple of weeks in August. Most of the time we spent in Sydney, where we witnessed some great performances, particularly at the Sydney Theatre Company. This prestigious company is known for producing some of the greatest works from the theatrical cannon as well as developing new and original plays. While we were there we saw a great production of Edmond by David Mamet. Sydney was amazing, however, the few days we spent in one of the Perth boutique hotels actually accounts for some of our greatest experiences.

We decided to go there as part of our vacation because we had heard it has tremendous opportunities for hikes with incredible views. This is absolutely true and I will definitely return to it someday for its beautiful geography alone. It was actually one day that we had returned early from a hike that I agreed to eat some pizza in a little café along the Swan River. We were in a hurry and just wanted something quick and simple before heading to the museums at the Perth Cultural Centre, so I said okay to a mushroom and onion pizza. Oddly, I was so stunned and impressed with the flavor of the sauce and the freshness of the vegetables that I couldn’t believe it was just pizza that I was eating. And the crust was absolutely incredible. It was a thin crust that had a perfect combination of bread, salt and a slight, almost imperceptible sweetness that I will never forget. And while I was never able to find quite as delicious a pizza as this since then, I do enjoy having a slice every once in a while.

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We offer accommodations designed to refresh the weary traveler, night after night, so you are always ready to explore this magnificent place with fresh eyes.  After a splendid sleep in our exquisitely decorated rooms, you’ll be ready to sample some of the local cuisine, and begin your adventures here.  There are fantastic galleries in Hong Kong, that reflect this international taste, and show a deep engagement with the local as well.  One of its most innovative and provocative spaces, Para/Site, has made impressions in the art world before, and the artistic adventures of its new curator, Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya, are proving to evoke strong reactions.

He brought the Bangkok-based Surasi Kusolwong to Hong Kong recently for his first solo show.  The Thai artist is making a splendid name for himself as an installation artist whose work interrogates the nature of the marketplace, particularly in the context of a museum.  He has done installations before where the artist himself is present in the work, selling drinks, or selling the artwork, until there is nothing left but an empty space.  For the Hong Kong show, he’s covered the gallery with five tons of thread waste, inviting the spectators to enter barefoot and enjoy the strange but tactile luxury of walking through and handling the material.  Each week, he buries a gold necklace with the word Fortune on it, and a lucky member of the public gets to find it.  It’s been wildly successful, having been found by a schoolgirl and a farmer, among others, and the installation, while loads of fun, also forces the viewer to consider the nature of waste, as well as the nature of wishing for fortune.

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Our hotels are selected for their individual style and attention to every detail, so that you are always reminded of the splendor of the city, and your place in it.  You’ll relax in total luxury, enjoying a refreshing decadence that is a brilliant way to get to know the city.  Sumptuously decorated rooms and elegant dining are just the beginning of the amenities here, helping you to begin every day in splendor, and fall asleep every night in elegance.  When you’re out in Barcelona, chances are pretty high that you’ll be stunned by the visual splendor that’s surrounding you.  The city is made for artists, and an artist’s touch seems to be on every edifice, and even in the dress of the locals.  If you find yourself compelled to visit a gallery, then by all means follow the impulse.  You may come across local artists as splendid as Ignasi Aballí.

This local artist was born in 1958, and started to achieve some recognition in the late 80s, but his latest works are attracting the attention of the global art market.  He’s been showing all over the world, in galleries as prestigious as the Elba Benitez Galería, and his work of late is installation rather than painting.  He seems to have the makings of a genius for this form, and his works play with memory and collecting, and his philosophical concerns tend toward blurring the distinctions between art and life.  He plays with space as well as perception, and his installations sometimes include his own paintings in hyper-aware and hyper-ironic quotations of self, earning Aballí a reputation for playfulness, but with a deep existential longing that gives the work enormous weight and depth.

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His novels were primarily written for financial reasons, which was and typically remains a stronger income based genre of writing. One of his main works is The Movement, which after having written it Hardy was well established as a novelist and this remains his greatest legacy and strongest association to his name. His book A Pair of Blue Eyes is believed to be the source for what is now referred to as a cliff hanger, due to its great suspense and intriguing plot. The book deals with the main character Knight, who in one scene is found literally dangling from a high cliff. This suspenseful and intense scene would pave the way for the Victorian cliff hanger genre.

Hardy had a solid career and was well respected critically and popularly. He became ill in 1927 and suffered from pleurisy. It is believed that on his death bed he dedicated his final poem, which he had been writing and wanted to finish, to his wife. His burial may seem to be somewhat controversial, though the confusion and outcome was based on the strong wishes of many people. His funeral took place in Westminster Abbey and his family and close friends wished that his remains be placed in a Stinsford grave. However, the executor of his estate insisted that he be interred in the Poet’s Corner of the abbey. The ultimate result was that his heart was buried in Stinsford and his ashes remain at the abbey.

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