Masset and Old Masset

Totem pole in Old Masset

With our two boat trips done, we still had a few days free in Haida Gwaii, and having seen just how small Queen Charlotte is, we decided to hire a car for couple of days to get a little further around the island. We were fortunate to get a car at short notice like this – indeed they originally said they didn’t have one, so I assume we got lucky due to a cancellation. If you are coming here, do book your hire car in advance. We used Gwaii Taxi and Tours, and they were very convenient, as they brought the car to us at our Airbnb and allowed us to drop it at the ferry in Skidegate when we left.

We decided spend our free full day going out to Masset and Old Masset, which were a good few hours drive away. It would have been nice to stop at Tlell on the way, especially if we had been allowed to be eating bad things, as the café there is apparently very good. Thankfully, being a bit short on time helped us to exercise enough willpower to avoid it.

Carving in Masset's main street

We arrived in Masset in time for lunch, and stopped at the Mile Zero Pub and Grill. The restaurant bit looked pretty dull, so we sat in the pub area, which has the same menu. The choices are pretty standard, but they are very friendly there and the quality of food was very good.

Happily fed, we set off to have a wander around Masset. That took about ten minutes. There really isn’t anything here.

So we got back in the car, and continued on to Old Masset. Some of you may recall that in a previous post, I mentioned that when the Haida people had to abandon their villages, this was one of the two places that they settled. As such, Old Masset is still largely inhabited by the Haida people, and so there are a number of totem poles dotted around the village here.

Totem pole on the school in Old Masset

We took a look at them as we drove, and took a few photos, but we didn’t want to loiter too much, as most are in people’s gardens, so it would have felt a bit intrusive. It was nice to see the poles that are newer, more colourful, and still in use, but I am not sure that we really would have felt it was worth the cost and time to drive up here for them alone. We may have felt differently had we not already been to S’Gang Gwaay though.

Gin Kuyaas Haida Art Studio and Gifts, Old Masset

What we did think it was well worth coming here for, were the Haida art studios and galleries. Some of them were a little overly touristy, some were a bit overpriced, and some just had incredibly expensive pieces, but we found two places in particular that we really liked.

The first was the art studio of Haida artist Alice White, which is located in her B&B. We enjoyed a good look around, and found many of the works interesting, but settled on a small eagle and raven pattern that was painted on paper made from red cedar bark. This appealed to us, both as a nice image, and the fact that with the traditional material and the crest of the two Haida clans, it felt like a good representation of our visit.

Canoe store and totem poles in Old Masset

The other was Gin Kuyaas Haida Art Studio and Gifts, which is run by a Haida couple from a traditional Long House, across the way from the family canoe store and totem poles. This is a nice, simple store, which had a number of very nice pieces, that generally seemed better quality and better value than we had seen elsewhere.

We had taken quite a liking to some of the argillite carvings, so had been looking for a piece that we might buy. Argillite is a black stone, and though similar stone can be found elsewhere, this specific composite is only found in Haida Gwaii, and comes from the Slatechuck mine, owned by the Haida, and fiercely protected by them. Only Haida people are permitted to carve it. They used to use it as something to sell to Europeans, often with jokes at their expense, but these days the images have been refined and more in keeping with Haida styles in other materials.

Totem pole in Old Masset

We had earlier rejected a piece in another shop, because though exactly the type of thing we wanted, it was very expensive and in my opinion, not that well made. In the shop here, we found a lovely little box, with a bear image, that we loved, and that was a far more reasonable price. It was only after we bought it that we realised that the carver, Derek White, is a relation of April, the artist whose painting we had bought, with both being direct descendants of a famous Haida Chief and artist called Charles Edenshaw.

We had to wait to pick up the painting, so we drove back to Old Masset and had a drink at the rather nice Ground Gallery and Coffee House, where we nobly resisted cake. After collecting the picture, it was time to drive back to Queen Charlotte.

We decided to make a small detour to drive through tiny Port Clements on the way, which was interesting to see, but as we knew that our Airbnb host was kindly making us dinner that evening, we carried on home.

Old Masset

Quick change in the UK ...

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (pic from Wikipedia)

After our five months in South America, we did a quick return to the UK. We only had a couple of weeks, so it was a bit of a flying visit to family and a quick stay in London, but we managed to get done what we needed to.


That included a bit of shopping for new clothes in smaller sizes, in particular, gym and running gear, that we would be taking to Canada.



Despite the expected slowdown in Argentina, During our time in South America, I had managed to lose 2 stone 13 pounds (which for non-UK people is 41 pounds or 19kg) and Nic had done even better at 4 stone (56 pounds or 25kg).

So while I still have a long way to go to get to my target, I was still pretty pleased, and there was a noticeable difference. Nic had of course got much closer to his goal already, and the effect was probably best described by the fact that when his mum first saw him, her response was an exclamation of "Oh my God!"

We didn't fit in too much during the fortnight, but aside from family, a couple of friends, and shopping, we did get in a visit ton the theatre. We had booked tickets for the last night of Don Juan in Soho, staring David Tennant. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

We also went along to an exhibition at the British Museum. We didn't have time to look around the rest of it, so we'll have to go back again sometime, and this time also take some photos of the impressive inside of the building.

The exhibition we saw was Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave. It was about the work of Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai - though he went by various other names during his lifetime - whose best known work is Under the Wave off Kanagawa, and is of a huge, frothy, blue wave, with Mount Fuji in the background. It is one of those pieces that you may never have heard of, but you would probably recognise.

It isn't a painting though. It is actually, in my opinion, more remarkable for being a woodblock print. What this means is that Hokusai did the initial drawing, but then a specialist woodcarver had to use it as an outline to create wooden blocks that would then be inked and printed. It is all a highly skilled process, but very effective.

The exhibition contained many other pieces by this prolific artist, and was well worth going to see. We found his work really interesting and enjoyable, but I'm afraid I still like the classic The Great Wave, the best.

Back in Buenos Aires ...

Soda siphons at San Telmo market

From Rosario, we took the bus to Buenos Aires, and then a cab on to our Airbnb place in our usual neighbourhood, Palermo.

Being back here was always going to be a risk for our diets, but we love the city, so it was a risk worth taking, and anyway, we had to come here to catch our plane home.

We did mitigate the risk by joining the local gym, and getting ourselves along there at least four times a week.

Café Bar Plaza Dorrego, San Telmo

As it was to turn out, our time here wasn't too bad, and we may even have lost a pound or so. It helped that, much to our disappointment, our favourite little dulce de leche cake shop had closed down.


We also strictly limited our intake of ice cream and wine, and ate plenty of lovely steak. The latter at least, was no hardship!

We did give in to a few empanadas though, including our favourite ones from last time, the fried ones from L'Escondida. They didn't let us down, they were still delicious. Some others that we really enjoyed here were from La Cocina, which is a lovely traditional place, but really quite tiny.

Buenos Aires

And then there was a more unusual, but incredibly tasty, lamb version, in a place in San Telmo, called El Banco Rojo. They also had a really excellent burger. I'd had no intention of having a burger, but when I saw the ones being delivered to other customers, I succumbed; I didn't regret it at all!

We didn't only eat while we were here though. We did quite a lot of walking around, not necessarily to anywhere in particular, just to get some extra exercise in to burn off those empanadas.

Whilst in San Telmo, we popped along to the market there. We had been there previously, and had loved some of the stuff on the stalls, so we were fully expecting to fill up the remaining space in our rucksacks with nice things.

Palacio Paz, Buenos Aires

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be that many stalls around this time, and so we only ended up buying one of the lovely old coloured glass soda siphons that we had admired last time around, but had to resist because they were too heavy to carry around or post back.

Palacio Paz, Buenos Aires

We also took a guided tour around Palacio Paz, which was the private mansion of the very wealthy founder of La Prensa newspaper, Jose C Paz. He commissioned a French architect called Louis Henri Sortais to design it, and had most of the materials imported from Europe.


It is said to be the largest private home ever built in Argentina, and some suggest that Paz had ambitions to become President, and intended to use this as a place where he could entertain and impress important dignitaries.

However, Paz never actually got to live here. The work started in 1902, but wasn't completed until 1914, two years after Paz died.

Palacio Paz, Buenos Aires

The family did move in, but even that was short-lived, as the financial difficulties of the 1930s led them to sell the building to the Military Officer's Association, which now uses it as their clubhouse.

They offer guided tours in Spanish or English, where you can see the main parts of the elaborately decorated house. The tours are good, with lots if interesting facts, but much of the decoration isn't really to my taste. It is an interesting visit if you have spare time, but probably not a priority otherwise.

Fortabat Art Collection, Buenos Aires

We even managed a quite cultural outing to the Fortabat Art Collection. It was opened by the Chairperson of the second largest cement manufacturer in Argentina, María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, using a portion of her vast personal art collection. There is a lot by Argentine artists, as well as international names, including an Andy Warhol portrait of the owner.

Fortabat Art Collection, Buenos Aires

It wasn't quite what we had expected from the write up, and most of it we wouldn't have considered hanging on our wall if you'd given it to us free, but it made a change from the usual stuff you find in many galleries.

We did quite like some of the rather whacky pieces on the top floor, although we were a little dubious about whether the artist was being a bit cheeky in the way he was rehashing a lot of other artists work.

We may not have done a lot here this time, but it was a great way to end our trip to Chile and Argentina. But first we have one last post, for our trip out to the Feria de Mataderos.

Fortabat Art Collection, Buenos Aires

Palacio Paz, Buenos Aires

Palacio Paz, Buenos Aires

London - and a trip to the Houses of Parliament

Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben, Palace of Westminster

Away from the seaside, we spent the rest of our time back in London, most of it in a house sit Stoke Newington, looking after a couple of lovely, if slightly timid, cats.

We needed to spend some time in London anyway, as our tenants in our flat were leaving and we needed to find new ones. Thankfully, after one false start, that process wasn't too painful, and we soon found ourselves a new set of tenants, who are now safely installed.

We quite liked the Stoke Newington area, but didn't end up getting to see too much of it as I managed to go down with a pretty rotten chest infection, that had me coughing, which initially sent the cats running out of the room, but they soon got used to it, and stayed put, but just gave me a bit of a dirty look for disturbing their peace!

Oliver Cromwell, Palace of Westminster

Unfortunately though, during one of my violent coughing fits I managed to put my back out pretty badly. And believe me, coughing when your back is out is not a good way to be - one time it hurt so much that I actually passed out briefly, leaving poor Nic thinking I was having a stroke or something!

Thankfully, the antibiotics that I'd been given soon cleared up the chest infection, but the back issue turned out to be rather more lengthy. You'll hear more about that later, but for now, suffice to say, I was largely immobile for quite some while.

Palace of Westminster

One thing we had managed to do before I became stuck to the sofa, was to finally get along to a visit to the Houses of Parliament. I have a fondness for the gothic style, so The Palace of Westminster has long been a favourite building of mine from the outside.

There has been a Palace of some form or other here since the Danish King Cnut, who was King of England from 1016-35. King Cnut is the one who tried to hold back the sea, and is often therefore referenced as someone vain or thinking they are more powerful than they are. In fact, historians believe that this was not the case, and that Cnut was in fact demonstrating to his over flattering courtiers that he did not have that power, only God did.

Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster

When Edward the Confessor took the throne in 1042, he commissioned the building of Westminster Abbey (though this original was mostly demolished by Henry III in 1245, and the current one built over the next few centuries,) and a royal palace. He didn't last long enough to enjoy them though, as he famously died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, when William the Conqueror took the throne.

It was his son, William II, who built Westminster Hall, which is oldest surviving part of the palace, dating from 1097. The roof of the Hall was replaced in 1393 by Richard II, and is an impressive hammer-beam roof, which is the largest medieval timber roof in Northern Europe.

Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster

This is the place where many important events have taken place, from the trial and sentencing to death of Charles I and subsequent inauguration of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector, to coronation banquets and lyings in state of royalty and other honoured people like Winston Churchill. It is also where visiting dignitaries, like Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela have stood to address Parliament.

Westminster Hall, was one of the few parts of the original palace to survive the Great Fire in 1834. The fire started when they needed to get rid of two cartloads of wooden tally sticks, that had previously been used for accounting. It was decided to burn them in the two underfloor stoves, but it seems that the heat caused the wooden panelling to be set alight, and most of the Palace was destroyed.

Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster

It was after this fire that the Palace as we know it today was built. A competition was held to come up with a design, which was stipulated must be in either the gothic or Elizabethan style. This was because, while the fashion of the day was neo-classical, the fact that this had been used for The White House in Washington DC meant that it was associated with republicanism, and they wanted something that gave a more conservative feel.

The competition attracted 97 entries, and the winning number 64 was submitted by Charles Barry, with some help from Augustus Welby Pugin, who was to design most of the interiors. Neither man actually made it to the end of the build, both working themselves to an early death before it was finished.

St Stephen's Hall, Palace of Westminster

They reclaimed some eight acres of land from the River Thames to build the Palace, and it took thirty years to complete. The Lords moved in to their Chamber in 1847, and the Commons to theirs in 1852, with the building work still going on around them.

The use of the sand coloured Yorkshire limestone turned out to be something of a mistake, as it quickly decayed in the coal burning pollution of London, and had to be replaced with Rutland limestone during the restoration in 1930-60. Even then, the pollution quickly discoloured it, and a lengthy cleaning process had to be undertaken place in the latter part of last century.

St Stephen's Hall, Palace of Westminster

The Palace also suffered during World War II, being bombed like so much of London. On 10-11 May 1941, the bombing was especially bad and both the House of Commons and Westminster Hall were set alight. A former cabinet minister, Walter Elliot, hurried from his nearby home and not only made the quick decision to sacrifice the Commons Chamber to save the much older Westminster Hall, he even to an axe to the locked doors of the Hall himself to get access for the firefighters.

The tour of the Palace is good. It contains a nice amount of detail, without becoming tedious, and the inside is certainly impressive. There are lots of interesting little snippets of information along the way, about the decoration, the history, and odd little rules or customs.

Broken spur, St Stephen's Hall, Palace of Westminster

The tour takes you into The Queen's Robing Room, the two Chambers, St Stephens Hall and Westminster Hall, amongst other areas. Sadly, no photos are allowed in most areas. And you definitely aren't supposed to sit on the benches in the Chambers.

In the Members' Lobby, you can see The Churchill Arch, which Churchill suggested should be rebuilt from the bomb damaged stonework, as a reminder of the fortitude of the country during the war. This is also where he, David Wright-George, Clement Atlee and Margaret Thatcher have been immortalised in bronze.

St Stephen's Hall, which is where the old House of Commons once sat, is full of historical paintings and statues. One statue has a damaged spur, which is historical in itself, as it was broken when the suffragettes chained themselves to the statues as part of their campaign to obtain the vote for women.

New Dawn, Palace of Westminster

One new feature, is the addition of a new stained glass window, called New Dawn, which made up of 168 hand blown glass discs, that are designed to look like the rolled up scrolls in the Parliamentary Archives, and represent people and acts that were part of the movement to give women the vote.

There was also an interesting piece art in Westminster Hall, which was created by Jorge Otero-Pailos, and is called The Ethics of Dust. It is a 50m long latex cast of the hall's eastern wall, which was used to clean the wall, and so has hundreds of years worth of dust and pollution absorbed into it. It is a strange idea, but it actually looks quite good, and it is fascinating to think that hundreds of years worth of history is contained within it.

The Ethics of Dust, Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster

We enjoyed our visit to The Palace of Westminster, and even picked up a couple of souvenirs in the shop. Just do bear in mind if you go, that the Elizabeth Tower, which is the clock tower that the bell named Big Ben is in, is a separate tour, not included in this one.

Palace of Westminster

  

Palace of Westminster

 

Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster

Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster

 

St Stephen's Hall, Palace of Westminster

St Stephen's Hall, Palace of Westminster

St Stephen's Hall, Palace of Westminster

St Stephen's Hall (l) and New Dawn (r), Palace of Westminster

Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster