Museum Wallraf Having visited the Ludwig, I managed to fit in the Wallraf on the same day. This had a different vibe and was so worthwhile. Again, I’m only scratching the surface here. As with all the galleries and museums I’ve visited, there is so much to take in. So, in keeping with earlier posts, … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 180
Museum Ludwig While in Cologne, I discovered two art museums in close proximity to each other and with limited time, these were the obvious ones to visit. The first of these was the Museum Ludwig, which was perfect given my love of modern art and the collection it houses. The second was the Wallraf, which … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 179
Strasbourg Back on the Rhine, the next stop was Kehl, in Germany. From there a bus journey took me over the border into France and the city of Strasbourg. This has to be seen to be believed. I can imagine looking up the word picturesque in the dictionary and see the name Strasbourg. It is … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 172
Piano Revisited Looking back through this blog I see that in Part 33 from February 2023, I noted, “…something on my bucket list is to play the piano for the public in a railway station. We have pianos in stations here for anyone to sit down at and entertain the public. I thought doing a … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 171
Kunstmuseum Basel Along with the various excursions to towns and villages around Scotland this year, there was also a trip to Europe, travelling down the river Rhine. A flight to the Netherlands and from there a plane to Basel in Switzerland, resulted in spending two days before setting off, taking in the sights and sounds … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 167
Tutankhamun My first encounter with Egyptian history was at the British Museum in London in 1972. I was a young lad then, and my father had taken me on my first trip to London to see the loan exhibition from the Department of Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt to mark the 50th anniversary … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 166
GOMA I managed to take in the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art or GOMA as it’s known. I hadn’t been back since the Banksy art exhibition in the autumn of 2023 (details can be found in Part 60 of this series). Fewer crowds this time, but still busy. I was pleased to see the statue … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 149
Vaccine The National Museum of Scotland is hosting a free exhibition called Injecting Hope – The Race for a Covid-19 Vaccine. It’s been five years since the UK went into its first lockdown, as we found ourselves into a global pandemic. The exhibition tells the story of that time and how less than a year … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 146
Scotland’s Photography Collection I made a point of visiting the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh (due to being close to the Royal Society which I blogged about in part 142) and it was one of those random last minute decisions that paid off. The collection totals over 55,000 artworks with a remit of collecting … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 145
Neglected Tropical Diseases A work colleague of mine has an additional role of photographer with the University and provides a visual record for a variety of international visits and cultural exchanges. I was excited to hear that a couple of his photographs had been selected for inclusion at an exhibition at The Royal Society of … More Inside the Fiction Factory – Part 142
The Fiction Factory 