Building a bamboo house

A couple of new bamboo houses are under construction at the Gusde House. The smaller house is a traditional rice storage hut. The larger structure will be for traditional Balinese massage. Not a nail in site .. only stainless steel bolts, handmade pegs and lots of traditional rope to hold everything together.

Ujung Water Palace

The Ujung Water Palace was built by the Royal Family of Karangasem in the early 20th century. An interesting mix of Western and Balinese styles. Much rebuilt after major earthquakes. Immaculately maintained​ and well worth the visit. 

Marfa, Texas, December 2015

In West Texas, we stopped at Marfa, which is an amazing little town filled with more than 20 art galleries. We knew nothing of Marfa but friends recommended it and we were very pleased to stop there for five nights. There is so much to do in the town and the area. I would love to return. Here is some of the cityscape.

The courthouse at night. 

The Ayn Foundation

Palace Theater

Courthouse

Sherrif

Hotel Paisano

UN Building, New York, October 2015

We had lunch with our old friend of forty years, Barbara, who works for the Canadian Foreign Ministry next to the UN Building in NYC. A perfect Fall/Autumn day in NYC. 

The auditorium, now under renovation.

Looking down at the Roosevelt Memorial in the East River, Brooklyn beyond

Jellybean House, St John's, Newfoundland, September 2015

And so on to St John's, the capital city of Newfoundland. There are only a little over 500,000 residents in the province and more than 200,000 of those are in St John's. It is a very old city, going back nearly 500 years. There were many fires but a particularly bad fire in 1892 -- the Great Fire. As a result, many houses were put up quickly in the couple of years after the fire. In the 1970s, Most were in the Second Empire style. In the 1970s, the local preservation society, the Heritage Foundation, started buying some of these houses, that had become very rundown. They restored them and resold them -- but painted them in bold colors. This just caught on -- one resident said to us that it was "like a virus." It is now a major industry, and you can buy a variety of artworks.  Here are some examples of jellybean houses.

Houses on Kimberly Row, in the Second Empire style

Houses on Kimberly Row, in the Second Empire style

Fogo Island Inn, Fogo Island, Newfoundland, September 2015

The largest project of the Shorefast Foundation is the Fogo Island Inn, again designed by Todd Saunders. It is a very high end, all inclusive hotel and a bit different from our RV park. It stands on an exposed area towards the sea at Joe Batts Arm.  We ate lunch there (food was excellent, but not outstanding) and then took a guided tour that they offer to locals and visitors not staying at the hotel.

Local themed front door to the hotel

Passage with all timber walls. The paneling is built like a local fishing boat.

Airwell above the sitting area

Locally made furniture

Dining Room

Looking from sitting area to bar and dining room

Looking from the other side of Joe Batts Arm

Entrance

Architecture, Charlottetown

Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island is small -- only 60,000 residents. Huge numbers of lovely 19th century homes are clustered around the small business district. It makes for a highly walkable city.

Exchange District of Winnipeg, July.

We took two walking tours of the Exchange District of Winnipeg. Many late 19th  and early 20th century buildings that were erected during a boom. Check out the Google story of the tour.