Fasching in the Bermuda Triangle
The German-speaking world’s take on carnival is called Fasching, and Cologne is its Rio. While Vienna can hardly claim to be a Fasching hotspot, a wander round the streets of the Bermuda Triangle zone of the Innere Stadt should prove much more exciting than on the average Tuesday with fancy dress contests, live bands and alcohol in abundance. Fasching also coincides with the main events of Vienna’s Ball Season, such as the glitzy Opera Ball on February 22.
J Mascis & The Fog
After years of relative silence – which has done little to relieve him of his slacker-defining reputation – Dinosaur Jr’s main-man and guitar-god J Mascis is back as a solo act and doing what he does best; writing the perfect angst-ridden pop songs and then drenching them in distortion. Old fans know who they are and will be there. Potential fans must know this – without J there wouldn’t have been a Nirvana…
Jongleurs Camden Lock
Dingwalls, Middle Yard, Camden Lock, Camden High Street, NW1 (020 7564 2500)
Camden Town or Chalk Farm tube. Performances 8.45pm Fri; 7.15pm, 11.15pm, Sat. Admission Fri ?14, ?11 students, OAPs, disabled, ES40s; Sat ?12, ?9 students, OAPs, disabled, ES40s. Credit MC, V.
Website: http://www.jongleurs.com
A comfortable,
purpose-built comedy venue based on the American model, with excellent
bills, a late bar and food. Be sure to book in advance to guarantee a
seat, and remember, those at the front should be prepared to join in.
There’s an occasional open slot, and a disco until 2am follows the show
on Friday nights.
Great Emperors of Europe: Napoleon and Alexander I
Gathering exhibits from both Russian and French museums the Historical Museum shows side by side the similarities between the two emperors whose countries decided the fate of Europe at the beginning of the 19th-century. Displays include Alexander’s coronation costume and throne – an almost exact copy of Napoleon’s – and a number of awards given to the French emperor which go on display for the first time since 1946.
Kensington Palace
W8 (020 7937 9561)
Bayswater, High Street Kensington or Queensway tube. Open 10am-4pm daily. Admission ?9.50; ?7.10 5s-15s; ?7.70 OAPs, students, ES40s; ?29.10 family. Credit AmEx, JCB, MC, ?TC, V.
Website: http://www.hrp.org.uk
Living near the river
at Whitehall aggravated William III’s chronic asthma, so, in 1689, he
and Mary, looking for a more healthful home, bought the modest Jacobean
mansion then known as Nottingham House. Wren and Hawksmoor (and, later,
William Kent) were drafted in to redesign the building. Kensington
Palace remained the favoured royal residence until the reign of George
III, who preferred Buckingham House. The future Queen Victoria was born
in the palace in 1819, and it has latterly been known as the last home
of Princess Di (although she was only one of a number of royal
residents). Plans were put forward a couple of years ago to convert the
palace into a permanent memorial to the Princess and a home for the
magnificent (but currently scattered) Royal Collection of art. The Princess’s dresses
are on show until the end of March 2000, after which the project may go
ahead. Whether or not this happens, the palace is open for tours of the
State Apartments, including the room where Queen Victoria was baptised,
the King’s Gallery with its fine seventeenth- century paintings, and
the royal dress collection.
Beyond the Easel
Not all paintings were born on the easel nor rendered on traditional canvases. As the title suggests of this exhibition of rarely seen paintings by four major French Post-Impressionists – Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Ker Xavier Roussel. It brings together 85 luxuriously colourful paintings in unusual formats that were created mainly for private European apartments and mansions around the turn of the last century. They range from folding screens to large paintings that once were part of ensembles that hung on walls, doors and even ceilings.
Giulio Cesare
Set in Egypt in 48BC, Handel’s ‘Giulio Cesare’ tells the tale of the period in Julius Caesar’s reign where he meets the seductive Cleopatra and her psychopathic brother Tolomeo. Handel is best known for his concertos and oratorios but operas were his passion. Here his gorgeous arias are performed by renowned counter-tenors David Daniels (Cesare) and Bejun Mehta (Tolomeo), with soprano and Operalia winner Elizabeth Futral as Cleopatra. The staging is directed by Francisco Negrin, with Harry Bicket making his company début conducting this production. In Italian with English supertitles.
Tre
After its lavish spot-the-celeb opening, this new club and eatery is on its way to becoming one of the regular stopping-off points for clubbers making their weekly pilgrimages to the nightlife temples of the trendy Testaccio district. Set out on three floors, there is a ground floor disco and a self-styled ‘kitchen bar’ on the upper level. One of the best features of the club, however, is the two-level terrace. Just the thing for chilling out as those warm Roman evenings approach.
