Picture Yourself There

Man Booker Prize - Chesil Beach?

They say that everyone’s got a novel inside them. If this is true, then it’s probably a good thing that most of these imaginary yarns tend to stay inside us - otherwise we’d be forced to admit just how bad the general public is at the arts (as if we aren’t reminded by the X Factor, every Saturday night). But that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a good wordsmith. The Man Booker Prize celebrates all those writers whose inner books are actually worth getting out and onto paper, and the shortlist for this prestigious award will be announced on Thursday.

Someone who’ll be taking a healthy interest is British writer Ian McEwan. As if he wasn’t busy enough what with the blockbuster adaptation of his novel Atonement opening in cinemas this Friday, his novel On Chesil Beach is a hot favourite for the Booker Prize. If you think the expanse of pebbles on this Dorset haven will bring out the Wordsworth in you, well… we can’t make any promises. But Chesil Beach is a jolly nice landscape anyway.

Thanks to www.portlandbill.co.uk for today's NavPix. Download it here…

Ocracoke - best beach in America. Fact

Dr Stephen Leatherman, director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research, seems to have a pretty peachy job. Otherwise known as ‘Dr Beach’ (which makes him sound a little bit like a nineties dance outfit), this jammy professor has recently conducted his annual survey of America’s beaches, using criteria such as cleanliness and sand quality, to find which is the finest in the US. We hope he managed to assess the proximity and quality of the ice cream vans too, as there’s nothing like a stingy Mr Whippy to dampen your day on the beach.

And if you think that the golden, Paris-Hilton-lookalike-infested sands of Florida are bound to have come out on top – think again. Leatherman’s winning beach is Ocracoke, hidden in a relatively remote spot of North Carolina. With its expansive white sands, Ocracoke is a rare treasure – just don’t shout about it, we’re planning to bag the best spot for ourselves.

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Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

If you’ve told yourself a thousand times that you really must stop scribbling urgent reminders on the back of old envelopes, or important phone numbers on bits of kitchen roll, don’t criticise yourself too harshly for your habits: you may just be in good company. Louis van Tilburgh at the Van Gogh Museum has discovered that the tortured painter used a teatowel or tablecloth as the canvas for more than one of his great works. Apparently, you can even observe a faint pattern of red rectangles beneath the lovely Wheatfields on a Mountainous Landscape, a pleasingly banal detail to find on such a masterpiece.

It’s resourceful at least. Though, just as it’s inevitable that your old envelopes will find their way into the bin, it’s lucky these creations didn’t end up in the wash. You can see Daubigny’s Garden, one of these teatowel pieces, at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

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96 Years since Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre

Tomorrow, it will be 96 years since the world-famous Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in what can only be described as the most nonchalant and least dramatic robbery of all time. Without any cunning disguises or ingenious gadgets (or, it seems, any proper plans) a former employee of the gallery called Vincenzo Peruggia simply walked in, checked that no guards were around, and took the picture from its frame. For two years the picture sat in Vincenzo’s flat, and it was only when he tried to sell the piece in the same amateur fashion as he stole it that he was finally arrested.

Even though the mystery of her disappearance was solved, the greatest still remains: what the devil is she smirking about? Lovers of the painting have speculated that she was perhaps pregnant, or a new mother – more cynical spectators have suggested that her smile is merely an optical illusion and isn’t even there. We think she’s just chuckling to herself about the outlandish theories conjured up in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code…

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The 'Cheese Grater' - and an upside down demolition

If you’re of a nervous disposition, you may want to stay away from London’s Leadenhall Street for the time being, while the former P&O building located there is demolished from the bottom up. This seemingly bizarre deconstruction, which makes the structure in the City of London look like a massive game of Jenga at the point when it’s all getting a bit precarious, does have some method behind the madness: each floor was suspended from the one above it and therefore had to be taken down first.

In what seems like a bid to rename the city’s landmarks according to the contents of a kitchen cupboard, the tower that will appear in its place nearby the Gherkin has been nicknamed the cheese grater. Who would have thought it - but all this talk of architecture is making my mouth water.

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Tsala treehouses

Given the weather, it seems appropriate that the song that has been at Number One for the past ten weeks in the UK is Umbrella by Rihanna. Approximately as annoying as the weather itself, the single literally couldn’t be more appropriate for this miserable Great British Summer. With kitchens covered two feet deep in water, cars poking out of road-rivers like rusty icebergs, and workers being evacuated from flooded offices (hmmm. Maybe not all bad then) people are resignedly swapping their shorts and sundresses for wellies and woollies.

Since all those rainy days have come at once, there’s only one thing for it: the only way you’re going to save yourself from soggy shoes and socks is by moving to a treehouse. Or, as they are officially called by Blueforest, eco-lodges. Visit www.blueforest.com, not just for some great suggestions of treetop getaways, but also if you’d like to create your own forest hideaway. We love the look of the Tsala retreats at http://tsala.co.za/tsala/. When we pack up and head for the trees, remember, we’re not being decadent – just practical.

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Dubai Tower

If you’re the kind of person who gets a nosebleed halfway up a stepladder, you’re probably not going to enjoy today’s NavPix very much. Sorry about that. But the incredible Burj Dubai Tower is so staggering that we simply can’t overlook it – standing at a nauseating 1,680 feet, it is now officially the tallest building in the world. And you’d be wrong if you thought that the creators have gone far enough, since plans show that construction will continue until the building is more than 2,000 feet high. We at Picture Yourself There thought you needed an oxygen canister (and a strong stomach) at that kind of altitude, but apparently the building is habitable.

With penthouses going for millions of dollars, this really is one of the most jaw-dropping locations in the world. Let’s just hope that, when you get home with all your bags of shopping, the lift isn’t on the blink.

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Camilla's birthday party

For most people, a birthday usually consists of i) a few quiet drinks at the pub, perhaps followed by a night on the tiles, ii) an embarrassing and endless dinner with family members who thankfully only put face-time in twice a year, or iii) a night of denial, either not mentioning it at all / telling everyone that you’re 29 (again). But when you’re part of the Royal family – and getting ready for a very special birthday - celebrations are going to be a little different.

The Duchess of Cornwall will be celebrating the big six-0 tonight with a celebrity-filled, black-tie bash at Highgrove – an event that has been described by royal sources as ‘low key’. A different world, hey… Mind you, Camilla probably won’t have any trouble keeping out of the limelight – all eyes are likely to be on ‘are they, aren’t they’ couple of the moment, Wills and Kate. Whatever happens, there’s bound to be a right royal fuss.

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to have a picture of Highgrove for today’s NavPix – looks like we’re not on the guest list, then. So in a regal theme, get the Buckingham Palace NavPix here, which is probably as close as any of us peasants will get to royalty…

Belgium National Day

 

There is an old fashioned British parlour game in which players were challenged to name five famous Belgians – the ‘joke’ being that it was difficult to recall characters of consequence from the country. Well, we at Picture Yourself There are ready to show how ridiculous this notion is by naming five right here, right now: Poirot, TinTin, Jean Claude Van Damme, The Smurfs and Dr Evil from Austin Powers.

Only joking. If you’re in any doubt about the greatness of Belgium, we’ve got one word for you: chocolate. If you decide to take a trip around the capital of Brussels - to look around the Grand Place with its fabulous architecture, or to wander around some of the oldest shopping arcades in the world, or to visit the amazing royal palace – make sure you grab some authentic Belgian chocs to fuel you on the way.

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Montebello Castle, Italy

Something a little sinister for Friday 13th… These may be the days for light summer evenings, but at Montebello Castle in Italy it’s all about to get a bit ‘Most Haunted’ when their Summer Night Visits begin in the next few weeks. OK, so there’ll be no Liverpudlian in a leather jacket getting possessed every five minutes, but the spooky Azzurrina – said to be the ghost of a feudal lord’s daughter who died in mysterious circumstances and haunts the castle to this day - will cast a chill over the balmiest evening.

If you think that’s a load of tosh, you’ll still enjoy a trip around this fantastic building, which is still in perfect condition. With guided tours beginning running until 11pm each evening in August, just remember that you don’t believe in ghosts when those shadows are moving in the corners and footsteps can be heard upstairs…

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