Bistrot Aki

If you love visiting art galleries there is no better place to do it than a major city. In this case you will often find several within a fairly small radius, giving you plenty of artwork to appreciate.

Art comes in lots of different forms however, and if you go to San Diego you will be able to see all kinds of artistic endeavours housed in the city’s many museums.

Start off your journey of discovery at the Museum of Man. This doesn’t sound like a particularly artistic museum but when you venture inside you will be surprised by what you find. There are textiles, pictographic paintings, ceramics and many more forms of art to see here.

If you like your artwork to be thoroughly modern in nature, make sure you visit the Museum of Contemporary Art. You can see countless drawings, paintings and even photographs in this museum, and you can spend hours wandering around looking at art in all its forms.

Expect to see 3D sculptures as well as flat paintings hanging on the walls – this really has a delightful mix of modern art on show. Watch out for Nathan Mabry’s Process Art in particular – an eye catching piece with an unmissable expression on its face.

If classic artwork is more appealing to you, head over to the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park. The park itself is worth exploring but the museum is home to many artworks by the likes of Rembrandt and Rubens among others.

American artwork is represented here alongside many European painters, giving a well rounded collection that never fails to impress. Thomas Birch’s “An American Ship in Distress” is worth seeing, as is Rubens’ “Portrait of a Young Man in Armour”. The museum is also free to enter.

Elsewhere in Balboa Park the San Diego Museum of Art is also waiting to welcome you inside. As with all the other museums there are regular collections on display as well as occasional exhibitions, so check before you visit to see what the latest ones are.

Pablo Picasso, Hieronymus Bosch and Henri Matisse are among the world famous artists you will find represented by their works in this particular museum. Since every kind of picture, view and person is depicted in the paintings on show, there is something here for every art lover to appreciate.

As you can see San Diego is a stunning city to visit if you know your art. There are lots of hotels in San Diego you can stay in while you are in town as well. This means you can look forward to exploring all these museums and many more during your stay.

The works of many different artists, both past and present, are waiting to greet you.

Birmingham Sheriden House Hotel is a family run and managed hotel located on Handsworth Wood Road, Handsworth. The Hamstead (Birmingham) Rail, The Perry Barr Rail and the Hawthorns Rail are the nearest train stations to the hotel.

The Villanova Hotel, The Birmingham Marriot Hotel, The Earcroft Hotel and Park Hotel are just within the walking distance of the Birmingham Sheriden House Hotel. Many nice Museums are near the hotel such as Aston Manor-Road Transport Museum, Soho House Museum, Museum of the Jewellery Querter / Discovery Centre, Museum of Science and Industry and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Lots of green areas are around to enjoy, places like Handswork Park, Perry Park, Aston Park and Red House Park. Several well-knows golf clubs are just within the jugging distance like The Handsworth Golf Club, The Hilltop Golf Club and The Sandwell Park Golf Club. The Birmingham City University is also close to the hotel. Several nice restaurants are around the hotel including The Rogans Vegeterial Restaurant, The Aman Restaurant, The Indian Thal Restaurant and The Dyas Pizzas. And why not trying some the nice café’s around such as Mario’s Café, The Blue Moon Café, Snack A Tack and The Internet Café Birmingham.

The Birmingham Sheriden House Hotel is a two-star hotel which has 10 rooms in total. The rates start from £45 per room/night.

If you want a hotel and don’t mind it to be small this is the place for you. Many green parks and golf clubs are also around within a very short distance of the hotel.

As a tutor, I have seen time and again that the students who have the strongest skills are the students who do lots of learning outside of school, as well as inside it. That doesn’t mean that these kids are doing drills all summer and on the weekends- far from it. They are getting out and exploring the world with their families and friends (or sometimes they’re curled up at home with a good book or an interesting hobby). Here are a few ideas for fun, educational activities to try out this summer.

Outdoor Theater

Reading books is often touted as the best way to learn new vocabulary- and it probably is. But it certainly isn’t the only way! Any activity that exposes a person to a rich selection of words in context is sure to be beneficial. In New York City, we’re fortunate to have an exceptionally wide range of theater available to us, but it can get very expensive, especially if you’re taking a family. That’s why the outdoor, free theater we get in the summer time is so exciting. Shakespeare in the Park is the biggest player, but there are many other opportunities, too. Shakespeare in the Park(ing Lot), Shakespeare in Riverside Park, and puppet shows specifically for children at the Swedish Cottage in Central Park (there is a suggested donation for this) are just a few of the many good options.

A large proportion of free summer theater consists of Shakespearian productions, which can be intimidating. In general, seeking out comedies and tragedies (as opposed to histories) and reading a plot synopsis before you go are ways to make the performances more accessible.

Walking Tours

Walking tours aren’t just for tourists. If you look, you can find a tour catering to almost any interest, schedule, and age group. The beauty of walking tours is that you can learn about history, culture, art, and architecture while standing in the places where astonishing events happened. A good tour is a strangely visceral way to learn about history.

In New York City, tour guides must be licensed, but the test isn’t very hard and some guides are far more knowledgeable than others. To improve your chances of getting a guide who tells stories that are true as well as entertaining, look for companies or individuals who tout their educational qualifications.

Art Museums

Art museums aren’t necessarily seasonal, but they do make great outings on blisteringly hot summer days. Going to a museum and just looking at art is great, but it’s also good to remember that many museums provide tours (often, these are included in the price of admission). Also, some museums go out of their way to be accessible to people who aren’t already art connoisseurs. The Brooklyn Museum is perhaps my favorite because of their exceptionally good signage and curation. The Morgan Library also goes above and beyond to provide background information on its exhibits.

Sadly, the value of art is not always appreciated. If you’re wondering how educational a trip to an art museum could actually be, keep in mind that art gives an excellent window into the times and places where it was made. Possessing background information about a wide variety of topics is one of the better predictors of reading level that I am aware of.

Museums can become quite expensive if you take a family and pay full price, however almost all museums in New York have either free or pay-what-you-wish times that you can take advantage of. Another drawback of going to museums is the crowds- the big Manhattan museums can become astonishingly crowded, especially during the summer tourist season. You may want to check out smaller, less central museums such as P.S.1, The Bronx Museum of Art, The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, or The Museum of Art and Design.

Bird Watching

New York City can be a surprisingly rewarding place to watch birds. For one thing, in many parks, birds become somewhat acclimated to a human presence and it is possible to observe them more closely than would be normal in a less crowded area. For another thing, there are a great many enthusiastic, knowledgeable birders who are eager to share.

You can borrow bird watching supplies in a “Discovery Kit” backpack free of charge from the Central Park Conservancy at the Henry Luce Nature Observatory at Belvedere Castle (mid-Park at 79th Street) on an ongoing, year-round basis. Ages 6 and up; an adult must accompany children under 12 years of age. The kit includes binoculars and a bird ID book. I’ve done this, and the best part of carrying the kit was that it identified me as an interested, but novice, birdwatcher. Quite a few birders went out of their way to show me sights such as a sleeping owl and heron chicks that I never would have found on my own.

Build a Crystal Radio

One of my very vivid memories from childhood is building a crystal radio from a kit with my father. To say it was intriguing to get actual radio signals from something that had no apparent power source and which looked so simple is an understatement- this is the kind of activity that could really spark a kid’s curiosity and blossom into a desire to study physics and engineering.

There are many kits available to help you build a crystal radio- getting one from a mail order catalog is probably the easiest route, but it is sometimes possible to find them in hobby shops, toy stores, or science museum gift shops. There are also on-line directions available for making radios more or less from scratch (I haven’t tried this and don’t know how difficult it is).