Dallas to Hot Springs

We got to the Dallas Museum of Art late in the afternoon and met my friends Dorothy and Thomas there. Dorothy works at the museum and was participating in a discussion about the role of women in art that same evening, which we attended and found very interesting. Thomas then took us home to their place where we enjoyed a delicious pizza and talked late into the night.

On Friday morning Kate and I headed out to Fort Worth (following our friends' advice) and visited the Kimbell and the Modern Art Museums. There was an extraordinary exhibit of modern art portraits at Kimbell and a surprisingly creepy exhibit of Ron Mueck's super realistic sculptures at the Modern Art Museum. After this artistically rich experience we drove back to Dallas and got stuck in the daily urban traffic. We met Dorothy and Thomas at the Museum and followed them to some friends of theirs who own a photo gallery. We had a fun time. After an hour or so we drove back home and had a delicious dinner the four of us and a very interesting conversation, too.

The next day, Thomas took us on a full day trip in his car. Since he is an architect most of the tour was about architecture and urban sprawl. He drove us around a nice park near their house, out to the suburbs to see the urban sprawl, then to a beautifully designed Mall, to a new Neighbourhood downtown, past the spot where Kennedy was assassinated, to the remaining buildings of the international fair (modern but almost fascist architecture), through the poorest parts of Dallas and back through downtown to their house. It was so nice of Thomas to take us all day and show us all these things. In the evening we all went out for dinner and Eleanor (their daughter) came with us as well. We had a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant where we apparently got to see a big Mafiosi boss…

Before we left Dallas on Sunday we had to drive back downtown to finally see Dorothy’s newest exhibition about the Société Anonyme and also the Nasher sculpture garden. Both were great shows. We hit the road eastwards, had lunch at a greasy Texan fast-food on the way and got to Hot Springs, Arkansas as the sun was setting. We built our tent in the National Park, had dinner and went to see the Simpsons movie which we both found mediocre.

Hot Springs is a small city near Little Rock, Arkansas which is famous for two things: it is the place where Bill Clinton spent his boyhood and as its name says there are hot springs that have been attracting people for centuries. In the early morning we got up and went to one of the old Bathhouses on the Bathhouse row. There Kate and I treated ourselves with a ninety minutes Bath/Massage/Spa treatment. We both got out of there relaxed and fresh but as usual we jumped into our Chevy and hit the road for new adventures!