Posted on Jul 05, 2009
London went by in a whirlwind, but it was very full. We saw 4 plays in 3 days, which made Alex very happy. Two were Shakesearean, one at the reconstructed Globe Theatre, and the other at the Royal National Theatre (Measure for Measure and Alls Well that Ends Well), a contemporary play (Dr. Koczack's Example) about the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holcaust, and a dance production at Sadler's Wells featuring a Flemish Moroccan choreographer and 17 Shaolin monks. We also managed to see Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle and any number of other sites. Every day we promised we would take a break to rest, but somehow never got back to the hotel much before midnight.
Posted on Jul 01, 2009
Sam is off to Barcelona while we are spending a few days in London. We arrived on the Chunnel Train in the midafternoon but it took a while to get us all settled in. We're staying in Kensington, not far from where I stayed on my way to Canterbury a couple of years ago; very close to Paddington Station. Alex and I walked around the neighborhodd while Giles took a rest. We then went down to the Thames, had dinner in a pub and walked along the Emankment, watching people and boats and admiring the view.
Posted on Jun 28, 2009
Last night at midnight we were blowing bubbles off of the top deck of the Eiffel Tower!
Paris has been wonderful. We may be getting this travel thing down, but it would be nice to have a month in each city to really do it right. We have been to the Louvre, which I liked, and then over to the Orsay Museum for the Impressionists, which I loved. Maybe it's the lack of snow in Wilmington, but I loved the impressionist winter scenes. We've walked all over the place. Giles has a pedometer and we regularly log between fifteen and twenty thousand steps a day.
Notre Dame was closed for a bishop's consecration, though we saw a cardinal preach on the Jumbotron in the plaza in front, but Saint Chapelle helped ot make up for it. When OI visited France in high school (1969) I had to write a paper about Saint Chapelle, but it was closed for cleaning. It's a cliche, but when everyone says it's like a jewel box, it is. The most brilliant stained glass I've ever seen.
We hiked up Montmartre in the late afternoon, stopping for macaroons (the rage in Paris) along the way. Then supper in a sidewalk cafe just off the Champ du Mars and a short vwalk to a long line for the Eiffel Tower and bubbles.
Sam was resting with a cold and Giles was taking a break so Alex and I went off to Versailles. They've done a lot since the late 60's. They're currently doing a lot of regilding and it's interesting to see the contrast between the old and the renewed, The gardens are also better kept and were in full bloom. The chapel is unusual. The priest in those days celebrated with his back to the people. The people in the congregation in the royal chapel stood with their backs to the priest, watching the king on his balcony, who was looking at the priest's back. They knew how to do liturgy then.
Tomorrow Giles and I are off to Chartres.