Archive for ◊ April, 2009 ◊
Ok, so we haven’t gotten around to posting anything about our recent hiking trip to Wales. Bad us. But we were impressed enough by the B&B that we stayed at that we’ve added a new recommendation for it. Check it out, and be sure to look them up if ever you’re out that way to hike.
Quick note on a strange occurrence the other day…
I was leaving home in the morning, heading for the bus stop to go in to the university. As I approached the end of our street, and the turn onto the more major cross-street, I was surprised to see a Victorian hearse pass.
Two beautiful grey horses in fancy tack and bridle (complete with the feather head dress) drawing an elaborate, gilded and ornamented, glass sided wagon containing what appeared to be a coffin. The whole affair was driven by two men in formal dress — coat and long tails, top hat, the whole bit. It was a vision out of a Dickens novel, for sure.
This surprising conveyance was followed by just two dark, limousine-style cars. (And then a red London city bus.)
I assume that it was really a funeral arrangement of some sort. I was just surprised to see it trotting down a city street in what is not precisely an upper-class or elaborate area. I think of horse and carriage as being something that people hire for weddings and other romantic occasions, not for funerals. And there wasn’t a long line of mourners following. (Though the tradition of a huge number of cars following a slow hearse and paralyzing traffic for miles around may be more of a US thing. I don’t know.) It just felt… Out of place, I guess, in the middle of a neighborhood of early 20th century row houses filled with immagrents and making its way through dense traffic.
Just back from a fantastic trip to Stonehenge and Avebury (courtesy of a couple of local London friends, who played fantastic tour guides for a day). As always, there’s much more to say, but in the interest of getting something up soon, rather than a thorough post later (or, sadly often, not at all), here’s at least a couple of pics:
Stonehenge, seen from the center of the circle
Trilithon backlit by the early morning sun
A recent voluble tour guide was lecturing us about the history of York and, while telling us about the ruins of their abbey, he started a remark:
“And then, when Henry took the throne, he…”
I had to interrupt (being a loud and obnoxious American), “Which Henry?”
He stopped his flow of lecture and blinked. “The Eighth, of course. We’ve only had two monarchs, you know: Henry and Elizabeth. All the rest were just placeholders…”
more…
So, Mom and Dad are visiting us for Holy Week. We should have a post about Palm Sunday services in St. Paul’s Cathedral, but this post is not that post. This post is about a bus tour.
Magdalen College Tower in Oxford
Why does Jesus have shoulder-length, brown wavy hair and a beard?
One of my personal favorite bits of touristing is doing the museum tour, and there’s plenty to choose from in Europe. The grand cities have some of the greatest art musuems of the world, collecting over a millennium of masterpieces (mostly from Europe and North America, granted, but also some from further afield). In our time here, Susan and I have been privileged to explore the Prado, Reina Sophia, Thyssen, Louvre, d’Orsay, National Gallery, and Victoria and Albert. And that’s not counting other art museums that we’ve seen on other occasions or the vast amounts of art accumulated in palaces, cathedrals, churches, mansions, and random other tourist destinations. It brings alive all those dusty memories of art movements that (for me) date back to high school, making them vivid and setting them in context. Still, with all of this art trekking, we’ve noticed a few other features that aren’t mentioned quite so often. more…