Sunday/Monday

Okay - quick run down. Sunday was an epic journey. Arrived London actually early - around 12:30. Get to hotel by 1 PM. Huzzah! Can't check in. We're "early." ?? Apparently St. Athans check in is 2 PM. Okay - time to check email, double check flights, etc. Vayama says there's a change on our flight. What? Crap. Call - not open on Sunday. Call Air Canada. No changes. Our seats are already booked. One disaster averted.

By the time that's done we can check in. Finally. Drop bags and walk to British Museum. Finally get photos on the really old stuff we missed before (photos will follow - probably after we get back home). Bus down to the Eye. Great walk along the south bank. Great ride on the Eye. Recommend to all, great views of the city. Parliament; White Hall; Charing Cross etc. etc.

Down and across Jubilee Bridge; Trafalgar Sq. is dark by now but still a few photos of the man himself. Greatest Nelson quote - as his bowsprit is about to get hung up on enemy rigging as he crosses it's stern at the start of the battle of Trafalgar: "There's nothing for it."

Hey! The National Gallery is right there! And it's free! DaVinci's Virgin at the Rocks. Quite a dark painting actually, though Dan Brown is clearly insane. A half-finished Michaelangelo. A few other famous paintings. No pictures though - can't do that there as I quickly found out.

Stroll to Picadilly Circus which is London's Times Square, a short walk to the Odeon. Very early for Harry Potter so we grab a bite at a very big, very crowded Mexican restaurant: Conchito's or something. Not terrible, but nothing great either, and a lot of food. It is so good to see England following US's lead in offering patrons ridiculously huge portions of food. Not a surprise that it is hard to find good Mexican in London.

Movie at 8:45 then a dash to the Underground for one of the last trains. Tried to sleep but the upstairs neighbors were up until very early in the morning walking around, up and down the stairs, and then the floor/ceiling creaks horribly. Almost no sleep, up at 6 AM for epic tour.

I'll just say this. Steer clear of Goldon Tours. We didn't book through them, but Michelle called them by mistake and they actually confirmed the reservation (?!?!). We ended up going with them but the guide was called on the way to Windsor and told that we weren't with her tour. We get to Windsor and - after telling us that she would make sure we connected with our group - basically abandoned us at the gate, waiting for the person who was to be our guide.

By the time he found us it was too late to enjoy Windsor much and we would have to pay our own way (we will be getting a refund on that part...eventually). We walked down to the Thames and ate whilst a group of water fowl watched us predatiously. So we went with the much cooler Premium Tours bus. They stopped at an off the highway pub for lunch on the way to Stonehenge. I got the sense that this tour was supposed to be a real touristy kind of experience with Royal family trivia, lunch at an actual pub (!) etc.

Stonehenge is a definite must do even if you can't go in amongst the stones, and forget about sacrificing a goat or a chicken, much less a virgin. Unfortunately that is something you just can't get away with anymore.

Bath is a beautiful city. Probably a very cool place to live. The Roman baths are a good attraction. I doubt we would take this tour again, but if Bath was a stop on another trip, it would be worth spending some time there.

Long ride back. We walked down Oxford St. looking at all the shops and the Christmas decorations. I guess without Thanksgiving the English have even less incentive to wait a respectable amount of time before hitting you with the $-mas onslaught. Some weird pizza for dinner. Bottle of Claret I got from the Shipston Musical Society. Packing. Home tomorrow - or whatever it is when you're eight hours ahead.

Photos to come a little later.

Brennen

Sunday so far

It's been a while since I posted because I've been very busy. Michelle and I have also picked up on the local lingo. I noticed I referred to a tv host as a tv presenter this morning. Wow.

Drove up to London on Wed. evening for a run through with Siva who is the producer for the recording. A good run through, but I was never in great voice - at all this week. Anyway - Das Lied needs drama and high notes, not so much gentle subtlety, at least for the tenor.

We stayed with a great couple in Cardiff named Jamie and Anna. Great people. Good tea and toast in the morning and help around the city. Anna plays for the WNO (like Suzanne) and Jamie is a freelance pianist. Their flat is on Cathedral Rd near the heart of Cardiff. We also spent a lot of time with Ken and Suzanne. They have two adorable kids and are also hosting contractors who continue to work on the upstairs guest room. Suzanne kept feeding us. She's a great cook.

Thursday we headed off to Stratford. We spent the night there and I went off to morning rehearsal while Michelle saw the sights. Mahler is challenging at any time, but at 10 AM can be particularly difficult. We ran through two of the final pieces, then later, pressed for time, only got one run through of Trinklied. A couple of hours of break in the late afternoon and then back to Shipston with Michelle in tow for the concert at 7:30.

Met Emma, the contralto I sang with. Great, deep, earthy voice and we spent quite a bit of our two days with her and her husband Andy who plays the lute and other period guitars.

The concert went well. Better than rehearsal. The recording will use that as a foundation and patch around it. We had a delightful after concert eats and drinks with a couple who live in Stratford, John and Mary Jane. They live in a 16th century original. You can always tell you are in a 16th or 17th century building because you are always in danger of cracking your head on a lintel or ceiling beam.

But no drinking, because recording started again the next morning. Luckily I didn't have to sing until 12. Did some work (not great) on Trinklied, broke for food at 1. I didn't eat though, and chose rather to listen to some of the takes and the concert recording. Then we worked on the second half of Trinklied, which I think went much better. Then on to the two shorter pieces and I was done by 2:10 (woot!).

I had a couple custard filled donuts for lunch then we all broke for dinner. Nothing was available for the time we had, so since I was done I hit an Indian place on my own. Finally some brit curry. The samosas were good, the pacoras not bad. The curry was very good, the naan - meh - not bad but undercooked.

Since I had no ride between Stratford and Shipston I just hung out, listening to Emma sing her way through her three songs. Well, actually after dinner, it was just the one: der Abschied. But let's be honest it is as long as the rest of the work put together and really tricky for the orchestra and a challenging sing for the contralto: lots of high, sustained, piano singing. It took about 2 1/2 hours and then we all had a well deserved pint.

Then it was good byes. A great thanks to Ken and his leadership from the podium and his passion, Siva for her diligence, support and encouragement as well as Gary the sound engineer for the recording and hats off to Orchestra of the Swan for top notch playing on a very difficult and exposed work. Finally cheers to my colleague Emma and her great work on a truly epic piece of music.

A restless night and now on the train to London - well three trains: Stratford to Leamington Spa to Reading to London. I have to say the British rail system suffers badly in comparison to its continental counterparts. We had a much better time of things in France and Germany. The trains here are much more crowded (why won't they add just another car? A couple trains were standing room only for more than an hour.) and not as timely.

Well, now it's a day in London seeing the sights, Harry Potter at the Leicester (had to reserve seats for that one). Tomorrow an epic bus ride to Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath. Then tomorrow back home.

No trouble getting to London, but hotel room not ready --grrrr. Tried to book our seats on the flight - something has changed? Now I have to call Canada or US or something to see what is up. They couldn't just tell us I guess. I hope it isn't serious.

Stratford Upon Avon

Well, It's Saturday now and as you can guess we've been busy.  Well, hmm...We were last in Cardiff with the Woods family and their friends and then on Thursday, Ken drove us all to Stratford Upon Avon.  It was raining cats & dogs the whole way here.  We checked in and then walked down to a pub for dinner...The Thatch Inn.  It was good food.

A bit of history of Stratford...it was the home of William Shakespeare.  JB has been in rehearsals and concert and recording sessions while I have been playing tourist.  As a favor to my darling spousal unit for bringing me along, I played tourist at all the sites that he would have liked to have seen...he'll get to see the same pictures you do...he'll put them on the same flickr site you've been going to for the other pictures.

Here's a free advertisement for the historical sites for William Shakespeare's life in Stratford Upon Avon...if you spend the money on the ticket, you don't have do do everything on the same day...it is a ticket that is valid for an entire year!  Way cool!  I didn't miss anything after some adventures and it was a nice surprise for today.

Yesterday, I went to the house he was born and raised in.  He also lived there after he was married.  I was going to go to the other sites, but JB requested an insulated coffee mug...apparently they aren't something that the Brits use on a regular basis because I couldn't find one for several hours and eventually found a Starbucks that, of course, had them.  Whew!  That search was very frustrating, but all was well in the end.

Last night was the concert...Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (Song of the Earth) as performed by the Orchestra of the Swan with Ken Woods conducting and Brennen and Emma singing.  It was really well done and we all enjoyed it.

Today, was also busy until about 3:30.  I started off by being sent on another mission for JB...he needed more dirt tea for his throat and I didn't mind going to find it as I knew where to go after yesterday's search for the cup.  I barely made it to the sidewalk alive as I tripped just leaving the property of the B&B...it was reallly graceful!  The ankle is still sore, but I put over 4 miles on it after I tripped, so it wasn't too bad and I'm taking it easy tonight.

After that, I got to play tourist again and thought I should restart the day at Starbucks.  Well, I thought about going to another coffee shop, but Starbucks brought me luck yesterday.  I also went to Hall's Croft, the home of the local doctor at the time of Shakespeare...my brain is forgetting the details.  I did that with Andy, Emma's husband, and then we went to the church where he (Shakespeare) and his family were buried.  After that we walked along the Avon river and took photos of the buildings that the Royal Shakespeare Company perform in, but we didn't go in to them due to road construction.  From there we went to Nash's house and the New Place.  Nash's House is where Shakespeare's daughter and her husband lived.  The New Place is the house where Shakespeare died and is currently under excavation as it is an archaeological dig in process.

Well, after that I did something for my mother...please be kind and mark it on your calendar.  After organizing our travel for Sunday, I went shopping at Morrisons.  It is England's version of Safeway, including gas stations.  I bought food for a late lunch and some dinner as I was (and still am) planning a quiet night in front of the television and tackling the daunting reorganization of our belongings prior to our destination change in the morning...we're headed back to London.

When JB gets a chance, I will have him throw the pictures back up on flickr.  Until then, have some fun!

Almost slept in. Almost. Went to Ken and Suzanne's for a while, caught up on some of my favorite blogs. Ate at a good Thai restaurant. Then a long drive to London to rehearse in the presence of our producer. She treated us to a very nice meal at "The Albany" near Hampton.

Good rehearsal with Jamie (last time to see him on our trip - farewell) and Ken. Did some good honing and got some good suggestions from Siva (the producer).

Then got back at 11:30, not because we didn't hurry back. Ken drives fast - as in really really fast -- as in get out of the way because you are definitely not driving fast enough. You would not think that his small, diesel, Toyota station wagon would hum along at such great speeds, let me assure: it does, quite well.

Off to bed and the Stratford tomorrow. Bill - here I come.

Brennen

Finally, Tea First!

It's about time that I found a place that offers tea first, before offering coffee!  I've had more tea in the past week than I can remember.  It is rather refreshing.  People do seem a bit surprised that I want "black" tea "black" and no cream and/or sugar...not a huge shock, but still it does catch them off guard.

Here's our real timeline...I read JB's blog entries and even I was confused about the timing.  I'm willing to chalk it up to road weariness and chaos.  Here you go:

Thursday: Arrive 5 hours early and drop our bags at the hotel, get a sim card for the phone, eat in a pub (I don't like haddock for my fish & chips) and head for the British Museum.

Friday: Train to Carlisle, get rental car, go to Hadrian's wall, eat at the Crown Inn pub (steak & ale pie is great), then my first attempt at a blog entry and early to bed.

Saturday: Early up with the continental breakfast at the hotel, followed by the rest of our tour of Hadrian's wall and frantic dash and near failure to get rid of the car, dinner at the pub (I do like cod for my fish & chips) with a bit of "football" and some rugby followed by a walking tour of downtown Carlisle...bought three (3) skeins of "wool" even though it was acrylic and nylon.  They don't understand the word "yarn" as string of varying thicknesses used for making cloth...every time I mentioned it people would stare at me and then point to thread...go figure.

Sunday: Early up with a full English breakfast (confused by the baked beans for breakfast...it's just Wrong!), next up is the series of trains to Cambridge (Carlisle to Newcastle to Peterborough to Cambridge) and meeting up with Beatrice for some great soup and hospitality.  She took us on a tour of the 43 colleges that make up the town of Cambridge and vespers at St. John's College chapel.  I had a hard time not crocheting in church and not fidgeting either.

Monday: Early up with a trip to Cardiff via Birmingham...a really cool thing happened - we purchased BritRail England train passes which were supposed to only be good in England, but we were going to Cardiff (in Wales) and thought we were going to have to buy train tickets from Birmingham to Cardiff, however the ticket agent called her supervisor who said to wait and see if the train conductor/ticket agent would charge us or not...they didn't and saved us at least 80 pounds! We took a cab to Ken & Suzanne Woods' place in Cardiff and discovered the chaos of a construction zone and toddlers combined...it was fun!  I was missing my monkey anyway and so we got both the pooch fix and the toddler fix.


Tuesday:  We did a walking tour of Cardiff - Walked through an awesome park, saw Cardiff Castle, ate lunch in an Irish pub, got a little turned around, took a little train down to Cardiff Bay and walked around the Roald Dahl plaza where Torchwood was filmed, saw the over-priced Dr. Who exhibit, took the water taxi back up the Taff (the main river in Cardiff) and had dinner with Ken & Suzanne and friends.

Wednesday (Today): Easy day = No Plans.  JB and I came over to Ken & Suzanne's early to hang out and just take it easy.  We had lunch at the Bangkok Cafe (a new place in town) and it was really quite good.  JB & Ken went to meet with the producer and have a rehearsal and will be back later.  There are no spectacular plans for tonight...just hanging out with toddlers who go to bed at 7pm.  I'm looking forward to the down time.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we're going to Shipston which is near Stratford Upon Avon if you care to look at a map.  JB's gig is on Friday and the recording session is on Saturday and then it's back to London.  Well, enough typing today.

Michelle

Tuesday

Busy day today. Up, walk through the park to Cardiff Castle (see photos of Gothic revival decorations by the obscenely wealthy) and the Norman keep which was very cool. Walk through the markets, slightly lost then made it to Cardiff Bay where we visited Dr. Who museum and walked on top of Torchwood. Saw a huge bill board dedicated to resuscitating a dead character (and perhaps the series). I don't think it's done any good. Met an older couple. He lived in Cardiff when he was young and told us stories of how dangerous Tiger Bay was and how the docks were black with coal and iron back in the day. Ride back on the water taxi. Rehearsal with Ken and Jamie then a great dinner provided by the Woods and hanging out with our new friends in Cardiff.

Tomorrow - hopefully a lazy morning the Ken and I drive SW of London to meet the producer. No idea what Michelle is up to.

picasaweb.google.com/opus440

Monday is followed by Tuesday

Monday: Cambridge yesterday. A nice train ride and decent weather most of the way. We did have to run to make our connection to Peterborough. Michelle was not happy. The train certainly took it's time getting there, so I don't know why it should have been late, but the British Rail system is not what it once was apparently.

We were able to stay with someone - a friend of a friend from Eugene. Her name was Beatrice, and though she's lived in Cambridge for over 30 years, she's still very much Italian. She took us around the city though almost everything was closed up because we arrived in the afternoon and it was Remembrance Sunday (like our Veteran's Day).

Beatrice is a great host. She fed us and doted on us - lots of laughs. We went to St. John's for vespers. Good choir and a decent sermon but nothing overwhelming. I confess I am not a great fan of the English boys choir - but they do make a beautiful sound that is magical in a stone chapel.

How to sum up Cambridge. That's tricky. I imagine if you went to school there or taught at the University it would be a great place to live. I don't know that I would want to live there if I didn't. I got a sense that it is definitely a place of insiders and outsiders.

Off to Caridff today. Made our trains and actually ate lunch by 1 PM. I haven't noted this, but eating lunch is an achievement we have been unable to fulfill until today. Things keep getting in the way. We've found ourselves typically not eating until two or even three and Friday we skipped out on lunch all together to get up to Hadrian's Wall. We don't go anywhere until Thursday this week, so hopefully we'll get a chance to have a more normal routine, maybe even get to sleep in once. You are supposed to sleep in on vacation, right? We'll see.

Brennen

Tuesday: Train to Birmingham was crowded. We were lucky to get a seat because there were people standing in the aisles for Peterborough and one other stop. We were able to use our Railway passes all the way to Cardiff, which was nice since we would have paid over 40 pounds each for a ticket because we didn't book them in advance.

Birmingham to Cardiff was a breeze and we took a taxi to Ken and Suzanne's. Suzanne made a great dinner and I met Emma who is my singing colleague for this performance, even though we never actually sing together for this piece.

Ken arrived at 7 AM yesterday morning and we decided to put off the planned rehearsal until this evening. We are staying with Jaime and Anna since Ken's guest room didn't get finished yet. Jaime is from the US originally and has been living in the UK for about 7 years. He introduced us to the most sacred of British television programming: the panel show. Apparently this is as popular as the police procedural is in the US. They can be hit and miss, but a fair bit of the comedy goes by us because we don't know the references.

Today we'll stroll around Cardiff, visit the castle, the cathedral, the arcade markets and the Dr. Who museum, then back to Jaime's for rehearsal around 5. Then I'm off to SW London tomorrow for another rehearsal.

Brennen