It’s 7 p.m. in Belfast (Greenisland, actually, pronounced “Green-island” not “Green-is-land” as we were corrected shortly after arriving) and I actually feel partly OK for the first time in a couple of days. Last night was about the sickest I can remember being for a few years — a horrible cold followed by uncontrollable chills followed by a fever. As is often the case with a fever, my mind was […]
We are finally in Belfast. I am feeling half dead. I got Suzie’s cold or flu or whatever and there’s nothing worse than traveling while very sick. Plus, even though we had planned to take a bus and cab from Dublin to Belfast, we got a deal on a rental car that made the trip cheaper, so I had to have my first experience driving on the left side of […]
Shortly after the subway and bus bombings in London in the summer of 2005, the police shot and killed an unarmed Brazilian named Jean Charles de Menezes, a 24-year-old electrician, at the Stockwell underground station. Although original press reports said the victim was killed in a terrorist operation, it soon became apparent that the dead man was innocent, and that his death was the result of mistaken identity. Stockwell is […]
Our last day in London was not half bad. Suzie was mostly over her flu, but we decided to take it pretty easy to make sure she didn’t get overtired and make herself sick again. Our two predetermined destinations were the British Library (to see the collection of rare books on display) and the court area of London (for obvious reasons). Everything went pretty much as planned, a bit boring […]
You know your vacation day is not up to par when the funnest thing you did was videotaping your 13-year-old stakeboarding. But that was my day today. Suzie got the flu late yesterday, and was as sick last night and this morning as I’ve ever seen her. So our planned activity for the day (watching A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the new Globe Theatre) was shot. Setting off without a […]
After the British Museum, I went to Trafalgar Square to visit the National Museum, which contains paintings from the 1500s to the 1900s. After the British Museum, it was a letdown; you can only take so stylized paintings of Jesus, Mary, and various saints in a short period of time, and after the grandeur of the objects in the other museum, the paintings seemed lame. Some of the newer impressionist […]
As promised, here are some pictures from the British Museum, to give you a sense of its scale. If you are ever in London, the museum is a must. One of the more extraordinary rooms contained enormous Assyrian rock carvings depicting a lion hunt. The realism and detail of the work stand out. The sheer age of some of the artifacts is amazing. Here’s one that’s 6,000 years old. It […]
My wonderful, sweet, one-of-a-kind wife Suzie suggested that I have the day to myself today. Swallowing my guilt, I took her up on it, and did the one thing I absolutely wanted to do in London, which was to visit the British Museum. It did not disappoint; it was one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. The sheer volume of artifacts is hard to comprehend, and the cumulative […]
Fun day Sundayt, took the train from the Marylebone Station (love that name, Marylebone) this morning and traveled to the small town of Warwick, to meet the family who will be renting our house in Santa Rosa this fall. They suggested the kids would like to visit Warwick Castle, which dates from 1068 (history and more information about the castle is here). We got up very early and were out […]
“What, so soon?” you may be asking. “I mean, you only have the entire summer and then four more months after that to spend with the little darlings, right?” In fairness (to me), that’s probably just the jet lag talking, combined with tiredness after another go-go-go day, which included too much time stuffed into underground trains. It started off with the phone ringing when we were sound asleep. I rolled […]