England in November

While Rick went off to a Thanksgiving family reunion in Oregon, I took the Eurostar to England to visit James and Adric. In the off-season the tickets are quite inexpensive and the trip is fast and easy. From Emily's place it is only a few metro stops to the terminal to catch the train. Two hours later you've traveled back an hour in time and emerge from under the channel in another country.

I arrived in London early in the morning. The whole day stretched out in front of me. The terminal conveniently has a baggage storage area, which was amazingly crowded. By the time I had stowed away my luggage, James was there. He had left Birmingham about the same time I left Paris and we met at the station. We had big plans in the afternoon to go see a West-End show together. My friend Amy, who visited a few weeks ago strongly recommended seeing Mathilda, a musical created from the Roald Dahl story. I had forgotten that this was actually the first book James ever read to himself and Dahl was undoubtedly his favorite author when he was a child.

If you don't know the story, I won't spoil it for you but suffice it to say, this was one of the great theater events of our lives. We just loved it. The children are so talented and the adult actors are funny. It was a joy to watch the story unfold and at the curtain-call I found tears rolling down my cheeks for no reason I could explain to myself. You can read a review here. The show is running in NYC as well, so if the opportunity arises to go to either capital, I highly recommend it to you.

 

After the matinee, we collected my bags at the station, and caught a train to Birmingham, where James and Adric live, right on the central canal. Rick and I visited together last November and I wrote about that and more of Birmingham then.

On one sunny afternoon James and I took a walk down the canal to see the Ikon art gallery and the opening of a photography exhibition.

This building, originally a brick warehouse of some kind from the industrial past of the city, has been beautifully transformed into an elegant gallery space. I particularly like that clean modern architecture when it compliments the rather ornate old building styles of former centuries.

There was one day when Adric was at work and James at the University when I had a day to myself. I did a lot of drawing and painting at the dining room table. And I did a kind of study of the canal. I loved to watch the patterns as they formed and transformed in the ever-moving water. The rain and light played upon the surface.

Birmingham, especially along the canal, has many brick buildings. The reflections in the water are bright.

The system of canals in England was, of course, created as a way to haul goods to market during the industrial revolution. The system was left derelict for many years after its industrial utility passed, until recently, when all across the country they have been renewed and refreshed. You can take a barge trip, walk or bike ride all the way to London from Birmingham just following the canal trails.

We went on several outings together while I was in town. Our first was to Oxford. There's something inherently grand in this old college town, being as it is the oldest university in the English speaking world, having been founded in something like the year 1090. A whole lot of history has had lots of time to be made. In more recent days, the dining hall at Christ Church, Oxford University's original college, was the setting for the Hogwarts Great Hall in the Harry Potter movies. Stands to reason.

 

For some reason which was never explained to me, there is a miniature reproduction of Venice's Bridge of Sighs that spans a roadway and connects two academic buildings. It seems a bit goofy, but it's quite attractive and I imagine useful as well.

One thing one notices in Oxford are all the bicycles. I found their congregation points to be irresistible photography subjects. 

 

The sign reads "bicycles left here will be removed." Good luck with that.

 

There are lots of pretty chapels and like all the other buildings on campus, they are surrounded by bikes.

Mostly the town seems to be encompassed by the campus, as there are thirty eight separate colleges. The city itself seems given over to the university and to its population of bikes.

The fall was in its last moments of glory, and the grounds and gardens were mutely colored. Leaves covered the ground.

On another adventurous day we went to the town of Bristol, at the confluence of the Rivers Avon and Frome. This is a port city where much of the commerce between England and Ireland was centered, as well as the slave trade.

These days its the home city of the mysterious graffiti artist and film maker, Banksy, who never allows his identity to be known or his face to be photographed. An entire street in town is devoted to spray paint art by a generation of Bristol artists. 

 

Much of the wall art, which apparently changes frequently, makes a nice back drop for portraiture. I captured James and Adric,

 

and they captured me.

Bristol is a good old town, with lots of passageways and attractive old buildings.

 

Many of the most famous British explorers, like Francis Drake and John Hawkins, considered themselves to be pirates, as so they were. The port of Bristol celebrates this legacy and offers tours of a pirate vessel in the harbor. There is a lovely pirate statue gazing out over the water.

The Bristol Industrial Museum on the harbor is new and both James and I were anxious to visit it, as we had heard good things about it. We were able to see only parts, however, as on the very day we were there, the queen happened to be visiting as well, and several of the floors were closed for her tour.

Her car was parked out front, but we didn't wait in the crowd to catch a glance or wave to her. Instead we pushed on towards Bath.

 

The Roman baths in what was called Aquae Sulis in Latin, now Bath, were established 20 years after the Romans conquered England in 40AD or so. Here they found hot springs, the only ones existing in the country. The spot had been sacred to the Celts, who worshiped their goddess Sulis, thus the Roman name (Waters of Sulis). A very important temple was built to the equivalent Roman goddess, Minerva (in Greek, Athena) and healing baths were established. Today, Bath is a rather small but very beautiful town where the well preserved Roman baths are only one of the town's charms.

Because of its unusual hot spring Bath has always been a spa town, and even centuries after the Romans left people came here to take the cure. The Roman ruins themselves were buried and forgotten until the late 19th century. The site was sensitively excavated and reconstructed. In the process many important Roman artifacts were discovered. A museum at the site is full of these treasures.

The Hippocamp mosaic shows Neptune's mount, half horse, half sea creature.

 

Before entering the most sacred heart of the temple, the golden head of Minerva looks down upon you and pierces you wih her all-knowing glance. It's easy to imagine the impact she would have had upon a visitor to her temple.

 

There are numerous beautifully carved stones which have survived very well these 2000 years.

 

We arrived at the sacred spring, just as the sun was setting. It was very atmospheric as the oil lamps were lit.

 

The stones have been lying in their places a very long time indeed. We followed in the path of the millions of visitors who have circumambulated this beautiful spot before us.

We walked to the River Avon to get a glimpse of the lovely Pulteney Bridge, one of only four bridges in the world that has shops spanning the entire river on both sides.

As we walked back to collect our car, we passed many shops, cafes and bakeries. There is something so charming at catching a glance into the warm inviting interior. Bath seems like a perfect spot for an extended visit.

Next week I'll bring you along to Ireland for that part of my adventure. This seems enough of a travelog for the moment! In the meanwhile I leave you with my favorite quote for the week, this from Voltaire (1694-1778):

Let us read and let us dance, two amusements that will never do to the world any harm.

Autumn Excursion in Britain

 A moody castle on a moody day in Wales

My son James moved from London to Birmingham in September. He is working on his Ph.D. at Warwick University and Birmingham is not only much closer but much less expensive as well. For half the price they were paying in London, they were able to rent a beautiful new apartment right in the city center of Birmingham. It also happens to sit directly on the canal in an attractive red brick building, and they even have a little piece of garden on the bankside.

We spent several days visiting and had a wonderful time discovering the city and surrounding area. We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather almost all the time we were there.

Birmingham is the second largest city in England. I found it to be very attractive. Living by the canal is wonderfully lively, with houseboats passing and people riding bikes or walking past frequently, all on the far bank as on James' side, it's entirely private. Ducks and geese glide by.

 

Historically, Birmingham was a center of industrial innovation and its canal system was developed in the 19th century to aid transportation of resources and manufactured products. Nowadays commerce remains the economic driving force for the city and the banks of the canals are beautifully restored and maintained as attractive walkways and store fronts.

Birmingham, as a city, has a lot to offer by way of culture. It is ethnically very diverse and offers a wide variety of restaurant choices and cultural activities. The city itself is mostly modern, as it was heavily bombed during the war, but in the city center there are some very grand old buildings, including the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which I was very excited to hear had the largest public collection of pre-raphaelite art in the world. It's a beautiful building and the work is wonderfully displayed. And in England, all art museums have free entry!

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Another bonus to living in the East Midlands, rather than London, is that getting out and about is much more easily accomplished. It was just a two hour drive to Wales, and James and I had much interest in going there as we had just recently uncovered some family roots from that part of the world. I have to say that the sound Wales, has always had a slightly magical ring to my ears. It evokes some kind of wind-swept beauty and fierce independence of spirit. Perhaps I was not too far off. I would characterize it as the Maine of England. It is breathtakingly beautiful and the day we arrived was blue and crisply clear with punctuations of stormy clouds rolling in and out.

The photo below and the one which opens this post are of Harlech Castle in Gwynedd, on the northwestern coast of Wales. It was built by King Edward I of England, in the late 13th century. He used it as his base for the conquering of Wales. It was built to withstand siege from land and sea. At the time it was built, the sea came to the foot of the mountain upon which it is situated.

As you can see from this view, taken a few steps away, the Irish Sea has receded in the following centuries.

After visiting this landmark, we took a wandering drive through the Snowdonia National Park. We found ourselves stopping by the roadside every few miles to get out and enjoy the scenery. After taking a few steps into the lush forest, with the sunlight playing among the branches, we could imagine how fairies and other wee folk could have come to be in this part of the world.

If ever there was a tree that cradled nature spirits, this is surely one. Notice how small James (over 6' tall) on the right side of the photo is in comparison to this perfectly formed grand old specimen.

The park has plenty of lakes, steams and waterfalls. 

The colors were muted and mellow, filling me with a kind of poignant sense of loss and longing, which fall often gives rise to within me.

We were practically the only people on the road this day.

The greenest of green grass, the rusty red of dying ferns, the craggy cliffs and the short, stout, pure white sheep with long, very unsheep-like tails, made for picturesque views.

If you click on the photo below you can see the little house in the very middle of this photo which is constructed from the flint which extrudes from the earth all about it. There is no other human habitation for miles around this rustic cot.

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Birmingham is just 23 miles from Stratford-Upon-Avon. On another day we took a day trip closer afield and began here. Rick and I had been to Stratford before about fifteen years ago. Either it has changed or we have! We had no recollection of all the commerce and cute little shops, the crowded street traffic and the overwhelming number of tourists. 

This time we decided just to stop for a quick walk along the Avon River, and to get a bite to eat.

We passed this enormous sycamore tree on our way to the village churchyard where Shakespeare is buried.  I wonder if it was alive when the bard was walking through the fields here. It may well have been.

The old church had a wonderful moss-covered graveyard all around it. It was very creepy and reminded me of the theme to Mystery by Edward Gorey. If you haven't seen it, you really should click on the link to the youtube version. You will NOT be disappointed, I promise you.

Lunch was taken at the Dirty Duck Pub.

The boys all had ale, I stuck with water.

We were aimlessly driving through the scenic Cotswold countryside after lunch, when we came upon a sign pointing towards Hidcote Gardens. Zounds! We made a quick left turn. If you've never heard of Hidcote, then you won't know that this is probably one of the most glorious garden designs on the planet. It is the quintessential English garden, although, in truth, it was realized by an American.

The manor house was bought in 1907 and was simply a beautiful building surrounded by fields until Lawrence Johnson, an American horticulturalist decided to make his famous arts and crafts garden. By 1920, he had twelve full time gardeners. He developed the concept of garden rooms, thus the grounds are divided into areas, each with their own individuality.

We had imagined that by this time of the year, there would not be much in bloom, but we were wrong.

The colors were not the bright summer ones, or the pure clear spring ones, but instead those delicate fall ones which I have already revealed fill me with a sense of profundity.

I particularly like the views created between the rooms.

The light was perfect at the end of the day for some dramatic shots.

Surrounding the gardens is the unspoiled landscape which can be viewed through the open gates which dot the perimeter and seem to continue the garden into infinity.

Magnificent trees punctuate the transitions between rooms.

Some are exotic or rare varieties.

The charm and diversity of the planting makes for lovely photographs. The garden was donated to the National Trust in 1947 and they have maintained it ever since.

There is also a greenhouse where lots of lovely vines were growing. On this cold afternoon, it was a pleasant place to sit and enjoy the lush foliage and delicious smells of blooming flowers.

Thank you James and Adric, we had a really wonderful time visiting you!