Too Much Fun!

We miss lots of opportunities for travel in Europe--to Portugal where the wine is so cheap and excellent, to the Netherlands where the art is so fabulous, especially this year with the big Bosch exhibit; to Germany where the history shows are so intriguing, especially the one about Art and the Holocaust, to Israel where our wonderful friends, Ben Ami and Lena are, to Spain and the art and the sun!

But we have so much fun in Cambridge--we never want to leave. Today we went over for lunch in Hall and spent two hours in conversation with two Irish journalists, one of the longest career English journalists working today,  and a Polish journalist. Just an ordinary day but a magical conversation with International journalists. We are fortunate to be here.

We had a wonderful time with dear friends, Carolyn and Bill, close colleagues from USC and the most widely traveled people we know. They had actually spent a year in Cambridge with their darling daughter Daphne, my former student. Highlights from this visit include

A walk around Cambridge to the lovely atmospheric Pepy's Library in Magdalene, followed by  a lecture by Rowen Williams in Trinity. Then a walk to Grantchester in the gloaming with a lovely sunset and ending with a cozy supper at the Blue Ball.

We heard the last lecture in this series based on the last verses in The Inferno, The Purgatory, The Paradiso. It was difficult to hear--no microphone, but there were some lovely images. My college professor had taught us that Dante was a southerner  and that is why he put the Devil in Ice because he knew that cold was worse than heat. In these last verses, Dante  talks about the movement and flutter of the  wings of angels and bees as they surround the rose that is Divine Love.  Contrasted with the cold of the Inferno where everything is frozen, immobilized, imprisoned by ice. This is a text I want to go back to. When we lived in Durham, we went occasionally to a reading of Dante, done first in Italian, then in English and followed by a discussion. It was interesting, even exciting.

Inside the Blue Ball Inn with Toby, the proprietor!

Lamb stew for me and Carolyn, Chile for Bill and Kevin, both homemade by Toby and delicious!

Another day we spent inside the Fitzwilliam Museum. This red room my favorite room and I love the upstairs walk around with small pictures that you can see closely. There are some special exhibits on display in glass cases--letters written by Charlotte Bronte and Virginia Woolf's manuscript of "A Room of One's Own" in violet ink--thrilling to see these things!

I grew up seeing a copy of this picture in my maternal grandmother's sun room--not sure why she had it but I always thought it was because it looked like me as a child.

"The Last of England" by Ford Maddox Ford--my favorite of all Pre-Raphaelite pictures that I have seen. There are several as there is one in  that gorgeous Pre-Raphaelite room in Tate Britain.  I love the baby's hand held by the mother's shown through the cloak--not a very happy picture of emigration.

That night we enjoyed a St George's Day dinner at Wolfson. Bill and Carolyn enjoyed the pageantry of the formal dinner, especially the gowns. 

When our children were young and we holidayed in Vermont, we often saw wonderful Gilbert and Sullivan performances at the Manchester Arts Center. But this particular performance  of HMS Pinafore was the best ever. The cast was all male (the director female) and I don't think I can ever think of G and S with girls in the cast. It was outstanding and so funny. Afterwards Kings College Evensong. As Bill noted, "From the Ridiculous to the Sublime!" Then a  tasty supper at the Mill Lane Pub.

We traveled to London on Sunday 24 April and glimpsed the London Marathon on our way to the South Bank

to experience an event commemorating the  400th  anniversary of Shakespeare's death. He was actually born and died on 23 April, after a big birthday celebration--maybe too much drink and food? He was 52 and the average age at death was 35 so he lived a long life for his time.

Shakespeare turned into 35 films were shown along the South Bank. Each was about 10 minutes, edited to show the best bits so it was a very entertaining walk which we enjoyed. 

But bitterly cold with a really fierce wind.  After hot chocolate, Bill and Carolyn went on their way to a tour of Buckingham Palace which they reviewed as excellent, especially the art collection. Kevin and I went home to a cozy and warm night at Morrison House.

But before we left, we saw the last of the London Marathon!