I had hoped, while I was in Paris, to see Don Giovanni at the beautiful Opera Garnier, or Tosca at Opera Bastille. Sadly our choral schedule did not allow for either, so my consolation prize was to have a brief stopover in London to hear Tosca performed at Covent Garden on the Monday night. An additional bonus was to find that Opera Holland Park was performing Verdi's Un ballo in maschera on the previous, Sunday, afternoon.
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| Opera Holland Park is a summer program that sets up under a tent. |
So off I trotted on the fast train - 2 hours from Paris to London through the Chunnel. I was impressed. It was so much easier than flying. The Chunnel was just like taking the subway - it was dark and one couldn't see anything for about 20 minutes.
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| This is a typical frontage in the area I stayed - quite different from the street frontages in Paris. |
I stayed at a lovely B&B near Holland Park, to be close to the first venue. It is a lovely area, clean and bright. I immediately noticed that, unlike the French, the Brits like just a little space and greenery in front of their houses, instead of the frontage that goes straight to the street with all the natural beauty hidden within in completely private gardens. The English share some of that beauty with neighbors. Perhaps status, perhaps generosity, who knows.
I did discover that this design is due, to some extent, to the desire to get light into the lower basement. The place I stayed also had an attractive back yard at the lowest level which also brightened things up.
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| That's me, in front of the old Albert Hall off Hyde Park |
When I was a teenager, I lived in London for a few years and I had spent many hours at the Albert Hall, attending Proms and other concerts. As I was so close, my goal for Monday was to check in on the old place. There were no performances available, so just a quick squiz was all that was possible. This resulted in a delightful stroll through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. As you see, the hall is undergoing some renovations, but it was wonderful to see it basically unchanged.
The London taxi was another iconic element that appeared unchanged, so I was surprised to see this one 'topping up' at this charging station. The cabbie told me it only takes two hours here as opposed to four hours elsewhere. It also saves them about 100 GBP per week in fuel costs. I also saw that he had Google maps on his phone. He said they still have to pass the map tests to get a license, but they'll use GPS if the address is obscure and the passenger doesn't know how to direct them.
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| Courtyard with the Victoria & Albert Museum |
I am generally not a great museum fan, but decided I would step into the Victoria and Albert Museum because I so like the coffee mugs they make. I was disappointed to find that they only sell these online, so I had to look at things in the museum instead!
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| Now I did enjoy this reflection in one of the courtyard windows. |
Being so fresh from Paris, I noticed differences in architecture. Inside the cafeteria, it seemed the workmanship of the decor was not as fine as that which I'd seen in the fine Parisienne buildings. It almost looked like a cake frosting made from ceramics.
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| Column decoration in the V & A cafeteria. |
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| Cafeteria arch, V & A |
As you see above the ceiling looks somewhat 'tinny'.
Not many museums have displays related to the theatre, so I wanted to check out that collection. I was disappointed that there was not much relating to opera, which was my particular area of interest. It was more to do with straight theatre and musical theatre, along with pop music.
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| Dame Edna Everage's Sydney Opera House Hat. |
However, I was amused to find this hat of the Sydney Opera House, which was worn at Royal Ascot in 1976 by Australian comedian Barry Humphries. When in character, Dame Edna refuses to acknowledge that she is fictional. Keep in mind, that her surname, 'Everage' is strine (that means Australian lingo) for 'average'. She is a very flamboyant characterization of an Australian, suburban, blue rinse housewife stereotype. In case you want to see photos of Dame Edna actually wearing this enormous hat, here is a link.
https://www.google.com/search?q=edna+everage+ascot+hat+1976&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwig7YmUsL7jAhVRfd4KHQh5BzwQsAR6BAgIEAE&biw=1366&bih=625 |
| Monument to Sir Moyle Finch and his wife Elizabeth |
I was touched by this monument to a couple from the early 1600's. They are lying in grand style next to each other. She is on the left, he is on the right. I thought their stone pillows looked rather uncomfortable, but other than that there was a great feeling of endearment about their lengthy repose together.
Of course there are thousands of displays of artisan-ship and art. This huge bouquet of flowers impressed me as it was made entirely from cutlery.
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| A toaster made from scratch by Thomas Thwaites, 2009 |
I can't leave the museum without sharing the display that was perhaps my favorite. The creator of this toaster wanted to discover the true cost of making a toaster after he puzzled over the 3.94 GBP (That's about $5 USD) price he saw in his high street shop. In this exploration into the economy of scale, he ended up creating this working toaster art a cost of 1187.54 GBP! ($1,481.46 USD)
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| This umbrella is painted with the Chinese character 'caang' which means 'to support' and 'to endure/persevere'. |
Knowing that I would be coming to Hong Kong, I was also struck by this umbrella which represents the pro-democracy movement of 2104, The protesters used the umbrellas to reduce the impact of tear gas. Although it made little gains, it was referred to as the 'umbrella movement'. Even before I saw this display, the pro-democracy movement was becoming active again over the issue of an extradition bill the government was proposing.
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| Bubbles outside the Science Museum near V & A |
As I walked down Exhibition Road toward Hyde Park to head 'home' I was delighted to see a staffer releasing masses of bubbles to the amusement of all.
They started out small, then he moved on to make enormous ones.
It was such fun watching the children chase after them, with the inevitable 'pop' when they succeeded in catching them.
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| Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain |
I saw a sign indicating there was a memorial fountain for Princess Di, so I was keen to check it out. When I saw that it was somewhat nondescript, I was prepared to feel that it was a slight to her memory, but as I stayed and watched the tremendous engagement that both adults and children had with the constant flow of water around this low, circular structure, I ended up deciding it was perfect. She would be pleased that people are able to play and enjoy her memory in this way.
Along with the ducks and swans on the Serpentine, and the Peter Pan statue, I really enjoyed the English flowers in Kensington Gardens.
It had been a beautiful day - a perfect way to spend a short time here. So I dressed up for Covent Garden that night and went off to the opera. I enjoyed it, but there was an understudy for the role of Tosca, as the billed singer was sick. She was not a nice, fresh, 'up-and-coming' replacement, and a style I don't enjoy, so I was a little disappointed. Of the two experiences, I enjoyed the vital, fresh, young energy of Opera Holland Park more than the staid, established version presented by Covent Garden.
Next morning I was up and off early to visit Sarah in Thailand. More on that next.
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