Saturday, November 19, 2011

One night in Bangkok (AKA 36 hours in London)

 Here's the secret to a successful European assignment:  It's all about the bucket list.

We've done lots and lots of traveling in the three years we've been rambling (more traveling than evidenced by this here blog).  Admittedly, my list was over ambitious to begin with, and truthfully grew a bit out of control once we got here and started swapping stories with our jet-setting buddies, but with four short months left on our current European go-round, I still had three major trips left. Normandy and Northern Portugal will likely have to wait for another day, but thanks to an agreeable husband and a good friend with a matching list seeing the London production of Wicked.....  CHECK!

It was a whirlwind trip, leaving home Friday AM, back in time for Saturday dinner, but without the kids in tow, we covered a lot of British ground.  We flew into Gatwick, grabbed the fast train into the city, jumped off at Victoria Station, giggled with glee when we passed the Apollo Victoria Theatre  and its larger than life Wicked marquis, stashed the bags at our hotel, and promptly headed out for an afternoon of sightseeing before that night's performance.

We made it to Harrods and saw Big Ben and Parliament. We happened upon a small Occupy London protest, the bulk of the protesters having gone home and taken the day off in honor of Armistice Day. We toured Westminster Abbey and breathed the royal air, realizing that if you were a  regular-ol-guest at William and Kate's nuptials,  you really couldn't see very much as the choir stalls blocked the view for most of the congregation.  (Family and VIPs were seated right behind the altar, in front of the choir stalls).     Then we ducked into a cafe for a champagne tea, stepped into Westminster Cathedral and walked back to our hotel to change clothes before the show began.

The performance was outstanding.  It's a little ironic that seeing this particular musical made it onto my bucket list, as I *hated* the novel, but Wicked, the Musical is far better written than Wicked, the novel.  Its story is more streamlined, its characters and their motivations more clearly developed, and its intertextual connections to the original Wizard of Oz more skillfully utilized.   The signature number, Defying Gravity, is indeed a show stopper. (The link is to a you tube video, if you wanna see). Now that I've seen the London version, I do believe seeing the New York production tops my  stateside list, even though most reviewers report the production quality in London is better.

After the show, we wandered down the street and into a local watering hole, closing down the pub drinking warm ale with a bunch a middle aged locals.  (British Ale is typically served warm and the pub's last call wast midnight, so closing it down wasn't that much of a feat).   The next AM it was back to the airport for our flight home.  Lots more of London to see, for sure, but I feel like we saw and did enough to make the short trip worth it.  Made some great memories with a great gal-pal and most importantly, showed that blasted list who's boss. :P

Friday, November 18, 2011

Amsterdam: Behind the Scenes

As if spending a day in Amsterdam, sans kiddos, with a friend wouldn't be fun  enough, this summer I managed some time off for good behavior and got to go to one of Amsterdam's Open Garden Days.  Each June, 30-40 of Amsterdam's canal side homes open their doors to allow you to walk through their first floors and sneak a peek at their gardens out back.  Some of the homes are private residences, some are businesses (law firms and such) and others are smaller, lesser known museums.  I had no idea Amsterdam had so many specialty museums.  Because the neighboring buildings often cast deep shadows into the gardens, there aren't a lot of flowering plants.  The gardens are mostly green, well planned and nicely manicured with fountains and statues for added interest. Because there's a limited number of shade-loving plants out there, after visiting 8-10 homes, the gardens  started to feel derivitive, but it was beyond awesome to get a quick glimpse into the inside of some of the canal homes and short peeks into museums that otherwise I'd never visit.   So, without further ado, onto the pictures.


a private home; the most colorful of the gardens

a private home; there's a WW2 bunker in the back corner

given the relative narrowness of the homes, often surprised at the amount of space out back

Garden at Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis

The old "Waloon Orphanage for Boys and Girls" The ladder is a sculpture. The garden was once divided: one side for the boys. One side for the girls.

see the open door, had to walk right through the house to get to the garden

leaning canal side homes

My favorite gardens were the boys/girl orphanage and the Bijbels (Bible) Museum. The Bible Museum has stocked its  garden with plants mentioned in the Bible and then displayed them with corresponding Bible verses.  I still can't figure how the climate in Northern Europe and ancient Mesopotamia is similar enough to make such a garden practical, but now I know what a Acacia and a Judas tree looks like (among others).  Oh, and it was also kind of funny to catch the neighbors of one home on the tour walking around in their PJs and robes --at 3pm-- looking out their window, almost surprised at all the gawkers in the garden next door looking back.
(**All photos courtesy of RB, my camera-toting partner in crime for the day)