London Architectural Infrastructure

Happily ensconced in the Fitzrovia neighborhood of London.  Feels like a real 'hood with locals gathering at the pub and saying hello in the Tesco grocery stores.

Bull Moon tonight - full moon.  Wanted to find the perfect spot to take a picture, and did, but it's light for so long here I just can't stay up long enough to capture it.

On the left, we have the King and Crown Pub, circa 1767, site of one 1/2 pint of beer on my pub crawl tonight.  In the middle we have the BT TV tower, circa 1961, and to the right, a crane helping to build the new Bedford Mews condos.  I thought a picture of the moon in between these towers would be really cool. Alas, I'm sleepy, so not going to watch the moon rise tonight.

The Edgeware Road platform of the tube was built in 1924, which meant I had to drag my "lightweight packing job" suitcase up and down stairs to get to the transfer.  Thank goodness I did my workouts before I left.  Quite a contrast with the newly-opened Heathrow Terminal 5, build exclusively for British Airways.  

This is the first time I didn't hike under the runways from United to the customs area for half an hour.  My new friend Denise showed me everything about business class, and told me I had a biometric passport and didn't have to wait in line.  Customs lasted 2 minutes.  Waaaat?

  

Denise is a really fun person who's lived in London for 23 years.  Wish I could claim that!

Leave me a comment, and I'll try to figure out out to read them.  Days 1 & 2 - check.

 

July 8

Looking forward to a beautiful evening on the patio tonight.  I'll pretend I'm in an English garden somewhere outside of London, or a piazza in Italy, or maybe I won't pretend and I'll just sit and watch the light change.

The timing of a fraudulent use of my primary credit card could be disturbing, or could be auspicious, since my card rejected my Apple music purchases, alerting me to check its status.  Someone in San Diego rented a car and partied with my credit card number over the 4th of July.  Wish I'd been there.  Fortunately, a new one comes tomorrow and all will be well.

My four months of workouts and clean eating have paid off:  I tried on all of my travel clothes, and was so happy with what my daughter calls a "capsule wardrobe."  I should be able to wear the 14 pieces in a variety of ways.  I'm starting to get so excited that I'm not sleeping well.  Looking forward to the trip is almost as much fun as taking it.  

Countdown to Le Grande Tour 2022

July 6, 2022

 My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.  I'm off in less than a week.  Let's hope the airlines cooperate!  

I'll be posting a new travel blog for the next month.  Some people enjoy ecotravel, others luxury travel, still more hosteling and camping, but I'm embarking on a new kind of travel:  non-competitive wandering.

I've planned a few excursions, true, and pre-paid some rail tickets as Europe is very busy this summer, but for the most part I'm going to let my impulse to connect with people who are different than me direct my footsteps.  Hopefully I find some unusual sights to write about, and avoid the brag blog.  Do tell me if I go astray.

Thanks for joining the adventure.  

Here's a picture of my garden on July 6.  New iPhone photos are going to be great on this trip.

1.31 A study of two revolutionary artists

1.31.2020

Da Vinci and Banksy

1.30 - 36 years after poem

1.30.2020

36 Years After Meeting the Quartier Latin draft 1

I'm back again.

Then, I slept on the roof of the American University of Paris.

I woke to find a note

on my chest in French

Translation:

my girlfriend and I like to have the roof to ourselves

I had nowhere else to sleep

it was over 90 degrees in Lisa's room

she had to work the next day

and I had sweat through my hostel sheet

no air unless outside

Now I'm in a downy queen sized bed

with four pillows

a trompe l'oeil fresco on one wall and mirrors opposite

too much fun hiding in the frescoes

taking selfies took awhile

salmon pink puddle drapes 

windows facing the famous jazz club

music spills out and up

but I want to be shut in

46 degrees, with rain and windchill

Two Marmots tea

70% cocao bites

Bourgogne blend

sound better than stumbling

over cobblestones charming

for those without foot problems.

28 January EU Flags Come Down on Friday

1.28.2020                                   DRAFT

Mercato Mayfair in old Catholic Church off Bond Street

Kensington Gardens  Peter Pan

Parakeets and Pigeons

Notting Hill and Portobello Road

AA Milnes' pretend grave markers where babies fell out of their perambulators, cracked their noggins and died

Green House for cab coffee so they don't freeze to death




& Juliet a new star is born - they didn't put the lead in their promo posters!  Miriam was great!

Will complete later!

27 January Cyrano de Bergerac skewered

1.27.2020

Here is a list of how to wreck my favorite French-themed play:

1.  Cast a gorgeous man as Cyrano and leave his nose untouched.
2.  Eliminate any semblance of costume design and dress your actors like they are rehearsing.
3.  Don't allow the actors to make eye contact.  Have them focus on some spot in the Dress Circle so    nobody connects with them.
4.  Take out all of the humor, double entendres, site gags, witty asides, and dialogue.
5.  Edit the violence, sword fights, near misses and hits.  Eliminate any action.
6.  Make Roxane likable.
7.  Take away the Musketeer-era set design.
8.  Take out the church references to save bumbling priests and "innocent" nuns.
9.  Set Act 5 in a coffee shop instead of a convent.
10.  Change every line in the play except two, which fail like improper anachronisms should.
11.  Put a really bad rapper in the play as Ligniere, and have him open the play.
12.  Have strobe lights misfire.
13.  Eliminate all traditional aspects of drama except the Pathetique.
14.  Take the fun out of play.
15.  Edited for general audiences: My friend fell asleep.

GEEEEZ!

Here's what worked (almost)
1.  Start with a poetry open mic.
2.  Rap battle.
3.  Inclusive casting.
4.  More female roles.

My conclusion?  Every AP Lit. musical we made (our dramatic-tragic-pathetic-comedic efforts) was better than this one.  I could write a better rap version of Cyrano, one where he could skewer everyone with his language.  Maybe I should.