A Grand Day Out (or What I did on my holidays part 3)

Toronto is only about 80 miles from Niagara and Horseshoe Falls, so it seemed silly not to visit, while we were in the area. So we (Well, 'Lyle') hired a car (he also very generously did all the driving) and took a day trip out to see the Falls.

I have to admit, they really are quite impressive, although it is very difficult to mentally grasp the sheer size and volume of water- 168,000 m3 of water goes over every minute (The Great Lakes system contains nearly 1/5 of the world's fresh water, and feeds the river and falls) 

We spent some time walking along above / beside the Falls and thinking of lots of ways to say "Wow!".

Then we went down to do the 'Journey Behind the Falls' which lets you go down to a viewing platform about 38m (125 feet) below the crest of the falls. Its close enough that you are constantly enveloped in a fine mist from the spray coming off coming down. It's very dramatic. And a bit cold! (and every one gets a yellow plastic body condom to wear to keep them dry. One reason why I won't be posting any selfies!)

The 'behind the falls' also involves entry into some tunnels which were originally dug out around 130 years ago, and which do take you behind the falls, with a couple of small, double-door sized openings through which you can see the water. It's actually much less dramatic or impressive that other views of the falls, as you can only see the small snapshot of water, so don't really get a sense of the over all size or volume of the falls.

Then we took a ride up the inclined railway (I do like a good inclined railway) and walked to the Skylon Tower, which was built in the 1960s and looks as though it ought to house a Bond villain's lair. It's 160m (520 feet) tall, and benefits from sitting on top of the cliffs.

We wet up to the observation deck (passing through an eerily deserted amusement arcade on the ground floor, ad picking our way around construction workers higher up - it was clearly not yet geared up for the season. 

Which suited us - minimal queues and plenty of space to wander around on the observation decks, which really does offer some stunning views out over the falls (including the American Falls and Rainbow Bridge) 

Slightly bendy panorama of the falls, from Skylon tower

Seeing the falls from this angle does emphasis their sheer size!

There were also good views inland. We could see as far as Toronto, and were even able to pick out the CN Tower, in the far distance!

On our way back to Toronto, we made a short detour and visited Crawford Lake, part of a larger conservation area. There are walking trails and woodland but the reason we went was because here is also a recreated Iroquoian Village - in the 1970s, excavations uncovered the remains of 11 longhouses, the remains of a village believed to have been occupied around 600 years ago. 

There are now 3 reconstructed Longhouses, 1 on which houses a small museum / visitor centre, and the other two which are constructed and furnished to show how they would have been, when they were occupied.

It's very interesting, and the staff-member who was there was very welcoming and informative, even though we only arrived very shortly before the longhouses were to close.

After they did, we went for an amble around the lake. The lake itself is meromictic, which was a new word for me, and which means that it is so deep and cold that the lower layers of water never mix with higher layers, and have very little oxygen, meaning that things which fall into the lake will be very well preserved. This was what led to the archaeological investigation and discovery of the village, as pollen from corn was found, showing that there had been a human settlement, with corn being cultivated. 

Its a very tranquil, beautiful place.  And while there, we saw more black (grey) squirrels, also Red Squirrels, and chipmunks.

It was a very enjoyable day out, although by the time we got back, and Lyle navigated city centre traffic, and the very tight entrance ramp into the car park to return the hire car, he was very ready for food and beer, so we went back to the craft beer restaurant we visited on Sunday.

Art and History, Or, What I Did on My Holidays (Part Two)

On our second day, we headed to the Royal Ontario Museum, which meant going in the opposite direction to out previous explorations, and took us via Queens Park and the Ontario Legislature buildings, and various parts of the University.

Ontario Legislature building

As you can see, after the grey skies and drizzle of our first day, there were blue skies and sunshine, which was lovely. There were huge beds full of tulips, along the road side, all making for a very enjoyable walk.

The museum itself it  mixture of old and new, architecturally. The older parts reminded me of the Natural History Museum in London, with the added attraction of a Byzantine inspired mosaic ceiling in the main entrance way.

I like museums, and this was no exception. It has a nice collection of dinosaurs, a further Natural History section with a gallery of taxidermied birds, and sections on endangered species of the region.

There is also a small but well presented Egyptian section, and Greek and Roman artefacts.

Ancient Egyptian model of a cow giving birth

My personal favourite, however, and the area I found most interesting, was the section of the museum dedicated to the First Peoples of Canada, and their history and culture. The exhibitions have been curated by, or with input from, experts who have indigenous heritage themselves, and it includes information and exhibits about the interactions between indigenous cultures and white settlers (for instance, items made in the 1880's for early tourists)

Birch Bark freight canoe (made in 1971 to 1880s pattern)

 There was a beautiful, full outift, made by/for a Cree woman in around 1850, which had gorgeous floral embroidery and beading, and to my uneducated eye, looked similar to the type of style I associate with Eastern European traditional dress. I wonder whether there were early trade links via Russia and Alaska, a d if so, who influenced whom, more.

Cree women's hood, C1850

There were also articles such as Sitting Bull's war bonnet (and its case, which opened at both ends so that the bonnet can be inserted and removed without damaging the feathers)

Sitting Bull's War bonnet

Finally, there were some modern pieces of art, created by 1st Nations artists drawing on tradition, such as this Golden Eagle, by Ben Thomas.

Golden Eagle carving (1984) Ben Thomas (Mohawk, Six
Nations of the Grand River )

It was very interesting, and sobering. I am pretty sure that if I lived in or near Toronto, I would be visiting regularly.

Mention must also be made of the building itself, which now incorporates the dramatic and appealing Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, an extension to the building added in 2007.

St James' Cathedral

That evening, we visited St James' Cathedral, where I was made very welcome at their bellringing practice.

The (12) bells are a recent addition, having been installed in 1997. The bells are older that that, having previously  hung in St. James’ Church in Bermondsey, London, as a ring of 8, with the other 4 bells being cast from spare bell-metal, some of which was shaved from the inside of the other bells when they were re-tuned. 

My ringing skills are a bit rusty, but I couldn't miss the chance to ring on a whole new continent! (and one of just 8 towers in Canada)

Video from the Cathedral's website

The following day we went in for more culture, with a visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario, which , unsurprisingly, has lots of Canadian art, as well as some pieces but European artists, including a rather nice Picasso.I liked the works of Lawren S Harris and the wood / lino cuts of Mary E Wrinch and Dorothy Haines Hoover.

There are also some wonderful examples of Inuit and indigenous sculpture, some very old, like these seals, some of which date back to 300 AD,

Walrus Ivory seals

 Others which are much more modern, like this standing bear. 

Standing Bear, Pauta Saila, 1975

The Gallery also has some wonderful architecture. The spiral stair you can see (behind the Henry Moore)on the outside of the museum in the previous post, continues inside in wood.

.

There is also a lovely wood and glass gallery on the side of the building, which, from the inside, feels a little like being under the hull of a huge canoe.

It's very appealing. I'm not sure who the architect is, but I approve!

Toronto, or What I did on my Holidays. (Part 1)

Last summer, my friend Lyle got in touch with me to tell me he'd won a holiday through the #CokeSummer promotion Coca Cola were running, and did I fancy a free holiday to Toronto?

Well, there is only one possible answer to that!

We flew out on an early morning flight, which was delayed a couple of hours, and the flight is 7 hours, so we were a little bit tired and slightly spaced out by the time we arrived. Our package was supposed to include airport transfers, and we were indeed met by a very nice car, and friendly driver. Who then proceeded to take us to entirely the wrong hotel, (entirely due to a cock up by the travel agency, who despite having booked the hotel, apparently didn't know where it was) So we had a rather long taxi drive (in a less posh car) back past the airport to the hotel!

Henry Moore outside Art Gallery of Ontario

Once we'd checked in, we found food, then went for a wander to look at downtown Toronto.

We found the Art Gallery of Ontario, and a rather nice Henry Moore outside it, and also found the Roundhouse  what's left of a huge rail depot and turntable, with a selection of railway engines and carriages on display.

And of course,the CN Tower. Which is  very tall, and visible from all over the place!

We also saw (and heard) a peregrine falcon, outside the stadium by the tower.

CNTower

So an interesting start to the trip.  The following morning we started out with a walk down past the Tower, to the lakeside. On the way we found a totem pole, with lots of beautiful sea creatures on it.

Further on, we walked through the remembrance garden (with memorials to Canadians who fought in WW2) and on to Princes Gate at Exhibition Place, erected in 1927. Very imposing.

Princes Gate

We then visited Fort York - there were barracks on the site in the 1790s, with more substantive buildings and fortifications erected in 1811, as relationships between the USA and Britain deteriorated. The current site has some of the original buildings, others which have been reconstructed, and a modern museum and visitor centre.

Fort York

It was very interesting, and several of the buildings were furnished as they would have been in 1812 (with officers getting 2 rooms each, and enlisted men sleeping in quad bunks, with around 30 of them in the same amount of space a single officer would have.

On the way back we wandered into a rather lovely little church, the church of the Holy Trinity (mostly, it must be said, because it has some rather nice little turrets on the outside, and because I like churches) 

Church of the Holy Trinity

It turned out to have a lovely interior, with some gorgeous modern stained glass (apparently it lost the original, 19thC glass down one side of the church in a fire in the 1970s) 

The church was built in the 1840s with a legacy from an Englishwoman who stipulated that the pews must always be free (it was normal practice at the time for them to be rented to parishioners) so anyone, rich or poor, could attend. The church's original congregation included freed slaves, and over time it's also been welcoming to the poor, the homeless, to LGBTQ people - it holds a regular memorial service for homeless people. All in all, a lovely little church with a fascinating history.

We popped into the Eaton Mall which is next door - it's a vast shopping centre (not my favourite kind of place) but pretty appealing as these things go, and home to a gorgeous bit of public art, consisting of a flock of flying geese, suspended in the air at one end of the Mall.

And also visited Nathan Phillips Square, home of City Hall,  an interesting and dramatic bit of architecture in its own right.

City Hall

It was shortly after this that we discovered Craft, a bar / restaurant with over 100 beers on tap, and some pretty tasty food, too.

All this, and only the end of the first full day!

Runnymede

There has been a pause in blogging as I have been away on holiday (of which more later)

I had time to spare on my way to Heathrow, and it was a nice day, so  I decided to make a small detour and visit Runnymede, where, in 1215, Magna Carta was sealed by King John.

Runnymede meadow and 'The Jurors' sculpture

These days, it's a wide, grassy, river valley, by the Thames, and really rather lovely on a sunny Spring afternoon.

In the valley, there is currently a sculpture called 'The Jurors', consisting of a dozen chairs decorated with images relating to struggles for freedom, and the rule of law.

Chair with part of Magna Carta

The art includes representations of people such as Lillie Lenton (Suffragette), an excerpt from Magna Carta itself, Phillis Wheatley (1st  published African American woman writer), the ancient Egyptian Goddess Ma'at, goddess of truth and justice, the ship Zorg (centre of a case about slavery), Harvey Milk's megaphone, Ghandi's hand spinning wheel..

'The Jurors'

The sculpture is interesting and thought provoking, I liked it.

Also on the same site are the Magna Carta  Monument, a little Neo Classical structure erected in 1957 by the American Bar Association. It's a tranquil spot, and had it to myself!

Magna Carta Memorial

There is also the JFK memorial. In 1965, the Queen gave an acre of land to the USA in order to house a memorial to Kennedy, following his assassination, so technically, visiting th memorial means visiting the US!

To reach the memorial, you walk up a cobbled path (made up of 50 steps, representing the 50 states). When I visited, the woods surrounding it were full of bluebells. Which was nice.

JFK Memorial

It was a pleasant, relaxing afternoon. Ideal before dealing with an airport!

Macbeth (National Theatre)

The RSC and National Theatre both have big productions of Macbeth this year, and originally, A and I were planning to see them almost back to back, with the RSC version on 17th March, and NT a week later, on 24th. However, I was ill and missed the NT one. I did, however,  finally  catch up.

The NT version features Rory Kinnear as Macbeth,and Anne-Marie Duff as Lady Macbeth, with Patrick O'Kane as Macduff and Kevin Harvey as Banquo.

The programme tells me that the setting for the play is 'Now, after a civil war'  I'm going to venture a guess that it was a civil war which went very, very badly, as it appears to have left Scotland in a Mad Max style wasteland of gang wars, where noble soldiers such as Macbeth are forced to use parcel tape to attach their armour, and everyone is reduced to living in tiny concrete bunkers, in shanty towns. (I'm assuming that the civil war was with England, and that England came out of it better, as the English forces with Malcolm at the end of the play have proper battle dress and so on, although they are all fighting with machetes and kitchen knives, so presumably Scotland destroyed all the English arms manufacturers and military stockpiles...)

Set with corpse (pic from NT Twitter) 

I have to say that I found the whole post apocalyptic set and setting rather distracting, it left me wondering whether, and when, the plastic bags on poles would become significant. And I also did feel that someone really should have taken the director aside and told him that just because the National's Olivier stage has a big turntable in it so you can rotate the stage, doesn't mean that you have to use it all the time. 

However, despite these irritations, I did enjoy the play, and there were some excellent performances. Rory Kinnear was excellent, he comes across as practical and level-headed, and as such, his disintegration and visions of his victims have all the greater impact. 

Even though the set didn't appeal to me, it did have it's effective points. Macbeth standing, the only still figure as a rave took place celebrating Duncan's visit to their 'castle' for instance, and an early scene with Lady Macbeth washing her hands, long before the sleepwalking scene.

I enjoyed Kevin Harvey's performance as Banquo, (pre-murder). As the ghost, he is forced to appear as a shambling, zombie like figure, which for me didn't work well. 

The vision of Banquo's line of descendants was interesting, involving people wearing masks on the backs of their heads, walking up the sloping part of the set. 

Over all, I thought it was an interesting production, but a bit confused!

It's at the National until 23rd June, and is being shown at cinemas as part of NTLive on 10th May

A Trip North

So,this weekend I got to visit one of my  oldest and dearest friends, and her family. They live near to Manchester, and on Saturday, we decided to take a trip into Yorkshire and visit Haworth, famous for being the home of the Brontë family

It's a beautiful town, lots of very steep, cobbled streets, independent shops and views out over the moors and hills.

The Rev. Patrick Brontë was perpetual curate at Haworth, and the Parsonage is now a museum, dedicated to the family.

Haworth Parsonage

We visited it - it's very interesting. Several of the rooms have been furnished to show how they would have been when the Brontës were living there, including in some cases with some of the original furnishings, and with the walls painted or papered as they were (in at least one case, with wall paper having been printed specially after reconstructing it from a small sample!) 

Dining Room - the table is original, and the wallpaper reproduced
to match the paper Charlotte chose in 1850

The museum also has some personal artefacts (mostly belonging to Charlotte, who was the last survivor, and who became famous in her own life-time resulting in more of her possessions being kept). These included Charlotte's wedding bonnet, as well as her writing desk, Emily's sampler, and some letters. 

There was also a (reproduction) of Bramwell's room (I think this was based on props created for the BBC drama 'To walk Invisible', much of which was filmed here on location) - chaotic and intriguing!

It's also very poignant, particularly the reminders that the  Brontës had 6 children, and that Patrick Bronte outlived them all, seeing two daughters die within weeks of each other, aged 10 and 11, and then, later, Bramwell, Anne and Emily, with Charlotte left alone for another 6 years.

While J and I were visiting the museum, the other half of the party went to the Keighley & Worth Railway and took a ride on a steam train. (I suspect this was more fun for a 3 year old than a literary site would have been!) 

We got down to the station just in time to meet them after their trip, and to watch the train pull out of the station. 

After which we found a nice cafe  and then did a little (mostly window) shopping, before heading back.

It was a beautiful day, and lots of fun.

Sunday was greyer and quieter, and I got to hang out with my friends and their son, before driving home. It was a fun weekend.

Coraline, The Opera

As you will have seen from last week's post, I was deeply disappointed on Easter weekend when a combination of my illness, and GWR's idiosyncratic approach to providing a train service meant that I couldn't use the ticket I booked (last October) to see the Coraline Opera. At the time, I thought this meant I was going to miss it altogether, as it was only on for 9 performances and was completely sold out.

However, when I called to return my ticket, the nice chap at the Royal Opera House was able to find a returned ticket for me for the matinee this Saturday, so I got to go after all.

I don't know a lot about opera - as regular readers will know, I'm generally more about 'straight' theatre, but I am also very fond of 'Coraline', and curious about how it would translate onto stage and music.

Curtain, pre-performance

When I took my seat, I saw that the curtain not only had Coraline's name across it, but was also showing a projected image of the auditorium and the audience, acting as a huge mirror, but one too dark to be able to tell whether it was a true reflection, or whether what we saw might be, in fact, the Other audience, button eyes an all!

The opera has a small cast  of just 6, and the story is also pared down - the cat is gone, and Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's scotty dogs, and Coraline's battle with the beldame simplified, but the bare bones are still there.

Production photo:
Alexander Robin Baker as the Other Father, Kitty Whately as the Other Mother

At the performance I saw, Coraline was sung by Robyn Allegra Parton (the role was shared with Mary Bevan),who did an excellent job as a the brave (but also often sulky and occasionally stroppy) eleven year old, with Kitty Whately and Alexander Robin Baker were both excellent as her parents (and as her Other parents). I particularly enjoyed the poignancy of the Other Father's end, after he tried to help Coraline to escape.

At the interval, the curtain came down again, but this time, we, like Coraline herself, were on the wrong side, and the image was reversed...

Curtain, half time. We are the Other audience, now

This, and the original curtain, were indicative of the design of the show,which plays heavily on mirrors and reflections - the Other version of Coraline's house is the mirror image of the original, for instance, and the homes of Mr Bobo and of Miss Forcible and Miss Sink come from the opposite sides of the stage, dependent on whether we are in our word, or that of the Other Mother.

I personally felt that the Other Mother's world wasn't as creepy and terrifying as it could have been, but it seemed to do the job for the target audience; at the point where the there Mother produces her buttons and needle and thread, there were audible gasps, and more than one squeak of fear, and I heard a little voice from behind me saying (and sounding pretty scared) "Don't be scared Daddy. It's not really real" ........ "is it?" .  (It sounded as thought Daddy was able to reassure her that he wasn't too scared, and that she need not be, either, and she seemed to enjoy the rest of the performance)

Over all, I enjoyed it, and I'm very glad I got to see it. I thought it kept the underlying 'flavour' of the original book, although the it took a while to get going in the first act, with rather more exposition that was strictly necessary. But  I have to admit that I am still not big on opera - I suspect that I would have enjoyed it more had it been a straight play. However, I can see that it could spark n interest in opera for children, and even for a non-opera fan it was well worth seeing. There were no surtitles, abut that wasn't an issue, the singers were all admirably clear (much more so than in the last opera I saw!

The run at the Barbican has finished now, but I believe that there are plans in the pipeline for translated productions to be performed in Germany, France and Sweden, and I would imagine that it may well be revisited - it sold out completely, and from what I could see, was very warmly received by those of all ages who saw it. 

The Man Engine

I vaguely remember seeing something on the news, last year, or the year before, about the 'Man Engine', an 11m tall puppet, created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of  the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, and thinking it looked interesting.

Then last autumn I saw a local news item, saying that the Engine would be visiting this part of the world in April. 

Earlybird tickets were cheap, and it looked interesting, so I booked... and it was!

The puppet was very impressive, and interesting - as you can see,  it is made from elements of heavy plant machinery, which is appropriate, as it is named after the original man engine, which was a way of using stem engines and mining machinery to allow men to be carried up and down from mines, as an alternative to having to climb all the way on ladders.

It takes about 10 or 12 people to operate it, with ropes and levers, as well as someone in the cab of the JCB on which it is based. At the end of the performance it slowly folds down to its resting position.

The Man Engine resting!

According to the publicity material, it is the largest mechanical puppet ever made in the UK (they are quite specific abut that, so I'm guessing that perhaps the French 'Sultan's Elephant' was bigger)

Back when I booked my tickets, I wasn't sure whether I'd be free in the afternoon, as the tickets were only £5, so I also booked for the evening show, and I decided to go back. 

As well as the puppet itself, the show includes songs and readings  the main readings are from the diary of a Cornish tin miner William Crago, who started work at the age of 9, in 1869.

There were  also local references. Radstock was chosen as a site for the Engine to visit, due to its own mining history (coal was mined here until the 1970s), and reference was made to the Norton Hill Disaster of 1908, in which 10 miners were killed in a colliery explosion, with the names of some of them being read out, as part of the 

The evening show was the same as in the afternoon, but of course the pyrotechnics were more dramatic after dark! 

It was very dramatic, and I'm glad I went. 

The show is currently touring, to places across England and Wales with mining heritage. Full details are on their website - https://www.themanengine.org.uk. 

Easter, and I'm still feeling grumpy

Easter weekend was supposed to be fun. I had booked (back in October) to see the Coraline Opera at the Barbican, and was very much looking forward to it, and had then also booked to see the RSC's  Hamlet (starring Paapa Essiedu), which I saw at the start of its run back in 2016, and very much wanted to see again, as it was one of the best Hamlets I have seen.

Unfortunately, I realised that while I am recovering from the lurgy which struck me down last week, I am not fully recovered, and there was no way that I could manage the long day involved in the travel to London and seeing 2 productions in a day. 

I reluctantly decided that I would have to give up on seeing Hamlet, have a quiet morning and see the opera. So much for plans, however. 

When I looked online to work out what train to get, I discovered that on top of running a reduced service due to the engineering works around Bristol (which I knew about and had taken into account) GWR had cancelled a whole slew of additional trains. Including, as it turned out, both the one I'd originally booked for the morning, and the one I was planning on returning on.  And that as they had cancelled the return train, the only option was one leaving almost an hour later, and including  change at Swindon, and a replacement bus service after that, all of which would have mean that the earliest I could have got home would have been around 2 a.m. Which just wasn't do-able, for me.

I spent quite a lot of time trying to work out whether there were any other options - had I been fully fit, I might have driven to Oxford and got a train from there, which would have made for a long day, but just about manageable, but Oxford is a 2 hour drive from here and I just couldn't do it.

So,I had to give up on the trip to London all together, and I was so disappointed I could have cried. (Possibly still being unwell contributed to that!) I am waiting to hear whether the theatre was able to resell my Coraline ticket (I hope so - it's completely sold out so presumably popular) but the Hamlet one wasn't returnable or refundable, so that cost was a dead loss.

I thought I would miss out on the opera altogether, given that it is only on for 10 days and is completely sold out, but happily I was able to snap up a returned ticket for next Saturday, so health and travel gods permitting, I should still get to see it (albeit not from so good a seat as the one I originally had)

Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

So I ended up spending most of the 4 day weekend at home, trying to relax and recruit my strength to get fully well. It's irritating, as if I'd known I'd be unable to do anything else, I could have gone to my parents for the weekend, where no doubt I could have been cosseted and had someone else cook things.  

I did, however, as arranged, meet up with my parents on Easter Monday (our homes are a little over 2 hours drive apart, so meeting mid-point is very manageable for us both) for a pub lunch and catch up, which was nice. And my mother brought me some mini Easter eggs, so I ended up with some chocolate, which is always good :) 

Although I did find that the 2 hour round trip, even with a 3 hour rest and meal in the middle was surprisingly tiring, which does support the idea that my choice not to try t do a 4 hour road trip drive, plus trains and theatre, 2 days earlier, was the correct one, however frustrating)

I'm hoping the week will get better. Given the long weekend, it is a 4 day week, which should help.