Travels around the Continent
"Oh moon in the deep sky,your light sees far,you roam over the wide world,and peer into human dwellings."(Rusalka - Song to the Moon) In the summer, shortly after I had returned from seeing Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in Bonn, I asked my son if there was any opera that he wished to see. One of the …
"Zum Ziele führt dich diese Bahn" ("This path leads you to your goal") - from Die Zauberflöte I had been due to attend a wedding on 11th July, but sadly this had been called off a few weeks beforehand. I decided to use the freed up time to make a short trip, the primary purpose …
"Ieri son salita tutta sola" ("Yesterday I went alone") Madama Butterfly Having enjoyed so much my flying visit to see Carmen at the Gothenburg Opera in August 2024, I decided to go again should the opportunity arise. As soon as tickets went on sale for Madama Butterfly, I acquired one. This latest trip was similar …
"Oh, Bonnie Dundee! I will sing in thy praiseA few but true simple lays,Regarding some of your beauties of the present dayAnd virtually speaking, there’s none can them gainsay;There’s no other town I know of with you can compareFor spinning mills and lasses fair."(William McGonagall) I had a few spare days around the end of …
"L'amour est un oiseau rebelleQue nul ne peut apprivoiser"("Love is a rebellious birdThat none can tame")Carmen In September 2023, on my EuropeExplored trip to Finland and Sweden, I went to see Nabucco at Gothenburg Opera House, the first time I had ever been to an opera. I enjoyed the experience so much that I thought …
Continue reading "City Visit (Operatic interlude) – Gothenburg"
"Haastige spoed is zelden goed." ("Hasty speed is seldom good" - Dutch saying) When Eurostar had one of their periodic seat sales at the end of 2022, I took the opportunity of getting some relatively cheap tickets to and from Rotterdam. However, I decided to base myself in Delft, an historic Dutch city about 10 …
Continue reading "City Visit – Delft (and Den Haag, Voorburg & Rotterdam)"
"No sé si llamé cielo a esta tierra que piso, si esto de abajo es el paraíso ¿Qué será la Alhambra, cielo?" ("I do not know what to call this land upon which I stand. If what is beneath my feet is paradise, then what is the Alhambra? Heaven?") - Lope de Vega My wife …
"Auld Reekie" (Edinburgh's nickname) After my visit to Glasgow in September 2017, I followed up a couple of months later with a visit to Edinburgh. In the absence of any immediate prospect of European travel at the moment, my post this month recalls my visit there. I again apologise for the lack of photographs to …
"Second city of the Empire" (Nineteenth century description of Glasgow.) In the continuing absence of any opportunity to undertake European travel at the moment, I continue my occasional series reporting on two-day visits I have made to explore particular cities. I've previously reported on seven such trips I made to non-UK cities in 2018 and …
"Reassuringly expensive" (Advertising slogan used in the UK, 1982 - 2007, by Stella Artois (brewed in Leuven).) [This months post looks back on another city visit made last year. Little did I know that this trip would be the last foreign excursion that I would be able to make for over a year.] I had …
Europe Explored 