Holiday Highlights
Aug. 2nd, 2014 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitSM and I spent two days in Exeter at the beginning of the week. Highlights for me were:
Exeter Cathedral. We went to choral evensong on the Sunday afternoon. Not my sort of thing, but I managed to ignore the Chichester Singers and mentally compose a drabble. It was also a good opportunity to look around at the stain glass window and admire the elephant at the pew end. On leaving we saw the rose window at the other end of the cathedral, which I liked. SM pointed out how clean the ceiling was compared to Gloucester Cathedral, but, since Exeter Cathedral is a much more squat building, it would be easier to clean.
Boat trip up the Exe from Exmouth. It was very interesting to see the villages from the river side. The river is shallow at this point and we saw lots of oyster catchers wading in the shallows. There are a number of boats that catch and process mussels, so no doubt there are a considerable number of crustaceans around.
Paddling at Budleigh Salterton. SM swam, but I need the water to be much warmer before I’ll try that. Budleigh Salterton has a pebble beach, so I stood in the water rather than walking along, leaving my sandals within easy reach, but I got my feet wet and my trousers splashed (as one does if paddling properly). The sea was cold but quite bearable.
Northernhay Gardens. After dinner we decided to explore the city centre – having been to the Quayside the previous evening. Exeter has a castle, which is not generally open to the public, but we walked around the castle wall. The gardens in the vicinity are lovely and we would have stayed longer, but were thrown out because they were locking up at 9pm. So we walked back the long way round and returned to our hotel room to finish the bottle of Prosecco we had started at dinner.
After this two day trip, and having watched the final episode of Almost Human, the following morning SM went back to work and I went to London. The Wednesday was spent mostly at the theatre, for which there are separate blogs, but on the Thursday I had the opportunity to visit parts of London.
I began the day at the Victoria & Albert Museum, with the intention of visiting two of the temporary free exhibitions. The first Disobedient Objects had looked interesting, but in the end failed as far as I was concerned. The items were interesting but were unable to convey the passions felt by their users and so I was unable to relate to them. I also think it’s slightly ironic charging £20 for a guide to an exhibition where many of the groups represented were anti-capitalistic.
The second exhibition Shakespeare: Greatest Living Playwright didn’t have many exhibits, but the central area had a film showing various actors and directors etc talking about Shakespeare, together with some clips of recent performances. It was interesting to hear director Edward Hall saying how he too finds it takes a few minutes to get into the language at the beginning of a Shakespeare play. And learning that Simon Russell-Beale doesn’t like Taming of the Shrew. I was pleased to see that a couple of clips were of performances I had seen – RSC Titus Andronicus and James McAvoy as Macbeth.
From the V&A I headed towards the Chelsea Physic Gardens. As I was walking past the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, (home of the Chelsea Pensioners) I noticed they had a café, so I went in for my lunch. It’s nothing pretentious, some of the Pensioners themselves were having their lunch there, and, as might be expected, they do a good cup of tea.
When we lived in Cheyne Place, the Chelsea Physic Gardens were not open to the public – they opened in 1983 – so we never went, but I’ve been meaning to go for some time. It’s very interesting, if you like plants, and quite cool on a hot city afternoon. I took the free tour. The guide was eccentric, but extremely informative and I learnt considerably more than I would have done had I wandered round by myself.
After that it was back to the theatre and then home on Friday, following a brief trip to St James Park and watching part of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
Exeter Cathedral. We went to choral evensong on the Sunday afternoon. Not my sort of thing, but I managed to ignore the Chichester Singers and mentally compose a drabble. It was also a good opportunity to look around at the stain glass window and admire the elephant at the pew end. On leaving we saw the rose window at the other end of the cathedral, which I liked. SM pointed out how clean the ceiling was compared to Gloucester Cathedral, but, since Exeter Cathedral is a much more squat building, it would be easier to clean.
Boat trip up the Exe from Exmouth. It was very interesting to see the villages from the river side. The river is shallow at this point and we saw lots of oyster catchers wading in the shallows. There are a number of boats that catch and process mussels, so no doubt there are a considerable number of crustaceans around.
Paddling at Budleigh Salterton. SM swam, but I need the water to be much warmer before I’ll try that. Budleigh Salterton has a pebble beach, so I stood in the water rather than walking along, leaving my sandals within easy reach, but I got my feet wet and my trousers splashed (as one does if paddling properly). The sea was cold but quite bearable.
Northernhay Gardens. After dinner we decided to explore the city centre – having been to the Quayside the previous evening. Exeter has a castle, which is not generally open to the public, but we walked around the castle wall. The gardens in the vicinity are lovely and we would have stayed longer, but were thrown out because they were locking up at 9pm. So we walked back the long way round and returned to our hotel room to finish the bottle of Prosecco we had started at dinner.
After this two day trip, and having watched the final episode of Almost Human, the following morning SM went back to work and I went to London. The Wednesday was spent mostly at the theatre, for which there are separate blogs, but on the Thursday I had the opportunity to visit parts of London.
I began the day at the Victoria & Albert Museum, with the intention of visiting two of the temporary free exhibitions. The first Disobedient Objects had looked interesting, but in the end failed as far as I was concerned. The items were interesting but were unable to convey the passions felt by their users and so I was unable to relate to them. I also think it’s slightly ironic charging £20 for a guide to an exhibition where many of the groups represented were anti-capitalistic.
The second exhibition Shakespeare: Greatest Living Playwright didn’t have many exhibits, but the central area had a film showing various actors and directors etc talking about Shakespeare, together with some clips of recent performances. It was interesting to hear director Edward Hall saying how he too finds it takes a few minutes to get into the language at the beginning of a Shakespeare play. And learning that Simon Russell-Beale doesn’t like Taming of the Shrew. I was pleased to see that a couple of clips were of performances I had seen – RSC Titus Andronicus and James McAvoy as Macbeth.
From the V&A I headed towards the Chelsea Physic Gardens. As I was walking past the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, (home of the Chelsea Pensioners) I noticed they had a café, so I went in for my lunch. It’s nothing pretentious, some of the Pensioners themselves were having their lunch there, and, as might be expected, they do a good cup of tea.
When we lived in Cheyne Place, the Chelsea Physic Gardens were not open to the public – they opened in 1983 – so we never went, but I’ve been meaning to go for some time. It’s very interesting, if you like plants, and quite cool on a hot city afternoon. I took the free tour. The guide was eccentric, but extremely informative and I learnt considerably more than I would have done had I wandered round by myself.
After that it was back to the theatre and then home on Friday, following a brief trip to St James Park and watching part of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
