London vacation, part II
On Saturday, after lunch at the Turkish restaurant Haz near St Paul's, we visited a photo exhibition at the Museum of London - street photography from the very earliest days of cameras that could actually be taken easily into the streets. Also, the medieval galleries, which were closed last time we were at the museum. Then it was on to the Barbican for drinks before South Pacific, the recent Broadway production by Bartlett Sher, but with a mostly British cast. Nellie's accent sounded more Cockney than Arkansas much of the time and there was zero chemistry between her and Emile. The production itself, however, was very effective and of course the music is some of the finest Rodgers and Hammerstein ever did. Welsh baritone Jason Howard's rendition of "This Nearly Was Mine" nearly stopped the show.
Two more Proms on Sunday - French organ music and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. The latter only confirmed me in my feeling that Beethoven couldn't really write for the voice. Listening to the sopranos made my throat hurt. Monday was an easy day - a little work, a little French-influenced modern British cuisine with a friend in the evening in Great Queen Street (which was also the name of the restaurant), near High Holborn, where I was staying in one of the London School of Economics residence halls.
Tuesday we were off to Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, north of London. I took the train up, and my friend met me in his Porsche 911 GT3 - an impressive ride but not very comfortable for someone of my size. We spent the day taking a tour and seeing the many exhibitions at Bletchley Park, where Britain's WWII codebreakers and cryptoanalysts worked - most famously Alan Turing. It was all fascinating. One relatively new exhibition was devoted to the women of Bletchley Park, who made up some 80% of the staff. it's amazing to think that, for 30 years after the war ended, the role of this place remained a secret - and that in the 1990s the whole estate came close to being handed over to developers.
I came back to Paris yesterday evening, but not before spending a few hours at the British Museum's gorgeous exhibition of reliquaries, "Treasures of Heaven." I've seen a lot of this kind of work in cathedral treasuries around Europe, but the exhibition offered a chance to get right up close to some of the objects and examine the incredibly beautiful detail work in enamel, niello and other decorative techniques.
Two more Proms on Sunday - French organ music and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. The latter only confirmed me in my feeling that Beethoven couldn't really write for the voice. Listening to the sopranos made my throat hurt. Monday was an easy day - a little work, a little French-influenced modern British cuisine with a friend in the evening in Great Queen Street (which was also the name of the restaurant), near High Holborn, where I was staying in one of the London School of Economics residence halls.
Tuesday we were off to Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, north of London. I took the train up, and my friend met me in his Porsche 911 GT3 - an impressive ride but not very comfortable for someone of my size. We spent the day taking a tour and seeing the many exhibitions at Bletchley Park, where Britain's WWII codebreakers and cryptoanalysts worked - most famously Alan Turing. It was all fascinating. One relatively new exhibition was devoted to the women of Bletchley Park, who made up some 80% of the staff. it's amazing to think that, for 30 years after the war ended, the role of this place remained a secret - and that in the 1990s the whole estate came close to being handed over to developers.
I came back to Paris yesterday evening, but not before spending a few hours at the British Museum's gorgeous exhibition of reliquaries, "Treasures of Heaven." I've seen a lot of this kind of work in cathedral treasuries around Europe, but the exhibition offered a chance to get right up close to some of the objects and examine the incredibly beautiful detail work in enamel, niello and other decorative techniques.