A wonderful week exploring European coastal civilizations
A wonderful week with National Trust Tours exploring from Portugal to France.
Author: DJB
Remembering Their Sacrifice
Our last day touring in Europe was the most emotional. If you don’t cry, you may not have a soul. We saw Normandy, and the place names from the U.S. that will resonate through history: Utah Beach, Omaha Beach. We walked among row after row of headstones at the American cemetery. Crosses and Star of Davids. Most with names of men who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Some whose names are known only to God. And it was made all the more personal because of a chance encounter last week. When we were headed out the door to leave on this trip, we saw our 90-year-old next-door neighbor and told him we were going to Europe and would visit Normandy. “I’ve never been to Normandy,” he said, “but I was flying over it on D-Day, trying to take out a German gun placement.” We can’t wait to show August the photos of the beaches and, yes, the craters that remain from the bombs that fell on that day. Heroes all — and they even live …
Island Hopping
The past two days we’ve visited two islands on our tour of European Coastal Civilizations: the beautiful Belle-Ile in France and the equally intriguing British island of Guernsey. In the spirit of “quick posts” from the field, I’ll include three pictures, with “more to come” after our return home over the weekend. The first two are of Belle-Ile: a detail from the very impressive Citadel restoration and a view of the town. The final one shows a German gun placement on a Napoleonic ruin along the rugged Guernsey coast. Our tours were very different in style and topic, with Belle-Ile focused on the beauty of the island and its coastline. In Guernsey we toured sites of the German occupation of WWII, in anticipation of today’s visit to the beaches at Normandy. This will probably be the last post from the trip until we return home, so thanks for checking in and look forward to one or two more extensive follow-up posts…with many more pictures…in the coming days. More to come… DJB
Bilbao: The Cliff Notes Edition
Wow! I had read the stories of how a gritty, shipbuilding city in Spain had reinvented itself as an arts and cultural center built around the signature Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum. I had seen the pictures. But I wasn’t ready for the reality. We spent Sunday in Bilbao, Spain — after a drive through the lovely heart of the Basque country — and Candice and I found the first city where we are set on finding a way to return as soon as possible. Bilbao in the 1980s saw the closing of an iconic shipyard and had the foresight to think creatively and boldly about a new future which blended new and old. It is the last part — the blending of new and old — that is often missed in the write-ups about Bilbao’s renaissance. You get the impact of Gehry’s Guggenheim, along with the works of Calatrava, Norman Foster and other modern masters. But what is often missing is the context for these works: a walkable and vibrant historic city dating back …
Santiago de Compostela: Our visit to the final destination of the Camino de Santiago
Saturday of our European Coastal Civilizations tour took us to Santiago de Compostela, the famous destination of the medieval pilgrimage trail Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The morning began as we docked in La Corona, Spain, after sailing past the Tower of Hercules, the oldest Roman lighthouse in use today. It makes for a dramatic entrance into the port city and set the stage for what was in store. After an hour-long bus drive, we arrived at Santiago de Compostela, with its cathedral of St. James. The picture at the top of the post marks the official end of the Camino de Santiago, and we had a chance to talk with pilgrims who were arriving in a steady stream – many on very nice road bikes! The city’s importance came from a visit by the Apostle James to this outpost in Spain to convert people to Christianity. Centuries later, in 813, a hermit saw a vision of a shining field, and from the Latin “Campus Stellae” …
Porto, Portugal – A great start to our tour of European coastal civilizations
Candice and I just completed the first day of our European Coastal Civilizations tour, spending a delightful day in Porto, Portugal. After setting sail from Lisbon, our ship headed north overnight and docked on Friday morning at the Port of Leixoes which services the city of Porto. Quoting from the ship’s news, The city of Porto, built along the hillsides overlooking the mouth of the Douro river, is an outstanding urban landscape with a 2,000-year history. Its continuous growth is linked to the sea (the Romans gave it the name Portus, or port). It is the second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon, and one of the major urban areas of Southern Europe. Porto’s history goes back to pre-Roman, Celtic times, and it was during the Middle Ages that it developed into one of Portugal’s most important trading cities. It was in the 18th century that Porto became an important link between the Douro Valley wine producers and wine importing countries like England. The old city – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is where …
Opening Day Finally Arrives!
A quick lunch break shout-out for the arrival of opening day! Let’s go Nats!! I’m part of a season ticket group, so the “coordinator” of the group gets – as it should be – the opening and closing games of the season. Tom’s photo from 20 minutes ago is at the top of the post. But come Wednesday night, for game #2 of 162 (and more!) this year, Candice and I will be in these same seats ready to cheer on Gio and the rest of the boys of summer. I know that the first day of the season was actually yesterday when the Astros played the Rangers, but it was just weird to see the Astros as an American League team. I was glad to see former Nat Rick Ankiel get the key home run. Maybe when a recent N.L. doormat roughs up a recent perennial A.L. playoff contender, it just shows that the N.L. has passed the A.L. in playing quality baseball. But I digress. It has been a long winter since our …
Nothing Beats Live Music
Virtually every year I’ve made a New Year’s resolution to “play more music with friends.” But life (or the procrastination gene) kept getting in the way. Until this year. On the first Friday in January, we had two families over for dinner and the husbands brought their instruments. I had such a good time playing music with these talented friends that I decided to finally act on that resolution…and the First Friday Music Jam was born. I went through my contacts list and found about 15 friends I’ve played with through the years. Early in January I sent out a recurring invitation to join me in our music room on the first Friday of the month for some handmade acoustic music. Two “first Fridays” later, we’re off to a great start. Five friends have joined me both evenings for several hours of good music, fueled by adult beverages and snacks. Among our crew we have old folkies, a young swing guitarist, bluegrass devotees, and multiple rockers. So far we’ve had an abundance of good-sounding guitars, …
And the Winner Is…
Wow! What a great year for movies. On the eve of the Academy Awards, I’ve seen eight of the nine nominees for Best Picture. (You can read my earlier posts here, here, and here.) The only missing nominee? That would be Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. I saw Tarantino’s Inglourious Bastards with its similar fantasy-laden subject area and over-the-top, almost cartoonish violence a few years back, and I simply decided that Django wasn’t Best Picture quality in my book. The fact that it is never mentioned in the top five contenders just confirms my decision. But this afternoon, I saw another controversial – but much more substantive – movie, Zero Dark Thirty. Despite the controversy surrounding the movie, I’m here to say that it works on many levels and deserves the consideration for Best Picture. Jessica Chastain is a real force, carrying the movie forward with her fine acting. In the end, however, I have to agree with Timothy Egan of the New York Times, who writes about the problems of Zero Dark Thirty. The lack …
Amour Enters the Conversation
As we enter the homestretch of the quest to see all the Best Picture nominees, Candice and I are now through seven of the nine pictures…and the plot thickens. That’s because today we had the opportunity to see the achingly sad yet well crafted French movie Amour. Candice and I had the afternoon free here in Southern California between a swim meet, lunch with Claire, and dinner with Claire’s swim team members, coaches, and parents. We found that Amour was playing nearby, and took the chance to see this gem of a picture. The movie, about an elderly pair of music teachers and their life together after the wife suffers a stroke, hit so many deep emotions – many of them close to home. There was less action in the entire movie than what I expect to see in five minutes of Django Unchained, but the emotional depths that are plumed are raw and rich. Emmanuelle Riva is wonderful as Anne, the wife, and well deserving of a Best Actress award this year. She was …
MORE TO COME... 