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Author: david

  • We got married

    Hi. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Since last I updated the journal we have:

    • Been to Australia
    • Got married
    • Moved house

    And before we left the UK my sister and nephew came to stay with us. Gosh that was a long time ago.

    First things first, in case you don’t know – maybe you came to my site trying to find pictures of Hot Kath – we got married. It was fun!

    Following the relaxing 24hr flight – although ours was more like 36 with a little 14hr stopover in Malaysia thrown in – yeah, no problem, we’ll just sleep on the plane… – we were greeted at Adelaide International Airport by more customs officials than we had ever seen in one place. Australia really doesn’t want to let in anything undesirable. This includes microbes as well as dodgy looking people. The potential Foot and Mouth Disease was taken care of with an inflight cabin fumigation before we landed, and as we looked particularly dodgy our bags were searched after we had landed. I’ve not experienced this anywhere else. All the other airports seemed more concerned about what you might bring on to the plane rather than what you were taking off.

    Failing to find the hidden compartments in our luggage where the drugs and rabies ridden animals were stored we exited customs film star style to be greeted by our family and friends.

    What followed in the next two weeks was a whirlwind of appointments to see cakes, friends, family, flowers and pets (not necessarily in that order).

    When the big day arrived everything went accoring to plan. Matt and Andrew made sure I was at the venue and hadn’t forgotten to put my trousers on (cheers!) Obi kept the rings safe, and Wendy and Petrea checked that, yes, Kathryn did look stunning. There was a moment of concern when a couple of drops of rain fell just as we were forming up on the grass but the rain was just teasing and we got married without resorting to umbrellas.

    After leaving Australia we spent four days in Malaysia. Our first night was at the Ritz Carlton in KL, probably the fanciest place we have stayed in. Then we spent the rest of the time on the island of Langkawi, sitting by the beach, looking for monkeys and eating satay (not necessarily in that order).

    A highlight was taking the new cable car to the top of the mountain above our resort. It had only just been finished and they were giving free (test) rides, presumably so they wouldn’t have to give a refund when the car plumeted to the forest floor below.

    Soon after we returned to London we moved house – from a shoebox to a medium sized packing crate. It is really nice; much more room, a separate kitchen with wood floor and a huge living room. It is also really close to Kathryn’s work. She just has to walk over Battersea Bridge and she is there. It takes about four minutes.

  • The second Austral concert

    What are we doing? Well, the recent past has been mostly taken up with organising the second Austral Sinfonietta concert. Held at the same venue, it was, by all accounts, an improvement on the first one last year. The orchestra played extremely well (after a scarily small number of rehearsals) and the audience was at least double the previous figure.
    So although the event turned out to be not so fiscally rewarding, I think it was money well spent. Next time I hope to break even… There is an MP3 of a bit of the concert at the orchestra’s shiny new website.

    Speaking of new websites, my conducting site has changed address to www.davidkeen.com. Please have a look if you haven’t done so already, and don’t forget to update those favourites 🙂 The Austral Sinfonietta’s address has also changed – follow the link above. Thanks to Andrew for setting all this stuff up.

    All this frantic London-side activity has meant that we have had to curtail our usual jet-setting lifestyle and so the farthest we have been, I think, is to Dorset. Another factor in our urban-centric habits is the small matter of our wedding later this year – and the large matter of how much these things cost. Every time Kathryn goes to Salisbury for a dress fitting she seems to come back with a considerably heavier credit card. Still , you only do it once and it did give me an excuse to buy a nice suit.

  • Proposal

    Kathryn and I are engaged. Here’s how it happened.

    Monday morning. Very, very morning. Approximately 3.20 AM. The kind of time when you really wish you had gone to bed at 9 PM like you were planning to.

    The plan was to catch the night bus from Sloane Square to Liverpool Street for the Stansted Express for our flight at 7.30. But in keeping with our usual travel experiences we rounded the corner of Sloan Street to see the N11 disappearing up Pimlico Road. So a taxi saw us to the station for approximately 5 times the cost of a bus ticket.

    Forty-five minutes later we were at the airport, along with several thousand other people who obviously wanted to get there with plenty of time. When we flew to Munich the week after the terrorist attacks we breezed through check-in. It seems people had regained their confidence in flying. Queues for check-in, security control and even currency exchange snaked around the building. An hour later we were at security.

    This is where I thought my plans for a romantic proposal in Prague had come horribly undone. Kathryn went through first with no problems. I had been keeping the ring in its box in my inside coat pocket. As I walked through the detector alarm bells started ringing, and I don’t mean figuratively. Oh-oh. I had to empty my pockets while trying to shield the little box from Kathryn’s view. I thought I would be ok until the security guard said, “You’ll have to unwrap that.” Oh no! “Or put it through the x-ray.”

    Of course. Why hadn’t I thought of that already? By this time Kathryn had started to take an interest in the commotion at the metal detector. I directed her to wait for me a little way off as I didn’t want her to see the little box come trundling out of the x-ray machine. Quickly pocketing the diamond, I joined Kathryn to board
    the plane.

    We flew to Prague and made our way by bus, metro and tram to our hotel; the Arcotel Teatrino. It is an old art nouveau style theatre that has been converted into a hotel. The dining room is in the auditorium.

    We caught the tram to nám Republiky where we saw the wonderful art nouveau Municipal Hall, where concerts are staged. We wandered west down Celetná to Staroměstské nám or the Old Town Square. This is the tourist and historical centre of Prague and is very beautiful. In fact the whole city is simply stunning. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, thanks largely to the complete lack of bombing in the war. There are some gothic buildings such as the Týn church
    in Staroměstské nám but most of the architecture consists of baroque palaces and art nouveau buildings.

    We headed for the river. It had been my plan to go to Karlův most (Charles bridge) at night and propose there. But as we wandered along the river Vltava, Prague Castle towering over the city on the opposite bank, the warm afternoon sunshine sparkling off the water, we came to a quiet place that just seemed to be right. I asked Kathryn to marry me and she said yes.

    It was dead romantic.

    We sat in the sun for a while before visiting Karlův most, which confirmed I had chosen the right spot. The bridge is beautiful, lined with baroque statues, but there were lots of people there.

    We finished the evening with a lovely curry at the Jewel of India in Josefov, the Jewish quarter. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.

    Prague Castle

    We spent most of the next day in Prague Castle, a huge place that sits high above the city and contains among other things Prague’s major cathedral, the old palace and the current home of the President. There were many lovely views of the city from the walls and the tower of St Vitus cathedral, reached by a harrowing climb up a circular staircase. We had the worst sandwiches ever at a cafe in the castle.
    I think the bread was at least a week old.

    Above the castle is the Loreta convent which houses an amazing collection of silver, diamonds and pearls. It was late in the afternoon so it wasn’t crowded.

    Nearby is the Strahov monastery where we visited its lovely library. It has a beautiful painted ceiling, not to mention lots of books.

    Karlštejn

    It had been getting steadily colder since our first day in Prague and today was positively chilly. After an earlier breakfast we got to the train station at Smíchov just in time to leap on to the train as the doors were closing. A short journey later saw us at the run-down Karlštejn station to begin the long walk up to the castle.

    The castle was very impressive from the outside, built in the 14th century by Bohemia’s famous king Charles IV to house the crown jewels. Unfortunately the tour of the interior wasn’t as thrilling. There just wasn’t a lot to look at and the highlight of the castle and ancient destination of pilgrimage the Chapel of the Holy Rood wasn’t open to visitors. So we didn’t get to see its magnificently jewel
    encrusted and richly painted interior. Lucky we bought the book then.

    Back in Prague we visited the Jewish Museum, a surprisingly fascinating experience. We wandered through the ancient Jewish cemetery in the light rain. It was in use from the fifteenth to eighteenth century and the twelve thousand tombstones were planted almost on top of each other and stuck out at all angles.

    That night we dined in the Teatrino’s amazing dining room before seeing a concert by the Dvořak Symphony Orchestra in the beautiful Rudolfinum concert hall by the river. They were ok but I wish the Czech Philharmonic were in town.

    Nasvidenje Prague!

    On our last day we visited the Mozart museum in the house he wrote Don Giovanni in and the rarely visited Municipal museum that has an amazing 19th century scale model of Prague.

    Prague is easily one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is the equal of Venice and is in some ways better as, apart from accomodation, it is very cheap and not quite as ravaged by tourism. The beer is good, the people friendly and the public transport cheap and easy. We had a wonderful time.

    And not just because we got engaged:)

  • The first Austral concert

    Well, well, well. Long time, no update. The last couple of months have been rather hectic for me. The last weeks doubly so.

    On Saturday night (21st) I conducted my first concert in London. Not a hugely important event for most people in London, but a rather big deal for me, as you can imagine. It was at a church called St Paul’s in Covent Garden, so technically it was my Covent Garden debut and I have performed at St Paul’s.

    It went quite well. We all started and finished together anyway, which is how I always judge a good concert. Every venue has its own little problems and unique qualities, which usually make themselves known in the quiet bits. St James’s has its clock and the occasional police car screaming down Piccadilly. For some reason when booking St Paul’s I had neglected to note the obviously close proximity of the Covent Garden buskers, a favourite position of the street performers being on the other side of the church’s east wall. It could have been worse: we could have had one of those Chinese guys who play those things with one string (invariably through a powerful amplifier, complete with backing track). As it was it must have been a juggler or something as I only noticed a small burst of laughter in a soft passage of the Mozart. At least I think it was coming from outside…

    Financially, the whole project was slightly less rewarding. The final figure was about £700 in the red. When my teacher asks me what I learnt from the exercise – as he surely will – I will stress the importance of advertising.

    Anyway, if the concert has served its main purpose it will hopefully slow down the passage of my CVs to potential employers’ waste baskets.

    I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my friend and HMV collegue Graham for doing such a sterling job collecting Sterling at the door. And lugging a mic stand into central London. Cheers

    Like the last two years the visit of my parents has come and gone with surprising swiftness. Salient memories are:

    A magical evening at the Minack Theatre on the edge of the world in Cornwall. We sat on rugs and watched Alice in Wonderland as the setting sun cast shadows over the dead-calm sea, and the fins of basking sharks slowly drifted past.

    A warm evening in the beautiful and interesting grounds of Blenheim Palace.

    Suddenly catching a little boat out to St Michael’s Mount.

    Fish and chips in the car at Penzance. Real pasties at Padstow.

    More pub meals in a week than I have had in my whole life. And trying a new beer in every pub.

    Asking directions in the surprisingly lovely town of Evesham. “EVE-sham!”

    Showing my dad St Bartholemew the Great and the Temple Church.

    I still haven’t been able to get my film processed (see financial report above) but photos will appear in due course. I do however have some photos of previous exploits to share. Check out update part II…

    Part II

    Glad you could join me again.

    Before my parents arrived, Kath and I spent a week in Cornwall We also went to Paris for a few days. That’s one of the things I love about living here. You can literally go to Paris for lunch. On the train!

    I have come to the conclusion that 1st class is the only way to travel. Thanks to a newspaper coupon we went 1st class Eurostar and it was great. In fact it was almost the best bit. We had our own little table for two. The seats were big. We had meals and alcohol included and we got newspapers and magazines to read. A few hours later we were in Paris.

    Our first experience of the Metro was not good. After giving up on the self-service ticket machines we resigned ourselves to joining the huge queue waiting to be served by a bored looking woman smoking a cigarette. 30 minutes later we were second in the queue. At which point the station – the international, presumably constantly busy station – ran out of tickets. After a minor heart failure we discovered this actually meant we could get on the Metro free. So I guess that was ok.

    After several wrong turns and backtracking we somehow found our way to the right platform in the maze of tunnels. We boarded a train that was far more crowed than the Piccadilly Line in rush hour and ejected ourselves from the carriage at our stop: Madeleine.

    As we climbed out into daylight we were greeted by the magnificent sight of La Madeleine. This was the classical church where Faure was organist. Our hotel was superbly located just around the corner.

    For the next couple of days we walked an awful lot.

    We went to the Louvre. Luckily for us the attendants were on strike so we got in free. We briefly saw the Venus di Milo between the Japanese tourists getting their photo taken in front of it. I greatly enjoyed all the other classical masterpieces in the collection that didn’t have famous names and so were totally ignored by almost everyone.

    We took a train to Versailles. I know this sounds rich coming from me as I’ve been there, but my advice to you is don’t. Don’t get me wrong, it is amazing. About a million times more impressive than Buckingham Palace. The trouble is it is a “must see” in all the guidebooks. Everywhere. In 200 languages. And the French cannot deal with crowds. They just have no idea. This is what happened. We arrived by train, along with about 200 other people. The train station is woefully inadequate for dealing with crowds and so people were jumping barriers to get out. A bad start, I thought. We walked the short distance to the Palace. Wow, I thought. Look at all those people. The queues were massive, curling back on themselves like some giant snake. We decided to skip the State Rooms and join the smaller queue for the Dauphin’s apartments. This proved a wise decision as we only queued for about 30 minutes and the number of people inside was quite acceptable. This bit was quite good. We also discovered that our ticket got us entry to the State Rooms and we could bypass the queue for tickets. Might as well, we thought…

    We entered quickly through the special door and all seemed well until we actually got to the first room. There was no crowd control a all. The rooms (there are about 20 of them) had a small walkway roped off on one side. This was filled with a solid mass of slowly shuffling people. I couldn’t see anything except the roof. Kath couldn’t see anything except armpits.

    It was crap.

    We forced our way back with great difficulty and popped out into the sunlit courtyard, determined never to return.

    Don’t go. Buy a book.

    From then on we realized the problem the Parisians have with crowds. We went to the Eiffel Tower, but didn’t go up because of the queues. We decided to spend the rest of our time shopping and walking the streets.

    Kathryn discovered Paris is great for shopping.

    One thing that is definitely worth seeing in Paris is the Arc de Triomphe. Sure the Arc is vaguely interesting, but the traffic that goes on around it is simply amazing. I stood there for a while trying to figure out the rules and I couldn’t. There aren’t any. No lines, no signs, no rules. Just grab the wheel and step on it. Amazing.

  • Nothing to say

    It is Tuesday. We are leaving for Cornwall on Thursday, and the thought of getting even further behind in this travelog has spurred me to update the site.

    As it is late and these things always seem to take longer than expected I will keep the witty observations on life to a minimum and the photos to a maximum.

    In fact, as a picture says a thousand words, I’m not going to write anything.

    Check out the gallery.

  • Matt & Donna Leave

    Well, once again we find ourselves alone in a strange city. Not that strange really after a year and a half but still just as interesting. As I write I imagine Matt and Donna must be nearing Brisbane. I can imagine how they must be feeling – like shit. I wonder what Virgin will make of the extra 40kg of baggage they have? Yesterday I helped lug all the crap they had managed to collect in their brief stay abroad to Heathrow to bid them a fond farewell.

    But enough of the recent past. What about the distant past? I am gradually catching up to myself and the site should be up to date fairly soon.

    We rejoin our heroes in the far north of England on a pleasant September day in the middle of the fuel crisis…

    York

    I love York. If I was making a list of unmissable English towns, York would be on it; along with Bath and Edinburgh. Oh yeah, and London. York has everything you want in a town: good shopping, a castle, an awesomely big church, fantastically preserved town walls, cobbled streets, half-timbered houses and about 10 million less people than London. Perfect.

    The first we had seen York was when we went to play at the Minster for Kathryn’s boss’s wedding. We liked it so much we decided to spend another weekend there. The first time we went, we visited the National Railway Museum. Now this is a LOT better than it sounds. Even if you don’t particularly like trains it is worth seeing. It is big. And they have lots of, well, trains. From the record breaking Flying Scotsman to Queen Victoria’s Royal Carriages. We spent about 2 or 3 hours there. Seriously. They also have a turntable where they roll out one of there loco’s and spin it round while they talk about it. Very cool.

    Anyway, that was last time. This particular weekend we decided to hire a car for a day and see all the things we couldn’t get to before. The Yorkshire countryside is beautiful and if I had to live in England, that would be the place.

    The main attraction up here is Castle Howard. It’s not a real castle, but it is really big. Built by the same guy who did Blenheim Palace, it is seriously impressive. And it’s still somebody’s house!

    Not too far away is the beutiful ruin of Rievaulx Abbey. It was built by the Cistercians (of Tintern Abbey fame) so naturally they picked the most remote, beautiful bit of wilderness they could find. It wasn’t remote enough to avoid King Henry in 1539 though.

    Above the ruins are Rievaulx Terrace and Temples. The typical 18th century rich man liked to have a romantic ruin to look at and if you weren’t lucky enought to have a real one then you could always build your own. However the owner of Duncombe Park was lucky enough to have the real thing, so he landscaped the hill above the abbey into a terrace and built a Greek temple to have a picnic in while he and his friends enjoyed the romantic view.

    We just had time to visit Fountains Abbey; another, much larger, ruin. It is floodlit at certain times of the year and we arrived just after sunset. It was quite lovely to wander through the roofless nave while gregorian chant was played from speakers.

    After a typically large fried breakfast we spent the next day wandering the lovely streets of York. We went to the Minster again (of course) as well as Clifford’s Tower, the towns castle. There’s not much to see inside but the views over the city are excellent.

    Another thing worth seeing is the York Castle Museum. It contains displays of everyday life from past times and even has a whole Victorian street scene. Like the Railway Museum it takes a couple of hours to do it justice. Kathryn was most interested in the History of Chocolate exhibition.

  • Ireland

    The date is August 2000 and you are awake far too early and walking down Spencer rd, Acton…

    The plan was to walk to the minicab at Crown St and get a 5 min cab ride to Northfields Tube to catch the first tube to Heathrow for our 6.50 flight. This would have worked fine, unfortunately there were no minicabs available at 5am. We walked to Acton Town to find there were none there either. We ended up catching the 5.30 tube from Acton Town and everything worked out ok.

    After the brief 1 hr flight we picked up our car (unfortunately an Opel Corsa rather than a Peugeot) and somehow found our way to our B&B at Clontarf. It was as I was attempting a u-turn on the busy road outside our B&B that I discovered I couldn’t put the car in reverse. It took much cursing before I discovered you have to pull up a little lever on the stick.

    We dropped our bags off before heading into the city.

    My first impressions of Dublin weren’t that great, and they didn’t improve much. We searched in vain for somewhere nice to have a snack and settled for a very poor danish. We were both a bit fed up and Kathryn was delighted when I said I wanted to go to Trinity College to see a book. Unfortunately this is what everyone in Dublin goes to see. I am referring to the Book of Kells which is over 1000 years old and is filled with beautiful illuminations. The book itself is stunning, it’s just that it was in a case in the centre of a small room and when lots of people are peering at it you can guess how much you can see. The book is housed in the Old Library. Upstairs is the Long Room. This is how I always envisioned my library would look. It is 65 metres long and two stories high. It holds about 200,000 of the library’s oldest volumes. Row after row of books stretch the length of this awesome hall. It was almost worth the £4.50 just for that. Kath was thrilled.

    We went to Dublin Castle – which isn’t really a castle – but after looking at its faintly ugly Royal Chapel, decided not to pay to see the rest. We walked to Christchurch Cathedral, which was ok. But after the likes of Bath, Salisbury and Venice it takes a lot to impress me. We decided to get out of Dublin and head for the hills.

    Lost?

    We decided this at about 12pm. We bought sandwiches to take and then headed off in the direction I thought was South(ish). We were aiming for Glendalough, supposedly an hour’s drive in County Wicklow. However, due to a combination of me not having an adequate Dublin map and the fact that there are no signposts in Dublin, it was several hours before we left the main urban centre and began climbing into the Wicklow Mountains.

    The scenery was beautiful and the stormy sky added drama. We finally arrived in Glendalough at about 5pm, cunningly missing the tourist buses.

    Glendalough is an ancient monastic settlement sitting beside 2 lakes. The scenery is lovely and the buildings themselves, very interesting. By the lower lake is a 33m tall round tower dating from the 10th Century. There are remains of the Cathedral of SS Peter & Paul and some other remains but the best building (& the most intact) is St Kevin’s Church or Kitchen. No-one knows why it is called a Kitchen. It has a steep stone roof and a little tower-like belfry sticking out of one end. It was used as a church until 1850.

    We took the less scenic but far quicker route back to Howth – a little town on the northern end of Dublin Bay – where we had fish & chips as the setting sun painted the clouds beautiful colours.

    Galway

    Today we drove across the country to Galway. On the way we stopped at Clonmacnoise. To get there we passed the Bog of Allen, supposedly Ireland’s best-known bog.

    Clonmacnoise is a monastic site situated on a hill overlooking the River Shannon. It is a beautiful location with the remains of a 12th Century cathedral, a number of small temples and one of those round towers no monastic site would be complete without.

    We arrived in Galway about midday and found our B&B at Salthill which turned out to be much better than the one in Dublin. After a stop in the good tourist information centre on the beach front we headed for the airstrip to fly to the Aran Islands. Unfortunately there were no seats available and after driving to the ferry terminal, discovered we wouldn’t be visiting the islands that day. On the way back to town we bought a bodhran and bought our food for the rest of the trip.

    Tralee

    This morning we had a nice change from the usual fry-up. We chose pancakes with maple syrup, before driving out to the Connemara airfield. We boarded our little plane for the short trip to the largest of the Aran Islands: Inishmor. A minibus took us up the road into the town of Kilronan. We hired a couple of bikes and headed up the road to Dun Aengus. This is a large stone fort on the edge of a sheer cliff. It is about 4000 years old and is very impressive. The ride back was easier than the ride up and half an hour later we were in the sweater shop buying authentic Aran knitwear. Our few hours on the island were over far too soon and before we knew it we were on our way back to the mainland, after a stop at the smaller island of Inisheer.

    It took about 2.5 hours to reach the spectacular Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare. We watched as a rainstorm moved quickly towards us from out at sea.

    After crossing the mouth of the Shannon by car ferry we drove into Tralee at about 7.45. Our B&B turned out to be another good choice with a big room, ensuite and TV.

    Dingle

    The fire alarm has just gone off. We are staying in the Ballintaggart Hostel; a new experience for us. It is a huge old house on top of a hill just outside of the lovely little town of Dingle. The hippie Aussie in charge has assured us that there is no danger.

    Today we toured the Dingle Peninsula. We drove along the Slea Head Drive and visited ancient forts and religious sites. To get to Dingle we drove through the Sliene Mish Mountains from Tralee, through the spectacular Connor Pass. The views were superb, as was the scenery on the Dingle Peninsula. We saw amazing ‘beehive’ huts that are totally waterproof yet made only from dry-stone. But for pure perfection the Gallarus Oratory was the best. It is 1300 years old and hasn’t been rebuilt in any way. Unfortunately we arrived at the same time as a bus load of noisy Americans, but they left soon after they arrived.

    After a car picnic at the 12th-century Kilmalkedar Church we decided to head back into town as we hadn’t had much of a chance to by some tourist crap. Unfortunately this was crappier than usual so we only got a few postcards.

    Before returning to the hostel we thought we would check out 15th-century Castle Minard I had spotted on the map. This took some finding as it was not very well signposted. The main reason for this is that it is not that interesting. You can’t even walk around the ruins as they are unsafe.

    After paying for our room we had a meal at a pub in Dingle called Geany’s. I had a beef and Guinness pie (which I don’t think was better than the Brecknock) and a Guinness (which I think was).

    Kathryn’s public toilet experience at galway (by kathryn)

    Following our blustery evening meal on the seafront at Salthill I decided to pay the exorbitant price of 10p for the priviledge of using a seafront public toilet. This toilet was unlike any I had seen. After inserting the coinage the green ‘vacant’ light went off and the red ‘occupied’ light winked on as the door slid open, star trek style. Once inside I was greeted with an amazing array of flashing lights and buttons: ‘open door’, ‘close door’, ‘press for paper’ an alarmingly titled ‘SOS’ button and another large one with an orange light which read ‘if toilet is still occupied after 2 mins door will slide open regardless of whatever state of release you may be in’ or something to that effect. I was in and out of that toilet in about 30 seconds as I didn’t relish the prospect of having my toileting techniques showcased for the residents of Salthill.

    London

    Today we drove accross the country. We left the hostel early and made our first stop in the town of Mallow for breakfast at McDonalds. After such a nutritous meal we drove on the Cahir. They have a castle here which we had a look around. It is well preserved but not quite as interesting as the Welsh castles.

    Next stop was the Rock of Cashel. On a large hill at the edge of town is a huge ruin. It is the remains of a large abbey, a round tower and an interesting little chapel. It is very impressive.

    We stopped in Dublin to have something to eat before getting to the airport at about 7pm. This gave us plenty of time to browse the souvineer shop before boarding.

  • Happy New Year

    Matt and Donna joined Sarah at our house for New year’s eve. I know I haven’t published interiors yet but our place is a very small 1 bedroom flat. Not really designed for five adults to share comfortably. However, despite the slightly cramped conditions we enjoyed a quiet night in (compared to last year’s nearly getting crushed to death (I’m serious) in Parliament Square). The main reason we had a quiet night (uncharacteristic for Matt and Donna 😉 was that there was nothing to do in London. We had resorted to watching TV and saw broadcasts from around the world; Sydney Harbour Bridge going up in a blast of fireworks, lots of dragons and festivities in China (even though their year hasn’t finished yet???) and then they cut to London, largest city in Europe and all they can scrape together is about 20 cold looking people standing by the Wheel pretending to be having a great party. Typical of the Poms – the fireworks were cancelled, transport stopped running around mid afternoon. So we sat on the floor and tried to think of things we could bet with in poker (as none of us has any money).

    Padova

    Ok. Back to Italy. One day we caught the train to Padova (Padua). The trains in Italy are quite comfortable on the inside, but on the outside they have discovered that if you clean up the graffiti it will only come back, whereas if you leave it, pretty soon they run out of space to spray. Every train had its own colourful paintjob.

    There is one reason to go to Padova, and that is all the reason you need. Il Capella degli Scrovegni (or something, I don’t have my guidebook to hand). Basically this guy was not well liked by the Church (can’t stand those money-lenders) and they wouldn’t let him have a proper burial, but being rich he didn’t care and so his son (?) built his own chapel for his body to rest in. Not only that but he hired this guy called Giotto to do the paint job. This place is truly stunning. The interior is completely covered in the most incredible frescoes. Like Venice, a few years ago they realised it was falling apart and decided to do something to protect it. Now it is like gaining entrance to NASA. They built a little glass lobby on the outside with airlocks. In the control room are a couple of guys sitting in front of a computer, probably playing solitaire all day. We were ushered through the airlocks for a strictly timed viewing of 20 mins and then were abrubtly told to leave, so the next group could breathe their noxious, paint-dissolving fumes around.

    Here comes the funny bit. Our ticket included entry into the adjacent Museo Civico so we thought we should have a look. It was marginally interesting but the attendants were so pleased to have some visitors that they made sure we saw EVERYTHING. Whenever we tried to deviate from the suggested route and skip a wing or two a little Italian lady would emerge from behind some sculpture and point us in the right direction. The thing was, after we had tried to cut our visit short, they knew they couldn’t trust us and so each attendant would follow us around, making sure we appreciated our stay before handing us on to their collegue in the next room.

    Padua also has a huge Basilica, the Basilica del Santo. It houses the corpse of the town’s patron saint and is still a place of pilgrimage. The tomb is covered in photos of the cured.

    Verona

    Another day we went to Verona, where Romeo and Juliet lived. It is a beautiful city. Dominating the city is the Roman Arena. It was built in 1AD and is now the city’s opera house. Wow.

    Off Via Mazzini, the main shopping street, is ‘Juliet’s house’. Here you can have your photo taken on the balcony or rub the left breast of a bronze statue of Juliet for luck.

    Separating the Piazza della Erbe from Piazza dei Signori is the Arco della Costa, which has a whale rib suspended beneath it. According to legend it will fall on the first ‘just’ person to pass beneath. Needless to say, I was not impaled…

    For a fantastic view of the city we ascened the 12th-century Torre Dei Lamberti. This is an operational bell-tower, so I would advise you to avoid climbing up at a certain time every hour. When you are standing beneath the huge bell as it goes off, it makes a sound that will change the colour of your underwear…

    We passed through Castelvecchio – a 14th-century fortress – on the long walk back to the train station.

    Ciao Venezia

    A week is a long time to spend in Venice, but it really is the most romantic city I have seen – and way cooler than London – and as I look at the covers of Vivaldi CDs at work I often think I’d like to go back.

  • Venice

    White Christmas

    Almost. It snowed in London Yesterday for the first time in 4 years, narrowly missing Christmas day. Kathryn and Sarah were still at Lodge Farm; I had come up to London on Wednesday. After some hesitation I decided to brave the freezing (literally!) weather and ride through the snow to work. Hyde Park looked quite lovely under a thin dusting of snow and I arrived at work unfrostbitten but with numb feet. Photos to follow…

    Venice (at last)

    We went to Venice in June. It was amazing. Even if you haven’t been to Venice you have an idea what it is like. It is even better than you could imagine. It is unlike any other city I have been to. It has this air of faded grandeur about it that does not detract from its beauty at all.

    My number one tip for anyone planning a trip to Venezia is to buy the best most comfortable shoes you can find as you will be doing a lot of walking. Transport options in the city are limited. If you are romantic you can travel by gondola. If you are very rich you can take a water taxi (these make a gondola ride seem cheap). You can take the equivalent of a bus on water: a vaporetto or you can walk. Walking is a great way to explore Venice. You can get to most places in Venice proper by walking (eventually). Venice is one of the most touristed cities on earth but the remarkable thing is if you take a few steps off the main thoroughfare from San Marco to the Rialto and train station you can quickly find yourself alone. You also quickly find yourself lost. But this is not a bad thing in Venice. A map is essential as there are many signs but none of them seem to lead you in the right direction.

    Unfortunately I have misplaced my notes so I may not be able to give you a day by day description of events but I will give you the highlights. Here goes…

    As I stepped off the plane onto the tarmac at Venice airport I wondered why I had not thought it would be hot in Venice. We passed through customs uneventfuly and managed to obtain a couple of tickets for the next waterbus to Vencie as Marco Polo Airport is on the mainland. The surroundings here are fairly industrial and unpleasing but after half an hour we started gliding past the buildings and canals of the city. Stepping off at San Marco we blended into the thronging tourists and proceeded to look for our hotel.

    Hotel Doni

    Now if luxury is what you are after, I could not recommend it, but if you want an authentic experience, a fantastic location and don’t want to spend much then the Hotel Doni has a lot going for it. It is situated on Rio (street next to a canal) del Vin a stone’s throw away from Piazza San Marco. The owner is a stout woman who speaks no English and did not seem to move from behind her counter. Everything she said was accompanied by a large chuckle. Click here for a view of our room.

    The first thing to do in Venice is to take a trip down the Canal Grande. We got on Vaporetto No. 1 and claimed a prime postion on the little open deck at the back. Having been up since about 3.30 that morning we just sat back and let the scenery slide past… look. here too.

    We decided to do the mega touristy things first and nothing comes bigger than the Basilica di San Marco. It was lucky that I hadn’t brought any shorts as visitors are not permitted to wear them and Kathryn had to carry a lace cardigan to cover up her bare arms.

    Just around the corner is the Palazzo Ducale. A beautiful building with stunning walls.

    The Piazza San Marco is amazing. One famous guy whose name escapes me described it as the finest drawing room in Europe. Ahh, ok. It is very cool. There are two cafes on either side of the square and rich people flock to one or the other depending on what time it is (and where the sun is). They both have indoor sections but the place to be is outside in front of the band they have playing salon music out the front. The prices are incredible ( you will pay £10 for a drink including the music charge) but there is nothing finer. The musicians are real virtuosos and the drink to have (because you won’t be able to afford food) is the official cocktail of Carnevale, the Bellini. The waiters are snooty and as I said the prices are astronomical but there is simply no better way to spend a warm evening as the sun is setting over the Basilica casting long shadows across the Piazza. Nothing like it.

    We went to popular places like the Rialto Bridge and the Campanile di San Marco but we also visited less touristed places like the church of San Giorgio Maggiore, the Scala Contarini del Bovolo (meaning snailshell) which we practically had all to ourselves.

    A highlight of Venezia and a place hardly anyone goes to is the island of Torcello. It is a fair boat ride from San Marco but it is worth it. The island is very small with only a couple of eating places, a couple of houses, a tiny museum and a glorious cathedral: the Cattedrale di S. Maria Assunta. Inside is a stunning gold mosaic.

    I shall sign off here as I have square eyes and a sore head, but will continue my tale soon with stories of Verona and Padova…

  • How not to buy a laptop

    I’m back

    Hmmm, where to start??? Most of you who I know will already have received an e-mail from me breifly explaining my absence. So much has happened since the last update in August (!) We have been to Venice Ireland and Scotland. We have moved house, I have started conducting lessons and Kathryn siniging lessons.

    The aforementioned e-mail also contained my new postal address and phone numbers. If you don’t have them e-mail me. Also I have updated the streetmap link to reflect our new address.

    In case you don’t know my computer broke and is only now fixed(?) Here is David’s guide to buying a laptop computer. It’s easy; there are only two points to remember:

    1) Don’t buy a Compaq

    2) Don’t buy anything from Microworld on Tottenham Court Rd

    Follow my advice and you can’t go wrong.

    I must sleep now, but rest assured I will update the site again within the next few days…

    Before you go make sure you look at the photo of the week as it is new. Apart from that there isn’t much new stuff on the site. Yet…