Timed tickets should have been a warning – the space was probably full to its designed capacity. For me the outstanding impact was the representation of Hadrian throughout his rule – each artist created a sculpture of a man whom the “vir in via” must have been able to recognize has they walked past him.

It was wonderful that among the marble the curators included a written plea for support, from a foreign civilian living in northern England, to the regions governor. Perhaps the same man had touched a large amphora, found near Hadrian’s Wall, which was displayed along with an image of a shard mountain of 26million amphora.

A gold sculpture of Kate Moss, created by artist Marc Quinn, is about to go on display at the British Museum. The Independent reports that it's the largest gold statue since the days of Ancient Egypt. The work, dubbed "Siren," is worth about 3 million dollars. It will be on display from October 4 to late January.

Quinn has used Moss as his muse before. Remember this:

Sigh.

Is it just me, or has this whole Kate Moss thing gotten really out of hand ?

--Valentina

E ela o protegia, pois sabia como o mundo é triste e malvado.

Ele tinha uma naturaza tranqüila e era bem inteligente, mas não estava interessado em ser amado e protegido, pois ele estava interessado em outra coisa.

Conseqüentemente, ainda jovem, ele bateu a porta e nunca mais voltou.

Um dia, ela morreu, mas ele nunca ficou sabendo."

(Louise Bourgeois)

O trabalho acima faz parte de uma série de nove gravuras (acompanhadas por pequenos textos) da artista francesa radicada nos Estados Unidos Louise Bourgeois, em exposição na mostra "The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock", em cartaz no British Museum, até 7 de setembro.

A exibição traça um panorama da gravura produzida nos EUA entre 1900 e 1960, com 147 trabalhos de 74 artistas, entre eles John Sloan, Edward Hopper, Josef Albers, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning e Jackson Pollock, além de Bourgeois. As obras fazem parte do acervo do museu, considerado um dos melhores do mundo em gravura americana desse período, marcado pela chegada do modernismo ao país, o jazz, a grande depressão, o crescimento do fascismo na Europa e a Segunda Guerra. A entrada é franca.

It is the second of the three exhibitions being held in the Round Reading Room, but we are also opening an exhibition in our usual temporary exhibition space later this year: Babylon will open on 13 November, and run until 15 March 2009. The exhibition will explore both the archaeology of Babylon during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), but also the rich legacy of modern art inspired by the city.

A preview video can be seen at www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/future_exhibitions/babylon.aspx

Neal Spencer

Greece is a spectacularly beautiful place. Most of my time there was spent hopping around a few islands, and I only spent about 4 hours in Athens before I caught a plane to London at the end of my trip. All I really cared to do was explore the ancient forum and climb up to the Acropolis.

Like the Temple Mount in Jerusalem that is currently home to the Dome of the Rock, the Acropolis, meaning 'sacred rock' is an elevated mountain platform that has always been associated with the sacred and the holy. Since the sixth millennium BCE it has been inhabited or built upon and though it is no longer in use for worshiping the gods, it's still a breathtaking place to visit.

The 360 degree views from the top are spectacular. The columns are insanely enormous and the entire structure dwarves you and all the people hopping around the edges of it. Funny enough, I saw the friezes that adorned the Acropolis a year earlier when I was in London visiting the British Museum. They're also incredible, and I can't imagine what they would have looked like at the top of this amazing structure.

Have you ever been to the Acropolis? What did you think? Have you seen the parts of it that are in the British Museum?

To see and read about another Around the World Pic, click HERE, or to go to the index of Around the World pic posts and a gallery of all previous photos, click HERE. To read this week's Fun with the Bible post, click HERE.

“A fotografia começou bem, com o abrir de uma janela. Não julgo que seja uma coincidência simbólica o facto das fotografias mais antigas que sobrevivem serem fotografias de janelas. A famosa heliografia de Nicéphore (um nome que significa «portador de vitória») Niépce (1765-1833), de 1826 (?), mostra a vista da janela do estúdio do inventor, na sua propriedade Le Gras em saint-Loup-Verennes – uma paisagem pré-cubista, ou pelo menos «cloisonné», com as triangulações de telhados e sombras. (…)

A fotografia foi inventada para servir as artes e a ciência como um Janus de duas caras; marcada pela ambiguidade, nasceu como ciência e cresceu como arte. Talbot tinha uma frustrante negação para o desenho, e por isso se entregou devotadamente à pesquisa de um processo fotogénico permanente; a luz, esse «lápis da natureza», seria o substituto da sua mão desajeitada. Mas uma vez inventada, a fotografia foi logo posta por Talbot ao serviço das causas técnicas, por exemplo auxiliar na decifração de textos cuneiformes do British Museum, em que estava envolvido.

Das obras de Niépce e Daguerre praticamente nada resta, e o que se conhece surpreende mais pelo milagre da técnica do que pela qualidade estética. O primeiro fotógrafo - artista francês foi, indubitavelmente, Bayard. Ignorado pelas entidades oficiais que em 1839 proclamavam a descoberta da fotografia, Bayard destilou o seu rancor num soberbo auto-retrato (1840) que o representa semi-nú, como o cadáver de um afogado. O humor negro é acentuado pela legenda: O governo que deu demasiado ao sr Daguerre, nada fez pelo sr Bayard e o infeliz afogou-se”.

(Excertos do texto de Jorge Calado publicado na Revista Expresso de 7 de Outubro de 1989)

“Se pudesse contar a história com palavras, não precisava de arrastar comigo uma máquina fotográfica”. Lewis Hine

]]> http://chaari.wordpress.com/?p=120 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:43:49 +0000 toranosuke http://chaari.wordpress.com/?p=120 It's been nearly a week since I've updated. I've grown lax. But in the meantime, I've reached new heights of daily hits (though still no comments). Thank you, everyone, for your support!

I changed my banner image some days ago to a section of a Ryûkyû Edo Nobori scroll housed in the British Museum. The scroll was on display two years ago, when I was in London attending SOAS; the British Museum's Japanese gallery had just been reopened after a renovation, with a fantastic exhibit describing Japan's history (not just art history, but political/economic/cultural/social history) through art. This is precisely the sort of thing I should like to do should I hyopthetically ever become a curator.

This scroll is one of a great number of representations of the tribute missions made by representatives of the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa) to the shogun's capital at Edo. The kingdom was a semi-independent vassal to Satsuma han for most of the Edo period, and representatives from the kingdom journeyed to Edo eighteen times over the course of the period, to pay their respects to the shogunate on behalf of the kingdom. These missions were a great source of glory for the Shimazu clan lords of Satsuma, the only daimyo to have a foreign kingdom as its vassal (in fact, when the Ryukyuan king was brought to Japan in 1609-11 as a prisoner of war following Satsuma's invasion of Ryukyu, it was the first time a foreign king had come to Japan), and extensive efforts were made to emphasize the foreignness and exoticness of the kingdom. The passing of the Ryukyu missions, a very rare glimpse of the outside world for the majority of the Japanese people, was thus a very special, rare, vibrant and colorful cultural affair; everything from the costumes of the representatives to their language, dances and song, and the accents on their palanquins, horses, etc. was exotic, exciting, and new. Ryukyu seems to have captured the interest and imagination of a wide range of people, not only commoners and peasants, but also scholars and government officials such as Arai Hakuseki, and artists, who captured the events in paintings and woodblock prints. Official record paintings such as this one were also created by painters officially in the service of the shogunate.

Let's look at the work itself. Its official description on the British Museum website indicates that this pair of handscroll paintings by Kanô Shunkô (d. 1726) represent the 1710 mission, the largest in the history of the practice (168 Ryukyuans accompanied roughly 1000 representatives of Satsuma on the domain's sankin kôtai journey to Edo). It is in amazing condition for an object so old, practically perfect on at least the sections I saw, the colors as vivid and bright as if they were painted yesterday; the paper is covered in gold foil on the reverse side, giving some indication of the high class, formal shogunate Kanô school origin of the work.

I unfortunately can only make out on inscription on the two detail images I have; the man in red being carried in a palanquin on the first detail is identified as the vice envoy, ueekata of Yoza (副使　与座親方, fukushi yoza ueekata). "Ueekata", the Okinawan reading of the characters normally pronounced "oyakata" in Japanese, being one of the ranks of nobility in the Ryukyu Kingdom, and Yoza a placename, the area in which or over which this man was the "ueekata".

I wish I could make out the inscriptions identifying the figures on the other, longer, detail. Though the red color and style of the roof of the palanquin, which suggests perhaps more Chinese-influenced style than what might be seen in Japan, makes me think the man being carried might be the Ryukyuan chief envoy, perhaps even a royal prince, the men all around him are easily identified as Japanese, not Okinawan, by their clothing. Laborers in dark blue carry the palanquin, samurai in light blue, brown, and black accompanying them. Behind them are men in orange costume of a distinctively different, non-Japanese style. Though I cannot read these inscriptions, I can make out at least the character 刀, read "katana" or "tô" and indicating a blade of some sort; I therefore imagine that these inscriptions refer to the weapons carried, not to the carriers. In any case, it is those orange robes and hats, along with the Ryukyuan's facial features, perhaps skin tone, and certainly their language, songs, and dances, which would have seemed marvelously foreign, exotic, and exciting to Japanese who caught a glimpse of the mission as it journeyed overland from Osaka (?, perhaps somewhere else on the Inland Sea coast) to Edo along the major highways of the nation.

The British Museum

Hadrian: Empire and Conflict
Exhibition > 26 October 2008






This special exhibition explores the life, love and legacy of Rome’s most enigmatic emperor, Hadrian (reigned AD 117–138).

The Roman Emperor Hadrian is best known for his passion for Greek culture, interest in architecture, his love for Antinous, and of course the eponymous wall he built between England and Scotland, then Caledonia.

Marble Bust of Hadrian in military dress 125-130 AD.
© Trustees of the British Museum

This exhibition, supported by BP, will look beyond this established image and offer new perspectives on his life and legacy, exploring the sharp contradictions of his personality and his role as a ruthless military commander. Incorporating recent scholarship and the latest spectacular archaeological discoveries, the exhibition will feature over 180 objects from 28 lenders from Italy to Georgia, from Israel to Newcastle. Loans of dramatic sculpture, exquisite bronzes and architectural fragments will be brought together and displayed for the first time in the UK, alongside famous objects from the Museum’s own collection such as the iconic bronze head of Hadrian and the Vindolanda tablets. This exhibition will be held in the Round Reading Room, often compared to one of Hadrian’s architectural masterpieces, the Pantheon in Rome.

Hadrian’s family were originally from Spain. As the Roman Empire expanded and became more diverse in the 1st and 2nd century AD it became possible for people outside the traditional elite to come to power. Hadrian was adopted by his predecessor Trajan, also a Spaniard, on his deathbed. By the time of Hadrian’s accession, the Roman Empire covered much of Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. But Hadrian recognised imperial overstretch and acted quickly to re-draw the empire’s borders, to consolidate and strengthen rather than continuing the expansive campaigns of his predecessor. His first act on coming to power was to withdraw the Roman forces from Mesopotamia, present- day Iraq. Another example of this consolidation was the wall he had built in the north of England to mark the furthest reach of his empire. Hadrian was remarkable in that he travelled extensively across his empire, meeting more of his people than any other emperor before him.

Bronze head from a statue of the Emperor Hadrian, Roman Britain AD 120-130.
Found in the River Thames near London Bridge in 1834.
© Trustees of the British Museum

Hadrian was a man of great contradiction in both his personality and reign: a military man and homosexual, he combined ruthless suppression of dissent with cultural tolerance. He reacted with great ferocity against the Jewish Revolt in 132 AD (examples of poignant objects belonging to Jewish rebels hiding in caves near Jerusalem will be included in the exhibition), but he was also a dedicated philhellene, passionate about Greek culture. He took a young Greek male lover, Antinous, who accompanied him on his travels around the empire. In AD 130, Antinous drowned in mysterious circumstances in Egypt. Consumed by grief, Hadrian founded a new city, Antinoupolis, close to the spot where he died and had Antinous declared a god, linked to the Egyptian deity Osiris. A cult of Antinous-Osiris sprang up resulting in statues, busts and silverware featuring the image of the newly deified youth.

A central theme of Hadrian’s life and his legacy can be found in his strong personal interest in architecture. Under his patronage, highly innovative, iconic buildings were constructed throughout the empire and form a major part of his legacy. The most famous are the Pantheon in Rome and his magnificent residence at Tivoli, a few miles east of the capital. The villa was like a small city, the empire in miniature. It evoked famous sites in Greece and Egypt and was a playground for new architecture, filled with exquisite works of art. The villa is still being excavated and exciting new finds and research will be presented in the exhibition.

All content © Trustees of the British Museum
All rights reserved.

Links

• The British Museum
• Videos about Hadrian [The British Museum website]
  1. Hadrian: Empire and Conflict [duration : 01:26]
  2. Hadrian: a new emperor [duration : 03:03]
  3. Building the wall [duration : 03:14]
  4. The imperial palace [duration : 02:25]
  5. The power of image [duration : 04:10]
• Buy your ticket online [Ticket price £ 12]

Disclaimer & Copyright

TITLE Records and Record Searching A guide to the Genealogist and Topographer 1897. 2nd Edition This is a scanned copy of the original book containing both searchable text and the original graphics. It is provided as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, you can search for names, places and items which may not be in the index. It can be purchased: on CD by Post from either my eBay Store http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Majestic-Mole or my online shop or at a reduced price as a downloadable eBook from my online shop or from lulu.com as a downloadable PDF eBook.

AUTHOR Walter RYE (M: 1843 - 1929 Feb 24)

PUBLISHED LONDON, GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD, 1897

DESCRIPTION British Library Integrated Catalogue entry System number 010242286 Author - personal Rye, Walter. Title Records and record searching : a guide to the genealogist and topographer / Walter Rye. Edition Ed. 2. Publisher/year [S.l.] : George Allen, 1897. Holdings (All) Details Shelfmark W2/9406 DSC Request Bearing in mind this was published in 1897 then certain aspects such as the layout of the record room at the General record office will be historical rather than current. However its discussion about various records and pedigrees is still relevant. From Introduction to 2nd Edition: It is to a great extent an omnium gatherum of references and cross references, not only to the book itself, but of entries contained in various other works on the Records and of any odd references I have come across, especially in the old and practically unindexed folio Reports of the Record Commission, and which I thought may be useful to the general searcher. It may save the casual enquirer much trouble to know where to find some sort of a reference when he wants to find out something about ' contrariants' or ' cowchers' or ' Jornalia' or ' Passage' Rolls, or cannot make out who was the Master of Toyles, or what they did at the Court of the Verge. I hope that my efforts to indicate books likely to be of use to the reader will not be criticized too freely. There are, no doubt, many other works on each subject, and possibly several better than those I have recommended. That I. have not come across them is my misfortune, not my fault. If there were any demand for such a work, an antiquarian digest under subjects would not be very hard to compile. Contents include: How to compile a Pedigree Signs, Abbreviations, and Terms used for Pedigrees How to write the History of a Parish or other place Documents relating to the Subinfeudation, Sale, and Transfer of Land Specimens of Pipe Polls in Tabular Form The Sale and Transfer of Land inter Vivos List of Published Calendars of Fines Legal Proceedings relating to (1) Land, (2) other Matters not criminal Of Criminal Proceedings, &c State Papers, &c Ecclesiastical and Monastic Records, Guilds, &c Parish Registers, Cemetery Books, General Registry Office, Churchwardens' Books, Inscriptions, &c List of Published Parish Registers Fiscal Records, the Subsidy Rolls, &c The Descent of Land, Inquisitions Post Mortem, Proofs of Age, Wills and Administrations Printed Collections of Wills Manorial Records, Court Rolls, &c. Grants from the Crown, Privileges, Titles, &c. The Record Office Record Agents, Transcribers, &c. Chart of the Long Room, Record Office Chart of the Round Room The British Museum—Rules and Regulations Indexes and Handbooks Reading Room Chart Probate Registry City of London Records Lambeth Library The Heralds' College . Printed Visitations. The Bodleian Library, Oxford Cambridge University Library Antiquarian Booksellers, &c. Form of "Writ of Diem Clausit Extremum Form of Inquisition Post Mortem Form of Testament Probate Act . Specimen of Nuncupative Will . Form of Fine Form of Charter Registrar General's Account List of London Cemeteries Classified List of the Master of the Rolls Series of Chronicles, &c. List of Published Domestic State Papers Historical MSS. Commission Reports for Places and Persons (see Index) A short Antiquarian Directory

LANGUAGE: English

SAMPLE You can examine a sample of the book in PDF form here.

PROVISION This eBook is provided as a searchable PDF document (Acrobat format Document) and so you can search for names, places and items many of which are not indexed in the normal index. The Adobe™ Acrobat™ (.pdf) format requires the FREE Adobe™ Acrobat™ Reader . Download and installation instructions for the Adobe™ Acrobat™ Reader are on the Adobe™ website. This reader allows the viewing and printing of the book. There are 271 pages (including blanks, title and advertisng) in the original book. There is one PDF file, in black and white. 004427.pdf. This is the main body of the book. This file is approximately 33MB.

This is a scanned copy of the original book containing both searchable text and the original graphics. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. The text interpretation by optical scanning of the document may not be a precise interpretation of the written text. Users should refer to the scanned image to validate the interpretation of the material.

DELIVERY Inventory #004427. If purchased for postal delivery the file(s) are provided on a CD. Ships from the UK. Posted 1st Class. Air Mail outside UK. You will receive confirmation email on dispatch.

Other books, maps, eBooks can also be bought at:

• my personal web site for eBooks and genealogical materials http://www.majesticmole.com
• at lulu.com for downloadble eBooks.
• my eBay Store http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Majestic-Mole

Ovviamente, sia per la congiuntura economica abbastanza ignobile che l'orbe terracqueo - e lo stivale in particolare - sta attraversando sia per la mia personale che è nella media nazionale è stato un viaggio al risparmio, ovvero ho cercato di limitare al minimo le spese legate alla trasferta e al soggiorno londinese per quanto mi fosse possibile ovviamente. Soprattutto tenendo ben presente che Londra, da quella Regina quale è, non è per niente a buon mercato. Comunque ho risolto.

La Ryanair mi ha fornito i biglietti ad una cifra decisamente modica mentre l'accomodation sarà altrettanto cheap! Allogerò infatti in un delizioso YOUTH HOSTEL (Hotel 63 che sorge al 63 Princes Square, London  per cinque notti all'incredibile costo di £70.88 (circa 100 euro). Ok, ok, va detto che dividerò la room con altre tre persone ma l'idea non mi dispiace affatto...Anche perché non avrò altri accompagnatori che il mio ipoddino (che dovrebbe essere sostituito da un IPODTOUCH!!) e la mia fedele NIKOND40 e questa soluzione mi è sembrata interessante anche come opportunità per conoscere nuove persone e farmi nuove amicizie...

Ma ora basta con le premesse e passiamo al viaggio vero e proprio e al ricco programmino che mi sono fatta:

THURSDAY 25TH SEPT - partenza da Orio al Serio con il Flight FR4185 alle 06.40 am & arrivo a London Stansted alle 07.45 - trasferimento con il mini bus fino in centro, sistemazione nell'hostel Hotel 63, primo giro della zona (Paddington) e acquisto dei biglietti del Tube. Dopo la pappa prima ispezione del centro: da Paddington a King's Cross by Tube quindi a piedi via Tottenham Court Road fino ad Oxford Street proseguendo poi per Piccadilly Circus e i Covent Garden. Giro per negozi (lì around c'è l'Apple Store e una visita è d'obbligo). A sera pappa somewhere e poi clubbing quindi rientro in hostel per meritata nanna.

FRIDAY 26TH SEPT - dopo typical english breakfast trasferimento nuovamente a King's Cross e via Tottenham Court Road raggiungimento del British Museum per una visita ai suoi spettacolari padiglioni. Al pomeriggio passaggio alla National Gallery - Trafalgar Square e altri giretti vari nei dintorni che mi mancano. Rientro in hostel, doccia, relax quindi andrò a vedere uno spettacolo a THEATRELAND (eh si...gli english scrivono t-h-e-a-t-r-e mentre sono gli americani che scrivono t-h-e-a-t-e-r) :->

SAT 27TH SEPT - PORTOBELLO'S ROAD MARKET the world's largest antiques market - la maggior parte della giornata sarà dedicata al caratteristico mercatino delle pulci che ogni sabato anima questa zona dell'area di Notting Hill e raggiungibile comodamente a piedi da dove è l'hostel. Alla sera ancora clubbing!!!

SUN 28TH SEPT - La giornata sarà dedicata a visitare CAMDEN TOWN e le sue attrattive. Anche la serata sarà trascorsa in loco clubbing!!!...

MON 29TH SEPT - La mattina andrò allo SKUNX TATTOO STUDIO [http://skunxtattoo.com/]. Per essere sicura di riuscire a fare il tattoo durante il periodo in cui sarò in London ho mandato una mail  per prenotarlo - non so se mi metteranno proprio questo giorno ma speriamo!!! (adesso voglio qualcosa che resti per sempre con me di questo posto meraviglioso dove mi sento sempre a casuccia!!!)...

TUE 30TH SEPT - Ultima giornata in London...giretto veloce in centro già con la borsa e nel primo pomeriggio trasferimento nuovamente a London Stansted da cui con il Flight FR4198 partirò @ 18:45 ed arriverò a Orio al Serio @ 21:40.

SEMPRE CHE TORNI!!!!...In uno di questi giri potrei anche decidere di cercare un lavoro, un'accomodation (flat-room non importa) e di dare per sempre il farewell a questo paese che capisco sempre meno ogni giorno che passa.

]]> http://michaelhoevel.wordpress.com/?p=34 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:46:45 +0000 michaelhoevel http://michaelhoevel.wordpress.com/?p=34 On Friday, I went to see two Iranian documentaries playing at the British Museum. The second of these documentaries, directed by Ali Tamadon and entitled "Are You Happy?", sees the film crew visits different areas of the country and ask local families this most fundamental of questions. Throughout the 50+ minutes of tape, the range of responses continued to surprise me. Most people -- perhaps out of shyness, naivete, or sheer optimism -- claimed to be happy in their lives. A few of the more nuanced responses stood out to me:

- A middle-aged mother discussed how happiness and sadness are two sides of the same coin. To know one, you must know the other.

- A teenage boy, squirming in front of the camera, confesses to being unhappy, full stop, but begs the director to not force him to reveal why.

- An old woman, who looks to be in her 80s, talks of hardships and the deaths of her loved ones. She prays to Allah that she will be taken to a place where these burdens will be taken away.

- A Tehran-based documentary filmmaker claims he is happy only when he is allowed to speak his mind and express freely what he sees around him.

The film never bored. The camera frames were beautifully set and simple, showing the interviewee in his home with his family in the background. It drove the point home to me that happiness (or contentment, as I prefer to think of it) is a mindset and is only tangentially linked to actual events of your life.

This truth was echoed in the memoirs of a young autistic savant, which my friend Stephane sent me. Called Born on a Blue Day, it describes the life of 27-year-old Daniel Tammet, the oldest of nine children born to a poor East London family. Tammet's childhood could be seen as brutal: several bouts of epilepsy, Asperger's syndrome, poverty, homosexuality, and social dislocation at home and school. Despite all this, he manages to find a decent life for himself by just being upfront, embracing his savant abilities, and openly admitting his quirks and apparent ineptitudes.

This focus on happiness is particularly useful in a time when material excess is increasingly the norm in the developed world. Clothes, appliances, furniture -- even houses, for that matter -- are increasingly made to be disposable. Fat middle-aged Americans are now making way for fat Chinese children. Almost 1/3 of the food purchased and brought home in the UK is thrown out. Something doesn't seem right.

This debate has even entered the academic world. While studying at the London School of Economics, I came across the work of Richard Layard, one of the university's professors who has pioneered a branch of economics that he refers to as "happiness economics." Rather than allocating resources to maximise wealth, Layard argues that they should be allocated to maximise people's happiness. A simple enough premise to argue for, but how do these models differ? When measuring optimal economic outcomes, he claims that neo-classical economics fails to consider (or purposefully disregards) the psychologically damaging impacts of inequality, the implicit costs of our evolving tastes, and our path dependency for material objects which we have grown accustomed to. The effect is a society which works harder than it should and is less happy (Incomes contribute to greater happiness, studies suggest, only up until $10-15,000 US dollars annual income... maybe that's why so many Japanese are committing suicide...)

And Layard is not alone in the academic world. Other economists, such as Cornell University's Robert Frank, argue for an entirely new form of taxation which is based on consumption rather than earnings (Look out for his book Luxury Fever for a more detailed explanation). Frank argues that high wage-earners who save their money should not be disincentivised from being productive; tehy are, in fact, facilitating future investment (either directly or through middlemen such as banks) by saving what they have earned. On the other hand, the more they consume, on average, the more they should be taxed, with items considered most luxurious taxed at the highest rate. This way, non-productive consumption could still have a place in the market, but its social cost (in terms of the inequality it produced) would be more properly reflected.

Big Ben From Trafalgar Square

Originally uploaded by Pat and Amy's pics

We spent this last weekend in London, and it was hard to avoid thinking about what-might-have-been. In the spring of 2007, Amy accepted a job in London, and we had planned to live there for two years. We didn’t feel we could move without first selling our house in Corvallis, though, and unfortunately we were caught in the real estate downturn. As we waited and hoped for the house sale that didn’t come soon enough, we planned our move to England for August of last year. Eventually, though, after weeks and months of no offers on the house, we had to pass on London and wait for the house to sell before looking for a new place to move. So, as we sat in a little Italian restaurant in the City on the first night of our London trip, I realized the dinner could have been a celebration of our one-year anniversary in England, had things turned out just a bit differently.

We love Cork and are happy to be living here, but London is wonderful, and by the end of our first full day, we were already rearranging our future European travel plans to include another trip to London. Or two.

With a population of a bit over 7 million people (the number seems to vary depending on just how you define London), London is a huge city, but we found it easy to find our way. Some people complain about the London Underground, but it was so easy to hop on and off the tube, and our hotel was only a four minute walk to St. Pancras/King’s Cross, which is a station for six different tube lines. Within a few minutes, we could get most places without even transferring.

It was incredible to come out of the tube station at Westminster that first evening and see Big Ben and the Parliament Building, then turn to look across the Thames and see the London Eye. Neither of us had been to London before but I was struck time and again over the weekend by how familiar so much of it was, because we’ve all seen London countless times in movies and on television.

Everything is well sign-posted on the tube and on the streets, and it’s easy to find your way with a good map and guidebook (we bought the Time Out Shortlist guide and it was perfect for us – large enough to have lots of useful information but small enough to fit in a pocket). It was time to explore the city.

Our first evening was spent on a short river cruise from Westminster Bridge to London Bridge, followed by dinner in the City. Saturday we wandered the South Bank, Sunday we roamed from Westminster over to the Natural History Museum, and Monday we walked around the West End before flying back to Cork late that night. Over the three and a half days, we visited the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the British Library, the Tate Modern, and Harrods, as well as several parks. We saw (just from the outside) St. Paul’s Cathedral, the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and Westminster Abbey.

As I mentioned, we’ve already begun plotting our return to London, and we decided that each time we go we’ll visit the British Museum. A person could spend a week there and not see all it contains. We also plan to see a show, and get inside St. Paul’s Cathedral and Winchester Abbey.

The food was great (no, really, it was), and coming first from Corvallis, Oregon, and then Cork, Ireland, seeing the diversity of people in London was fantastic. Take it from someone who participated in the Cork Spencer Tunick installation, Ireland is overwhelmingly white.

Our hope, and our fear, is that we’ll similarly fall in love with each new place we visit. Hope because of course we came to Europe to see as much of it as we could, and we look forward to seeing as much as we can. Fear because there just isn’t enough time to see everything, and we’ll always be torn between seeing something new and going back to a city we love.

The exhibition, perhaps inspired by Edward Said’s ‘Orientalism’, certainly makes the visitor an observer, not a participant. It perhaps argues against his overriding viewpoint. Sir Robert Shirley, who became an Ambassador for Shah Abbas, and the various British merchants who lived in the great trading cities of the Near East dressed in the current style of the country they lived in, speak volumes about their viewpoint. Details such as an artist, John Lewis, creating what could be a self-portrait of him at prayer in a Mosque and Shirley’s wife, Teresia, holding a pistol add to an alternative view.
Sir Robert Shirley, who was 19 when he started his work for the Persian Shah Abbas, stands well shaved, enrobed in Persian style garments. His cape could have been the inspiration for the dramatic carpet in the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat.

Elsewhere, in the gallery, I came across more reminders of Muscat; a watercolour by the Victorian artist Arthur Melville cited as being inspired by a cockfight in Muscat. The cocks have been lost to history and the vast Iwan framing the scene also been lost within the sands of Muscat, if it were more than an architectural frame for the birds fight in front.

While at the Tate, apart from enjoying the extraordinary collection of British art, people were running through the Duveen Galleries (empty of art incidentally) – perhaps referencing the Chinese Olympics.
Along the Victoria Line, I wanted to meet with Jessica Harrison-Hall who curates Chinese Ceramics at the British Museum. Regularly in Oman I come across a surprising quantity of Chinese Ceramic , and needed some advice. Up the stairs of the Great Court, flooded with visitors, and across to room 90. Press on the curator's doorbell and was greeted with “we need to evacuate the building” . The slightly irritating tone in the background had been an evacuation signal! Fortunately, after extensive checking, the all clear was sounded and Jessica almost trumped the evacuation notice with “these are easy”; and of course, that’s why I knew she would be the ideal person to answer my queries.
Not all ceramic shards have a shiny glaze on both sides and today mine did not – I missed my opening into the Hadrian Exhibition – another day will be needed I think

Outside Things:

London is one of the worlds greenest cities.  I mean cities with a lot of green space rather than environmental, tree hugging hippies clad in raffia.  Unlike New York’s Central Park most of those green spaces are also relatively free of deranged crack head murderers.  Sadly the same cannot be said for joggers, roller bladers and people with stupidly small designer dogs whose pooh is decidedly undesigner.  Here are a few of my favourites:

Kensington Gardens

This is probably my favourite of all the parks.  It has a very large boating lake on which you can hire average sized boats and row about pretending you are either a) Captain Blood or b) at the Henley Regatta, depending on which fantasy your child is indulging in at the time.  There are lots of birds to feed.  There is also the Statue of Peter Pan which is rather lovely if you find it on a day when it is not covered over with the heaving bodies of Italian tourists.  The main attraction for children is the Princess Diana Memorial Park, which is a bit of a mouthful but well worth a visit.  When I used to take Tilly there they had a full sized pirate ship, mega giant teepees, a musical garden with lots of things to stamp and clang and ding, sand and water, as well as all the usual play park suspects.  It is free to get in, but they sometimes stagger numbers because it can get really busy.  There is also Kensington Palace and The Serpentine Gallery.  The one big advantage of the Serpentine Gallery is that it is quite small, so you can have a shot of culture before your child gets too bored and starts to wreck the joint.

Golders Hill Park

This is in Golders Green.  It’s on the main road between Golders Green Tube station and Hampstead ponds.  Any bus which turns left out of Golders Green bus Station which is right outside the tube station goes by it.  If you ask the driver they will let you off at the right place.  If you want to walk from central Golders Green it’s uphill all the way, which is why I advocate the bus, although it’s only a ten minute walk.  The children however will make it seem like at least a week.  This is a gloriously rolling green, lush park.  It has the standard play equipment but also has an aviary, a Trumptonesque bandstand and an excellent tea room.  It adjoins parts of Hampstead Heath and there are lots of signposts to other exciting places if you’ve got the time for a trek.

Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath sprawls for miles.  Some of it is wooded, some of it is open.  There are bathing ponds and other things, but mainly it’s just a glorious piece of wild land right near one of the most lovely, villagey parts of North London.  You can walk from Hampstead through to Highgate if you wish.  You can also walk into the grounds of Kenwood House, which is a wonderful place to visit in its own right.  On bank holidays they quite often have fairs on the Heath.  Occasionally they have old fashioned steam fairs with carousels and old fashioned slot machines (they swap you your money for old pennies) which is loads of fun.

Kenwood House

Kenwood House is a glorious Regency style mansion house between Highgate and Hampstead.  It’s on Spaniards Lane which connects the two.  The easiest thing to do is either take a bus from Hampstead ponds to Highgate or from Highgate to Golders Green.  You will pass Kenwood House.  You can walk to it, but it’s a good twenty minute walk from either village.  Kenwood House is fairly empty, although it has some art, and sometimes some travelling exhibitions.  It has a very pretty orangery.  One of the benefits of taking children there is that there isn’t much they can wreck or touch and it’s a fairly quick visit unless you’re really into Regency mouldings.  The glory of Kenwood is its setting, facing Hampstead Heath and its lovely grounds.  There is a lake where in the summer months they have concerts and firework displays.  There is a nursery (plants rather than kids) and there is a magnificent tea rooms which does fantastic cakes, home made soups and other scrummy things.  It is very, very popular, especially on weekends and especially in the tea room, so try in the week if you want a bit of peace and not to have to queue for your scones.  It’s free to get in and a great place to let the kids run their legs off.

Highgate Cemetery

Highgate cemetery is marvellous and not as macabre as it seems.  It’s in the middle of Highgate village, down a very steep lane just off the main square.  The easiest way to get to the village centre is to take the Northern Line tube to Archway and get on a bus up Highgate Hill into the centre of the village.  Highgate does have its own tube stop but its in an odd place and you will have a good ten to fifteen minute walk into the centre of the village.  It is very hilly, so be prepared.  The cemetery is split into two halves. One half is free to get into and you can wander around unfettered.  This is the half where Karl Marx is buried. It is very neat and tidy and rather unremarkable.  On the other side of the road is the original Victorian bit.  This is amazing.  You can only take a tour around it though, but it’s well worth it.  The tours are run by a volunteer charity organisation called The Friends of Highgate.  They do everything from repairing stonework to weeding and they are all passionately committed to preserving the site.  I have done the tour about half a dozen times, each time with a different guide and each time learned something new.  The tour groups are small and not suitable for very young children unless you are prepared to carry them or have a sling type arrangement.  Older kids who are prepared to do a bit of walking will love it.  It’s dense and jungly and full of wildlife and the most amazing plants.  There are also pyramids, statues of lions, mausoleums and catacombs.  It’s one of my favourite places in the world and is fantastic fun.  Nobody I have ever taken there, or recommended go there has been disappointed.

Waterlow Park

Halfway up or down Highgate Hill, depending on which end you’re coming from, is Waterlow Park (follow the instructions for how to get to the cemetery).  It’s a nice place to picnic and has a tea room in the old house that stands in the grounds.  It also has good kids play facilities and is just in a lovely setting.  Going to the cemetery and then having a picnic in the park is a great day out.  Sometimes they do outdoor theatre there and even promenade theatre, which is lots of fun.

Coram’s Fields

 This is a dedicated childrens play park.  By dedicated I mean that adults who are unaccompanied by children are not allowed in.  It is in Holborn in the centre of the city near Great Ormond Street Hospital.  It is completely enclosed and perfectly safe and has some fantastic play equipment.  There are fountains that can be splashed in, water that can be channelled through tunnels and spigots, beaches worth of sand and play areas for everyone from toddlers to teens.  There is a café and an aviary and petting zoo as well as areas for playing football and other sports.  It’s all free and every time I’ve been I’ve had as much fun as the kids.  I can’t resist messing about in water.  It does get messy though, so a towel would be advisable.

Borough Market

By London Bridge, Borough market is open on weekends and is dedicated to food in all its glory.  It’s a great place to take kids as long as you keep your eye and hand firmly on them.  There are a myriad of smells and colours and tastes, and lots of people are willing to let you try before you buy.  There is something to please every palate and it’s a real sensory treat.

Spitalfields Market

Spitalfields has partial markets open for most weekdays but blooms on a Sunday.  There are all kinds of stalls including places where you can get a free head massage, or buy a bird whistle made from bamboo.  There is a glorious toy shop selling fabulous old fashioned toys and it’s busy without being overwhelming.

Columbia Road Flower Market

This too opens on a Sunday.  It’s about ten minutes walk from Spitalfields market.  It’s a riot of colour and smells and a great place to poke about even if you don’t want plants or flowers.  It’s got a great atmosphere and lots of funky little shops and stalls selling all kinds of interesting stuff has sprung up around it.  Somewhere near here is also a children’s farm which is very popular.

London Zoo

On the edge of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill this is one of the best kept and most interesting zoos in the world.  There is lots to do and lots of child friendly exhibits.  There are often things staged at different heights for kids of all ages to see and they often have special events.  Check out the programme before going.  It is not cheap, but there is enough to make a day of it here.  The penguins are one of my favourite things and their enclosure is an art deco architectural gem.  At Christmas they have a live action nativity complete with bad tempered camels.  Not to be missed.

Boat Trips

A boat trip along the Thames is always fun, although not cheap.  Especially now that the dock areas are all being redeveloped there is a lot more to see.  Taking a trip to Grenwich is lovely.  Grenwich has lots to do, even though the Cutty Sark has burned down!  Other trips include canal boat trips from Camden Lock round Little Venice.  These get packed out at weekends but are a novel way of seeing the city.

Covent Garden

The good thing for kids here is the street theatre.  There’s always someone somewhere sawing a lady in half or juggling kippers.  It’s all free, which is good, and it’s outdoors so they can’t dismantle the hat stand while they’re watching.  You can also walk away if you’re bored and go and find something else to do.  If you want something to do that you have to pay for, Pollocks toy museum is here.

Grenwich Meridian

If you go to Grenwich you can go and tramp about the park, which is really beautiful, and while you’re there you can go and straddle the Grenwich Meridian and mess the children’s head up with the concept of time zones.  There is a museum and a tour.  I can’t remember if it’s free or if you have to pay.  It wasn’t very interesting unless you like clocks and it’s one of those old fashioned places where everything is in glass cases, but the park is fun.

The South Bank

This is where the London Eye is and the National Theatre.  On weekends they have all kinds of free events outside along the Thames Path.  There are buskers and theatre shows, there is a skate park and people practicing that jumping off buildings thing, the name of which escapes me.  There is a huge book fair every Saturday outside.  At the moment they have a giant green living room complete with giant sized sofa and chairs and a standard lamp, all of which you can play on.  There is a lawn where you can lounge about (last year it was a beach), and there are always things to see.  Walk one way and you get to the London Aquarium.  Walk the other and you find a funny little square of driftwood sculptures, quaint craft shops and cafes and eventually you get to the Oxo Tower, where even if you aren’t going to eat you can go to the top of and look at the magnificent views over London.

Kew Gardens

Visit the giant lily pads, try to climb the trees (but don’t let them catch you), run riot amongst the colours and smells.  They have lots of events and things to do.  Even if there isn’t it’s a lovely place to go.  In the cold weather the hot houses are lovely.  In the warm weather the kids can play in and out of the sprinklers and eat ice cream.

Indoor Things:

Toys

My children like to play with toys.  London has some of the best toy shops and toy departments in the world.  Lots of them have hands on things where you can actually go and play.  On a wet day, when you haven’t much money this is an excellent thing and way better in my opinion than going to a mums and tots group.  Hamleys on Regents Street is four floors of childhood consumer therapy.  I don’t like it as much as Harrods Toy Department (Harrods is on the Brompton Road).  Daisy and Tom’s on Kensington High Street is also fantastic and has a half sized, fully working carousel on the first floor which is sometimes available for rides, although only at certain times, which you will have to check.  The Tridias toyshop in South Kensington is small but very funky.

Churches:

Churches can be a bit stuffy, but London has some crackers, from St Pauls with the whispering gallery, to Westminster Cathedral with lots of those very excellent layey downy type tombs with swords and crowns and statues of dead dogs.  It all depends how macabre your child is and whether you take advantage of the cool stuff like organ practice, no child can resist the thunder of a church organ tuning up, or choir practice, or trips up the bell tower, or gargoyle tours or visits to the catacombs.  There are hundreds of churches in London offering variations on these things.  A little known fact about most churches is that they also usually have excellent tea rooms.  Children like cake.

Bookshops:

Lots of the big bookstores these days do dedicated things for kids.  Borders has a flagship store on Oxford Street with a huge children’s department.  You will need to check their schedule but throughout the holidays and weekends, both they and Waterstones offer story time, craft afternoons, themed days and other such entertainments, all of which are free and will keep children busy for at least an hour.  Our local Borders sometimes even has experiment days. At the last one, my kids got to make snow.  There will always be free colouring facilities even if there aren’t any scheduled entertainments.  On a day out in London when kids often just get dragged from pillar to post it can make a nice day out just to stop off for twenty minutes for stories and colouring.  Libraries also offer these facilities and although you won’t be able to take books out you will be able to avail yourself of the facilities.  There are several specialist childrens bookshops in London but these come and go and the ones I used to visit probably won’t be there anymore, but it’s worth checking the area you’re visiting online and seeing what’s available.

Museums:

There are specialist childrens’ museums such as Pollocks Toy Museum and the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood (this is free to get into and is the sister museum to the V&A).  Other museums now realise that it is important to keep children entertained and will often run events during the holidays.  Even without events they can be good fun.  My children always loved The National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, both of which are free to get into.  Some museums run treasure hunts with sheets of things to find and tick off.  These are great fun, and you can always improvise your own.  These are great in picture galleries because you can put the oddest things down on your lists.

The Science Museum and Natural History Museum are perennial favourites with kids. These are by South Kensington tube, along with the V&A.  The V&A is free, but not as kid friendly.  The others are expensive but well worth it.  You can easily spend a day in each and still not see everything.  The Science Museum is my favourite and is generally a lot more geared up for children.  They have tons of interactive exhibits and whole galleries devoted to children and doing experiments.  They also have things like recreations of earthquakes and tornados which are good for a frisson of excitement.

I wholeheartedly recommend the British Museum.  Certain exhibits you have to pay for, others are free.  The mummies are top drawer, the treasure from the Sutton Hoo ship burial is real treasure and has golden swords and armour and stuff and it's a proper, exciting museum.

There is a theatre museum in Covent Garden.  I believe it is currently closed, and am not sure when it reopens, but the last time I went it was fabulous for children.  They do makeup classes several times a day where a makeup artist comes in and shows you the tricks of the trade and then makes up one lucky child from the audience.  The day we went they had a workshop on making shoes where we all got covered in glitter and feathers and glue.  They also have a stage and a huge dressing up box, although what it will be like when the renovations are over is hard to say.  Worth checking out though.

MOMI is the Museum of the Moving Image on the South Bank.  It charges admission but is worth it.  Go to Waterloo Station or London Bridge station and follow the signs.  They employ resting actors to portray actors or tap dancing teachers or Hollywood directors and they all interact with you.  There is a recreation of an old fashioned cinema and a full sized Dalek.

London Aquarium

There is the shark tunnel and lots of hands on stuff to do including petting the rays.  Sometimes you can be around at feeding time and watch the divers feed the sharks.  Not cheap, but atmospheric and educational as well as being rather good fun.

The London Dungeon

This is not really very suitable for small children but slightly bigger ones will love it. Is right by London Bridge so can be combined with Borough market on a weekend for a good day out of food and gore.  Lots of waxworks, lots of actors dripping with Vincent Price voices.  Much more fun than Madame Tussauds and roughly the same price.

Places to Eat:

Marine Ices

This is in Camden. Good Italian food and amazing ice cream.  A favourite with residents.  It’s usually very busy but worth the wait.  A nice family atmosphere.

Patisserie Valerie

There only used to be two branches of this place, one on Brompton Road and another by the Conran Shop on Fulham Road.  Now they’re springing up like mushrooms everywhere.  This is a good thing.  It’s not cheap but the cakes are amazing and you can get old fashioned plates of cakes and tiny delicate sandwiches and it’s such a very special treat.  Their chocolate éclairs are a divine inspiration.

Harrods Food Hall

Even if you’re not hungry you should go to Harrods Food hall just to feast your eyes. It is what the word cornucopia was invented for.  My eldest daughter used to beg me to take her there so we could marvel over all the things.  The food looks like jewels or sculptures or magic.  Each section now has its own little eatery where you can sit perched at a counter, eating your lunch and rubbernecking at the world passing by.  Fabulous.

Eds Easy Diner

There used to be branches in Brent Cross and in Hampstead.  Now I believe there is one in Soho and one somewhere on the Finchley Road.  A proper diner with your milkshakes coming in those big metal jugs (you can even have peanut butter flavour if you so wish) and real diner fayre served at counters with red fake leather seats and lots of chrome.  All the American classics as well as a few twists such as cheesey fries or fries with gravy.

My week's comings and goings have been good subject matter for reflecting on the different ways that people go about representing themselves and relating to others. The idea for a blog came about on Thursday when I was reading an article in the Financial Times by Stefan Stern about a woman who charges £1200 ($2400) for a series of 3 personal branding consultations.

Working in corporate branding, I'm fairly well-acquainted with the concept (and, for the record, think that it is quite useful for organisations). At the same time, I find it more than a bit repugnant to apply the concepts to one's personal life. Brands are means of communicating messages more concisely and more efficiently; they help organisations specialise and generally make markets contain more value.

The festering problem is that I believe humans to be inherently inconsistent and inefficient (and that is often what make me find them interesting). We are not meant to be automatrons that produce expected outputs when prodded in a certain way. Eve picked the fruit, Adam chowed, and the rest is history (sorry, Jesus).

I suppose that's why I find it funny when people posture. On Wednesday night , for instance, I had the fun of going to the Luxury Council of Europe's annual summer party on the rooftop of a building overlooking the Thames. One of the sponsors was a maker of "hat couture" (haute couture, get it?), and they sponsored 15 or 20 women to strut around in some of the most outrageous examples of head architecture that I've ever seen. Personal branding = "I'm over the top / I don't care what you think / Don't you think I'm worth it?"

Contrast this to the fact that my best friend Molly in California gave birth to a baby boy named Julius (fitting as he was born through Caesarian section) on Tuesday. To me, this is personal branding at its other most logical extreme. At its best, becoming a parent is a symbol of the realisation that we can (and need to?) live beyond the realm of our own personal world and that it is, in fact, our ability (or desire) to leave an impression which transcends our "personal brand" which gives our lives value.

In between these two extremes lies those who either consciously reject this decision or purposely evade it. On Thursday, I went to the new Hadrian exhibition at the British Museum. One of the striking features of the exhibit (which the curators also seem to emphasise) is the fact that this great Roman emperor was married to Sabina, the great niece of Trajan (Hadrian's predecessor) and a woman whom Hadrian publicly honoured as his empress yet privately seemed to feel little affection for. Instead, it was a young boy called Antinous who kept Hadrian's affection and whose premature death by drowning caused him to "weep like a woman". People today might accuse Hadrian of inconsistent or fickle "personal branding"; I say he was living according to the demands of his own reality.

Alternatively, I recently met up with some friends for dinner and shisha smoking on Edgeware Road. One of them went on and on about her need to keep her Facebook profile private, even from her closest friends. She explained that it made the telling of "white lies" much easier when she needed to evade a social situation. In today's world, I can understand her desire to do this. One might call it an underexploited personal brand, but I say that she is managing the reputation risks of her brand quite rationally.

When talking to another friend about my idea for this blog, he turned to philosophy and debated the choice between being who we are and being who we want to be. Ulitmately he argued that our identity -- our meaning -- is a choice which we make for ourselves consciously. There are no right or wrong answers in his opinion, but the caveat is that we must be accountable for the direction that we eventually decide to take (or for the decision to remain indecisive).

I like this answer, and I suppose that this is the closest thing to a "personal brand" that I'll ever get. It places me somewhere between the person I am and the person I want to be -- fallible to the end but always cognisant of my ability to improve.

Somewhat obviously, I arrived safely at Heathrow via Toronto at 7am GMT :)  Met Lizzie at the airport, went to meet her uncle at the British Library, where we stored my bags for the afternoon.  Walked to the British Museum and saw cool things there (including, of course the Rosetta Stone, mummies and other cool Egypt stuff.  I was quite tired and when we sat down zoned out and thought I was in an airport a few times haha.  But that didn't stop me from having a fab time with some huge stone sculpture fragments (and yes, I obeyed the Do-Not-Touch sign).

Next day involved train to Stratford-upon-Avon (which involved a tube station that had up stairs leading to down stairs leading to up stairs leading to down stairs.  Thank you from the tired American with a heavy bag).  Walking around Stratford, enjoying being inside when it rained, and noting that really, all there is to the town is Shakespeare.

And of course Hamlet... :D I wrote up a page or two in my journal, and should be so anxious as to know my every thought on the matter, I'm sure I would love to share (time and desire-willing, of course).  Suffice it to say, I am now fully convinced of the imperative nature of seeing Shakespeare's works performed (which I have done before, but this really was brilliant).  I was likewise reminded of the remarkable number of quotable lines in Hamlet, the difficulty of delivering the "To Be..." speech (David Tennant delivered it wonderfully, but really my only issue with his performance was that he didn't move during it...which distracted me a bit.  Although his timing and elocution were spot on).  And I found myself delighted by the simple (and yet complex haha) line Julie and I (for some reason) loved from Kenneth Branaugh..."Words, words, words."  Loved DT's interpretation :)  Okay, but really...not going into all my impressions of the play ;)

Speeding things up a bit...Came back to Lizzie's house after the play, and yesterday went to visit Beningborough Hall.  Reminded me of Williamsburg and Pride and Prejudice...take from that what you will.  Beautiful and ornage building and furnishings.  Today we explored York, toured York Minster...which was amazing...but I think I'll leave you hanging there, and with any luck I'll get around to coming back to this ;)  Off to Scotland tomorrow (via Durham)...be in Edinburgh for a day, then day trip through Highlands, ending with a few days in Oban.