The Bard’s Hometown

We spent the day in Stratford-upon-Avon, best known as the birthplace and endplace of the incomparable William Shakespeare (1564-1616) (although our own local bard tells us that John Milton was a better poet, notwithstanding Shakespeare’s many unforgettable plays). Here’s the rundown of our visit.

We first went to the family cottage of Anne Hathaway, William’s wife. It is about a mile outside of Stratford in the village of Shottery. She was the daughter of a wealthy farmer, Richard Hathaway. Members of the Hathaway family lived there until 1892, when they moved to America and left a legacy of acting talent, such as the namesake and star of Princess Diaries, Anne Hathaway (just kidding!).

We then went to Shakespeare’s birth home in the middle of town. Here’s a picture of Curtis and Hannah between the garden and the house. It is followed by a picture of Lynn, Christopher, Brandon, and Curtis hanging out on a nearby bench.

After walking around Stratford for a short while, we found Trinity Church, which is on the banks of the Avon. Shakespeare was baptized here. It is also the resting place of Anne and William.

Here’s a photo of Shakespeare’s grave. We enjoyed the epitaph.

In the same area of the church is a first edition King James Version of the Bible, published in 1611. The KJV was the result of several year’s work by more than 50 translators and a number of church committees.

We finished the day with an matinée performance of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I, by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Courtyard Theatre. David Warner was wonderful as Falstaff.

Roman Holiday

Lynn, Brian, and Chris joined 5 of the BYU students on a weekend trip to Rome, Italy.  It was beautiful, warm, and fascinating.

We stayed at a Youth Hostel near the Termini Train Station.  We all bunked together, but shared a bathroom with the whole floor.  We met a girl, Rachel Bryson, from Canada; she was alone, so she joined the group. 

We saw the Colosseum, the ancient ruins of the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Capitoline Hill, and their tomb of the unknown soldier. 

 

 

 

We loved the Piazza Navona with the artists, musicians, and street performers.

 

We saw the Pantheon, the Piazza de Popolo, and many beautiful statues.  We visited Vatican City and saw the Pieta at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums that held the Sistine Chapel.  All the paintings were exquisite. 

 

 

 

 

The pizza was interesting. You could get French fries, potato chips, hot dogs, or Nutella on it. We’d take New York style anytime.  The boys and students loved the gelato and ate it at most meals. It was a much more foreign country than we had been to before. Few people spoke English, but we managed to get through it.  The contrast in religious and pagan history was still quite evident. We loved the cobble stone streets and alleyways filled with little shops and restaurants.

Hampton Court

We spent a cold and cloudy day at Hampton Court, the model of excess built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and expanded by the Tudor and Stuart royal houses. It was interesting to wander through the many rooms and learn how they were used. We’ll have to return when the gardens are in bloom.

Here’s Curtis with Henry VIII.

Brandon and Curtis tried on period costumes at the learning centre.

Here’s a shot of Lynn and the boys on the stairs that lead to the Queen’s apartments.

The courtyard featured a fountain and well kept grass, whereas the garden, though not in bloom, still presented some interesting designs.

Runnymede, Windsor & Stoke Poges

We spent a beautiful day west of London visiting the site where King John was compelled (he claimed it was under duress) to sign the Magna Carta, Queen Elizabeth’s weekend home, and Thomas Gray’s inspiration for writing his famous 18th century elegy.

Our first stop was Runnymede for a muddy trek across a meadow to see a plaque and monument that were set up by the American Bar Association in honor of the signing of the Magna Carta, the document that the nobles forced upon (so he claimed) King John in 1215. One of its stipulations was the inspiration for the due process rights that we hold so dear. Others anticipated the right to habeas corpus. Here’s the plaque.

There’s also an Air Force memorial up Cooper’s Hill from the Magna Carta monument.

It was then on to Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth’s modest weekend home. It is incredibly large. There’s little trace of the 1992 fire that destroyed several rooms and halls.

The moat features a garden rather than deep water to keep out the invading hordes.

We think Curtis looks quite royal!

St. George’s Chapel is the burial site for Henry VIII, his third wife, Jane Seymour, Charles I, Edward IV, George III, George IV, George V, George VI, and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who died in 2002. Many other members of British royalty are also buried there.

From Windsor, it was then on to a more humble setting, Stoke Poges, which is best known as the village where Thomas Gray (1716-71) wrote the timeless “Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard.” A local poet, David Anthony, kindly took us on a tour of the St. Giles Church grounds, where Gray is buried. We also got a glimpse inside the church.

The inside of the church features some remarkably beautiful 100-year-old stained glass (this photo is only a crude glimmer of what it really looks like).

Here are Christopher, Hannah, and Curtis taking a break on a bench in front of the church.

Livin’ on Tolkien Time

We just returned from a too brief trip to Oxford, a great city in a beautiful part of England. Of course, given our unabashed admiration, bordering on love, for The Lord of the Rings, some of us (sorry Lynn) treated it as a J.R.R. Tolkien pilgrimage.

Hence, here are some images from Tolkien’s Oxford. First, here is a picture of Merton College, where Tolkien was Merton Professor of English Language and Literature (moving there from his post as Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford’s Pembroke College; he was also a student at Oxford’s Exeter College).

As is well known by fans, the Inklings, which included Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams, used to gather every week for lunch in the Rabbit Room of The Eagle and Child pub (also known affectionately as the Bird and Baby). They later moved across the street to the Lamb & Flag, which also may have served as the main writing locale for Thomas Hardy as he worked on Jude the Obscure.

In one report, Tolkien is said to have claimed that Sauron’s temple to Morgoth in The Lord of the Rings looked like the Radcliffe Camera. We didn’t hear any reports of human sacrifice – like in Morgoth’s temple – but perhaps Tolkien found the place disturbing! We took this picture from the tower of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

Another report claims that Tolkien found inspiration for the One Ring (My Precious) from the posy rings that were popular in the 17th century. We saw this collection at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

All right, enough of Tolkien for now. We also visited Christ Church, the Oxford College that gave us John Locke, Christopher Wren, and Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. It is also famous for one grim episode in English history and for inspiring the Hogwart’s dining area in the Harry Potter movies (some scenes were filmed here, but the movie crew had to build the set to fit all the Hogwart’s students). The grim episode involves the Massacre at St. Frideswide on 13 November 1002 (also known as the St. Brice’s Day Massacre), when a group of Danish residents were burned alive as they sought refuge in the church. Christ Church Cathedral now stands on this spot. The massacre was precipitated by King Aethelred the Unready’s ill-advised order to kill all Danish residents of his kingdom. This led to a Danish invasion in 1003 led by King Sveyn Forkbeard and his warriors. Oxford was later torched by the Danes in 1009. Fortunately, this area of Oxford is much more peaceful now.

Here’s the final shot of the day: Lynn, Brandon, and Curtis in front of a gate that leads to the Christ Church College grounds.

Paris trois

Before we say farewell to Paris, we wanted to make one more entry since we realized we hadn’t shown you some very important places we visited. Who would go to Paris and miss Louis XIV’s outlandish, yet gorgeous Palace of Versailles or the most famous museum in the world, the Louvre? Brian spent the most time at the museum, returning with some impressive sketches of the incredible artwork that is found throughout the place.

Although the lighting wasn’t optimal for photographs (flash photography was discouraged), we did manage to get shots of two well-known pieces of art.

We also visited Versailles on a rainy day. Here is the famous Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors).

Brian took these pictures of sculptures in the Versailles gardens.

Although certainly not as famous, the last museum we visited in Paris was the Centre Pompidou, home of some unusual, to say the least, modern art. The architecture intrigued us the most, however.

Finally, we said goodbye to Paris. For some reason (perhaps it’s the dashing smile), Brian seems to attract a crowd wherever he goes.

Paris deux

Two of the more impressive sites in Paris are Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris (described in our last post) and Basilique du Sacré Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), a church that sits atop Montmatre butte and offers a brilliant view of Paris. We returned to Notre-Dame for an inside visit. Sightseers are discouraged from taking photos inside the chapel, but we took some pictures after climbing the 400 or so narrow steps to platforms near the top. John’s favorite thing to see were the gargoyles. He also claims that Paris is a great city for taking black-and-white photos (there are so many shades of gray).

During most of our time in Paris it was cold and rainy. But the sun was out the morning we visited Basilique du Sacré-Coeur.

Of course, we couldn’t miss Arc de Triomphe (Triumphant Arch, courtesy of Napoleon) and strolling along the Champs Élysées one cloudy morning.

Here we are at the top of the arch on a cloudy day.

John went to the Musée Rodin on our last day. It was raining pretty hard, but he managed to take one decent shot of Rodin’s most famous sculpture, Le Penseur (The Thinker).

Paris un

We just returned from our five day trip to Paris with only one unwanted pinch, one inappropriate proposition, and one sighting of a corpse to report (the Hoffmanns experienced none of these, though we did lose Curtis for a brief period in the busy Latin Quarter).

We spent most of our time on the Paris metro and visiting numerous museums and historical sites. Here is our first of what will be a couple of entries about this trip.

The first afternoon was spent visiting Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris and then walking along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. Here are a couple of pictures.

We stopped in front of the Musée d’Orsay, with its animal sculptures outside and its impressionist paintings inside (we went inside a couple of days later).

The Eiffel Tower was as advertised. As we were getting close, there was a phenomenal sunset. Then came a light show on the tower itself.

The uppermost platform was closed, so we only made it up to the second level. The view of Paris was worth it, though.