France to go

Saturday, Evan and I went to Leeds Castle. It all started in a pretty dramatic fashion, when we nearly missed our train. Evan rushed to buy one from an automated kiosk, while I tried my luck standing in line. Of course, we both reached the front of our respective lines at the same time, and while I was being hassled by the Victoria Station ticket agent, who told me I really should just go to Leeds Castle another day since it was already the afternoon and kept hassling me about our travel plans while refusing to let me purchase a ticket, Evan managed to get them.

We ran through the station, rounding a corner where we could see our train beyond some gates, and the large digital clock, which was ticking down about 30 seconds from departure time. We struggled with our tickets to get through the gates, and finally hopped on the train — hoping it was the right one — before the doors shut right behind us. Whew!

The train ride itself was thankfully uneventful, and we had a rather relaxing, hour-long journey to Bearsted, despite the looming clouds which threatened rain. By the time we got to Bearsted it was quite rainy, the coaches had stopped running to the castle and the number outside the coach and car hire office wouldn’t connect us to anyone. So we walked into town and stopped at a pub for a bite to eat and directions. The pub, The Oak on the Green, turned out to have some good food, and our server helped us call a cab to take us to the castle.

Once at the castle, the fun really began. We walked through the duckery, where I got quite close to an albino peacock, which really became the theme of the day — me trying to get close to the birds, that is. And we caught some very nice views of the castle in the distance.

We then walked along a winding garden path, and finally approached the castle. We passed black swans, some sort of snake sculpture that emerged from the grass and a whole bunch of very whiny children (they all seemed a bit tired and on their way out of the park). We entered the castle through the gatehouse across the moat, then walked around its outside to a back entrance.

Inside the castle, we got to walk through a large number of rooms, mostly decorated for the castle’s most recent owner, Lady Baillie. There were also some really nice and clear exhibits on royal coats of arms, and the castle had an interesting history — it was used as a hospital during WWII, and Lady Baillie’s daughters served as nurses. And there were lots of bird drawings and sculptures decorating the rooms.

Once we finished the castle tour, we headed to the dog collar museum (sort of interesting, though small), another garden, the aviary and the labyrinth, which were situated along a river.

The labyrinth, though it looked small, still took a while to figure out, and we spent a good amount of time wandering its green corridors trying to find our way to the center. Once in the center, we got to climb up to see the top view of the hedge maze, then descended into the cool, watery grotto to make our way out underground.

Though we could have stayed longer, had a picnic and caught one of the falconry shows or duck feedings, half a day was enough to have a good time at Leeds Castle. We wanted to check out the Go Ape adventure experience, but they seem booked up for a long while, so it wasn’t an option. And our only slight hassle was getting a cab. But once we got the number, they came quite quickly and were pretty inexpensive — £6.80 each way, I believe.

Also, admission was £15 a person, which lets you return anytime for an entire year after purchase.

Check out more photos on Evan’s site.

Though I’ve written about all of these events, you can finally see the full sets of photos from:

• Ceres’s visit
• Our day in Greenwich
  
• Our weekend in New York City for the Towards Darkness premiere

He has also posted the photos on Facebook if you prefer looking at them there.

A few weeks ago, we went to Greenwich to check out the National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory, where the prime meridian was conceived. The Maritime Museum was pretty well put together, though seemed to be more for children, whereas there wasn’t a whole lot to see at the Royal Observatory (the building on the hill) other than the prime meridian — there’s a green laser beam pinpointing its place. Greenwich park was also really nice, though we chose a pretty rainy and gray day to go.

Of course, we had to take a photo on the dividing line between the hemispheres. The one below is of me and Evan’s friend Shelly, who was hanging out with us for the day.

Sunday, Evan and I finally made it back to the National Portrait Gallery to see the rest of the exhibits, including the Vanity Fair special exhibit.

The museum is consistently great — even on my third trip, I felt I was still learning things and being introduced to new people. And I was still interested in reading more. I think my favorite room was the large room with glass dividers on the first floor — it just had some really interesting people as well as really innovative portraits.

The Vanity Fair exhibit, however, put me off a bit. While I was interested in seeing the then-to-now photos, I wasn’t interested in being crammed into a small room with hundreds of other visitors, all moving at a snail’s pace, obscuring the photos and bumping into me repeatedly. I just couldn’t enjoy myself when so physically uncomfortable. I noticed that as we were leaving, the room was getting close to empty, though — I should have just waited, though we went in when it was our time slot.

There were plenty of iconic photos, many of which I’d seen before — it is Vanity Fair — and plenty more photos that weren’t really all that impressive. A lot of the older photos seemed to not have fared well over time or had very low contrast. The exhibit was also especially crowded for the first half of our tour, making it hard to get close to and enjoy the older photos. It also didn’t help that these were all much smaller than the more contemporary photos, too.

I really wish I could have just walked through without the crowds and enjoyed the exhibit on my own terms.

Sunday, Evan and I went to the Tate Modern with Ceres and Hannah. We were really excited to see some of the exhibits we weren’t able to make it to on our first trip, mostly up on the fifth floor. There were also some new installments on the third floor. My favorite one was 30 Pieces of Silver by Cornelia Parker. The piece, which took up a whole room, was a collection of 30 circular arrangements of flattened silver items — everything from forks and spoons to trophies and trombones — hanging from the ceiling and suspended about six inches off the ground. It was incredible to watch it hover, and all the steamrolled flat objects were intriguing. I wish we could have walked around the entire piece instead of just along two of its sides.

There were also some extremely well-behaved and engaged children in the museum. There were stands offering workbooks to entertain the little ones, and many of them seemed absorbed in the activities, sitting on the floor, trying to copy paintings or create their own with stickers and pieces of paper. And I heard one little kid say, “It’s about the artist expressing himself…”! Someone’s doing something right in the education department.

We also spent some time just enjoying the view of the Millennium Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral and the riverbank from the airy fourth-floor balcony.

Ceres, a good friend from college, is in town this week, and Friday afternoon, we had some time to hang out and go for a walk through the parks and to Horse Guards Parade, Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We took some fabulously campy, touristy photos, too. Yes, we were those people taking pictures with the Horse Guards. And Ceres garnered some hearty guffaws while taking a photo in a phone booth. I don’t know why the people were laughing so hard, though — the phone booths in Westminster are always full of tourists.

Our last stop on Monday was Parc de Ciutadella, which we entered through Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf. We also learned that unlike the arches in Paris and London and other European cities, this one isn’t commemorating a war victory, it’s just for show.

We go to the park at sunset and snapped some photos in the remaining light, walked around the little lagoon where people were taking out row boats, and helped retrieve a stray soccer ball (Evan kicked it back).

Monday, we did a mini Modernist tour of Barcelona by checking out some of the Gaudi parks and buildings. We started with Parc Guell, an intriguingly odd park full of palm trees, cacti, colorful mosaics, bridges made of ancient-looking rocks and houses that look like they could be made of gingerbread. The park is also on a hill, so it boasts incredible views of the city. We also had the good fortune of going on a beautiful, sunny spring day, when it was warm enough not to need our jackets.

Casa Batllo was equally bizarre, but totally different. Remodeled by Gaudi in 1906 with themes from the ocean, it feels like a mermaid’s city hideaway, with undulating walls, elaborate tile work and whale-ribcage-shaped arches. The audio guide was actually quite good, too — I listened to the whole thing, and usually I don’t have the patience for those. Sometimes the script was a bit long-winded and the descriptions a little too inconclusive, but in general, it taught me a lot.

On the way back from the countryside, we took a route into the city that brought us over some mountains. We stopped at a lookout point, and Evan grabbed these great shots.

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting away to the Spanish countryside with Miriam’s family. We cooked over an indoor fire pit, played with dogs, rode horses in view of the Pyrenees, and walked in the mountains. These photos are from Sunday morning.

Check out many more photos of the Spanish countryside on Evan’s site.

Saturday, on our way up to Miriam’s brother’s house, we stopped by Montserrat to have a look around the monastery on the mountain. The views were great. I only wish we had more time to explore.

The hill Montserrat is on, itself, is actually quite different from the surrounding scenery — it’s much craggier, with rock pillars jutting up like fingers, instead of the smooth ridges found on the nearby mountains.

We also learned that Montserrat is a common Catalonian woman’s name, most often abbreviated as Montse. We’ve met a Montse before, but didn’t make the connection until Miriam told us that it’s also her mother’s name.

Check out more Montserrat photos on Evan’s site.

One of our first Barcelona photos when walking around the city Saturday morning, looking towards Placa Colon (aka Columbus). The first (and only other) time I went to Barcelona, we rode up the elevator in the central column to catch the view from up top, underneath the half-globe. It’s quite a scary, narrow, ride.

Check out more Barcelona photos on Evan’s site.

I’m sure I’ll be posting a bit more, with photos and better descriptions, but Evan and I got back from our New York weekend today.

We left from Gatwick airport Friday morning and had a 2-hour delay off the bat since our plane didn’t arrive on time. After an uneventful flight — Evan slept and I finished reading Youth in Revolt (very funny) — we got to Newark, took the train to our hotel (the W, very nice) and got ready to go out to dinner.

We had Greek food (yum), went to see Towards Darkness (unfortunately the theater wasn’t very full, though it was well-received by the friends and family who came), and went out for drinks at the Thirsty Scholar (fun!).

Saturday we went to MoMA (very cool, check out the photo), walked through Central Park (always lovely), had Mexican food in DUMBO (quite an adventure to get to, though the food was delicious), and went out with friends at B Bar.

Sunday, we had brunch (I miss American-style brunch), Evan bought a camera, we had drinks with a friend, then spent a long time in Newark airport waiting for our flight (we were early). The flight was bumpy. Evan slept; I didn’t. I did, however, completely conk out on the train in from Gatwick. I also managed to take an accidental 6-hour nap this afternoon (oops) while Evan was at work.

More about the weekend soon.

Also, check out my latest Hitched article, “Online Tools to Keep You Organized.”

Today, I went to the National Portrait Gallery with Evan. We didn’t have time to see the whole thing — we got about halfway through, and the Vanity Fair exhibit was sold out — so we’ll have to go back again. Good thing the museum is free.

Though it rained earlier today, the afternoon turned out to be quite nice, and we got a few good photos in Trafalgar Square, in front of the National Gallery and the large fountain there.

After our time in the museum, we were ready for a snack and stopped at a nearby French cafe (I don’t remember the name and couldn’t find it when I searched online). I ordered a cappuccino, tap water and a Spanish omelet. Evan ordered sparking water and a panini. It took about 15 minutes to get my coffee, and more than 30 minutes later, we were still waiting for our food. And getting grumpy.

Nobody had come by to ask how we were, even though we were sitting right in front of the counter, and we finally asked them to check on our order. They found the order slip right behind the counter and asked us if we still wanted our food. Nobody had started on anything and they didn’t seem keen to. They weren’t apologetic about it at all, either. I also never even got my water. Serves us right for stopping near Leicester Square.

We were ready to get out of there, so we paid for our drinks and headed to Cookbook Cafe to get a good diner.

Thankfully, Cookbook Cafe yet again proved a good choice. We had salads and starters from the market table, a creamy onion soup, mushroom risotto and a nice selection of desserts from their pastry workshop table. We also had some delicious fizzy berry, elderflower and prosecco cocktails, with lots of muddled berries at the bottom of the glass.

Saturday, we went to check out Spitalfields Market’s “Taste East” event. Unfortunately, we ate breakfast before we went to the market — I wish we had been hungrier because there were quite a few tempting food stands.The market was a neat, modern space, with shops and restaurants creating its outer walls and a large, covered courtyard to house the stands. There were bands, acrobats, people on stilts dressed up as chefs and cooking demonstrations, making for a lively event. And there were also some artists with work on display. Some were clearly more talented than others, and I almost bought something from one artist. I may check out her work again.

What did we buy? I spent 40 pence on a delicious piece of watermelon licorice, which seemed to actually be a piece of green licorice around a pink taffy center. Whatever it was, I wish I had bought more to take home. I don’t even remember what the vendor’s name was… something to research.

We also got some white tea, which ended up being weaker than expected when we brewed some this morning, and some chocolate truffles (delicious) and spiced drinking chocolate (haven’t tried it yet). I was hoping to buy some cheese, too, but there wasn’t a very large selection.

When the stands started closing up, we went to Canteen to get some tea and biscuits. A much needed rest. And before we left, we made sure to take a picture of the most shocking booth, which was still open — which just had an array of whole animals, including fish, rabbits and pigeons. Question: Who is eating pigeons?