England

So, one of the perks of being over here in Europe and my work schedule (I got LUCKY) is that I can travel on weekends--pocketbook permitting. This weekend, I had booked tickets on the Eurostar (far enough in advance to be affordable) to bullet train over to England for a couple of days to see Ken & Lynn Wilson; who are, best explained, like my "other" parents Honestly, being in there home feels like being back in Oregon a bit, and even knowing that I would get to see them two weeks after coming back to the continent made it a lot easier leaving my own.

Ken is midway through a theological doctoral program there at Oxford, University. I arrived Friday afternoon and we promptly went to check out The Eagle & the Child, a well-known pub in Oxford. I’ve wanted to visit this pub for a long time because it is the place where the “Inklings” met every Tuesday evening for some 20 years. The “Inklings” were a group of well known men and literary minds of Oxford ca. 1930-40s, most notable JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. I had my first British ale there. :)



The next day, we got in the car and drove to Stratford-upon-Avon. I was giddy about this because I have studied a lot Shakespeare’s work in the past as well as his life and even the “authorship debate” surrounding his existence. I have wanted to visit this town for over 10 years. Which is a lot of my life, actually.... First we visited the church where he was baptised, married and buried, and snuck around the back of it as well to peek at the Avon river itself:





Then, we visited his birthplace and childhood home.



Outside this home, were some actors in the courtyard, eager to entertain and offered us an outdoor impromptu rendition of the Gravedigger’s scene of Hamlet. It was, to put it in British terms, lovely.



After downing lunch and another wonderful British ale (the French have nothing on the beer to be found across the Channel....) at the oldest pub in Stratford, welcoming its visitor with the sign:



We then took off to catch a glimpse at Warwick (pronounced “Warrick”) Castle, the best preserved castle in England. We took a tour and poked around until after sunset. The most fascinating part was that each level of the castle was dedicated to a different time period, and so each era of the castle’s existence is well represented. I particularly loved the armour....






The next day, we set off for the windy locale of Stonehenge. I have to laugh because I have wanted to see this also for a very long time, ever since the days of “GeoSafari” in my childhood. There was a card for the GeoSafari for the Wonders of the World (and other monuments too) and Stonehenge was on it. As a child I vowed to visit all of the places and I have been checking them off as I travel. It’s awesome.

Stonehenge was amazing. We listened to a highly speculative tour on the matter and I took a billion pictures. Which, is not highly characteristic of me, but I’m trying to get better at it.





That afternoon, I had the idea to go see the newest of the Narnia films. I’d been wanting to see it and cannot find it shown in English in Paris. Also, Narnia was born there in Oxford....it was in utterly American terms this time “way cool” to see it there. (I was particularly impressed by the sea serpent in the film, wow!) Then, we went to an evening service at an Anglican church where the Bishop of Oxford cameo-ed in scripture reading, and a boy’s choir sang. It was beautiful! The next morning, as I had to leave around Noon, we walked around Oxford a bit and climbed the infamous tower, where Bloody Mary’s Christian prisoner’s where kept before martyrdom and looked out on the city....



We stood before the oldest tower in Oxford,



Walked by the church where John Wesley preached,



And I got to buy a book in English at Blackwell’s well-known bookstore. :)



And by that time, I’m sure the Wilson’s were tired from showing me around so well! I came back to Paris the way that I went and returned "chez moi" physically tired but in all other ways refreshed. I got to see some wonderful things, but most importantly had a really, really wonderful weekend with Ken and Lynn. I didn’t know it, but I needed it. Thank you!!

Number 54

So, I'll have to do some retroactive blogging, as I have some great pictures to accompany some equally "brilliant" experiences during this weekend in England with Ken & Lynn. But, due to some recent thought processes and circumstances and being able to meet the places where a longtime literary hero frequented and was born, I have been reminded of this favorite sonnet of his. Still resonates and I thought I'd share:

Sonnet 54
O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give.
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd and unrespected fade,
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall fade, my verse distills your truth.

-William Shakespeare

:)

Museums

This morning me and my Smartwool (love that stuff!) set out to brave the crisp but sunny Parisian day in hopes of seeing the Bulgari jewelery exhibit at the Musée du Grand Palais by the Champs-Elysées.

I got off the Metro Line 2 and walked the extent of the Champs-Elysées to the museum, listening to my iPod on random and smiling at strangers....It really was a nice day.

The climate in Paris, France is really very much like Portland, Oregon. It rains all Winter, gets some surprise snow every once in a while and then a temperamental Spring and often an Indian Summer. These first few days of January have been beautiful and hearing some birds sing and experiencing some sunshine has given me a welcome sneak preview into what Spring will be like here. Hopefully just a little more green....But I know better, having grown up in a like climate, than to really hope that Winter’s over. It does this every year, it would seem, in Oregon as well. A few days of Spring-like weather in the dead of Winter gets everyone hoping--and then the rain and grey return. I’m not going to be disappointed, I decided, I’ll just appreciate the niceness while it’s here! :)

Anyway, I was trying to walk slowly and soak in everything I described and then got to the museum....



...only to find out that my teacher pass didn’t work for that particular exhibition. *Frown* It was 12 euro to get in and I decided not to pay it since I’m headed to Oxford, England on Friday. I’d save it for a pint, I told myself.

So, instead, as it would easily accessible, I decided to cross the Pont (Bridge) d’Alexandre III:



...and check Les Invalides--about which I had a discussion with Marie Claude Pornay yesterday (remember the couple I met in Alaska at the beginning of the summer....?), having dined with them and spent the good part of the day visiting in Créteil in their home. Les Invalides was an army hospital built by Louis XIV for his wounded soldiers. It’s now where Napoleon is buried and the Musée de l’Armée (Army Museum).



True to French form, the entrance wasn't marked very well, so using my "I'm sorry to bother you, Monsieur" that I'm so good at now, I was directed by a smiling (or smirking, not sure) soldier to the ticket counter (completely on the other side of the building from what made SENSE) and used my wonderful magic teacher pass to get in.

AND, I actually really enjoyed it! So much, in fact, that I decided I should probably start writing about some of my more lighthearted experiences here too....Let’s just say that today I met many a Knight in Shining Armour. Maybe without the Knight part, though....(I left all of them in Oregon). Here are some pics, even if some of them are kind of weird because I had to hold my camera up to the glass so as not to permit glare:









And not all of it was properly French. They did indeed even have also some Japanese armour on display. Way cool:



Then, I when around the back of the building to see the tomb of Napolean. Voici l'entrée:



Et le tombeau:



Kinda cool. Kind of a big tomb, too, for someone so short! I really wished that Dad and my brothers could have been there. They would have LOVED it!

Right around the corner from the Musée de l'Armée was supposed to also be the Musée de Rodin, which I’ve been very much wanting to see, but unfortunately it is closed on Mondays. So, another day, soon I hope. Anyway, I didn’t exactly get to see jewelery, but still, I’d say it was a nice excursion! Mondays aren’t so bad “chez moi”. I just have to get out more.... :)

“Goodbye”, and so said to 2010....

Goodbye feels a certain way. There are certain feelings that come inherent in every "goodbye", even though every one is unique. It’s been on my mind lately. I get asked often here in Paris if I have anybody here with me. “Any friends?” They ask, no one you know? I got asked this again today. It reminded me again how far away I am from my family.

I made a comment to my mom before I left the US that I felt like I had said a lot of goodbyes for my almost 27 years. I said, I have also said “hello” again to a lot of these “goodbyes” and it gets easier, I suppose, but what gets easier is that I just get more and more used to the ritual feelings that accompany said goodbyes.

It’s true. Every goodbye is different as is every hello. Some goodbyes are permanent and some are for a time. Same with any “hello”. This time, when I went home to Oregon I was able to say hello again to many things. My culture, my mother tongue, my family, my upbringing, some dear friends. Actually, a lot of things that I’d been away from for a while. And when I left I remembered acutely what it felt like to say goodbye to where I grew up and everything most familiar to me. Those familiar feelings came back. Not knowing when I would see some of them again. I don’t plan on moving back to Oregon, so when I’ll be back to visit, I don’t know. Weird.

And this time I thought about how fleeting life is. And this time I thought about how joyful some goodbyes are and how difficult others can be. I’m not sure if that means I’m getting old or growing up or something, but what was different about these last goodbyes I said to my family in Oregon is that I said goodbye to sharing a last name with a younger sister and wished my brother safety before his deployment. One goodbye as joyous as possible, and another rather terrible. I have to admit that the juxtaposition of such events has proven a rather emotional roller coaster these couple of weeks!

How things change. I was also privileged to be present for my dearest friend’s farewell to single life while I was home. She is another one, too, to whom I’ve often had to say “goodbye”, but this time was more different than ever before. Another goodbye to her that was said in joy and total happiness. And a goodbye that for her comes with a hello to a new life and a new partner in it. It’s particularly beautiful when it’s right! And this time it was. Very beautiful.

I also said goodbye to a big year. 2010 had a LOT packed into it for me. In some sense, I was not sad to see it go, and I was very happy to say hello to a new year. Hello, 2011, I’ve been waiting for you. :)

“Goodbye.” It hurts sometimes--even when it's for the better--and is exhilirating at others. And it can make one feel any myriad of emotions on this spectrum. Sounds dramatic, huh? I guess it can be.

Saying “hello” again to Paris was easier and better than I thought it would be. It was hard to leave home, but easier to come back to life here than I expected. In fact, this time I landed, I was coming back to a little bit of a life that I’ve spent the last couple of intense months building. And actually, having taken a bit of a hiatus from Paris to go home to Oregon, I feel some small sense of accomplishment coming back to even just a few people glad to see me. Thank God for that, it was kinda hard getting there. :) I’m looking forward to the rest of 2011 and the next 6 months of it here in Paris. I hope that I have spent the last part of 2010 settling into a little part of my life that I can just enjoy for the next half of this year. That said, I’ve already begun.