London and Dublin

The Celtic Hotel, which we stay at while we're in London, is such a cute and quirky place. My room was at the very top; on the way up to it, I had to climb several stair cases and once I thought I had reached the top, I open a door to find yet another staircase. Old London buildings... you've got to love them. At breakfast, we had to sit down and order what we wanted from these old little ladies. There was no grab and go which several people in the group were wanting to do.

We saw the Tower of London the afternoon before seeing Richard III at the Old Vic. In the play, Richard imprisons several people in the Tower, two of which "disappeared" in history. Also, it has a big Tudor connection. Henry VIII would imprison his wives there before having them beheaded. I thought the Traitors' Gate and execution site were really interesting. The executioin site has a memorial which is very moving in its simplicity. There was a huge raven hanging out at there which flew straight at me before landing on the bench I was standing in front of. I don't think it liked me. But, of course, the only thing I could think of when I was watching it was of Edgar, Edgar Allen Poe for those of you who didn't know I address Edgar by his first name.






Richard III was an incredible production by Sam Mendes with Kevin Spacey as Richard. I will always read Richard III with Mendes' interpretation because it was perfect. The music was all drumline, awesome by itself, but made a ten times better when the actors formed a drumline during the coronation scene and other later points.

We had a tour of the Globe Theatre the next day and saw Much Ado About Nothing there in the evening. The style of Richard III and Much Ado were so different. Much Ado had period costumes and was slapstick humor, where Richard had clean cut suits and subtle wit. It was very interesting to see the actors interact with the audience at the Globe; the interaction can't be described very well, it's a "you had to be there" type of thing.

We got everywhere in London by the tube (aka subway). There is a station just a couple of blocks from our hotel. One afternoon, the train was empty, a very rare occurance.


On September 12, we flew to Dublin. We left the Celtic at 3:15 in the morning to catch our 6:45 flight. We were anticipating heightened security because of 9/11, but I don't think it was that different from a normal flight. In fact, they didn't even have me empty out my diabetic supplies for screening; all the other airports I've been through have me place every little thing in the trays. At Heathrow: nothing! It made my day at 5 in the morning.

In Dublin, we focused on James Joyce, author of the two hardest novels in the English language. We visited the James Joyce Center and walked the route the character Bloom walked in one of the chapters. Later, we went to James Joyce Museum, which is located in a tower he lived in for 6 days and where the opening chapter of Ulysses is set.

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