+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | _______ | I think we're in for a bad spell of | | ,--'.:::::.`-._ | wether. | | /..:::::::::::..\ | | | /..:::::::::_;::::| | | | || `---'----' _|:::| | | | || `;:::| | | | |' ==== ==== |-::| | | | |-( @ )-( @ )--|O):| | | | | ` | ` |/::' | | | . v |:/ jeremy@ | | | | ___, || malcolm | | | \ -- _/| .id.au | | | \_____.-'__/-.__ | | | _| _/|::.\.::-._ | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [*] news [ ] about [ ] writing [ ] journal [ ] images [ ] guests | | +--- last 5 | | |->> archive | | `--- search | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | "Christmas in Europe" :: [2009-12-29 07:14AM] | | | | We just experienced Christmas with the family in England, our second | | country stop on a holiday trip that began two weeks ago in Switzerland | | (where I was attending a WIPO meeting for work, while Dom and Doyle took in | | the sights). I have already written about previous trips to both Geneva and | | England, so I'll just touch on the highlights here. | | | | We arrived in snowy Geneva on the last day of the Escalade festival (which | | incidentally I had also attended in about 1982, at age 10), when the city | | celebrates the defeat of an attack by the Duke of Savoy in 1602. | | According to legend, a local housewife tipped a cauldron of boiling soup | | over the heads of the soldiers, and this is commemorated through chocolate | | replicas of the cauldron, filled with marzipan vegetables. | | | | Locals dressed in colourful historical costume celebrated the event in | | various ways; parading with drums and flutes, selling commemorative ribbons | | and mulled wine, demonstrating weaponry and even forging iron cannonballs | | with a furnace and set of huge bellows. The weather wasn't too conducive to | | outdoor sightseeing though, so when I was next able to take some time off | | from WIPO we spent it wandering through the Musée d'art et d'histoire. | | | | Our choice of food favoured the hot and filling: mugs of hot chocolate at | | our quaint pine-panelled hotel, to wash down our baguettes with cold | | meats, cheese, red-painted boiled eggs and yoghurt, and for lunch what | | else but fondue? A saucepan of bubbling cheese was served at our table | | under an oil burner, along with a basket of crusty bread, and long forks | | for dipping. Not the healthiest of lunches, but delicious. | | | | Our next stop after Geneva was Manchester, where we met up with my parents | | and I received an early Christmas present from Dom - tickets to see the | | Pet Shop Boys! They were supported by Bad Lieutenant, which is the new | | band of former Bernard Sumner, who played some new songs along with some | | old New Order and Joy Division hits, and a Chemical Brothers | | collaboration. But we had come for the main act, and the Boys didn't | | disappoint, with a dazzling multimedia show involving a stage filled with | | white cubes, and a soundtrack drawn from all of their albums (including a | | Christmas number as an encore!). | | | | I wish we could have seen more in Manchester, beyond just the museum, | | because it seemed a colourful city - a highlight was the European-themed | | Christmas market at that town hall that we accidentally stumbled across | | just before leaving; far better than the one in Geneva. | | | | Our next stop was Nottingham, where we stayed with my brother and | | sister-in-law until Christmas. We all collaborated on the Christmas | | dinner, which began with a prawn bisque with crusty bread, followed by | | goose with sage and onion stuffing balls, glazed ham, potatoes roasted in | | goose fat, carrots and parsnips in maple sauce, Brussels sprouts with | | cream and bacon sauce, Yorkshire pudding and gravy, topped off with | | Christmas pudding and custard or cognac cream, and finally a selection of | | local cheeses and fruit with port. | | | | On Boxing Day (just as my sister-in-law was about to give birth!), we left | | for Cardiff, to catch a pantomime starring John (Torchwood, The Producers) | | Barrowman, which was part of my Christmas present to Dom. A British | | institution, this pantomime like any other was full of bad jokes, camp | | costumes, audience interaction ("Oh no it isn't!" - "He's behind you!"), | | cross-dressing, and sexual innuendo for the grown-ups. As it happens the | | story was meant to be Robin Hood, though they mixed it up with a bit of | | Arthurian legend (lifting an entire number from "Spamalot"), and, | | unaccountably, some ice skating. | | | | The next morning we headed to Oxford, which is the charming university | | town that you would imagine it to be; full of dramatic architecture, | | canal-fronting terraces, cobbled streets and posh cafes. Our final | | overnight stop in the UK was London, where we caught a Shakespearean | | variety show at the Globe (the recreation of Shakespeare's theatre) in the | | afternoon, and Dom took Wicked at the West End while I babysat Doyle. As | | I write, we are about to fly to Germany, which will make it five city | | stops in as many days! | | | | reply (1 comments) | | << Back | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Links: portal / wedding / calendar / honours / phd / iq / igfwatch / random | | page generated in 0.064 seconds sadlittlewebjournal 2.9.3 | | content (c) its respective creator(s) web administration | | valid html 4.01 transitional foaf / rss feed | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+