2007 London, Ireland, Scandinavia

Itinerary 8 Aug to 4 Sept 2007

August 2007

Sat Aug 4 Seattle
Party at Allspice & Devil Moon's, bang my head on low-hanging apple branch
Buy a chandelier canopy for $1.10 at "Second Use" recommended by Guy-Devilmoon, install
See Jacob Priestly (Wolf Creek '06) at Camlin (English Medieval)Village & his "Sir Orfeo"
Seattle KFC, Kaladi now open till 10 on weekends
Sun Aug 5 Seattle
Journaling with Evelyn Wemhoff in Bellevue
Return of "ikonokinesis" motif
Dialog with Wisdom (HH the 14th DL)
Are visualizations good? Depends on the individual, that's why we have abbots
IKEA recycle, Carpinito bark dust
Finish painting the china cupboard and... the downstairs if finished! Yay!
Mon Aug 6 Seattle Transfiguration, Hiroshima 1945
Haul 12 cartloads of rock onto the landscape cloth o S side of house, 15 year warranty!
Take 4 boxes of stuff to Longlife Thrift, having given some stupp to Fred's friend Junior
Buy a VCR for $7.50 to replace $650 one gone on the fritz.Worksf fine.
Coffee Kaladi, wander broadway, late laundry
Tue Aug 7 Seattle
Pack,almost lose LP Scandinavia (really lose it in Oslo)
Missing: film bag, Lennox Gravy Boat (not for trip)
Nikon Papers for refund -- neverfound
Wed Aug 8 2007 Departure
Bus to SeaTac, Metro driver errs, says I can pay $2.50 and give ticket to ST; ST won't accept!
AA 472 lv Seattle 08:35 AM   ar ORD (Chicago) 2:30 PM
Abandon 16x16 soduku, just a sieve
Read "The Political Brain" why US Society is in such a benighted state, right wing emotion.
Why  'murricans suck up to and idolize phonies like Ron Ray-Gun
Mood: pessimistic
Sandwich: Panino
AA 66  lv ORD 6:00 PM  arr LHR 07:50 (8/9)
Delayed from ORD 4 hours by tornadoes in previous hours, Cascading gate delays, 777 for  Delhi holding us up
American flight on 777, fairly tight crowding.
Read "Crying of Lot 49" -- ent would like philatelic interest
Thurs Aug 9 Arrival London England (Heathrow)
Arrive at noon, about 2.5 hours late. 
Get Key from Paul at Leicester Square Underground
rest until evening, shop at Waitrose, chat, see Paul's new rental unit, shelled in.
watch TV about Garden Grabbers" -- a quirk in the law regards gardens as "brownfields."
Fri 10 London
Outdoor waterless urinals
Troy Bakery Cafe - pictures of Turkish oil wrestling
Geffrye Museum (free)
Domestic interiors by decades from the 1630s to 1990s.  Seems like 1950-1970 was dominated by Danish Modern.
Herb Garden, reclaimed from vacant lot.
L: Tay Do (Vietnamese) Boiled pork, rice.
Wallace Collection (near Bond St. underground, acquired after the French Rev at fire sale prices).
Sevres blue-green soft-paste porcelain made for Catherine the Great
Dinner & TV w/ Paul and Alan
Sat 11 London
Breakfast w/ Paul, Alan
Buy Fairy soap souvenirs at Waitrose
Shopping
Out for a drive, fail to get to Hyde Park, so Paul & I end up at a reclaimed natural area near Old St. Pancras and a canal. Young men at their beers.
Picnic before performance, Regents park, South African wine samples.
Macbeth, with Russian Army costumes & songs.  Repertory company does several summertime shows.
Sun 12 London
Celebrity cooking shows, more celebrity than recipes
L with Paul & Alan
Tim Baker visits
Abney Cemetery w/ Tim, Graves of Wm Booth, Isaac Watts
D: Booth pizzeria
Paul's band plays at Birds of a Feather, Stoke Newington, not part of a larger festival as we had thought
Mon 13 London
return Tim's Oyster Card to Mornington Creescent
Waterloo Sta., train to Hampton Court
Costumed guide to Henry VIII public halls
  1. divorced
  2. beheaded
  3. died
  4. divorced
  5. beheaded
  6. survived
A good exhibit, with a little too much gratuitous interactivity, focuses on the young Henry, with his first wife of 20 years and with (later Cardinal) Wolsey. H.C. was Wolsey's palace, till H8 wanted it.
L: Tilting Yard (jousting)
Gardens, Wm and Mary's Georgian wings, velvet commode for H.M.
D: El Molino w/ Paul
Tue 14 London
Rainy weather : initial plan for Sissinghurst Castle aborted
Sir John Soanes Museum: Architectural remnants, sculptured favorite of Hadrian's buddy
Imperial War Museum: V2, Polaris, WWI trenches, WWII Blackout house
Walk in Westminster area; Big Ben silent for me today (cleaning)
Cabinet War Rooms: Churchill's cigars (whiskey bottle cleared?), Cigarette ends containers on every desk
Wed 15 London to Dublin, Ireland, CIE tour Day 2 (in progress)
Early taxi ( 5 AM) to Heathrow
Aer Lingus EI 151 lv LHR 07:45 arr DUB 09:00 (2 hours 15 min)
Meet  CIE Tours at airport 10 AM, transfer to hotel
Breakfast Buffet
Guide is Mark Simons
Dublin City tour
Thurs 16 Glendalough & Waterford (Tour Day 3)
Co. Wicklow
N11 Roundwood
Glendalough tour: Round tower 10-th cent churches, "St. Kevin's kitchen"
Guinness Gelato from "3 Wells" dairy
Parnell's home (not visible)
Meeting of the Waters, Clare and Avoca, Moore Poem composed here 1806
L: Riverside Hotel, Enniscorthy sandwiche & Coke
Waterford Factory tour and retail opportunity. Millennium ball for Times Sq New Years features elongated 7-pointed stars. Looks pretty cheesy up close!
Accom: Dooley's Hotel Waterford City, Co. Waterford 
Family run, friendly hotel
Waterford town walk: excellent guide Jack
840 AD Viking settlement "Vetterfjord" (could not be preserved, salvage moved to museum)
1003 AD Round Tower
No Catholic churches could be built from H8 until 1797. Same architect, Robertson, for both C of I and Catholic cathedrals
Fri 17 Waterford, to Blarney Castle to Killarney (Tour Day 4)
Scone & Coffee at 15th cent farmhouse near Mill House, past Dungarven (N25, N72)
Pass Youghall and Cork (160K inhab, 2nd after Dublin 1.2m) 
 Middleton (Jameson Whiskey uisgeach )
Blarney Castle "Kiss My Stone"
House, Gardens L: stew, shop for gifts & rugby shirt
G. B. Shaw didn't need to kiss the stone, possessed of "sufficient if not excessive" rhetorical gifts
Pass Macroom, ancestral home of Wm Penn
Accom: Killarney Towers Hotel, Co. Kerry(2 nights)
Dinner buffet: "bacon" is ham
Ddrinks & song at hotel bar
Sat 18 Ring of Kerry Tour (Tour Day 5, B, D)
Moriarty's shop and video; group photo
Bog Village, touristy, 18th cent cabins, 19th cent far equipment
Bunn-O-Matic quality (poor) coffee in Irish Coffee
Waterville, Charlie Chaplin statue in costume, he vacationed there
Very Windy (50 mph?) pass with BVM in a stone circle, in view of a prehistoric stone circle
L: Sc--- view restaurant
rest stop Sneem, statue of wrestler Casey
Pass through a Gaeltacht; English road signage disappears
Sun 19 Cliffs of Moher & Galway
(Day 6) B,D
Accom: Salthill Hotel, Co. Galway
Mon 20 Connemara & Yeats Country
(Day 7) B,D
Accom: Great Northern Hotel Bundoran, Co. Donegal
Tue 21 The North, Boyne Valley & Dublin
(Day 8)
B hotel
Ballyshannon
Erne River
Beleek
Innisfallen?
Cavan (stop)
Navin, Co. Meath
Northern Ireland
Boyne Valley
Slane (recent Stones Concert)
Newgrange (Lunch at visitor centre)
Airport
Dublin
On Own, Temple BAr, George pub
Accom (again): Jurys Croke Park Hotel - Dublin - 1 night(s)
Wed 22 Dublin
B: hotel
taxi to Frankie's
drop off Laundry at All American on Gr St. George St.
Post Office, mail cards
Trinity College tour & Book of Kells, Long Hall
Dinner w/ Nao (Ishimaru Naofumi) at Bliss restaurant, hot chocolate
Accom: Frankie's Guest House
Thu 23 Dublin
B guest house
National Museum
L Gruel (LP rec) Dame St, Temple Bar
Beatly Library near Castle - ancient sacred texts
Wilde house closed except for tours, Pic of louche statue
D Nepali lamb
           Sauna Boiler House
Fri 24 Dublin
B guesthouse
Luas to Natl Deco Museum (Viking Ship just sailed in from Denmark)
L museum cafeteria
Guinness Storehouse (touristy, but grand view)
D Bliss
Walk thru Temple bar, past Docks, Front Lounge, George, Dragon
Sat 25 Dublin to Oslo
Circular tour from Joyce Centre
Ryanair 856 lv DUB 18:05 arr Oslo Torp Sandefjord (TRF) 21:15
locator UYDLEN
Shuttle to Oslo Station
Walk to Hostel: Sentrum Pensjonat Oslo
Sun 26 Oslo
Munch Museum
Botanical Garden, Linnaeus
Vigeland Park
Mon 27 Oslo
Norske Volkesmuseum
Kon-Tiki Museum
Ferry back to City Hall
BLD
Tues 28 Oslo to Stockholm (rail)
lv 15:48 arr Stockholm  22:05
Imagine Gsrrison Keilor Monolog, looks like Minnesota, natch.
Accom: City BackPackers Hostel (4 nights)
Upplandsgatan 2a, 11123
Wed 29 Stockholm
B: coffee, Vasagatan
Wander about Old Town, chance upon Changing of the guard (cell phones, semiautomatics)
Scholkoladekoppen gay owned, Chocolate & Pastry, next to:
Nobel Museum, Swedish Acad. (Feyman bongo video, Cold Spring Harbor video)
Nobel left Sweden age 9, never married, maths story apocryphal
L: Herring fried in butter, lingonberries, nutmeg potatoes, Stortingskellaren
Vasa Museum 1628 war ship
Nobody blamed; it was the King's fault
D: Italian Trattoria pasta beef mushrooms
Thu 30 Stockholm
B: chips RR station
City Hall (Nobel banq inside)
Boat to Drottningholm
Slottsteatren, work the wind machine
In Bergman's 1975 "Magic Flute"
Tea, garden outside Chinese folly palace, 
Palace tour, lpretend to be expert on Chinese pottery
Ice cream, no boat, take metro
D: China Sweden (4 small plates & Dessert)
N: "Sidetrack" gay bar, 2 ciders. Barkeep has St. Helens T-shirt on
Fri 31 Stockholm
B: Wayne's Coffee & pastry & apple
Skansen (outdoor museum)
Bus to Skansen, past Vasa, loaded w/ junior high kids
Zillions of School Children
Furniture, glass, machine shops 1900-1920
Old wooden villages, women washing clothes with hot water, ash, creek
Lapland village
L: Venison, kalamata, feta
Linnaeus 300 trail and "Clock garden"
Lad's Love, Peony, Columbine, Jacob's Ladder, Wolfbane, Tulips
Lysimachia Nummula (Golden Moneywort)
D: Stortingskellaren: Salmon, duck, wine
N: Absolut bar, abort!

September 2007

Sat 1 Stockholm to Copenhagen (rail)
lv 06:20 arr Copenhagen 11:33 AM
Accom: Copenhagen Rainbow Guesthouse on the Stroget, 3 nights.
Laundry, Late Lunch at Oscar's near the Radhus
Pass older gay neighborhood  bars on Lavender St.
Jail bar, Roberts Chai Latte, too tired for Tivoli fireworks.
Sun 2 Copenhagen - Tivoli
B at hotel: Danish Modern meets black leather
Eurogays are into pegged black trousers, not the hip-hop look
Horrible spindly-legged burnt orange furniture is making a comeback.
Amble in Oersted park, don't see the "condom birdhouses"
Botanical Garden, Linnaeus fest, guide to poisonous plants (or Biblical, take your pick)!
Tivoli, having "dog day" many pooches as well as babies in prams.
Tivoli Audio has a display store, natch.
L: Buffet "Herzegovina" and Linnea Aquavit'
pass on "Klezmer Cavalcade" benefit this eve.
Rain, downpour, I'm getting sore throat.
Irish Coffee at Oscar's
Mon 3 Copenhagen - Louisiana Art Museum
Walk to Nyhaven Canal, need a water bus to see mermaid, pass
L: Ida Davidsen's famous Smorrebrod, "Millennium caviART (tm) and Gorgonzola sandwiches
Look for Cathedral and Bohr Coat of Arms, don't find
Combo RR tix and Louisiana Admission
pic: thatched roof in suburbs, under construction
Wide bike lanes, both sides. The bus goes to Elsinore
Louisiana
Malevich, big Hockney, Lichtenstein
Special Photo exhib Avedon: Warhol's boys, 60s politicos
Sculpture garden: Calder (active in wind off coast), Moore, Arp
Lakeside garden, split log bridge, belongs in Seattle!
Coffee & tart
pic: rhombic triacontahedron I got in BKK
D: Chinese buffet, mediocre
Sore throat. Hudrate!
Sun 4 Return to Seattle
Shop at Illums Bollingen for Holmegaard No. 5
CPH-LHR-ORD-SEA
BA 815 lv CPH 14:00 (2 PM CEST) arr LHR 15:00 (3 PM BST)
Locator ZYNAAB
AA 91 lv LHR 16:45 (4:45 PM BST) arr ORD 19:20 (7:20 PM CST)
AA 1155 lv ORD 20:55 (8:55 PM) arr SEA 23:15 (11:15 PM)
Weblet Woven by:
Dr. G. David Kerlick
Phone: +1.206.935.7762
6342 34th Ave SW
Seattle WA 98126-3148 USA