World Enough and Time

It's been a long and continuous day since yesterday morning... Went with maaseru to Montreal, where we visited Lil, and had supper with her and her friend Lise at Le Chalet.

Then we went to the airport, met up with Tasia, and flew to Paris. The Air France seats were somewhat cramped and uncomfortable, and none of us slept much, though the teen sitting next to me put his blanket over his head and slept soundly.

We got off the plane about noon, and then spent two and a half hours in a hot, noisy room crowded with hundreds or thousands of people to get through customs. Ugh.

We took a taxi to our apartment, which turns out to be lovely. Here's the exterior, and the view. It's directly across from Notre-Dame Cathedral, and a short walk from the lovely place rented by rosiespark, where there are original watercolours of designs for theatrical costumes on the wall - Shakespeare, I think.

Then we met up with about a dozen of the Dunnett crowd for drinks and talk, in a little cafe arund the corner from our street. Will I get used to the cost of a Coca-Cola here?

I just discovered that the place I lived as a student in England, Crosby Hall, is available as a cross-stitch pattern. That is so cool!

I tend to like the Lonely Planet publications. Came across this just now: Top 10 Canadian adventures.

Are they kidding?

I mean, I know we may look like a nation of wimps, but watching garter snakes? Pillow fights? Is that what someone thinks is the Canadian idea of excitement?

I see Whistler is mentioned twice - perhaps the Whistler Tourist Board is behind this?

Okay, I'd like to walk 21,000km, even in Canada. That would be sublime. I saw the polar bears in Churchill on TV (narrated by Ewan McGregor), and that was enough. But whale-watching? I've always wanted to, partly because it involves going out in boats.

On Saturday afternoon, James Marsters appeared at FanExpo 2010 in Toronto, at the Convention Centre. The room was packed full and the panel started early - it's the first con I've been to where things often started five to ten minutes before the scheduled time.



I apologize for my fuzzy photos, but I wasn't close to the stage! This account is partly quoted, mostly the gist, depending how detailed my notes were at any point. (For actual footage of it, you can look at it on YouTube.)

I transcribed as much as I could, but I tell you, I was distracted because I was entranced by the Marsters voice. No account of mine will do justice to the man's charisma, or his ability to express himself with intelligence and style.

First off, in the intro, the moderator promised to ask about the Torchwood kiss, if no one else did.

Marsters walked onto the stage, a dramatic presence in black jeans and top. His hair was brown (Captain John Hart style), and he started out, "Hello, my fellow Americans!" Everyone laughed. (Canadians laugh at that sort of joke.) He went on to say that he likes Canadians, and he likes Canadian manners. "I have better conversations with Canadians than with any other nationality."

He then sat on the back of the chair, in order to be able to see the audience, and to be seen. Asked why he went from stage action, which he loved, to television acting, ( he said... )


To be continued...

For the first time since smashing my elbow, I had people over for dinner and made the dinner myself. My friends have been good about bringing food to me, or ordering food delivered. It was a simple meal - cold sliced ham, smoked meat heated in the microwave, potato chips, edamame salad, mixed salad, a baguette, crackers, and Brie. For dessert I had frsh cherries and chocolate pieces, and Tasia brought French vanilla ice cream.

We watched the TV show BBC Paris, because the people visiting me were three of the five I'll be rooming in Paris with.

We all want to see the Bayeux Tapestry - the Rug of Lisette, as maaseru calls it. And yes, we know it's not in Paris. We also want to see the Rodin Museum, and I have a yen to see whatever Caravaggio paintings are in the Louvre - I know of two, but there may be more. Must do some research.

I also really want to see what remains of Chateau Gaillard - I hope it's possible.

Browsing the Net for places to stay in Paris is very, very exciting.

I did it: I signed up for Le Spit in Paris in October. For me and Beulah. So exciting.

Now I want to study up on Paris and work out my itinerary. And John Barrowman has a concert tour going on in England in October: can I get there?

Yesterday I went to Montreal for Yolande's mother's funeral.

Since I was there, it was my opportunity to see the John William Waterhouse exhibit at the Musee des Beaux Arts, which ends tomorrow. In doing this, I broke my rule of museum exhibits, as I have done often before: Never go to a prestigious international exhibit on the last day of the show. Or the last week.

But it was my chance, so... Yes, the lines were long, even to get to the coatcheck. But it was worth it. For $3 they rent you an audio of music supposed to go with the paintings, and they advise that you take plenty of time, and sit on one of the benches contemplating the appropriate painting while relaxing and listening to the music. The first music, for example, was an opera about Cleopatra, supposed to go with Waterhouse's portrait of Cleopatra.

It didn't work out that way. The rooms were all so crowded that I'd heard most of the Cleopatra piece before I even got through the line to get into the first room. By the time I got to the Cleopatra room, we were onto another piece, and it was so crowded there was nowhere to sit, and even if you cold sit, you couldn't see a thing because of the throngs of people.

No matter. The music was nice, the pictures were gorgeous, and I had a great time. It would have been better without the crowds, though.

Waterhouse is probably most famous for his paintings of Tennyson's Idylls of the King, especially The Lady of Shalott. It was probably those paintings, given my teen-age love of the Arthurian legends and art related to it, that first made me a Waterhouse fan. (Not as much as a Burne-Jones fan, but still a fan.) And guess what? Seeing so much of his work all together, I decided I liked the Arthurian works least of his works, and my favourites were the historical ones, and the ancient myths. Some works I expected to see weren't there, and some that were there were unfamiliar to me, which was a great surprise.

Waterhouse drew an awful lot of water. Was he trying to live up to his name?

My very favourites:

1. Miranda, from The Tempest. I love the tempest-tossed ship.

2. Mariana of the South. I don't know the story here but I love the dress, love the pose. I must look it up.

3. Fair Rosamund. I love the picture and the many details in it, and Rosamund Clifford has always been a favourite romantic figure, to go with the fascinating Henry II and his family.

4. The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius. Honorius was Emperor of Rome when the Visigoths sacked Rome, and I think Waterhouse's notion is that in despair or in reckless indolence or simple helplessness, he then concerned himself more with feeding the birds than with matters of state.

( 5. After the Dance... )

I'm so glad I got to see this.

Green Castle, Eleuthera...



We took a tour today called "A Taste of Eleuthera", to get a taste of local culture. Our first stop was at a primary school, where the kids were preparing for an interschool competition.

( My photos... )