Three Weekends of Adventures

After my last two posts were both rather serious, I thought I'd do something a little more light-hearted today and write about what I've been up to in the last three Saturdays.

 

Two weeks ago today (Saturday 19th July), I went to Glyndebourne for the first time to see a production of Don Giovanni. I got into opera as a bit of a teenage rebellion thing; most people went out drinking and things, I joined the Socialist Workers and got into Mozart! Glyndebourne is notoriously expensive, and I've never both been able to afford it and able to justify spending that kind of money on myself. However, when you get a ticket bought for you as an anniversary gift, it'd be churlish to refuse!

 

As they say themselves, Glyndebourne isn't just about the opera, but about the whole experience. I got to Lewes station after a sweaty trip from Victoria station (it was around twenty-nine degrees) and onto the bus they lay on to get there, and then promptly got lost trying to find the cloakrooms! After I did manage to dump my suitcase, I went and bought some ridiculously overpriced sandwiches and drinks from the bar, found a nice shaded spot in the gardens, and largely stayed there while people had their picnics. I did go for a bit of a stroll, but it was very hot in the compulsory dinner suit, and I wanted to make it to the opera without passing out!

 

The actual production was superb. I had what the ticket said was a 'restricted view', but I could see pretty much everything that was happening without problem, and the captions meant my rusty Italian wasn't tested too much! It was particularly impressive given the singer playing one of the main characters had a throat infection and couldn't perform, so his replacement had to step into the breach. I think they brought the comedy out very well and did justice to Mozart's music.

 

During the long interval, I had an excellent three-course dinner and chatted to random people who'd also asked to be seated on a shared table. It struck me, interestingly, that the older folks there were much easier to get one with (and substantially less arrogant) than many of the younger lads in particular. I particularly enjoyed the pudding - strawberries and custard - and had difficulty staying awake on a full stomach in the second half (thank goodness for air conditioning!).

 

Last weekend in a very different sort of evening, we went to listen to a folk singer called Seth Lakeman as part of the ten-day International Festival being held in Milton Keynes. I gather he's folk royalty, but I'd not heard him before. The actual venue was interesting, in that we were sat around long tables on picnic chairs in a huge tent that had been kitted out to look like a pub. It was packed - I'm guessing there were around two hundred people there.

 

 

 

Seth was supported by Lisbee Stainton, a young singer-songwriter we'd heard previously at The Stables, and the two of them had an obvious bond. She played the banjo and sang backing vocals, while Lakeman was on the violin and guitar. The most moving bit of the evening was when Lakeman sang a song penned by a veteran of the Normandy landings, which was beautiful and powerful, the sort of song that makes one appreciate never having had to face the horrors of war. Other songs were the kind that get people up on their feet. All in all, a good evening.

 

Today, we went to Milton Keynes Museum for the first time. It's easy to think of Milton Keynes as being so new it doesn't have much history, but in reality, the new town swallowed up existing and much older towns and villages. Wolverton, where the Museum is, dates back to the Victorian period; it was a railway town. This is reflected in that most of the displays date back to that period and come up to the present day, the collection of mobile phones being a prime example of the more modern stuff, alongside a mock town centre shopping street from the Victorian era.

 

There are eight separate buildings altogether, housing diverse displays such as old transport vehicles and not so old ones like a BT advertising bus, to an old-fashioned tea room to a shopping street to a room full of phones and early computers to a gift shop. Sally and I thoroughly enjoyed our wander around, and listening to both older people reminisce about their childhoods, and children discovering the past for the first time.

 

I got a bit excited about the chance to cook some toast over an open fire - think the old ladies watching thought I was sweet, in a 'wanting to pat me on the head' way! I think they also thought I'm Sally's son, which is another story! I'd thoroughly recommend the Museum for a trip out, but be aware that you have to walk between buildings and on days like today, that means getting wet!

 

That's three weekends of very varied activities; it's been good to have time out to relax in the midst of life being very busy, and to spend time chilling with Sally. Hope this gives a flavour of what I've been up to!

 

Exploring Madrid

Occasionally, my job allows for a spot of foreign travel, and last week I got to spend a few days in Madrid, where Santander has its global headquarters. Said HQ is a few miles out of the city, in an area without a great deal else there, and so everything one could need is onsite, from a range of restaurants to a laundry to a sports centre. It does feel a bit like Fort Knox, in that access into and out of the site is monitored carefully and on arrival I had to go through a mini passport control. Getting food requires an 'invitation' and even buying a coffee requires possession of the right bit of paper - money doesn't work!

 

Anyway, on my second night there, I decided to escape for a few hours and go into Madrid. After a thirty minute tram ride into town and a quick change onto the underground metro system, I ended up at a station called Principe Pio, with a nice shopping centre where I could get an early dinner (my digestive system struggled to cope with long lunches at 2pm and then having dinner as late as 10pm) and was able to see a beautiful archway that I captured as the sun was setting...

Puerta de Principe Pio

I decided I'd walk from there to take a look at the Royal Palace and the Almudena Cathedral, via the Sabatini Gardens. The Palacio Real de Madrid is the official residence of King Juan Carlos, but he and his family don't live there; it's more used for ceremonials these days. Apparently the palace is on the site of a ninth century fortress, but today's building was constructed between 1738 and 1755. With it being the evening, I didn't a chance to go inside but the views of the huge façade and the next door gardens are simply stunning, and I was one of many tourists seeking to grab a picture. I was struck by the sheer size of the building, and the view out over the city as the sun set was breath-taking:

Royal Palace, Madrid

Sabatini Gardens, Madrid

From there, I decided to walk along the Calle Balien and to take a detour via the Plaza de Oriente, which features some cool statues among the kissing couples.

Statue in the Plaza de Oriente, Madrid

Along the way, I came across a very nice café where I stopped for a drink and listened to the piano music courtesy of the house maestro. It all felt very civilised and relaxed. Continuing to wander brought me to the Cathedral, the Santa María la Real de La Almudena. The square between the Cathedral and the Palace is huge and affords magnificent views out over the city, of the front of said Cathedral and the back of the Palace. I can imagine that it gets very full during the day but there were only a view folks about when I was there, so I could get some good pictures. Wikipedia tells me that the Cathedral is actually very new; building was started in 1879 and was temporarily abandoned during the Spanish civil war. It was finally finished and consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993. Again, the façade is stunningly beautiful and it was warm enough (around twenty degrees) to allow me to sit a while and just take in the view (excuse the police car in the shot!):

Almudena Cathedral, Madrid

Later, I went for a walk in the old town and nabbed a late supper in a paella bar near the Cathedral as I made my way back to the metro and the Santander (prison) complex. I had fun and games getting past security on the way in as the guard's lack of English and my lack of Spanish made it difficult to communicate that he needed to see my passport, an incident that has inspired me to try to learn some Spanish so when I go back I don't come across quite so much as an ignorant Englishman!

 

My trip was great fun and it was eye-opening to see some of the differences in culture between Britain and Spain. The most notable thing was the mealtimes, as breakfast was early if bothered with at all, lunch was mid-afternoon and dinner was after nine in the evening, which took some getting used to initially. I noticed that I got mis-gendered far more often than generally happens in the UK these days, now I've been taking testosterone for a few months, which makes me wonder what cues some of the Spanish men (it was always men!) I spoke to picked up on that their English counterparts are not doing! One other interesting thing emerged when chatting to some of my colleagues over coffee about visiting cathedrals. It seems that this generation of young educated Spaniards are just as secular as we are, which I wasn't expecting as I suppose I think of Spain as quite a traditional and very Catholic country.

 

Overall, I had a great time and can't wait to go back. I'm not looking forward to the heat of their summers, but there's so much to see and do that it'll be worth it!