Danny Elfman In London

On October 31, 2013January 26, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - The United Kingdom

The centerpiece of the last UK trip was a show at the Royal Albert Hall, in London. The first in a small series of concerts around the UK, and a pair of them in Los Angeles.

The show was a concert of music that Danny Elfman had composed for Tim Burton’s movies.

I’m pretty sure that every single person reading this blog has heard at least some of this music- Batman, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas- they all had a moment in the program.

The best part of this concert, and the reason that I went all the way to London to see it, was that Danny Elfman himself was performing- his first live performance in 18 years. I did not take the following picture; I pulled it off the Royal Albert Hall blog. This is Danny, doing the Jack Skellington parts in the Nightmare Before Christmas section.

When the Nightmare Before Christmas section got to Sally’s song, Helena Bonham-Carter stepped out to do that song, to the roaring applause of pretty much everyone in the theatre. For the Oogie Boogie song, Danny did the Oogie part, and the conductor in the picture above donned a Santa hat to sing the Santa portion of the song. Brilliant!

After the show, they brought Tim Burton on the stage for applause and accolades. Once again, this picture is from the Royal Albert Hall blog; I wasn’t nearly this close. From left to right, Helena Bonham-Carter, Danny Elfman, and Tim Burton. Tim Burton has really grown into that hair over the years, I think.

This picture is one that I *did* take- you can see Danny, Helena, Tim, and the conductor standing together. We were in the 11th row.

What’s the last concert you went to? Did you travel to see it?

Highgate Cemetery, London

On October 28, 2013January 26, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - The United Kingdom12 Comments

I meant to visit Highgate Cemetery on my first visit to London, and again on my second visit. It took until my third visit before I managed to make it there. It’s a little further from the London Tube than Pere Lachaise is from the Paris Metro. Inside the gates, it’s not as well kept as Pere Lachaise either, but it has its own charm.

One of the things I like about Highgate is that many of the graves show a bit of the personality of the people buried there. For example, Gordon Bell:

One of the founders of Foyle’s Books:

Many of the graves were massively overgrown, or sunken. There are quite a few that cannot be reached easily.

I’m guessing Thornton was a pianist?

It wouldn’t be a trip to a cemetery without spotting a black cat hanging around. This one wasn’t as friendly as the one in Paris.

The grave of Karl Marx is very subtle. I almost missed it entirely.

Another grave with a lot of personality.

There were many children buried in Highgate. Some of their gravestones were unique.

The primary reason I wanted to go to Highgate was to see the grave of Douglas Noel Adams.

I realized when I arrived that it has become customary to leave a pen in the bowl in front of his grave. I always carry a pen, so I left it there.

I liked this gravestone. I hope when I’m gone that I’m also remembered as a wise and gentle man. Realistically, I’ll have to settle for gentle.

This gravestone wins. If anyone was at all unsure of their status, it’s clearly readable in the stone itself.

Historical “Foot”-note.

On October 24, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany9 Comments

One of my favorite things about living in this city is all the strange little bits of history that surround me. I’ve written before about how Johannes Kepler lived here, and about how there’s a section of Roman fortress wall next to the McDonalds. The last Pope taught theology at the University here.

Napoleon Bonaparte also spent some time here after the Battle Of Regensburg which was fought between the Austrians and the invading French in 1809. Napoleon was wounded during the battle, shot in his left ankle. According to local legend, he recovered for a short while here before moving on to Vienna.

This sign is on the corner of my street, mounted on the front of the building. I pass it every day, as I leave my apartment. It says, “Hier ift Napoleon I am 23 April 1809 bei der Beschießung der Stadt verwundet worden.”

Translated it means, “Here Napoleon Bonaparte was wounded in the bombardment of the city on April 23, 1809.”

Yup, I live on the street where Napoleon was shot in the foot. History is amazing!

Does your city have any interesting historical significance?

Cardiff

On October 21, 2013January 26, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - The United Kingdom3 Comments

On my last trip to the UK, we took a day trip to Cardiff by train out of London’s Paddington Station. This makes Wales my fifteenth country visited! (Not including the US.)

Cardiff is a fascinating little city. We didn’t see even a third of what the city has to offer, but we did take a stroll past this nifty clock down Queen Street.

At the end of the street are the outer walls of Cardiff Castle.

Through the main gate of those outer walls is the original Norman shell keep, flying the flag of Wales.

The red dragon motif is everywhere, as the symbol of Wales. It’s also the symbol of the Brains brewery, which makes a pretty tasty beer. I had a Brains Green Dragon at lunch when we were back in London later in the trip, and I wish I’d had a Brains while we were closer to the brewery- I’ve been told that the flavor loses something in transit.

Our goal for this jaunt to Cardiff was actually in Cardiff Bay. From the Cardiff central station, we took a small local train to Queen Street a few stops from the main station, then changed to the smallest train ever to go to Cardiff Bay. Seriously, it’s only got the one wagon and it just goes back and forth between Queen Street and Cardiff Bay.

From Cardiff Bay’s little train station, it’s a short walk to the Bay. You’ll pass the very pretty Pierhead building.

…and you’ll walk past the Wales Millennium Center. If you watched Torchwood, this will look familiar. This is an arts center which hosts events like concerts, opera, ballet, and so forth. The dome is clad in steel that was treated with copper oxide, to represent Cardiff’s steel making history. It was designed to withstand the weather conditions on the Cardiff Bay waterfront.

Inscribed on the front of the dome, above the main entrance, are two lines written by Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis. The Welsh version is Creu Gwir fel gwydr o ffwrnais awen, which means “Creating truth like glass from the furnace of inspiration”. The English is In These Stones Horizons Sing. (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

Walking further along the bay is the World Harmony Peace Statue. You hold the handle of the torch, and make a wish for world peace.

After a little bit more walking, we arrived at the goal for this side trip: The Doctor Who Experience, situated in Cardiff Bay until 2017. The first part of the DWE is an interactive walk-through adventure with the eleventh Doctor in which you get to fly the TARDIS, so that’s pretty fun. Also, you get to learn how to walk like a scarecrow soldier or a Cyberman.

After the interactive part of the Doctor Who Experience, there’s an exhibition. I took a bajillion photographs, but I won’t bore my non-geeky readers with all of those. I selected just seven pictures to give you a sense of the place. If you’re not into Doctor Who, just skip down to the picture that has me in it, and we’ll pick up the post from there.

The first picture is the outfit of Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor. This was part of a row of outfits worn by each of the first ten Doctors.

Similarly, the companions each had outfits in the exhibition. Here’s Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith outfit.

There were several TARDIS control rooms in the exhibition. I’m pretty sure this was the fourth Doctor’s control room.

…and this was definitely Nine and Ten’s control room, brought over to the DWE in its entirety after the regeneration into Eleven. They cleaned it up a bit, but you can still see smoke and fire damage from Ten’s fairly explosive regeneration.

No Doctor Who exhibit would be complete without my favorite robot dog of all time, K-9.

Most of the Doctor’s adversaries were represented, but I particularly liked this Cyberman.

Of course, there were friends of the Doctor present as well. Here’s me, hanging out with the Face Of Boe.

Ok, that’s enough geekery for this post. Once we were done at the Doctor Who Experience, it was time to walk back from Cardiff Bay. I had to force myself not to walk like a Cyberman.

Cardiff Bay is really a very pretty place. Here’s a view out from the dock.

There’s a number of fascinating sculptures around the Bay. This was my favorite- the Merchant Seafarers’ War Memorial, by sculptor Brian Fell. It’s designed to look like both a face and the bow of a ship.

Walking back up the wide sidewalks from the Bay to the little rail station, we couldn’t help but notice all the spiders that were out. I think they were collecting food and preparing for the winter.

Last but not least, on our way out of the Cardiff Bay area, this little cutie walked right up to us, flopped over, and demanded to be loved. Who could say no to those little paws?

Have you ever been to Cardiff? Did you learn to walk like a Cyberman while you were there?

Before and After

On October 17, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany1 Comment

When I first arrived in Regensburg, the ticket machines for the bus system were all confusing push-buttony evil, like so:

One day about two months ago, a magical thing started to happen. The old machines started to evolve. I walked past one on Albertstraße and it had a brand new touchscreen and a whole lot of new technology stuck on the front. The new machines always exist in sunlight.

This is progress!

Have you noticed any tiny little improvements around your town that make you happy?