I nearly forgot to tell you about the pilgrimage we made last summer to Stratford-upon-Avon: the home of that great Bard, of the man who wrote the sonnets and plays that shaped my awkward adolescence and escorted me to an awkward adulthood. I will confess: at first I found the little town kitschy. The endless…
There is a banging noise coming from the courtyard outside, and the sky above London is grey. It all feels familiar, the early morning sounds and sights of a city I’ve come to know. We have friends here, we have favorite restaurants and shops; we’ve even stayed in this strange little hotel before, with its…
We later reasoned that the costumes were probably there for kids, and not for us. The display in the lobby of the Royal Shakespeare Theater didn’t explicitly say this, but it was implied in the wording of the sign which cheerfully implored us to try on the clothing of Shakespeare’s time, punctuated by far too…
In England, we stayed in a little town called Wallingford, not far from where our friends were getting married. The village had its own castle, which I’m starting to believe is the European equivalent of a Dairy Queen. Every small town has at least one. It’s where the teenagers hang out when they’re bored and…
When compared to the rich history that all but assaults you when you’re in England, Peveril Castle isn’t that interesting. Built by Henry II in 1176, it was one of England’s earliest Norman fortresses. It would change hands over the years, moving in and out of royal control. By the end of the fourteenth century,…
Rand and I had intended to come back from England a few days earlier than we actually did. On the morning we were slated to leave, Rand looked at the weather report in Seattle, decided it was too damn hot, and moved our ticket. These are the luxuries that are afforded to the lucky, the…
A brief note of impending awesomeness: for the next few days, I will be rambling, sometimes coherently, sometimes not, about The Princess Bride. But Geraldine, you find yourself saying, isn’t this a travel blog? To which I will reply, enthusiastically, “OF COURSE IT SORT OF IS.” And the payoff, travel-wise, is a rather big…
I like watching history unfold. I am understandably fascinated by those moments that dominate the headlines, that will become fodder for essay questions in college classes a hundred years from now. The time we landed on the moon. The time communism fell. The time Obama was elected. My affections do not end there, limited to the…
– Do you remember the interstitial sketch from Monty Python where John Cleese would say, “And now for something completely different?” That seems like the perfect way to start off today’s post. Because today I am moving away from South Africa to tell you about the few brief days we spent in London. And I…
Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury
by Geraldine DeRuiter
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