Travels around the Continent
"O diese Sonne" (Oh this sun) - chorus from Der Freischütz I normally avoid travelling much in the summer months for three reasons: it is usually more expensive, everything is busier and I don't get on with extreme heat. When in April, Eurostar had one of their periodic sales offering tickets for just £35, I …
Continue reading "City Visit – Bonn (plus Königswinter and Cologne)"
"Я… я… я… я… я выиграл…, я очень много выиграл."("I... I... I... I... I won, I won a very great deal.")Alexei (The Gambler) - Sergey Prokofiev based on Fyodor Dostoevsky. Last year when I asked my son which opera he would like to see he suggested The Gambler by Sergey Prokofiev. Unfortunately, this is rarely …
"Oh moon in the deep sky,your light sees far,you roam over the wide world,and peer into human dwellings."(Rusalka - Song to the Moon) In the summer, shortly after I had returned from seeing Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in Bonn, I asked my son if there was any opera that he wished to see. One of the …
"Zum Ziele führt dich diese Bahn" ("This path leads you to your goal") - from Die Zauberflöte I had been due to attend a wedding on 11th July, but sadly this had been called off a few weeks beforehand. I decided to use the freed up time to make a short trip, the primary purpose …
"Ieri son salita tutta sola" ("Yesterday I went alone") Madama Butterfly Having enjoyed so much my flying visit to see Carmen at the Gothenburg Opera in August 2024, I decided to go again should the opportunity arise. As soon as tickets went on sale for Madama Butterfly, I acquired one. This latest trip was similar …
"Oh, Bonnie Dundee! I will sing in thy praiseA few but true simple lays,Regarding some of your beauties of the present dayAnd virtually speaking, there’s none can them gainsay;There’s no other town I know of with you can compareFor spinning mills and lasses fair."(William McGonagall) I had a few spare days around the end of …
"L'amour est un oiseau rebelleQue nul ne peut apprivoiser"("Love is a rebellious birdThat none can tame")Carmen In September 2023, on my EuropeExplored trip to Finland and Sweden, I went to see Nabucco at Gothenburg Opera House, the first time I had ever been to an opera. I enjoyed the experience so much that I thought …
Continue reading "City Visit (Operatic interlude) – Gothenburg"
"Haastige spoed is zelden goed." ("Hasty speed is seldom good" - Dutch saying) When Eurostar had one of their periodic seat sales at the end of 2022, I took the opportunity of getting some relatively cheap tickets to and from Rotterdam. However, I decided to base myself in Delft, an historic Dutch city about 10 …
Continue reading "City Visit – Delft (and Den Haag, Voorburg & Rotterdam)"
"No sé si llamé cielo a esta tierra que piso, si esto de abajo es el paraíso ¿Qué será la Alhambra, cielo?" ("I do not know what to call this land upon which I stand. If what is beneath my feet is paradise, then what is the Alhambra? Heaven?") - Lope de Vega My wife …
"Auld Reekie" (Edinburgh's nickname) After my visit to Glasgow in September 2017, I followed up a couple of months later with a visit to Edinburgh. In the absence of any immediate prospect of European travel at the moment, my post this month recalls my visit there. I again apologise for the lack of photographs to …