I was thinking the other day about all the places I'd like to go if I had the money and the time. Not being able to afford a vacation can cause serious daydreaming, unfortunately.
First up of course would be Edisto Beach, for a week or so of just being lazy and doing nothing. If there was nothing available there I'd opt for Hilton Head, mainly because I've been there so many times I know where everything is, and there are some excellent restaurants.I prefer the quiet of Edisto, though.
After my last trip abroad, to get Michael in May 2007, I vowed I'd never travel internationally again, and I may not. However, I can fantasize.
The countries I've daydreamed about seeing are Italy, Ireland, and New Zealand.I've never been to those countries. The countries I've spent the most time in are Kazakhstan, Russia, England, and Germany.
Dad went to Italy in the early 50's.
He went back with Mom in the late 1980's, and one of Mom's favorite photos is of the two of them at an outdoor table in Venice, at St. Mark's Square. I don't have it scanned in, unfortunately.
Ireland will be a must-see destination when I get the money, too.I am part Irish on my mother's side of the family.I feel a pull towards that country every time I see a movie that was made there, starting years ago with the classic The Quiet Man.
I would love to visit New Zealand, since I've long been a fan of movies filmed there, like The Piano and the Lord of the Rings movies.
Wow, I'm starting to sense a pattern here. I see a movie and think wow, I must go there. I bet there's a name for that somewhere in the psychology books...
All this travel thinking got me to reminiscing about the one time I went to Europe, years ago.
In 1988 I went to Europe one summer on a monthlong "holiday" as our British cousins would say. I took two weeks of vacation and two weeks unpaid leave. I studied Drama in England for three weeks with a group from the University of Tennessee, where I was in grad school, and spent a week with my brother and his wife, who were living in Germany.
I took a brand new 35 mm camera with me, and made a ton of photos, some of which weren't too awful, but looking at the quality now, I am sort of amused. Photos now are SO much better than they were in 1988.
In Germany, my brother took his dog Ben everywhere. Germans are/were very dog friendly. Ben was very well behaved, too. Here they are in a riverbank in Wurzburg, I think.
This is a photo I am rather proud of, considering the weather, film, and my limited skills. It was taken from the castle in Edinburgh. Note in the foreground is a doggie graveyard, which impressed me. We spent a lot of time walking up and down the Royal Mile leading to the castle, shopping, but not a whole lot of time in the castle. I was with my friend Aurelia, and we went to Edinburgh for a long weekend, apart from the rest of the group. Everyone sort of scattered that weekend, which was fine. I loved Edinburgh, despite the fact it was July and it was cold and rainy. We bought jackets, sweatshirts and wool sweaters that trip, because all us Americans were not used to the 55 degree summer days there./ Below, me and Ree at Hampton Court [home of Henry VIII].
The two weeks the group was in London were a lot of fun. We were free to sightsee during the day and at night we went to plays.
I loved England, not just because I knew the language, either. All the English people I encountered were friendly and nice. The cultural differences were amusing, not scary. I had a strong sense of deja vu, which must have come from my my DNA, since many of my ancestors hailed from the British Isles. It was just a lovely country.
The only thing that was tricky was the weather. We quickly learned that we could start off in the morning for a day of sightseeing and it would be bright and sunny, then there would be a downpour, then it would be sunny again. We carried umbrellas everywhere.
We also saw a lot of wonderful plays. The first week, we were in Stratford, so we saw about 6 Shakespeare plays. In looking back over my collection of play programs years later I noticed Ralph Fiennes was in a production of King John I saw in Stratford. Little did I know he would be come famous years later as Voldemort.
I was about as thin as I've ever been in my life in 1988. I was a poor student and I walked everywhere and ate a lot of baked potatoes and canned soup. Well, in England I ate a lot of Chinese food. I quickly realized I wasn't fond of English food. I ordered a ploughman's lunch once at a pub and they brought me a piece of stale bread, a whole onion, and a hunk of cheese. Um, not tasty.
I also wasn't crazy about baked beans, which they eat for breakfast over there. Now I love baked beans, but when you're a bit hungover and they are staring up at you from a steam table, hmmm.... We stayed at the University of London in dorms and had to be up early if we wanted to eat breakfast there.
I've always love seeing plays, but England spoiled me. The theatre there is such a living, vital institution, and the acting is so wonderful. America just doesn't quite measure up.
Once you've seen a Shakespeare play in England, you just never enjoy American productions, not unless they have an exceptionally amazing cast or the play is on Broadway. I saw a local production of the Tempest later, in about 1994, and was horrified. I almost left, it was so awful.
The production of The Tempest I saw in England starred John Wood, a marvelous actor. I just looked him up in IMDB and realized he died about a month ago. What a shame. His Prospero was electrifying.
Lettice and Lovage was my favorite of all the plays I saw that summer. It starred Dame Maggie Smith and she was fantastic. I never laughed so hard in my life. My face and sides hurt from laughing. It's a shame I've never seen a movie version of the play.
Well, I better wrap this up and go make dinner. If I get the energy I may scan in some more photos later, but don't hold your breath...