First order of business is Shakespeare's Globe Theater which is short one block walk from our Bankside House. We enjoyed the exibition and tour of the Theater. Next we went to the pier and took the clipper ship down the Thames to the London Bridge and the Tower of Londin. We toured the Tower (really like a midevil city), viewed the Crown Jewels, and had lunch at the Armory - Cafe inside the Tower. We reboarded the clipper ship to cruise back to Bankside pier. I still had sore feet and was tired so I went back to my room and rested (we took a nap). Next we got ready to go see "Blood Brothers" at the Phoenix Theater. We met the Fringe Group an took "the Tube" to the west end theater district. We surfaced ... read more

Tomorrow, we depart Longview for The Fringe Festival in Edinbrugh! We must arise from our beds at 4:00 AM!! to car pool with other Mainstagites to PDX for our 8:50 AM flight to PHL - change planes then 6:20 PM flight to London (LGW). We arrive in London at 6:55 AM, tuesday - London time. We are met by a "Blue Badge Guide" who will give us a half day coach panoramic tour of London in an effort to keep us awake for the day to combat Jet lag - GOOD LUCK! So we're all poised, bags packed, Passport on person, medications listed, and $$payments made, ready to go. Our group consists of 8 adults and 8 students, all Mainstage Theater participants. The production that the students are going to preform is called SHAKESPEARE SHATTERED. ... read more

Today we had an afternoon rehearsal with Anthony Giles and again worked hard to polish and refine the Requiem. During the morning, John scurried around and got tickets for us to attend an Opera at the MET tonight! Yes they cost an arm and a leg at the last minute! Another couple from our group already had tickets and were planning to have dinner at the Grand Tier Restaurant in the opera house, so we joined them. The dinner we had was fab, and the performance of La Sonnambula was equally Fab. The Soprano and Tenor in the production sounded wonderful. We can now say that we have seen an Opera at the MET!! On the way back to the hotel in a taxi we enjoyed the many NYC lights along the way.... read more

John and I drove up to Seattle yesterday (March 25th) and parked our car at a friend's house in Dash Point. Then David picked us up and drove us to the Red Lion Inn at the airport where we checked in for the night. The three of us (John, David, and I) then went out to dinner at the 13 Coins restaurant. We enjoyed having the time to visit with David, our son, who lives in West Seattle. Early the next morning, at Sea Tac Airport, Brian Mitchell and the school bus load of Mark Morris singers plus a few other singers, who got up extra early to leave from Longview, arrived. We all gathered at the American Airlines area to get tickets, check in baggage, and go through security. Our group consisted of Brian ... read more

After the fact, this is a trip we took in 2005 and enjoyed very much. I was not a travelblogger then and so am posting a few pictures to remember and for the "trip" section of my T blog. Our itinerary was Prague, Vienna & Budapest.... read more