England 2

London (again)

Earth From the Air, Yann Arthus-Bertrand http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/us/photogra/index.htm

Outside of the Science museum was an exhibit that really grabbed both of us. Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a gifted photographer, is concerned about man's impact on the earth. In 1995, he started a powerful photo essay cataloging the state of the earth, with pictures from the air covering every continent. Both visually exquisite and intellectually stimulating, his work is immensely powerful.

He includes one magnificent photo of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska (where Fran's dad lives --Hi Erlend!), with just an autumn color splash poking through a break in the soft clouds, and mirrored in the lake. Other works includes tropical islets, Himalayan peaks, Asian marketplaces, energy plants, and highway systems. He captures the photo in a way that others would not have seen, with a great eye for light and color. He has a simple commentary for each. For example, adjacent to the Everest photos he notes that expeditions have taken nearly 100 lives, half of them Sherpas, and left 30 tons of garbage on the mountain. His note on the Kenai highlights the role of the area for salmon.

He has powerful images of the impact of man. He lets the pictures and the facts speak for themselves. He is not a doomsayer; while some pictures show the devastation caused by man, others show a neutral or positive effect of man's presence on the earth. He includes lovely pictures of dye vats, or fanciful European gardens. One incredible photo captures a line of camels crossing the ridge of a sand dune at sunset, with deep orange colors and shadows reaching out to the distance. The story simple describes the mutual relationship of the camels and human in the harsh desert environment. He tries to capture a broad range of images and let the viewer react to them on their own.

This is a stunning collection of 150 images, in a project stated in 1995. Stop right now and go look. Spend some time clicking on each picture and taking it all in. It is quite remarkable. http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/us/photogra/index.htm

Westminster Abbey

We learned a little about visiting cathedrals along the way. Instead of joining the throngs of tourists touring the cathedral, we waited until the evening service and joined it. A simple service of song and prayer, this was the way to experience Westminster Abbey. It is not just a building; it comes to life with song. Surprisingly, very few people visit this way. We actually get to go into the chapel and sit in the choir chairs. The service is small and intimate.

Les Miserables

We took in some Theatre while here. Fran really wanted to see Les Miserables (also Arlo's favorite musical, if I recall correctly). The performance is a long-standing one here in London, and was quite good. We bought discount seats the day of the show and headed to the Palace theatre. It turned out that the seats were quite high up. No, I mean, higher than that. The upper balcony is not far back from the stage, but is way up in the rafters. We could look down on the stage rather than over to it. It was kind of fun, because we got a completely different view of the sets.

London

While we did see the various tourist attractions, mostly we just took it easy. Many days were just walks through Hyde Park, or Green Park. We took in a couple of free concerts, catching some African percussion and some Salsa music.

We also settled in a bit. We read the newspapers, following along as the local stories unfolded. We followed the track and field athletes in the Commonwealth games, and then a few weeks later in the European games in Munich. We read in horror as two little girls were abducted and then found murdered (paralleling a gripping story in Oregon City at nearly the same time). We read as various little issues arose from the European Unification, and were resolved. We watched the coverage of Bush's threats in Iraq, and Israel's atrocities in Palestine. We watched as the flood waters rose in Germany and the Czech Republic to historic levels, flooding areas that we walked in just a couple of months ago.

We talked about the remainder of our travels. We have sometimes traversed the tourist path, seeing all of the sights. Other times we have forsaken the sights and just settled in to an area. We tend to like the later better, even though we see less. We feel like we experience the country more. We also develop our own routines, and feel better ourselves. We are thinking through what that means for the rest of our trip.

Looking ahead

Much of our thoughts have been directed toward Africa and India. We needed to get ready to go mentally, and used the time to do so. We also needed to make arrangements. We intended to do several activities in Tanzania, but it turns out they are much more expensive than we thought. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro costs nearly $1000 a person, as does each week on safari in the game parks. We originally wanted to climb the mountain, and then spend a couple of weeks on safari. We grossly underestimated the cost, so needed to rethink what to do. By looking at both India and Africa, we realized that we will be hiking in the Himalayas and visiting India game reserves at a much lower cost (under 15%). The African game parks are the best in the world, and we do not want to drop them completely because of cost, but we did decide that we could scale back a little on the time and shift some of the trekking and exploring to India.

We are also talking about doing less travel within India and Australia, and maybe just settling into areas for a month or two each. Our interest in India continues to grow, and we are looking forward to a bit of a spiritual journey. Perhaps we can settle into a place where we can practice our yoga and meditation, combined with some volunteer work and access to trekking in the mountains. That sounds very attractive right now.

We are ready to move on to Africa and India.