The Morgan Library

Those of you, like Anna Lee, who have read The Personal Librarian by Maria Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray understand why the Morgan Library was a destination for us.  On a brief tour (by someone who has not read the book) we learned that the building was built in 1906 and designed to utilize natural lighting.  The walls are several stories high and covered with books.

We enjoyed wandering around seeing the beautiful building with walls and ceilings adorned with murals and displays of books and classical art.  The walls of the rotunda are covered with paintings not mosaics.

 This is one (1454 AD) of the three Gutenberg Bibles owned by Morgan.

The library is connected to Morgan’s house via a tunnel.  It contains a vault filled with books.  The ceiling is from Florence.  His office and fireplace is as he left it.

   

This Emancipation Proclamation was printed by Rufus Blanchard who printed multiple copies in 1863-1864.

We left the Morgan and, on our way back to the hotel, we passed the New York Public Library that was featuring an exhibit called "Treasures".  We had to stop in and look and it was certainly worth the time.

Ashley Bryan was an illustrator of children’s books written by Langston Hughes.  Hughes wrote after serving in WWII and living in both North and South America.  Bryan’s paintings also included subjects of daily life.  This poem by Hughes is on a painting of San Francisco.

Other items included a burial attire

There was also a copy of the Megillah

 Comments on New York City:       

Contrary to our quiet neighborhood back home, New York City is jammed with noise: horns, sirens, people of all backgrounds speaking many languages.  Crowds on the street at all times.  Kind and friendly people in stores, restaurants, hotels.  Yes, they are paid to be nice but you can’t just fake it.  On this trip, the sky is blue and the sun shines down as we join the innumerable people jamming the streets.  It is an invigorating feeling but cold to the skin.

Our hotel room view includes the ball that will drop on New Year’s Eve and a beautiful older building with great style. 

New York, New York

We planned to stay only a few days in NY before heading up to Saranac and family, but learning about more plays lengthened our stay.  On our first day we hit the strip running, or actually walking through the garment district.  This statue was a reminder of what it was like in the early days here.

On Wednesay we had both matinee and evening performances.  A teasing on the Tony Awards show led us to Strange Loop, a play about a playwright writing a play about a playwright.  He is a gay usher named Usher who is plagued by demons regarding his life and sexuality.  He is also estranged from his religious family.  This is a musical.  Jerry liked it better than Anna Lee, who wanted more in the end about his actually writing and completing the play.

Our dinner had a bonus, Dena, daughter of good friends of ours from home, joined us for a delicious dinner at The Smith.  We probably dominated the conversation but she is a good listener and delightful dinner companion.

Our second play of the day was was a short ride uptown to the Lincoln Center to see Becky Nurse, the story of a descendant from a Salem witch and her travails raising a grand-daughter and trying to work in Salem.  We had visited this complex years ago to see an excellent production of War Horse.  Becky Nurse  It is a multilayered play with some magic and romance tossed in.  Anna Lee was a bit teary-eyed at the end.

The view out our window onto Times Square.   

With his new hearing aids, Jerry says that he can clearly hear the dialog in the plays and Anna Lee has stopped mumbling.

Fringe Festival

August is Fringe Festival Month in Edinburgh.  This means almost 24 hour entertainment all over town.  The Ibis Hotel, where we stayed several times during our visit, is located right in the middle of the Royal Mile and the perfect spot for buskers of all abilities to perform.  We saw knife and flame jugglers, high-ride monocyclists, and stunts we have no words for.  Most were okay, a few quite good, all with hats out for “donations.”

 

 In addition, at venues throughout town, performers danced, acted, sang, and, yes, spat water.  We saw performances that we never would have ventured to see at home and most were more than worth the ticket price.  Dancers and acrobats moved their bodies as if they were made of rubber.

 

The one we enjoyed the most was the one we were least inclined to see.  As you walk along the Royal Mile, performers thrust flyers at you to get you to their performances.  Anna Lee has a habit of asking people with American accents where they are from.  We watch a trio of men spewing water from their mouths like fountains.  One of them came up to hand us a card for their show Human Fountains and he had an American accent.  Turns out he is from Denver, Anna Lee’s home town.  (Some of you know this story and may want to proceed to the pictures.)   We were less than interested in going but somehow changed our minds.  The show is a laugh-out loud water spitting event.

 

The man we had seen on the streets invited Bennett on stage.  You would have thought, he was part of the show.  He fit right in ducking and dodging their spewing.  They even took a bow with him.

 

 As we were leaving, Anna Lee asked the man if his mother knew what he did.  She does and was in the audience.  Turns out, from lots of back and forth, that we are related in a distant way.  Image, traveling 5000 miles and meeting kin.

This sums up what was a fabulous family trip to experience new sites and adventures.  With all we saw and did, to us the best part of the trip was the people we met.  They were warm, friendly, amusing and welcoming.  Our view of the Scots puts them at the top of the list of most friendly in all our travels (except maybe for the penguins in Antarctica).

 

Holyrood House

Our last tour of our stay in Edinburgh was a visit to Holyroodhouse, the Official Royal Residence for the British Monarch.  The Queen holds official events here when she is in residence in Scotland.  

 Each room seems to have one purpose.

Entry to the palace is by virtue of climbing the main staircase which is lined with art and tapestries.

The Royal Dining Room has 3000 pieces available for settings.  We were not invited for a dinner party.    

The Throne Room

Heads of State are welcomed in The Presence Room.  They must stay in bow-position until the ruler recognizes them.  In years past some have been left in this position for hours if they were in disfavor with the particular Monarch.

Other guests are met in the Privy Room.

Silk tapestries in twenty-four colors adorn the antechamber before the King’s Bedchamber.  No King has slept here.  Mary, Queen of Scots, used the room. Victoria and Elizabeth, among the longest reigning royalty, have used the room.

The walls of the Great Hall contain 96 portraits of real and not real rulers, all bearing the nose of Charles II proving he was the “rightful” ruler.

There was even a "secret" door for servants to bring food or refreshments in.

The extensive gardens have a section for health plants.

One garden party, in more recent times, had 8000 people in attendance.

Alnwick Castle and Holy Island

While Cheryl, Dave and Bennett stayed near Dundee, we returned to Edinburgh and took a day tour to Alnwick Castle and Holy Island. The castle has been featured in both the Downton Abbey series and Harry Potter movies.   

On entry to the castle guests are greeted by Sir Henry Percy, the warrior.  

 No photos are permitted of the interior of the castle but it is quite something to see.

Next to the castle are magnificent gardens where we started our tour.  The flowers and fountains pose for photographers. 

On this sunny Sunday, the grounds around the castle and gardens were filled with families enjoying the sun, playing games and buying ice cream.  We had to do the latter out of courtesy of course.

Our next stop was Holy Island.  Connected to the mainland by a bridge way, storms frequently cut the island off from the mainland.  Also there is a warning to check the tides before coming.   The reason became obvious.  

We wandered the town of Lindisfarne, which dates back to the 600s, visiting the church yard and the church.

We could have walked out to the castle but ran out of time.

The Priory in town is an interesting ruin.