August 9th: We got up early on the morning and headed off to Stratford-upon-Avon, arriving at the city centre just as everything was opening. It was really quite nice, although a little touristic, but there were parts that reminded us of our own little town of the same name in south-western Ontario. The birthplace of Wm. Shakespeare looked quite old from the outside, and we opted not to go inside and look around, but continued through the downtown to view the old Swan theatre and the new large modern theatre and home of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Interestingly the Stratford public library seems to be doing very well; it's funded and operated by the municipality and it's open every single day of the week. Someone tell Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
From had considered a trip to Oxford, or a visit to Warwick Castle, but opted instead to continue north to Sheffield. Maggie had been given her father's favorite pair of Sheffield dressmaker's shears as a late teen, but they had been stolen some time later while at school, and so I had a mission to find her a replacement.
Fortunately Ernest Wright and Son in Sheffield were ready to remedy the situation, and despite being in the midst of a move of their factory premises, were happy to have us into their offices, and Philip Wright, the elder partner in the business, was a font of information about various types of shears and scissors, and let us snip away to our heart's content. Maggie finally settled on the 9-inch dressmakers' shears, and we stopped for a pint of the local farmer's beer in the pub next door to celebrate.
From Sheffield it was a short 50 minutes north to Leeds, where we took in a great many fantastic displays of armaments from around the world, sat the Royal Armouries. Free admission, and lots to see and do. The Asian weapons were for me the most stunning, with many different styles of armour and swords and guns, from India, Sri Lanka, and a number of other south asian countries. The elephant armour on display there dates from the 17th century and is the only set in existence. The other highlight was the samurai sword and armour collection, which was breathtaking.
The collection there covered arms and armaments from antiquity through the centuries right up to the present day, with one gallery devoted to self-defence, modern policing techniques and equipment and gang violence.
Also in Leeds we made a quick stop at a historic site: the Refectory , where The Who on February 14th, 1970 recorded their highly regarded album "Live at Leeds".
Just because I'm an opera singer, it doesn't preclude an appreciation for other kinds of music; after all I did play a lot of Who songs in a high school rock band, and even a classical singer must pay homage to such a live record, made by "The Loudest Band of All Time" at the height of their considerable powers.
We then continued from Leeds up to York, enjoying the views of the Yorkshire countryside very much along the way, and arrived for dinner with our friends Louise and David and their two children. That was a great catch-up; they were a daily "hello" stop enroute to the boys' Brussels school for three years until they moved back to York a year ago, and we were happy to see them all again, and made lots of appreciative noises at all the beautiful work they've been doing to redecorate their house after several years abroad.
That evening after dinner we carried on a short distance to Helmsley, which is located on the southern boundary of North York Moors National Park, and it's a beautiful place with many sandstone buildings, and easy access to a great many walking tours around Yorkshire. Definitely a future destination; I can envision using the village as a base for various tours of the surrounding conservation area...
up next... Alnwick Castle, Barter's bookstore, and our arrival in Scotland...
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