Wednesday, December 26, 2012

IN SEARCH OF MORSE, WALLANDER & TUTANKHAMUN


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IN SEARCH OF MORSE, WALLANDER & TUTANKHAMUN
Carol Dennis

It started as a mystery.  How could we stay in Oxford, England, so that we could tour the city and follow in the footsteps of Chief Inspector Morse (or Lewis and Hathaway)?  Jerry’s conference was taking him to Didcot, England, near Oxford.  

Ten years ago, when we last traveled to Didcot, the accompanying ladies had a bit of trouble being able to spend time in Oxford.  This time we all decided to stay near the center of Oxford and let the gentlemen drive or take the bus to their conference. 
 The next problem we encountered was that the Morse tours were all booked.  Well, with our trusty guide books we managed to visit some of Morse’s haunts 
including his favorite Turf Pub, down a narrow alley, 
plus the Ashmolean Museum, 

the Bodleian Library, the Bridge of Sighs, and Christ Church Cathedral where John and Charles Wesley studied and were ordained.  
Its dining hall is now famous for being featured in the Harry Potter movies. While at the cathedral, an organist came to practice on the new Rieger that is behind the traditional façade.  I learned from a friendly verger that a visiting choir was coming that day for Evensong, but the other ladies were ready to move on to our next adventure, so I was unable to stay and listen for very long.

On Sunday, Jerry and I attended a Solemn Mass (think Latin) with mixed choir and pipe organ at The Oratory, a landmark church in Oxford also known as the Catholic Church of St. Aloysius Gonzaga.  The music listed was the Mass: Queen of the Holy Rosary by Georg Amft, Ave Maria gratia plena by Friedrich Himmel and Salve Regina by Josef Rheinberger.  No organist (who was quite good) or prelude/postlude music was listed.  The church was fairly full, and the Latin responses strong.  There was plenty of incense, three priests in traditional chasubles, and a deacon.  It certainly was a trip down memory lane for us old timers!


One day, my friend and I lunched at the Eagle and Child Pub (frequented by C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkein and the other Inklings who called it the Bird and Baby).  Oxford is extremely cosmopolitan with a multitude of languages being spoken. The biggest surprise was the delicious food everywhere we went. 

Another day, we ladies took a double-decker bus to Blenheim Palace, an enormous edifice built to honor the victory in 1704 of the first Duke of Marlboro at the Battle of Blenheim, Germany.  It’s most important claim to fame today is that it is the birthplace of Winston Churchill.  In its great hall stands a four-manual concert organ built in 1891 by Fr. Willis.  It is still used for recitals and special events but is in great need of refurbishing according to the Organ Appeal brochure.

Following the week’s conference, Jerry and I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark.  Our son, John, and his lovely wife, Anna, met us and drove across the Oresund Bridge to Malmoe, Sweden.  Saturday was a pleasantly quiet day with dinner at their home consisting of warm-smoked salmon and several kinds of herring – a splendid Swedish meal topped by a cobbler made from their garden apples by our granddaughter, Julia.  The next day, we drove to Ystad, a charming town on the south-east coast of Sweden made famous by the stories of Detective Kurt Wallander.  
The tourist office was closed (after all, it was Sunday), but we were able to lunch at Fridolfs Konditori, Wallander’s favorite café and pastry shop.  
We strolled the old town, Gamla Staden, and visited St. Maria Church. There are three pipe organs in the church – 
one in the christening chapel, 
one in the side nave for accompanying the congregation 
and one with a splendid facade in the organ loft.  A group of young Salvation Army musicians were rehearsing for that evening’s concert when we stopped by, so there were no organs to be heard.  We then drove to Kivik, another Wallander site, where an apple festival would be held the following week.  

We bought mulled cider at the Cider House and visited its very Swedish café.

On Monday, John took us to the international Tutankhamun exhibit.  

We had seen another King Tut show in D.C. back in the 1970s when John was small and raced through as fast as he could.  Now, he would be bringing a group of his own students, and he was most interested, especially in how to present it to a group of middle-school kids.  How times have changed!  The show was very well presented.  As we strolled through, each section was highlighted as headphones in English described the drama of finding and excavating the tomb. That evening, Anna served a traditional meal of roasted sliced reindeer and potatoes with her delicious berry tart for dessert.

On our last day, we had planned to meet with the students to talk about life in America and let them practice their English.  However, on the weekend there had been a burglary at the school.  Needless to say, that caused upset and confusion for the students as well as extra stress for the teachers.  So instead, Jerry and I visited the Malmoe Museum of Modern Art.  

The show was Surrealism featuring Arcimboldo, (famous for his paintings of faces made from fruits and vegetables), Magritte, Dali and Miro and then contemporary photos and paintings.  

A little shopping was needed after that to regain our equilibrium!  That evening we all dined with Anna’s father, Olle, who regaled us with stories of “the old days.”

The next day Jerry and I returned home from another exciting trip.  At that point, we were more than ready to just tune in our favorite mystery shows from the comfort of our own recliners.

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