Random things I saw at Magdalen College

 

Random things I saw in Oxford

Clockwise from top left: a homemade Black Lives Matter sign in the window of a student flat; the tower of University Church on the High Street; an assortment of condoms and tampons in the laundry room at Merton; tourists in the Schools Quad in front of the Old Bodleian.

Random things I saw at Merton

I would say that it's been an unusually bumpy landing flying home this time, except that I'm afraid that's the rule rather than the exception for me now. I'm still waking up at four am, and bone-tired and dreaming of bed again by four pm. (I've also lost a day in there somewhere—I was convinced yesterday was Wednesday, so when the order I'd placed for Thursday delivery from Fresh Direct showed up, I was befuddled enough to blink at my phone in confusion through multiple calls from downstairs instead of ringing the poor guy in.)

I have mostly been staring blankly at my hundreds of unprocessed photos instead of doing anything about them, not even knowing where to begin. There was so much in Oxford, not to mention Bath, and the Cotswolds, and our field trips.

So I'm starting with Merton. These are some pictures of architectural features and juxtapositions that caught my eye, the arches and towers and secret connections between buildings that were mostly off-limits to us. I'll just note that the picture at the bottom right is a walk I was very familiar with—it leads from the Front Quad, where the Hall and the Porter's Lodge and the building where our class was held were located, to another arch on the right that led to Mob Quad, where my rooms were. We had two movie nights as part of our ghost story class, and the second night's films were so creepy that I was very glad not to have to walk unaccompanied through those passages back to my room late in the evening.

Random things I saw in Aqaba

I thought I published this before I left for Minnesota, but didn't. Oops.

Random things I saw at Knossos

Random things I saw in Jeddah

This might be more than usually random, but I have nothing to add.

Random things I saw at the monastery

Two more pictures I happen to like.

Random things I saw in Rethymno

Just a couple of extra pictures—an outdoor cafe, and the Venetian fountain.

Random things I saw in Olympia

Random houses I saw in Monteverde

I like beautiful houses, and interesting architecture, but I'm always more fascinated by houses that are a little less polished, a little slapdash, places where it's obvious that human life, in all its messiness, is in residence.

So I much prefer whatever is going on with those green boards to the neat chalet on its right.

Random Amber Fort

Two last pictures from the Amber Fort -- I like the symmetry of the stairs and the domes in the picture on the left, and I am always a sucker for scaffolding.

You see bamboo scaffolding all over Asia, and though it looks dangerously flimsy, it's apparently quite strong -- I was once startled by window washers taking a cigarette break outside my 13th floor office window in Hong Kong, completely oblivious to the fact that only a few spindly stalks of bamboo lay between them and a grisly death on the sidewalk far below.

I couldn't do it, but then I can't think of any scaffolding I'd be willing to climb, no matter how strong it looked.

Random things I saw in Quebec

One of the welcome fires around the city; the Dufferin Terrace outside the Château Frontenac was almost as icy as the river below; the train station (where I actually stayed in a loft my first two nights in the city); the spires and bare trees of winter in Quebec.

Random things I saw in Toronto

More random than usual -- just some streetscapes from a chilly city.

More random things I saw in Newfoundland

Finishing up: a tepee on the beach at Point Riche, a fish flake (the frame for drying cod) in Bonavista, the church in Woody Point, and some fabulous geology near the Bonavista Lighthouse.

Random things I saw in Newfoundland

Some bright colors in Twillingate.

Random things I saw in Port Union

Unfortunately, I don't have any shareable pictures from the potluck dinner at the community center in Port Union, the best night on the trip.

That was the night we were “screeched in” as honorary Newfoundlanders, and though I do have a few pictures of the sacred ceremony, obviously I can't publish them. We had to don yellow rain slickers, recite phrases in Newfoundlandese, eat hardtack, drink a shot of the vile rum known as screech and, oh yeah, kiss a very large (frozen) cod.

Every occasion in Newfoundland seems to involve music and huge amounts of food, and we also got to dance and play tambourines and ugly sticks along with the band, and talk with some of the people who live in Port Union. It was so much fun. And at the end of the evening when we all stood in a circle and sang O Canada and The Star-Spangled Banner I was so moved by the great kindness we'd been shown by the people who let us join their community for the evening I got a lump in my throat.

It was an experience I will always remember.