Taormina Books & Theatre

Being away from the computer and the tv for a week, I did some reading.

Allan Mallinson has written a series of books about a young chap making his way up to command of a regiment of light dragoons. I read the first one, set in the Waterloo campaign. This is my second and is set in 1830, during a period of civil unrest (no constabulary at that time) and then in the Belgian war of independence. I enjoyed the novel, it's not something I usually read but when on holiday...I found the author's moralising a bit heavy handed, but apart from that, a good story.

Then back to history for my second book, "Saladin", just read because it looked interesting when I was in Waterstones. A very good book, very informative, for example, I did not know he had trouble with the Assassins. It may have provided some back story for my Ottoman project.


This was our fifth holiday in Taormina. Each time we say will visit the Roman Theatre - this time we made it. Here are some photos

The theatre is on a promontory overlooking the town

It is one of the largest in the Med

Entrance

Very stylish sandals

The theatre is now used for concerts and other events

From the top, the view looking north

The view of Taormina

The view looking South

Taormina, Sicily

Yesterday, B and I returned to Yorkshire from a very good holiday in Taormina, Sicily. We spent a week at the Villa Angela Hotel. Every room has a balcony with views of Mount Etna, the sea and the bay on the left and the hill town of Castelmola on the right.

On opening the curtains on the first morning

We spent the time relaxing by the pool, reading, eating too much pizza and partaking in some fine dining in town. No visits to forts or battlefields, no military museums, just relaxing in the sunshine. We did visit a Roman theatre and a couple of ruined castles, so we got some history. I have more photos to sort out and share later, but here is one of Mount Etna on our last morning, taken as we waited for the transfer to the airport.

Overnight, a cold front had moved in and the volcano had its first snow of the autumn. 

Border Reivers Show, Gateshead

Saturday, 2nd Sept. I caught the train from York to Newcastle, then the Metro to Gateshead International Stadium for the Border Reivers Wargaming Show.

This is a small show, about 30 traders and a similar number of demos, but size isn't everything, I could get close to all the stands and chat to the dealers.

A few items were purchased.

From the bring and buy, a bag of Dixon SYW Prussian Grenadiers, 16 grenadiers, two ensigns, a drummer without a drum and a Garrison Prussian Fusilier. For ten pounds, a bargain, I will buy a command group from Dixon.

Fortunately, I really like the Garrison SYW figures

Then a couple of camels for the Ottoman baggage train and a very aggressive looking priest from Footsore; a figure I have wanted for some time.

From Warbases, a couple of buildings for the Ottoman project and some bases.

The buildings are laser cut MDF, so they are very flat, not like any middle eastern building I have seen. Talking to the seller, he suggested PVA glue and sand, the same as I use for figure bases. I will give it a go.

Polish Winged Hussars Demonstration Team

Yesterday, we went to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds for a display put on by

"The Hussar Banner of the Marshall of Pomorskie Voivodship"

a Polish re-enactment troop of winged hussars. This took place in the museum tiltyard and lasted about 45 minutes. All very exiting. These are the photos I took.

"Final Portrait"

A trip with B to City Screen in York yesterday afternoon to see this new film "Final Portrait"

An excellent film, beautifully staged, very well acted, beautifully photographed. Not a lot happens, the film is based on a book written by James Lord, the young man sitting for the final  portrait painting by Giacometti, but the interaction between the two main characters, then with Giacometti's wife, his mistress, his brother, these intimate details open up the film, sometimes sad, sometimes funny, always pertinent to the plot.

Stanley Tucci wrote and directed the film after he found a copy of the book, purely by chance. He has produced a wonderful piece for cinema.

"Shin Godzilla"

Something out of the ordinary for us - a midweek evening trip to the cinema Cityscreen in York (preceded by dinner at Carluccio's new restaurant).

We went to watch "Shin Godzilla", a Japanese remake of the 1954 film "Godzilla". The film is in Japanese, with English subtitles, has a lot of CGI and I believe it is on very limited release, we saw it in Cityscreen's smallest screen and it was on for one showing only. We thoroughly enjoyed it, good fun. Fortunately we are used to subtitled films, I know this puts off some people.  I would not recommend this film to everybody but if you like sci-fi monsters, this may be for you.

Spring Trip 2017 - Lille - and finally, Day Three

Day Three - with a midday Eurostar train to catch back to London, I wanted to finish my trip with a walk around Le Vieux-Lille, old Lille, the Lille that Vauban would have seen (but please don't take that too literally).

There were still two gates I had not seen. Here is the first, the Porte de Gand.

The external face of Porte de Gand

The city's Coat of Arms between the portcullis levers

The city side

Vauban added defences to the exterior

I wonder how he got up there - a City council workman trimming the grass

The nice woman in the Tourism Office told me all of the walls had been demolished

Not far away is the other gate, Porte de Roubaix.

Not as well kept as Porte de Gand

Refurbishments underway

Both the gates were built during 1620 - 1625 when Lille was under Spanish control. Originally, both had one centrally located archway and gate. The two outer arches on both gates were added in 1875 to allow the City's new tramway to pass through.

After this, back to the hotel, collect my luggage, pay my bill and catch the train back to London St. Pancras station. Then over the road to Kings Cross station for the train back to York.