Reflections abroad

For years my work took me to some of the most beautiful parts of Europe and I have chosen two for the following with their reflections and mine.

I was going to planning meetings in Galway and Dublin ten years ago and used some of the extra time to meet up with one of my very best friends, who came down from Belfast for an afternoon with me in Dublin. We talked and walked around St Stephen’s Green, enjoying the lovely late autumn weather, and we talked and reflected. It is rare that we meet up although often in contact but it is always good for the soul when we do.

Two days later with the coach for Galway only leaving in the afternoon, I went to the Writers Museum on the northern side of the Liffey, so crossed the sweet Ha’penny Bridge, passed by the present Abbey Theatre — where would we be without Lady Gregory, William Butler Yeats, JM Synge, Sean O’Casey … — and then uphill to the 18th-century mansion next to the Garden of Remembrance. There are portraits all over, posters and all those wonderful bits — Samuel Beckett’s telephone; a letter from the ‘tenement aristocrat’ Brendan Behan to his brother; a 1910 letter from W.B. Yeats; opening night programmes for Oscar Wilde plays “An Ideal Husband” and “Lady Windermere’s Fan”; an 1804 edition of “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift; a third edition of “The Crock of Gold” by James Stephens; a first edition of James Joyce’s “Pomes Penyeach”; a first edition of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”; an autographed letter from Stoker — etc., etc. Do not miss it if you are ever in Dublin — Lots of reflections.

Back to the college to pick up my luggage after a visit to the Long Room, the Old Trinity College Library, and yet another look at the “Book of Kells”, one of the most beautiful books, an illuminated manuscript of the four gospels from around 800 CE. A must see!

And outside, there was this fascinating globe full of reflections of the trees and building around it.

The weather had turned in those two days, but I was off to warmer climes a month later.

A conference on one of the islands in the Venice Lagoon in early December was work-intensive, but there was time to take in those incredible sunsets over the lagoon.

With just ten minutes on a vaporetto to the main island, a walk round the many canals and waterways that make up this beautiful city was a must but how does one choose a photo among the many taken. The following shows what is today the back of “La Fenice” but used to be the main entrance because people came to the opera by boat or gondola. What fascinated me was the reflection from the water onto the baldachin and the phoenix emblems on the iron grid holding it up.

On the last day before going back, there was aqua alta, which does limit one’s movements around the city so I opted for a museum visit, and this is what I saw as I turned around on my way to the museum stairs:

There was only one thing to do: take a picture and marvel. And then another picture …

and a final one. My final reflection: if there is going to be another trip to Venice in the autumn or winter, I shall pack my wellies!