The Trees on Tour: Amiens 1

On the way back to London we stayed a night in Amiens.  A real contrast to the near-empty countryside around Le Petite-Pressigney.  Lively, a lot more young people and significantly greater ethnic diversity.  Then there is the stunning medieval cathedral.

The nighttime light show.  I didn't see it live - these pictures are from Judith's phone.

While some of the effects are random, it seems or just use the west end of the cathedral as a huge screen, the most impressive effects were when the figures around the three doors were coloured.

These colours are based on detailed research.  Fragments of paint found by specialists indicate the original painted polychrome look of the west end of the building.

The next morning we visited and went inside just before Sunday mass.  The light from the newly-risen sun created a wonderful space inside the cathedral.

Durham Whistlestop...

I was in Durham for a work meeting, so I took the time to revisit some of the places I remembered from my student days.  Including my old college Collingwood (much changed now).

The view from the train passing over the viaduct.  I remember when I first saw this view. Wonderful. (You rarely see the viaduct and the cathedral in the same photo.  You normally stand by one to take a picture of the other). 

The cathedral still has its head bandaged...

 Collingwood...

 The collapsed cardboard box which is Dunelm House...

On the South Bank of the Thames, in the Cold Spring Sunshine

After a visit to Tate Modern, which surprisingly wasn't irredeemably awful (they've reorganised their stuff since I was last there, so that it makes a little more sense, including putting some of the things I don't hate in the same spaces - like a gallery on 'Realisms' which chimes with Christine Lindey's course on The Alternative Tradition, a little), I came out into the Spring sunshine to see these two  chaps eating fire and juggling:

Which was quite fun. 

I then did something I rarely do: the tide was out, so I went down to the beach; the real South Bank of the Thames, if you will.

The Shard seems small and unimportant from this angle, compared with the expanse of the River and the rest of London.  And there is a wealth of stuff down at water level you don't see from up on the embankment.

And of course, the River itself is closer.

...while the bridges are... up there.

The red piers from the old, 1864 Blackfriars Bridge are especially impressive from the waterline.

While the Millennium Footbridge (no longer so bouncy) was very busy on the day...

And finally, just like almost every other cultural barn in London in the last ten years, Tate Modern is getting a new bit built...