Day 5 - London: Windsor, Maxim Rysanov Concert

Ok folks, I’m on blog duty tonight – Allison is doing laundry in the loo!

We eat out of the sink, too :-)

Today was a long day, but really fun!  We left in the morning to take a day trip to Windsor – a suggestion from a student’s parents (thanks, Quiros’!)  Windsor is a 45 minute train ride west of London and very much worth the trip.  It’s a quaint, pretty little town and home to Windsor Castle, the royal family’s real residence for over 900 years.  (Really puts the White House into perspective...)  It’s really the Duke of Edinburgh (the Queen’s husband)’s domain.  He’s sort of the ranger in charge of the whole thing.  

Windsor Castle

Every time we see a Land Rover, we think it's someone important

Allison and I got a 3 disc set of Netflix documentaries about a year in the life of Windsor castle (yep, we're those people) with info on the dinners, events, and people they host there.  It was a great documentary and it made the visit much better because we knew much more about what we were seeing.  We really like the Duke of Edinburgh – he’s 90 and a very quirky dude.  (Andrew kept saying... "that man can rock a kilt")

We’ve been going 100 miles an hour so far, so the next part was REALLY needed – we found a spot on the castle grounds and SAT DOWN :-)  It was beautiful – a long green strip leading up to the castle with trees and really nice views.  We grabbed some food from a local store in our tube station, sat there, ate lunch in the 70 degree (try 60... I had 2 jackets on) weather and then just rested for a while.  I think Allison took a nap.  I think I ate an entire package of crackers.

Quite perfect

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmpicnic

Beautiful (and vicious) thistles on the grounds

After that much needed relaxing, it was back on the train to London to catch our next City of London festival concert.  The concert was a violist and pianist – not the usual instrumentation – and it was in a small church next to St. Paul’s Cathedral with incredible acoustics.

Sorry, the concert pictures have to be hastily taken while people are clapping!

Here was the program:

JS Bach – Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor (arr. for viola)

Grainger – The Two Sisters and Danish Memories

Schubert – Sonata in A minor

The Bach Cello Suite was gorgeous…I was a little skeptical of it not being played on a cello, but the velvety warm sound of a viola definitely did it justice, particularly in that church room.  Bach was probably the most famous composer from the Baroque Period of early music; as a matter of fact people use his death date as the end of the Baroque period.  Cello Suite No. 1 is the most well known of the 6 he wrote.  It's been in several commercials, not to mention movies - Master and Commander was probably the latest one.  Do you recognize it? 

The Grainger pieces were wonderful, too.  We’re so lucky that this festival is emphasizing one of our favorite composers!  The Schubert Sonata was nicely done and REALLY emotionally played…this concert was also broadcast live on BBC radio and if I was listening to it, I might be a little distracted by his breathing.  It sounded like he had a wind tunnel in there!

Another great concert, another early bed time!  Whew!  We’re sleeping in a bit tomorrow, but we’re excited because the concert tomorrow night is the one we’re most looking forward to here in London – the King’s Singers!  (And Andrew's dragging me to a shop where we'll eat eels...!! Oh, and in case you've lived in a closet the last 10 years or so, the final Harry Potter Movie premieres tomorrow night in London with all the stars!  We're doing a Harry Potter walking tour in honor of Harry.)  

Day 4 London:

Onward!  Today we went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace!  We got there just a tad late, so we could only see parts of it.  Pretty much every tourist in London converges on Buckingham to see this – it was really neat hearing the band that marched the new guards in play during almost the whole exchange.  (Allison's Note: The band is dressed to the nines in military guard uniforms... and playing music from... the "Incredibles" movie... must have lost "God Save the Queen" in the wind on the march over)  

Buckingham Palace - no Queen at the moment

Roll your feet!!

Allison and Daniel and I walked back to Trafalgar Square where the National Gallery is.   They also put up a really cool sign for the 2012 London Olympics:

388 days left!

It’s going to be so great to see those next summer right after we have been here!  (Does this mean we get to visit London again???)  After that, we took a double decker bus to Piccadilly – basically a (very very) small version of NY’s Times Square.  We had a nice video for you but we've been having internet issues over here - WiFi is much harder and more expensive to come by over here, particularly at fast speeds :-(

We weaved our way through Piccadilly and the West End theater district to find our incredibly random lunch spot, Belgo Cenraal, which is an odd little Belgian place that specializes in mussels and has a sprawling underground seating area.  The place also has only one bathroom for boys and girls.  That was a little weird, although I could’ve played on the foot operated faucet all day.  (I definetly went into what I though was the girls bathroom and saw a guy in it, and then really embarrassed, turned and went out.  Then went back in and discovered it was a combined girl/boys bathroom thing with a shared sink thing in the middle.  I went out the restaurant and made Andrew and Daniel go to the bathroom... : )  Then I stood and took pictures of it with some Japanese tourists.  

Good times here in London

We walked a short way over to the British Museum – a must-see if you come here.  The museum consists of a HUGE beautiful building pretty much filled with other peoples’ stuff.  I think several parts of it are controversial since the countries from which the artifacts came from kind of want their stuff back.  It’s fascinating, though, and we got to see the actual Rosetta Stone (the giant slab of written-on rock that helped people decode Egyptian hieroglyphs and other Mesopotamian languages for the first time), real mummies from ancient Egypt, and all kinds of amazingly preserved artifacts from pretty much every civilization on Earth.  You probably won’t see everything unless you stay there all day, particularly if you’re a history buff.  I have a feeling a history teacher could spend 2 or 3 full days just there.  We saw a few musical instruments – a few ancient Mesopotamian lyres, but one in particular caught our eye – the citole.  This forerunner of the guitar was something that neither of us had ever seen before.  It looks like a violin, but with a deep carved body.  Those carvings you see on it below are incredibly detailed!

The medieval citole (sort of)

One thing I was surprised about was that the F shaped resonating holes on the top of the instrument (that you see on today’s string instruments) were there on an instrument from the 1300's!  I was thinking they were a 1500-1600s development.  Luckily we checked on it and and found this:
"There is a surviving instrument from around 1300 from Warwick Castle which is now in the British Museum, albeit at some point, probably in the sixteenth century, it was converted into a violin with tall bridge, 'f'-holes and angled fingerboard; thus the image of the instrument's top is not representative of its original appearance."

This is an amazing find because it is the only surviving instrument from the 1300's!  This is a modern version of what the actual instrument looked like:

Very cool!  (Very nerdy.)  We saw as much as we could before it closed (about 2 hours) and went off for a REALLY quick stop at Harrod’s department store.  For more on that and the rest of the day, I turn you over to my colleague, Allison J. Redmon.  Allison?   

Yes well, I was proud of the guys for traipsing across London to see and eat at Harrods during rush hour... for the record, I've never stood so close to so many people as I did on the Tube at 5:30 PM.... scrubbed extra hard in the shower tonight.  Harrod's is like a 5 story mall, but all in the same building.  Very posh, very expensive.  

We purchased tickets to see "The Lion King" and it was just unbelievable.  Everyone needs to see this, it is a completely unique experience in theater and worth every penny.  I had goosebumps for the first 20 minutes of the show.  Go see it if you are in New York!!  (I'm not a huge theater-goer but it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen and SO much fun!  The costumes were amazing and the music was, of course, fantastic.  It helps when you already have an emotional connection with the music before you see the show.  Lioon King is the best music of the Disney movies in my opinion.  Not to mention the old Sega video game version with all the music from the movie!!  Anybody?  Anybody?

Ok, fine.  Take my word for it!

Day 3 - London: Tower, St. Pauls, Millenium, Nash Ensemble

Sorry everyone!!  An unnamed female party in this group posted Day 3 to the wrong blog!  Here's the link until we get it on here:

http://keepingthetime.blogspot.com/2011/07/day-3-london-tower-st-pauls-millenium.html

Day 2- London: Churchill War Rooms, Camden Market, London Eye

We woke up this morning feeling much better than yesterday, thanks to NOT taking a nap yesterday.  After breakfast at the hotel, we hopped on the tube to meet our friend, Daniel.

Everyone, meet Daniel! (Allison's Note: Yay Daniel!)

Outside Westminster Abbey

I (Andrew) met Daniel in graduate school at Eastern Kentucky University.  We were both graduate assistants in the choral department, he was vocal performance and I was choral conducting.  Both of us being rather introverted and quiet individuals, it took us a good year of working together to really start our friendship.  I blame Allison :-)  (Um, here's the deal ...these guys din't talk.  Like, the entire first year they knew each other, and they worked in the same room.  Introverts!)  I think we started hanging out (talking) more after our supervising professor sent us on a campus-wide poster hanging adventure.  Good times. (Andrew came home and said, "So Daniel is really cool!") Anyway, Daniel is a voice professor and tenor extraordinaire at Kentucky Christian University (His voice is incredible!!) and has been to Houston two times just to visit us, which is a big deal because Houston a loooong way from Kentucky. 

(Sorry if I seem distracted…there is a VERY serious “define the relationship” talk going on between the couple at the table next to us at this coffee shop.  Moving on.)

Daniel was very excited for us when we told him all about this grant; in fact he really wanted to apply for his own grant, but college level teachers are not eligible.  Fresh from getting his tax return, he decided that he might like to meet us over here for part of our trip!  He will be with us off and on in London and for the whole time in York for the York Early Music Festival.  Awesome!

There wasn’t really anything at the City of London Festival today that applied, so we had a sight-seeing day.  We started at 9:30am with the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms – a bunker-looking door underneath the Royal Treasury Building.

This was pretty amazing – we did the audio tour again, but you need it more for the War Rooms than anything else.  The War Room complex was where Winston Churchill and all of the defense ministers, etc. ran the war for several years.  A lot of the people who worked there saw the sunlight for a really short time in the evening and went right back to the underground complex.  The hallways and rooms are just as they were when the place closed down in 1945, down to the wall paint, lights, and papers hanging on the walls.  It’s an interesting mix of old and new…in the middle of the building you suddenly come from authentic WWII hallways into a huge, modern looking room (it was like a giant Ipad): the Churchill Museum.  Great place – really detailed, interactive, and there were lots of artifacts around, particularly coats and jackets (The man had quite an affinity for uniforms.  And for alcohol.)  The Museum and War Rooms really make you feel like you’re right in the middle of the London bombings and Churchill’s life.

The main War Room - exactly as it was in 1945.  The rounded chair in the center was Churchill's.

Two odd-looking soldiers

Churchill has a LOT of good quotes!

Highly recommended!  After that – Camden Market!  Over to Allison!

Camden Market is a must if you visit London, especially is you’re a girl.  Or a goth.  Or have spikey hair.  Gold star for goth girls with spikey hair.  (no seriously… me and my flannel shirt were sticking out like a goth girl with spikey hair at an American Girl’s convention).  Anyway, Camden market is for shopping for stuff that you will never use again but feel strangely compelled to buy and wear while you’re there.  Spiked belts with chains that attach to your multiple face piercings?  British flag everything? (and we do mean everything…..).  Wait, you don’t have your cheek pierced?  Let’s remedy that. 

Andrew says that I’m making this sound awful, but honestly, this is one of my go-to stops in London.  I don’t think Andrew or Daniel were all that impressed (they’re too American and too preppy (Um, try too bored with shopping for 4 hours)), but I love it.  And since is the first time I’ve been to London since getting my nose pierced, I feel like I fit in quite nicely.  (She bought three more little nose thingies.)  (Selest, [band student] if you’re reading this, you would own this place!!!) 

You also get to do a fair bit of haggling here, which can be fun for a girl that grew up in Asia.  I’ve perfected the “just walk away” technique that always gets me another pound or two off the price.  Yes!  Andrew’s even better at this… I usually make him do the bargaining.  (This is an inherited trait from my Dad that I didn't know existed until I went to S.E. Asia.  Thanks, Dad!) 

The masses.  (The piercings!)

Fish who give you a foot massage!  Seriously!  (Massaging, eating your feet, whatever.)

It was like Narnia.

Camden is also awesome for food stalls (street food).  And it is delicious!!  Indian curries, Pakistani dishes, Mexican fajitas, fresh fruit juice stands, French pastries and Crepe stands galore, it is a foodie's paradise.

mmmmmmmm

Daniel getting some awesomeness.

Everyone is yelling out for you to try out samples - it’s like HEB on Saturday morning... minus the shopping carts (and the SUVs...).  I had a savory crepe with cheese, mushrooms and ham for lunch, and finished it off with half of a cream filled monstrosity.  It was delectable.   (Agreed.  My lunch consisted of all the samples I could stuff my face with and the other have of that delectable cream filled monstrosity.)  

Yes folks, it merited two pictures.

After this adventure we did the London Eye.  The last time I was in London I didn’t do the Eye b/c I have an issue with heights.  My family has been really really annoying about this since so I decided that this would be a good time to get over it and just go up.  And for the record, it was pretty harmless the first third and last third of the trip.  The middle part is scary.  Like, top of the rollercoaster-about-to-dive-down-the-huge-drop-scary.  (It does drop down the other side!  At about a foot per minute :-)  I took pictures at the edge of the sphere until we got near the top, then I sat in the middle and contemplated my life.  And no kidding, thought about how many different ways I could die. 

1.        1) Our sphere thing could come loose and we’d all crash to the ground

2.        2) The lock on our sphere thing’s door would magically come loose and I’d be the one to fall.

3.       3) The floor would fall out from underneath of the place where I was taking a picture of Big Ben.

4.       4) The annoying couple on the other side of the sphere would get into a huge fight and knock the window out and I’d be sucked out the vortex.

(I have a feeling there were more than 4...she sat over there for a pretty long time.)

Yeah…. THIS is why I didn't go with my family last time.

I survived. Andrew gave me a hug.  

It's not as dark as it looks here

The pod full of hyper kids.  We just missed that one :-)

Not a bad view!

Tiny Ben!

Holding Tiny Ben!

See??   We don't lie on this blog!

We were going to have an amazing dinner, but it was closed today so we'll save it for another time.  After selecting another place and THAT being closed as well, we stopped into a pub for dinner near St. Paul's Cathedral that was started 5 years before our country was born.  How's that for history?!

Now that we are tired out, walked out, and goth-ed out, it's time for bed!  Good night!

Day 1 - London: Westminster & Evensong

We're here!! 

Look out, London, the Redmons are taking over.  After getting harassed at the Houston airport for taking a picture… 

…we were on our way to a 9 hour overnight (6:30pm – 9:30am) flight! 

(Allison's Note:  Those TSA peeps have waaaay too much time on their hands.

Big TSA Dude: “Mam, who are you taking a picture of?? 

Me:  “My husband.” 

Big TSA Dude:  “Can I see the camera please?” 

Me:  Thinks “No!” Says “Of course, officer.” 

Big TSA Dude:  “Oh, it is your husband… ‘cause I don’t like it when people take pictures of me without a royalty being given to me. 

Me:  “Yep.  You’re definitely not in that picture.” 

Andrew:  “And…. It’s time to go!”  *Drags me off before I’m arrested.*)

We both thought the flight to London felt really short, but neither of us got much sleep at all.  I think I had maybe 3 hours and Allison had maybe 3 minutes.  Needless to say, we are WIPED OUT!  We’re trying our best right now to stay awake as long as we can so we can go to bed at a normal time tonight (Read 6 PM).

We arrived at Heathrow right on time and went through customs.  We felt like we were being grilled hardcore by the customs guy, (Don’t ever answer… “Because we were given $10,000.”  It leads to 10 minutes of very intense questions and lots and lots of paperwork) but it turned out he was just REALLY interested about the Fund for Teachers grant!  He kept going on and on about how they didn’t have anything like that in the UK and how great that was for us and our students – pretty cool!  After quite some time there, we stepped outside to the most glorious thing for two Houstonians – 66 degree temperatures in the middle of the day!  This is my cup of tea (ha!)  (I was cold.)

We managed the tube stations and found our hotel. (Not without bemoaning the fact that we should have had Tyler Look, one of my band kids, to give us the skinny on maneuvering the London Tube system on a Saturday which is, by the way, when half of the tube system is shut down due to maintenance.  The route we ended up taking to our hotel looked like a smiley face once completed.)  The hotel is a nice little place right next to a street full of Indian restaurants – so we hopped right out to get going.  We ate at a fantastic Indian vegetarian place about 100 feet…sorry….30 meters :-)…..from our hotel (It was us and a bunch of Dutch backpackers who stood just a little too close to us in the buffet line).  Boy, Indian food in England is AWESOME.  Behold, pictures of our happiness (We're going to go ahead and just apologize now for all the food pictures you’re going to see on this blog…. Mmmmm, we sure do like to eat.):

Yum!

Mmm...dosas!

After that, we took the tube again to go to Westminster Abbey.  This experience was incredible…we could NOT have found a better way to start this trip!  Westminster is probably the most famous church in the English-speaking world - the place has 3,000 tombs (29 of which are kings and queens) and so many memorials to prominent people that you can hardly take 3 steps without stepping on one of them.  The walls  contain everything from new, shiny marble to 1,000 year old columns to bomb holes from the German bombing campaigns of World War II.

Westminster Abbey

"Will you take our picture without stealing our camera?"

The side of the Abbey.  No pictures allowed inside :-(

Somebody's been awake for too long....

We took the self guided audio tour (which is free, but you pay for admission - absolutely worth the money.)  The different parts of the Abbey they describe are fascinating, and you wouldn’t know half of it unless someone told you.  The highlight of the tour had to be the burial site of the Baroque composer George Frederick Handel.  Doesn’t ring a bell??  One word:

This guy is one of the most famous composers to have ever lived and we stood 2 feet from where he was buried in 250 years ago!! (Actually, I’m pretty sure we stood on him.)  We also saw burial plates for Ralph Vaughn Williams (Love!), Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, and Henry Purcell.  Talk about bridging what you’ve studied to real life!  

After the tour, we walked across Westminster Bridge to get a few good pictures of Parliament and Big Ben!  (For the record, we keep saying “What time is it?” to each other because we don’t have cell phones with us…nevermind that there’s a clock the size of Alaska constantly in view.)  (Sooo, I planed everything out right?? And missed one MAJOR detail.  We don’t have phones.  And I haven’t worn a watch since… oh…. 2001??  We literally had no idea what time it was all day.)   

It really is a large Ben.

This is not to scale.

Big Ben and Parliment

That is NOT our kid.

The icing on the cake for us and the reason I said this was the perfect way to start the trip was what we came back to the Abbey for at 5pm – the nightly Evensong service.  This is a free hour-long service that is about 90% sung liturgy.  We heard EXACTLY what we’re here for – the first song was the Choir of Westminster Abbey singing a plainsong chant by the composer Ambrose from about 370 A.D.  Hearing that in the middle of downtown London in a beautiful cathedral that has been singing those services since about 950 A.D. was nearly too much for me.  I’ll tell you, it’s difficult to break the fog of jet lag and concentrate on something the first day of a trip, but that was an experience we will never in our lives forget.  I was speechless.  (Both of us might or might not have cried…  : )       

Time to go!

Well, today's the day!  After Allison takes a Music Theory final for grad school (blech), we're going to the airport!  We leave Houston at 6:30pm and get in to London Heathrow at 9:45am tomorrow.  We'll hit the ground running with an afternoon evensong service at Westminster Abbey and a walking tour of the area around Westminster.  We've also decided that our first meal in England will be Indian food.  This may or may not be a mistake...aren't you supposed to eat light after a long flight??  


We hope to update the blog at least once a day when we get to England, so we'll see you back here tomorrow!  My phone says it's 68 degrees in London right now...goodbye, Houston heat!

Won Ton seems to think he's going with us.  I told him our suitcases aren't long enough.

How to not pack anything!

As big believers in backpacks, Andrew and I have an unhealthy tendency to make fun of travelers who over pack   There is something so freeing about using a backpack rather than a suitcase, it puts you in the class of "cool-hippie" travelers.  Under that title, you can just about get away with anything.  3 pairs of underwear for a month?  Of course! (Andrew's Note:  Actually, you can wear one pair of underwear 4 times...regular, backwards, inside-out regular, and inside-out backwards!  Right? .....right?......) 1 pair of pants that function simultaneously as shorts, pants, duffle bag and bandanna?  Yes please!!  3 shirts that can be wadded into a ball the size of my hand and then unwadded and not be at all wrinkled?  Check!!  This kind of travel is only for the brave.  

5 weeks in Asia means lots of elephants.

3 years ago Andrew and I trekked across South East Asia, visiting South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia for 5 weeks.  I think I packed 5 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and no make up.  Now, for you male readers, this might not be a big deal.  I know that if I didn't do laundry weekly, Andrew would probably wear the same Darth Vader shirt daily.  But for the girls out there, I want you to know that I had no makeup, hair dryer, straightener.... just one brush and a few hair twisty things.  The pictures from the trip of me might be a little sketchy, but heck.... who cares??!  I woke up, washed my face, threw my hair into a ponytail and left.  Wow!  Don't you wish we could do that everyday?!

I have a point here.... all of our previous experiences with backpacking weighed heavily on our minds as we considered what to do for this trip to the UK for a month.  Backpacks could work, but we're not staying at hostels like we did in Asia, hotels and B&B's are much more suitcase friendly.  Thus, we compromised and decided to go with carry-on suitcases.  For the record, I'm pretty sure that carry-on suitcases hold less than our Asia trip backpacks held.  So, we'll pretty much follow the same procedures, 5 shirts for me, 2 skirts, 1 pair of jeans (for 50 degree weather in Scotland & Ireland!), and a hoodie and fleece.  That's it!  Oh, and I will bring mascara and eyeliner (but nothing else!) this time since all these fancy concerts probably won't let me in unless I have a least a smidgen of makeup.  (Money saving tip - get your suitcases at Ross, Marshall's, or TJ Maxx.  I have had junky off-brand suitcases most of my life and they rarely last very long without something cracking, tearing, or falling off, and that's just a little trip to another state here and there.  Those stores have name brand (Samsonite, etc.) luggage for about half of what you would pay for them normally.  I'm very proud of my awesome new suitcase!)  

Now just in case you're worried that we'll start to smell after we've used up all our clothes, no fear!  Stores like REI carry TSA approved LD (Laundry Detergent)... (felt like I had to keep with the abbreviations theme) (FLIHTKWTAT).  Ha!

See?  TSA approved!

Rick Steves (super-nerd travel guru) also has a laundry line that velcros to two ends of a room and is braided so you can hang you clothes from it to dry after you've washed them, so really, there is never ever an excuse to bring lots of clothes on a trip.  (Um, except not wanting to stand over a sink and wash clothes every night for an hour...)  The only complicating factor on this trip is all the concerts we'll be attending, I've got a non-wrinkle L.B.D. (can you guess this one??) to wear to such occasions.  I have no idea what Andrew's wearing, I can tell you it won't be the Darth Vader shirt.

(L.B.D.  Ok.  I guessed:

1) Lame Bass Drum (wouldn't fit in a suitcase, doesn't wrinkle anyway)

2) Large Bricklaying Device (may be a little a heavy)

3) Lengthy Brown Dachshunds (Won Ton!!  I tried...see video at the bottom)

4) Lumpy Bird Droppings (Ew.)

She had to tell me - Little Black Dress.  Whatever.)  

Laundry  day in Malaysia!

Since we did lose our bags coming to Thailand on that Asia trip and had to wallow in the same clothes for 3 days, we're being slightly neurotic this time around and keeping our carry-on close by.... as in above our heads.  Bags with clothes + non-smelly husband = happy wife.  (Indeed.  Below is us packing!  Note the relative tiny-ness of our suitcases!  3 DAYS 'TILL WE'RE OFF!)    

Introductions... all around.

Alright kids, welcome!  It's about time that we start posting, we leave July 1st!  With that in mind we thought that we'd take a post to introduce the people behind the blog.  For the smarty-pants in the audience, you might be asking, "Why is this necessary??  I could read the 'About Us' tab!"

And this is a great point!

Hmm...

Ah well, you've read this far right?  A little bit more narcissism isn't going to hurt anyone at this point.  So here goes:

I'm Allison Redmon!

Me!  Teaching my Digital Music class!  It was Friday... don't judge the jeans.

 I'm efficient, bossy, and unorganized.  I like making messy piles.  I'm into modern indie & alternative music, love to backpack to weird places with the hubby, teach a group of pretty unique high school band kids, and haven't eaten lunch on my own in 4 years.  I work at a pretty awesome school, Houston Christian High School, and if you click on that link you'll see a fancy picture of said students of whom I teach... lucky them!  Now I realize that the topic of this blog might not be your cup of tea.  Get it?  Cup of tea?  England?  Ha!!  Moving on.  But we're (read 'Andrew') are going to try to make it as funny as possible.  Here's how it works:  My thoughts will be posted in BLACK, and Andrew's will be posted in BLUE.  For the purposes of this blog, you're really not going to want to miss the BLUE stuff, trust me.  I married a pretty funny guy.  So that's me.  Here's the other member of the team:  Andrew!

Hi!  I'm Andrew Redmon!  

Me taking a tabla drum lesson in Singapore with a guy who has been studying tabla since before I was born...

  I am somewhat less efficient (somewhat?), not at all bossy, and organized with certain things.  I like cleaning up Allison's messy piles (Yes!).  I'm into all sorts of music and movie scores, love to backpack to weird places with the wife, and teach crazy and amazing groups of middle school band and choir students.  I work at a better school (Ohhh!!), Grace School.  (Um, no.)  This will be my first time to Europe and I can't wait!  I've always harbored a secret dream to live out the older parts of my life in a small Scottish village tending a flock of sheep and ambling about in my kilt.  I have a feeling this is going to be the first step toward that dream, although as much as I Google it, there is no such thing as short term sheep rental in the UK.  Too bad.  


My interest in early music was really sparked in grad school by Dr. Hunter Hensley at Eastern Kentucky University.  Through learning about and performing that music, I fell in love with the sounds of those musical eras (Ah... sackbuts!).  This grant gives Allison and me the opportunity to experience this music in (we feel) the very best way possible - through live performances by the best groups around.  I'm very much aware that, while I am gushing about how beautiful some 17th century mass is, my poor, captive middle schoolers are thinking "Dude...is it time to go to lunch yet??", as I was most definitely thinking at that time of my life.  Hopefully a few of you are reading this - yes, I know what you think :-)  Hopefully though, you and everyone else will learn a little something from this experience of ours...at the very least what the Super Mario theme sounds like on a 17th century Baroque harpsichord. 

So please (please, please) follow us and enjoy this experience with us!  If nothing else, tune in to see if we accidentally end up in Norway trying to take the Tube 15 times a day.  Bookmark us... now. 

Next post = how to pack a month's worth of stuff into a carry on bag.  Can it be done?  Who even knows??