Honeymoon 4: The City of Love

If l had my way
I'd just walk out those doors 
And wander
Down the Champs-Élysées
Going cafe to cabaret
Thinking how I'll feel when I find
That very good friend of mine.

Joni Mitchell, Free Man in Paris

After a night out for dinner (the unusual Burger & Lobster) and theatre (Everybody's Talking About Jamie, an exuberant coming-of-age drag queen musical) on Monday night in London's West End, our Tuesday morning 7:55 Eurostar departure from St. Pancras Station seemed VERY early.  Nonetheless, we arrived within the prescribed one hour security and Customs window before departure, boarded the train, and were off through the Chunnel to Paris for the day.

Arriving at the Gare du Nord just before lunch, we hopped onto a Hop On Hop Off tour bus, and made our way down to the Galerie d'Orsay, where we hopped off for a few hours, browsing through the little street-side stalls near the Seine, strolling through les Jardins des Tuileries, where we enjoyed croque monsieur and Kronenberg for two at a little outdoor cafe, and then wandering down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe where we once again hopped onto a tour bus.

Sadly, the base of the Eiffel Tower is being sealed away behind bulletproof glass and tall steel fences in response to fears of terrorist attacks, and we didn't want to invest the time in standing in line to gain entry - thereby dashing my hopes of a tower-top re-proposal.  We finished the balance of the day with more bus sightseeing, caught our train, and were back in London by ten in the evening:  all in all, a wonderful day out for two in the City of Love. 

During our time spent shopping beside the Seine, I noticed a French paperback collection of H.P Lovecraft stories on sale for an affordable three euros, and decided to pick it up on a whim.  (Which resulted in a brief French transaction with the bouquiniste - because if I didn't speak French, why would I be buying a French book? Fortunately my limited French was easily up to understanding, "Trois euros," and "Merci.")

The joke is that Lovecraft is famous for his archaic and obscure English - lord knows what the French version will look like.  Regardless, I'm looking forward with a certain degree of curiousity as to the Gallic equivalents for "squamous" and "eldritch", although with my limited French, that will be the least of my problems in actually reading this book.

- Sid

 

Honeymoon 3: "The thing about aliens is, they're alien."

Wandering about the south bank of the Thames in the rain while we wait to check in to our AirBnb, and gosh, I won't say that I'm not tempted by this theatrical opportunity at the appropriately named Southbank Underbelly Festival.

- Sid

P.S. Sadly, not meant to be, we would have had to attend that evening, and jetlag recovery won out. 

Honeymoon 2: "Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved."

Jenny: Oh, I've got the whole universe. Planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat and an awful lot of running to do.

The Doctor’s Daughter, Doctor Who

In my opinion, there’s a certain cachet in being able to watch Doctor Who in England, but sadly the premier of the new season takes place one day after we get back to Canada from our honeymoon.  However, it’s not all bad - I somehow doubt that any of the Airbnb’s (or regular BnB’s, for that matter) will have 65 inch HD televisions.

- Sid

P.S. The second trailer for the new season is out, and based on that cursory overview it all seems to fit into the standard format as per The Doctor’s Daughter:  planet saving, civilization rescuing, creature defeating and an awful lot of running, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not you’re expecting new show runner Chris Chibnall to break the mold. Commenting on the new season, he said:

It’s not a reboot it’s just that great, unique thing which is built into Doctor Who: a fresh start happens every few years. This is no different to when Tom Baker changed to Peter Davison, or when the show went from black and white to colour, with Patrick Troughton handing over to Jon Pertwee. The show has a history of renewal, while also staying faithful to what it is.

It’s the amazing thing about Doctor Who is this fresh start every few years which brings a whole new jolt of energy to the show. And hopefully encourages the next generation of audiences to try the show, while also reminding existing audiences why they love it.

Casting a new actor also brings in new opportunities to think about where the show is, think about where the world is, think about where you might want the stories to go. I hope we’ve got a fresh set of stories that are engaged with, and resonate with, the world we live in now.

It's a busy time for the show, with a new showrunner and a new Doctor, and the first episode, written by Mr. Chibnall, will be under a lot of scrutiny as the frontrunner for the new season.  Will it manage to successfully combine tradition and innovation?  As always, time will tell…