Bruce Castle (and a Ghost)

Bruce Castle is a misnomer; it is a manor house in Tottenham in London. But living up to a grand name, it has a history and a resident ghost, as well as quite a few open questions that still need to be worked out. 

Light and Shadow in The Gardens

Chatto & Windus published Christopher Lloyd: His Life At Great Dixter by Stephen Anderton. What started out as a biography of a great gardener became a double biography of Christo and his mother Daisy. But there is reason and system to this. 

The Isle of Glass

Approaching through the dense September morning’s mist, St. Michael’s tower looms dark and brooding in the half darkness on the sunless island. By perception warped and cloaked in misty shroud, the tower seems to scale the sky, a dominant power heralding either doom or just plain power to the traveler coming its way. Its indistinct outlines blurred by the wet droplets in the air and in the eyes make it seem slim and incredibly high, part of the stairs to heaven, a reminder of the Tower of Babel. 

Lucerne: Switzerland’s First City

Lucerne and its lake is one of the prime tourist locations in Switzerland. It was the first city to join the Swiss Confederation and started to attract tourists as early as 1840 when the term tourist had not even been invented. 

Quedlinburg: Forgotten Royal Residence in Germany

The city of Quedlinburg lies in modern Germany in the state of Saxe-Anhalt. On request of his mother Matilda, Emperor Otto I invested the Damenstift (a religious community for women of the nobility) of St. Servatius, often referred to as Quedlinburg Abbey.