Santa Maria di Loreto, Rome

We went to Rome over New Year's, and so there will be plenty of posts presenting popular and peculiar places in the Eternal City. Since it's Sunday, we'll start with a church that you probably haven't heard of...we visited just because it was there and looked nice!

The church of Santa Maria di Loreto is a sixteenth-century church just across from Trajan's Column in Rome. After the jubilee year in 1500, the local metallurgical guild received permission to build a church on the site, replacing a chapel that had a copy of the icon of the Virgin at Loreto. The copy remains in the church today.

Santa Maria di Loreto, Rome

The door lintel

The interior of the church is a small octagon with a nice dome above.

Nave

Dome (click to enlarge)

The church has some fine statues featuring some early women martyrs like Saint Agnes and Saint Cecilia. These statues flank the main altar.

Main altar (with a slightly tacky Baby Jesus)

Early martyrs

Even more striking to me was a recessed crucifix on one of the side altars. No particular mention was made for why the cross was set up that way.

Recessed crucifix

Another side altar had a nice blend of statues and mosaics with tricky lighting.

A side altar

Since we visited around the New Year celebrations, they naturally had some Nativity scenes set up inside the church.

First nativity

Second, larger nativity

Sadly, my picture of the Madonna of Loreto did not come out well so you'll have to go to Rome to see it for yourself!

The Queen's Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum, Nottinghamshire, England

The Queen's Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum is located in the Thoresby Courtyard. It's nestled into a corner and visitors might miss it when the courtyard is packed with other things going on (we visited because of the winter food fest going on in the Courtyard).

The modest door

The museum chronicles the history of cavalry in the English army from the horseback-charging days to the tanks of World War II to the current operations in the Middle East. The very first thing visitors are greeted by is the Omdurman Gun.

The Omdurman Gun

The gun is a brass seven-pounder rifled muzzle-loading field gun. It was used in the charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman in 1898. It was a decisive victory in the Sudanese war.

Upstairs is the main exhibit hall, which is not very long. It is the ideal amount for children, with a dress-up area (which our children did not use) and some other interactive exhibits.

In the early 1700s, the Duke of Marlborough fought against French forces. He had a victory in Blenheim that so impressed him he named his Oxfordshire home Blenheim Palace. Some mementos from that battle are on display.

Early 1700s display

Nearby is a case with a set of pistols which made me wonder if they were used for dueling.

Pistols and buttons

Another case has items from the American War for Independence. We read that the American army was so poorly equipped and disciplined that they had to use guerrilla war tactics in order to win. It made me think I should really go to the local British library and get a book about the war to read about it from the other side.

Circa 1770s and 1780s

Surely the prize item in the museum is one of the bugles used on the famous Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854 during the Crimean War.

Charge of the Light Brigade display with bugle at top

Saddle with two pistols!

The displays continue on into the twentieth century, where World War II had a bit of prominence. By this time, tanks and not horses were in vogue. A display shows some Nazi items and miniature tanks. The small tanks were fascinating for L.

World War II display

The museum is well worth a visit when visiting Sherwood Forest or Clumber Park, both of which are about ten minutes away.

Movie Review: World War Z (2013)

World War Z directed by Marc Forester

One of the many films I regret not having seen in the cinema last summer is World War Z, based on the popular novel by Max Brooks. We zombie parents love World War Z in its many forms and were excited about a movie version. Naturally, a movie must be very different from the book. The book is a series of interviews and stories collected while compiling a report for the United Nations. A narratively faithful version would have to be a TV miniseries, probably mimicking the Ken Burns documentary style. A two-hour movie could not cover all the different stories in the book but the movie gets the feel of it by spanning the globe in search of a way to fight the unrelenting waves of the undead.

"Waves" is a good term to use, because the zombies here for the most part are fast-moving swarms that overrun streets, walls, apartment buildings, etc. The visuals of zombies piling up in massive heaps to scale walls are amazing. There are very few close-ups of zombies till the end. They are not very gory even when attacking people. Almost all of the gore happens just off screen, making viewers squirm more than feel nauseated.

The story follows Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) a retired special agent for the UN who gets pulled back into service as the world begins to be overrun. He and his family flee their Philadelphia home and are picked up in Newark, New Jersey, by the UN forces after some harrowing encounters. They are taken to a air craft carrier that's become the UN headquarters. Lane is convinced to help the investigation into where the infection came from and he heads off to North Korea. Things don't go well there and he starts hopping from place to place to try and find a solution to the zombie problem.

The movie is exciting enough in parts but is not quite convincing. I never believed Brad Pitt's character was in jeopardy, which is a bit of a problem. None of the other characters are around long enough or developed enough to be compelling. After his family makes it to the boat, any jeopardy they experience feels forced.

Considering the great source material, the film borrows unnecessarily from other sources. For example, the last third looks like something from the Resident Evil game franchise (I haven't seen the movies yet but have played one or two of the games); there's a Hannibal Lecter-type character; the ultimate solution is cribbed from Species and is not very believable.

On one hand, I wanted to like this movie a lot. On the other, I didn't really hate it. It's just another summer action movie that takes itself too seriously and (rather shamefully) begs to become a franchise at the end. I'm not interested in seeing a sequel.

Winter Food Fest, Thoresby Courtyard, Nottinghamshire, England

On our visit to Sherwood Forest, we saw signs for the 2013 Winter FoodFest at Thoresby Courtyard. The courtyard is the stables and coach house of Thoresby Hall, which belonged to the Pierrepont family. The Hall is now a spa hotel and the courtyard is home to an art gallery, a war museum, several shops, and a hall where the food fest was held.

Entrance to the courtyard

Inside the courtyard several mobile food booths were set up. At the center of the courtyard is local legend Robin Hood, sporting a seasonal cap (we visited in mid-November, so I thought it was a bit early, now as I post in January it is a bit late!).

A bit of the courtyard

Robin Hood makes merry like a jolly old elf

An unassuming door led into the food fest which was swamped with people. The kids were nervous about being there and we were nervous about losing them (though the actual room isn't quite that big). My wife took them back to the sweet shop while I made the rounds.

Food Fest!

Another angle

The booths were typical businesses--a couple of local breweries, a winery, a few bakeries, an apiary selling honey, some handmade crafts. I wound up buying a nice bottle of tawny port from the winery.

On the way out, I didn't find my family at the sweet shop. I went into the courtyard and didn't spot them until they came out of the glass blower's shop. I had just missed the live demonstration of glass making. L reported that she got to see inside the 1000 degree oven. She took me into the shop, but the workers looked like they were on break.

L shows me the area

They have very nice stuff though no "must have" items. After returning to the sweets shop to buy some fudge (a nice caramel fudge), we made a quick tour of the war museum before getting back on the road to home. That will be the next post!

Edwinstowe, England

Edwinstowe is a town just outside Sherwood Forest. It's claim to fame--the local church is believed to be where Robin Hood and Maid Marian were married. In the town square is a very nice statue commemorating the proposal.

Robin Hood and Maid Marian in the center of town

View from the other side, because sculptures are meant to be seen from more than one angle!

We walked up the High Street back to the church. On the way is a small garden with a memorial to those who died in World War I.

World War I Memorial

The church is called St. Mary's. Unfortunately the church was locked when we got there and we were unable to go inside.

St. Mary's, Edwinstowe

The church was built around 1175. It's still in use for the Church of England. Their web site lists a number to call ahead to see if they are open. The church also had a number on the door for the office but no one answered. Obviously they aren't staffed on a Saturday!

The graveyard is quite extensive (not surprising for such an ancient church). We saw one tombstone that we'd like to have for our future graves.

Rhodes tombstone

3/4 view

It's a book! We admired it very much and will probably copy the style if we have any say in our future arrangements.

We headed back to our car for one more adventure...a winter food fest!

Book Review: The Usborne Illustrated Robin Hood by Rob Lloyd Jones

The Usborne Illustrated Robin Hood by Rob Lloyd Jones

This version of the Robin Hood story tells two adventurous tales and gives some historical context to the legends and facts surrounding Robin Hood.

The first tale is a pretty standard retelling of the most popular bits people know about Robin Hood. Robin robs from the rich to give to the poor who are being overtaxed by the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff lays a trap for Robin in the form of a contest. Robin competes in disguise and wins the contest by splitting a bull's eye arrow. The reward for winning the contest is a job--protector of the Sheriff's treasury. After all the greatest warrior in the land should be able to keep Robin's hands off it, right? There are some nice twists and turns at this point that made it more interesting to a veteran of Robin Hood tales like me. J and L loved the story.

The second tale is about Much Middleton, teenage son of the village miller. One day the Sheriff comes to collect taxes and a riot breaks out. Much's dad is captured and sent to the dungeon. Much escapes and finds Robin in Sherwood Forest, sure that he will help. Robin doesn't immediately act, other than bringing Much into his band and training him for the eventual conflict at the end of the tale. This was a new story to me and has that "kid gets to work with his hero" plot that engages readers well.

The final part of the book discusses life in the middle ages and the possible origins of Robin Hood. The original stories about him are from the 1200s and 1300s, with the first written reference in Piers Plowman. The stories spread all over England and many of them have conflicting details, e.g. some say he was once a wealthy lord while others claim he was a poor villager. The lives of the rich, the poor, and the outlaws are all described. The discussion around outlaws caused a tricky conversation with my children--trying to explain that most outlaws were evil men and Robin Hood was a very rare exception proved more difficult than I imagined.

The illustrations by Alan Marks are nice but not great. They suggest swashbuckling and the distant past but don't quite hit the mark. It doesn't detract from the text but doesn't provide a great enhancement either. You can judge for yourself from this sample:

The classic Robin Hood moment

Overall, this is a fine introduction for children to Robin Hood.

2014 Personal Reading Challenge

Now that we are already a week into 2014, I thought I'd get my list together of books I plan to read this year. Such a list has been helpful in spurring me on to read more, especially big, classic items I probably wouldn't get around to otherwise. Here's the plan:

Zombie Lit

• Deck Z--A tale of zombies aboard the Titanic.
• The Year of Eating Dangerously--The second novel featuring undead lawyer Mallory Caine.
• I Ate the Sheriff--third Mallory Caine, zombie-at-law novel.
• Bill the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Zombie Vampires--I couldn't resist picking up this title when I saw it in a used book store in the Lakes District. 

English Lit

• The Lord of the Rings--A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast is discussing this in February--can I finish it by then? This will be my fourth reading of what I consider the greatest novel of the twentieth century.
• Writing Down the Dragon--A book about Tolkien's work which naturally supplements LOTR.
• Brave New World--Aldous Huxley's classic distopia.
• Are Women Human?--Left over from last year.
• In Praise of Folly--Okay, Erasmus isn't really English, but he was good friends with St. Thomas More, so that's my excuse for putting him here. We visited The Netherlands and saw some of Erasmus's old stomping grounds.

Christian Lit

• St. Benedict and St. Therese: The Little Rule and the Little Way--leftover from last year.
• Life of Benedict by Gregory the Great--the pope's biography of the founder of western monasticism. If the pope writes a biography of someone, it's probably worth reading.
• The Wisdom Books--Robert Alter's translation and analysis of the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes.
• Marriage is Like a Dance--a gift that looks too good to wait!

Writing Lit (or is that redundant?)

• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft--Stephen King's work leftover from two years ago.
• Professional Blogging for Dummies--I need to up my game for the blog!

I'm probably going to read plenty of other stuff too, including the Graphic Novels Challenge.