Bill, Mark and Walter's visit to Cornwall

Hi All,

I'll post Bill's reflections on his trip to Cornwall below, with some pics of his trip. I stayed home in Kristiansand, writing about George Schuyler and trying to figure out his stance on fascism in the 1930s, reading about anti-lynching efforts in the 1930s, sleeping in late after watching Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives, and taking walks in Jegersberg, where I sang along to KC and the Sunshine Band as I trekked up and down the steep gravel paths.


Cousin Barbara, who planned out the itinerary, graciously hosted us.

We visited St. Ives--a town featuring a large tidal beach with a fair number of holidaymakers. We got there and back via train. There the kids were interested in the St. Ives lifesaving station, which featured a modern rugged sea-rescue boat sitting atop a carriage with caterpillar treads, ready to be deployed in case of an emergency.







On the walls were large black-and white placards detailing the rescues--dating back to the nineteenth century--of the St. Ives lifeboat crews.


Tragedy struck in 1939 when several rescue crewmen died in the course of their duties.

Later that day, we visited the Minack theater, which sits on the rocky coastline facing the ocean. Walter and I stood behind a fence beyond which there was a thickly-vegetated but steep slope that led down to a gully that opened to the ocean and in which seawater was churning. The thrill of danger intrigued Walter, but at the same time he appreciated the fact that a fence stood between us and the slope.

And still later that day, we visited Land's End.

The next day, we visited the Trebah gardens. These are filled with all different kinds of plants and flowers.




The kids spotted a newt in one of the ponds.


The gardens slope gradually down to a pebble-stone beach, where Mark enjoyed dodging the waves that rolled in.

In 1944 American soldiers embarked in their landing craft for the invasion of Normandy from this beach.

Lots and lots of two-lane, hedgerow lined roads in Cornwall--sometimes drivers will honk before going around a curve to give the heads-up to unseen drivers who potentially would be approaching from around the bend.

When Sarah, the kids and I returned to London, we (Sarah though had an early flight to Oslo) had a chance to visit the British Museum where we saw the famous Sutton Hoo exhibit of Anglo-Saxon ship burial and the Lewis Chessmen, probably carved in the early 12th century in Trondheim, Norway.


Cousin Barbara and Christopher