We departed Fairbanks aboard the Alaska Railroad in the Royal Celebrity dome car. The views were phenomenal. Breakfasted with John & Amy. The food was superb. The staff was fun. And the drinks were extraordinary. We lunched at a restaurant in Denali National Park then boarded a green school bus for an absolutely incredible Tundra Wilderness Tour. Our driver Bill Berry was most personable and had a terrifically sharp eye for spotting wildlife. We saw ptarmigan, caribou, Dall sheep, and grizzlies. We got some little peeks at the great peak Denali (Mt. McKinley) but for the most part it stayed shrouded in clouds. We ended the day with a delicious dinner and some great beer at the Denali Lodge with Chris & MJ.
Ever since its debut on Broadway the two of us have wanted to see “Wicked the Musical”. Today we realized that dream. In the Apollo Victoria Theater in London’s West End we were witness to the incredible prequel to The Wizard of Oz, the story of the Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
London’s National Portrait Gallery’s temporary exhibition, “Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens” presents an amazing collection of portraits, jewelry, personal effects, books, costumes, and more to illustrate not only the lives of the six women who married the second Tudor king, but the effort across five centuries to keep their memory alive.
The purpose of our trek to Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham in the southwest of London was to see a recently recovered bronze bust of the Emperor Caligula but we discovered so much more in the recently restored 18th Century “little Gothic castle” built by Horace Walpole.
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