Long long ago when Karen was in early elementary school, her Dad would read aloud to hear at bedtime. Sometimes they were historical novels aimed at young readers. One of the books was about Sacajawea, Bird Woman. Today we visited the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Park where she lived as a young woman married to Toussaint Charbonneau before Lewis & Clark hired him (them) as guide and interpreters. The contour of the land at the actual site of the village still shows depressions at the sites where the earth lodges once stood. The park service has built a replica of a Hidatsa earth lodge. It’s easy to envision an extended family living in this comfortable space. We particularly enjoyed discussions with the rangers Jeff and Dave giving us a broad overview of the trading patterns among the Native American nations including how the Knife River got its name and specifics about Hidatsa and Mandan society and about Sakakawea and Charbonneau.
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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