READING LONDON ::
TOWN AND COUNTRY
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UNCG’S EMERITUS SOCIETY DRS. HOPE AND CHRISTOPHER HODGKINS
OUR TRIP HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED
NEW DATES: MAY 13 to 22, 2024
$4200 DOUBLE OCCUPANCY Single supplement $1450
THIS TRIP IS LIMITED TO 18 PARTICIPANTS
THE DEADLINE FOR TRIP REGISTRATION IS DECEMBER 1, 2023
Tour includes 10 nights accommodation, 10 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, 1 high tea, 1 farewell reception, all trip-related admissions and guides, private chartered bus and gratuities. Cost does not include airfare, airport transfers or alcoholic beverages
(For those wishing to arrive prior to the official beginning of the trip or to stay longer at its conclusion please click the link below)
Monday May 13
Tour begins at 2:00 p.m.
A fitting place to begin our time together, the British Library serves as the virtual center of the British literary universe. Its vast collections include not only all published works in the UK but also artifacts, manuscripts, and ephemera. Highlights include Jane Austin’s desk, Charles Dickens’ original drafts and Shakespeare’s First Folios as well as Michelangelo’s anatomical illustrations and the world’s earliest maps, musical manuscripts ranging from medieval music to the Beatles
It’s a Studio Traveler tradition--to conclude our first afternoon by enjoying high tea which gives us a chance to get better acquainted over assorted lovely sweets and savories and the best of teas.
Tuesday May 14
Morning Literary Introduction
We gather to discuss the highlighted literary works of the day and while these readings are optional, participants are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to deepen their appreciation of each day’s activities
This morning we tour this extraordinary--and extraordinarily faithful--reconstruction of this renowned home to many of Shakespeare’s original productions. Opened 1997, it has been built using only period techniques and materials making it not only a cultural asset of incomparable value but an essential architectural primer of the Elizabethan age
Lunch at the Tate Modern
We take a short walk to the Tate Modern for a delightful quick bite--and for one of the best views in London before returning to the Globe for a matinee performance. May 2024 programming has not yet been released so please stay tuned
Wednesday May 15
Morning Literary Introduction
This is our day to immerse ourselves thoroughly in the writings of Samuel Johnson and 18th century London
Samuel Johnson, arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history, lived in this Grade I Listed house during the years he wrote one of his masterworks A Dictionary of The English Language, the first of its kind. The tour will give us the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the man and of his era
Lunch at Rules
We remain in the 18th century as we lunch in the famous Rules. Opened is 1798, it has now been providing an elegant refuge from the cares of the world for well over 200 years
Renowned architect Sir John Soane was a devoted Neo-Classicist who donated to the nation his eponymous house as a museum of treasures including architectural models, paintings, sculptures, drawings, and antiquities. He was in many ways the quintessential late 18th century and early 19th century Londoner
Thursday May 16
Morning Literary Introduction
We move fully from the 18th into the 19th century with readings that include Keat’s Nightingale and Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist
We tour this living testament to the social conditions of Victorian England and the wellspring of some of Charles Dickens’s most important works. The museum is also the repository for several of Handel’s original scores, including a handwritten score of Messiah
We travel to Hampstead Heath to visit this charming house, Keats’ final English home, which now serves as the museum devoted to this great poet of the Romantic age.
For the final adventure of the day, we depart by chartered bus for Sussex
Friday May 17
SUSSEX
Morning Literary Introduction
Our readings will include selections from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Shakespeare’s Sister as well as Clive Bell’s Art
Located in the Sussex countryside near the village of Lewes, Monk’s House was the country home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf from 1919 onward. The house, now managed by the National Trust, contains a treasure trove of information related to the Woolf’s lives, Virginia’s writing and to their many distinguished and talented visitors.
'Bloomsbury paints in circles, lives in squares and loves in triangles’, a witticism attributed to Dorothy Parker that perfectly summons the spirit of Charleston House, the home of Virginia Woolf’s sister Vanessa Bell and her husband Clive, not to mention their various and sundry lovers over the years. Exuberant and highly decorated, the house exudes the essence of the creative joie de vivre that existed here for over 60 years.
To round out our day we stop at this parish church lavishly decorated by the paintings of Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Vanessa’s son Quentin Bell.
Saturday May 18
Morning Literary Introduction
Professor Christopher Hodgkins gives us special insight into George Herbert’s life and works in Wiltshire including his poems on grand and humble church architecture and his writings on how a preacher should speak and behave in the pulpit
We depart for Wiltshire this morning arriving in time for a tour of the incomparable—and incomparably grand—Wilton House, home to the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years. Noted for its Palladian features, its multiple state rooms—most especially its ‘Double Cube room’--and extensive parterre gardens, Wilton House is truly one of the great manor houses of England.
Sunday May 19
Salisbury Cathedral is considered one of England’s purest examples of Early English Gothic. Its elegant and lofty 404-foot central spire and treasures such as one of the world’s oldest known working clocks, and its one of four extant copies of the Magna Carta make this a memorable destination.
Afternoon Tea
This is a very special opportunity to be hosted for afternoon tea by the George Herbert Bremerton Group who are delighted at the prospect of welcoming us to Herbert’s beloved Wiltshire countryside and to tiny St. Andrews, the church where Herbert preached.
Monday May 20
This morning we go back to London arriving in time for an afternoon visit to
The War Rooms give visitors a chance to relive the terror and triumph of a nation in a fight for its survival under the leadership of the incomparable Winston Churchill. In a word—thrilling!
Tuesday, May 21
Morning Literary Introduction
We move into the 21st century with readings that include discussion of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane
This lively hub serves as both a spiritual and cultural nexus for the surrounding community and for visitors from farther afield
Brick Lane Curry Meal
Food once again proves itself one of the ultimate and most honoring gateways into a culture
Open afternoon
Drinks Party Farewell Gathering
Wednesday, May 22
Tour ends at Breakfast