Girona

If we're in Girona then it must be nearly Christmas.

This is only my second season with the company and already our visit to Girona makes me feel all Christmassy. I think it is the combination of the lights all over the city, the crisp air and blue skies, the market and a slight end of term vibe from the boys (enjoying being away from home but knowing we head home to the hard work of rehearsing our second play).

Girona is such a beautiful and compact city to walk around, there are various routes to the theatre each requiring you to cross the river and affording views of the houses crammed against the river bank and the churches and cathedrals rising over the top of the city.

There are lots of great food shops and it was fun to rediscover those we bought presents in last year as well as seeking out new ones. Laura spotted a bag in a shop closed for siesta and it took repeated visits through out the week to finally find it open. I found a wool shop that has opened since last year, and miraculously managed to avoid stepping over the threshold - despite it always seeming to be open, unlike Laura's bag shop!

This year I walked along the city walls and got a different view of this lovely city.

Nanterre

In December we caught the Eurostar to Paris for a 10 day stay. We were performing Twelfth Night at Theatre Amandiers in Nanterre.

We had a fantastic run there with good houses and nice responsive audiences and managed to cram a lot into a short time. Including celebrating a couple of birthdays complete with homemade birthday cake smuggled into the country (well not strictly speaking smuggled as you're allowed to take fruitcake to France. But if you make a cake and then wrap it in tin foil and put it in your suitcase it feels like smuggling, especially when they stop the suitcase for ages on the x ray machine at St Pancreas. Although that may have been the quantity of cold and flu tablets and cough sweets I'd stocked up on after having to buy them in Girona last year!) 

The theatre was a 10 minute walk from our hotel through a park, and the hotel was right by the RER station Nanterre Prefecture and just 2 stops - about 8 minutes - from Charles de Gaulle Etoile for the Arc de Triomphe.. 

Our favourite station as we usually made the interchange from RER to metro here.

This meant that it was very easy to get into Paris to explore which everyone took full advantage off. Some people even just popped into 'town' for coffee. Every morning at breakfast people were discussing the plans for the day, who was heading to which museum, gallery or area of the city and as we arrived in the theatre each evening we could here people sharing tales of that day's adventures.

Notre Dame

Over looking the fountains at the Centre Pompidou

Entrance to the Metro at Pigalle

Sacre-Coeur

Louvre

Eiffel Tower from the top of Galeries Lafayette

Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Next stop - Girona!

Galway

The last week of our tour was in Galway. This was my first trip to Ireland and it was a great week. Another hectic one with a turn around from 1 show to the other everyday. However, we did find time to get out of the theatre and sit by the water to have lunch. On our first day this seemed like an impossibility. For our first tech the cast had to change into their costume trousers and boots as it had rained so heavily on their walk from the accommodation that they were soaked to the skin!

The sails sculpture in Eyre Square which has been covered in squares knitted by local children.

Another lunch by another stretch of water, Galway is a beautiful little city where we were made to feel very welcome.

Galway was heaving with people visiting the Arts Festival and arriving early for a big race meet that began when we left.

Our spare mannequin had a make over,

and Mr C mended the floor, in a supervisory capacity you understand!

Neuss

It was a really flying visit we paid to Neuss. Or non-stop Neuss as we called it with 5 shows in 3 days.

As Janine is showing - there is always time pose on a giant bee! The techies arrived late afternoon and headed to the town square for supper before a drink or two at the Okie Dokie which is close to the theatre.

The town was very pleasant and just a short walk from both the hotel and theatre. A round trip from the hotel through the town square past the theatre and back to the hotel would take around half an hour. I walked this way to work each day to pick up a sandwich from the bakers and some fruit from the market for a picnic lunch in the theatre grounds.

This is the Rathaus (town hall) where the crew took us for lunch on get in day.

A church just off the town square.

The theatre in Neuss is based on the Globe theatre in London and is situated along the side of the racecourse. It was a great space to play and the audiences were all very enthusiastic despite Germany playing in an important World Cup match on our opening night.

Keeping Bridget company on a trip to the Waschsalon.

Shaghai - Day 5

On our final morning in Shanghai I walked through an area parallel to 'Oxford Street' (Nanjing Road) known for book shops, art supplies and stationery and picked up a few presents for friends.

After my morning's browsing I met up with Bridget for lunch at a local restaurant around the corner from our hotel. For our after dinner coffee we went to the Raddison. This hotel was a couple of doors down from ours and considerably taller. On the top of the hotel is a large round 'spaceship'. This houses a restaurant and bar. As we arrived after the lunch service had finished we had the lower floor of the spaceship to ourselves for a cup of coffee and a 360 degree view of Shanghai. (If we'd been there for lunch the restaurant would have been gently revolving) We were so impressed by the view that once we'd met up with Laura we went back so that she could have a look too.

You can see how the older areas are being overshadowed by the high rise developments.

This is the People's Square, the Shanghai equivalent of Tiananmen Square. You can't see it in the picture but in the top left hand corner is Marks and Spencers!

A birds eye view along Nanjing Road to Pudong.

It really does seem as though everything can and will be carried by bike. I've seen dogs, brick a brac, a lady on a garden lounger, cages of rabbits and ducks and here a ladder. I'd love to see someone doing this in London!

After our visit to the space ship the three of us went to visit the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Centre. This was an amazing collection of propaganda posters and art housed in a basement of a block of flats - which in itself made it interesting to find, despite helpful directions from other members of the company who had already visited! It started as a personal collection by the owner before he created the museum. It was fascinating to see the development of these kind of posters and I would recommend a visit to anyone travelling to Shanghai. 

Off to the metro and the theatre for our final show.

After the get out a quick stop at the Raddison bar - in the top half of the spaceship - for a nightcap and a farewell to Shanghai and our Chinese adventure.