Downton abbey castle

NEWBURY, England — He is a farmer, she says, and she is a farmer’s wife. They are active in their community. She writes a bit on the side, her writing room only recently having been wired for electricity.On my recent visit to her home, she was warm and welcoming. Her yellow Lab, Bella, followed her closely as her mistress ushered visitors into the house.And oh my. What a house. Two hundred rooms. Forty bedrooms. Silk wallcoverings in one room, 16th century Spanish leather wallcoverings in another. An original Van Dyck. A display on Egyptology, in honor of one of the previous occupants who just happened to have discovered King Tut’s tomb.Hundreds of other treasures make it abundantly clear that you are not in Kansas anymore. You are, instead, on the set of “Downton Abbey,” but it’s not a set at all. It is Highclere Castle, and when Season 4 begins Sunday for American viewers of the wildly popular PBS show, it is this magnificent home they will see, … [Read more...] about Under the spell of Highclere Castle and ‘Downton Abbey’

“Joker” kept winning at the box office.The R-rated comic book villain origin story had a phenomenal second weekend box office, topping the charts once more over newcomers like the animated “The Addams Family” and the Will Smith action pic “Gemini Man.”Studios on Sunday estimate that “Joker” added $55 million from North American theaters, down only 43% from its record-breaking debut.“The Addams Family” exceeded expectations and took second place in its first weekend in theaters with $30.3 million. “Gemini Man” stumbled out of the gates. The Ang Lee film about an assassin on the run from a younger version of himself opened in third place with $20.5 million. The film cost a reported $140 million to make.“Abominable” and “Downton Abbey” rounded out the top five. … [Read more...] about ‘Joker’ tops box office again beats ‘Addams Family’

Updated: February 14, 2014 I had a plan for what my 22nd birthday would be like; I would be sitting in a cozy pub on a windswept, lonely peninsula, listening to traditional Irish music and sipping a frothy half-pint of Guinness. And what was my 22nd like in reality? Well it was in Ireland, but that’s where the comparison stops. My birthday began at a middle-of-nowhere airport in Belgium. I took a stressful Ryanair flight to Dublin (is there any other kind of Ryanair flight?), made my way downtown and then boarded a five-hour bus ride to Cork. Cork is known as both the Real Capital of Ireland and as the country’s most food-centric city so I was excited. Upon arriving I wandered the city with my unforgivably heavy backpack until I found a hostel. Apparently I’m way too cool for reservations these days. My first order of business was to check out the English Market, Cork’s well-known farmers market that Samantha Brown featured on her travel show. … [Read more...] about My 22nd Birthday in Cork, Ireland

San Diego Musical Theatre’s “Man of La Mancha” is a moving tale of dreams, heartbreak and the realities of Spanish life circa 1594 as two stories unfold on the Horton Grand Theatre stage through Oct. 27.The first is of a man named Don Miguel de Cervantes (Broadway veteran Robert J. Townsend), an unsuccessful poet, soldier and actor who has turned to tax collecting as a means of survival. Unfortunately for him, he foreclosed on a monastery and — as a consequence — is imprisoned in Seville, Spain and is awaiting trial for heresy since the show takes place in the midst of the Spanish Inquisition.(The Inquisition was a 355-year effort by Catholic monarchs to identify heretics and bring them to justice.)His fellow detainees have their own hierarchy in the prison, as Cervantes and his also imprisoned servant Sancho (Broadway veteran Jeffrey Landman) quickly find out. To save his meager possessions — mostly costumes, but especially a manuscript for a play … [Read more...] about REVIEW: SDMT puts on a compelling ‘Man of La Mancha’

Our writer Scott Balaam has just returned from the ‪#‎InLombardia‬ blog trip in partnership with iambassador and Explora Tourism. Lombardy is a beautiful, diverse and affluent northern region of Italy. The fashion hub Milan is its capital but the area is also home to a picturesque alpine region and a number of small historic cities which make gorgeous  under-the-radar tourist destinations… My trip to the Lombardy region included a visit to Brescia, a small-to-medium sized city located in the north of Italy. Before I went it was a place that I knew absolutely nothing about (well except that one of my hero’s Roberto Baggio spent four years playing for their football team!) but after spending the day there I was seriously impressed. Nestled at the foot of the Alps, just a few kilometres from the lakes Garda and Iseo and filled with an astonishing range of impressive monuments, it makes an ideal day trip from the lakes … [Read more...] about Brescia – Italy’s beautiful underrated city destination