AnglOrony

River of Light is an outdoor experience in Liverpool presenting illuminated sculptures and installations across the city. It is held for two weeks in March and April every year.  The name 'River of Light' may be somewhat misleading - there is rather little light on the river Mersey itself. This year theme was 'utilising culture for our ongoing recovery and regeneration', referring to the covid lockdowns and hardship many people had experienced. From the opening of the event, the visitors literally flooded the installation, and it was impossible to stick to all the rules of physical distancing. However, officially the opening was postponed over the weekend due to high winds.    There were eleven audio and visual installations, by local, national and international artists. We visited all of them and below is the showcase. St. Nicholas parish church gardens with the view over Royal Liverpool building are traditionally the place for various artworks. We started there, at

Inside-out it feels more like a museum but it is a fully working Royal household . One of the three official residences of The Queen, Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest home in continuous occupation in the world. A fortress rather than a palace - it had been established by William the Conqueror after his jarring conquer of Britain in 11th century.  The imposing towers and walls of the Castle emerge from every angle of the little market town of Windsor.  From having such a powerful resident, the town had enjoyed many privileges from the start and it continuous to be so. It had been one of the wealthiest towns in England in Middle Ages, the pilgrims to St George's Chapel were spending sums of money, like the tourists do now.  The prosperity however ended with Henry VIII Reformation technique, banning such superstitious practices, and the presence of the monarch sort of choked off the development into a larger town or city. The royals liked the terrains to stay as it is -

During the lockdown we went down the memory lane and computer photo files to bring back some memories of our past trips.   A very short stay in Aachen in 2009 brought us face to face with the place that started the concept of Europe. Aachen could have been named the first secular capital of Europe , with Rome being the religious one. Of course religion was at the heart of medieval Europe and Aachen cathedral  (above) was at its centre. But before we reached the cathedral grounds we had a walk around. The streets around the cathedral have still the old medieval layout and feel despite Aachen being heavily damaged during World War II .  Many buildings guide us through history with different styles and designs.  It is feels like being in a parallel Universes in the ancient cities of Europe. The old and new meet just a step away. And you can see that people had a quite different mindset, concepts and perception of the world, those few hundreds years ago.  Aachen Cathedral (above)  remai