tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73189502024-02-19T01:52:30.337-08:00Incredible JourneysTravel notes and photographs I have taken on my journeys to historical sites, national parks, historical homes, museums, gardens, theme parks, and just beautiful or interesting places.Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-50820047505154110052016-03-09T16:34:00.000-08:002016-03-09T16:34:17.082-08:00Visiting the Via Appia and the Catacombs of San Sebastiano<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A <span itemprop="genre">history</span> resource article by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2007 & 2015</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNx7L8ACuPCcYVh33QbCyVTLE2FCjDlfVslwU-Zg1CGw7iY0_Xl6nl9KrNSbPp25uhxxIMyoWcXyENcLI9gQ6yKkyhVnN7S065yU444X6EuPT3QYoM0zFSKAAddkoUH2BqKeR/s1600/Via_appia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNx7L8ACuPCcYVh33QbCyVTLE2FCjDlfVslwU-Zg1CGw7iY0_Xl6nl9KrNSbPp25uhxxIMyoWcXyENcLI9gQ6yKkyhVnN7S065yU444X6EuPT3QYoM0zFSKAAddkoUH2BqKeR/s400/Via_appia.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px; line-height: 21.28px;">Remains of the Via Appia in </span><a class="extiw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome" style="background: none rgb(249, 249, 249); color: #663366; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px; line-height: 21.28px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" title="en:Rome">Rome</a><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px; line-height: 21.28px;">, near Quarto Miglio<br />Image courtesy of <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Via_appia.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>Note</span></td></tr>
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Note: this is a crosspost from my other blog "<a href="http://ancientimes.blogspot.com/">Roman Times</a>."<br />
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Back in 2007 I saw this nice travel piece about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appian_Way">Via Appia</a>. I had hoped to see the sights listed when I visited Rome in October 2007. I planned to take the relatively new hop-on-hop-off Archaeobus to the park and spend the day exploring the catacombs, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_of_Caracalla">baths of Caracalla</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Caecilia_Metella">tomb of Cecilia Metella</a>, and a couple of the churches and museums (if my feet didn't give out!). I also wanted to try the spit-roasted goat they mentioned was a local specialty!<br />
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The original travel article:<br />
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"A modern-day tour of the Via Appia Antica might start at the end of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum">Forum</a>, just beyond the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_of_Maxentius">Circus Maxentius</a> where charioteers raced seven times around an obelisk cheered by spectators in 10 tiers of stone bleachers. Near here, weary travelers beheld Rome's golden milepost - where all roads led. Soon the pleasant road, shaded with cypresses and umbrella pines, passes scattered piles of eroded bricks that once were grand mausoleums.<br />
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<span id="byLine"></span>A short distance brings the traveler to the dome-shaped ruins of the ornate tomb of the noblewoman Cecilia Metella. She was the daughter-in-law of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Licinius_Crassus">Marcus Crassus</a>, who shared the triumvirate with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey">Pompey</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar">Julius Caesar</a>. In <i>Childe Harold's Pilgrimage</i>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron">Lord Byron</a> muses whether she died young and fair or old and wise:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4LGoJOM92i9C3x-0P9R41gYwoK95vuMqogemK3CjYawfekYhyphenhypheno-nvd62OIt2DdO9wvEQQbOzn_Y5nMbSyzlfLLjADMoneksBakCMlzkGMHrm1aGeXp3uOPu_T-_WwHiYaxw_/s1600/Roma_Appia_Antica_-_mausoleo_Cecilia_Metella.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4LGoJOM92i9C3x-0P9R41gYwoK95vuMqogemK3CjYawfekYhyphenhypheno-nvd62OIt2DdO9wvEQQbOzn_Y5nMbSyzlfLLjADMoneksBakCMlzkGMHrm1aGeXp3uOPu_T-_WwHiYaxw_/s640/Roma_Appia_Antica_-_mausoleo_Cecilia_Metella.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The remains of the tomb of Cecilia Metella along the Appian Way near Rome, Italy. Image courtesy of <br />
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roma_Appia_Antica_-_mausoleo_Cecilia_Metella.JPG">Wikimedia Commons.</a></td></tr>
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"This much alone we know: Metella died, the richest Roman's wife. Behold his love or pride."</div>
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<span id="byLine"></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Urban_VIII">Pope Urban VIII</a> ripped up the marble floor of her tomb to build the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain">Trevi Fountain</a>.</div>
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<span id="byLine"></span>At <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porta_San_Sebastiano">Porta San Sebastiano</a> is the landmark <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Domine_Quo_Vadis">Church of Domine Quo Vadis</a>. Here legend says St. Peter, fleeing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero">Nero</a>'s persecutions after the great fire, saw a vision of Christ heading toward the city. "Lord, where goest Thou?" he asked, and the vision replied, "To Rome to be crucified again."</div>
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<span id="byLine"></span>Also at Porta San Sebastiano stands the largest and best preserved of the fortified gates in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian_Walls">Aurelian Wall</a> that embraced the seven hills of Rome for more than a thousand years. The twin gate towers house a small museum of wall artifacts. Here you can walk along the top of the wall for postcard views of the Appian Way and the distant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alban_Hills">Alban Hills</a>. All about are vineyards producing Rome's refreshing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frascati_DOC">Frascati wine</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZy_mE6IFzI_-dwcCP3mnR7uV5k_2six0a7FcKvVXY00sMfV3QuxanR0VNcBrqPelsAtk7DYkYcNouT_HnBQ5_popz-aKVW5T12h67QtTxvsIuLpfIuvXhh3sMREQRnb7snSqe/s1600/Porta_Appia3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZy_mE6IFzI_-dwcCP3mnR7uV5k_2six0a7FcKvVXY00sMfV3QuxanR0VNcBrqPelsAtk7DYkYcNouT_HnBQ5_popz-aKVW5T12h67QtTxvsIuLpfIuvXhh3sMREQRnb7snSqe/s640/Porta_Appia3.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Porta San Sebastiano, the best preserved of the fortified gates iin the Aurelian Wall that encompassed ancient Rome.<br />
Image courtesy of <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Porta_Appia3.JPG">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</td></tr>
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Beyond the narrow ancient gate, the road dips slightly into a valley covering a maze of catacombs where thousands of bodies were buried along five levels of tunnels. Rome has more than 60 catacombs, some not yet fully explored.</div>
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The two most important catacombs open to the public along the Appian Way are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_San_Sebastiano">St. Sebastian</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacomb_of_Callixtus">St. Callixtus</a>, where most of the early popes and many martyrs were buried. Walls and ceilings have paintings and frescoes of early Christian symbols like the fish, the dove and the anchor, and scenes from Scripture such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah">Jonah</a> swallowed by the whale, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel">Daniel</a> in the lions' den, the raising of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_of_Bethany">Lazarus</a> and, most often, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Shepherd">Good Shepherd</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdh4yVLk0LSHL6QtZTVdb-GoKSgTtmRTsVYnVqGvJC2RYCiN1r3vSk52qZMUYeLu04PCRz49CH_WND6ammxoJieH75vIS_UZKnUGwiS-FQDx_EvoZR5hzX1dKmXmsHvUcTOZ3w/s1600/Appia-SanSebastiano-019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdh4yVLk0LSHL6QtZTVdb-GoKSgTtmRTsVYnVqGvJC2RYCiN1r3vSk52qZMUYeLu04PCRz49CH_WND6ammxoJieH75vIS_UZKnUGwiS-FQDx_EvoZR5hzX1dKmXmsHvUcTOZ3w/s640/Appia-SanSebastiano-019.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px; line-height: 21.28px;"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebastiano_fuori_le_mura">Basilica alle catacombe di San Sebastiano</a>. Image courtesy of <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Appia-SanSebastiano-019.JPG">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<strong><a href="http://www.romesightseeing.net/appia-antica-park/">APPIAN WAY REGIONAL PARK</a></strong>: Web site offers information on tours of the Appian Way; how to get there by public transportation, bike or on foot; opening times for monuments and museums, and other information. Visitor center is located at Via Appia Antica 42 (open Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 2:30 p.m.-5 p.m.).<br />
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<b>Update 3/9/2015:</b> As it turns out, I was injured in Naples in 2007 and had to fly home for surgery rather than travel on to Rome on that trip. However, I did manage to visit the Via Appia on another trip to Rome in March 2009. My companion and I chose to try the hop-on hop-off Archaeobus with audio tour as I had originally planned. However, I'm afraid, after experiencing that jarring, noisy ride, I do not recommend that mode of transportation. The bus driver drove so fast you couldn't possibly get any good pictures of any of the sites along the way and there was so much noise that you couldn't hear what was being said using the earphones either. After lurching past the Aurelian Walls and flying past the tomb of Cecilia Metella, we decided to get off at the Basilica alle catacombe di San Sebastiano. <br />
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My companion had seen catacombs before so she decided to enjoy the spring sunshine and parked herself on a bench to wait for me to go on the tour. These catacombs were once an area of pazzolan mines. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozzolan">Pozzolan</a> is a mixture of minerals used in the production of concrete. Then, in the 2nd century CE, the mines were abandoned and the caverns converted into a pagan burial ground. By the late 3rd century CE, Christians began burying their dead in these chambers as well and continued to do so until the mid-4th century CE.<br />
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The 7th-century catalogue, Notula oleorum listed three martyrs buried in the San Sebastian catacombs including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sebastian" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; text-decoration: none;" title="Saint Sebastian" wotsearchprocessed="true">Sebastian</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quirinus_of_Sescia" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; text-decoration: none;" title="Quirinus of Sescia" wotsearchprocessed="true">Quirinus</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"> and Eutychius. </span><br />
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A fifth century source states Sebastian was a soldier from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narbonne">Narbonne</a>, in Gaul (modern-day France), born of a family from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan">Milan</a> who died in Rome under the persecutions of the emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian">Diocletian</a>. His relics were kept in the catacombs until the 9th century when they were moved within the town walls. They are now back in the Basilica standing above the catacombs.<br />
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Quirinus was a bishop of Sescia, in Pannonia, whose relics were moved to Rome by pilgrims from that region between 4th and 5th century CE.<br />
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Nothing is known about Eutychius but his grave was discovered during excavations carried out in the 20th century in a deteriorated area of the catacombs. A poem dedicated to him, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Damasus_I">Pope Damasus I</a>, is now displayed at the entry of the basilica.<br />
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In 258 CE, during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerian_(emperor)">Valerian</a> persecutions, the catacombs were temporarily used as a burial site for the apostles Peter and Paul and the basilica was dubbed the Basilica Apostolorum. But their remains were later removed to their own respective basilicas in Rome. <br />
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I was really disappointed that they would not permit even non-flash photography within the catacombs. But I found the tour very interesting, nonetheless. (The photography ban may have been lifted as I found the image below of the interior of the San Sebastiano catacombs up on Wikimedia Commons).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZ1rXeGbpfmG5tPLzipJt49SUTfWmhr4NtAi3yVHPA73UEvJCIJitSak8Z4ClISZyzMeuCvprPGCc-L0xG9-F_FVt5jBpO13czJpf8oHsMUq5Kij6n4KxtfTorLx8cGO2gEql/s1600/Catacombs_S._Sebastiano_Rome3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZ1rXeGbpfmG5tPLzipJt49SUTfWmhr4NtAi3yVHPA73UEvJCIJitSak8Z4ClISZyzMeuCvprPGCc-L0xG9-F_FVt5jBpO13czJpf8oHsMUq5Kij6n4KxtfTorLx8cGO2gEql/s400/Catacombs_S._Sebastiano_Rome3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Floral stucco reliefs on the ceilings of the catacombs of San Sebastiano outside<br />
of Rome, Italy. Image courtesy of <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catacombs_S._Sebastiano_Rome3.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</td></tr>
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I saw the symbolic fish etched into the walls as we wound our way down through stuccoed and frescoed chambers until we were three levels below the entrance. (Originally there were four levels but one level was destroyed during subsequent rebuilding efforts). We finally came upon some of the earliest Roman tombs clustered together in a round chamber known as the piazzola (initially pagan these tombs were later reused by the Christians). These mausolea had architectural elements on their facades that, together, made them look like a small ancient city to me. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YfBE6Pqh7sr10Bic-AJ5yzu7Hsn3nZaS8IoP7zLB9FRZSwBStvJxTHq9442ko1hPQpxC7o_AIv7I8kMHReK9_5Jr1aVeHpMV_WeljFQBWMqMnT9bYYMgsWCDtE7taFNtgDL2/s1600/SanSebastianoCatacombebymistrettaeu+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YfBE6Pqh7sr10Bic-AJ5yzu7Hsn3nZaS8IoP7zLB9FRZSwBStvJxTHq9442ko1hPQpxC7o_AIv7I8kMHReK9_5Jr1aVeHpMV_WeljFQBWMqMnT9bYYMgsWCDtE7taFNtgDL2/s400/SanSebastianoCatacombebymistrettaeu+4.jpg" width="302" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2nd century CE Mausolea in the heart of the catacombs of<br />
San Sebastiano. Image courtesy of mistretta.eu then <br />
digitally enhanced by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The first one on the right is externally decorated with paintings (funeral banquets and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism_of_the_Gerasene_demoniac">exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac</a>) and still bears an inscription with the name of the owner, Marcus Clodius Hermes; the interior houses graves and pictures and shows a vault decorated with the head of a gorgon. </blockquote>
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The second one, called Mausoleum of Innocentiores referring to the funeral college to which it belonged, has a vault decorated with refined stuccoes; some recesses show inscriptions with Greek characters but written in Latin, as well as a graffito with the initials of the Greek words meaning "Jesus Christ Son of God Savior" (Ichtys). </blockquote>
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On the left there is the Mausoleum of the Adze, from the tool depicted on the exterior, whose decoration consists of shoots of vine sprouting from kantharoi placed on false pillars." - Wikipedia</blockquote>
We continued our tour and emerged into a feasting chamber called the "Triclia" where funerary feasts were celebrated, not only immediately after an interment but periodically thereafter by family members. Here, the plastered walls were covered with over 600 pieces of graffito left by visitors across the centuries and we were left to examine them before heading to the passageway that connected the catacombs to the basilica above.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEcUMmxY9AJ9eHbQ4m_W9XmkA4Bitc5V-wS6Mp_nM31k-IXUB8i5hkvWrDNf79ltWE1MymmRdJ3TQZy2Cn013jIh0neELgiMDHjBEv_EFSi4OIjHZvZMAv3TTNAGLhPfdARb7/s1600/catacombchristfigure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEcUMmxY9AJ9eHbQ4m_W9XmkA4Bitc5V-wS6Mp_nM31k-IXUB8i5hkvWrDNf79ltWE1MymmRdJ3TQZy2Cn013jIh0neELgiMDHjBEv_EFSi4OIjHZvZMAv3TTNAGLhPfdARb7/s640/catacombchristfigure.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even though I couldn't take pictures inside the catacombs at San Sebastiano, I photographed this etching of a Christ figure, Chi-Roh symbol and dove that was recovered from the catacombs that I found at the Baths of Diocletian venue of the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome. Photo by Mary Harrsch © 2009.</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The Basilica of San Sebastiano fuori le mura (San Sebastiano outside the walls) was originally built by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great">Constantine </a>in the 4th century. Many of the catacomb passageways and even the piazzola were filled into to form a base for this structure. (These areas were re-excavated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) In 826 CE, the remains of Saint Sebastian were moved to St. Peter's for safekeeping when the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracen">Saracens </a>threatened Rome. The basilica was subsequently destroyed by the Saracens but rebuilt by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Nicholas_I">Pope Nicholas I </a>(858-867). Then the martyr's altar was reconsecrated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Honorius_III">Pope Honorius III </a>(1216-1227) in the 13th century. The current edifice was commissioned in 1609 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipione_Borghese">Cardinal Scipione Borghese</a> who selected first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaminio_Ponzio">Flaminio Ponzio</a> to reconstruct it and, after Ponzio's death in 1613, entrusted its completion to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Vasanzio">Giovanni Vasanzio</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">I found some marvelous sculptures in the Basilica including this wonderful putto that looks very much like the work of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gian_Lorenzo_Bernini">Gian Lorenzo Bernini</a> who sculpted similar figures I have seen at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica">Basilica of Saint Peter's</a> in Vatican City:</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Putto in the <span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Basilica alle catacombe di San Sebastiano<br />Photo by Mary Harrsch </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2009</span></td></tr>
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Somehow I missed this moving sculpture of Saint Sebastian also said to be in one of the knaves of the basilica.<br />
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I found this video on YouTube about the catacombs of San Sebastiano. It doesn't have many images of the catacombs either but does have some marvelous views of the basilica and its ornate ceiling.
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y-Mn3zt-as4" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />
A Kindle preview of a 2015 book on the catacombs:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="550" src="https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=B00TFNRK1U&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_Qal4wb063YJ3M&tag=romtim-20" style="max-width: 100%;" type="text/html" width="336"></iframe>
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Other suggested reading:<br />
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<td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Roman-Catacombs-Deliverance-Persecution/dp/1432774492/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457565942&sr=1-1&keywords=Roman+catacombs&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=6b922c3f2ec9621ebe4c7dbd89fd13de" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1432774492&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=1432774492" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Catacombs-James-Spencer-Northcote/dp/1276995091/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457566059&sr=1-5&keywords=roman+catacombs&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=94c227e7fc06c9fa2a70fd71a66b333a" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1276995091&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=1276995091" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Christian-Catacombs-Rome-Decoration-Inscriptions/dp/3795411947/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457566118&sr=1-22&keywords=roman+catacombs&linkCode=li3&tag=romtim-20&linkId=5ee8e607a2ceb89418c8ca86b4c6ec49" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=3795411947&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=li3&o=1&a=3795411947" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-66664982389827613532013-08-25T15:37:00.001-07:002013-08-26T14:50:51.472-07:00Nimes, France: One stop shopping for Gladiators!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Mary Harrsch<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Note: The following <span itemprop="genre">travel</span> narrative about my visit to <span itemprop="about"><a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%AEmes" rel="wikipedia" title="Nîmes">Nimes, France</a></span> is based on </span><a href="http://www.mytripjournal.com/FranceTrip2013" style="background-color: white; color: #d78787; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">My Trip Journal</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> entries recorded during a trip I made to England and France in May <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span> with my companions, Richard and Cecelia White from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham%2C_Kent" rel="wikipedia" style="color: #d78787; text-decoration: none;" title="Chatham, Kent">Chatham, England</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I got up this morning with the bright Mediterranean sun shining through the slits around the window shutters. When we first got here I was wondering how I could get dressed in the morning with no curtains on the windows but then Richard showed me how to use the window shutters instead. So opening and closing the window shutters has become part of my morning and evening routine.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I made scrambled eggs for breakfast then we went for a walk around the farm property where </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">A french milk goat enjoying a lush spring pasture</span> near <br />
<span itemprop="contentLocation">Sauve, France</span>. Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">© <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></span>.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
our cottage is located. Our hosts have a couple of milking goats so I tried to get some good pictures of them then we walked down the lane to an old converted mill by the river and I took pictures of it. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4wgpDTtOTS-gH09ZeDGCHgSW-eOSfXIJ6Rbb8wi7CnT8i3kfwXvWk3aXf_O4GcbtGkixqzBgbYRNXA0JZsDDSGuHX28oFmoFq8rZIY4u1YkRB8hyphenhyphenxq2dy8t1aRAJOJQIE2YmgGg/s1600/DSC00254+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE+CUSTOM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" itemprop="contentURL" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4wgpDTtOTS-gH09ZeDGCHgSW-eOSfXIJ6Rbb8wi7CnT8i3kfwXvWk3aXf_O4GcbtGkixqzBgbYRNXA0JZsDDSGuHX28oFmoFq8rZIY4u1YkRB8hyphenhyphenxq2dy8t1aRAJOJQIE2YmgGg/s320/DSC00254+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE+CUSTOM.jpg" width="212" /></a>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">An old olive oil mill renovated into a<br />
residence</span> near <span itemprop="contentLocation">Sauve, France</span>. Photo by <br />
<span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Our accommodations includes use of a very large and very clean swimming pool that is built out in a nearby field complete with a statue of Venus but it has only been in the high 60s and low 70s here (my kind of weather) so I doubt if the pool water is very warm.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">Olympic sized swimming pool<br /> at our gite</span> near <span itemprop="contentLocation">Sauve, France</span>.<br />
Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After lunch we took off for </span><a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%AEmes" rel="wikipedia" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" title="Nîmes">Nimes</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. Nimes became part of the Roman Empire sometime before 28 BCE. By the reign of Augustus in the 1st century CE Nimes had reached a population of 60,000. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We found a car park in the center of town right beside the Place d'Assas with a very interesting sculpture of an almost Olmec-looking head at one end.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This <span itemprop="description">sculpture by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_Raysse" rel="wikipedia" title="Martial Raysse">Martial Raysse</a> created in<br />
1989</span> is said to represent the "male force" of<br />
the city of <span itemprop="contentLocation">Nimes, France</span>. Photo by <br />
<span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span>. © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Designed by Martial Raysse in 1989, this head named Nemausus represents the male force of the town according to a reference I found on the web. The water flowing between this head and another monumental head at the far end of the plaza represents Nemausa, the spring that gave Nimes its name.
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After a bit of a mixup we finally found our way to the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Maison Carrée, a Roman temple originally constructed in 16 BCE. The structure was rebuilt by the famous Roman admiral, Marcus Agrippa (victor of Actium), in approximately 2 - 4 CE. The temple was dedicated to his two sons, Gaius and Lucius, who had been adopted by his best friend Augustus so they would rule Rome one day. However, both died tragically young (poisoned by Augustus' vile wife Livia if we believe Robert Graves' interpretation of events in "I, Claudius!")</span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">The Maison Carree, an example of Vitruvian architecture built<br />
in 16 BCE now houses an information center and theater</span> in <span itemprop="contentLocation">Nimes, France</span>.<br />
Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span>. © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The structure is an example of architecture popularized by the famous Roman architect, Vitruvius. It's beautiful Corinthian columns are topped with ornately carved acanthus leaves.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">A pidgeon nestles into the protective acanthus<br />
leaves sculpted on the capital of a Corinithian<br />
column of the Maison Carrée</span> in <span itemprop="contentLocation">Nimes, France</span>.<br />
Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The temple survived the widespread destruction of pagan centers of worship after Rome adopted Christianity because it was converted to a church. In the years that followed it was subsequently converted to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">a meeting hall for the city's consuls, a canon's house and even a stable for government-owned horses during the French Revolution. It now houses an information center and theater.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Inside we bought a three day pass for all of the surrounding historical sites for only 11 Euros. It included admission to a short 3-D movie about the history of Nimes that was very well done even though Cecelia, a medieval reenactor, made fun of the less than authentic fencing in one of the segments.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I thought the segment on gladiatorial fights was quite authentic with a properly attired Roman referee and a retiarius (net man with trident) and a Secutor battling it out with little blood spilled. Each time one of the gladiators was in danger of a mortal wound the referee would step in and separate the combatants. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Finally one of the men went down and the referee looked to the crowd for a verdict and declared the victor without any further harm coming to his opponent. In historical times that type of encounter was far more common than the blood bath seen on the Starz' </span><a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.starz.com/originals/Spartacus" rel="homepage" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" title="Spartacus: Blood and Sand">Spartacus: Blood and Sand</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> series. The only thing that was not quite authentic was that the men were relatively svelt. In Roman times gladiators ate an almost vegetarian diet of barley gruel to put on a protective layer of fat and often appeared rather barrel-chested.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span itemprop="description">This Roman relief found along the Via Appia near the tomb of Cecilia Metella<br />
illustrates the well fed contours of arena combatants in the 1st century BCE</span>. <br />
Photogaphed at the <span itemprop="contentLocation">Terme di Diocleziano, Rome, Italy</span> by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2009</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The movie was shown inside the temple so after it ended we climbed down the rather steep stairs (I had Cecelia walk next to me so if I bobbled she could keep me from falling since I promised you all I would not fall on this trip!) and walked several blocks to the Roman amphitheater. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfavMdw4Qj29YkEKQyjhQFjdvxvCbq86cVOYeEVxrrEcrlriJal7g6BSY02zv_I0l0y2A94DXqO2ZdbW7aLphyCD0hLsmLXzyl3vFUcNzsYyoHFjmbqiX5vsyVnLGcLQCbHcx3wg/s1600/P1080223+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILS+STRONG+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" itemprop="contentURL" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfavMdw4Qj29YkEKQyjhQFjdvxvCbq86cVOYeEVxrrEcrlriJal7g6BSY02zv_I0l0y2A94DXqO2ZdbW7aLphyCD0hLsmLXzyl3vFUcNzsYyoHFjmbqiX5vsyVnLGcLQCbHcx3wg/s320/P1080223+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILS+STRONG+1024.jpg" width="240" /></a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">A Roman amphitheater now serves <br />
as a venue for bullfights</span> in <span itemprop="contentLocation">Nimes, France</span>.<br />
Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Although several tiers of the structure are now missing, what remains is in very good condition. It is significantly smaller than the Coliseum in Rome, though. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ZA6mXU_Ldp_4IrDZq2RpqOhcGZSkr_TWqJ06dRYppQD54Ny1XgcsFaA5Ab02Onj_eBEMfOnIRszcAKhq7L-0mSRvnvXWarjQW2iGt2HGW-HP5iHzfz0ESiOra8hHgZRxN6Ou-A/s1600/DSC00270+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAILS+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" itemprop="contentURL" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ZA6mXU_Ldp_4IrDZq2RpqOhcGZSkr_TWqJ06dRYppQD54Ny1XgcsFaA5Ab02Onj_eBEMfOnIRszcAKhq7L-0mSRvnvXWarjQW2iGt2HGW-HP5iHzfz0ESiOra8hHgZRxN6Ou-A/s400/DSC00270+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAILS+1024.jpg" width="400" /></a>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">Once fortified by the Visigoths, the Nimes amphitheater was a target of destruction<br />
by <span style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Martel" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; line-height: 19.1875px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" title="Charles Martel" wotsearchprocessed="true">Charles Martel</a> in 737 CE so only the lower tiers of the structure remain.</span><br />Photographed in <span itemprop="contentLocation">Nimes, France</span> by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">With the upper tiers of the structure missing I could not see any remnants of the supports for the sun shades that were usually extended to shade the spectators on a hot day. I also did not see any numbers carved into the stone above the various entry doors that matched tokens given to attendees to tell them which door to use so ingress and egress could be accomplished in a relatively short time.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thankfully, although the sand of the arena was carefully raked in preparation for a contest, there were no bull fights scheduled today. When we explored the interior access tunnels we came upon a small museum displaying several ornate matador costumes. But that is the closest to bull fighting I would like to get.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-H52B7BZjZvf3RfKW4OTJ1zZNDyc8QG7CGy88pC7_eM73hDZtvvflMgjD9z8hNFc9hD0Kcv-3R_9uaxUf3jvjfrVNXagGKMfhGbfOHZS9t5AxNb1qxZTZSYW97KlCNy3kqYojaw/s1600/DSC00277+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAIL+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" itemprop="contentURL" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-H52B7BZjZvf3RfKW4OTJ1zZNDyc8QG7CGy88pC7_eM73hDZtvvflMgjD9z8hNFc9hD0Kcv-3R_9uaxUf3jvjfrVNXagGKMfhGbfOHZS9t5AxNb1qxZTZSYW97KlCNy3kqYojaw/s320/DSC00277+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAIL+1024.jpg" width="320" /></a>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">Closeup of an ornately beaded jacket of a matador at the <br />
small bullfighting museum inside the amphitheater</span> at<br />
<span itemprop="contentLocation">Nimes, France</span>. Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In the gift shop I bought my first kitchen shrine of the trip - a small snow globe containing a pair of battling gladiators atop a replica of the amphitheater. Each time I go on a trip I try to find a small souvenir that I can place on my kitchen window sill at home so when I'm cooking or washing dishes I can look at the souvenir and recall pleasant memories of a particular trip, so the snow globe fit the bill.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We stopped by a boulangerie (French bakery) on the way back to our cottage and I bought a couple of sweet rolls for evening dessert. We weren't totally tired yet so we decided to drive on in to Sauve and explore the old part of the village that is built on a steep hillside adjacent to the river Vidourle. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46gHadyIIZfYHhnyx6Y7Lqq_FsW_OApbMY9yMZx-3oqumRBy0hyilps9Hlw2otixvA6D_tXF2FJSDtHxuuTmAOSEczad8ZXVgwv2txEHr8ewJapCkiJ0ulhAr-jk_LRsLoS_FFA/s1600/P1080315+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" itemprop="contentURL" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46gHadyIIZfYHhnyx6Y7Lqq_FsW_OApbMY9yMZx-3oqumRBy0hyilps9Hlw2otixvA6D_tXF2FJSDtHxuuTmAOSEczad8ZXVgwv2txEHr8ewJapCkiJ0ulhAr-jk_LRsLoS_FFA/s400/P1080315+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE+1024.jpg" width="300" /></a>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two French girls enjoy the late afternoon sun<br />
on the banks of the Vidourle River in <span itemprop="contentLocation">Sauve, France</span>.<br />
Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It was built centuries ago and has a bridge dating back to the 11th century along with remnants of fortifications, an oil mill, an abbey and convent. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge_ygyekKRlWCYkbXzKdMlkPfrdq6iz-G7j9Kf4Yh760XVyPNmVemSSOZR5pUtnD_56K4BKCA3pciuRLfLXAaqXOUneYYj4r4SXvx9DqvhEZlrzc4ugh_LHuaJ5fQNBMxzdU3brw/s1600/DSC00295+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+CUSTOM+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" itemprop="contentURL" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge_ygyekKRlWCYkbXzKdMlkPfrdq6iz-G7j9Kf4Yh760XVyPNmVemSSOZR5pUtnD_56K4BKCA3pciuRLfLXAaqXOUneYYj4r4SXvx9DqvhEZlrzc4ugh_LHuaJ5fQNBMxzdU3brw/s400/DSC00295+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+CUSTOM+1024.jpg" width="265" /></a>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span itemprop="description">An olive oil mill converted to a private residence</span><br />
in <span itemprop="contentLocation">Sauve, France</span>. Photo by <span itemprop="author">Mary Harrsch</span> © <span itemprop="copyrightYear">2013</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After exploring Sauve's narrow alleyways we finally returned to our cottage where Cecelia made us a delicious dinner of lamp chops, new potatoes and fresh green beans.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Tomorrow we plan to drive about an hour away to Orange and use our historical site pass to see their Roman remains that includes an ancient theater (for plays) and that medieval fortress we saw high on a rocky cliff when we were driving down on the motorway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To see more of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/sets/72157633857619409/">my images of France</a>, visit my Flickr account!</span><br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-11899579640616459382013-07-25T17:22:00.000-07:002013-08-25T15:46:24.658-07:00A quick tour of Troyes then on to Sauve in southern France<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Note: The following narrative is based on </span><a href="http://www.mytripjournal.com/FranceTrip2013" style="background-color: white; color: #d78787; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">My Trip Journal</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> entries recorded during a trip I made to England and France in May 2013 with my companions, Richard and Cecelia White from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham%2C_Kent" rel="wikipedia" title="Chatham, Kent">Chatham, England</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We arrived in the city of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troyes" rel="wikipedia" title="Troyes">Troyes</a> yesterday evening and I was enthralled by all of the medieval buildings still in pretty good nick as my English friends always say. There were a number of impressive churches and a marvelous cathedral with flying buttresses and glowering gargoyles, too! The center of town was latticed with channels of water with the occasional sculpture that I found very pretty. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDC7IxwZyjjMd0H4y5kYHPuF5OcuM3wc59fbhuURbw9m5J9gnHT9pO8tTjk1HYPsZ-BoWA6p50SqeMmVbOaHLO49EzZ8qEukwSEHUdh8JOBXpNrksUdMGQd_wHTfnP1X4Pw_Sbtg/s1600/DSC00242+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDC7IxwZyjjMd0H4y5kYHPuF5OcuM3wc59fbhuURbw9m5J9gnHT9pO8tTjk1HYPsZ-BoWA6p50SqeMmVbOaHLO49EzZ8qEukwSEHUdh8JOBXpNrksUdMGQd_wHTfnP1X4Pw_Sbtg/s640/DSC00242+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panoramic view of the French city of Troyes and its cathedral. Photo by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So we got up early so we could spend a couple of hours walking around Troyes before heading south to our "gite" (a French guesthouse). We went downstairs at the hotel and found a beautiful spread of fresh fruits, yogurts, a variety of rolls, flan and beverages. We watched the news laughing at our efforts to translate for the French announcers. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfxVPViO02SZ7m02TRWc248m0X9V-SSGZ8rFxLP9ILjyXhnUPEL66wlYgv7xBhSU8zS7-I0nEs8GxbpnS37XiFAlb8sP4yimEj8Pj3eQn042rErCqpY5fvcAvTu9Cei6aefzguA/s1600/P1080040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfxVPViO02SZ7m02TRWc248m0X9V-SSGZ8rFxLP9ILjyXhnUPEL66wlYgv7xBhSU8zS7-I0nEs8GxbpnS37XiFAlb8sP4yimEj8Pj3eQn042rErCqpY5fvcAvTu9Cei6aefzguA/s320/P1080040.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The amazing breakfast buffet at our hotel in Troyes, France.<br />
Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Then we repacked the car and headed off on foot to photograph what we could within walking distance. I tried to spot various gargoyles and get closeups of them and got a couple of nice panoramas of the town square and fountain area. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNelHzv3AL950PW1Ii4s0BdW81QsusZf1XfigxA5v9DkYfrd2RhA7_-3FzJUqEw-swBWIbHutdSrDBzt0-fw5-QR-MiujHANTVcLrX6o2esPPz_POHED1mqJBW4rP05kAh780zQ/s1600/DSC00241+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+CUSTOM+SKEWED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNelHzv3AL950PW1Ii4s0BdW81QsusZf1XfigxA5v9DkYfrd2RhA7_-3FzJUqEw-swBWIbHutdSrDBzt0-fw5-QR-MiujHANTVcLrX6o2esPPz_POHED1mqJBW4rP05kAh780zQ/s640/DSC00241+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+CUSTOM+SKEWED.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panoramic view of the historic town center of Troyes, France. Photo by Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Carousels seem to be very popular here and they are quite ornate. Troyes had one in the town center and yesterday I had photographed one across the street from the entrance to Fontainebleau. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4naPvhqPJzdbPe-W7Q_AWmK43O-_MD-CEOgDe5GGjLTclqnJ0Y9LGbIoSQj0ipnUDRjbl4r-pTCY0UkBWcxxGC8KpWmY7Ja3lVC63vl7VoovKb_K_C5n-3yPiTDIOeBsC1U-5w/s1600/P1080118+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+CUSTOM+CROPPED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4naPvhqPJzdbPe-W7Q_AWmK43O-_MD-CEOgDe5GGjLTclqnJ0Y9LGbIoSQj0ipnUDRjbl4r-pTCY0UkBWcxxGC8KpWmY7Ja3lVC63vl7VoovKb_K_C5n-3yPiTDIOeBsC1U-5w/s400/P1080118+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+CUSTOM+CROPPED.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carousel lends a festive air to the center of Troyes, France. Photo by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As it turned out the cathedral was being rennovated so we couldn't go inside but I tried to get some nice shots of the exterior.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyABVA79v_MUaKwY9V2sgn_f7EP9vSN7D1EtxijWc0eNY0s8oN8_RJwkrNG7PPcFn2itY8MkP3Tmc9qvwEjbjj466K_uMDGIj2TMUMama5snp329pfC2Kclq-nihlFYsQSXAIOZA/s1600/P1080140+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyABVA79v_MUaKwY9V2sgn_f7EP9vSN7D1EtxijWc0eNY0s8oN8_RJwkrNG7PPcFn2itY8MkP3Tmc9qvwEjbjj466K_uMDGIj2TMUMama5snp329pfC2Kclq-nihlFYsQSXAIOZA/s320/P1080140+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tower and front rose window of the Cathedral<br />
of Peter and Paul in Troyes, France. Photo by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKOp2TCsOr-IuaUpXlbN1mcLnDTyZ_jXL0kwUopn0sYZsw7WFA_yAy3lVhanc6Zwx4xryqOIVByPMGHYdbjwNw__6-4lLXJZtysajl_LvSo9WZHqJA1FRJyHBydLR5wzneu4wyw/s1600/P1080141+AF+TOPAZ+STRONG+DETAILS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKOp2TCsOr-IuaUpXlbN1mcLnDTyZ_jXL0kwUopn0sYZsw7WFA_yAy3lVhanc6Zwx4xryqOIVByPMGHYdbjwNw__6-4lLXJZtysajl_LvSo9WZHqJA1FRJyHBydLR5wzneu4wyw/s400/P1080141+AF+TOPAZ+STRONG+DETAILS.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mythological creatures sculpted on the ramparts of the Cathedral of Peter<br />
and Paul in Troyes, France. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAEiY6kNl8MvXkjS1lvl-yZzBsMRcvBmGbEL7BvCu5a4b_dFA0WfQlq6dVst7bgsD9Wume3lO24YPK5xESjwOd5FQ95RIKnf8P-7D7AIDF7xUUFWTM0NW2CpBrorZu6zeUmJWCHg/s1600/P1080121+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE+CUSTOM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAEiY6kNl8MvXkjS1lvl-yZzBsMRcvBmGbEL7BvCu5a4b_dFA0WfQlq6dVst7bgsD9Wume3lO24YPK5xESjwOd5FQ95RIKnf8P-7D7AIDF7xUUFWTM0NW2CpBrorZu6zeUmJWCHg/s320/P1080121+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE+CUSTOM.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The streets of the historic district in Troyes are<br />
lined with batted 16th century-era buildings.<br />
Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As it was getting on towards mid-morning, we hustled back to the hotel and struck out for the southbound motorway. The countryside I had seen so far was a gently undulating patchwork of green pastures and bright yellow fields of flowering rapeseed sprinkled with wind turbines but as we neared the </span><a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=47.0,4.5&spn=1.0,1.0&q=47.0,4.5%20(Burgundy)&t=h" rel="geolocation" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" title="Burgundy">Burgundy region</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> the land became much more hilly and the forests were punctuated by occasional patches of evergreen trees. Soon I began seeing fat cream-colored </span><a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charolais_cattle" rel="wikipedia" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" title="Charolais cattle">Charolais cattle</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> grazing in the fields and the freeway was lined by wine bottling plants. </span><br />
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vache_de_race_charolaise_avec_son_veau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Français : Vache de race charolaise avec son v..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="199" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Vache_de_race_charolaise_avec_son_veau.jpg/300px-Vache_de_race_charolaise_avec_son_veau.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center; width: 300px;">A Charolais cow and calf. (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vache_de_race_charolaise_avec_son_veau.jpg">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My friends told me that the evergreen trees were not native to that part of France but imported. Now they are viewed as an invasive species. This, of course, sounded strange to me being from Oregon where </span><a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas-fir" rel="wikipedia" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;" title="Douglas-fir">Douglas fir</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> are prized for their quality lumber.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The motorway rest areas here are very extensive with both DariMart-like convenience stores and full sit down restaurants. Some even have developed playgrounds for the children. The French must also enjoy camping as you see lots of signs depicting camp trailers and picnic tables for camping areas. I wished we would have had more time to explore some of the historical sites along the way as well. I eagerly looked for the iconic brown heritage signs as the French put pictures of the actual structures on the directional signs. There might be a castle, a chateau or even a Roman bridge depicted. But we were planning to explore <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%AEmes" rel="wikipedia" title="Nîmes">Nimes</a> tomorrow and were expected at our guesthouse tonight so we really couldn't stop as we had to drive over 400 miles today.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As we neared Orange we spotted a crenelated fortress high up on a rock formation. I think we must add it to our must visit list!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We finally turned off the motorway to head for our vacation cottage just outside of the village of Sauve. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTsmvYBCZLoXJ1Ix-TCQVNH-cu5igmwS_uWiN6eBXszgG1ccbNEBFIZESh4yQ61qX7wKzUUEgdL6MHlJjkBsxZ2gLuZ0-qkLW1kmhxHTUs2UPQyf5sqRluNf_MWOQTUe-eXarug/s1600/P1080981+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG+CUSTOM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTsmvYBCZLoXJ1Ix-TCQVNH-cu5igmwS_uWiN6eBXszgG1ccbNEBFIZESh4yQ61qX7wKzUUEgdL6MHlJjkBsxZ2gLuZ0-qkLW1kmhxHTUs2UPQyf5sqRluNf_MWOQTUe-eXarug/s400/P1080981+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG+CUSTOM.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The village of Sauve on the banks of the <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Vidourle River in southern France.<br />Photo by Mary Harrsch</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We stopped at a pretty good sized supermarket to buy some Toulouse sausages and couscous for dinner. It was my first visit to a French supermarket and it looked very similar to ours although they had some really delicious items that we don't ever see - at least not in Eugene/Springfield. Of course the French love breads and pastries so the bread section was quite extensive, many containing chocolate bits as the French are really fond of chocolate, and there were so many choices of cheese it was almost overwhelming. I was actually looking for east European-style farmer's cheese though and couldn't find any so I settled for a wedge of chaumes.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The terrain here in the south of France is much more Mediterranean looking with umbrella pines, junipers and yellowish rocky outcroppings. We found our "gite" down a narrow track that wound its way past an old mill that had been renovated into a residence then into an adjoining field. Our cottage was a low-roofed adobe-style structure with a combination living room-kitchen space, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a separate shower room. Actually this arrangement is quite convenient as it does not tie up the bathroom if someone is taking a long shower. The pictures my companion had sent me showed a swimming pool and I didn't see one but a walk around the property revealed a full sized pool out in the middle of the field a short walk away. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Our host greeted us and gave us a supply of clean towels and we found the buffet in the dining room stocked with dishware. Cecelia had volunteered to do the cooking and soon had a delicious skillet full of Toulouse sausages cooked, sliced and added to a dish full of couscous along with some sauteed zucchini and fresh tomatoes. It tasted so good after a long day of travel.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Tomorrow, after taking care of a few more housekeeping chores, we're off to explore the Roman amphitheater at Nimes. There is also a Roman temple and a museum of gladiator armor. I also saw an ad for a bullfighting museum with matador costumes that might be interesting but I have no plans to attend a real bull fight as this is one of the last places in France where the bull is tormented and killed for the crowd.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">To see more of </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/sets/72157633857619409/" style="background-color: white; color: #d78787; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">my images of France</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">, visit my Flickr account!</span><br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-3093146080527704932013-07-08T17:00:00.001-07:002013-08-25T15:46:59.183-07:00Fontainebleau: Napoleon's Marvelous Legacy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Note: The following narrative is based on </span><a href="http://www.mytripjournal.com/FranceTrip2013" style="background-color: white; color: #d78787; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">My Trip Journal</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> entries recorded during a trip I made to England and France in May 2013 with my companions, Richard and Cecelia White from Chatham, England.</span></div>
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We caught the P&O Ferry at Dover early this morning (May 10, 2013) and crossed the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel" rel="wikipedia" title="English Channel">English Channel</a> in about 1 1/2 hours landing at Calais in France. The ferry was huge, capable of carrying over 1000 cars as well as 2000 passengers. When you check in at the gate, you are assigned a lane number so cars can be quickly boarded without any confusion. You also need to remember your parking area's color as the stairs on the ferry direct you to the correct part of the ship by designating the color of the area they serve when it is time to disembark.<br />
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There were several shops selling duty free goods and souvenirs and Richard bought some special reflective stickers that he must place on his car's headlights to prevent them from shining in oncoming drivers' eyes when we're in France since his car has headlights adjusted to shine on the opposite side of the road than French cars. (The French drive on the same side of the road that we do).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzrVhhc5sU4yvfWS09gqunCtwQSywZ7yk_lzKZIYPvnbP38qCtkwlMmeKCtAo6fXNHlLfF_D8FLzh08wEWCfEicr0f6bCTpKd6U2BTw-vY-_hInUE5KWis-ek7lZ418oXb62OOw/s1600/P1070729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzrVhhc5sU4yvfWS09gqunCtwQSywZ7yk_lzKZIYPvnbP38qCtkwlMmeKCtAo6fXNHlLfF_D8FLzh08wEWCfEicr0f6bCTpKd6U2BTw-vY-_hInUE5KWis-ek7lZ418oXb62OOw/s320/P1070729.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">English breakfast minus a sausage and fried toast. Photo<br />
by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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We headed to the cafeteria where we ordered an English breakfast including eggs, baked beans (they are actually like pork and beans without the pork and with a little heavier tomato sauce - no brown sugar like America's version of baked beans), hash browns and bacon. This is the slightly abbreviated version as I was not that hungry and passed on the sausage and fried toast (plain bread - no cinnamon or egg batter). Then I spent the next hour and a half trying not to get sea sick as the Channel was rather choppy. I finally got to see the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Cliffs_of_Dover" rel="wikipedia" title="White Cliffs of Dover">white cliffs of Dover</a> I had heard about so much as a child as we pulled away from the dock.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexEWYfXxeCGAnmT8pPPC6bO4eAnwhyphenhyphenZ5hwb0FIP3vEVn5dLFdYgSaAMIXydK-3nBeRfJbaXmV8JIXvYGzCjN1ZOwn77cD_GhJ4FK9S5jhvEvVT2VKunxj4FjJvPMumZWpIYEfVQ/s1600/P1070731+AF+TOPAZ+PORTRAIT+SMOOTH+CUSTOM+THEN+DETAILED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexEWYfXxeCGAnmT8pPPC6bO4eAnwhyphenhyphenZ5hwb0FIP3vEVn5dLFdYgSaAMIXydK-3nBeRfJbaXmV8JIXvYGzCjN1ZOwn77cD_GhJ4FK9S5jhvEvVT2VKunxj4FjJvPMumZWpIYEfVQ/s400/P1070731+AF+TOPAZ+PORTRAIT+SMOOTH+CUSTOM+THEN+DETAILED.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The famous white cliffs of Dover in the early morning light. Photo by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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Upon landing in France, we took the freeway towards Paris. I got really excited when I saw the sign pointing to the famous "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_the_Cloth_of_Gold" rel="wikipedia" title="Field of the Cloth of Gold">Field of the Cloth of Gold</a>" where <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England" rel="wikipedia" title="Henry VIII of England">King Henry VIII of England</a> met with <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_I_of_France" rel="wikipedia" title="Francis I of France">King Francis I of France</a> in June 1520 to celebrate their friendship after the signing of the Anglo-French treaty of 1514. As portrayed in the Showtime miniseries "The Tudors", the two kings encamped in lavish accomodations accented with cloth of gold then engaged in days of wrestling, jousting, archery displays and general merrymaking. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Field_of_the_cloth_of_gold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Field_of_the_cloth_of_gold.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Field of the cloth of gold as depicted in a 1774 engraving by James Basire<br />
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.</td></tr>
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Fueled by two lavish fountains of red wine, King Henry's entourage managed to devour over 2200 sheep in three weeks. But, alas, Richard said there was really nothing left to look at there now except a plaque so we did not stop.<br />
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So, I spent the next couple of hours gazing at the patchwork of wheat and blooming rapeseed fields flowing past the window. I was also surprised to see quite a few wind turbines. The French have obviously fully embraced the development of alternative energy sources. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgricvoC3f7Ca4x9ENtJjPcLz7XjDbPBLBVXP9vyNbHHNkxyi9p70Zh74mXHaXLsH919nKm0sPCsFzNXiSFxg8AJFkUShsXKEV1sgGP-vtKRCh-VIkh-Lfw7Wj4dzasDFr0bSaPDA/s1600/DSC00126+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgricvoC3f7Ca4x9ENtJjPcLz7XjDbPBLBVXP9vyNbHHNkxyi9p70Zh74mXHaXLsH919nKm0sPCsFzNXiSFxg8AJFkUShsXKEV1sgGP-vtKRCh-VIkh-Lfw7Wj4dzasDFr0bSaPDA/s640/DSC00126+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panoramic view of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontainebleau" rel="wikipedia" title="Fontainebleau">Fontainebleau</a>'s central courtyard. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When we neared Pairs we took the ring road then the cutoff to Fontainebleau as it is about 55 km southeast of Paris. Although many of us think of Fontainebleau in relation to Napoleon I, it was actually the result of additions to a building constructed by King Francis I several centuries before. A later campaign of extensive construction was undertaken by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England" rel="wikipedia" title="Henry II of England">King Henry II</a> then Catherine de' Medici. King Henry IV added the court that carries his name during his reign as well as a 1200-meter canal. Philip the Fair (Philip IV), Henry III and Louis XIII were all born in the palace, and Philip died there. Christina of Sweden lived there for years as well, following her abdication in 1654.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSLN8JDHIcAO4SSDbbUXpuGx07fKdisstAqKoSSX4C-Mk1bZDi4EltzRMCnOC-93ijTUVMnRf2Vf5HSYM1_hDsS5edkHhC4iCYRgs-LagOEyJH_FTtwy2HNlT0jcdUpnAwPKZmQ/s1600/P1070936+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSLN8JDHIcAO4SSDbbUXpuGx07fKdisstAqKoSSX4C-Mk1bZDi4EltzRMCnOC-93ijTUVMnRf2Vf5HSYM1_hDsS5edkHhC4iCYRgs-LagOEyJH_FTtwy2HNlT0jcdUpnAwPKZmQ/s400/P1070936+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marble relief of King Henry II by Mathieu Jacquet in the<br />
Saint Louis Salon at Fontainebleau. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But during the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution" rel="wikipedia" title="French Revolution">French Revolution</a>, Fontainebleau was emptied of many of its treasures to raise money for the new government. Within ten years, however, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte transformed Fontainebleau back into the lavish royal palace we see today. Perhaps that is why I've always thought of it as Napoleon's palace rather than a luxurious secondary residence for Bourbon royalty.<br />
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The palace is actually in a small town that shares its name but it is surrounded by gardens and a large man-made lake that set the palace apart. The French, unlike the National Trust folks in England, allow photography so I set about trying to capture as much of the beauty of Fontainebleau and examples of 19th century decadence exhibited there as I could.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6GU0WbLNvZwMjo8ft6JTRNoFZmOsBAGgh1aLwKQW4E_zoUghzK65mMIRB7RA0862ZICVBgkZNaINWhSF40oUsTqo1c9fQdnfdxo7BijgIFJHg4Y7hCNeDQS32D3KuhK2K8vGeWw/s1600/DSC00178+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6GU0WbLNvZwMjo8ft6JTRNoFZmOsBAGgh1aLwKQW4E_zoUghzK65mMIRB7RA0862ZICVBgkZNaINWhSF40oUsTqo1c9fQdnfdxo7BijgIFJHg4Y7hCNeDQS32D3KuhK2K8vGeWw/s640/DSC00178+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panoramic view of Anne of Austria's bedchamber at Fontainebleau. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Surprisingly, there is far more period furnishings at Fontainebleau than I saw at the Palace of Versailles in 2008. Many of Versailles' rooms were practically empty except for walls full of portrait paintings. Fontainebleau, however, was filled with spectacular brocade-draped beds, glittering chandeliers, intricate <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmJB-a_ufGbHaNIAGE8Les7PtUm_rU5VWK-NY_q0RP8dBtqIgeYtqM0-Sem9Qc7l6UDWcQj1H4WbKMEg00waiVA-KryEFnY1HSg20nwVO34TREtb9Q84SDdjzZDiz8JVVz6mpLng/s1600/P1070752+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmJB-a_ufGbHaNIAGE8Les7PtUm_rU5VWK-NY_q0RP8dBtqIgeYtqM0-Sem9Qc7l6UDWcQj1H4WbKMEg00waiVA-KryEFnY1HSg20nwVO34TREtb9Q84SDdjzZDiz8JVVz6mpLng/s320/P1070752+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILED.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Velvet and gold embroidered suit created for<br />
Napoleon's second marriage in 1810. Photo<br />
by Mary Harrsch. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
tapestries, beautifully preserved clothing, colossal paintings with mythological themes, swords and dueling pistols, silvered toilet articles, lavishly carved and gilded woodwork and even Napoleon's original bathtub as well as a replica of his command tent from his military campaigns.<br />
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I smiled when I saw the command tent because it reminded me of one of the first major museum exhibitions I ever attended back in 1993. My husband and I had helped my daughter move from Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. On our way to Charleston we passed through Memphis, Tennessee and from the freeway I saw a huge poster of Napoleon on the side of a building. I craned my neck to see if I could find out what the poster was all about and saw that it advertised an exhibit of Napoleonic artifacts at Memphis' International Culture Center.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBT5pjacYW-8QhpV9WdylKdZIKU9HXbETexFaNzxfg2UG5Q1-y6GZkJZsxP3UyAy1zNRjwt9gqvSK1TdhzkwtGsQZmWsnjeNC9__OeEZznPWwO5QXIMLvhuBAxLj0Eqd8YctPxqQ/s1600/P1070778+AF+TOPAZ+STRONG+DETAIL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBT5pjacYW-8QhpV9WdylKdZIKU9HXbETexFaNzxfg2UG5Q1-y6GZkJZsxP3UyAy1zNRjwt9gqvSK1TdhzkwtGsQZmWsnjeNC9__OeEZznPWwO5QXIMLvhuBAxLj0Eqd8YctPxqQ/s200/P1070778+AF+TOPAZ+STRONG+DETAIL.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gold Hilt of a Sword of Napoleon I ornamented<br />
with coral cameo portraits from Naples, Italy <br />
French 19th century CE. Photo by Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Of course, we didn't have time to stop then but I hoped after we delivered my daughter to her new husband we might have time to stop in Memphis on our way back. As luck would have it we arrived back in Memphis on my birthday. So my husband agreed to stop and I spent the next three hours wandering through galleries displaying many of the things that, all these years later, I now saw at Fontainebleau, including the richly embroidered suit Napoleon wore at his second wedding in 1810 and that replica of Napoleon's command tent. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZjjBwrQbzYynR7evrNADDYI3QELMqNPH3xj-nqGSKIMez87_eQzwYYV8kOk6HSIqPq70Vf5K_Ibid2U1_i1rt6V81VTNnbXjE5PWiHjpYsuRfB-KHvxgOnrw9iD_MhWx51LMPBw/s1600/P1070765+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZjjBwrQbzYynR7evrNADDYI3QELMqNPH3xj-nqGSKIMez87_eQzwYYV8kOk6HSIqPq70Vf5K_Ibid2U1_i1rt6V81VTNnbXjE5PWiHjpYsuRfB-KHvxgOnrw9iD_MhWx51LMPBw/s400/P1070765+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILED.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reproduction of Napoleon's canopied cot in his <br />
military campaign tent. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There was the glint of gold everywhere at Fontainebleau although the empire style furnishings prevalent in most of the rooms were more elegant, in my opinion, than the over-the-top heavily gilded Baroque and Rococo furniture of the 17th and 18th centuries. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgOlSURxELghkwZYovPtuN46wp-H5Okvut8eARRNSUhSx_dzHKb-4rpW27AYRU9gnO3PsCvLqptTMQg99HsD9n9XjA4KZ_p61OWid0N2ZRy2Kx8-zqnJfE2Tl8B37ldZ6h6WtyHQ/s1600/DSC00133+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgOlSURxELghkwZYovPtuN46wp-H5Okvut8eARRNSUhSx_dzHKb-4rpW27AYRU9gnO3PsCvLqptTMQg99HsD9n9XjA4KZ_p61OWid0N2ZRy2Kx8-zqnJfE2Tl8B37ldZ6h6WtyHQ/s400/DSC00133+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Empress' Gaming Room at Fontainebleau. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There were a few Baroque pieces left in the State Salon, though.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1fKjZQLQFF5tjxIb3AFKM2swvV5FW-1yV1UafKXaCdnNxk99NUS1hhU_R-Bv8ytxbR9-qWI1RyfIFFTsVs-rrBlpDx2aDaA32w3uUtrPm38mWE1zK5gXYbrstuLXYS5zBGYIiQ/s1600/DSC00183+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs1fKjZQLQFF5tjxIb3AFKM2swvV5FW-1yV1UafKXaCdnNxk99NUS1hhU_R-Bv8ytxbR9-qWI1RyfIFFTsVs-rrBlpDx2aDaA32w3uUtrPm38mWE1zK5gXYbrstuLXYS5zBGYIiQ/s400/DSC00183+AF+TOPAZ+VIBRANCE.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few Baroque pieces of furniture remain in the State Salon at Fontainebleau.<br />
Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Napoleon's throne room was an interesting blend of the more subdued empire style combined with breathtaking carved and gilded ceilings. This can be attributed to the fact that the throne room once served as the king's bedchamber in the Bourbon period. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTsMSu-Re1Z4TOiaBZKiPV7SbKhw1yoiI8K89-Q3Ocakn-EVK5sP-UoFth-MN6YD9JbWjuyqsGUMtJLo1pUS9eTeZBbHneoJHyXww56HzN-uwwZHFOfbwhIaayfwT37bGYwImhw/s1600/DSC00213+AF+TOPAZ+PHOTO+POP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTsMSu-Re1Z4TOiaBZKiPV7SbKhw1yoiI8K89-Q3Ocakn-EVK5sP-UoFth-MN6YD9JbWjuyqsGUMtJLo1pUS9eTeZBbHneoJHyXww56HzN-uwwZHFOfbwhIaayfwT37bGYwImhw/s640/DSC00213+AF+TOPAZ+PHOTO+POP.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panoramic view of Napoleon's throne room at Fontainebleau. Photo by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Napoleon's admiration for ancient Rome and his military achievements also appeared to influence his choice of decor here as his somewhat modest velvet-upholstered throne was flanked by two gold standards emblazoned with his iconic "N" topped with imperial eagles.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiunXsIeA3R3_n-SRquOvFMfdpBhM8fqrWpg-AKCImFdCOiC50PzWOSzYw9WWIOzm397kur1BXaMIARAaBLbnguvPIiGBT2c0zVVEPNqjkFD3HkcGrPbq9wLaUsK0rIO5MtUl8hTA/s1600/P1070987+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiunXsIeA3R3_n-SRquOvFMfdpBhM8fqrWpg-AKCImFdCOiC50PzWOSzYw9WWIOzm397kur1BXaMIARAaBLbnguvPIiGBT2c0zVVEPNqjkFD3HkcGrPbq9wLaUsK0rIO5MtUl8hTA/s320/P1070987+AF+TOPAZ+DETAILED.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Napoleon's gold imperial eagle standards<br />
in his throne room at Fontainebleau. Photo by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I viewed Napoleon's bath I read a placard that explained Napoleon was very meticulous in his grooming habits and enjoyed a bath every day. I wondered if he adopted this custom after learning about it in his studies of the Romans?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuez6uSVmpSxL91XSIAHBakCZwJX7rcI2uYqlGMkohwo1iOCSizM2voJkMoWikH-0tfuEF_d6vnb8ayJhVTfZUec2yDQHfCheP9V_APV-Y51vc9JnibUWV_xLUZH7IM4lRISNWOA/s1600/P1080003+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuez6uSVmpSxL91XSIAHBakCZwJX7rcI2uYqlGMkohwo1iOCSizM2voJkMoWikH-0tfuEF_d6vnb8ayJhVTfZUec2yDQHfCheP9V_APV-Y51vc9JnibUWV_xLUZH7IM4lRISNWOA/s320/P1080003+AF+TOPAZ+CLARITY.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Napoleon was meticulous in his grooming and<br />
enjoyed a bath every day. Surprisingly his bath<br />
at Fontainebleau was relatively austere. Photo<br />
by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My friends had to keep urging me to move along as I tried to not only photograph as much of Fontainebleau as I could but even capture some room panoramas with my new Sony NEX 6 camera. This was particularly challenging as there were a number of tour groups crowding the galleries even though tourist season had not yet gotten totally underway.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeI_Rtf00xAWzUAwkrrkkkjP71D1vIxzF3em_6NjbWpzPjeR_V4DTj4uqwiJTTcGeBfVJ6HfTVD1ElLga4eCVWQ6A4yEoGDoXXpV_ooE9MxDSSF9GmKg_t6pm1emjsVDzLSDkMA/s1600/DSC00148+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAILS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeI_Rtf00xAWzUAwkrrkkkjP71D1vIxzF3em_6NjbWpzPjeR_V4DTj4uqwiJTTcGeBfVJ6HfTVD1ElLga4eCVWQ6A4yEoGDoXXpV_ooE9MxDSSF9GmKg_t6pm1emjsVDzLSDkMA/s640/DSC00148+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAILS.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A sitting room with the gold accented cradle of Napoleon's son, the "King of Rome". Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My companions were getting anxious as we still had quite a few miles to go to reach the medieval town of Troyes where we will spend the night. So, reluctantly, I walked out to the man-made lake that adjoins Fontainebleau and took a few last panoramic views of this incredible place then turned towards the car park.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rFNS91vi8kcf5DYCt9UearNO8LyPrKsjf8L2b0LDaSFxv96TK2RMGOtfgiS2rfd6o_gX3xwpQe6UDJbcLHsh5Z5A5m7zz5QyzVb_78MjLPtZ_z24BROwq2w1Kd-yKyFX1IwyHA/s1600/DSC00217+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_rFNS91vi8kcf5DYCt9UearNO8LyPrKsjf8L2b0LDaSFxv96TK2RMGOtfgiS2rfd6o_gX3xwpQe6UDJbcLHsh5Z5A5m7zz5QyzVb_78MjLPtZ_z24BROwq2w1Kd-yKyFX1IwyHA/s640/DSC00217+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tranquil man-made lake adjoining Fontainebleau Royal Palace in France. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was almost dark by the time we reached Troyes. As we entered the city, I was enchanted by the medieval architecture. It reminded me very much of York where the buildings are constructed with a second story that overhangs the first, creating a very narrow street. I immediately spotted the spires of its Gothic cathedral and I thought the shallow canals coursing with water in the central town square were very picturesque. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxwEdWQC2zNp_-x1eEU5TFQ454Pz-ft0fVc_pDL1UzMJelNkmdT0ydj0ktrkCo1rOeghF8jz5qPFQqw6m-G-KPEg_qAwfKLnidLQ_Vj3H2RQdQw4gsu76UWZonnxUkI3K8Wtba4w/s1600/DSC00246+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxwEdWQC2zNp_-x1eEU5TFQ454Pz-ft0fVc_pDL1UzMJelNkmdT0ydj0ktrkCo1rOeghF8jz5qPFQqw6m-G-KPEg_qAwfKLnidLQ_Vj3H2RQdQw4gsu76UWZonnxUkI3K8Wtba4w/s400/DSC00246+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picturesque Troyes, France</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We had booked a hotel in a renovated 16th century building in the city's historic district. We found it down a narrow cobblestone street and took our bags up to our assigned rooms. Then we headed down the street to find something to eat. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3hpbx4mGFqXGuzGokkvAHvb3RmkE3hjLjecGlOofuBmQNO56Qq9Kn6qip-gecCzNxFweHep6WWScx_QqDekaHWJPnSP3HKNioGW8BBp9L4wSuqofGsmnTa2eQHE3te6pH__-Ew/s1600/P1080043+AF+VIBRANCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3hpbx4mGFqXGuzGokkvAHvb3RmkE3hjLjecGlOofuBmQNO56Qq9Kn6qip-gecCzNxFweHep6WWScx_QqDekaHWJPnSP3HKNioGW8BBp9L4wSuqofGsmnTa2eQHE3te6pH__-Ew/s320/P1080043+AF+VIBRANCE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L'Hotel Les Comtes de Champagne, our hotel in Troyes, is a <br />
combination of four renovated 16th century houses.<br />
Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Within a couple of blocks we found a restaurant and Cecelia spotted tartiflette, one of her favorites, on the menu. She explained tartiflette is a French dish from the Haute Savoie region of France made with potatoes, reblochon cheese, lardons and onions. I had to ask what lardons were and Cecelia explained they are like chopped bacon. It sounded pretty good so I ordered it too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqEJqWm5XiL3pkQFlNBIT32pxHoJt7pxPuftFcPCr7QClN2NQ3cRwC2-CvdsxUdS-cXIfVSznz20XFSEl8GtGG1qUe8EHDDxVcQ1Gf1dfcFXuXyzhrgxoK7DiUun0-kaMvGevbXQ/s1600/P1080035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqEJqWm5XiL3pkQFlNBIT32pxHoJt7pxPuftFcPCr7QClN2NQ3cRwC2-CvdsxUdS-cXIfVSznz20XFSEl8GtGG1qUe8EHDDxVcQ1Gf1dfcFXuXyzhrgxoK7DiUun0-kaMvGevbXQ/s320/P1080035.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tartiflette, a potato casserole-type dish served with salad<br />
and fresh bread.</td></tr>
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The meal was preceded by a basket of bread. I looked for a dish of butter or olive oil but apparently many French restaurants don't serve any kind of spread or oil with the bread course. They did have my Coca Cola "Classique", though, and even served it with a few ice cubes. I could hardly believe it as when I visited Paris in 2008 in the middle of July with the temperature at 107 degrees I couldn't get ice in my drink to save my life! Things have obviously changed since then!<br />
<br />
By the time we had finished eating it was getting really late and I wanted to post an entry to my travel journal and call my husband over Skype, so I left Richard and Cecelia enjoying a bottle of wine and after dinner brandy and walked back to the hotel.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBxea_WDyds4K3SWzVB2nzI6cnLpusTnAXUgqesDBD0793bCeCOJgDlt3VEy-UU1DA2XFuy_8W3O1eB0zvztil_JxhsFnI7NP1srPPcOw80Aa1rvJLGDZJOf5z5s-WXp0XMGG9XQ/s1600/P1080037+AF+TOPAZ+EXPOSURE+CORRECTION+AND+PHOTO+POP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBxea_WDyds4K3SWzVB2nzI6cnLpusTnAXUgqesDBD0793bCeCOJgDlt3VEy-UU1DA2XFuy_8W3O1eB0zvztil_JxhsFnI7NP1srPPcOw80Aa1rvJLGDZJOf5z5s-WXp0XMGG9XQ/s320/P1080037+AF+TOPAZ+EXPOSURE+CORRECTION+AND+PHOTO+POP.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking back to my hotel in the center of the historic district<br />
of Troyes, France. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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<br />
Troyes is so picturesque we plan to spend a few extra hours here in the morning so I can photograph their magnificent cathedral and the medieval architecture and canals they have near the town center. Then we'll be heading south in an effort to reach our bed and breakfast in southern France where we'll be staying for the next week before nightfall.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">To see more of </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/sets/72157633857619409/" style="background-color: white; color: #d78787; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">my images of France</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">, visit my Flickr account!</span><br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-6063496604872318882013-06-29T12:12:00.000-07:002013-08-25T15:47:41.609-07:00Knole House: Noble estate in the Kent Countryside<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Note: The following narrative is based on <a href="http://www.mytripjournal.com/FranceTrip2013">My Trip Journal</a> entries recorded during a trip I made to England and France in May 2013.<br />
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I arrived at <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.4775,-0.461388888889&spn=0.03,0.03&q=51.4775,-0.461388888889%20(London%20Heathrow%20Airport)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="London Heathrow Airport">Heathrow Airport</a> just before noon on May 9, 2013. Although the primary target of this trip to Europe is southern France, I and two companions are planning to put a car on the ferry at Dover then drive to our first major stop at Fontainebleau. Not to waste a moment of my time here in England, though, we headed to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knole_House" rel="wikipedia" title="Knole House">Knole House</a> on our way to my friends' home in Chatham where we will spend the night before our departure tomorrow morning.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHjhB3LZHzkHkRTaj4q13uIr4FPOb65V2ZrRd2T96U6Rt4dOliemoM4O2o_BdYsLVBPdf9aK7MW5KqjQt9ieCclwc7d-fIRqpGCcYv-DIA_DECfWD9EG2dhpUSRKH1VCEvd4GDg/s1600/P1040157+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAILS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPHjhB3LZHzkHkRTaj4q13uIr4FPOb65V2ZrRd2T96U6Rt4dOliemoM4O2o_BdYsLVBPdf9aK7MW5KqjQt9ieCclwc7d-fIRqpGCcYv-DIA_DECfWD9EG2dhpUSRKH1VCEvd4GDg/s400/P1040157+AF+TOPAZ+MILD+DETAILS.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
A large herd of fallow deer populate the 1,000 acre parkland</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
surrounding Knole House in west Kent. Photo by </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Mary Harrsch.</div>
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Knole is a huge English country "house" in the town of Sevenoaks in west Kent, surrounded by a 1,000-acre deer park. One of England's largest houses, it is reputed to be a calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards. The house was built by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bourchier_%28bishop%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Thomas Bourchier (bishop)">Thomas Bourchier</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbishop_of_Canterbury" rel="wikipedia" title="Archbishop of Canterbury">Archbishop of Canterbury</a>, between 1456 and 1486, on the site of an earlier house belonging to James Fiennes, the Lord Say and Sele who was executed after the victory of Jack Cade's rebels at the Battle of Solefields. On Bourchier's death, the house was bequeathed to the See of Canterbury. In subsequent years it continued to be enlarged, with the addition of a new large courtyard, now known as Green Court, and a new entrance tower. In 1538 <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England" rel="wikipedia" title="Henry VIII of England">King Henry VIII</a> expressed how much he "liked" Knole House to his <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer" rel="wikipedia" title="Thomas Cranmer">Archbishop Thomas Cranmer</a> who subsequently "gave" it to the King. Henry seemed to acquire a lot of properties this way!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdzMFC-cmqn0S3yK4rSYWZ8_ZFAXB_M41KuWeEXuDk__b4HMT7zyCffQxX01VqjlyMpKCnIx3z_PIMM40NwVTa9FetFsk0OBpcXPjBy29ZdiuiZ60F9MlsEZkZbsCkf5j7XX_Bg/s1024/P1070716+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdzMFC-cmqn0S3yK4rSYWZ8_ZFAXB_M41KuWeEXuDk__b4HMT7zyCffQxX01VqjlyMpKCnIx3z_PIMM40NwVTa9FetFsk0OBpcXPjBy29ZdiuiZ60F9MlsEZkZbsCkf5j7XX_Bg/s400/P1070716+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG+1024.jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Classical nude statue of a warrior in a courtyard at<br />
Knole House. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
During the reign of Elizabeth I, the property was transferred to the queen's cousin, Thomas Sackville, whose descendants have lived on the property since 1603 except during a brief period during the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War" rel="wikipedia" title="English Civil War">English Civil War</a> when the house was occupied by the forces of Oliver Cromwell. (The Sackvilles were royalists loyal to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England" rel="wikipedia" title="Charles I of England">King Charles I</a> and lost a son fighting for the king)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMTFhsRcFdzeFmKcGhryNeQWqDxecBvZyDfDFQUcL6Th2EKBe7e_jhq8Sc6YqFOd2JMCeVKn38eIuQn8y_7SQSIufDu0O7BqNCyygHakMWRXDqbkaa3dy-9nU5KR_AqZQBSIe0Q/s1024/P1070719+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMTFhsRcFdzeFmKcGhryNeQWqDxecBvZyDfDFQUcL6Th2EKBe7e_jhq8Sc6YqFOd2JMCeVKn38eIuQn8y_7SQSIufDu0O7BqNCyygHakMWRXDqbkaa3dy-9nU5KR_AqZQBSIe0Q/s320/P1070719+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+1024.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Tudor-era chimneys at Knole House. Photo</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
by Mary Harrsch.</div>
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The leases granted the tenants the right to remodel most of the structures and the Sackvilles did so during both the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of the architectural alterations reminded me of Hampton Court, another Tudor-era structure that was subsequently remodeled by later ruling monarchs. The chimneys, in particular, look very similar to those at Hampton Court as well as the addition of guardian animals as architectural elements placed near the main gate.<br />
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Today, the Sackville family still lives in the private quarters on the property and the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://nationaltrust.org.uk/" rel="homepage" title="National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty">National Trust</a> operates the public spaces including the Great Hall, three long galleries leading to three royal bedrooms and the attendants bedrooms - 20 rooms in all.<br />
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The admissions section of the property contains informative multimedia displays about the history of Knole House and an interactive map to help you orient yourself to the most important aspects of the property before you begin your tour. There is a theater that features a short film about the home and its colorful history and informative books about Knole House and the English monarchs who visited it are also offered for sale.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_jJI1Yk7FLy-rGCxIqfaIZanymIlkqFl3OJm6xYCOdtGRm7g0LCd548Tw1XledLTALqfLDga6tiLSCXn_GL_l8zqjxvv7bzoiIqMJ7P-69KbX3K2RP50kS67w2CFohAB9EXAGnA/s1024/DSC00118+AF+TOPAZ+STRONG+DETAILS+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_jJI1Yk7FLy-rGCxIqfaIZanymIlkqFl3OJm6xYCOdtGRm7g0LCd548Tw1XledLTALqfLDga6tiLSCXn_GL_l8zqjxvv7bzoiIqMJ7P-69KbX3K2RP50kS67w2CFohAB9EXAGnA/s400/DSC00118+AF+TOPAZ+STRONG+DETAILS+1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior courtyard at Knole House. Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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As a photographer, though, I was very disappointed that, like many other properties managed by the National Trust, photography - even without flash - is prohibited in the building's interiors. I do wish the National Trust would join the 21st century in this regard. As long as flash and tripods are prohibited, no harm is done to the delicate artifacts by capturing images of them with a digital camera. As long as photographers are courteous to those around them no visitors are disrupted by allowing restricted photography either. Many museums around the world have finally awakened to this fact and have subsequently profited from free publicity when photos of their collections or property are shared on today's social networks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaI-yBScAn5QFC-gc-Wr9hKStQTou0ofrA2nCj7cgxwW7wEHTDGpjEuJtFm6u-7WvcjiitF9fM0BiPtYRHgryRckjwgCw2FjU7YeAtPyQhH0X3S5nxbbZRs4QGWfeGXCg7x_ymQ/s1024/P1070708+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaI-yBScAn5QFC-gc-Wr9hKStQTou0ofrA2nCj7cgxwW7wEHTDGpjEuJtFm6u-7WvcjiitF9fM0BiPtYRHgryRckjwgCw2FjU7YeAtPyQhH0X3S5nxbbZRs4QGWfeGXCg7x_ymQ/s320/P1070708+AF+TOPAZ+SPICIFY+1024.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of carved door at Knole House.<br />
Photo by Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The other problem for all visitors is the extremely dark interiors of the home with minimal auxiliary lighting. Again this is a result of overreaction, in my opinion, on the part of the National Trust in their efforts to protect the fragile contents. Knole House, like many houses of the period, features very dark woodwork. Without supplemental lighting, it is difficult to see and appreciate the beautiful accents carved on the panels or embellishing the furnishings. I know the National Trust is in the middle of a multi-million pound restoration project, mostly targeting water damage and repairs to the basic architecture but I hope they include at least some attention to museum-quality lighting to aid visitors in seeing and appreciating the artifacts on display.<br />
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Like many royal houses, Knole House contains a lot of royal and noble portrait paintings by such artists as Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Sir Joshua Reynolds and the famous Tudor dynasty artist, Hans Holbein the Younger. One such portrait depicted a beautiful young woman with the iconic red hair of the Stuart line wearing a tunic that looked very much like one a man would wear under a breastplate. Apparently the National Trust folks weren't sure who it was but there was speculation it was a young Mary Queen of Scots. She looked every inch the warrior queen. Perhaps Elizabeth's counselors were right to convince Elizabeth to execute her!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4q5o72Fs9zbQi0DFhVK9fpfIQwgwF87lWhgmh54Mg_2OboGTO6jBewvmn5K9oCpw9NGNHRnRnu4qV0haPwq-ZKORSR2Em-q_Ygu_fGbYi8HYEecxn8Dww-h4rDf1K8uuc1LespQ/s1024/Mary+Harrsch_EPS_Tudor+Door+Latch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4q5o72Fs9zbQi0DFhVK9fpfIQwgwF87lWhgmh54Mg_2OboGTO6jBewvmn5K9oCpw9NGNHRnRnu4qV0haPwq-ZKORSR2Em-q_Ygu_fGbYi8HYEecxn8Dww-h4rDf1K8uuc1LespQ/s320/Mary+Harrsch_EPS_Tudor+Door+Latch.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tudor-era door hardware at Knole House.<br />
Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Furnishings included a lavishly gilded bed used by Queen Elizabeth I, another used by King James II and a very early billiards table. Much of the furniture is showing its age but I hope this will be remedied in the new conservation studio that is planned as part of the current fund raising effort.<br />
<br />
After we completed the tour of the house, I wandered about the courtyards photographing some of the architectural accents, statues, carved doorways and beautiful windows of the home. As Henry VIII considered himself a Renaissance man, the colonade of the interior courtyard was dotted with portrait busts of men of antiquity. I'm afraid the famous fallow deer herd was not near the front entrance this time, though, like it was when I stopped at Knole House late on a summer afternoon in 2008.<br />
<br />
I and my two companions were getting hungry so we walked over to Knole's brewhouse where we found a very well stocked gift shop and cafe offering freshly baked scones, muffins, cakes, sandwiches and pots of steaming soup. My friend Richard suggested I try a type of meat-stuffed pastry that is served cold. I selected a piece of freshly baked English shortbread (that absolutely melted in mouth!) and a lemonade to go with it. I smiled when I saw the pot of vegetable soup as it was the same type of vegetable soup I had enjoyed at Hampton Court. Every time I have ordered vegetable soup in England I am presented with a bowl of pureed vegetables that looks a lot like pureed carrots. It is really tasty but has no "lumps". When I visited The Louvre in Paris in 2008 and ordered vegetable soup there it also came out looking the same way. I'm not sure what they call whole vegetables in broth that we call vegetable soup in America. Perhaps I would need to order stew to get that type of meal in England.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdfNMmwPW7dPtLPi5kwyx-zhcCIhrH-XwAX__BXbcfwRDGn90A-S0HZFToKxdCdbsmDYsToY9KLu9l22jWAQML4m4OtIweNCCX8gYaIRlkcUaZ2SZE6VlNeL9xFduuA9qEFvxDAQ/s1024/P1070723+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG+1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdfNMmwPW7dPtLPi5kwyx-zhcCIhrH-XwAX__BXbcfwRDGn90A-S0HZFToKxdCdbsmDYsToY9KLu9l22jWAQML4m4OtIweNCCX8gYaIRlkcUaZ2SZE6VlNeL9xFduuA9qEFvxDAQ/s320/P1070723+AF+TOPAZ+DETAIL+STRONG+1024.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clock tower at Knole House.<br />
Photo by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
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With one last look at the late afternoon sun reflecting off the face of the clock on the clock tower at Knole House, we headed toward our evening accomodations. We need to get to bed relatively early tonight as our ferry leaves from Dover at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">To see more of </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/sets/72157633857619409/" style="background-color: white; color: #d78787; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;">my images of France</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c7c7c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">, visit my Flickr account!</span><br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-80572937734740769452013-01-26T11:32:00.002-08:002013-01-26T11:32:50.586-08:00Shore Acres proves wet and wild!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A little over a year ago, I joined the <a href="http://www.emeraldphotographic.org/">Emerald Photographic Society</a> here in Springfield, Oregon. I've been a photographer for years but I've always wanted to go on photoshoots with other photographers - not only to learn new techniques I may not have tried but to share the companionship of others who enjoy photography as much as I do.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZT5elNyr0n7QfhKYNIUbeo_Jd4vhwQSBUbtkUacMa_EDzqEZ2cLop_tWRPuETrsOm9AtuMctT4sBqczj3QtQlGU8Qmt7R7r9lanOgeA3G5-wZlLI_n4bhQ0VRwzQaWkruYOU7g/s1600/Mary+Harrsch_EPS_Shore+Acres+Sandstone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZT5elNyr0n7QfhKYNIUbeo_Jd4vhwQSBUbtkUacMa_EDzqEZ2cLop_tWRPuETrsOm9AtuMctT4sBqczj3QtQlGU8Qmt7R7r9lanOgeA3G5-wZlLI_n4bhQ0VRwzQaWkruYOU7g/s320/Mary+Harrsch_EPS_Shore+Acres+Sandstone.jpg" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sandstone shelves at Shore Acres Estate near<br />Coos Bay, OR. Photographed by Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've enjoyed myself since then traveling to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.ci.mcminnville.or.us/" rel="homepage" title="McMinnville, Oregon">McMinnville</a>, to blooming pear orchards near <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.7066666667,-121.521666667&spn=0.1,0.1&q=45.7066666667,-121.521666667%20(Hood%20River%2C%20Oregon)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Hood River, Oregon">Hood River, Oregon</a>, to a bird sanctuary named Cabin Lake (there's no water though!) near Fort Rock in the eastern Oregon desert, to Wildlife Safarai near <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.cityofroseburg.org/" rel="homepage" title="Roseburg, Oregon">Roseburg, Oregon</a> where I photographed everything from its signature cheetahs to a white rhino that fell madly in love with my friends gray car!<br />
<br />
This past weekend, I and three other photographers from the photography society went down to<a href="http://www.shoreacres.net/index.php/about-us/shore-acres-state-park"> Shore Acres</a> to practice <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-exposure_photography" rel="wikipedia" title="Long-exposure photography">long exposure photography</a> (so the
water running off the rocks would look "silky"). <br />
<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shore_Acres_State_Park" rel="wikipedia" title="Shore Acres State Park">Shore Acres</a> was originally the estate of pioneer lumberman and shipbuilder, Louis J. Simpson and his wife Cassandra, constructed in 1906-1907. The mansion Simpson built there was surrounded by five acres of formal gardens populated with trees, shrubs, and flowering plants (predominantly roses and various species of rhododendrons) brought to his retreat aboard his fleet of sailing ships.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPVuxgmxFp8SbaQyTpL9I8nwxibVvpr8or95QWUfXz2eBzkbPcNEZ5kv340EbQHYXtxBlz192nLhW1B_JDDwIOvCTCg8W0bzZBgAJxhkPBXa2uP922vySi-cw_ubViAQPeeDU2Q/s1600/Shoreacresoriginalhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPVuxgmxFp8SbaQyTpL9I8nwxibVvpr8or95QWUfXz2eBzkbPcNEZ5kv340EbQHYXtxBlz192nLhW1B_JDDwIOvCTCg8W0bzZBgAJxhkPBXa2uP922vySi-cw_ubViAQPeeDU2Q/s1600/Shoreacresoriginalhouse.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shore Acres original house constructed by<br />lumber magnet Louis J. Simpson. Image<br />courtesy of Oregon State Parks Commission.</td></tr>
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Simpson eventually developed the summer home into a showplace three-story mansion complete with a heated, indoor swimming pool and a large ballroom. In the center of his botanical plantings he constructed a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_garden" rel="wikipedia" title="Japanese garden">Japanese-style garden</a> built around a 100-foot lily pond.<br />
<br />
But tragedy struck the Simpsons in 1921 when first Cassandra died in April then fire destroyed the mansion in July. Not to be defeated, Simpson began to build an even larger replacement - two stories high and 224 feet long. He also remarried, bringing his new wife Lela Gardner to Shore Acres in 1922. The couple adopted two infant girls and lived in the gardener's cottage until the mansion was completed in 1928. But Simpson, like many other businessmen suffered huge financial losses in the 1930s and, bankrupt, lost the heavily mortgaged Shores Acres. The mansion and grounds languished unattended and fell into disrepair. In 1942, Simpson's beloved Shore Acres, once a showplace but now only a deteriorating relic, was purchased by the state of Oregon for use as a public park. The mansion was razed and once more only the gardener's cottage remained. The state did, however, restore the gardens and built an observation structure on the site where the mansion once stood. <br />
<br />
I have visited Shore Acres a number of times when I lived in Bandon, about 26 miles south of the park. I picnicked there with my grandparents and have attended the annual holiday lights festivities, warming myself in the gardener's cottage with a cup of hot cider and delicious cookies. I was always fascinated by the fact that horseshoe imprints could be seen on the very edge of the bluff where decades earlier visitors to the Simpsons home had traveled there on horseback. Now the bluff is so eroded by the wind and waves, only the edge of the once circular driveway in front of the mansion remains. <br />
<br />
I had always
gone to the main bluff where the tourists go to the observation shelter. But this time one of my companions suggested going down
the trail to the right of the parking lot down to the sandstone
outcroppings next to the remains of the Simpson's tennis courts.<br />
<br />
The
sandstone formations are wonderfully bizarre - sort
of like small yardangs that form in the Sahara. The only problem we
had was towards the end of our time there, I was working near the ledge
about two levels up from where the waves were crashing and all of a
sudden three humongous waves formed really close
to the bluffs and literally exploded against the rocks sending a huge
shower of water down onto me and another friend.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQRzewGTybxI65WIgb7TECUevE2MFScX3E0bcShds72iBzQjZ-JPjnHRp_BXqwLMLxIIWVnbp4iik9Rpsx1vCTrPiOhCXLBBI1gV4-S3FrKQZLFD2a2Kb6okUaVYjeFcUptMy0aQ/s1600/Shoreacreswaveexplosion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQRzewGTybxI65WIgb7TECUevE2MFScX3E0bcShds72iBzQjZ-JPjnHRp_BXqwLMLxIIWVnbp4iik9Rpsx1vCTrPiOhCXLBBI1gV4-S3FrKQZLFD2a2Kb6okUaVYjeFcUptMy0aQ/s400/Shoreacreswaveexplosion.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
I was just around the corner from the trail observation area seen adjacent</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
to the trees on the bluff in this image. Image Courtesy of the Oregon State</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Parks Commission.</div>
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Fortunately, the force
of the waves was expended so we just got terribly drenched and not
swept off the rocks. I had seen the size of the
wave forming through my viewfinder and fortunately had just stepped
back from the ledge and was walking back to the next level when I turned
and realized I was going to be hit. I clasped my camera to my chest
and grabbed the strap on my camera bag that one
of my other friends had scooped up along with my tripod and braced for
impact. We both got soaked to the skin and our cameras got really wet
which worried me since they are all electronic. But my LCD screen never
blinked even once.<br />
<br />
We got back to the car
and wiped our cameras down as best we could then headed back to Springfield. The
heater in the car dried us out to some extent but the evening air was
chilly and when we stopped for dinner at the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g51867-d1125897-Reviews-The_Firehouse_Restaurant-Florence_Oregon.html">Firehouse Restaurant</a> near the waterfront in Florence I was shivering (great
sea scallops topped with bay shrimp in garlic sauce there by the way!)
When I got home I had to take a hot bath to warm up my core!<br />
<br />
I should
have been more mindful of the taciturn nature of the ocean since I was raised down there, but those
sneaker waves can be treacherous! Kurt Pratt, one
of my photographer friends, was teasing me that he should have gotten a
long exposure shot of all of the water running off of my backside!<br />
<br />
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Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-12732923563233026952010-07-28T10:37:00.000-07:002010-07-28T10:44:22.243-07:00Swiss Family Robinson would love the Treehouse "Treesort"A friend sent me information about a relatively new resort about 10 miles from Cave Junction, Oregon that looked really intriguing! <a href="http://www.treehouses.com/treehouse/treesort/prclst.html">The Treehouse "Treesort"</a> offers an assortment of furnished treehouses to rent to give any aspiring "Swiss Family" the opportunity to see what the forests of southwest Oregon look like from a bird's point of view!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.treehouses.com/treehouse/treesort/pics/Cavaltree07small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://www.treehouses.com/treehouse/treesort/pics/Cavaltree07small.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><br />
<br />
The Cavaltree Fort can sleep up to 7 people and shares a<br />
swinging bridge with the "Treeloon", a treehouse fashioned<br />
after a wild west saloon. Image courtesty of the Treehouse<br />
Treesort.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
The treehouses range from a more posh Schoolhouse Suite featuring a master suite with queen size bed, kitchenette and full bath with claw-foot tub and shower to the Cavaltree Fort, a two story treehouse that sleeps up to seven people. The first floor of the fort has a double bed under the tented portion with an adjacent observation deck . The second floor is built like a lookout tower with a bunk bed and movable single bed that can be rearranged to form a double bed. It also includes a loft that can easily accommodate two more kids. It is accessed by way of a swinging bridge.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">I see the resort also offers a variety of outdoor activities including horseback riding, whitewater rafting, </span><span class="style4"><span style="color: navy;"><span style="color: black;">swimming in a river-fed rock lined pool</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"> and tree climbing with rappelling. They even offer the chance to swing on a giant 750 ft high Tarzan Swing! </span></div><div style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the most popular activities is navigating over a mile of Zip Lines strung through the trees over the 36 acre property. Zip lines are steel cables that guests can slide on using a special harness. This video shows the variety of courses devised for both beginners and advanced zippers including the Achilles Line featuring a 500 foot plunge.</span></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
All in all it looks like a heck of a good time for families who enjoy the outdoors. Although pets are not allowed at this resort, the owners say they have friends that offer a very clean kennel close by.Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1415259152470117402009-07-22T21:16:00.001-07:002009-07-22T21:16:20.537-07:00United Breaks Guitars<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/5YGc4zOqozo' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/5YGc4zOqozo'/></object></p><p>A friend sent me a link to this video and I cracked up. I, too, have been a victim of United's outrageous so-called customer service. When I was fell in Naples, Italy in 2007 and tore both left and right rotator cuffs in my shoulders, I had to book a flight home to have the damage surgically repaired. I requested medical assistance when I booked the flight. The leg of the flight from Naples to Munich was AirItalia and I was treated with the utmost kindness. Then in Munich I transferred to a United plane for the flight across the Atlantic. When I asked for assistance with my carryon bag - and I was trussed up in a sling applied by the emergency room doctors in Naples - a snotty United stewardess told me I'd just have to try to find some other passenger to help me because she had a bad back and stalked off.<br /><br /></p></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-64216224721281150352008-12-21T07:30:00.000-08:002008-12-23T08:00:10.247-08:00Exploring Cabela's Animal Exhibits<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/2259373_5fd2928226.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 344px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/2259373_5fd2928226.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My sister-in-law took me to my first Cabela's while on a visit to Minnesota back in the 1990s. When she first suggested going to an outdoor store I didn't know what could be so interesting as I'm not into camping or hunting. I didn't even bother to take my camera. So when we got there and I saw the spectacular animal exhibits I was awestruck and insisted we return the next day so I could photograph them. I returned the next day and shot pictures until my camera battery died. Since then I have made a point of visiting every Cabela's we have encountered in our travels. So far, we have visited Cabela's in Owatonna, Minnesota, Mitchell, South Dakota, Sidney, Nebraska, and Hamburg, Pennsylvania. I missed seeing the exhibits in the Lehi, Utah store by only one week (the store was brand new and wasn't going to be open for another week). And I could not find reasonably priced ground transportation to see the Cabela's on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhWqHIJpJeAejVfEmVBQs7JdEjuD-hLT9IhDVVtc6O2bP36e0cdUJi4o_BlZ4dYZN_SQhx2NmSft7SLMZdYtnQhgJoGlFnpiPSXuqfVa9KIcFnXOZzQU_IF9clGZ0XoPsgEEG0w/s1600-h/SidneyBobcatlickingpaw4X3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhWqHIJpJeAejVfEmVBQs7JdEjuD-hLT9IhDVVtc6O2bP36e0cdUJi4o_BlZ4dYZN_SQhx2NmSft7SLMZdYtnQhgJoGlFnpiPSXuqfVa9KIcFnXOZzQU_IF9clGZ0XoPsgEEG0w/s200/SidneyBobcatlickingpaw4X3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282273936602858178" border="0" /></a>when I was there for an Educause conference a couple of years ago. Now I understand there are stores in Washington state and outside Boise, Idaho. I hope to visit them next summer.<br /><br />Cabela's does such an outstanding job of posing the animals in lifelike settings and engaged in lifelike movements that I found their exhibit far superior to the newly refurbished "Hall of Mammals" at <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/2263683_6db4443317.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 340px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/2263683_6db4443317.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History that I visited in 2004. Cabela's gave me an opportunity to become a virtual wildlife photographer without the travel and physical endurance required by expeditions to rugged and remote environments. The central mountain is illuminated by an overhead skylight so there is enough natural light to shoot many of the exhibits without flash, enabling you to capture the natural colors of the fur or feathers.<br /><br />A fellow photographer up on Flickr disdainfully commented "but they're all dead!". Yes, that is true, but by preserving their natural beauty, Cabela's provides an opportunity to study the detail of each species and creates a learning environment unmatched by many museums. In fact, many surrounding schools take their students to Cabela's on field trips.<br /><br />Cabela's also gives aspiring photographers an opportunity to compose images more artfully, and zoom in for the kind of closeup only a highly skilled "National Geographic-type" photographer can produce in the wild.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2179/2340006757_1c682b938f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 189px; height: 252px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2179/2340006757_1c682b938f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Each Cabela's store also displays a unique bronze sculpture in front of their store for art lovers like me to admire. This Native America warrior is paddling a canoe in front of the Cabela's store in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.<br /><br />Cabela's usually place their stores in rural settings along interstate freeways so they are easy to access by car and are frequently advertised several miles in advance for the happenstance encounter. Cabela's provides ample parking and kennel service if you are traveling with a pet and the weather is either too hot or too cold to leave them in the car during your visit. They also house a restaurant so you can take all the time you want and not worry about what to do for breakfast, lunch, or supper.<br /><br />I designed a <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/mharrschsite/cabelas">website</a> to display some of the beautiful exhibits I photographed on some of my first visits. Later, I uploaded my images to a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/sets/52508/">Flickr photoset</a> since I have taken literally hundreds of pictures and wanted to make them available to students and teachers for learning projects and exercises. All of my images are licensed with Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.0 permissions which grant the right to use them freely for noncommercial purposes as long as you include the credit "Photo by Mary Harrsch" and any derivatives are shared in a like manner.Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-979694295272634632008-10-05T08:25:00.000-07:002008-10-05T08:34:05.807-07:00Sharks in Venice<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.2snaps.tv/files/images/sharkinvenice.preview.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.2snaps.tv/files/images/sharkinvenice.preview.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />No, I really didn't see sharks in Venice. In fact, I've never been closer to Venice than the Grand Canals in The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, but I hope to see it in one of my future Italian sojourns. However, I saw this video clip about a direct to DVD film coming out in January 2009 entitled "Sharks in Venice". It appears to be a Stephen Baldwin effort at imitating Indiana Jones. But, when I saw a huge shark chomping the center of a gondola I burst out laughing. I always thought the gondoliers' singing was never that bad!! Anyway, I had to share it with you.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BDD9jGMlxNQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BDD9jGMlxNQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-34092772993180747162007-10-27T12:11:00.000-07:002007-12-24T13:13:29.120-08:00A Journey Gone Wrong - Naples, Italy October 2007October 9 &10, 2007<br /><br />Well, I've finally arrived in Naples after a journey from hell. Everything went fine until I reached Munich and the fog was so thick you couldn't see the tip of the aircraft's wing. All the direct flights to Naples were cancelled but by afternoon, Lufthansa booked me on a flight to Milan along with a group of 16 other American women that were flying to Naples to meet a tour group. However, the Milan-bound flight took so long to leave Munich that we missed our connecting flight to Naples.<br /><br />Lufthansa rebooked us on a later flight to Naples but when it got ready to board, they discovered a mechanical problem so we were told we would have to wait another two hours for another plane to fly in from Istanbul. It finally arrived and ferried us on down to Naples but we arrived with no luggage. Miraculously, AlItalia managed to track it down and return it to me about a month after I came home. The zipper was broken but even my $1500 CPAP machine (I have severe sleep apnea) was intact.<br /><br />So I had only the dress I was wearing and one change of underwear (I rinsed a pair out every night so it could dry during the day and give me a change for the next day), my computer, camera gear and medication but nothing else.<br /><br />To top things off, I severely wrenched my right shoulder trying to pack my carryon bag up a 60s style gangway in Munich because the airport doesn't have moveable jetways or at least not for smaller aircraft than those used for long distance trips. They load passengers on a bus that takes you out to the aircraft parked on the tarmac and you must pack your carryon up a stairway.<br /><br />Anyway, the bus was packed with passengers and when the bus door opened to enable us to disembark the crowd surged forward with someone stepping in front of my carryon and the rest of the crowd pushed me forward causing me to lurch forward while my arm gripping the carryon was pulled backwards. The net result is that now I can't lift my right arm above about waist high without assistance from my left hand which makes taking pictures a rather painful challenge. Still, I was determined to carry on.<br /><br />I suspected I'd torn the right rotator cuff but if I went to the doctor they would probably put it in a sling and I couldn't take pictures at all then so I stopped at a pharmacy and got a tube of ibuprofen gel to rub into it. I soaked my shoulder in a hot shower then rubbed on the gel and I really do think it helped. Quite honestly I had never heard of this gel version of ibuprophen and I guess I'm not alone because when I mentioned it to my doctor after I got home she didn't seem to have heard of it either.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/1654736219_6379efa85c.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/1654736219_6379efa85c.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>In spite of all this, I managed to photograph all of Herculaneum although I probably took less pictures than I normally would. The beautiful mosaic at right was discovered in the House of Neptune and Amphitrite in the bath complex and is being carefully conserved.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/1655388022_7acc11ef16.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/1655388022_7acc11ef16.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Reproductions of some of the sculpture of the period discovered at the House of the Deer are now displayed on the site (as seen right).<br /><br />Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek hero Herakles (<i>Hercules</i> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> and consequently <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Mythology" title="Roman Mythology">Roman Mythology</a>), an indication that the city was of Greek origin. In actuality, it seems that some primitive forefathers of the Samnite tribes of the Italian mainland founded the first civilization on the site of Herculaneum at the end of the 6th century BC. Soon after, the town came under Greek control and was used as a trading post because of its proximity to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Naples" title="Gulf of Naples">Gulf of Naples</a>. It is the Greeks who named the city Herculaneum. In the 4th century BC Herculaneum again came under the domination of the Samnites. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/1655419723_585b73037d.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/1655419723_585b73037d.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>The city remained under Samnite control until it became a Roman municipium in 89 BC, when, having participated in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_War_%2891%E2%80%9388_BC%29" title="Social War (91–88 BC)">Social War</a> ("war of the allies" against Rome), it was defeated by Titus Didius, a legate of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla" title="Sulla">Sulla</a>." - <span style="font-style: italic;">Wikipedia</span><br /><br />More of the multi-story architecture has survived in Herculaneum than in Pompeii although most of the art has been removed and sent to the archaeological museum in Naples. There was still some incredibly bright mosaics in a bath complex though. A few frescoes remain in situ as well although they are pretty faded. There is a lot of conservation work going on though which I was glad to note. I also noticed that some of the columns were painted red just like those portrayed in HBO's "Rome".<br /><br />It started to rain in the afternoon so my English photographer colleague and I popped into a restaurant. The little "ristorante" was decorated with dozens of colorful ceramic plates that reminded me of the beautiful collection of Maiolica ceramics I had seen at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco last year. I seriously doubt they were made in the 16th century though!<br /><br />The shopkeeper showed us a little closet that was actually a tiny lift to take us up to the garden level. The tables were arrayed under an overhead trellis covered with vines of some type. I had a nice lunch of ciabatta bread, green salad with tomatoes and Mozzarella cheese, and tortellini in a delicate cream sauce. My colleague Richard ordered a bottle of wine but said afterwards that he doubted if it had ever seen a grape. I asked him what he meant by that and he said that you can produce wine chemically without grape juice and that was probably what had been served. I had never heard of such a thing and since I don't care for the taste of anything with alcohol in it I guess I won't ever care about it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2048/1671927389_85a99d1185.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2048/1671927389_85a99d1185.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />With still quite a bit of the afternoon to see, we caught the train back downtown to go to the Archaeological Museum. I finally got to see the famous Alexander defeating Darius at the Battle of Issus mosaic which was on my must see list. I had always thought it portrayed the final battle at Gaugamela but all the references say Issus so I guess I have to go with that. I wonder if there was an inscription saying Issus and not Gaugamela? I've also always wondered about the portrayal of Alexander with an out-of-proportion eye compared to the more realistic Persian warriors. I know the "Evil Eye" was much feared in the ancient world so I wonder if this distortion means the conquering Alexander possesses the ultimate source of knowledge and yes, even evil, and is thus unconquerable.<br /><br />I couldn't get very good pictures of it on my first visit because the museum was full of tour groups and, like the tour groups that visit the Louvre all seeking a peek at the famed Mona Lisa - they clustered in front of it. I had better luck later when I returned on my last day before departure. Mondays apparently are less busy. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/1617397572_b1311bc1fb.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/1617397572_b1311bc1fb.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Of course the museum contained many other spectacular mosaics well worth a visit as well. I was surprised to find the mosaic of the Skull image used as the graphic for the intro to HBO's "Rome" miniseries. "Memento Mori" caught my eye immediately as I entered that portion of the gallery. I half expected the little wings beneath the skull to flutter and the skull itself to rock back and forth and Rome's theme music to begin playing since I have seen that graphic so many times as a fan of the series! <br /><br />Other mosaics of note included one of the Dioynisian Mysteries, a famous one of animals from the Nile Valley, some with fishes, and one of a cat that looked identical to one I saw on my last trip to Rome in the National Museum.<br /><br />I managed to get into the "must be over 18 to view' room of erotic art from the brothels and was surprised how mild the images were. Of course the Victorians were pretty prudish. I must admit though, that a couple of Priapine lamps were a bit over the top. I'll have to flag my picture of them "might offend" on Flickr!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2236/1745737656_babe94ce7f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2236/1745737656_babe94ce7f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Of course I was thrilled to see two famous statues of my "hero" Julius Caesar as well as an impressive colossal bust of Vespasian and an interesting bust of a very young Commodus that did not resemble his father Marcus Aurelius nearly as much as a bust of him as an older man wearing his Hercules lion garb that I saw at the Capitoline Museum in Rome<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2418/1743920169_34d3696b67.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2418/1743920169_34d3696b67.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>There was also a dynamic sculpture of worshippers wrestling with a sacrificial bull that once graced the halls of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. Apparently it was purchased by a very wealthy Neopolitan family (The Farnesi) so it ended up down here instead of Rome.<br /><br /><br />Day 3<br /><br />Well, things just don't seem to be working out on this trip. The ibuprofen gel had helped enough with my shoulder that I could take pictures as long as I lifted my one arm with the other one and helped support it but tonight when we were hurrying to catch a bus I didn't see a hole in the pavement and went down really hard wrenching both shoulders pretty severely. I couldn't even pour my own glass of water at dinner or even put the strap of my camera bag over my shoulder. Even typing this note is extremely painful and I've had a shower and doctored both shoulders with the painkilling gel.<br /><br />To make matters worse, while I was still trembling from the fall, a man in his fifties came up the aisle of the bus and acted like he was just trying to hold on but started pressing his pelvis against my leg (I was sitting on an aisle seat and the bus was crowded and I had nowhere else to go). At first I thought he might just be lurching a little from the bus but the more I tried to scoot away from him the more he pressed against me then his movements became "rhythmical". It was like being raped in public. I didn't know what to do because if I made an issue of it he could just innocently claim he was just trying to hold on. I was also too embarrassed to tell Richard who was watching out the window for street signs so we would get off at the right stop. Thankfully, the man finally moved on. When we got off the bus, I asked Richard if he would let me sit next to the window in the future and I broke down and told him what happened. He was furious someone would try to do that to me so maybe its just as well I didn't say anything at the time. If he had struck the man he probably would have ended up in jail and I don't think his wife would have appreciated that. I know we joked about the old Italian custom of pinching before I left but this type of thing was totally disgusting. I guess I'm not as tough as I try to appear.<br /><br />Tomorrow we are going to take the lift up to the top of Vesuvius and then spend the afternoon back at the Archaelogical Museum. I think I can do it if I get help on and off the train and Richard carries my camera bag. I don't know if I can manage any pictures but I don't want to spoil it for Richard so I'll just grit my teeth and try not to let it show. I think, though, unless I can get the pain back to a manageable level so I feel I can take care of myself without help, I'm going to cancel my train ticket and my reservation at the hotel in Rome and try to book a flight home.<br /><br />I don't think I'll be able to work for a week or two except perhaps a little email from home. I'll have to see what the doctor says. I'm going to have to medicate pretty heavily just to try to drive the car back from Portland.<br /><br />My luggage still hasn't shown up here. At least today I was able to find some underwear, a night gown, and another outfit to wear. I air out the dress i've been wearing overnight but it is surely getting a bit rank after all this time.<br /><br />Day 4 & 5<br /><br />The pain was so severe Saturday night that I had the desk call a cab to take me to the orthopedic hospital. I went up to Babelfish before I left for the hospital and wrote out a brief explanation of what happened, where it hurts, a short medical history, and my insurance and contact information and translated it all into Italian. The ER physician's assistant seemed to understand it so I guess the translation wasn't too bad. They X-rayed my shoulder and said there was no fracture but tied it up with a sling to keep me from pulling any more on the damaged muscle. It's kind of strange that the hospital does not prescribe any medications so I didn't get any pain medicine. I guess if I couldn't stand it any longer I could have gone to a pharmacy. Apparently a note online said pharmacists here actually prescribe medications. Richard had some arthritis strength pain tablets so I took those and rubbed on some more of the ibuprophen gel. Between the two things the pain finally was dulled enough to let me drift off to sleep for a few hours.<br /><br />It was obvious that I was too injured to continue to Rome especially by myself so I cancelled my train ticket and my reservation at the hotel in Rome and booked a flight home. I was really upset as I was so looking forward to it. I guess my Trevi Fountain luck was not meant to be used this time.<br /><br />I slept off and on Sunday. Richard went on up Vesuvius. He said it was just as well I didn't try it as the bus lets you off about 1 mile from the summit and it would have been quite a strenuous uphill walk. That evening we went out and got a bite at a restaurant and then stopped by a MacDonalds and picked me up a Caesar salad, some sliced apples, and a "Big and Tasty" hamburger. I told them to leave off the sauce so the bread wouldn't get soggy and stashed it in my little room bar refrigerator for tonight's dinner. The hotel is really quite beautiful but has no restaurant (except for hot rolls in the morning) and there are no restaurants nearby. Although the hotel is new it is in an old run down neighborhood and I don't trust going out alone - especially with my arm in a sling. It would be like advertising to the local predators.<br /><br />Richard had to fly home today but before he left we took a cab back to the Museum. I only took the little Fuji since that's the only one I could use one-handed. I managed to photograph the rest of the museum in my effort to salvage something from this trip although it really aggravated the right shoulder - the one less damaged [As it turns out the one more damaged!]. I took a cab back to the hotel and downloaded my pictures to the Mac and then took a nap.<br /><br />I made it home safely. All of my return flights actually ran on time and Terry met me at the security gate in Portland and drove me home. My main problem was getting assistance with my carryon bag. I guess the gauze sling looked hokey so nobody except the Italians took it seriously. I had requested special assistance all the way home but as soon as I left the Italians, I was pretty much ignored. The special assistance in Munich amounted to someone pointing at the elevator. When I boarded the plane I told the steward I would need help with my carryon bag and he said someone in the back would help me. I went to my seat with my carryon in the aisle and turned to look toward the stewards and stewardesses in the back and they just looked at me and kept munching their donuts. Finally I asked another passenger if he could get their attention for me and he came up and asked what I needed. I told him I couldn't lift my carryon and he snottily said "Well, who packed it?!!" I told him I had a torn shoulder and he roughly shoved it into the overhead bin and stalked back to his seat.<br /><br />During the flight a stewardess came by asking if we wanted any additional beverage. The young man sitting next to me to her yes and I opened my eyes and said if she was bringing one for him I would appreciate one as well. She barked "PLEASE" and the young man and I looked at each other and humbly said "please". We certainly meant no disrespect, we were just answering her question although I must admit a "please" was probably appropriate but her aggressive correction was hardly necessary.<br /><br />After the 8 hour flight I pressed the hostess call button to request help with the bag when we landed. Apparently the stewardess just turned off the call light. I waited another half hour then pressed the call button again and right away I heard them turn it off again. Finally, when the stewardess went by collecting cups I stopped her and asked her if someone could assist me with my carryon bag when we landed. She snapped "Well I've got a bad back! You'll just have to find another passenger to help you or something!" So much for United's "friendly skies!" Fortunately, the young man I was sitting with helped me with it without any snotty remarks.<br /><br />Dulles airport in D.C. was a nightmare. It took almost two hours to get through customs and most of the delay was totally unnessary. They had you queue up for document checking which included looking at our customs declaration card. They they had you queue up again to pass by a guy who collected the customs declaration card (without looking at them or asking any questions) - ridiculous! Then they made everyone with luggage claim their luggage (of course it had already been inspected in Europe) and, without examining any of the contents (that I could see), queued you up to recheck your luggage! Then, of course, you had to pass through another security screening for your own person and your carryon bag even though you had just gotten off a plane that you had been screened to board in Europe. It finally occurred to me that the entire charade was not about Homeland Security - it was about making a show for the President and his cronies!<br /><br />When I boarded the plane for Portland, I again told the stewardess I couldn't lift my carryon and she kindly stowed it in the forward compartment for me. When I deplaned they not only had my carryon ready for me but tried to get me to wait for a wheelchair. After almost 20 hours, all I wanted to do was go home. I waived them away and took my bag and headed for the exit.<br /><br />When I got home I went to the doctor and had a full series of X-rays that showed no fractures but she suspected I tore the rotator cuffs in my shoulders. She ordered an MRI of the left shoulder and arranged for me to see an orthopedic surgeon. The MRI of the left shoulder showed I tore the rotator tendons clear away from the bone of my upper arm. He suspected I also tore the tendons in the right shoulder as well and has ordered an MRI for it too. The MRI of the right shoulder (which curiously is the one less painful) shows even a bigger tear than the left shoulder. I talked to the surgeon and we decided to operate on the left shoulder first, though, because it is the more painful. He will attempt to reattach the tendons using arthroscopic surgery but says he may have to resort to full open surgery. They've scheduled the surgery for Monday. He says after the surgery I'll be in a special sling for 6 to 8 weeks and will need to undergo physical therapy for about three months. Full recovery will take about six months. He will wait until the left shoulder is healed before operating on the right side.<br /><br />I will probably not be able to drive for the next three months and he says he doesn't want me to lift anything heavier than a can of soup. I guess its a good thing I didn't register for that conference in San Antonio at the end of January. I probably should postpone my Filemaker class that is supposed to start November 5. It might be best to reschedule it for January. For now, I hope to work at home until a couple of weeks after the surgery then see if I can tolerate a full day.Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-51874141309044000302007-08-25T06:40:00.000-07:002007-08-25T06:49:35.126-07:00Monastery Stays offer affordable accommodations in historical surroundings<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.monasterystays.com/uploads/features/VEV114---Front-door.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 123px; height: 166px;" src="http://www.monasterystays.com/uploads/features/VEV114---Front-door.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />When I go to Rome in October I will be staying at a converted monastery not far from the Colosseum. I didn't find my accommodations through the Monastery Stays website but I had heard that monasteries were available throughout Rome. Today, I stumbled across the Monastery Stays website and was quite excited to note their widespread availability throughout Italy and Sicily. Not only do their structures offer historical interest but for a woman traveling alone, they provide security and a quiet refuge after the end of a busy day of exploration. If you are into a wild nightlife, these accommodations are probably not your cup of tea since they have curfews ranging from 11 p.m. to midnight. But, I usually am so tired by 9 or 10 p.m. that their curfew policy does not pose a problem for me. I will definitely be visiting their website to arrange future accomodations!Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-37637070587516088342007-08-14T15:05:00.000-07:002007-08-14T16:39:28.964-07:00A Virtual Visit to the Dresden State Museum of Art<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDHftCeQz-45n-gzg7BeTnBaGprebqj5t0YZfats36jW9mH3E50WfGwOdHSZbHwR8mzsiLfqcqp3OxYy_OFkTj4zRiXH-68kG3pOynhyphenhyphenJd48ZpiIkK7zeV4lRr9V5VHry3US1vHg/s1600-h/DresdenGalleryFacade.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDHftCeQz-45n-gzg7BeTnBaGprebqj5t0YZfats36jW9mH3E50WfGwOdHSZbHwR8mzsiLfqcqp3OxYy_OFkTj4zRiXH-68kG3pOynhyphenhyphenJd48ZpiIkK7zeV4lRr9V5VHry3US1vHg/s320/DresdenGalleryFacade.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098684286500833266" border="0" /></a><br />My friend Kent Loobey sent me an article about the new Dresden State Museum of Art in Second Life and, of course, I had to go see it!<br /><br />"The Dresden State Museum is one of Europe's oldest. Saxon kings began collecting art in the 1560s, but it wasn't until the reign of August the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, in the early 1700s that art collection began in earnest. Augustus believed in putting his wealth on display. He and his heirs effectively created the first public museums in an effort to impress their subjects and fellow royals. In 1855, the Zwinger was expanded to create a gallery for the state art collection." - <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://tinyurl.com/3y3xc3">Wired</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfVVnp5HHanPYJQ-pJE1A6fwYjrK6DDEuXhX2t8-_iBDOzPUv8RrIlwQ1PxSu4DcrY17l0i7188pXlLUR97usiMW7OkTcGYttAV72hkn5Hx466Lu5GeThLX238rVQ0ZPDya27IBQ/s1600-h/MariskaousidetheDresdenGAllery.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfVVnp5HHanPYJQ-pJE1A6fwYjrK6DDEuXhX2t8-_iBDOzPUv8RrIlwQ1PxSu4DcrY17l0i7188pXlLUR97usiMW7OkTcGYttAV72hkn5Hx466Lu5GeThLX238rVQ0ZPDya27IBQ/s320/MariskaousidetheDresdenGAllery.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098682714542802914" border="0" /></a>I launched Second Life and searched on Dresden under Art and Culture and clicked Teleport. In a few seconds my avatar was standing in the beautiful plaza surrounding the gallery. I walked over to the beautiful fountain and sat on the edge to look around and take in the beauty of my surroundings. Of course I couldn't help but have my picture taken there. Although Second Life has an in-world Snapshot tool, I prefer to use a simple Print Screen because the resulting frame is sharper and more detailed.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrOxztxUAN-xqVpn7ySAQrLuoraSjtWXzzdwctl8_0zBkPhbcAqzWSZ_iCzV1ba8KEyWYUguKTRxQKWdFeIvCGBhIXZk8ZRw-ITpmBsuR92k0SMH_1zt08G_3lRhwN-o6i1FaFA/s1600-h/DresdenGalleryEntranceDetail1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrOxztxUAN-xqVpn7ySAQrLuoraSjtWXzzdwctl8_0zBkPhbcAqzWSZ_iCzV1ba8KEyWYUguKTRxQKWdFeIvCGBhIXZk8ZRw-ITpmBsuR92k0SMH_1zt08G_3lRhwN-o6i1FaFA/s320/DresdenGalleryEntranceDetail1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098684608623380482" border="0" /></a><br />When I visit museums in real life I like to take pictures of the facade and any interesting architectural details that I see. Second Life's Camera Control tool lets me do the same thing - allowing me to pan and zoom in and zoom out to get a better look at anything that catches my eye.<br /><br />Camera controls is not normally visible by default but if you click on View -> Camera Controls then you get a small interface that looks like two virtual joystick controllers with a ruler running vertically between them with a + at the top and a - at the bottom. Clicking on the + zooms in. If you reach the maximum zoom, try moving your avatar just a little closer to the object you are examinging to zoom in even more. Then use the joystick on the right to adjust the angle of your camera up, down, left, or right, and the joystick on the left to move the camera itself up, down, left, or right to eliminate any angular distortion.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisz0WlznzDCJ14I99vDr784SS9hzNkJN4hwr3i7-TpmTyj1GDHKL7wzZ2ltKx06UvVrrbiQhzl-1nkok0xDkd2c6H5ozBzrQzhpCptlZCF-xsAwFt1zSEM0dG9aFPmdASqft6YHw/s1600-h/DresdenGalleryInterior1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisz0WlznzDCJ14I99vDr784SS9hzNkJN4hwr3i7-TpmTyj1GDHKL7wzZ2ltKx06UvVrrbiQhzl-1nkok0xDkd2c6H5ozBzrQzhpCptlZCF-xsAwFt1zSEM0dG9aFPmdASqft6YHw/s320/DresdenGalleryInterior1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098687241438332946" border="0" /></a><br />I entered the main gallery and stopped at the desk and picked up a guest book SDK so I could record my impressions. The reception area is magnificent with its ornate domed ceilings, bas reliefs and sparkling chandeliers. It truly gives you the authentic feeling that you have entered a world-class museum!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJr_v2cMPYcmJe2L4wIqjk75OYEW8QVgdGUkIOpfQx69UHQyRCs7CD1TQMqHhK-0Q8OJlz7WRZ6Az3g5le2x_3fzL5xdviZvCnhtu3whaVa25zeI4QIe1GLediERDBeTRhMBPYQ/s1600-h/MariskainTapestryRoom1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJr_v2cMPYcmJe2L4wIqjk75OYEW8QVgdGUkIOpfQx69UHQyRCs7CD1TQMqHhK-0Q8OJlz7WRZ6Az3g5le2x_3fzL5xdviZvCnhtu3whaVa25zeI4QIe1GLediERDBeTRhMBPYQ/s320/MariskainTapestryRoom1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098688568583227426" border="0" /></a><br />Then I walked down the entryway and entered a room that featured some spectacular tapestries. Again I used my Camera Controls and my MouseLook view to pan around the room and zoom in on each piece of art to examine it more closely. The room had chairs arranged in it so you could sit and contemplate the art just like you would in the "real" gallery.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh94Gs0_K2lqK3OF-clwGGVba-d6YZR1BmPY2Ip7fL9scl-vkebq7xnQ0QGxqENFuanE348bhvcbSLiaB4Jd0Lm291d4HcnFNNJEB2WB1BqxXVXItXySkDe5z-_lhYNEcJOlmnwow/s1600-h/Dresdentapestry1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh94Gs0_K2lqK3OF-clwGGVba-d6YZR1BmPY2Ip7fL9scl-vkebq7xnQ0QGxqENFuanE348bhvcbSLiaB4Jd0Lm291d4HcnFNNJEB2WB1BqxXVXItXySkDe5z-_lhYNEcJOlmnwow/s320/Dresdentapestry1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098689028144728114" border="0" /></a><br />The tapestry room also featured a piano with a little script attached that you could click on to "play" it. My sound wasn't working right today but I think normally you would hear it. I crashed the Second Life application because I think I had too many applications open and probably should<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhUBxbcnNoC51yGioLARLj3PcPFY_bH1415npCMtEXM720qTESEBVHNnrO4Dz5WAFtniEw2N-Z6Ctov-K9deskKNk0bNDUoOqPxkR_nvQydCoujgeDz46c4qPd8Bo7LlGVWEx1w/s1600-h/PlayingPianoatDresdenGAllery.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhUBxbcnNoC51yGioLARLj3PcPFY_bH1415npCMtEXM720qTESEBVHNnrO4Dz5WAFtniEw2N-Z6Ctov-K9deskKNk0bNDUoOqPxkR_nvQydCoujgeDz46c4qPd8Bo7LlGVWEx1w/s320/PlayingPianoatDresdenGAllery.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098690320929884226" border="0" /></a> have rebooted. I'll have to try it again when I get a few spare moments. I had piano lessons when I was a child but haven't played in years. Based on my avatar's motions, the piano must have been magical as she appeared to play as well as a concert pianist!<br /><br />I moved on to the next room where a number of interesting historical cityscapes captured my attention. I normally prefer images of people, both portraits and paintings of people engaged in interesting activities, but these scenes of 18th century <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbFm4o2djXaRhW9LdLEVyX47Q8R8xGWUJYA7fu-tnAoj3dXFTs7Zq3TA9OZHHdDMlqyf3yZPfL-rdZLrD-jpfVauC2-95YS5px5brdPwUeULNzHFWPyukLGSQSzGLbEQW09A11A/s1600-h/MarketplaceatPirnabyBernardoBellotto1753-1754+CE.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbFm4o2djXaRhW9LdLEVyX47Q8R8xGWUJYA7fu-tnAoj3dXFTs7Zq3TA9OZHHdDMlqyf3yZPfL-rdZLrD-jpfVauC2-95YS5px5brdPwUeULNzHFWPyukLGSQSzGLbEQW09A11A/s320/MarketplaceatPirnabyBernardoBellotto1753-1754+CE.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098692064686606418" border="0" /></a>city life were quite colorful and intriguing. I particularly liked this painting of the Marketplace at Pirna by Bernardo Bellotto (nephew of Canaletto) painted from 1753-1754 CE. (This image was taken using the Camera Controls and the PrintScreen key on my computer. Yes, the quality of the experience is that good!)<br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" > "Bernardo Bellotto, an Italian painter, was from Venice and the nephew and pupil of <a href="http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/canaletto.html">Canaletto</a>. He was known for his townscapes (vedute). He is listed in the fraglia (Venetian painters' guild) from 1738 to 1743, by which latter date he had established his reputation. In 1747 he left Venice for Dresden and there in 1748 was appointed court painter to Frederick Augustus 11 of Saxony; in c1758 he was at Vienna working for Empress Maria Theresa; in 1761 he was working in Munich, after which he returned for a while to Dresden, before moving in 1767 to Warsaw to work for King Stanislas Poniatowski, staying there for the remainder of his life."</span> </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="">- From <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=082122137X/texasnetmuseumof" target="_top">"The Bulfinch Guide to Art History".</a></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=""><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I then wandered into the next room and was rewarded by the vision of a beautiful portrait of</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=""><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> Princess Lubomirska, one time mistress of Augustus II (The Strong), Elector of Saxony</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=""><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> and</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=""><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> King of Poland, by Louis De Silvestre painted in 1724 CE.<br /></span></span></span></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTeIq_r1asi-J8nNFzNY4WpOf170EbcF6jndS1raG3M3cAK2Ev2CLSmpiU82M6SN49cOIrT9a9Y4nRjdTEmbawHhw8hknCqN-dyEG6fhyphenhyphenzYU8DjzlwsEC1kgKuebrMm0FosD-uKQ/s1600-h/PrincessLubormirska+by+Louis+de+Silvestra+1724+CE.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTeIq_r1asi-J8nNFzNY4WpOf170EbcF6jndS1raG3M3cAK2Ev2CLSmpiU82M6SN49cOIrT9a9Y4nRjdTEmbawHhw8hknCqN-dyEG6fhyphenhyphenzYU8DjzlwsEC1kgKuebrMm0FosD-uKQ/s320/PrincessLubormirska+by+Louis+de+Silvestra+1724+CE.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098701698298251362" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">"Louis de Silvestre was the son of Israël</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"> Silvestre. He was first apprenticed to his father, going on to study under Charles Le Brun and then Bon Boullogne. In 1694 he competed unsuccessfully for the Prix de Rome but left nevertheless for Italy. In Rome he met Carlo Maratti; he also visited Venice and Piedmont. On his return to Paris he was received (</span><span style="font-family:arial;">reçu</span><span style="font-family:arial;">) in 1702 into the Académie Royale, presenting the </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Creation of Man by Prometheus</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (Montpellier, Mus. Fabre). He embarked on a successful career, earning academic honours (he was appointed an assistant professor in 1704 and a full professor in 1706) and commissions from both the Church and the court. In 1703 he was commissioned by the guild of Paris goldsmiths to execute the May of Notre-Dame (</span><span style="font-family:arial;">Healing of the Sick</span><span style="font-family:arial;">, Arras, Mus. B.-A.). In 1709 he painted a </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Last Supper</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> for the chapel at Versailles (</span><span style="font-family:arial;">in situ</span><span style="font-family:arial;">). This was followed by nine scenes from the </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Life of St Benedict</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (1709; examples in Paris, Louvre, see fig.; Béziers, Mus. B.-A.; Perpignan, Mus. Rigaud; Brussels, Mus. A. Anc.) for St Martin-des-Champs, and a </span><span style="font-family:arial;">St Matthew</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (1710; destr. 1748) for the cupola of St Roch, both in Paris. Among the secular works of his early career are the paintings originally intended for the Pavillon de la Ménagerie at Versailles, including </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Arion Playing the Lyre</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (1701; Compiègne, Château), and </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Hector Taking Leave of Andromache</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> with its pendant </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Ulysses Taking Astyanax away from Andromache</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (both untraced), painted in 1708 for Armand-Gaston I de Rohan-Soubise (1674–1749); he also painted contemporary historical subjects (e.g. </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Battle of Kassel</span><span style="font-family:arial;">, </span><span style="font-family:arial;">Siege of Saint Omer</span><span style="font-family:arial;">; both untraced) for the funeral of Philippe I, Duc d’Orléans (</span><span style="font-family:arial;">d</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> 1701).</span></span>" - <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.artnet.com/library/07/0787/t078791.asp"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">ArtNet.</span></span></a><br /><br />I ran out of time for today's visit so I completed my comments statement in the space provided at the bottom of the Guestbook SDK I had received by touching the guest book in the reception area and returned to the guest book and dragged the SDK from my inventory over on top of the Guestbook on the table as instructed. Hopefully my comments were wisked away to the Dresden Gallery developers. I think this 3D experience gives the visitor much more of a feeling of "visiting" the museum than simply browsing through a well-illustrated book about the gallery. I hope other museums will follow Dresden's lead and provide many more such virtual galleries accessible to everyone (with access to a computer somewhere) regardless of their physical or financial ability to travel. I was certainly impressed!Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-17970534988819522682007-08-13T16:24:00.000-07:002007-10-05T10:54:57.188-07:00I wish I had seen Yorktown when we visited WilliamsburgSeveral years ago, my husband and I visited <a href="http://myincrediblejourneys.blogspot.com/2004/07/williamsburg-capitol-site-of-famous.html">Williamsburg</a> and spent the day exploring the shops of the colonial artisans like the wigmaker and the gunsmith, the Governor's mansion, and the Legislative Assembly Hall. But there is so much to see in Williamsburg that we didn't have time to also explore Yorktown, site of the famous decisive battle of the American Revolution. There is a fife and drum corps that performs at Williamsburg and Yorktown that I had so wanted to see. I bought a Department 56 set of miniatures of them that I treasure but I would have liked to have seen them in person. Today, I was searching the internet for military music for a soundtrack for an educational podcast about the Civil War and stumbled across a link to a video of the Yorktown Fife and Drum Corps. I found it quite amazing and wish to share it:<br /><br /><p align="center"><object height="247" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GqMryyZN4kE"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GqMryyZN4kE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></p>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-80186529838552821422007-06-15T15:27:00.000-07:002007-10-05T10:58:11.238-07:00North to Alaska<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/523581569_cc860862f8.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/523581569_cc860862f8.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />For years, my relatives in Alaska have been pleading with us to come up and see their beautiful part of the country. We finally did at the end of May to help my great niece, Jessica Davis, celebrate her graduation from high school.<br /><br />My great niece lives with her parents, Scott and Traci Davis, in Ketchikan. My oldest sister has made a number of trips to Ketchikan and returned with great fish stories (supported by boxes of delicious halibut and smoked salmon) and other tales from the land of the midnight sun. So, it was finally time to see for ourselves.<br /><br />We arrived by plane from Seattle and boarded the ferry to take us across the inland passage to the island where Ketchikan stretches along its shoreline.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/523524055_da60151278.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/523524055_da60151278.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />One of the first things we noticed were the huge cruise ships lined up along the waterfront. I had never seen a cruise ship up close and these were gigantic. Scott told us they have some cruise ships that span 14 decks. Catering to the tourists appears to be the major economic activity here. We saw flocks of tourists surging from shop to shop, a <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/523547176_d1312303b4.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/523547176_d1312303b4.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>horse-drawn wagon making the rounds, and charter boats filled with hopeful anglers plying the waters of the harbor.<br /><br />The landscape reminded me of the Oregon of my childhood before the timber companies stripped many of the hills trying to make a quick buck by selling raw logs to Japan. The hills around Ketchikan were a deep green with tall fir and cedars and the mountains capped with snow. Even though it was almost June the weather was cool and it sprinkled off and on. Ketchikan claims to be the 4th wettest place on earth with annual rainfall over 400 inches.<br /><br />I also got a chance to find out how rough it can be living on an isolated island with only one main road. The first night I was there I somehow came down with a virus. I wretched all night and most of the next morning. I finally decided to go in to the emergency room but had to wait for my family to return from an awards ceremony so someone could drive me in. They didn't get home until 1 p.m. which was, unfortunately, after the highway department started blasting the road they were attempting to improve while the weather was decent. They also used a little too much dynamite and ended up blocking the entire road (the only road between me and the hospital) and knocking down the powerlines. Initially, they planned to have an ambulance go to the other side of the rock slide and send a gurney over for me. I was afraid it was going to be quite a spectacle! We waited for almost an hour and a half. Then someone else behind us suffered a severe allergic reaction and also needed to go to the hospital and was in a life-threatening state. So, the highway crew hurried as best they could and cleared just enough room for us to get by in the car (we were cautioned not to roll the windws down or have our arms outside the car though because the power lines were still dangling).<br /><br />I finally got to the hospital about 4 p.m. only to find the ER jammed with patients waiting to be evacuated to Seattle. Apparently, the ferry's engines had quit and it floated away (with another ambulance on-board) and there was no way to get to the airport without it. The Coast Guard came to the rescue and lassoed the errant ferry and dragged it back to the dock. I finally got a bottle of IV fluid and an injection for nausea about 6 pm. The doctor said I pretty much just had to ride it out since nothing much could be done for a virus except rehydration so we went home.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/242/523541254_6b998b1df6.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/242/523541254_6b998b1df6.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The next morning we were scheduled to go out on a charter boat. I was still a little shakey but I put my best foot forward, downed a sea-sickness pill, and headed for the dock. The charter boat captain was a friend<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/523563535_a5970e31f1.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/523563535_a5970e31f1.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> of my niece and was quite welcoming. We trolled the inland passage hoping for a big King salmon but nothing much was biting in the gentle rain. The captain called in a bald eagle and pitched him some herring while I took pictures. Then we changed tactics and rigging and started fishing for rockfish and halibut. We managed to get several rockfish and just when it was almost time to go in, my brother-in-law, Ken, snagged a halibut. It was just a small one but I knew we'd have a delicious fish fry out of it.<br /><br />That evening, my sister noticed an advertisement for a charity concert featuring "The Lettermen". They were popular when I was in high school. So, we changed clothes and headed for the auditorium. One of the original Lettermen was still in the group after 47 years of performances. He still sounded really good and his current fellow performers were wonderful too. We had a great time and even met them after the show. I thought to myself that I must have fallen into some time warp. This year I went to my first antiwar demonstration and my first Lettermen's concert thirty years after my 60s classmates had done those things!<br /><br />The next day, my niece had scheduled a barbeque at Ward Lake Park. Since it is usually raining in Ketchikan, she had reserved a shelter just in case. Of course we needed it! We all huddled under the shelter while my nephew and his firehouse crewmates grilled hamburgers and hotdogs under the edge of the eaves. The local kids played out in the rain, throwing frisbees for their dog and splashing in the lake as if it was a sunny summer day.<br /><br />Sunday, we all hustled down to the high school gymnasium to watch my niece receive her diploma. It was one of the best graduation ceremonies I have ever attended. Several of the seniors (including Jessica) got up and sang or played music. One very talented young man played music he had composed himself and conducted the high school band as well. The Tlingit Native American students wore their tribal ceremonial robes over the top of their cap-and-gowns and I noticed their parents and relatives did as well. Several of the seniors made the receipt of their diploma a particularly memorable event with acrobatics, skateboards, juggling, and, in Jessica's case, a march down the aisle dressed in her Dad's fireman's coat, hat , and boots. After all, she's a certified volunteer firefighter too!<br /><br />On our last day, my nieces and sister took me to the Saxman Native Village where I learned about the Tlingit and Haida tribal histories, the importance of totems, and got a chance to participate in a tribal dance at the clan of the Beaver longhouse. I also toured the discovery center, the local historical museum, and had a delicious lunch up at the Inn at Cape Fox. Quite a grand finale! Have a look!<br /><br /><object height="194" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LApc7jaW5TA"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LApc7jaW5TA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-41442965193065619452007-05-14T10:52:00.000-07:002007-05-14T11:58:48.779-07:00My "Adventure in Dreamland"Today, I was reading an article about a New York Times film critic's "Adventure in Dreamland" about his family's trip to tinseltown and was disturbed by his comment about his trip to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum:<br /><br />"We began with the <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/california/los-angeles/attraction-detail.html?vid=1154654607681&inline=nyt-classifier" title="">Hollywood Entertainment Museum</a>, which occupies a handsome Art Deco building that used to house the Max Factor makeup company. As I bought tickets, Justine pointed her digital camera at a poster in the lobby — an advertisement for the museum itself — and was immediately accosted by a man who seemed more like a junior production executive than the security guard he apparently was. “Ma'am, I'll have to ask you to erase that picture,” he said, explaining that “everything in this museum is a copyrighted piece of intellectual property.”<br /><br />He didn't even mention the complete <i>Cheers</i> bar (look for where the stars carved their initials in the bar during the final episode) or that his kids were able to sit in the captain's chair of the original set from <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation.</i> He also didn't mention the series of interactive demonstration rooms that teach various tricks of filmmaking where, according to Frommer's guide, "visitors can create Foley soundtracks for a movie segment, test their skills at digital editing, and try out other fun, educational procedures."<br /><br />I wonder if the rather rude reception his family received by the "security" guard left such a bad taste in his family's mouths that their enthusiasm for the museum's efforts were noticeably dampened. When I was there right after the facility opened in 1996, no one cared if you took pictures. I fear this is an example of the tact the MPAA is taking with all of the work they perceive as being so-called "protected" by copyright. Apparently they have learned nothing from the ridiculous antics of the music industry's RIAA and their attempted prosecution of "violators" as young as 12 years old. What a shame.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://uoregon.edu/%7Emharrsch/uploaded_images/Enterpriseengineering-768594.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 170px;" src="http://uoregon.edu/%7Emharrsch/uploaded_images/Enterpriseengineering-768589.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I was also saddened to hear that the place has become such a disorganized jumble of pictures and artifacts. At least when I was there I remember admiring some of the Egyptian miniatures used in the filming of the Ten Commandments and, of course, as a "Trekker" I got quite a thrill out of s<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://uoregon.edu/%7Emharrsch/uploaded_images/Enterprisereadyroom-789407.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://uoregon.edu/%7Emharrsch/uploaded_images/Enterprisereadyroom-789394.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>itting in Captain Picard's chair and uttering "Make it So!". (The picture at left is me at the engineering console. At right I wait to consult with Captain Picard in his ready room). Time goes by so fast I guess I didn't realize that many of today's young people hardly remember "The Next Generation" since there has been three other series since then and the last, "Enterprise" had a relatively small viewership and has already passed into syndication on the Sci-Fi Channel.<br /><br />I was also shocked by the price ($42) Warner Brothers charges for a less-than-two-hour backlot tour according to Mr. Scott's article. In 1996, I paid not much more than $46 for an entire day's pass to Universal Studios Hollywood. As I had already visited Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, I was not as overwhelmed as I was on my first visit but I enjoyed the <a href="http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/attr_ww.html">Waterworld</a> show with the costumed "smokers" on jetskis and rode the "Jurassic Park" ride five times including once in the dark after dinner. (Fortunately, it was very hot so getting soaked by the water spouts and the final four-story plunge into a pool was refreshing.) The "Twister" tornado experience was interesting but short as was the "<a href="http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/attr_backdraft.html">Backdraft</a>" fire sequence. Of course, the Hollywood park also has the "Jaws" shark ride which is always fun even if you've done it before. I wish they would have had the "<a href="javascript:genericpopwin('rotm_minisite/index.html', '760', '550');">Revenge of the Mummy Ride</a>" finished when I was there but I'll have to see it some other time.Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-30897492789946587832007-04-15T16:23:00.000-07:002007-04-16T08:51:27.410-07:00Maryhill Museum offers Fine Art to visitors of the Columbia Gorge<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/230134807_112a83fbaf.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 233px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/230134807_112a83fbaf.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Although I have lived only five hours away from the Maryhill Museum that is across the Columbia River from The Dalles, Oregon, I didn't become one of the 10,000 visitors per month to the museum until the summer of 2006. I had heard Maryhill had a wonderful collection of European art and was home to a number of items from the estate of Queen Marie of Romania (including her coronation gown at left) but just hadn't gotten around to visiting it. Then, this past year the museum hosted a concert by the National Choir of Latvia from Riga and my sisters, brother and I decided to make the journey to Goldendale, Washington to attend the concert as a treat for our new sister-in-law from Riga. Gunta and my brother spend a month each year there and she is always anxious to share her culture with us.<br /><br />First, a little history: Construction on the museum began in 1914 as a mansion for the wealthy entrepreneur Sam Hill.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/images/samhill.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 173px; height: 263px;" src="http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/images/samhill.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><p>"Samuel Hill was born to Quakers, an abolitionist physician and his wife, in North Carolina in 1857. At the end of the Civil War, the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Hill grew up and where he attended Haverhill College. Upon graduation in 1878, Hill went to Harvard and received a second bachelor's degree in 1879. </p><p>He returned to Minneapolis and entered into a successful law practice in which he won significant verdicts against several of James J. Hill's (1838-1916) railroads (which became the Great Northern Railway). James J. Hill was so impressed with Sam's skill that he offered him a job that expanded into the presidency or directorship of a number of Hill's companies. </p><p>In 1888, Sam married James Hill's eldest daughter Mary. By the end of the nineteenth century, Sam Hill was a wealthy and accomplished railroad executive, financial manager, and investor, and he was active in a wide range of civic groups and fraternal organizations. He was noted for his tireless ambition and energy and for his integrity." - <a href="http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5072"><span style="font-style: italic;">History Link.org</span></a> </p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/61/210400860_7962c59681_d.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/61/210400860_7962c59681_d.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Sam named his estate Maryhill after his daughter, Mary. "But Hill apparently became irritated with Washington state officials for not completing a highway on the north bank of the Columbia and he abandoned the project in 1917." - <a href="http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5072"><span style="font-style: italic;">History Link.org</span></a><br /><br />One of Sam's friends, Loie Fuller (see a bronze of her at left by French sculptor, Theodore Louis-Auguste Riviere), an acclaimed Folies Bergere pioneer of modern dance, suggested to Sam that he convert his home into a museum, providing a cultural outpost in this rugged part of the Pacific Northwest. Using her contacts in Paris, Fuller made it possible for Sam to purchase a number of original Auguste Rodin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/389295559_5f187cae3c.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 164px; height: 219px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/389295559_5f187cae3c.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> sculptures to form the foundation for the new art center, including the only pedestal sized plaster version of the celebrated figure of <i>The Thinker</i> and a life sized plaster of <i>Eve</i> from the famed "Gates of Hell".<br /><br />Sam traveled the world in his study and evaluation of railroads and highways and met many influential people, among them Queen Marie of Romania. During World War I, Sam extended generous support to the people of Romania. Afterwards, he invited Queen Marie of Romania to come to the United States and to dedicate his new museum when it was completed. Sadly, Sam Hill died in 1931 before it was completed. But, another friend, Alma Spreckels (of the San Francisco sugar <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/64/211921255_ddafa24b7e.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 163px; height: 218px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/64/211921255_ddafa24b7e.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>company fame), having already founded the Legion of Honor Museum (the subject of another of my journeys) took up the mantle as chief benefactor of the budding Maryhill Museum. She donated many works of art from her own collection and with her guidance, the museum opened on Sam Hill's birthday, May 13, 1940.<br /><br />Upon her death, Queen Marie of Romania left a number of items from her personal estate including some uniquely beautiful Byzantine-styled furniture that she designed herself and her original audience chair. She also left her gold coronation gown and<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/97/210218708_7f3ceda0ae.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 170px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/97/210218708_7f3ceda0ae.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> spectacular silver-filigreed chests and serving pieces that were given to her as wedding gifts. These items are displayed on the museum's main level along with a number of paintings from European masters.<br /><br />The Rodin sculptures are displayed in a brightly lit gallery on the lower level along with an extensive collection of Native American baskets, clothing, and artifacts, many from the period of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery expedition. Maryhill's Native American Collection began with a group of baskets acquired by Sam Hill but has grown through donations to over 800 baskets, encompassing virtually every North American basketry tradition and technical style, "from a tiny Pomo basket less than one inch in diameter to a four-foot-tall Apache storage Basket called an "olla".<br /><br />"Maryhill Museum is located in the heart of the cultural region that anthropologists call the Plateau. Lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range, the Plateau was peopled by seminomadic tribes who hunted and fished, and gathered wild roots and berries. The Plateau people were also excellent basket makers, and the Plateau collection at Maryhill is particularly noteworthy. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/98/210471354_665f520d9c.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/98/210471354_665f520d9c.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Included are Wasco twined bags, twined cornhusk bags, and Klickitat and Interior Salish-style coiled baskets, as well as beaded bags and clothing, tools, utensils, toys, and games." - <span style="font-style: italic;">Maryhill Museum by Linda Brady Tesner.<br /><br /></span>One of my favorite items was the 19th-century owl-shaped mortar bowl pictured at left.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><br />Taking a brief rest, we ordered a delicious freshly-made sandwich from the small cafe Maryhill operates on the lower level. You can sit at tables provided there or take your lunch outside and enjoy the spectacular view of the Columbia River far below the bluff on which Maryhill rests.<br /><br />Maryhill also houses a chess set collection with over 500 examples of the strategy game from around the world that spans hundreds of years.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/223864043_804c8dd172.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/223864043_804c8dd172.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> The permanent collection is the result of an exhibit originally held in 1957. The exhibit was so popular that the then-curator Clifford Dolph decided to add these miniature works of art to the museum's permanent collection.<br /><br />In the upper level of the museum, Russian Orthodox icons, many from the personal collection of Queen Marie of Romania, are displayed.<br /><br />"The Russian Icons in Maryhill Museum's collection, like the Queen Marie royal regalia, shed light on the life and era of Maryhill's royal benefactor and speak to a religion and culture much different from that of the average American. <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/59/218484975_c939afaf73.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 203px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/59/218484975_c939afaf73.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> Queen Marie was the granddaughter of Tsar Alexander II; her mother, the Grand Duchess Marie and only daughter of Tsar Alexander II, married Prince Alfred of England, second son of Queen Victoria. While the marriage assured that Marie and her siblings would be raised in Victorian Great Britain and that the family would be trained in the church of England, the Russian Orthodox faith was part of Marie's life from an early age. Many of her childhood holidays were spent in Imperial Russia, where her relationships with her Romanov cousins exposed her to Orthodox rituals and religious artifacts. </p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/223840871_5a9bc00c79.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 201px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/223840871_5a9bc00c79.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> Once Marie married Ferdinand, the Crown Prince of Roumania, Marie was obligated to adopt the Roumanian Orthodox faith and to promise to raise her children in the State Church. Her homes in Roumania were decorated with icons and other religious artifacts. Even in death, Marie held an icon of the Virgin. </p><p> In 1926 when Queen Marie ventured to the then-remote Pacific Northwest to dedicate Maryhill Museum for her friend Samuel Hill, she brought with her fifteen crates full of artwork and artifacts for the museum. Without doubt, some of the Maryhill Museum icons were in these crates. </p><p> To the Orthodox believer, these venerated objects provide a "window to heaven", a continuum which connects the secular world with the heavenly realm." - <a href="http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/collect.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">Maryhill Museum</span></a></p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/sets/72157594229383190/"><br />More pictures of the objects in the permanent collection of Maryhill Museum</a>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1145651557340572272006-04-21T13:31:00.000-07:002006-12-15T13:07:46.023-08:00A Stroll Around the Tate Britain then Homeward Bound!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/turner/i/ulysses.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/turner/i/ulysses.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Tuesday, April 11, 2006: <p class="MsoNormal">Today, we walked over to the Tate Britain and toured the wing devoted to one of our ancestors, JMW Turner. He paints mostly landscapes juxtaposing ancient ruins with contemporary country scenes or sea themes such as this work entitled "<span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Ulysses deriding Polyphemus" </span>in the style termed Romanticism which I find a little on the surreal side.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Looking at Turner's pictures of the yellow dawn or the red of sunset, one is aware, perhaps for the first time in art, of the isolation of colour in itself. Even his sea-pieces contain flecks of bright unmodulated colour that enliven their at first sight more monochromatic treatment. To extract from the continuous range of light the purity of yellow, blue or red, the hues that command and comprise the rest, required an uncompromising integrity of vision. Turner had precisely 'the disposition to abstractions, to generalizing and classification' that Reynolds regarded as the great glory of the human mind, though in a form that Reynolds would hardly have recognised. Quite early in Turner's career his pictures were already accounted 'among the vagaries of a powerful genius rather than among the representations of nature'." - <a href="http://www.artchive.com/artchive/T/turner.html">The ArtArchive</a><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Often called "the painter of light" (and you thought that was Thomas Kinkade!) or the great pyrotechnist, Turner painted over 20,000 paintings over the course of his life. He exhibited his first work in the Royal Academy at the tender age of only 16 and was given full membership by the time he was 27.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Then we toured the work of British historical artists (much more my cup of tea). I saw the famous Lady of Shallot and works by famous portrait artists like George Romney. I also was introduced to works by John Everett Millais who is now on my favorites list. His statue graces the courtyard outside the Tate and I can see why!<br /><br />Tomorrow its back to Heathrow and an 11 hour flight home over <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iceland</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:place>Greenland</st1:place>, <st1:city><st1:place>Hudson</st1:place></st1:city>'s Bay and beyond. It's going to be hard to pull myself back to the present after two weeks of immersion in another time and another place!<br /><br />Forgive me if I use phrases you may not understand when I get back. I've learned that potato chips are called crisps and french fries are called chips. A baked potato is referred to as a "jacket" potato". Egg salad is called Egg Mayonnaise and often includes sprigs of watercress but if you want lettuce, tomato, etc. on your sandwich you say you want it with salad. However, if you order an egg and watercress sandwich, you get boiled egg and cress dry with no dressing at all. Salad here is often served with no dressing at all or only a hint of vinaigrette and Americans (including me) are notorious for wanting lots of ice with their beverages (usually they're served with no ice at all!)<br /><br />I've learned that you won't find any "rubbish" bins in a train station so you have to carry your trash around with you until you can emerge from the underground and find a trash can. (security reasons). On our first trip out and about, we wandered around endlessly in <st1:state><st1:place>Victoria</st1:place></st1:state> station trying to find a trash can to dispose of our breakfast napkins until we finally asked a passerby. We thought we just didn't know what they looked like. I've learned that a mailbox here is referred to as a box but is in actuality a round red can-shaped receptacle. I've learned that if something is in good condition you say it is in "pretty good nick." And most importantly, I've learned when you need to go to the restroom you need to "pop the lu".</p>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1145663975888636822006-04-21T13:28:00.000-07:002006-04-21T17:00:49.873-07:00A Jaunt to York<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/49/127903312_1ca823854c.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/49/127903312_1ca823854c.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="">Even though the tour company said it would take three hours by train we got to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">York</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=""> in only two so we arrived at </span><st1:time minute="0" hour="9"><span style="">9 a.m.</span></st1:time><span style=""> We had been given tickets for the hop on, hop off city tour bus so we hopped on and rode up to the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Jorvik</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placename><span style="">Viking</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="">. It's sort of like the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Epcot</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Center</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=""> travel through time ride. They put you in a car on a track and you are taken on a winding ride through a Viking settlement. They are proud of their authentic surroundings and smells. Trust me - Viking settlements are really smelly! After you exit the ride you enter a small museum displaying artifacts and containing reenactors that demonstrate some of the ancient Viking handcrafts. The Jorvik center also had a great gift shop where I got some excellent books on Viking history and archaeology as well as some nice figures for my office (My office is really going to be heavily populated after this trip!)<br /><br /></span><span style="">Then Jane and I wandered through the Shambles and we found several large antique shops that we had great fun exploring. Jane bought some half dolls and we each bought a 100-year old handmade miniature doll. Jane bought a lady in a very detailed gown while I bought a doll dressed as a Stuart-era gentleman in a tiny velvet suit with lace collar and cuffs, leather boots and gloves, and sporting a real beard and mustache. They are only about 1/2 doll house size (about 3" tall). I was also excited to find an authentic (certified) 4th century bronze Roman military cloak brooch in pretty good nick. We also came across a store that had small real metal Roman helmets complete with hinged cheekpieces and crest that I can display in my office (a bit too small for my head!) They had a life-sized vinyl Roman officer out front but I didn't want to buy another ticket home for him!<br /><br />After lunch we walked over to Yorkminster Cathedral and I was surprised to discover that they are the first cathedral I have visited that actually allows photos in the sanctuary. I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible and only used the flash when I absolutely had to but got some nice shots both inside and outside. They even had some Tudor-era funerary effigies like those I saw at Westminster Abbey. I find the effigies a fascinating study in portraiture and historical fashion. Using my zoom lens, I was able to get closeups of some of the gargoyles high up on the ramparts. I was a little surprised, though, that they are really rather small. Of course the stained glass windows were very beautiful and I managed to get some good photos of some of the particularly detailed ones. If I had wanted to take pictures of all of them it would have taken me days! Jane talked with an artist apprentice out in front of the church that had rolled out the template for a new ceiling fresco he was working on in pastels that is a new addition to the church's artwork.<br /><br />Jane waited upstairs (she didn't want to see anything dead) while I went down into the crypt but I really didn't see any tombs or coffins. The church authorities have displayed historical artifacts down there in museum-like display cases. The church is built over an old Roman fort and you can see the dais that was used by the commanding general to address his legions. They displayed busts of Vespasian and Septimus Severus who actually commanded troops in the area at one time and a bust of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Constantine</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=""> that was actually unearthed in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">York</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="">. He doesn't resemble the formal busts in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Rome</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=""> at all!<br /><br />The museum is set up so the displays begin with </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Rome</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=""> then progress to Saxon and Viking times and end with the establishment of Christianity. It also includes the silver ritual vessels used in church services over the centuries.<br /><br />After we left the cathedral we walked toward the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">York</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Museum</span></st1:placetype><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Gardens</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style=""> where the Constantine the Great exhibit is on display. Jane was getting really tired and not particularly interested in the exhibit so I put her back on the tour bus and sent her back to the railway station while I went into the museum. Probably the most spectacular item in the exhibit was the Great Cameo depicting Constantine, his wife and children in a chariot pulled by prancing centaurs with Jupiter hovering over all. This huge cameo is about twice the size of a very large western-style cowboy belt buckle and is framed in gold encrusted with precious gems. I also toured the museum's permanent collection of Roman, Saxon, and Viking artifacts but my knees were about to give out on me so I didn't try to climb the stairs to the upper galleries that displayed local decorative arts.<br /><br />I went out and caught the tour bus to get a ride back to the railway station but, of course, had to take the rest of the tour in the meantime (about 45 minutes). I learned about the famous local bandit Dick Turpin and saw the traitor's gate where the boiled and tarred heads of the town "bad boys" were displayed on spikes. We circled the medieval guild hall that is the oldest guild hall still in existence in Europe and were told all about the successful local "Kit Kat" candy bar factory (the guide even had us sing the Kit Kat advertising ditty!) We passed a very old church and learned about the small door called the "devil's door" on its west side. Apparently, back in medieval times, people believed that when a baby was baptized, the devil would then flee the child's body and needed a doorway to escape the church so each time a baby was christened this little door would be opened before the ceremony to accomodate the devil. The guide explained that most "devil's doors" were placed on the north side (the dark side) of the church but for some reason this little church had placed it on the west side. Of course </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">York</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=""> has most of its original medieval city walls in tact and you can see the slits in the wall where they used to shoot arrows and pour boiling oil over their attackers. There is even a small portion of the original Roman wall still visible as well.<br /><br />I caught up with Jane at the railway station and we caught the </span><st1:time minute="0" hour="18"><span style="">6:00 p.m.</span></st1:time><span style=""> train back to Kings Cross.<br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--></span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1145651397223806752006-04-21T13:27:00.000-07:002006-05-08T10:10:39.313-07:00Madame Tussaud's, Westminster Abbey, Stonehenge, and Roman Bath<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/53/131991820_3d5852b0be.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/53/131991820_3d5852b0be.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Monday, April 10, 2006: I can't remember where I left off so I'll start with Wednesday. Wednesday we had passes to Madame Tussaud's wax museum. As expected the wax figures were the best I have ever seen. Of course the Tom Cruise was one of the most popular (for me and my sister<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/45/131963428_13b0e5d43b.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/45/131963428_13b0e5d43b.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> too!) although I think the most handsome was Colin Ferrel with his natural black hair rather than the streaky bleached hair he had for "Alexander". Mel Gibson's eyes were a very brilliant blue and my sister couldn't resist cuddling up to John Travolta. Their Indiana Jones figure looked much more like Harrison Ford than the sculpture of him in Tussaud's <st1:city><st1:place>Las Vegas</st1:place></st1:city> venue. As for the women, Julie <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/49/131996051_cefbe33e2d.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/49/131996051_cefbe33e2d.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Roberts and Angelina Jolie were big hits. I wish they would have had Clive Owens and Gerard Butler but maybe they're still in production!<p class="MsoNormal"><br />In the world showcase, I was surprised that the most popular figures tourists were posing with were Adolph Hitler and Fidel Castro!!?? I preferred Admiral Lord Nelson myself! I had hoped to<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/56/132075111_d050a746d6.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/56/132075111_d050a746d6.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> photograph Henry the VIII and Elizabeth but they had been removed temporarily to make room for a photo setup with Queen Elizabeth, Phillip and Prince Charles. The Pope John Paul II figure was very elaborate and a lot of rather silver-haired <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/6/132059372_b4450dbafa.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/6/132059372_b4450dbafa.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>and somewhat wrinkled women (does that describe me?) were posing with the Beatles.<br /><br />After leaving Madame Tussaud's we caught the train back to <st1:city><st1:place>Westminster</st1:place></st1:city> to tour Westminster Abbey. I was thrilled when we exited the underground and I looked up<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/49/142822767_63b81b3ad9.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/49/142822767_63b81b3ad9.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> to see the famous statue of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/boudicca.shtml">Boudicca</a>, the warrior queen of the Iceni tribe who rebelled against the Romans in 62 CE. Prior to this time, the Iceni had coexisted with the Romans and Boudicca's husband Prasutagus was a client King. However, when Prasutagus died, the Roman governor of the region decided to seize her land and had Boudicca flogged and her daughters raped as a lesson in power. He discovered he had made a major mistake. She and her followers succeeded in burning down Camulodunum (modern day Colchester), Londonium, and Verulamium (the Roman site I will visit Saturday at St. Alban's).<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/53/142852744_5684154700.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/53/142852744_5684154700.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>We pressed on to Westminster Abbey. It was so huge and filled with so many memorials that it took us the rest of the day. I was particularly interested in the tomb effigy of Elizabeth I. The face was sculpted from her actual death mask. I was also surprised to learn that her sister Mary (daughter of Henry and Catherine of Aragon) is interred with her, and is engraved with a very loving inscription written by <st1:city><st1:place>Elizabeth</st1:place></st1:city>. I found all the fashions represented in the funeral effigies fascinating since they depicted styles from the time of Edward I up to the 19th century. <st1:city><st1:place>Westminster</st1:place></st1:city> does need to raise funds to clean many of the memorials that are darkly discolored from the prolonged exposure to candle smoke and the pollution of the industrial revolution.<br /><br />Thursday, we went on a guided tour to <st1:place>Stonehenge</st1:place>, Roman Bath and <st1:place><st1:placename>Windsor</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Castle</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Even though people have said <st1:place>Stonehenge</st1:place> is just a bunch of rocks, I still found it impressive. Of course I was fascinated by Roman Bath and spent my entire time there walking around the complex. I even crawled down and swished my hand in the water to see how hot it is (not too - just comfortable for bathing). Later my sister said there was a sign that said you weren't supposed to do that but I didn't see it! (She had gone shopping with a lady she befriended on the tour). I also went into the Pump Room and paid 50 pence for a full glass of the healing waters. I don't like drinking hot water but I figured I needed all the help I could get. At least it wasn't as nasty as the Lithia water down in <st1:city><st1:place>Ashland</st1:place></st1:city>.<br /><br />We accidentally waited for the tour bus on the wrong side of the Abbey where it let us off and the driver didn't see us so we almost got left. Jane's friend called the office and they had the bus come back for us. Unfortunately it made us late for <st1:place><st1:placename>Windsor</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Castle</st1:placetype></st1:place> and it was nip and tuck whether we would get there before they closed admissions for the day. We made it with only 5 minutes to spare. We raced (or should I say hobbled!) over to St. George's chapel (that section of the complex closed first) and I thought the high altar there was more beautiful than the one at Westminster Abbey. Then we headed over toward the state apartments and saw Queen Mary's doll house (Jane loved that) and the 20 lavishly furnished rooms that make up the public rooms of the palace. I was totally enthralled with the exquisitely detailed wall-length tapestries. I was surprised that the colors were so brilliant but I guess many of them are replacements that were obtained after the catastrophic fire a few years ago.<br /><br />Friday, we thought we were going to have a relaxing day over at the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Tower</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>London</st1:placename></st1:place> - famous last words! All of the stairs almost finished us both! I did enjoy looking at the crown jewels and all the sets of armor though. There were several sets of King Henry VIII's armor - both battle dress and jousting armor. I blushed, though, when I saw the suit of armor that was designed to fit a Henry VIII if he took a walloping dose of Viagra!<br /><br />I was also dumbfounded by the size of a jousting lance. Although it was designed with flutes to ensure it would splinter when thrust solidly against another knight's armor and weighed only twenty pounds, I think I would chicken out if I saw someone riding towards me wielding that thing!<br /><br />There were historical reenactors presenting little vignettes that I photographed and, I found way too many goodies at their gift shop! Jane says she isn't taking me to any more shops featuring "knight" goodies.<br /><br />Saturday, Jane went back to <st1:street><st1:address>Portobello Road</st1:address></st1:street> for more antique shopping so I caught a train to <st1:place>St. Albans</st1:place> and had a very interesting visit to the new <st1:place><st1:placename>Roman</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Museum</st1:placename></st1:place> at Verulamium. I was particularly excited to see a set of hipposandals and the remains of a real section of lorica segmentata.<br /><br />I admired the beautiful designs on the red Samian ware on display and was intrigued to learn that the delicate vines and leaves were added to the ware by a bag and nozzle apparatus similar to the ones used by modern day cake decorators. I also liked the ram-headed handles used with the patera displayed there. (Patera are dippers used during ritual proceedings.)<br /><br />I was also glad to see an early Roman helmet and a funeral pyre-blackened set of chain mail. Of course I love mosaics and there are several spectacular mosaics completely intact discovered at Verulamium including a sea god (a horned Neptune?), a lion dragging a stag, and a number of mosaics featuring floral motifs that are apparently the most numerous patterns found in Roman Britain. I found an excellent book on Mosaics of Roman Britain in the gift shop. I also bought a small replica of the Venus of Verulamium for my office.<br /><br />I didn't realize that a decorated lead coffin I had seen on a program on PBS is housed at the Verulamium museum along with a sculpture of the reconstructed bust of its inhabitant so seeing it in person was a special treat.<br /><br />I walked down the street and explored the remains of the Roman theater. I'm afraid the <st1:city><st1:place>Normans</st1:place></st1:city> did a really thorough job of reusing Roman building stone so there is little remaining but it was still interesting to see.<br /><br />At <st1:time minute="30" hour="14">2:30 p.m.</st1:time>, two members of Legio XIII Gemina delivered a lively presentation in full Roman kit. I was a little surprised that the officer said the groin protector was primarily used to hold the legionary's tunic down in windy conditions. (?) He also did a thorough job of explaining the construction and functional attributes of a pilum. I knew the iron shaft would bend on impact but he pointed out that the pyramidal shape on the haft immediately behind the iron portion also served to overbalance the remaining wooden shaft so it could not be flipped around and its pointed end used as a javelin by the enemy. Of course he adeptly demonstrated thrusting techniques with the gladius and various uses of the scutum as a weapon as well as a shield, using the boss and the edges. He also pointed out that the scutum was laminated so it was about four times as strong as a Celtic shield. He was very informative and obviously very enthusiastic about the Roman army and Roman civilization. It is the first time I have ever seen a serious Roman reenactor and it was thrilling!<br /><br />Today, we celebrated Palm Sunday by attending services in <st1:city><st1:place>St. Paul</st1:place></st1:city>'s cathedral. <st1:city><st1:place>St. Paul</st1:place></st1:city>'s is extremely beautiful with walls adorned with sparkling mosaics. When you are there for church there is no sightseeing allowed so we didn't go down into the crypt but I did see the Duke of Wellington's monument in the main transcept of the church. My favorite admiral, Lord Nelson is interred there as well. Afterwards, we participated in a procession with palm frond crosses led by two tiny donkeys that had been commandeered for the celebration. Attending a service in a cathedral gives you an opportunity to listen to the massive organs and the choir. The service was "high church" so it is a very nonparticipative form of worship. The audience sits quietly and simply sits and stands on command while the choir sings all the responsive readings. The only point in the service where the audience were expected to say anything was the during the declaration of the Nicene Creed. We were talking to some ladies from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> and one of them said she could see why the populace became disenchanted with this form of worship.<br /><br />Afterwards we took the train back to <st1:city><st1:place>Westminster</st1:place></st1:city> and crossed the bridge and went up in the London Eye. Even high up in the Eye, <st1:city><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:city> stretches out before you in every direction. Well, I better sign off. It's time for a sandwich and early bedtime since we have to get up at <st1:time minute="0" hour="5">5 a.m.</st1:time> to catch a train to <st1:city><st1:place>York</st1:place></st1:city> tomorrow.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <span style=""><br /><!--[endif]--></span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1145651254545104092006-04-21T13:26:00.000-07:002006-05-08T10:12:50.246-07:00To the Tower!Friday, April 7, 2006: <span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >As you know, I struggle a bit with stairs but escalators and ramps are very rare. My face is still rather tender (I may have cracked my cheek bone) but it did not discolor much so it's not obvious. I just have to prop myself up a little to sleep on that side.<br /><br />We are having a busy time and I've already filled up one of my camera's Gigabyte memory cards. We've hit a snag however on a trip to Fleetwood. The train from St. Alban's is much more expensive than I thought and leaves either too early to see what I wanted to see in St. Alban's or too late to get us to Manchester until way late at night. We also would need to rent luggage storage in Paddington Station as we have too much luggage (with our local purchases) to wrestle it all around alone on a train. In addition, after riding around the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Kent</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > countryside with Richard and seeing the very narrow streets and road directional symbols that I don't know what they mean, I am too uncomfortable about driving here to get a car. So, I found an alternative to get to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >York</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >. The tour company we have been using here has a tour to York where they would take us up there and drop us off at the Viking Center (around 10 a.m.) on Monday and leave us for several hours to explore the city. I've written my friend in Fleetwood to see if she can meet us there and called the </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Normandy</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > guest house and cancelled our reservations. I'm feeling much less nervous about the whole trip north now.<br /><br />You know how I dive right in to any place that I visit (My sister is almost worn out!). So far we have seen:<br /><br />Buckingham Palace, The Royal Mews, Trafalgar Square, The Victoria Memorial, Madame Tussaud's, Westminster Abbey, The British Museum, Portobello Road Street Fair, Oxford University, Stratford-On-Avon, Warwick Castle, Stonehenge, Roman Bath, Windsor Castle, Leed's Castle, Ingtham Mote, Lullingstone Villa, Big Ben and Parliament, and all the little nooks and crannies around our hotel. Today, we're going to the </span><st1:place><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Tower</span></st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > of </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >London</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >. Whew!<br /><br />I have the train information to St. Alban's for Saturday where I'll see the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Roman</span></st1:placename><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Museum</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > at Veralamium, a demonstration of Roman military tactics by Legio XIII, and hopefully have time for some shopping (a concession to Jane). Sunday, I thought we'd dress up a bit and attend services at </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >St. Paul</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >'s Cathedral then catch the tube over to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Westminster</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > and go up in the London Eye and maybe take a cruise up the </span><st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Thames</span></st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >. Monday we'll go to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >York</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" > if I can arrange it then Tuesday we'll walk over to the Tate Britian (it's just up the street from our hotel). I thought that would give us a more laid back day before we have to get up early the next morning and catch a shuttle back to Heathrow. </span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1145651198550610762006-04-21T13:25:00.000-07:002006-05-03T15:41:10.370-07:00British Museum, The Royal Mews, Lullingstone Villa, Ingtham Mote, Leeds Castle, Oxford, Stratford-On-Avon then Warwick Castle - oh my!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/55/132544893_4007320187.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/55/132544893_4007320187.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Wednesday, April 5, 2006: <span style="">- Sorry to interrupt </span><span style="">my</span><span style=""> commentary for so long but the internet wa</span><span style="">s, as my British friends would say, a bit dodgy on Sunday</span><span style=""> a</span><span style="">nd we retu</span><span style="">rned t</span><span style="">oo late Monday </span><span style="">a</span><span style="">nd wa</span><span style="">s t</span><span style="">oo tired to write Tuesd</span><span style="">ay a</span><span style="">f</span><span style="">t</span><span style="">er t</span><span style="">ou</span><span style="">ring all day.</span><br /><span style=""><br />Sunday we spent all morning at the </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">British</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Museum</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=""> after struggling with finding the right bus stops. So many immigrant</span><span style="">s are working in se</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/48/130464029_697112c35e.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/48/130464029_697112c35e.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">rvice jobs that even asking a bus driver is pointless because they don't seem to know any routes other than their own. Anyway, as you can guess, I was racing around shooting pictures until my </span><span style="">shutter finger</span><span style=""> was almost w</span><span style="">orn out. I love mosaics so I was </span><span style="">thrilled to find </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/55/132547968_6670de8e1a.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/55/132547968_6670de8e1a.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">the stairw</span><span style="">ay </span><span style="">with</span><span style=""> mosaics f</span><span style="">rom Halacarnassus all</span><span style=""> t</span><span style="">he way up the</span><span style=""> walls.</span><span style=""> I</span><span style=""> als</span><span style="">o di</span><span style="">dn't realize that there</span><span style=""> was a</span><span style="">nything left of the Tomb of Mausalus at Halicarnassus so was thrilled to see the</span><span style=""> large</span><span style=""> statue of Mausalu</span><span style="">s and his warri</span><span style="">or queen Artemisia (she was the only female ship's captain serving the Persian king Xerxes at the battle of </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Salamis</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style="">).<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/51/135441268_cced36d42a.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/51/135441268_cced36d42a.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="">Of course I made a point of seeing</span><span style=""> th</span><span style="">e </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Elgin</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=""> marbles. I was</span><span style=""> a l</span><span style="">ittle disappointed, however, beca</span><span style="">use I didn't realize they were in such bad "nick". I only photo</span><span style="">graphed</span><span style=""> a fe</span><span style="">w fragments that still bore enough carving to tell </span><span style="">w</span><span style="">hat the </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/47/135458827_872eb2dbfe.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/47/135458827_872eb2dbfe.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">original picture w</span><span style="">as</span><span style=""> about. I also made a point </span><span style="">of finding the Rosetta Sto</span><span style="">ne</span><span style="">. </span><span style="">I walked past it twice before I r</span><span style="">ealized it was in the case that </span><span style="">everyone was clustered aroun</span><span style="">d. I tried to get a picture of the su</span><span style="">rface of it without all the visitor reflections but I realized that it might be more interesting if I caught this reflection that one's imagination could presupp</span><span style="">ose was Cleopatra gazing b ack at us from antiquity.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/53/135466504_a687d81bcd.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/53/135466504_a687d81bcd.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="">I managed to photograph what I though</span><span style="">t wa</span><span style="">s t</span><span style="">he most interesting of the Greek, Roman, and Ne</span><span style="">ar East exhibits and started on the Egyptian</span><span style=""> exhibit</span><span style="">s when I had to report back to the mai</span><span style="">n hall to meet my sister for lunch. I love the Grec</span><span style="">o-Ro</span><span style="">man mummy portraits from the Fayum r</span><span style="">egion of E</span><span style="">gypt and w</span><span style="">as lucky enough to see the beautifully painted sarcophagus of Artemidorus. I had watch</span><span style="">ed a BBC program where the mummy was CAT-scanned during a study of it and never thought I would actually get to see Artemidorous' handsome visage in person.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/52/135473136_ba8c12cc86.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/52/135473136_ba8c12cc86.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">We had to head over to the Royal Mews at </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:time minute="0" hour="14"><span style="">2 p.m.</span></st1:time></span><span style=""> since it takes a while to get back to that part of </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">London</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=""> and the Mews no longer admits visitors</span><span style=""> after </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:time minute="15" hour="15"><span style="">3:15</span></st1:time></span><span style="">. Th</span><span style="">e mews is the B</span><span style="">ritish word for stable and the Royal M</span><span style="">ews contain</span><span style="">s not</span><span style=""> only the horses but all of the main state carriages used in</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/55/132598949_d5901d2732.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/55/132598949_d5901d2732.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> royal processions. O</span><span style="">f </span><span style="">course the c</span><span style="">oronation coach was the spectacular grand finale.</span><br /><span style=""><br /></span><span style="">Walkin</span><span style="">g back to the Victoria Memorial so I could finish phot</span><span style="">ographi</span><span style="">ng it, I took a nose dive on the uneven paving stones along the side of </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Buckingham</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Palace</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style="">. My face hit the stones so hard that I was afraid I was going to be totally black and blue on the right side of my face but, although it is a bit swollen and very tender to try to sleep on th</span><span style="">at side, it didn't discolor too much. My </span><span style="">biggest concern was my camera but</span><span style=""> although it clattered to the ground, it seemed to have survived the mishap better than</span><span style=""> I did.</span><br /><span style=""><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/56/135554244_c5dde88bf6.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/56/135554244_c5dde88bf6.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Mon</span><span style="">day, we took the train to Swa</span><span style="">nley where my friend Richard picked us up an</span><span style="">d drove us </span><span style="">all around </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Kent</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=""> where </span><span style="">my fa</span><span style="">ther's</span><span style=""> parents grew up. First we visited the</span><span style=""> Roman excavation at Lullingstone Vill</span><span style="">a. Lullingstone is one of a number of 1st to 4th century Roman villas that have been discovered in the Darent Valley of Kent. It was initially excavated between 1949 and 1961 by retired British Lt Colonel Geoffrey Meates. The villa in</span><span style="">itially contained central living quarters that were erected about 75 CE. Then,</span><span style=""> the rooms </span><span style="">were </span><span style="">extended and a bath block was added to the south of the</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/49/135484239_2b5ba86de7.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/49/135484239_2b5ba86de7.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> building. Later, rooms heated by an underfloor hot air system called a hypocaust were added as well. Finally, in the mid-fourth century, a lavish</span><span style=""> mosaic-de</span><span style="">corated apsed dining room was constr</span><span style="">ucted. The site is considered a</span><span style="">n</span><span style=""> important e</span><span style="">xample of religious change that occured during this period of Roman occupation. A painting of</span><span style=""> two water </span><span style="">nymphs, creatures that played an important role in pagan mythology, is still visible in the "Deep Room". While f</span><span style="">ragments of paintings of Christians in prayer were also fo</span><span style="">und at the site.<br /></span><br /><span style="">Next, we toured a beautiful medieval manor house at Ingtham Mote. This moated str</span><span style="">ucture was built in 1320. The original owner is now thought to be Isolde Inge later called St Pere. Until recently, Sir Thomas Cawne, a knight who</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/47/135566273_31f3c77da6.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/47/135566273_31f3c77da6.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> may have fought with the Black Prince at Crecy, was credited with the</span><span style=""> construction.</span><br /><br /><span style="">Histor</span><span style="">ians attribute its amazing state of preservati</span><span style="">on to</span><span style=""> the fact that none of its residents were particularly</span><span style=""> ambitious, seemingly satisfied to fulfill their roles as squires, sheriffs, or courtiers. That's not to say the house didn't witness a</span><span style="">t least a little intrigue. One of the subsequent owners, Willia</span><span style="">m Haute, joined Jack Cade and other lords, magnates and people of Kent to issue the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complaint_of_the_Poor_Commons_of_Kent" title="The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent">The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent</a> against Henry VI. Haute's son (or grandson) Richard, later joined in a rebellion against Richard III. <span style="">So it may seem like a miracle that Ingtham's closest brush with destruction </span><span style="">is said to have occurred during the English Civil War w</span><span style="">hen Cromwell's soldiers, who had planne</span><span style="">d to loot Ingtham Mote, lost their way and</span><span style=""> ended up sacking another estate instead. I'm sure each visitor</span><span style=""> to the house is truly grateful! <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/sets/72057594117913299/"><span style="font-style: italic;">More pictures...</span></a></span><span style=""><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/1/131602609_7dad216bcf.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/1/131602609_7dad216bcf.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">We topped off our day with a visit to the spectacularly bea</span><span style="">utiful </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Leeds</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Castle</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style="">.</span><br /><br /><span style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">"Wonderful in manifold glories are the great castle visions of Europe; Windsor from the Thames, Warwick or Ludlow from their riversides, Conway or Caernarvon from the sea, Amboise from the Loire, Aigues Mortes from the lagoons, Carcassonne, Councy, Falaise and Chateau Gaillard - beautiful as they are and crowned with praise, are not comparable in beauty as with Leeds, beheld a</span></span><span style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">mong the waters on an autumnal evening when the bracken is golden and there is a faint blu</span></span><span style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">e mist among the trees - the loveliest castle, as thus beheld, in the whole world." - Lord Conway</span></span><br /><span style=""><br />Originally the Saxon manor named Esledes</span><span style="">, Leeds Castle was a stronghold of the Saxon royal family beginning with the reign of Ethelbert IV (856-860). It was later</span><span style=""> conveyed to the powerful house of Godwin by Edward the Confessor but following</span><span style=""> t</span><span style="">he Norman conquest it was granted to a cousin of William II Rufus, Hamo de</span><span style=""> Crevecoeur. When the </span><span style="">de Crevecoeur </span><span style="">family fortunes waned following the battle of Evesham in 1265, the castle passed to Sir Roger de Leyburn. His son later conveyed the castle to Edward I and his queen, Eleanor of Castile. From that point for the next three hundred years, Leeds Castle remained a royal home.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/51/136446388_11140ea63b.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/51/136446388_11140ea63b.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">This canopied day be</span><span style="">d in Q</span><span style="">ueen Catherine de Valois' chamber is topped b</span><span style="">y a golden crown to denote the eminence of its royal occupant. The queen used this room to receive adviers, courtiers and petitioners. After the death of </span><span style="">her husband, King Henry V, she fell in love with the Welsh Clerk of her Wardrobe, Owen Tudor. T</span><span style="">hey were discovered and imprisoned but the Queen was subsequently released. When Tudor escaped, they</span><span style=""> secretly married and Catherine gave birth to a son, Edmund, who became the father of Henry VII,</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/44/136450663_8b56a5f2f4.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/44/136450663_8b56a5f2f4.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> founder of the Tudor dynasty.</span><br /><span style=""><br /></span><span style="">The queen's </span><span style="">bath was can</span><span style="">opied with white dama</span><span style="">sk and was designed to be easily dismantled so it could be moved to </span><span style="">an</span><span style="">other residence when the queen relocated to another palace or outdoors in good weather.<br /></span><br />Hot baths were still very popular during the early Middle Ages and most towns, as late as the mid-1200s had public bathhouses. <span class="BodyTextJustified"><br /><br />"By the mid-1300s, only the very wealthy could afford firewood for hot water in the winter. The rest of the population was forced to be dirty most of the time." - <a href="http://www.medieval-life.net/bathing.htm">medieval-life.net </a></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/48/136458857_43433067b7.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/48/136458857_43433067b7.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="">Henry the VIII refurbished Leeds Castle early in his</span><span style=""> marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the room termed the</span><span style=""> Queen's Gallery reflects their relationship in its ragsto</span><span style="">ne</span><span style=""> fireplace emblazoned with the coat of arms of the House of Lancaster and the castle of Castile as</span><span style=""> well as the pomegranates of Aragon. However, Henry spent little time there after their</span><span style=""> separation. But, the faint play of light on a shadowed bust of Henry in this room gave me the feeling his spirit still frequents these halls.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/44/136462309_fe9ebeae3f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/44/136462309_fe9ebeae3f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="">A number of portraits and busts of the Tudor dynasty </span><span style="">adorn Leeds Castle but I was particularly struck by</span><span style=""> a </span><span style="">portrait labeled as unidentified but attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561-1635). G</span><span style="">heeraerts painted a number of portraits of Queen Elizabeth I but for some reason, art historians are hesitant to identify this portrait as one </span><span style="">of them even though the lady wears a white dress (Elizabeth's favorite colors were white and black), she w</span><span style="">ears a crown upon auburn hair, and</span><span style=""> is lavishly adorned with pearls (another symbol used frequently by Elizabeth to emphasize her personnae as the "Virgin Queen".<br /><br /></span><span style="">Perhaps I was simply pleased to take my own photo of a potential Queen Elizabeth portrait in a white gown that I can use as I please after locking horns with the National Portrait Gallery over the noncommerical, educational use of an image of a similar portrait of Elizabeth in their collection. See <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Emharrsch/2005/10/copyright-wars.html">Copyright Wars</a></span><span style=""><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/48/136493423_72848fad11.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/48/136493423_72848fad11.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Other artwork at </span><span style="">Leeds includes this 14th century Burgundian limestone sculpture of St. Barbara, the patro</span><span style="">n saint of artillery who lived in the 4th century CE. She cradles a tower in her left hand that symbolizes her imprisonment to discourage suitors.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > "According to legend, Saint Barbara was the extremely</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > beautiful daughter of a wealthy heathen named Dioscorus, who lived near Nicomedia in Asia Minor. Because </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >of her singular beauty and fearful that she be demanded in marriage and taken away from him, he jealously shut her up in a tower to protect her from the outside world. </span><p style="font-style: italic;"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > Shortly before embarking on a journey, he commissioned a sumptuous bathhouse to be built for her, approving the design before he departed. Barbara had heard of the teachings of Christ, and while her father was gone spent much time in</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >contemplation. From the windows of her tower she looked out upon the surrounding countryside and marveled at the growing things; the trees, the animals and the people. She decided that all these must be part of a master plan, and that the idols of wood and stone worshipped by her parents must be condemned as false.</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > Gradually she came to accept the Christian faith. </span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > As her belief became firm, she directed that the builders redesign the bathhouse her father had planned, adding another window so that the three windows might symbolize the Holy Trinity. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> When her father returned, he was enraged at the changes and infuriated when Barbara acknowledged that she was a Christian. He dragged her before the perfect of the province, who decreed that she be tortured and put to death by beheading.</span></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> Dioscorus himself carried out the death sentence. On his way home he was struck by lightening and his body consumed." </span>- <a href="http://sill-www.army.mil/pao/pabarbar.htm">The Legend of St. Barbara</a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/53/136501830_51b54da77d.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/53/136501830_51b54da77d.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p>Another interesting sculpture is the carved oak figure of a laughing crusader at the head of the spiral staircase leading to the Gloriette Landing. The 16th-century style oak staircase was actually built by Armand Albert Rateau in 1929 but the figure gripping his sword and shield blend nicely with the genuine period art throughout the house. One concession is made to modern interpretation however. The crusader's shield bears a grinning lion sticking its tongue out as if the crusader was a refugee from Monty Python's dubious heroes in "The Holy Grail".<br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/48/136550969_8e81c497e2.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/48/136550969_8e81c497e2.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Another example of "faux period" design is the</span><span style=""> blue-panelled bedroom of Lady Baillie. Mrs. Wilson Filmer purchased the castle in 1924 when the Wykeham</span><span style=""> Martin family was forced to sell the estate to pay death duties and potential buyer, William Randolph Hearst, bowed out of the transaction. Lady Baillie, as she became</span><span style=""> known, hired interior designer Stephane Boudin to redecorate parts of the home. Boudin had joined the</span><span style=""> leading interior design firm in Paris, Maison Jansen, just the year before. He eventually became president of the company whose client list included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Jacqueline Kennedy.</span><br /><span style=""><br />Lady Baillie's bedroom was redesigned to emulate the Regence style of the early 18th century. Boudin installed blue boiserie with several doors concealed behind the </span><span style="">azure panels. To reflect Lady Baillie's love of birds, Boudin placed bird-shaped</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/49/136561660_4f07d9a9c9.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/49/136561660_4f07d9a9c9.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> ceramic pieces around the room including pairs of famille rose cranes from the Qianlong period.<br /><br />One of Boudin's last commissions in the 1960s was to convert the bedroom tha</span><span style="">t had once been use</span><span style="">d by Queen </span><span style="">Catherine of Aragon to a boudoir. Again he used white bedding and woodwork to emphasize the size of the room but incorporated a homey warmth with country-style wallpaper and a playful Victorian rocking horse.<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/50/136567962_615aec3e0f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/50/136567962_615aec3e0f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">The Merry Monarch, King Charles II (so named because he fathered numerous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitimacy" title="Illegitimacy">illegitimate</a> children, of whom he acknowledged fourteen, and was an avid patron of the arts), is the subject of this Flemish tapestry based on Abraham van Diepenbeke's illustrations for a book on horsemanship published in 1658. Traditionally, if a king, knight, or nobleman is represented in an equestrian image with both of the horse's front feet raised, this symbolized a death in battle. However, this is not the case for King Charles II. Although he was the target of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye_House_Plot" title="Rye House Plot">Rye House Plot</a>, he and his brother, the Duke of York, escaped the angry Protestants enraged because Charles, a Protestant himself, would not support their Exclusion Bill that would remove his catholic brother from the legal succession. Later, Charles died suddenly of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uremia" title="Uremia">uremia</a>, a clinical syndrome due to kidney dysfunction.<br /><br />"When he knew he was dying and in great secrecy, a priest, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Huddleston" title="John Huddleston">Father John Huddleston</a>, was summoned to his bedside. Charles was admitted into the Catholic Church and received the last rites. He was succeeded by the Duke of York, who became James II in England and Ireland, and James VII in Scotland." - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England">Wikipedia</a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/45/136589400_a7d36d173a.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/45/136589400_a7d36d173a.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><font><br />The Thorpe Hall Room features warm, ornately carved-pine panelling rescued from a coat of green paint and brought to Leeds from Thorpe Hall near Peterborough. It was originally designed in 1653 by Peter Mills, who, together with <a href="http://architect.architecture.sk/christopher-wren-architect/christopher-wren-architect.php">Sir Christopher Wren</a>, famous architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, supervised the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666. Once again we find birds as accent pieces. This time they are 19th century Chin<font>ese biscuit-ware ducks. They are accompanied by a Chinese ridge tile rabbit.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><span style=""><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/45/136596354_6285ffd71b.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/45/136596354_6285ffd71b.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Leeds Castle is also home to the earliest known equestrian statue in the history of English sculpture - the Lumley Horseman. This carved oak figure was originally commissioned in memory of King Edward III by the 7th Lord Lumley for his castle in County Durham. </span><span style="">The artist is not known but is thought to have been a Flemish sculptor working in England.<br /><br />Wood carvers of this period often used tints of red, blue, green or white to add detail to their work. Bands of carvers would often travel from church to church embellishing altars and choir screens. One such carver was probably comandeered for this commission. - See the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wood_carving">history of woodcarving</a><br /><br />One of the contestants in the Hundred Years War, Edward III was the founder of the chivalrous </span>" <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter" title="Order of the Garter">Order of the Garter</a><span style="font-style: italic;">, allegedly as a result of an incident when a lady, with whom he was dancing at a court ball, dropped an item of intimate apparel (possibly a sanitary belt, though sources describe it as being made of </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet" title="Velvet">velvet</a><span style="font-style: italic;">). Gallantly picking it up to assuage her embarrassment, Edward tied it around his own leg, and remarked </span><i style="font-style: italic;">Honi soit qui mal y pense</i><span style="font-style: italic;"> ('Shame on him who thinks evil of it'), which became the motto of the Order of the Garter."</span> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_III_of_England">Wikipedia</a><br /><br />He also fathered the famous "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward%2C_the_Black_Prince">Black Prince</a>", Edward of Woodstock. Like Alexander the Great, Edward demonstrated his courage and military talent at the age of 16 at the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cr%C3%A9cy"> Battle of Crecy</a>.<br /><span style=""><br />As the light began to fade toward sunset, Richard took us to </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Aylsford</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Church</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=""> where our grandparents were married in 1913. We topped the evening off with a delicious dinner of cider chicken at his home. His son is very into computers and was thrilled</span><span style=""> to have someone to talk with about computers. I think I have definitely made a new friend!<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/56/132558905_6967f26983_m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/56/132558905_6967f26983_m.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Yesterday, we took a tour bus up to </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Oxford</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">University</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=""> and then </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:city><st1:place><span style="">Stratford</span></st1:place></st1:city></span><span style=""> on </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><span style="">Avon</span></st1:place></span><span style=""> and toured Shakespeare's birthplace and had a brief photo op at Ann Hathaway's cottage, Then we finished our day at </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Warwick</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Castle</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style="">. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Warwick</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Castle</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=""> has been purchased by Madame Tussaud's so beautiful wax replicas of English royalty are displayed throughout the castle. There is also costumed reenactors demonstrating archery, knighthood, and everyday 16th century life.</span></span></span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1145646107639964902006-04-21T12:01:00.000-07:002006-04-26T09:18:21.403-07:00A visit to one of the world's largest antique fairs at Portobello Road in LondonApril 1: <span style="">Today, we got up early (I was awake by </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:time minute="15" hour="3"><span style="">3:15 a.m.</span></st1:time></span><span style=""> anyway!) and took the underground over to </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:street><st1:address><span style="">Portobello Road</span></st1:address></st1:street></span><span style=""> to explore the world's largest antique fair. As we had been warned, the prices were pretty steep but we managed to find some t</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/53/132541869_a8e4aad962.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/53/132541869_a8e4aad962.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">hings anyway (you know me!). </span><span style="">My sister bought a Dutch half doll, some beautiful a</span><span style="">ntique lace for some doll costumes she is making, some antique bottles and crockery for her husband, a delicate circa 1880s cameo, and a floral design embellished biscuit jar (English style cookie jar).<br /><br />At the booth that Jane bought her husband's bottles and crockery, I found an English porcelain ointment jar with </span><span style="">an 18th century scene for only 40 pounds. I have admired them in </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">US</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=""> antique shops for a number of years but in the </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">US</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style=""> they sell for between $225 and $375. I also found a shop that sold meticulously painted military figurines. I purchased a lead Napoleonic Era mounted French Cavalry Officer, hand-painted in </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Spain</span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span><span style="">, for only 45 pounds and a hand painted resin 90 mm figure of a Napoleonic-era Sharpe's Rifleman for only 20 pounds.<br /><br />The crowds were horrendous and, without any benches to rest, I wore out by </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:time minute="0" hour="12"><span style="">noon</span></st1:time></span><span style=""> (We had been there since </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:time minute="30" hour="6"><span style="">6:30 a.m.</span></st1:time></span><span style="">) so we went back to the hotel for a nap. Jane turned the TV on and up popped John Wayne in "In Harm's Way". We both burst out laughing. At commercial, the announcer told us to stay tuned for NCIS, Miami Vice - </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:state><st1:place><span style="">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state></span><span style="">, and Law and Order!<br /><br />After a rest we wandered down the street to a Portugese spiced Chicken eatery and ordered a very tasty sandwich each then shared a tangy coleslaw and chips. We topped it off with a custard tart and a coconut tart. The coconut tart was much like a plump coconut macaroon. I preferred the custard tart myself. This was also the first restaurant we have encountered so far that offered free soda refills.<br /><br />On our way back to the hotel, we stopped into an upscale supermarket (sort of like Market of Choice) but found a much more diverse variety of products including cups of creme brulee! Even their frozen dinners looked better than ours! We plan to go back there Monday evening and pick up some breakfast items for Tuesday morning as we must catch our tour bus for Stratford-On-Avon before the hotel opens its continental breakfast center.<br /><br />Tomorrow we will be heading over to the </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">British</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Museum</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style="">. Then on our way back we will stop off at </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Buckingham</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Palace</span></st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style=""> and tour the Queen's Mews (stables). I also want to get more pictures of the </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Victoria</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placename><span style="">Monument</span></st1:placename></st1:place></span><span style=""> while we are there.</span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1145646021341310922006-04-21T11:58:00.000-07:002006-05-22T16:25:34.140-07:00Rule Brittania! A Journey to the "Mother" country<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/45/121668876_0509d10d98.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/45/121668876_0509d10d98.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">March 31, 2006: Well, we had our first full day here in London without having to deal with</span><span style=""> customs, trains, luggage, and taxis. We got an early start. After a co</span><span style="">ntinental breakfast of toast, ce</span><span style="">real, fr</span><span style="">uit, and chocomilk (their version of milk and hot ch</span><span style="">ocolate mixe</span><span style="">d) we met my friend and co-moderator of our Imperial Rome discu</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/1/121677156_da09b5e93b.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/1/121677156_da09b5e93b.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">ssion group who had offered to take us on a</span><span style=""> London walkabout. We hiked around the local area photographing churches, window b</span><span style="">oxes, pubs, and phone booths (I'm afraid my sister here didn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned Dr. Who! She was never much of a sci-fi fan!) then we finally made it to </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Buckingham</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placetype><span style="">Palace</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="">. The Queen is in residence so visitors cannot go in this time of year but I got some nice shots of the exterior and Jane and I </span><span style="">plan to return and tour the Queen's Mews (stables) and photograph the coaches later this week. The Royal Mews is closed on Friday (today) so we will have</span><span style=""> to find a spot in our sche</span><span style="">dule for our return visit. They also don't open until 11:00 and don't admit anyone after 3:15 p.m. this time of year so it is quite a challenge to find a time slot that won't disrupt an entire day. I'm sure it will be worth it though. I also hope to get some more pictures of the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="">Victoria</span></st1:placename><span style=""> </span><st1:placename><span style="">Monument</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span style="">.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/48/121673670_f942b956c5.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/48/121673670_f942b956c5.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">We walked thr</span><span style="">ough St. James park enjoying the ducks, swans, and early flowering trees. It was pleasantly peaceful after the frenetic activity of Heathrow Airport and Paddington Station yesterday. We emerged ne</span><span style="">ar the palace entrance where the changing of the guard passe</span><span style="">s by in parade. It was pretty chilly so</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/41/121445348_0e028ccee3.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/41/121445348_0e028ccee3.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> they were wearing gray overcoats but it was nice to get to see th</span><span style="">em. I couldn't get a good picture as the crowds were lining the street and I'm too s</span><span style="">hort </span><span style="">to shoot over their heads. Howev</span><span style="">er, we walked over to St. James palace and</span><span style=""> when we came around the backside there was a guardsman at his post. We waited until the crowd of tourists around him moved on then I was able to get several nice pictures of him including a closeup.<br /><br /></span>"Built largely between 1531 and 1536, St. James's Palace was a residence of kings and queens of England for over 300 years. It remains the official residence of the Sovereign, although, since the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, the Sovereign has lived at Buckingham Palace. High Commissioners present letters and Ambassadors are still formally accredited to the Court of St. James's for this reason. The palace was built by Henry VIII on the site of the Hospital of St. James, Westminster. Much survives of the red-brick building erected by Henry VIII, including the Chapel Royal, the gatehouse, some turrets and two surviving Tudor rooms in the State apartments.<br /><br />Buildings later sprawled to cover the area of four courts now known as Ambassadors' Court, Engine Court, Friary Court and Colour Court. The great Tudor Gatehouse at the southern end of St. James's Street still bears Henry VIII's royal cypher HR, surmounted by his crown, above the original foot passages leading through to Colour Court.<br /><br />Henry VIII's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy, whom he contemplated recognising <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11921/11921-h/img/0074.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11921/11921-h/img/0074.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>as his heir, was living in the Palace when he died in 1536 at the age of seventeen. From then on St. James's House, as it was known, saw a succession of Royal inhabitants who lived there while playing their part in some of the more famous events in English history.<br /><br />Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, stayed there the night after her coronation. Before she was discarded following the birth of Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth, the initials HA entwined in a lovers' knot appeared on a couple of Tudor fireplaces in the State apartments.<br /><br />It was in St. James's Palace in 1558 that Mary Tudor signed the treaty surrendering Calais. Elizabeth I was resident during the threat posed by the Spanish Armada and set out from St James's to address her troops assembled at Tilbury, to the east of London." - <a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page589.asp"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Royal Residences</span></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/50/151499785_5935cdd551.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/50/151499785_5935cdd551.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">We turned down a side street and looked down an alley and we saw an interesting looking courtyard. I noticed a sculptured portrait of a general that looked like Santa Anna. Sure enough, the building was once inhabited by the </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="">Texas</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style=""> legation after the Mexican American War but the monument was probably Sam Houston. If he knew I thought he looked like Santa Ana he would probably turn over in his grave!<br /><br />"</span>After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, England was one of the first countries in the world to recognize the Republic of Texas as a nation. Their charge d'affaires to the Court of St. James, Dr. Ashbel Smith rented office space at 3 St. James's St in an upper floor above Berry Bros. and Rudd (who opened a grocers here in 1696) If you pop in you can see a large set of scales used to weigh coffee - nearby residents would also get themselves weighed here - the shop's ledgers record the weights of Lord Byron, Horatio Nelson, his mistress Lady Hamilton and Queen Victoria's father." - <a href="http://www.londontourist.org/walk2notesIMG.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">The London Guide to Sightseeing</span></a><br /><br />As I don't like to feel guilty about indulging myself at exotic restaurants when I'm on vacation, I didn't bother to go in and tip the scales.<br /><span style=""><br /></span><span style="">Then we walked on down to the exclusive shopping </span><span style="">district at </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="">St. James Place</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=""> and I got a chance to photograph a "beadle". Going back to Teutonic times, a beadle was originally an officer of the court or deputy for the local constable. <br /><br />"</span>After the Norman Conquest, the beadle seems to have diminished in importance, becoming merely the crier in the manor and forest courts, and sometimes executing processes. He was also employed as the messenger of the parish, and thus became, to a certain extent, an ecclesiastical officer, but in reality acted more as a constable by keeping order in the church and churchyard during service. He also attended upon the clergy, the churchwardens and the vestry. He was appointed by the parishioners in vestry, and his wages were payable out of the church rate. From the Poor Law Act of 1601 till the act of 1834 by which poor-law administration was transferred to guardians, the beadle in England was an officer of much importance in his capacity of agent for the overseers. In all medieval universities the bedel was an officer who exercised various executive and spectacular functions.<br /><br />He still survives in many universities on the continent of Europe and in those of Oxford and Cambridge, but he is now shorn of much of his importance. At Oxford there are four bedels, representing the faculties of law, medicine, arts and divinity. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/34/121447138_2d7948d704.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/34/121447138_2d7948d704.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Their duties are chiefly processional, the junior or sub-bedel being the official attendant on the vice-chancellor, before whom he bears a silver mace. At Cambridge there are two, termed esquire-hedels, who both walk before the vicechancellor, bearing maces.<span style=""><br /><br />This beadle is a private security guard for the posh </span><span style="">shops in this elegant upscale mall. I think his dashing suit and top hat are much more fetching than a guard's uniform!<br /><br />Our </span><span style="">guide, my friend Richard, joked with him about the local ordinance</span><span style=""> against whistling and singing. He promised the beadle that he would keep us under control!<br /><br />We continued on to Picadilly Circus. There was a beautiful bronze fountain of plunging wild horses that photographed well and in one plaza there were bronzes of FDR and Winston Churchill sitting on a wooden park</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/47/121439136_557ee0f108.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/47/121439136_557ee0f108.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> bench. We stopped to rest a bit in a little park that had a</span><span style=""> cute bronze of Charlie Chaplin. Then we continued on to </span><st1:place><span style="">Covent Garden</span></st1:place><span style="">. There we paused for a soda an</span><span style="">d listened to a quartet playing a selection of classical and turn-of-the-century songs including the E</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/49/132527145_3c244a2560.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/49/132527145_3c244a2560.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">nglish Hornpipe. Then we struck out for </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="">Trafalgar Square</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="">. Of course I had to photograph the bronzes of famous British war heroes and the fountains in front of the London Gallery and </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="">Britain</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="">'s own triumphal arch. We could also see Big Ben from there, too.<br /><br />My sister was exhausted so we hopped on the underground and rode back to the station nearest our hotel. I noticed on the train there was a picture of a befuddled George Bush with the caption "Investing, like public speaking, is best left to the experts!"<br /><br />We rested a bit then went out for dinner. We were wandering around reading menus and mumbling about fish and chips when this nice English boy spoke up and said if we really wanted good fish and chips we should go down to the Sea Fresh restaurant a couple of blocks away. We took his advice and dined on a very lightly breaded cod fillet with chips that was very good. The only thing I didn't care for was the fact that the fish was cooked with the skin on but the fillet was more like a large slab so I just ate above the skin and had plenty to eat.<br /><br />It's an early day tomorrow as the </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="">Portobello Road</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style=""> street market opens at </span><st1:time minute="30" hour="5"><span style="">5:30 a.m.</span></st1:time><span style=""> (I think if we get there around </span><st1:time minute="0" hour="8"><span style="">8 a.m.</span></st1:time><span style=""> that would be fine as far as I am concerned!) </span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7318950.post-1141082920755625802006-02-27T14:01:00.000-08:002006-02-27T15:42:41.573-08:00Hesse A Princely German Collection<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=171&height=768.6067"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=171&height=768.6067" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://web.pam.org/asp/special_exhibitions/exhibitions.asp?exhibitionID=39">Portland Art Museum</a>: Last Week when I was up in Portland, Oregon attending the Instructional Technologies Strategies Conference I had the exquisite pleasure of also attending the Hesse: A Princely German Collection exhibition at the Portland Art Museum.<br /><br />Like many Americans who receive little instruction in European history below the college level, I was vaguely aware of the German ancestry of Hessian soldiers in the American Revolution but had no idea that central Germany was not the typical monarchy that ruled most of the European states from the 16th century onward.<br /><br />The exhibit catalogue explains: "By the end of the 17th century, most of the modern European nation-states had been forged by monarchs who ran them with professional centralized administrations. This was not so for a considerable area in central Europe that was not defined by natural boundaries. The German language was the only common denominator among its principalities. In the centuries following Charlemagne's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in 800, C.E., this area of central Europe became known as "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." Although the designation lasted until 1806, it meant little in terms of political power. From the 16th century onward, the Emperor was usually a member of the Habsburg dynasty. Still, he had to be elected and was obliged to consult with the hereditary and ecclesiastical German princes and representatives of the great cities who voted him into office."<br /><br />Among these principalities, Hesse-Kassel was ruled by the powerful family of Hesse, descended from the 13th century Dukes of Brabant. The Hesse rulers were instrumental in the adoption of the Lutheran faith and promoted the "Jugendstil" fusion of arts and industry.<br /><br />"As active participants in the German Renaissance, Landgraf Wilhelm the Wise (1532-1592) and his son Moritz the Learned (1572-1632) regarded the assembling of a collection of works of art, be they paintings, scientific instruments, or antiquities, as part of the enhancement of the state and a personal duty of leadership."<br /><br />We should all be thankful that they did.<br /><br />The official exhibition description:<br /><br />"The term "“Hessian" evokes the 18th century German soldiers whose training and prowess were so esteemed that they were engaged by the British to fight in the American War of Independence. Few outside of Germany, however, know of the noble family that has led the state of Hesse since the 16th century and continues to this day. Art historians are familiar with the great Madonna by Holbein which belongs to the family and is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Staedel Museum in Frankfurt. Apart from this unsurpassed masterpiece of German Renaissance art, the vast Hesse art collections are virtually unknown.<br /><br />The Portland Art Museum is the exclusive venue for the first public presentation of the artistic wealth of the house of Hesse which will take place October 2005 through March 2006. In<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=167&height=1091.811"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=167&height=1091.811" alt="" border="0" /></a> addition to the great Holbein Madonna, this ground-breaking exhibition will include outstanding examples of German baroque silver and furniture, a royal coach, a gilded throne, German Romantic paintings, Winterhalter portraits, a Russian dowry, Jugendstil from the Hesse-sponsored Darmstadt artists colony, classical antiquities, and jeweled orders and tiaras.<br /><br />One of the leading princely houses of Europe, the Hesse dynasty has welcomed into its ranks daughters of George II and of Queen Victoria; Tsar Nicolas I; Kaiser Friedrich III; and King Victor Emmanuel of Italy. The family tree includes the last czarina, Alexandra Feodorovna, who was born Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. The family archive contains a wealth of unpublished material, letters, photographs and documents from which a chapter of European social history has yet to be written."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=110&height=593.4"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=110&height=593.4" alt="" border="0" /></a>I was overwhelmed by the "Cinderella" beauty of the coach of Landgraf Ludwig VIII of Hesse Darmstadt, ca. 1750. This gilded beech wood, bronze, leather, oak and iron conveyance was the most ornate coach I have seen to date. I was amazed that at such an early date, a coach would be totally enclosed with beveled glass and the ornately carved leather suspension straps tighted with bronze cranks were state-of-the-art for the time period as well.<br /><br />This "berlin" style coach was fashioned after a coach originally designed by Piedmontese architect and engineer Phillippe de Chieze for Grand Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg. Smaller than the other touring coaches of the day, it was used for ceremony more than travel. It was usually taken by boat to a landing nearest the site of a scheduled ceremony. There, sturdy wheels were installed for the short journey inland then replaced by ceremonial wheels like those pictured here for the actual procession.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=141&height=828.5078"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=141&height=828.5078" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I was also very impressed with the detail of tiny figures that populated paintings by Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder, the court painter of Hesse-Kassel Landgraf Wilhelm VIII. His paintings have the scope of a large landscape but he populates the foreground with people enganged in various activities. As tiny as they are, the people have delicately detailed facial features and their costumes reflect the range of fabric used at the time, including some of the diaphanous tulle used in women's fashion. The military figures are resplendent with minute buttons and carefully detailed military decorations and ribbons.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=166&height=595.3125"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=166&height=595.3125" alt="" border="0" /></a>Some of the most ornate metalwork I have ever seen was displayed in towering silver table fountains used to mix water with wine for guests.<br /><br />"The classical Greek practice of diluting wine with water remained customary in southern Europe. Table fountains which performed the procedure quasi-mechanically, made their first appearance in 16th-century Florence at the court of the Medici. In northern Europe, however, wine was consumed full strength. Moritz the Learned's creation of an Order of Temperance in 1601 is an indication of the concern of German princes that drunkeness had become a social problem. The novel table fountains fashioned as glamourous silver sculpture offered an eyecatching means of advocating moderation." - <span style="font-style: italic;">Exhibition Catalogue<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=104&height=453.1875"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=104&height=453.1875" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The goldsmith's craft was also demonstrated in the expansive Gilded Bronze Surtout de Table designed by Karl Friedrich Schninkel between 1815 and 1830.<br /><br />"The surtout de table traditionally served as a centerpiece for a formal table setting. In the 18th century such centerpeices were usually composed of footed dishes for fruit and candies or assemblages of porcelain figures. Around 1800 these were replaced by gilded bronze centerpieces featuring a long deck with various sculptural embellishments. The fashion reached its pinnacle in the French Empire centerpieces by the bronze-worker Pierre Phillippe Thomire (1751-1843)." - <span style="font-style: italic;">Exhibit Catalogue<br /><br /></span>I couldn't help but marvel at the classically-inspired figures and wonder if the prince ever thought mere mortals would be able to gaze at his dining room splendor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=109&height=497.4989"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://web.pam.org/asp/tools/display_exhibition_image.asp?imageID=109&height=497.4989" alt="" border="0" /></a>As someone who has an ongoing love affair with historical portraiture, I was dazzled by the huge portraits of Princess Anna of Prussia and Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna of Russia by German artist Franz Xavier Winterhalter. I collect modest Victorian-framed prints of famous historical personalities produced by <a href="http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Emharrsch/cameo_creations_page_A1.html">Cameo Creations</a> in the early 1900s and have one by Winterhalter but it is nothing like the spectacular 5-foot portraits displayed in this exhibition. I kept returning to them again and again trying to assimilate them like a fine glass of wine. Although not noticeable in this photograph, Winterhalter's conveyance of light and inner beauty was very inspirational. Of course the ornate Rococo frames were art in themselves as well.<br /><br />"Born in a small village in Germany's Black Forest, Franz Xaver Winterhalter left his home to study painting at the academy of Monaco. Before becoming court painter to Louis-Philippe, the king of France, he joined a circle of French artists in Rome. In 1835, after he painted the German Grand Duke and Duchess of Badew, Winterhalter's international career as a court portrait painter was launched. Although he never received high praise for his work in his native Germany, the royal families of England, France, and Belgium all commissioned him to paint portraits. His monumental canvases established a substantial popular reputation, and lithographic copies of the portraits helped to spread his fame.<br /><br />Winterhalter's portraits were prized for their subtle intimacy, but his popularity among patrons came from his ability to create the image his sitters wished or needed to project to their subjects. He was able to capture the moral and political climate of each court, adapting his style to each client until it seemed as if his paintings acted as press releases, issued by a master of public relations." - <a href="http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=735"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Getty Center</span></a>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0