That's Right, I went to the home of the illustrious JANE AUSTEN

So now I realize that all my blogs tend to be a large number of pictures with medium length captions. I don't know how we all feel about it, but as you make no comments, I feel it's fine to continue on in this fashion. If it upsets you, you had your turn to speak, so just deal.

Here is her house, right on the corner. It wasn't as cute or quaint as I was expecting, but it was her last house, and generously given by her brother. So it'll do (pig, that'll do...). Notice how everyone is just flocking towards it.

Behold: the plaque

Behold: Me by the house.

Around the back they have these interactive things for little children (hence me). Can anyone guess the scene?

How about this one?

The outside appearance of the house was completely made up for by the spectacular garden. The flowers were absolutely stunning, all just in bloom. The gardeners took special care to have flowers that were popular during the regency period. And by each flower they have a plaque of its official name, what is was called in Jane Austen's time, and when it was brought over to England. Amazing, right?

Beautiful. I'll spare you the thirty odd flower pictures I took, and just give you the general idea.

Look at this! This picture shows a lock of Jane Austen's hair, her and Cassandra's topaz crosses, and a bracelet of hers. Bah!

Even better, the writing desk!!!! The writing desk where she reworked her novels into publication state. The power of this desk....

Me being Jane Austen

This was a lovely quilt sewn by Jane, Cassandra, and their mother. It took some serious dedication. The other side is highly impressive, as well.

This is Cassandra's handkerchief, embroidered by Jane. Can you believe it? The hand that penned Pride and Prejudice sewed those letters.

These items were found under the floorboards. It looked as though Jane was very capable of looking after herself.

Little knife for making quills and quill nubs, I think.

Can you read the card in the pic, cuz that'd be easier.

This is Martha Lloyd's recipe book. She lived with the Austen women for quite a while, and wrote down all the recipe's they used, so we know what kind of foods they ate and made.

I love this. It's one of Jane's stories when she was 14, illustrated by her sister. Isn't that adorable?

For me it was wonderful to see the actual artifacts that made up Jane's life, and influenced in the creation of her amazing books. Sometimes it feels like these great influential people were always somewhat big and important. To see their human side almost makes me feel more equal with those greats, like maybe we could have been friends. It was like seeing Chaucer's sarcophagus coffin thing, and realizing that that man was terribly short. It was just a really cool experience.

I honored the venture by buying a long-desired quill and ink.

I just thought this was funny. On our walk there we went into this subway, where it looks as though a horse had previously been. No one could have been riding him since the ceiling was too low. And it also looks like the horse was so scared going under a busy road that the horse literally crapped himself. Pah ha ha ha.

Tower of London

Tower of London, Baby! That's right. It's exciting (in that awkward need-to-pee kind of way that my face seems to be expressing. Also, the good food I eat non stop would explain the chubby expressing the need-to-pee).

The ravens were HUGE. This picture does not do them justice at all, but they were frighteningly large. It doesn't help there's a sign near by saying that they bite.

Me and a ready-made friend I found. He was nice, but rather bland.

This was King Henry VIII. Do you spot something awkward? Yeah... Well, he was Henry VIII.

The biggest and the littlest suits of armor they have. The big one was for a man who was 6'8".

In many of the buildings there are wall carvings from the prisoners kept there. Crazy! Some of them had quite some time.

Some people who were in there on account of witchcraft would carve these astrological diagrams and such. I don't know about you, but such things I doubt were beneficial in proving their innocence.

Chopping block. For heads.

So many tight spiral stair cases. I thought I was done after Paris, but oh no! It was the only staircase known to man until the 1600's.

Notice the size of my foot and the size of the stair. Either these people were really small or the contractors/commissioners were chincy cheap skates.

This is the coat of arms of my ancestors. That's right. Awesome. Never mind that they were involved in malicious plots to murder the throne's direct heirs. It's awesome.

Pretty guns. Two of them.

And look! This is an experimental gun from like 1450. It didn't really work, but just look at the design.

A very large and long lance.

And all the gruesome gore ends in a pretty and serene chapel. What?

Weekend In PARIS

I hope you have a lot of time, cuz this is going to be rather intense. 4 fast days in Paris. It is intense.

Ahem.

We begin.

LAAAAAA!!!!

How gorgeous and beautiful!?

When I first got into the city, and stepped out the Eiffel Tower I just kept laughing to myself in amazement. I was IN PARIS, staring up at this world-known monument. It was just utter amazement and disbelief.

The first day was an interesting an momentous one. I took a later train than the rest of the group, and was supposed to meet up with them at a designated place and time. I got there early and stayed an extra 2 hours, but they never showed. So I did day #1 in Paris by myself. Exhilarating, frightening, jittery, unbelievable. Yes, it was.

After getting some food I found a park, and in the park I found these men. They were playing this very French game that I have read about, and seen in movies. And here they were! These lovely French men, actually playing it! They toss these metal balls, trying to hit the previously set ones without going beyond (I think). But it was very intense. Everyone took it seriously. It was adorable.

The city of lights!

By the Eiffel Tower, where I hung out most of day 1, there are bands of young men selling scarves and miniature towers that they carry on large rings (see above). They pack up every couple hours to go over their earnings and change schedules and areas. It feels likes some huge, city-wide underground business. They come up to you, jingling their wares

I thought it interesting that the lower end dealers and beggars always used English to try and get to you. There was no shame in begging, and they are not afraid to get close. The women who do this go around in skirts and scarves asking if you speak English. If you moderately say yes they hold up a note on the back of a postcard that gives some story about their starving family and their wretched state.

They really know what strings to pull, and they've mastered that desperate sounding voice, the pleading. It's quite creepy actually. One of them I didn't respond to, but she got reeeeeal close and I continued to shake my head, but she started stroking my arm "Please please please" AH! I more or less jumped away. It's so hard in these situations. The beggars are crowding all the streets, so it's not like you can say yes to one and no to everyone else. And they all speak English so well it really makes you wonder....

But anywho..... Me at the Eiffel Tower. In such tourist hotspots you really try to stay in cognito to avoid getting pounced on by all these dealers, vendors, and beggars.

But after the failed meeting I went to see where Napoleon was buried---or entombed, rather.
Pretty building. The French are more or less obsessed with Napoleon. He's enshrined in this amazingly beautiful, gold-topped building that has no other purpose but to hold his sarcophogous. The marble and tile work was amazing. Pictures of the man are all over the place, in every single museum and beyond. We saw him framed in McDonalds, for crying out loud. At times, this as well was a little creepy.

But the end of day #1 was a little scary. Our hostel was far from the center of Paris, in a not-so desirable area. I got off the train with hand-written directions (I couldn't find it on a map, it was that far out) got lost a couple times, relied on the bus stop maps (with no buses attending them). But I FINALLY made it to Hotel Cheap Beds just as the sun slipped over the horizon, after power walking for about 2 hours or so.

Bah! The other girls had an adventure all their own that lead to their delay. But we all made it back, safe and sound.

Here's the stairwell up to the top of the Arc du Triomphe. Very tall, very tight. There were a lot of these in Paris. Feel the burn, baby.

DAY 2 we went to the Louvre.
In most public areas, a large walking area is covered in this white dirt/sand. If I had known this I would not have brought black pants. Oh well. But aren't the grounds pretty?!

This is me, excited for my life.

Guys! I saw the Winged Victory. I saw it! In person! Isn't this statue amazing?!!! And for some ancient Greek. With a hammer and chisel. And yet look at her skin, her dress. It looks so real. But it's marble. Mind---->>>>blown away.

And here's the controversial Da Vinci that was referenced to in that one book. You see Mary's hand, it used to be on Baby John's head, but the commissioners thought it too irreverent and suspicious. So he painted the Baby John sitting down. (John, John the Baptist...right?) This I also saw in person.

And hey look! The Mona Lisa! This one I've always been kind of confused about, but when you stare at the actual painting it is intriguing and drawing in some strange, inexplicable way. It's hard to look away.

I have been in love with Josephine Bonaparte since I read these books in like 7th grade. So I got to see my favorite painting of her, when she's crowned Empress by Napoleon. I just like Cinderella stories, princesses, and beautiful art (even though her story didn't necessarily turn out the best). It made me very happy.

Bah! The detail and amazingness! This painting was huge. I loved it.

Is this statue not incredible? Yes, it is tragic, but the artistry is intense.

And look! The Venus de Milo! This was another mind-blowing thing to see. I was amazed at how much her skin looked like real skin. It was smooth, but still had texture. So cool!

Michaelangelo's Dying Slave. COOL.

Me resting from all this intense and studious venturing.

After that break we went to Chartres Cathedral. And guess what? It was amazing.

I loved it's painted ceiling. This place had crazy intense detailing all over the place. Gothic in the utmost sense. Every trim, border, edge was painted with intense colors and patterns.
The windows! Ah! The windows. How unique and unbelievable is that? And you know what else is cool about these French Gothic cathedrals? The stain glass was made from sand from the Seine's shores, so the color hugh and combinations you can't find anywhere else.

After the Louvre, and Chartres we went to (bah bah bummmmmmm)

Notre Dame!

The gorgeous amazing outside.

The gorgeous amazing inside.

The magic of light at the right angle.

As much as I love these cathedrals, and think them beautiful beyond compare, I don't know why they insist on putting in creepy death reminders. Like this:
Who needs that? In a cathedral? I suppose at the time it the time it was made everyone was dying from the Black Plague, so I could see how death would be a prominent thought. But still. IN every cathedral I've been in I find there to be an excess of skulls and morbid statues.

After the inside we took a tour up the towers, and it may have been my favorite part of Paris. .

The view was spectacular in a way the Arc could not compare to. The age of the building helped I think. The climb was steep and treacherous up small marble steps that have been significantly worn away over the years. Then half the very long climb the steps shrank so you had to hug the wall tightly if anyone was coming down at the same time.

Frightening? yes. Worth it? I think so. The gargoyles were so fun and wonderful.

And it was cool because we were there at the 1/2 hour so the bells peeled right behind us. It was loud, striking, but spectacular. We were all to effected that right afterwards we ran across the street the the english bookstore and bought copies of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

This is me mimicking the gargoyle behind me.

Ah! The beauty and magnificence!

And there was a beautiful park right in back of it where we were able to eat our baguettes and crepes.

DAY 3 we went to Versailles.

More and more of that annoying white sand crap that makes you look dirty all the time.

Versailles is HUGE, like, bigger than I ever thought 1 piece of property could be without it being its own country or something. The castle is beyond belief, and then the grounds.. I--it, just----big... There are not quite words.

HUGE. And the guy who made it was rather obsessed with himself (Napoleon having not yet been born, therefore unable to obsess over). And quite naturally he had multiple paintings of himself commissioned. This was my favorite:
He's being painted by gods and just the painting is held up by angles. So magnificent! So majestic! It made me laugh. And mind you this is only 1 sampling. The place was littered with him.
I just thought this was amazing because of all the different types of stone used for one bust. Quite cool. Though the coolest statue of this fashion is of a women (goddess?) and it's at Orsay. Therefore I could not take pictures of it. But here's an idea

In the queen's bed chamber some girl was off in the corner, quickly drawing the whole thing. I was impressed, so snuck a picture.

WHA???? Isn't this the same picture that we saw at the Louvre yesterday?

I was already confused because we were in Versailles, the infamous palace of King Louis the some number, and the final room ended in an homage to Napoleon. What? (But they are French, therefore obsessed. So they have to put him everywhere, even in the palace that represented the exact opposite of Napoleon's initial campaign.)

So, confused. And then there's this enormous repeat of a rather famous piece of artwork. Did they think we wouldn't notice? But what can you do? They must have their Napoleon.

Here is a very detailed pretty chair that the royals would sit on to have tea. Those kind of things were hand sewn. Inconceivable.
Voila! The gardens! And this is only the left wing. Go to the end of the horizon, turn right, and begin your journey through the rest of it. Which we practically did. We attempted to find some little cottage thing and ended up power walking the majority of the Versailles gardens. Whew.

But look how beautiful it was! If it wasn't so hot the situation might have been forgiven.

Here was a fountain on the right wing (on our way back to the entrance, which is only 2 3/4 light years away). The statues are all dragons and really scary fish. Then this crow popped down there and started cawing ominously.

DAY 4

We went to Orsay (hence no pictures) But that museum was my favorite. It had a lot of my favorite artists plus others that I didn't know but really liked. I have such a love for sculpture that I didn't have before. It's probably because now I've seen actual sculpture, not just pictures of it. So. Cool.

Vincent Van Gogh's Self Portrait was fantastic. I love Van Gogh. LOVE. I found a Renoir piece that I liked a lot more in person than in picture. Monet I have a fuller appreciation for. Look at me. So cultured.

After we went to the Orange (?) and saw Monet's Water Lilies.

I wasn't expected to be as moved as I was. There is definitely something about being literally surrounded by great art.

Afterwards we attempted to go to the opera house. It was the wrong opera house (no phantom). I thought it pleasantly ironic that the opera's front steps were covered with goths.

What's up with that? Please pay special attention to the wig on the girl behind, on the left.

After much searching we found the actual opera house we were aiming for. It was large and impressive, per usual. We, however, made it too late to take a tour. So we just stared at the miniature model then sat on the steps and people watched until we left for our London-bound train.

It was a crazy, intense, fast-paced four days. I enjoyed it and learned many things:

• The French are obsessed with Napoleon
• They have something for the ancient Greeks and their classical style. It's mimicked everywhere.
• The city intensely reveres the past and doesn't pay much attention to the present.
• Carry hand-sanitizer at all times
• Stand clear of suspicious liquid
• Stay close to the center of town and be in before 10 pm.
• Bring good shoes (the best) when walking 10+ hours a day
• A crowded train can always fit more people
• Eat crepes and try new things
• Pack light, but be prepared
• The Eiffel Tower is AMAZING when it sparkles