Jo Walton ([info]papersky) wrote,
@ 2008-07-03 04:19:00
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Safely here, and a plan
We are safely in Cardiff. I have asthma. This isn't unexpected, I am allergic to this whole country, and I know that, it happens every year. All the same, it's tiring and annoying. We're going to go down to the sea today, the lonely sea and the sky -- no, that's not what I meant to say, the lovely sea air full of sleep and quiet breathing, that's it.

The other cool thing we're doing is that we're going to show Z's girlfriend British history in order -- starting with standing stones, and making our way forward through the Celts and the Romans before getting to medieval castles. This is a plan.

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[info]mevennen
2008-07-03 08:49 am UTC (link)
If you're in the area of Glastonbury, let me know - liz(at)arkady(dot)org.

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[info]heleninwales
2008-07-03 09:40 am UTC (link)
I will actually be down in Port Talbot next Wednesday and Thursday visiting the offspring. My son and his wife are working during the day, so I was planning on going sightseeing.

If you'd like to meet, perhaps at some interesting historical site, just let me know.

Email address is still
helen (at) baradel (dot) demon (dot) co (dot) uk

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[info]steepholm
2008-07-03 10:58 am UTC (link)
I like that plan! Oh, but you should really start with the Red Lady of Paviland, currently on display at the National Museum.

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[info]yhlee
2008-07-03 01:49 pm UTC (link)
Oh, what a cool idea! I hope y'all have a lovely time with the British history.

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[info]redbird
2008-07-03 02:03 pm UTC (link)
That is an excellent plan.

Maybe, if/when I go back to Britain, I should arrange to do something similar. (I've had bits, including Avebury and Stonehenge for the standing stones, Viking Jorvik, and the history that's to be had at the Tower of London, but not in order.)

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Had to be said:
[info]leighdb
2008-07-03 02:04 pm UTC (link)
Have fun storming the castles!

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[info]batwrangler
2008-07-03 02:55 pm UTC (link)
Z's gf has the *best* guides.

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[info]don_fitch
2008-07-03 03:03 pm UTC (link)
One problem I had, during a single all-too-brief visit to the UK, was in comprehending the Layer Effect. It was quite possible to come across a wall, next to an ordinary modern city street, with a base of (for want of a better word) prehistoric stonework slabs, then a layer of Roman bricks, then Viking stonework, then Norman, and working its way up to last-year's capping over the Victorian brickwork layer. To me, an "a hundred years old is _Ancient_" American, the feeling of pure Awe this induced overwhelmed all scholarly rationality. Mind you, I'm (reasonably) certain that the person showing me the local church knew precisely what she was doing when she dismissively said "The bell tower is, of course, a new addition -- Norman, about 1095". The British do Casual Comments superbly.

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[info]casacorona
2008-07-03 03:10 pm UTC (link)
That is the Best Plan Evah! I hope Z's girlfriend understands how incredibly lucky she is.

Someday I would like for you to show me British history in that fashion!

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[info]carandol
2008-07-03 03:34 pm UTC (link)
Sounds like a good idea. If they're up to the present by the time they get to Lancaster, I can take her back most of the way to the beginning again, though there aren't many stone circles easy to get to on public transport round here. I suppose we have the Quernmore burial's fingernails, though.

In fact, talking of the "Layer Effect" I could take her from present back to Roman just looking at Lancaster Castle!

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[info]papersky
2008-07-04 06:58 am UTC (link)
There's Castlerigg, my favourite stone circle.

And yes, so you could.

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[info]fjm
2008-07-03 04:33 pm UTC (link)
Hugs re the asthma. I do hope you cope.

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[info]browngirl
2008-07-03 06:01 pm UTC (link)
The other cool thing we're doing is that we're going to show Z's girlfriend British history in order -- starting with standing stones, and making our way forward through the Celts and the Romans before getting to medieval castles. This is a plan.

O fortunate, fortunate young woman. I still remember the tile, you know.

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[info]muuranker
2008-07-03 07:26 pm UTC (link)
Lovely plan!

Please don't stop with medieval castles.

After them comes capitalism, and globalization, which are really interesting.

You could do the Merchants' houses in Great Yarmouth, or Southampton. Many Open Air Museums have buildings from this period, too.

Bath, or Edinburgh for Georgian towns, but don't neglect the rural.

Into the nineteenth century: factories and workers housing (New Lanark, I recommend New Lanark). Houses built on the profits of slavery (not that many will tell _that_ tale). Virtually any museum of Rural Life you care to mention. Cemeteries, asylums and railway cuttings.

Eltham Palace and Welwyn Garden City to take you into the 20th century. Eltham Palace also gets you to WWII and beyond.

Dover castle you could go to for WWII (and a quick revision of history to date) and Eden Camp. But I recommend Coventry.

Then what? University of East Anglia and Milton Keynes!

Ending up with City Hall in London (having walked across the Millennium bridge to the Tate), and then to Terminal 5 Heathrow. Where one should read the report on the excavations which took place there. A huge neolithic ritual landscape that makes Stonehenge look a bit, well, small. With at its heart, a woman buried with a wolf.



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[info]papersky
2008-07-04 06:59 am UTC (link)
Nothing further from Cardiff than we can do in a day, I'm afraid.

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[info]lalouve
2008-07-04 09:41 am UTC (link)
Don't miss Caerwent, once Venta Silurum. It's an easy daytrip from Cardiff, as is, of course, Caerleon.

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