Jane Austen II
Of course we had to exit through the gift shop at the Jane Austen house in Chawton. Here's Ellen with a couple of things we bought:
The mug says "Obstinate, headstrong girl!" which, of course,
Actually, the tea towel was purchased at Winchester Cathedral, which Ellen visited while I was biking the Hampshire Hilly Hundred. Austen is buried in the cathedral, and here are some photos that Ellen took:
Jane Austen’s house in Chawton
On our way home from Winchester, we stopped at Jane Austen's house in Chawton. She lived there for 8 years with her mother and sister Cassandra, and wrote 6 of her novels there.
This is the tiny table, in the dining room, where she did her writing. It's interesting that she did her writing in a "public" room of the house, rather than her bedroom.
First editions of her books were on display:
A room near the exit was devoted to movie and TV adaptations of Austen's novels. Scripts of the 1995 version of P&P, and handwritten notes from a (probably important) person involved in the production are displayed, and can be glimpsed in this video. There are also some photos of members of the cast trying on Regency costumes. And of course the famous yellow tartan from Clueless. The number of adaptations speaks to Austen's enduring popularity.
Jane Austen adaptations
Climbing Mt Snowdon
Back in April, my friend Taylor visited. We spent a few days in Wales and Liverpool. While there, we climbed Mt Snowdon.
We parked the car at Pen y Pass, went up the Pyg track and came down the Miners’ track.
It was windy near the summit, but otherwise it was a great day for the climb.
Florida
Eating gels
I have a box of Clif Athlete Series Bloks Energy Chews. The "Recommendations for use" on the box say "Eat 3 to 6 pieces every hour during activity." There are 6 pieces in each wrapper. Eating 1 piece every 10 to 20 minutes seems like a lot to me. Are they just trying to get me to buy more of the product? Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Dirk
Pirates of Penzance at the ENO
About a month ago we went to the London Coliseum to watch the English National Opera perform Pirates of Penzance. Of course they don't allow photos or videos to be taken during the performance, only during curtain calls. We got the tickets at a discount because of our National Rail railcard. Still expensive, but worth it! A very good performance (but my favorite is still Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, and Rex Smith at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in 1980). We will go back to the ENO.
My reading list
Redbournbury Watermill & Bakery
Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, & Old Sarum
Deanna is here and today we drove a rental car to Stonehenge. A lot of other people were there too, but with the ancient stones, the mist, and the barrows on the horizon in every direction, it was still magical.
From Stonehenge, we drove into Salisbury to see the cathedral. It was closed, but still very impressive.
On the way out of town, we stopped briefly at Old Sarum, which has a long and interesting history. It held a previous version of Salisbury Cathedral, and also held a castle used by William the Conqueror.
Where did the images go?
@Tio
@Fedi.Tips 🎄
Yesterday everything was fine, but today most of the images are gone. I have not knowingly changed any settings. Now the images for most posts look like this:
Any help is appreciated.
Roman Britain
Day 3 of biking
Biking day 2
This was our biking route yesterday, our first day of biking:
We have two guides, and there are eight of us. Three of us — including Ellen and me — are using regular bikes, and five are using e-bikes.
Ellen was a champ yesterday! She made it up the biggest hill without stopping. 🚴♀️
Here she is when we got back to our hotel:
Here is today’s route, Including two ferry trips, So we didn’t actually bike 63 miles.
I’ll post more about today’s activity later.