Amphorae

I had promised a while ago (cough* almost a year ago* ahem), that I would share photos and post about the places my husband and I went on our honeymoon. Finally, I am getting around to it. Today I'll give you the itinerary and a few pictures, and then we'll look at each stop individually with some of it's highlights and history. We flew into Venice by way of London. I really, really wish we could have spent some time in London because having lived in England when I was younger I've missed it a lot. After arriving in Venice we spent four days there before catching a cruise ship for a Mediterranean tour.   The first stop on our cruise was Dubrovnik in Croatia, which we enjoyed immensely. I'm looking forward to telling you all about the ancient part of the city, which is where we spent the entire day.  After that it was on to Athens, Greece; a place I have long wanted to go, and which was, I suspect the reason we were given this cruise in particular. Sadly we only...

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has a wonderful article that may be of interest to anyone who owns antique fans, or who is a fan (pun intended) of this art form. It describes different techniques for storing individual kinds of fans according to their age, materials, and delicacy, some of which I had never considered before for my collection. You can find the full article here .

My best friend and I send letters to one another, so the art of letter-writing has not quite died out (though I am woefully behind in getting back to her, as usual). For those of you who yearn for the long-lost days of polite correspondence I have good news! The Regency Society of Virginia recently sent this little piece of news to all of its members:- Our sister organization, the Oregon Regency Society , has invited any interested RSV members to join in a correspondence group.  Their members have been sending letters, cards and various tokens through the post.  You may participate "in character" or as yourself and even choose the sorts of things about which you wish to correspond.  To sign up go to http://ors.wufoo.com/forms/z7x3k1/ Enjoy!

Julia Brown! Thank you so much for reading, Julia. Please contact me with your mailing address at LeslieKdesigns@gmail.com so that I may send you your present. Many thanks to everybody else who left comments on new and old posts. I'll try to reward you with more frequent posting this year.

March 12th, a week from today, marks the two year anniversary of this blog. I've had so much fun sharing tidbits of history and stories of interest with all of you, and have learned so much from my readers in turn. Thank you to everyone for reading, and especially for your comments! What is a celebration without presents, though? I have a gift for one lucky visitor if you leave a comment on any post between now and next Monday. The winner will be chosen by a randomly-generated number, and yes, this goes for those who live outside of the USA as well. I will try my best to ship anywhere. What is this fabulous present you ask? A copy of Royaltys Strangest Characters . This book has been on my wishlist for a while, and I think we'd both enjoy it.

Today's post is another fun case of truth being stranger than fiction. Taillefer was the jester of William the Conqueror, and the first man to be killed at the Battle of Hastings. He was out in front of the troops, reciting, according to legend, the Chanson de Roland, when a Saxon soldier ran out to challenge him. Taillefer killed the attacker, and was in turn cut down by more Saxons. You'd think this would guarantee him a spot on the Bayeux Tapestry, which famously depicts the story of the conquest, but if he's on it he has not been identified. The story doesn't end there though. The Battle of Hastings happened on October 14th 1066, which also happened to be the birthday of the American General Eisenhower in 1890. Taillefer left Normandy for England, and Eisenhower embarked from England, landing on the beaches of Normandy in WWII. Lastly, both "Taillefer" and "Eisenhower" can be translated as "hewer of iron". Fun coincidences, no?