If you could attend any historical event...

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 6:05 pm

[quote=""EC2""] I got quite irritated with a pair of tourists who weren't into the atmosphere and who were discussing whether to have the ham or cheese sandwiches in their lunchpack first![/quote]

Oh I have to be very careful in times like this - I want everyone in the place where I am dammit! The worst was in Ireland, in a lovely quiet church. I turn to find gigglying 20 somethings actually laying down in open empty tombs! I was just shocked that they would defile something that others would think of as sacred.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 8:53 pm

[quote=""Ash""]Oh I have to be very careful in times like this - I want everyone in the place where I am dammit! The worst was in Ireland, in a lovely quiet church. I turn to find gigglying 20 somethings actually laying down in open empty tombs! I was just shocked that they would defile something that others would think of as sacred.[/quote]

Absolutely - and what they were doing is totally lacking in respect.
Going to Hastings seemed a bit surreal. There were children playing where one a very decisive and bloody battle had been fought, and people wandering around licking ice creams and looking at the story boards on the field in a desultory way. Now, perhaps that is at it should be and shows how futile wars actually are, but I found myself trying to imagine Harold and William both returning together and standing watching these people a thousand years on enjoying their day out. What would they think? Was it worth it? It's a game I often play, imagining a historical character into the present and wondering what they'd think!

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 9:12 pm

Hee, I thought the same thing in Hastings. Didn't quite have that 'you are there' feel to it. Another place I felt that was Warwick Castle. You couldn't explore, like we are used to, but was filled with enactors playing up with the tourists to the point where I felt like I was in Disneyland, not in a place where history was made.

EC2 · Post by **EC2** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 9:22 pm

[quote=""Ash""]Hee, I thought the same thing in Hastings. Didn't quite have that 'you are there' feel to it. Another place I felt that was Warwick Castle. You couldn't explore, like we are used to, but was filled with enactors playing up with the tourists to the point where I felt like I was in Disneyland, not in a place where history was made.[/quote]

Oh yes, Warwick is sooo like that and not at all good value for money either. Disneyland as you say. My son and his new wife were there not so long ago and commented that wherever you went it somehow always led you back to the giftshop.

Kenilworth just round the corner is lovely though and has that atmosphere lacking at Warwick. Did you go there?

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 10:16 pm

Yes, actually. When we left (through the gift store of course) and the gentleman at the gate asked us how we liked our visit, we told him (nicely ), he suggested Kenilworth. He was right, it was just what we were looking for and had a delightful day.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 10:37 pm

But the most amazing thing for her was when she realized she was on the very steps where Ceasar was killed. Talk about goosebumps for her. But for me it was going down under one of the churches to find myself standing in a Temple of Mithras.

Those would both be major goosebump moments for me!

Leyland · Post by **Leyland** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 10:50 pm

I would also like to have been at Appomattox Court House, VA in Wilmer McLean's house on April 9, 1865 when General Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to General Grant. The mix of emotion in that room must have been overwhelmingly palpable. I can at least plan a visit to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History someday to view a replica of the room and send my imagination out to do the rest.

lindymc · Post by **lindymc** » Sun October 19th, 2008, 11:37 pm

Leyland, I agree that to have been a witness at Lee's surrender would have been an emotional moment. Have you see how Greg Burns handled it in his Civil War documentary? To have witnessed the exchange between the Confederate General Gordon, and the remarkable chivalry of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain would have been pretty awesome also.

I am such a fan of William Marshall that it seems sacrilegious to even offer a comparison, but if one had to name an American who might come close, it would be Chamberlain.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon October 20th, 2008, 1:16 am

Does anyone know of a novel about Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain? His story is so incredible. It was one of the most memorable threads in Ken Burns' The Civil War.

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon October 20th, 2008, 1:34 am

Can't resist a challenge, Margaret, so here are a couple for you:

"Courage on Little Round Top" by Thomas M.Eishen
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188155 ... 14?ie=UTF8

"Silver Eagles" by Nick Korolev
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Eagles-Nic ... 715&sr=8-1