Showing posts with label Castle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Castle. Show all posts

Friday, February 17, 2012

Inspiration Fridays: My Dream World

So, we've properly established that I'd like to be a badass and live in a castle.  If you haven't picked this up, read this article, and then read this one before continuing on here.  We good?  Alright.

If every romantic dreamed that ever danced through my subconscious, or conscious, for that matter, magically came true, I would be a shockingly gorgeous, magical witch-princess who lived in a moss-covered tower, somewhere in England, with Danny, who was my husband, lover, and commander of my army.  Because, I'd have one of those in this fantasy.  An army.  All mine.  All ours, actually.  With lots of hot guys in it; but none of them would ever have a chance because, well, no one could ever beat Danny in a hot contest.  They'd be our minions, essentially- saving the lands from the depths of evil and corruption on Danny's and my orders.  Yeah.  That is how I'd like this to work.

 By the river Main, by Dionizije

 My humble beginnings would be just that.  Humble, and plain.  I'd feed geese, perhaps, my long blonde hair flowing in the breeze.  Although, in this mystical fantasy-world that is totally real in my head, I'm brunette, not blonde.  Why?  God knows.  I just think of myself as having brown hair.

 HBIC

 My epic castle would be in a lovely, hidden grove, only accessible by traveling through some type of labyrinthine tree set-up like this one.  The whole thing would be stunningly beautiful, because, yes.  If you're going to have a moderately creepy maze as the entrance to your house, the would-be-invaders might as well be impressed by your sense of taste and your confounding entrance when they attempt to destroy you and storm your castle.  That's how these things work.

Efidriade

 My castle would not be densely populated.  I like people, in general, but I wouldn't want them in my house.  A house is a sanctum, in my opinion, and is meant to be kept silent, so that, if one wants to escape into solitude, it is possible. However, it would have an okay number of people, all of whom I would have hand-selected for their sarcastic humour and ability to understand true fun.  Every pretty lady-in-waiting would be just as kickass as every one of the men, and wear their standard garter-dagger, as well as a sword.  Or, a mace, if they are really sassy.  The mace-wearers would be my favourite friends.
 
Kirkstall Abbey By (For the easily distracted)

This is my personal courtyard.  I sit here, sip tea, read books, and cast spells to my heart's delight.  Did I mention that I'm magic?  I'm magic.

 Fairy Nobasho

All of my clothing would be eloquently designed, except for my battle outfits, which would be desperately practical because I don't like dying.



I would camoflauge my castle and surrounding hedge maze with fog, making it just a bit harder to detect.  This would be accomplished using that magic that we've established I have.  Not only would this fog make me more difficult to overthrow, destroy, and/ or kill, it would also add a calming, though moderately creepy ambience to the whole scenario.  Fog is mystical, and I am too.  In my dream, I mean.

Starry Messenger

 My enemies would be obliterated because screw evildoers, and all of their evil deeds that they do. Because I like and appreciate culture, I would not wreck the shit out of their architecture or art.  Their buildings would be partially preserved so that history can look back on them, and appreciate my destruction of them, and also so that I have ruins to photograph now.

 La Belle Dame sans Merci by Sir Frank Dicksee


 This would be my painting because, on top of being a commander of an army, the head of my castle, a master hedge-designer, and magic, I would also be a painter.  That would not be me on the horse.  Flowers in my hair?  No sir.  A helmet would be on my head.  A battle-helmet.  Because I battle.

Medieval by Moyan_Brenn

This is the scene from out of our bedroom window, and what a view it is indeed!  Marshy marshes with some manner of something with an acqueduct or bridge thing attached.  I'm sighing in glee at the moment.  Just look at that.  I'm so glad we built our castle here!



Heart shaped book of hours from the 15th century, Amiens, Picardy, France. 
Original from Bibliothèque nationale de France

And... that's my spell book.  Because I can.

Happy Friday!!


Friday, January 13, 2012

Inspiration Fridays: I Just Want a Castle...

Who doesn't want to live in a castle?  I do.  Castles are the coolest.

While I was studying in London, I was able to visit many of them, including Canterbury Castle, below.  I wrote a post about it soon after visiting, but the structure was incredible.  By incredible, I mean it was old, historically important, and crumbling to bits.  Though it had been a residence of the monarchy of England, it apparently wasn't important enough to charge money for entry, or even to be guarded.   We walked right in.  I climbed around in it.  I stole a rock from off the ground, which was part of the Roman wall that surrounded it.  This was legal, apparently, because were there cops or Unesco Heritage Site guards or anything?  Nope.  It was a big, open space that, you know, happened to have a castle in the middle of it.  No big deal.  The UK has tons of those.

As an American, this pretty much blows my mind.  Living in a castle, or seeing one, is one of the pinnacles of existence, as far as I'm concerned.  I was in awe of every structure I had the pleasure to view that was built before about 1550AD because we just don't have any of those on our continent.  At some point during the first couple weeks I was living in London, I took a moment and bragged to one of my English friends that I had lived across the street from one of the oldest pubs in New York- it was founded in 1865!  With an utterly straight face she said something along the lines of "Yeah, whatever, my building is fifty years older than that and it's the newest building on my block"...  It's just different.  

But, this post is about castles, not pubs.  Once again, as I have hypothesized during basically every Inspiration Friday post from the past few monthes, I may only be inspired by castles because I read too many fantasy and historical fiction books, watch too many fantasy and historical fiction films, and play too many fantasy video games.  I'd play historical fiction video games if more of them existed.  Or, maybe I do all of those things because I love fantasy and historical fiction with a passion. Honestly, I'm rather certain this is the reason. I almost accidentally acquired a minor in medieval and renaissance history in college.  If I had been paying attention, I would have achieved that, but frankly, I didn't notice I had done it until I was about to graduate.  I just gravitate towards this stuff.  Reminders of times gone by, times in which I did not live, excite me.  Or, maybe I did live there.  Who knows the true nature of our existence?

Yet someday, I want to climb a castle tower in the middle of the forest and gaze out over the land.  I want to feel the wind whip through my hair as I do this; I wish to watch a hawk circle overhead. 


Well, I think I've established that I'm not just a hopeless romantic, but a completely lost one. Sounds fine to me.


Here are some castles and such in the British Isles.


Tintagel Castle

Windsor Castle

Restormel Castle

Castell Caerdydd

 The White Tower, Tower of London

Chepstow Castle

 Caerphilly Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Castle Stalker

Threave Castle


Caerlaverock Castle




Friday, November 11, 2011

Inspiration Fridays: Fantasy Things I Wish Existed in My Life


I've been sick this whole week.  And I'm not going to mince words about it- it's been crap.  I'm feeling much better today, thanks to napping for four and a half hours yesterday afternoon, and following that up with another eight hours of sleep, so that rocks.  Really, it rocks.  I'm thanking my lucky starts right now because this has just been trying.  

Mostly because, I haven't been able to work as well as I would like.  I didn't work Monday at all, on Tuesday I showed up to work only to find that my class was canceled, and Wednesday and yesterday, my work was far more lacklustre than I will claim to be proud of.  I like my job.  I like to do a good job at it.  I also like being paid.  Thus, when I can't be there, or I am there and feel as if I'm not giving my best, I don't feel too good about it.  I also haven't been working out, which means that all of those endorphins I've been getting all of these wonderful weeks of martial arts joy just weren't on the table this week.  Endorphins make you happy, so I'm just lacking happy juice.  

Speaking of happy juice, I also haven't been drinking coffee, which is my main addiction (and one of the main loves of my life) because it dries you out, and that's about the last thing I need right now.  But, on top of being sick, since I haven't had my 2-4 cups of java a day, I'm going through caffeine withdrawal, which causes stomachaches, headaches, and generalized lame achiness.  Sorry about the complaining- I mean it as a, "YAY!!!  I'm getting better!!?!!" rather than a "Wow, these week bit.  And sucked".  On the bright side, I lost a lot of weight last week thanks to my lack of coffee and my want to not eat, well, anything.  So, yay for going down a size!  I bought some new stretchy jeans to celebrate.  They were $11 at Forever 21, and they are black and shiny and everything I want in a pair of jeans that will probably break in 6 monthes, but will forever remind me how skinny I was at this point in history.  If I was 21 years old I could have made that abstract pun funnier and less abstract, but, I'm not.  I'm older than that.  Maybe I'll keep them around for 21 years?  There we go.

ANYWAY... When I'm feeling down, or like my throat is expanding from the inside and conspiring to choke my living lights out with fits of coughing terror, sadness, and nightmares involving mazes,  batman, and attempting to rescue puppies (don't ask), I get this urge for escapism.  These past few days, this has led me to watching more than half of an anime series called Le Chevalier D'Eon, which was good, playing through the entirety of Batman: Arkham Asylum, which might explain part of the aforementioned nightmare (which was unfortunately real, and really, don't ask), the last episode of Wolverine and the X-Men, reading information online about criminals, fantasy, swords, etc.  I'm also planning to begin playing Skyrim tonight, and putting the first Game of Thrones book in my purse as my subway ride of the week.  Because, I'm a champion.  Basically, I confirmed that I'm a huge nerd and just dreamed about fantastical things existing. 

Like these.  Think about how cool (and potentially dangerous) life would be if we had these things.


1.  Sword-Fighting (or any kind of dueling in general)

Why?  Because, YES. 
Also, because of all of the things I have ever wanted in my life, the winner is to look (and be) like this:
Anime Crazy  (From Le Chevalier D'Eon)

 And this....
Screenshot from Kill Bill

Oh, yes, and this one, because the movie was awful but this scene was fun...
Screenshot from Sucker Punch

To sum it up:  I wish that there were more moments in my life in which I could be the sexy blonde badass with a sword, chopping things to bits for the good of everything, or possibly even just because I'm awesome.  My life doesn't give me as many opportunities to be that girl as I'd like.  At least I'm blond, and am studying Kali.  I'm closer than many.

Now, if I'm going to have a sword, I need....


2. Monster-Like Things to Kill

Now, regrettably, I don't have any of these in real life.  Or, maybe not so regrettably.  Like everything else on this list, monsters are very dangerous, and are not necessarily something that anyone without a serious death-wish or hero complex/ hubris issue wants to run into on a daily basis.  Except for people with exceptional skills, and the kind of luck that often goes along with them.  Maybe I've read too many fantasy novels, played too many fantasy video games and watched too many fantasy movies, or, maybe, I can never get enough of any of them.  I'm going with the latter.  Anywho, here are some of my favourite, loveable, huggable abominations everyone loves to smash/ cut into tiny pieces/ obliterate with fire.

Dragon Age Wiki Darkspawn, from the Dragon Age Series

I-Offer Orcs, from The Lord of the Rings

Mass Effect Wiki The Collectors, from Mass Effect 2

Now that I've given you all nightmares about this (yay!  I mean, sorry?) Let's move on to the related creatures...


3. Mythical Creatures that May or May Not Want to Hurt You (or Eat You for Breakfast)

So there are some mythical creatures that are just downright adorable.  Possibly even cuddly.  They are the antithesis of the abominations I described above, and we all love them because "awwww!!"  They also make nifty mounts, familiars, and pets.  Because, who lived through the 90's without considering how great life would be with a Pikachu?  Or, never thought about having an animal friend like in every Disney film?  Some other mythical creatures are scaly and dangerous, but so cool that we still love them.  Because, they just rock.  Like dragons.

Barking Madd Unicorn, from My Little Pony

 Gurgi, from the Black Cauldron

Fan Pop The Legendary Birds from Pokemon

A Lightning High Dragon from Dragon Age Origins: Awakening

I know that there is a lot of Dragon Age on this list... sorry bout that!  I like Dragon Age, and I've played many hours of my life into it, so I find it inspiring.  The acting is great, the story is delightful, and woo!  You can be a mage and blow things up with fire.  Sounds good to me.

4. Castles

Ok, so, here is one that definitely exists in real life.  Not that blonde badasses don't, they do, but maybe not in the same way they are often portrayed in popular culture, and by that I mean in anime, Quentin Tarantino movies, and movies that wish they were Quentin Tarantino movies.  Here are some photos I've snapped of castles and palaces in my time, and frankly, I couldn't even imagine living in one of these.  It sounds too decadent and all-around mind-blowingly incredible.  But, a girl can dream.  And dream, I do.  





To sum it up:  I want to be a justice-dishing blonde swordswoman who fights humanoid creatures of darkness with the assistance of my adorable animal familiar and my trusty unicorn steed, vanquishes dragons, and operates out of a gorgeous castle or palace somewhere in Europe.  Did I mention that in this fantasy I'm also magical?  Because I am.  For the record.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Photographer Feature: Lauryn McCarter 2

Lauryn McCarter has been featured on Travel and Toile previously with pictures of Prague and Budapest. She has just graduated from NYU and returned to America from a semester in Prague. These pictures come from two trips to Denmark, including a pilgrimage to Elsinore (Helsingør), Hamlet's castle. More of her photography can be found at www.halftrue.tumblr.com.

Cathedral
Copenhagen/København, Denmark

Copenhagen Botanical Gardens
 Copenhagen/København, Denmark

  Elsinore Castle
Kronborg Slot, Helsingør, Denmark

Kronborg Slot, Helsingør, Denmark

Kronborg Slot, Helsingør, Denmark

 Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

So Many Updates

Happiness!  Yay!

Tomorrow is a post about Abraham Lincoln.
Thursday is a new Photographer Feature!
Friday is a new Inspiration Friday.

Everything is exciting.

Oh.  And I am actually tweeting. 
@travelntoile if you want to join in the party.

That's all for now.  Please, enjoy this photograph of fireworks over the Disney castle.


Also... no worries.  I'm done with the short little posts like this.  Substance, my friends.  It's coming your way full force!

Walt Disney World, Florida, USA

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Longwood Gardens Part 2

So... remember when I told you to wait til Sunday for the rest of the Longwood Gardens photos?
Yeah..........
It's Tuesday afternoon.  Life's been really busy lately. I had a new show open on Friday, and on top of performing in it, I'm also the Dance Captain, so life has been nuts.
BUT ANYWAY.  Here are the photos!


There will actually be one more day of Longwood Gardens photographs after this one!  (Then just wait til I go back for the holiday light displays... )

I'd love to say that it will be posted tomorrow, but I might not be able to get it up.  I hope I do!  Every time I let this blog just sit for a few days it makes me sad.

In any case, I hope you enjoy it!  As always, your comments and emails are very appreciated :)

Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA
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