A Note From Paul
Tour a Book -- Then Book a Tour!
First, let me welcome our newest friends to my E-zine, some 350 of you in the Tri-State area just added. Hope you enjoy these weekly travel updates, and if you filter back through past E-zines you'll find valuable and useful information on everything from "Smart Packing for Your 'Journey Beyond the Ordinary' ", to "Beaches Where You'll Never Run Into Snookie!" Just click on the Web link above (the one with the WWW), then click to my Blog. They're all there!
Now, on to this week's topic: Literature! And Travel! And travel that is inspired by literature!
How many of you have kids in school dipping into Shakespeare for the first time? Or Jane Austin? Or heck -- how about your fascination with Downton Abbey or The da Vinci Code? (Ok, Downton Abbey isn't "literature", but I'm fudging a bit.)
Do you know there are tours built around just about any author you like? What a kick -- your child reads Harry Potter, then gets to visit the Oxford-college inspiration for Hogwarts dining hall -- and you get to tour Downton Abbey's Highclere Castle!
If you love literature and love travel... oh, have I got some tours for you!
Read on...
Harry Potter
Ok, granted, the Harry Potter series isn't exactly "high literature". But it's immensely entertaining, and for many of us it's what finally got our children interested in
reading. And it's so popular that there are dozens of "Harry Potter" tours available.
Brendan Vacations, with their "Castles and Kilts" tour, is just one of the reliable companies out there that will take your kids on a tour of some of the notable locations in the series. Their 11-day family tour visits all the highlights of London, plus Harry Potter’s house and the Oxford-college inspiration for the Hogwarts dining hall. For us history buffs, they throw in a fascinating visit to the Roman baths in Bath as well!
Shakespeare
Now we're talking some serious literary chops.
Brendan Vacations again tops the list, with a visit to the
Globe Theatre and the house where William Shakespeare
was born. And they top it off with a tour of Anne Hathaway’s cottage. Afterwards there’s plenty of time for shopping!
From the Scottish Highlands, to the moors, there are so many places in the UK that are best known to us from Shakespeare's plays, you'll find it hard to choose among the many tour offerings.
But wait -- what?! You're tired of Merry Old England?!
The Romantic Poets
From the 18th century through today, literates and poets have found their inspiration in Rome, making the trek in big numbers: Milton, Goethe, Shelley, Byron, Browning, Keats, Stendhal, Joyce, Gogol, Hawthorne, Gibson, Dickens,
Melville, Flaubert, Montesquieu, Sartre, Schopenhauer, Twain, Wilde, Zola -- and that's not even a complete list!
Some of the most popular tours will show you where Shelley and other poets of the Romantic era lived, and where they rest.
So as long as you're already in Italy, how can you not make the pilgrimage to Shelley's grave in the Cimitero dei Poeti -- The Poets' Cemetery -- outside of Rome?!
The da Vinci Code
We're back to "popular" literature again, but there is no denying the draw of Dan Brown's fiction. The da Vinci Code
is one of the most wildly popular works of fiction of the past 20
years, and a tour of the sites where its plot plays out offers not only
an insight into the book itself, but into history.
The story spans the globe, and so can your travels: Travel Bound offers a da Vinci Code tour of Vatican City, while Aristo's Tours Paris takes you through the Louvre and other D.V.C. sites in the City of Lights.
Is it all just fiction? Is it the true history of the Christian church? Big questions, and we'll probably be arguing them for centuries!
Downton Abbey
Let me finish with a piece of "literature" that's not really literature at all, but rather a profoundly literate television series.
Downton Abbey has captured the imagination of American viewers in a way that perhaps no series since Brideshead Revisited has managed. The program doesn't have viewers, it has devotees.
Addison Lee is just one of the tour companies that lets you become Lord or Lady Grantham for the day. From your hotel you will be driven to Charlbury in the beautiful Cotswolds. Morning coffee can be had in the charming Bell Hotel where you and your guide can discuss the plan for the day.
The tour then begins in ‘Downton Village’ where you'll be able to see all the external locations filmed in the series.
You'll see the church, the exterior of the village hospital, and also the exterior of the house lived in by Mrs.Crawley, Matthew Crawley’s mother. You'll then make a stop at the village pub for some lunch.
Then it's on to the family’s second property, Grey’s Court in Oxfordshire, which they proposed moving into and calling ‘Downton Place’, as a result of their financial difficulties in series three.
Next
stop will be Waddesdon Manor, which stood in for the exterior of the
fictional ‘Haxby Park’ in the second season. This is the estate Sir
Richard Carlisle, who was tipped to marry Lady Mary, intended to buy.
And Travel Bound
lets you tour the Castle's public rooms, including the magnificent
public main hall, the library and sitting rooms in addition to other
rooms featured in Downton Abbey.
For the Downton Abbey fan, this is heaven!
So there you go! It's marvelous, isn't it? Travel makes you richer in so many ways.
Until next week...
Tour a Book -- Then Book a Tour!
First, let me welcome our newest friends to my E-zine, some 350 of you in the Tri-State area just added. Hope you enjoy these weekly travel updates, and if you filter back through past E-zines you'll find valuable and useful information on everything from "Smart Packing for Your 'Journey Beyond the Ordinary' ", to "Beaches Where You'll Never Run Into Snookie!" Just click on the Web link above (the one with the WWW), then click to my Blog. They're all there!
Now, on to this week's topic: Literature! And Travel! And travel that is inspired by literature!
How many of you have kids in school dipping into Shakespeare for the first time? Or Jane Austin? Or heck -- how about your fascination with Downton Abbey or The da Vinci Code? (Ok, Downton Abbey isn't "literature", but I'm fudging a bit.)
Do you know there are tours built around just about any author you like? What a kick -- your child reads Harry Potter, then gets to visit the Oxford-college inspiration for Hogwarts dining hall -- and you get to tour Downton Abbey's Highclere Castle!
If you love literature and love travel... oh, have I got some tours for you!
Read on...
P.S. -- There's nothing worth more than your recommendation! Please forward this to friends and associates who might be interested.
* * *
5 Great Lit Tours To Be Well-Read AND Well-Traveled!
Ok, granted, the Harry Potter series isn't exactly "high literature". But it's immensely entertaining, and for many of us it's what finally got our children interested in
reading. And it's so popular that there are dozens of "Harry Potter" tours available.Brendan Vacations, with their "Castles and Kilts" tour, is just one of the reliable companies out there that will take your kids on a tour of some of the notable locations in the series. Their 11-day family tour visits all the highlights of London, plus Harry Potter’s house and the Oxford-college inspiration for the Hogwarts dining hall. For us history buffs, they throw in a fascinating visit to the Roman baths in Bath as well!
Shakespeare
Now we're talking some serious literary chops.Brendan Vacations again tops the list, with a visit to the
Globe Theatre and the house where William Shakespeare
was born. And they top it off with a tour of Anne Hathaway’s cottage. Afterwards there’s plenty of time for shopping!
From the Scottish Highlands, to the moors, there are so many places in the UK that are best known to us from Shakespeare's plays, you'll find it hard to choose among the many tour offerings.
But wait -- what?! You're tired of Merry Old England?!
Both Abercrombie & Kent and IC Bellagio offer tours of Verona Italy's most famous Shakespearian locations. You can follow in the footsteps of som
e of the Bard’s most famous characters as you explore the areas of Verona that are linked
to Shakespeare and his work. Your visit will be completely on foot and
will include the medieval courtyards of the time of his most famous love story, the house of Romeo, the house and balcony of Juliet,
the tomb of Juliet... And of course you can discuss with the guide the
life and times of Shakespeare, what effect he had on Verona and also the
Elisabettiano theatre, not to mention learning all about the
famous Shakespeare Festival which takes place here in July providing
culture lovers with a feast of music, drama, opera and dance in the
stimulating setting of the Roman Arena and the city’s churches.
e of the Bard’s most famous characters as you explore the areas of Verona that are linked
to Shakespeare and his work. Your visit will be completely on foot and
will include the medieval courtyards of the time of his most famous love story, the house of Romeo, the house and balcony of Juliet,
the tomb of Juliet... And of course you can discuss with the guide the
life and times of Shakespeare, what effect he had on Verona and also the
Elisabettiano theatre, not to mention learning all about the
famous Shakespeare Festival which takes place here in July providing
culture lovers with a feast of music, drama, opera and dance in the
stimulating setting of the Roman Arena and the city’s churches.
Rome has fallen, ye see it lying
Heaped in undistinguished ruin:
Nature is alone undying.
Heaped in undistinguished ruin:
Nature is alone undying.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
From the 18th century through today, literates and poets have found their inspiration in Rome, making the trek in big numbers: Milton, Goethe, Shelley, Byron, Browning, Keats, Stendhal, Joyce, Gogol, Hawthorne, Gibson, Dickens,Melville, Flaubert, Montesquieu, Sartre, Schopenhauer, Twain, Wilde, Zola -- and that's not even a complete list!Some of the most popular tours will show you where Shelley and other poets of the Romantic era lived, and where they rest.
So as long as you're already in Italy, how can you not make the pilgrimage to Shelley's grave in the Cimitero dei Poeti -- The Poets' Cemetery -- outside of Rome?!
The da Vinci Code
We're back to "popular" literature again, but there is no denying the draw of Dan Brown's fiction. The da Vinci Code
is one of the most wildly popular works of fiction of the past 20
years, and a tour of the sites where its plot plays out offers not only
an insight into the book itself, but into history.The story spans the globe, and so can your travels: Travel Bound offers a da Vinci Code tour of Vatican City, while Aristo's Tours Paris takes you through the Louvre and other D.V.C. sites in the City of Lights.
Is it all just fiction? Is it the true history of the Christian church? Big questions, and we'll probably be arguing them for centuries!
Downton Abbey
Let me finish with a piece of "literature" that's not really literature at all, but rather a profoundly literate television series.
Downton Abbey has captured the imagination of American viewers in a way that perhaps no series since Brideshead Revisited has managed. The program doesn't have viewers, it has devotees.
Addison Lee is just one of the tour companies that lets you become Lord or Lady Grantham for the day. From your hotel you will be driven to Charlbury in the beautiful Cotswolds. Morning coffee can be had in the charming Bell Hotel where you and your guide can discuss the plan for the day.
The tour then begins in ‘Downton Village’ where you'll be able to see all the external locations filmed in the series.
You'll see the church, the exterior of the village hospital, and also the exterior of the house lived in by Mrs.Crawley, Matthew Crawley’s mother. You'll then make a stop at the village pub for some lunch.
Then it's on to the family’s second property, Grey’s Court in Oxfordshire, which they proposed moving into and calling ‘Downton Place’, as a result of their financial difficulties in series three.
Next
stop will be Waddesdon Manor, which stood in for the exterior of the
fictional ‘Haxby Park’ in the second season. This is the estate Sir
Richard Carlisle, who was tipped to marry Lady Mary, intended to buy.
At
the end of your Downton tour your chauffeur will return you to your
hotel. Or if you prefer, why not finish the day in style with High Tea or dinner at the Ritz?
Abercrombie & Kent
includes a look at some of the first motor cars as shown in Downton
Abbey, along with the fashion and furniture of the early 20th century.
For the Downton Abbey fan, this is heaven!
* * *
So there you go! It's marvelous, isn't it? Travel makes you richer in so many ways.
Until next week...
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