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The Crown Inn

If I had to create the perfect English country inn it would manifest as the Crown Inn in Bishops Waltham England. Our home away from home during our stay in Hampshire England was located at the head of the High St. in Bishops Waltham. The location was convenient to all the shops lining High St. which included, an upscale coffee shop for morning lattes and locals watching, to a grocer selling produce and products from the nearby farms. Also directly behind the inn were the ruins to the famous Bishops Waltham Palace, a medieval monastery that was, pre Henry VIII, one of the largest in Europe.

The Crown Inn was comfortable in every possible way, the bed was heaven and the bathroom facilities were excellent including the standard British towel warmer.

We enjoyed a full breakfast each morning in the wonderful pub on the main floor, antiques abound in each and every room. The tables were set with the most wonderful Staffordshire calico plates in every single color !

Ever since my childhood I have been a fan of Miss Jane Austen. Her works of romantic fiction have taken me again and again to a time of gentleman and ladies, and the practise of "polite society". During our recent trip to England we were very lucky to be within a thirty minute drive to her childhood home. Jane wrote some of her greatest works in this very house in Alton in the county of Hampshire. Those included, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, North Anger Abbey, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park.

1st Edition

In 1945 the Jane Austen Society managed to have the house purchased and turned into a museum. The rooms on show include the drawing room, and parlor where Jane wrote on the small round table. Upstairs is her bedroom with the patchwork quilt she made with her mother and sister Cassandra. There is even a shawl on display with Jane's own needle work trimming the edges.

My trip to Venice was truly life changing. Yes many people say that, but mine really was. Traveling alone for the first time placed something permanent in my soul and in my brain. It seems that now when I think of destinations the sky is the limit. I did learn that finding the right hotel also helps with logistics when traveling alone.

If you are looking for a mid range price on the Grand Canal this hotel has all the amenities and amazing views. Foscari Palace is located in the Canneragio neighborhood of Venice on the Grand Canal, just across from the Rialto market.

This gem of a boutique hotel is just off the Strada Nova, a thoroughfare that spans from Canneragio neighborhood to the Jewish Ghetto. The Strada Nova has many cafe's, restaurants, local shops, and a passagiata (evening stroll) will find you rubbing elbows with local Venetians.

Henry Emmett, my 2nd great grandfather, was born in Bishops Waltham England in 1849. He was the third child and second son of Henry Emmet and Sarah Hatch. Henry's family historically worked as hired farm hands on local estates, and were given housing by the land owners as part of their employment. The land in the photo above was worked by Henry's father and possibly himself in the mid to late 1800's.

I was fortunate enough to travel to Henry's hometown of Bishops Waltham and do a little time traveling into the past. After spending a week in this lovely region I realized several important things about myself. I understand so much better now just why I love to till the soil and make things grow, its in my blood ! Oh, and my fascination with Jane Austen ? my love of all things English country, the rolling hills and pastures, the country lanes and turnstiles ? well she was living not very far away from Henry's parents when they were young. All the imagery in her writing was the visual that I took in as I traveled around Hampshire.

In mid July my husband and I traveled to the enchanting countryside of Hampshire England. I was doing a bit of research on my ancestors from that region, so we booked a room at a country inn and found ourselves smack dab in the middle of heaven.

The village of Bishops Waltham was a charming place to stay and held a strong connection to my families history. The village was a quaint and thriving place, with a population just over 6500 residents. The High St. in town had everything we could need, from a small grocer carrying local produce and products, to an up scale coffee shop that seemed to be the center of activity every morning of the week.

There is a pattern that has been forming for some time in my life. I seem to find kindred spirits where ever I go, even as far off as Italy. You know what I mean don't you, the kind of person you connect with instantly, and feel as though you've been friends for decades ? I was so very fortunate, through a former colleague of mine, to be introduced to just such a person in Venice. It is a stunning story really. Young American woman on vacation in Venice, meets and falls in love with a gondolier, leaves her home country behind to marry her love and live in a foreign land, just like a movie.

Of course none of this was known to me before we met, although, we had the chance to exchange small conversations on social media and attempt to plan a meeting face to face, I knew nothing about this delightful woman. I felt so fortunate to know someone who lived in this city I had never been to and to have the opportunity to see this magical place through the eyes of a true Venetian.

We had decided a lunch and walk in the city would be the perfect first meeting and made arrangements for the day. Then my dear friend became ill, quite ill actually, and found herself in the hospital when I arrived in Venice. Now you must understand the personality I was about to meet, determined is not a strong enough word for this tiny dynamo. I was very concerned that she should rest and she was just as determined to keep our date.

I recently had the chance to venture to Venice Itlay ! This was not your average trip to Europe, there were two very important things happening simultaneously. One, this would be my very first travel experience all on my own, and two, I was attending my very first writing workshop !

The experience of navigating unknown airports and landing in a country where English was not the primary language was more than daunting to me. I have always had my trusty hubby/Sherpa/money exchanger/schedule keeper by my side, this time I was on my own, large and in charge. Prior to booking the trip back in February I had changed my mind at least a dozen times. Each day I would open the website hosting the workshop and imagine myself strolling the exotic back streets of Venice, hopping on a water taxi, or ordering an espresso and pastry in Italian. And then fear would settle in and I would imagine countless disasters that could be fall me, I could lose my passport, get lost, get robbed !, in my mind epic dangers awaited a single woman in a foreign country. Then I saw this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt

"Do one thing everyday that scares you."

Well that was it, I booked the workshop, booked my tickets and added a few extra days after the workshop to really explore the city on my own.

Hever Castle

While making coffee this morning, I grabbed a smallish bone china mug from the cupboard. One look at the Tudor cottages surrounded by gardens and I was transported back to Kent. During our trip to England, being the Tudorphiles that we are, we could not pass up the chance to see the birth place of Anne Boleyn. A small manor house in the countryside of Kent is where the famous, or infamous however you would like to see her, second wife of Henry the VIII grew up. Better known as Hever Castle, this idyllic spot turned out to be a full day of gardens, architecture, history, art and yes even a jousting contest.

With a small bit of research regarding the areas outside of London Brian and I were fixed on the idea of going for a day trip to the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. After a few attempts to find the right train schedule we were told that it was best to get off in Edenbridge as opposed to Hever due to the fact that Hever station had no facilities such as cabs or buses. When we arrived at Edenbridge we discovered that the same went for the Edenbridge station, quite remote. Fortunately we were within walking distance of a local store and the owner was more than happy to call a cab for us. We were picked up by a delightful man named William who owned his cab and lived nearby. William was kind enough to set a time to pick us up after we had finished for the day and transport us back to the Edenbridge station in time for our train back to London.

When we arrived at the property we were delighted to find extensive gardens and constructed walls, follies of ancient Greek arches, and a lake where boats could be hired for a small fee.

There was a two mile loop walking path through the more remote areas of the 125 acres of land that are part of Hever. As we walked the well groomed and quiet grounds, I imagined Queen Anne as a girl playing in these very woods. There was also a very extensive rose garden featuring the Hever Rose a hybridized Floribunda created just for the gardens at the castle.

Henry and Queen Anne themselves were at hand !

We enjoyed a jousting contest with full regalia.

This is a portrait of adolescent Queen Elizabeth the 1st, one of the many medival portraits found on the property.

We truly enjoyed our day of stepping back in time, our walks in the woods, the jousting match, the tour of Hever Castle. We even saw Anne Boleyn's book of hours, a personal hand written and decorated book of prayers that all decent medieval young ladies possessed, she had this with her in the Tower before she died and you could see the messages she had written on the edges of the pages. As we drove away it occured to me she left all this beauty, enticed by grandeur, and prestige to end up on the block and ultimately in a hole in the church floor at St Peter ad Vincula. Anne you should have stayed on the farm !!

http://annagretta.blogspot.com/p/europe.html http://annagretta.blogspot.com/p/europe.html

Josefov

The Old Jewish Quarter in Prague

The Jewish quarter is a small quaint neighborhood that is a short walk from old town square. There are walking tours available or you can buy tickets to see the cemetery and synagogues on your own. The Jews of Prague have a rich history dating back to 970 AD. The " Jewish ghetto" as it was called had an extensive history ranging from a full on "Jewish Renaaisance" where the neighborhood became a center for Jewish mysticism, to near expulsion in the 11th century, and complete annexation and removal of all Jews by the Nazi regime during World War II.

The Jewish quarter has six synagogues, one of which is the oldest in Europe and a massive collection of Jewish artifacts, from Kiddish cups, to Torah crowns. During Nazi occupation Hitler had decided to create a "museum of an extinct race" in Prague, therefore many of the articles of faith from syagogues all over Bohemia and Moravia were stored in the Jewish Museum. These are now displayed in the Spanish Synagogue.

There were many moving moments during our walking tour of the old Jewish quarter, but for me the Pinkas Synagogue was the place that touched deepest. The Pinkas Synagogue was first turned into a memorial to the Czech Holocaust victims in 1958. The names of 77,297 Jews from Bohemia and Moravia who died in the holocaust were written on the walls inside of the synagogue. Ten years later, following the Six Day War in Israel in 1967, the Communist government of Czechoslovakia closed the memorial and removed the names from the wall. After the fall of Communism in 1989, the names were painstakingly rewritten on the walls of the synagogue between 1992 and 1996. As you walk and read the endless stream of names, there is a recording, not intrusive, very softly saying every name on the wall. As you look closer at the names on the walls you begin to realize there are entire families listed, mother, father, and every last child. The surnames are in bright red lettering and where they have the ability the date of birth and date last seen alive are also written. This is a solemn place, I tried so hard to send a silent prayer for each name, how is this done with so many names, finally I realized that to never forget is the answer, never forget.

On the top floor of the synagogue is a collection of children's drawings done between 1942-1944, these were done by orphans taken to a nearby concentration camp called Terezin. Terezin was a work camp and stop over before transportation to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. All but one of the 10,000 children that were at Terezin survived. When the camp was shut down the art was preserved and holds a permanent display in the synagogue.

The Old Jewish Cemetery

There is not an exact count of how many are buried in the cemetery but it is estimated over 100,000 burials have taken place here since what is believed to have been the fifteen century. Jews are forbidden to remove graves or head stones , so once the cemetery was full the practice was to layer more soil for the next burial and put the tombstone back into the ground. I wished so much that I could read Hebrew, to read what was written on the stones, who they were, what year were they laid to rest. Brian and I have always had a quirky sort of interest in places of rest and this by far was the most exotic one we have ever seen.