Today's Happy Place. Where is yours?

[Shauna]

I would love to visit the castle someday

[LadyWordsmith]

Spanish castles look like they come right out of fantasy stories even more than most. That's beautiful! 

 

Different castle, but lovely and with gardens! 

 

[U4ea]

Tell me about it! I love that you can always tell where the castle is and how old it is based on the architecture. I'm an architecture freak, though, so I pick up on stuff.  I play the same game walking around old citities... *grins*

 

Spanish castles tend to have rounded surfaces through the middle ages, then you see the rounded archways like this as they progress into the Exploration era:. You'll notice the belfries at the top on either end are still rounded... *smiles*

 

[Ryrin]

That's amazing Lor!

[Ryrin]

Ryrin, where is this photo taken?

 

 

Scotland.

[U4ea]

I'm a geek that way. ;) 

 

Then you take the French castles... (let's stick with identifiable ones, just for the fun of it)

 

This is, of course, Versailles. What I notice about the French castles is all artwork on the outside. They're really big on statues adorning the roof lines. These give the same impression, I think, that all of the "points" on the roof of these castles get with Architecture:

 

  

 

Yes, I credit the french with all the "points" and towers. I know they're not all like that and I know some of the English castles are like that, too. You can find the German castles had a lot in common with the French ones (Cinderella's Castle at the Disney parks is loosely based on a German castle, for example, though I would argue it looks French. Especially the one in Orlando!). 

 

Anyway, that's my uneducated look at castles. Maybe tomorrow, we'll compare some English ones... hehehe

[LadyWordsmith]

*Grins* Love it, Lor!

 

I took a Medieval Art History course in college, for fun of course (that whole Medieval History buff thing, you know? lol) . And about half of what we ended up looking at was (being Medieval Art) .... Architecture all over Europe! The primary focus at the time being churches. Lots..and lots... of churches. But there was some really gorgeous architecture.

 

Then of course, if you move later than that into the Victorian age...we get to Gothic Architecture. *grins* 

 

I actually love going around the US and defining buildings by architecture styles. Colleges make me laugh. Half of what I liked coming out here was I went 'oh look at all this lovely Georgian Architecture!"' Our campus is much prettier than the University of Oklahoma campus (which is a mish-mash of all sorts of stuff, half of it, ugly). 

And since I'm talking about it, I might as well include a nice shot of the side of the OSU Student Union.... (Alas that our architecture is more modern than medieval, but late Colonial is better than some. *grins*) 

 

[Shauna]

I would love to see some German and English castles

[U4ea]

You'd love Savannah, Lady! Not because of the medieval thing (we don't have much of that), but being a colonial city and staying relatively true to an 1840's city gives us a lot to work from! I took a class called "Talking Walls" a few years ago through the historical society (see, I'm that level of geek, too! hehehe) and we walked around Savannah identifying buildings by age based on the architecture. SO MUCH FREAKIN' FUN! And of course, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here in Savannah is a smaller-scale replica of Notre Dame! See? LOTS TO GAWK at! hehehe

 

 

You want some German and English castles, Shauna? Let's start with some German ones, the most famous of which is 

 Neuschwannstein

 

Then there's 

Hohenzollern (I think Disney blended these two together for Cinderella's Castle in Orlando)

 

And then we get to some really OLD ones:

Berg Elz which is dated back into the 13th century (a true medieval castle!). I love the gingerbreading on the turrets... screams GERMAN to me! :)

 

Then you have this beautiful monster:

 

 

Lichentsein, which was built in the 1840-1850 range, but it was built on the ruins of a medieval castle dating from the 13th century. It's also pretty awesome because it's out on a cliff by itself. Anyone wanna talk siege now??? 

[Luciena]

 

Sudeley Castle. Henry VIII last wife Queen Katherine Parr, used to live here. 

Been here and it's as lovely as it looks. even when it's freezing as it was when I was there

[U4ea]

Luciene brought the English! :) I bet that garden is amazing, too! 

[Shauna]

I don't think anyone would be brave enough to talk siege of this castle

[Ryrin]

Lady, UC Davis in California offers a degree in Medieval Studies.

[LadyWordsmith]

Awesome Ryrin! More places should. I looked into Yale and Harvard for both in grad school. My biggest pitfall for becoming a Medievalist and doing it professionally was the fact that my ability to learn Latin is atrociously slow. Case languages and I alas, do not get along well on the grammatical end of things. Apparently singing in it isn't good enough. I did do three years in Medieval English Literature. 

 

Lor, I have never wished to go through the headache of laying siege to anywhere. Mind you, that would be better than being stuck in the besieged castle, but neither would be a favorite. Long and trouble on both ends for most of them. Though I read a fabulous book on Medieval English Warfare, there was an entire section on how to effectively lay siege to castles and cities. 

 

Loving all the castles! I would love to live in a castle (though I would have to design it myself to make it a little more designed for efficiency of things like AC/heat ). My dream home would definitely have a feast hall...and the appropriately amazing kitchen to go with it.

 

Here's a great little historical example (much earlier) of a moat and bailey castle. This one is from Wales.

[U4ea]

I'm with you! I'd have to design it, myself, simply because I need a library the size of a feasting hall... <.< 

 

Since we've made it to England, how about Arundel?? 

 

 

They even have a promo video  here: http://www1.arun.gov.uk/arundelPromotional.htm

 

:) 

[Shauna]

I would also love to live in a castle myself

[LadyWordsmith]

Okay this is elsewhere too, but this gorgeous German medieval monastery deserves to be looked at over here with our lovely castles. :) I love the architecture. 

[Ryrin]

[U4ea]

 

 

Swallow's Nest Castle in the Ukraine! 

[_Kynwric_]

That sounds like so much fun!  I am so horribly tempted to find my local SCA group, just so I have a hobby that a bad back can't keep me from doing! *grumbles*

 

 

Wait, what? Did I hear that correctly?

 

Here ya go:  http://www.savannahsca.org/  

 

 

[U4ea]

Wow, that only took you two months to find..

 

that your happy place for today? Lol

[_Kynwric_]

*coughs* I don't check this thread much...

 

Yep, for yesterday... Airship flying.. 

[U4ea]

LOL *shakes her head* That'll learn ya. For the record, that website is not very informative. 

 

 

 

Las Lajas Cathedral, Colombia

[_Kynwric_]

You'd think...

 

No, it isn't.. what do you want to know? I mean you do have resources, ya know?

[U4ea]

Yeah, I know. Just remember, you guys are the reason, now you must suffer the consequences.