Of Historical Interest

I just found THIS SITE and it's probably where I'll be the rest of the night (read: week). The British Library has made high quality scans of important pieces of literature, which you can read online for free, in their original form. So little ol' me can sit here on my couch and review DaVinci's journals written by his own hand or read every word of the original Alice in Wonderful that Lewis Carroll wrote for the real Alice. This is mind blowingly exciting to me (I know, I don't get out much). You will probably have to download stuff and go through what seems like a little bit of a pain in the ass, but it is WORTH IT. If you're a dork like me. (seriously, it is a very cool site.)

I also thought this photo of a rare wrinkled bust of Caesar (there is no normal way to phrase that) was interesting. We never seem to see historical legends as they were when elderly. I went through a whole Cleopatra phase (that was one tough chick there) and then a whole Julius Caesar phase and then a whole Mark Antony phase. So maybe that's why I think it's interesting, but maybe some of you will too.

Speaking of seeing historical figures as you don't normally see them, I couldn't believe how beautiful the death mask of Mary Queen of Scots is. No wonder Queen Elizabeth locked her ass up and had her killed. Here's a cool biography about her with pictures of castles.

Just for fun, here are photos of Ephesus. Mr. Ashley and I have been here and it was AWESOME. *I* have walked down a road Cleopatra, Mark Antony and the Virgin Mary all walked down. *That* is thrilling to me. Here are some interesting facts about this ancient city.

Okay, now that I've bored half of you half to death, I'll go read the rest of Alice in Wonderland.

Edited to add: If you do like history, you must read Margaret George. She is an unbelievable writer, well researched but interesting and imaginative historical fiction, I have read (and loved) every thing she has ever written.