I got a bit overzealous picking out books, though... I should have just chosen one and been content with that, but there were so many good options! Plus they had DVDs (for a small fee). There were a number of fairly recent releases, too, so I don't mind the fee. I decided to start my reading with with Mansfield Park (as Jane Austen had come highly recommended to me before I left Oregon). So far I've read about 300 pages in the last 24 hours (of which sleeping, eating, cooking, and taking long walks was also a part). Not bad. I should have it done today and I'll be on to my next one.
After reading all day, I thought it might be nice to go stretch my legs, so I went for a walk in a new direction. I looked at a map before I went and saw that there was an "Abbey Ruin" next to a park. The weather was very nice today (sunny with a light breeze) so walking seemed the thing to do, and going to a park even better. As it turns out the park is the best upkept I've seen so far. It even had plaques around to give historical information about the surroundings (of which there was quite a bit). One thing that caught my eye was Jane Austin's name. She appaerntly went to school in one of the buildings across the way. What a coincidence. (I forgot my camera or I would post pictures.)
I walked through the park on my way to the Abbey, hopping from plaque to plaque. It was originally constructed in 1100-something by (and I may not be remembering this correctly) Henry I (who was later burried there in 1134 (or thereabouts). At first it looked like there were a few scant (though tall) arches left of the original building, which I went and inspected. The picture of the original building was enormous, and another well-placed plaque said that it had only fallen to the current level of ruin because people scavenged building materials from it sometime in the 1700s. After reading this, I set off on my walk again, convinced I had seen it all. The Abby didn't stop there, though. It turns out there is still a sizeable portion of it left standing that had just been out of my view. It was almost a city block of stone walls-turned-park. I'll make sure to take my camera with me next time to better illustrate what I mean. I was quite impressed.
2 comments:
YAY... I love Jane Austin, although that isn't my favorite book of hers. What do you think of it? And by the way I am really enjoying the blog, good idea. Happy reading.
Mansfield Park was the only Austin book in the library I could find, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'll go back and look for others once I get through my stack.
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