The Callie Martin Literary tour of South east England
And now on your left you have...Bath! My Jane Austen pilgrimage included the Pump rooms, where the Austen heroines often went to take the waters of Bath ( under sufferance of course, Lord, no one should drink that water willingly!) And I also have photos of No4 Sidney Place where she lived whilst writing her Bath books. I also, yes I admit grudgingly, bought the last book of hers that I haven't read, the difficult Mansfield Park. And trust me, thats enough Jane Austen for one week!
My literary tour continued with a quiet pint at Prince Saracens, the pub in which Dickens sat and doodled some characters that would become the main parts of Pickwick Papers (silly book, I do not recommend!) I also flirted with the barkeep, who remarked how good it was to see ladies drinking Pints. I smiled and said I was Australian, not a lady!
Now I'm in Merry old Oxford, freezing to death and getting so lost. I am hopeless at maps, who'd a-thought? But so far today I have visited the Eagle and Child pub in which Lewis Carroll (dirty filthy kiddy fiddler) and C.S Lewis met to chat about the vast Christian epic C.S wanted to write. I have also scowled at the Rhodes Scholars house..well, mansion! Patted the walls of Magdalen College, tried very hard to get kicked out of the Bodlien Library ( What do you mean we can't go in there, thats where the books are?)And there was also an incident with some ducks I was trying to herd!
But have met a crazy traveling companion who knows nothing about Oxford and that in itself is perhaps the most literary thing on this literary tour. There's nothing a writer loves more than a captive audience.