In Parliament with John Hampden:
The spot where Charles I stood during his trial and refused to enter a plea. Uh...what do we do now, sir?:
First edition of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. On a random shelf in the British Museum:
From an exhibition of Napoleanic-era political cartoons at the British Museum. Yes, that is Napoleon farting the French fleet across the Channel:
The converted Manor House we stayed at outside Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was as nice as it looks:
The American Oak planted at Fort Royal Park in Worcester, commemorating the time John Adams yelled at the locals for not caring about the spot where men once fought for liberty:
In the underground of Yorkminster Cathedral in York which was built on the site of the old Roman legionary barracks. This column is in the spot where the banqueting hall would have been...where they are pretty sure Constantine was first declared Emperor by his men.
Onto Paris!. Right in front of the Champ de Mars, site of the Fete de la Federation and (duh) the Massacre of the Champ de Mars. There is also a tourist trap in the background.
The Revolution never dies. This is the badge worn by our guide as a part of a running protest against government budget cuts. That's Mona Lisa wearing the Phrygian Liberty Cap and Tricolor Cockade:
The foundations of the Bastille in the Paris metro:
Inside the Picpus Cementary, site of one of the two mass burial grounds for victims of the Terror. Over a thousand people were dumped here. This is one of two walls commemorating the dead:
The Picpus Cemetery is also where Lafayette rests in peace:
Inside the Chapelle Expiatoire, the first mass burial ground. This is where all the major figures were buried. Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, all the Girondins, Danton, Desmoulins, every poor sod who got put in charge of the Army of the North. The crypts in the background honor the massacred Swiss Guard:
Can't win em all. Went to the Carnavalet Museum specifically to see their room dedicated to the French Revolution. But of course, this being France, it was randomly closed for the day:
Dinner at the Cafe Procope--the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Paris (opened 1686). Located in the heart of the old Cordeliers district it was a hotbed of Revolutionary activity. The plaque I was sitting under talks about how Jefferson used to eat here all the time when he was Ambassador to France:
Inside the Palace at Versailles. The painting in the background depicts the convening the of the Three Estates in May 1789:
And finally...Inside the Tennis Court! What a thrill.
It will be much cooler had you posed in the last picture as if you were taking the oath (although people may think you were some kind of neonazis).
Keep the good work, comrade.
Posted by: Marwan | 24 May 2015 at 06:50 AM