Oh, and I also went here today

 

The darker side of fame

One of the things I wondered about at Apsley House was how Wellington had coped with his fame, which was relatively sudden and must often have felt overwhelming. At least he didn't know that his false teeth would be displayed to the world after his death.

The original wellingtons

Yes, the boots were named after the duke.

I couldn't get a good picture of them, but I thought it was interesting so I'm including it anyway. The boots generally worn by cavalry were thigh-high and protected the legs during battles, but were difficult to walk in. And the boots worn by infantry were ankle-high, good for walking but not great for keeping the feet dry. So Wellington had waterproof knee-high boots made for himself and they became very popular. They've been made of rubber rather than leather since the mid-nineteenth century, but they're still called wellingtons.

Napoleon and Josephine

The art collection in the museum is really impressive—there are paintings by Velazquez, Titan, Goya, Rubens—and more interesting than all the gilt frames and Adam ceilings in the house itself. But there are also dozens of paintings and statues of Napoleon (including a colossal statue in the front entryway.) Apparently anyone who owned a painting of the former emperor foisted it off on the duke as a show of admiration.

I do really like these portraits of Napoleon and Josephine, though.

Saturday reflections

A portrait of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, reflected in a display case of his uniforms at Apsley House, his home in London.

We toured the house on our field trip on Thursday. My course this year is on the Brontës, who were all great admirers of Wellington's. (Charlotte Brontë named the hero of the imaginary kingdom she created with her brother “Arthur Wellesley” after the duke.)

The Brontës weren't alone—the house is packed with trophies, silver, fine china and most of the Spanish royal collection of paintings looted by Joseph Bonaparte, all of it presented to the victor of Waterloo by the grateful royal houses of Europe.

Little house on the prairie

 

More canola fields

Canola

Then we started to pass canola fields. The bright yellow fields alternating with greens were unexpectedly beautiful. The weather had also improved!

Windbreak

I didn't find this drive boring at all; although there definitely weren't a lot of landmarks or flashy geological formations to admire, I enjoyed how different it was from anything I'm used to. Like these trees, which act as a windbreak for the house behind them. Or the fences set back from the highway, which are there to catch the snow and prevent it from drifting into the road.

This is the real Big Sky Country. When nothing obstructs the horizon, the sky takes up a disproporionate amount of what you're seeing.

Jumping back to, say, North Dakota

 

There's a drought here in the UK, and most of the lawns at Merton have gone brown—they water a couple of the smaller ones. And many of the flowers in the gardens are dying or dead. There's been a little rain this week, but clearly not the amounts they need.

So here's a flashback to rainy and quite green North Dakota, the morning we set off from Jamestown, heading west. Flat, flat, and then more flat.

One more dinosaur

I don't remember what kind of dinosaur this is, but I still like the image.

T. Rex

There's a parade of mammal skeletons, including bison, elephants, and giraffes, in the main hall, and also some dinosaur skeleton replicas. I like the way the black and white photo makes the bones feel like part of the building design.