Does anyone live near anywhere interesting?

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Jenx

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From a gaming point of view?

Recently I've been trying to get my youngest son (11 years old) away from the computer games and more towards RPGs, Board Games, anything creative to make him use his brain more instead of his infernal youngster twitchy reflexes that have finally started to make mine seem like they've slowed down after a life time of playing video games. Yes, at 50 I have to admit that I may have to hand over the 'crown' to a young pretender after kicking hiss ass on twitchy shooter games for the last few years. I was raised on Space Invaders, Pac Man, Phoenix, Gorf and more besides, through every home computer era and now concede that my reflexes ain't what they used to be. Tis a sad thing but time marches on us all.

I digress. Where was... ah. In my efforts to get him interested in other things we went to the Royal Armouries in Leeds (UK). About 20 minutes drive away, free to get in, wander around and see how our ancestors devised more creative ways to kill one another. Unfortunately they have the Tudor era on at the moment when I was really wanting to have a look at Medieval stuff. The other problem is that it's mostly behind glass cases (probably a good thing. Explaining why 'one of our zweihanders is missing' and screams as an 11 year old runs amok hacking at the armoured dummies is probably not a good thing.)

I've put a few pics up but they are rubbish. I have many more but they need trimming and sifting through.

Another thing I saw this morning was Middleham Castle. It's more of a ruin but walking distance from the girlfriends second home and it conjures images of haunted ruins and orcs lying in wait, or whatever.

So the question, do you live near anything interesting from a gaming perspective and can you put some pics up?


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This illustrates the problem. With everything behind a glass case the pictures are a bit rubbish really.

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One thing that struck me was how small Medieval warriors were. There was one suit of armour 'made for a large knight at 6'3" ' and it looked to be somewhat of a squeeze for me. The rest my son could fit in. And he wanted to try. :grin:
 
Hell yes. I live in New England, home to about as many historical sites in a relatively small area as there are in the hemisphere. For verisimilitude fans, this is solid gold.

Want a 17th century frontier village? Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth. 18th/19th century instead? Old Sturbridge Village or Historic Deerfield will do!

Age of Sail tickle your fancy? Mystic Seaport in Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the US, and recreated a 19th century fishing village -- it's an astonishing place, and has the last extant whaling ship. The region is loaded with historic ships and replicas, from USS Constitution to the Mayflower II to the Beaver to the Amistad ...

A little further back? The Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester has one of the largest collections of arms and armor anywhere. (And obviously we have a ton of museums around here.)
 
As a bit of an Anglophile, I feel like anyone living anywhere in the Isles probably lives near somewhere interesting. You gotta look pretty hard to find a spot where nothing ever happened.

I live in Kansas City. The city is good for prohibition-era history, and has a little bit of Civil War stuff nearby, but is otherwise kind of lacking for gaming inspiration sadly.
 
Here in Queensland, Australia, we have some small mountains that look like pyramids.
There is the Gympie Pyramid in South East Queensland, and the Walsh Pyramid up in North Queensland

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Gympie Pyramid

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Walsh Pyramid

There's lots of local Indigenous Australian spiritual lore from the original aboriginal peoples who inhabited the regions where these natural pyramids are. There are also some modern conspiracy theories doing the rounds with rumours ranging from overgrown ancient civilisations thru to alien extraterrestrial sites...

So perhaps there's some fodder there for a Mythos game, or something like that perhaps?
 
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I don't have any pictures, but I grew up near Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and played in the parks that had been the costal approach forts during WWII (Manchester State Park much more than the others). Old bunkers, warehouses for mines, gun emplacements with and without disabled guns, were all fuel for my imagination.

I've worked in enough warehouses and manufacturing facilities that infiltrating them (in Shadowrun and World of Darkness) has become kind of a joke with me and my play group.
 
I visited Leeds about twenty years ago (my only time to visit the UK) and was fascinated with it (I also liked Bath quite a lot). But the thing that intrigued me most was all the history in London pubs. While there my best friend and I swore an oath that we would drink a pint in every London pub before we left (We failed miserably) and in the process learned a lot about Britain's history. Wars, treason, international relations and more has all happened in famous London pubs.
 
I live next to Salem and Danvers (old salem village). And we have Dungeon Rock in Lynn Woods (where an old pirate named Thomas Veele supposedly buried some treasure---and years later a spiritualist claimed to have been led to the loot by a ghost, built a house on it and moved his family there). Also Lynn was the center of a pretty big spiritualist movement in the 1800s and early 1900s. I think most places have their own legends and myths that can make for gameable material. And we had the old Danvers Lunatic Asylum before it was mostly torn down. Lot of old witch trials stuff here, lots of lovecraftian locales, lots of revolutionary history sites too, etc
 

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Also, in Nahant, a small island connected by a causeway to Lynn (just north of Boston) there is an old world war II bunker that is pretty cool:
 

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About two years back I learned of 16 miles of underground tunnels that run from my town to another, which were used in the days of the Colonies. Purely by chance, I learned last year an interest to them is ten blocks from me, in the realm of suburbia.

I feel like me going would be the start of my very own, gnome-infested horror movie, so I haven’t gone to investigate.
 
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Leeds Armouries is great. Went there loads when I lived in Huddersfield. I even got to try on some authentic English Civil War gear when it was quiet.

As well as the various obligatory castles, the whole vibe of Old Aberdeen is perfect for anyone running a medieval city campaign.
 
London has more history than one can poke a stick at - it's hard to even begin. However, some more local items of historical significance include:

Hever Castle - former family home of the Boleyns and later on the Astors (perhaps one could set a CoC game there).

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The Pooh Sticks bridge - the bridge itself has been restored so what's left is questionably original, but I have played pooh sticks at the original site.

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Battle Abbey - built on the original site of the battle of Hastings. At the behest of a visiting friend, we re-enacted the battle as a pillow fight, complete with Monty Python quotes.

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St. Dunstan in the East - a ruined church left as-is just off Lower Thames Street in London. Who knows what's sealed in the crypt, and why was it concreted over?

Roaming-Required-St-Dunstan-In-The-East-7-800x450.jpg
 
I live in Strood which is near Rochester and the Medway river, site of many battles.

We have Rochester & Frindsbury Castles, a Cathedral, Fort Amherst (which was a control centre for the Southeast during the Battle of Britain).

We are also pretty close to the Kent Showground, and Andy Robertshaw, technical adviser for Warhorse & 1917 has started recreating the trench network in Detling Wood.

Sadly the images for my pics are too big for the site :sad:
 
I'd have a very easy time translating my environment in a gaming supplement. It just would send a lot of people into outrage, and many others into "unfamiliar settings that alienate" mode:shade:.

Now let me see what I can suggest, preferably making it palatable in the process:tongue:.
(This is not where I live most of the year...but I pass by at least a couple times a year).

Klisura
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Now, the official history is that this guy is a revolutionary from 1876 (against the Ottoman Empire). But is it true? And if so, why is the statue looking at the city?
Also, why is the adjoining area called Evil glen...and why was a motor tourism complex built there?
Might it be that the complex is a hideout for an ancient cult, which can only act on certain years of the proto-Bulgarian calendar (which has a 60-years cycle)?
Keep in mind: both 1936 and 1996 years have been...tumultuous and bloody, including the murder of a prime minister in 1996, assumed to be related to the mob. Is that accidental? Or does the cult become more active when it seems the Sun* is soon to be right:devil:?
Of course, the cult is acting via mobs: in 1936, this was the Nazi sympathizers. In 1996, it was an actual mob.
Who thwarts its goals?
Enter the investigators:gunslinger:!

*The Bulgarian calendar is based on the sun cycle. Lovecraft got that part wrong!


I can make even more convoluted plots with the many, many achitectural monuments in Sofia, of course. But I've always thought that the statue of the Borimechkata fits as a guardian statue:grin:!
 
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I live in Strood which is near Rochester and the Medway river, site of many battles.

We have Rochester & Frindsbury Castles, a Cathedral, Fort Amherst (which was a control centre for the Southeast during the Battle of Britain).

We are also pretty close to the Kent Showground, and Andy Robertshaw, technical adviser for Warhorse & 1917 has started recreating the trench network in Detling Wood.

Sadly the images for my pics are too big for the site :sad:

You're probably the closest pubber to me - I'm in Tunbridge Wells.

In related news, there's no size limit on images you link from external sites.
 
In related news, there's no size limit on images you link from external sites.
...then why did it refuse to upload the other picture I wanted to upload:shock:?

Ah well, never mind, it wasn't necessary in the end - I'm just curious now.
 
Kelveden Secret Nuclear Bunker - a cold war era fallout shelter more recently decommissioned and converted into a museum; I used to work quite close by about 10 years ago. The road signage around it has a wonderfully Monty Python quality. I think somebody on the Ministry of Transport thoroughly enjoyed authorising that.

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...then why did it refuse to upload the other picture I wanted to upload:shock:?

Ah well, never mind, it wasn't necessary in the end - I'm just curious now.

To clarify, there is no file size limit if you link the image from an external source, rather than upload the file itself. Xenforo is also fussy about the URL; It won't accept some URLs from content management systems if it can't work out what the file type is.
 
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Kelveden Secret Nuclear Bunker - a cold war era fallout shelter more recently decommissioned and converted into a museum; I used to work quite close by about 10 years ago. The road signage around it has a wonderfully Monty Python quality. I think somebody on the Ministry of Transport thoroughly enjoyed authorising that.

141523386_4de1e7fd42_b.jpg.CROP.promo-large2.jpg


1920px-Entrance_to_Kelvedon_Hatch_Nuclear_Bunker.jpg


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The big sign saying "secret nuclear bunker" takes the cake and runs with it:thumbsup:!

To clarify, there is no file size limit if you link the image from an external source, rather than upload the file itself. Xenforo is also fussy about the URL; It won't accept some URLs from content management systems if it can't work out what the file type is.
OK, mystery resolved, I guess. Thank you!
 
As much as anything else, why I recommend visiting reenactment villages and suchlike to gamers is in picking up small elements of atmosphere you just won't get from a book or a website, no matter how indepth.

For instance, the wharfside and walkups to the piers at Mystic Seaport are paved with crushed oyster shell. Pretty common in New England coastal villages back in the day, but I hadn't known that.

Or in seeing a cider press in action. Now the press was huge -- the bar was about two feet thick and a dozen feet long, and a couple hefty fellows hung from it to operate it. It had its own standalone shed. Fair enough, you could hit up Wikipedia or Google "cider press" to get that much. (A lever press is pretty primitive; horse-operated rotary screw presses were more common.) But what I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't seen it in person was that the whole operation was surrounded by a frigging CLOUD of hornets, obviously attracted to the fruit.
 
As much as anything else, why I recommend visiting reenactment villages and suchlike to gamers is in picking up small elements of atmosphere you just won't get from a book or a website, no matter how indepth.

For instance, the wharfside and walkups to the piers at Mystic Seaport are paved with crushed oyster shell. Pretty common in New England coastal villages back in the day, but I hadn't known that.

Or in seeing a cider press in action. Now the press was huge -- the bar was about two feet thick and a dozen feet long, and a couple hefty fellows hung from it to operate it. It had its own standalone shed. Fair enough, you could hit up Wikipedia or Google "cider press" to get that much. (A lever press is pretty primitive; horse-operated rotary screw presses were more common.) But what I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't seen it in person was that the whole operation was surrounded by a frigging CLOUD of hornets, obviously attracted to the fruit.
The Black Country Museum is great for that and spans most of the Industrial revolution.

As you say, you can't really get a feel for what it must have been like in the same way without that physical presence. (It's also helping to keep a lot of traditional crafts alive - glass engraving, metal working etc.)

Black Country Museum.jpg
 
As much as anything else, why I recommend visiting reenactment villages and suchlike to gamers is in picking up small elements of atmosphere you just won't get from a book or a website, no matter how indepth.

For instance, the wharfside and walkups to the piers at Mystic Seaport are paved with crushed oyster shell. Pretty common in New England coastal villages back in the day, but I hadn't known that.

Or in seeing a cider press in action. Now the press was huge -- the bar was about two feet thick and a dozen feet long, and a couple hefty fellows hung from it to operate it. It had its own standalone shed. Fair enough, you could hit up Wikipedia or Google "cider press" to get that much. (A lever press is pretty primitive; horse-operated rotary screw presses were more common.) But what I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't seen it in person was that the whole operation was surrounded by a frigging CLOUD of hornets, obviously attracted to the fruit.

You'll see that at a lot of traditional markets as well, wasps all over the place. There was a fishmonger with a van that used to do the rounds in the area about Sevenoaks, and there would be wasps everywhere (just ordinary Vulgaris and Germanica, hornets are quite rare in the UK, although much more common on the continent). You'll also see wasps by the truckload at any farmer's market. Traditional markets in Indonesia are also swarming with wasps as well.
 
I live in Virginia. The place is steeped in history (I joke that anywhere you go, you will find a sign saying "Near this spot Traveler (Lee's horse) dropped a horse biscuit"), but not all that much gaming fodder. There is however, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwood_University. When Ruffner caught on fire, the local Anthropology department went wild. "A gutted building dating to 1839? <drool>Gimme!" They found at least three weird things. There were abandoned tunnels from the original womens' dormitories to the college president's house. There were secret corridors between the rooms. And there were rooms with secret entrances. IIRC, the only way to one room was to climb over a wall in one of the secret corridors.

Over its 160 year history those rooms could have had many uses.
Trysting places between the students and the faculty?
Party rooms?
Underground Railroad station?
Initiation rites?
Temples to who knows what cult?
 
As much as anything else, why I recommend visiting reenactment villages and suchlike to gamers is in picking up small elements of atmosphere you just won't get from a book or a website, no matter how indepth.

For instance, the wharfside and walkups to the piers at Mystic Seaport are paved with crushed oyster shell. Pretty common in New England coastal villages back in the day, but I hadn't known that.

Or in seeing a cider press in action. Now the press was huge -- the bar was about two feet thick and a dozen feet long, and a couple hefty fellows hung from it to operate it. It had its own standalone shed. Fair enough, you could hit up Wikipedia or Google "cider press" to get that much. (A lever press is pretty primitive; horse-operated rotary screw presses were more common.) But what I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't seen it in person was that the whole operation was surrounded by a frigging CLOUD of hornets, obviously attracted to the fruit.

I found reenactment villages very helpful for gaming. I also found tours of places like the Hawthorne House useful as well. Local historical societies can be helpful (you can ask for access to material in their library and records sometimes and they often have surprising things).

These days too, youtube often has videos of things you would have had to physically go visit in the past. I find Unesco videos and similar things helpful for understanding village and architecture I am not familiar with
 
Kelveden Secret Nuclear Bunker - a cold war era fallout shelter more recently decommissioned and converted into a museum; I used to work quite close by about 10 years ago. The road signage around it has a wonderfully Monty Python quality. I think somebody on the Ministry of Transport thoroughly enjoyed authorising that.

141523386_4de1e7fd42_b.jpg.CROP.promo-large2.jpg


1920px-Entrance_to_Kelvedon_Hatch_Nuclear_Bunker.jpg


252103_229477013736357_3284718_n.jpg


1024px-Nuclear_Bunker_%2820%29.jpg
I like it Secret Nuclear Bunker!
 
Royal Armouries also does jousting, falconry and hand-to-hand combat demonstrations out in the tilt yard, although the last time we went, the main attraction was a very hungover chap in the flats opposite standing on his balcony in his underpants...

Middleham Castle is in a great part of the world - Wensleydale, with Swaledale to the north. You have Aysgarth Waterfall, Bolton Castle, Richmond Castle, the old lead mines at Gunnerside (a short walk out the village, and a great spot for a bivvy out under the stars if you're up for it), then all the way up to the utter desolation of the High Pennines - Tan Hill Inn, the farm where the Yorkshire Shepherdess lives and so on.

West of you, you also have Malham Cove (Goredale Scar is a short but exciting scramble) and the Yorkshire Three Peaks, loads of waterfalls and walks, the Settle-Carlisle steam railway, and another castle at Skipton.

Your lad might be a bit bored by the Hawes Creamery (where they make Wensleydale cheese), and too young for the breweries in Masham...

Plenty of UFOs, hauntings and legends - Ilkley Moor has a famous UFO photo, I recall. The North York Moors hold the legend of the Barghest, a great black dog that stalks travellers. Whitby and Staithes have Captain Cook, Dracula and the Abbey. Goths and Steampunks, kippers, hunting for fossils and jet! I'm guessing he may not be into the historical ramifications of the Synod of Whitby just yet!

I'm in Lincoln - we have a Norman castle, site of pivotal battles during the Barons' Wars, a High Gothic cathedral, and tons of Roman ruins. Miles and miles of countryside walks and hidden-away wildlife, astonishingly beautiful beaches (away from the tourist traps). There are WWI forts out in the Humber Estuary, and a lot of seals come onland to birth their pups at Donna Nook. Lincoln Castle has loads of hands-on re-enactment events through the summer. Bolingbroke Castle, mostly just foundations now, was the birthplace of Henry IV, son of John of Gaunt. Tattershall Castle is a complete shell, which overlooks RAF Coningsby, home to a Typhoon squadron. It also has the Battle of Britain Flight museum - you often see the planes (Hurricanes, Spitfires, a Lancaster and a Dakota) out practising over the wheat fields in the summer. The Red Arrows aerobatics display team is based 2 miles from my house, and they practice their formation flying over the village pretty much every day.

Nearby Newark was one of the pivotal control points in the Civil War, and has a Civil War museum there too.

Sorry, that turned into a tourist guide.
 
Royal Armouries also does jousting, falconry and hand-to-hand combat demonstrations out in the tilt yard, although the last time we went, the main attraction was a very hungover chap in the flats opposite standing on his balcony in his underpants...

Middleham Castle is in a great part of the world - Wensleydale, with Swaledale to the north. You have Aysgarth Waterfall, Bolton Castle, Richmond Castle, the old lead mines at Gunnerside (a short walk out the village, and a great spot for a bivvy out under the stars if you're up for it), then all the way up to the utter desolation of the High Pennines - Tan Hill Inn, the farm where the Yorkshire Shepherdess lives and so on.

West of you, you also have Malham Cove (Goredale Scar is a short but exciting scramble) and the Yorkshire Three Peaks, loads of waterfalls and walks, the Settle-Carlisle steam railway, and another castle at Skipton.

Your lad might be a bit bored by the Hawes Creamery (where they make Wensleydale cheese), and too young for the breweries in Masham...

Plenty of UFOs, hauntings and legends - Ilkley Moor has a famous UFO photo, I recall. The North York Moors hold the legend of the Barghest, a great black dog that stalks travellers. Whitby and Staithes have Captain Cook, Dracula and the Abbey. Goths and Steampunks, kippers, hunting for fossils and jet! I'm guessing he may not be into the historical ramifications of the Synod of Whitby just yet!

I'm in Lincoln - we have a Norman castle, site of pivotal battles during the Barons' Wars, a High Gothic cathedral, and tons of Roman ruins. Miles and miles of countryside walks and hidden-away wildlife, astonishingly beautiful beaches (away from the tourist traps). There are WWI forts out in the Humber Estuary, and a lot of seals come onland to birth their pups at Donna Nook. Lincoln Castle has loads of hands-on re-enactment events through the summer. Bolingbroke Castle, mostly just foundations now, was the birthplace of Henry IV, son of John of Gaunt. Tattershall Castle is a complete shell, which overlooks RAF Coningsby, home to a Typhoon squadron. It also has the Battle of Britain Flight museum - you often see the planes (Hurricanes, Spitfires, a Lancaster and a Dakota) out practising over the wheat fields in the summer. The Red Arrows aerobatics display team is based 2 miles from my house, and they practice their formation flying over the village pretty much every day.

Nearby Newark was one of the pivotal control points in the Civil War, and has a Civil War museum there too.

Sorry, that turned into a tourist guide.
The UK has such a long and interesting history. Being an American with a relatively short written history it’s hard not to be jealous.

When I visited Salisbury Cathedral in the UK they had tombs of ancient Kings inside and over each tomb was a flag. And many of the really old flags had literally disintegrated into just a few strings so my friend asked why they didn’t put the remaining flags in neon glass enclosures to keep them from disintegrating and the tour guide answered that those flags had been placed by order of a King and it would require a similar new order to do what we he was suggesting. That’s when I understood a crucial detail about the UK. The monarchy means something. In the US they wouldn’t even think about it - they would immediately try to preserve it. Another difference I imagine between the US and our mother country is the sheer amount of history in need of preservation. The UK is saturated with history.
 
My American friends,
Who claim Scottish ancestry,
Have been touring Scotland.
In ten days they visit
eleven castles. I smiled –
How American.

They said they preferred
the ruined ones. I smiled again.
How Scottish.

- Norman MacCaig
 
My American friends,
Who claim Scottish ancestry,
Have been touring Scotland.
In ten days they visit
eleven castles. I smiled –
How American.

They said they preferred
the ruined ones. I smiled again.
How Scottish.

- Norman MacCaig
The difference between American and the Brits is that the Brits think 100 miles is a long distance and the Americans think 100 years is a long time.
 
Who doesn't live near something "interesting" (from a gaming point of view)? :tongue:

The difference between American and the Brits is that the Brits think 100 miles is a long distance and the Americans think 100 years is a long time.
While neither am I Brit nor American, I lived in Yellowstone Park in the States for about a decade; 100 miles is a common distance to go to a "major" store and 100 years is barely yesterday in a place of active geology. There could be a scientific equation to determine the cultural variables in this. :shade:
 
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The UK has such a long and interesting history. Being an American with a relatively short written history it’s hard not to be jealous.

When I visited Salisbury Cathedral in the UK they had tombs of ancient Kings inside and over each tomb was a flag. And many of the really old flags had literally disintegrated into just a few strings so my friend asked why they didn’t put the remaining flags in neon glass enclosures to keep them from disintegrating and the tour guide answered that those flags had been placed by order of a King and it would require a similar new order to do what we he was suggesting. That’s when I understood a crucial detail about the UK. The monarchy means something. In the US they wouldn’t even think about it - they would immediately try to preserve it. Another difference I imagine between the US and our mother country is the sheer amount of history in need of preservation. The UK is saturated with history.
Who doesn't live near something "interesting" (from a gaming point of view)? :tongue:


While neither am I Brit nor American, I lived in Yellowstone Park in the State for about a decade; 100 miles is a common distance to go to a "major" store and 100 years is barely yesterday in a place of active geology. There could be a scientific equation to determine the cultural variables in this. :shade:
Who doesn't live near something "interesting" (from a gaming point of view)? :tongue:


While neither am I Brit nor American, I lived in Yellowstone Park in the State for about a decade; 100 miles is a common distance to go to a "major" store and 100 years is barely yesterday in a place of active geology. There could be a scientific equation to determine the cultural variables in this. :shade:
Assuming the Covid plague has died down in the future we hope to spend a month in Greece in 2022. The UK is a baby by their standards age-wise. Heck even Rome is a baby compared to Ancient Greece.
 
I live relatively close to Newgrange, an ancient (older than the pyramids) passage tomb well known for the intricate carving on its stones, the fact that those stones originated in mountains far enough away from the site that it would have been a decent effort to transport them (especially for the time) and being aligned such that during the Winter Solstice the sun aligns with the entrance in a manner that illuminates the interior.

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The difference between American and the Brits is that the Brits think 100 miles is a long distance and the Americans think 100 years is a long time.

Huh. Maybe that explains a curious idiosyncrasy about New Englanders: the exact same thing about 100 miles being a giant distance. I live two hours' drive from Boston, but to your average Bostonian, western Massachusetts might as well have "Hic Draconis Est" written over the Berkshires. Now I get it: lingering echoes of Britishness!
 
The difference between American and the Brits is that the Brits think 100 miles is a long distance and the Americans think 100 years is a long time.
When I was in Ireland some fellow thought it was crazy that we split the vacation between Dublin and Donegal. He said it'd take an Irishman 3 weeks to make that journey, what with all the relatives he'd have to stop in and visit along the way.
 
The UK has such a long and interesting history. Being an American with a relatively short written history it’s hard not to be jealous.

When I visited Salisbury Cathedral in the UK they had tombs of ancient Kings inside and over each tomb was a flag. [ . . . ]

Not to mention one of the copies of the Magna Carta. We got a great lecture on that from a volunteer one day.

Fun fact: During the more nomadic phases of my ex, we lived in Sunningdale for a while, which is not far from Runnymede where the Magna Carta was originally signed. There's a memorial at Runnymede park, actually erected in the 1950s and paid for by the American Bar Association. If you continue up the road you'll eventually take a back route into Windsor. The Windsor Castle farm shop is along the way, which has a nice selection of goodies.
 
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