Halloooooooo!
Today was but a half day really. Before 6pm I had to bring back my hired car. I was in Winchester, so about an hour and 45minutes away from London. But, Monday afternoon in London... Rush hour! I didn't wanted to risk it, so I gave myself 3hours to get into town. Which meant starting my journey back at 3pm at the latest.
To park in Winchester is a nightmare!
As I was in Winchester I really wanted to visit Jane Austen's grave. She is buried in the cathedral. I had it all planned out: be at the Cathedral by 9.30am, spent an hour visiting the cathedral so I could be at Jane Austen's house museum, which was a 30minute drive away, by 11am. Perfect plan! Well... I lost 45minutes by trying to find a parking spot in the city. 45minutes! I had even reached the point that if I couldn't find anything in the next 10minutes, I'd head straight for the house and come back another time.
Anyway, the man at the ticket office in the cathedral was really helpful and recommended a guided tour rather than an audio guide. And so it happend that two other people and I had a sort of private tour around the cathedral. Harry, the funniest little old man was very knowledgable and very enthousiastic in explaining the history and constructual difficulties the cathedral has. The tour lasted for an hour and 15min! And I still feel like I've misted so many details and information.
I did see Jane's gravestone. Unfortunately, due to time restraints (my parking ticket only covered me until 12.10pm and it was already 11.45am) I couldn't sit down and take in the moment like I had done when I visited Tolkien's grave.
On a little run, I returned back to the car without seeing much of Winchester as a city, and drove off as soon as possible towards the house were Jane Austen lived in her later years.
Jane Austen House Museum.
By 12.45pm I arrived at the house, parked without difficulty and went in to buy my ticket. Saw the 10minute introduction film and headed back out to take photos of the house whilst the lighting was still good. I had planned to leave by 3pm at the latest anyway, but I wouldn't have put it passed myself to leave later when the sun had set...
The house itself was a lot smaller than I had expected. Or there were less rooms open to the public than I had expected anyway. I was told a visit could easily last 1h30minutes or longer. I was in and out the house in 1hour. The one thing that truelly sticked with me was how loud the wooden floors were oO
In the kitchen, there were a few practical things to do, like writing with a quill and making your own lavendar bag. But there were also bonnets and dresses to try on. Never been really a fan of trying on clothes hundreds of other people have tried on, I did try on one of the bonnets... (makes less sense, I know) This is the result. Now don't laugh!
Was I born in the wrong century? I am a bit of a romantic in the true sense of the word: believing that life was better in the past. That others before us had it better. That is my sensibility speaking. But my sense knows full well that women had hardly any rights, that the only way of getting ahead in life was by marriage (no thanks), pressure to produce a male heir, no rights to vote, to have a voice really, no opportunity to go out and see the world, no sanitary towels, no advanced medical treatment during pregnancy, no advance medical treatments period,... No, I am fully aware that I am very lucky to have been born late 20th century, rather than late 18th century. Though we are still a long way off of equality. But every once in a while, my sensibility kicks in and my mind wanders off...
So, as I left the house at 2pm, I had plenty of time to look around in the gift shop. I had allowed myself to go on a bit of a splurch. It took me a long while to decide what to buy, but in the end I got there. DVD's were my main focus, but fear not, I opted for other things, much easier to store :)
After I left the museum, I wandered around a bit. Trying to get an idea how it could have been in Jane's time and sure enough I saw some beautiful scenery.
At 3pm I was in the car on my way to London! As predicted I needed the time to get back, including refilling the tank as you need to return your rental car with a full tank :)
Eventually, I made it home by 7.30pm and the first thing I did was putting on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 as I've been listening to the audiobook all week :)
And that is it for my travel diary. But fear not, it still is blogmas, so a post every day until Christmas!
I'm going to end this post here. Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara
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