What to read when you're on the road?

I've been nattering on about my upcoming trip to Ethiopia for some time now, but with less than a week to go, I'm busy getting sorted. One vital bit of travel gear requires serious thought--what to read?

Since I'm writing a book on the Battle of Adwa for Osprey Publishing, I'll be bringing a map of the battlefield and photocopies from Berkeley's excellent but sadly out-of-print 1935 volume The campaign of Adowa and the rise of Menelik, as well Marcus's A History of Ethiopia. These are essential for work, but what do I bring for pleasure?

The ideal travel novel should be compact, mass market size rather than trade paperback, thick so that it will last a while, engaging but not too dense. It should be a classic or current bestseller so that I can ditch it with the confidence that I can get another copy ten years from now if I want to.

After much searching through the chaos that is my personal library I've settled on The Reprieve by Jean-Paul Sartre. It's a mass market paperback (check), 345 pages of small print (check), intellectual but not obtuse (check), and since it's by Sartre I'll never have trouble finding another copy (check).

Now I need to find a hotel in Addis Ababa. . .

Image of Adwa tapestry courtesy Joshua Sherurcij via Wikimedia Commons.

Hiking a Roman Highway

I'm way late posting this, but a month ago a friend of mine named Shawn (known locally as Shawn Numero Dos) and I went hiking in the mountains north of Madrid. For one long stretch we followed an old Roman highway built by the Emperor Vespasian, who reined from 69 to 79 AD. We started at the town of Cercedilla, checking out the old Roman bridge pictured above. This thing is two thousand years old and still takes traffic it wasn't even designed to support! Judging from the architecture it looks like it was reinforced in the late Medieval or Renaissance period, but still. . .

Then it was on to the Roman highway. Much of it was repaved in the 16th century, but I'm sure some of these worn old stones are original. It was a thrill to be walking the same route the Romans did, seeing the same landscape and possibly stepping on the same stones.

It was a beautiful day but the heat of summer was already starting, so we were glad to get further up into the mountains. We went across a long exposed stretch and then descended into a nice lush forest. We'd left the Roman road by this time, but enjoyed the coolness of the forest.

Then we came across this little waterfall, and right next to it a stone that had naturally weathered into a perfect chair. In England these are called "Druid's Thrones" and some do, indeed, look like they've been altered to make them more comfortable. I don't think this one had been altered, but I could easily see some wandering holy man taking up residence next to this little stream, sitting on his natural throne and making prophecies to the local yokels. So of course, that's just what I did.
I predict I'll go back sometime. . .
If you want to go yourself, there are maps here and here.

An Aztec Death Whistle

Today on CNN, there's an amazing article about a guy who reproduces the sounds of ancient Aztec musical instruments, including a couple of skull whistles found in the bony clutches of a skeleton. There's a link from the article to the sounds of this whistle and several others. The death whistle is downright creepy, sounding like a screaming woman. Other whistles in the shapes of animals sound a lot like those animals. The frog whistle is spot on. The researcher, Roberto Velazquez, is a mechanical engineer. He makes a really good point when he says that archaeologists tend to look at ancient cultures like they were deaf and dumb. The ancient world was full of sounds and music, and these were as much a part of their daily lives as they are today. Cool article, and a cool line of research that's broadening our knowledge of the past.

A Tour of Roman London

One of my favorite free online magazines, Timetravel-Britain, has just published an article I wrote that gives A Tour of Roman London. It was a fun article to write. The City, which is the heart of London's financial district, stands directly atop the old Roman city of Londinium. Sections of the old city wall and even the temple of Mithras can still be seen today. I've always been fascinated by bits of the past sticking out in the modern world.

Sadly, Madrid is a relatively new city. It didn't become capital until Philip II made it so in 1561. Before that it wasn't much of anything, but successive kings built palaces and churches and made it an important city. Later kings tried to imitate Paris, and tore down a lot of the older buildings to make way for wide avenues and parks, so there's not much left of those early centuries. Ah well, I can always go to London for Roman remains, or Segovia, which is much closer!

Visiting Historic Britain

If you like visiting castles, haunted manors, stone circles, and other historic sites, then check out TimeTravel-Britain, run by friend and fellow writer Moira Allen. There's an ad for it on the sidebar. Yes, I know the link isn't actually attached to the image, I'm still figuring out how to do that. I'm new at this!

Anyway, it's a fun site and I've contributed several articles to it. Check out my articles on the Ely Cathedral and Stained Glass Museum, Southwark Cathedral, the Ashmolean Museum, the London of Samuel Johnson, and much more. There are plenty of great articles by other contributors too.

Travel Through Time: Rome Reborn

The University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities has created an amazing 3D walk through of ancient Rome. Ten years in the making, it recreates what Rome looked like in 320 AD, at the time of the great Emperor Constantine. Parts of Rome Reborn version 1.0 are now available online, including views of the Colosseum, Forum, Basilica Maxentius, and panoramic views of the city.

Maybe they'll put in on Second Life so people can have their avatars walk through ancient Rome and get in gladiator fights. But don't expect to see me on there. My First Life is interesting enough for me.