18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 36

[cahn]

Starting a couple of comments earlier than usual to mention there are a couple of new salon fics! These probably both need canon knowledge.

felis ficlets on siblings!

Siblings (541 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Summary:

Three Fills for the 2022 Three Sentence Ficathon.

Chapter One: Protective Action / Babysitting at Rheinsberg (Frederick/Fredersdorf, William+Henry+Ferdinand)
Chapter Two: Here Be Lions (Wilhelmine)

Unsent Letters fic by me:

Letters for a Dead King (1981 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen (1726-1802)
Characters: Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Love/Hate, Talking To Dead People, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family
Summary:

Just because one's king and brother is dead doesn't mean one has to stop writing to him.

Comments

18th-century-related travel advice?

[luzula]

Hi salon! I am going on a fannish trip with lots of 18th century elements. : D More specifically, I am going to Scotland with regshoe, and passing by London and Paris on the way (I'll be going by train from Sweden). In Scotland, we will, among other things: go to the West Highland Museum, go to the Clan Cameron museum, and go hiking on what remains of one of Wade’s military roads. And obviously also hike up to the spot of the fictional Ardroy from Flight of the Heron.

In Paris, garonne and I will probably go to Versailles and also to the Musée de la Mode and their huge collection of 18th century clothing. : D Any tips for other 18th-century-related things to do in Paris?

In London, where I have two days, I have not yet decided what to do. I am considering the National Maritime Museum, since I have an interest in navigation and related areas. And how could I resist standing with one foot on either side of the Greenwich Meridian? *g* There's a National Army Museum, which might be good for fic research, but it's not really clear from their website what exhibitions you can look at (they did very kindly help me by photographing a mid-18th century captain’s commission for my fic research once…). And there's the Victoria and Albert Museum, which also has lots of 18th century clothing, but I'm already going to a museum with clothes in Paris, so I don't know. I'm sure I'm missing lots of 18th-century-related stuff I could be doing in London! Help me out, salon!

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[mildred_of_midgard]

Unfortunately, I can't in good conscience encourage nonessential travel at the present time. If I thought it was socially responsible to risk contributing to the further spread and mutation of the virus (which is distinct from being willing to risk personally experiencing the symptoms), I'd be going on an 18th century fannish trip myself this summer.

Sorry!

(Sadly, living during a pandemic is a more authentically 18th century experience than I ever hoped to have.)

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[luzula]

Ah, okay! I have been quite careful during the pandemic, much more careful than the majority of people in Sweden, I would say. But with three vaccinations, no travel restrictions in any of the countries I travel through, and in the summer lull where the disease spreads much less, I feel the trip is a reasonable thing to do.

But I do understand that others might judge it differently!

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[cahn]

Oh, how fun! Sadly, I am not at all the best person to ask, but here are a couple of ideas, mostly Paris-centric, in no particular order:

-Place de la Concorde, for French Revolution feels
-I have not been to the Pantheon but it sounds cool (Louis XV)
-the Bastille maybe? Or La Conciergerie? (full disclosure: if I went to Paris I would probably not go to either of those places)
-when you visit Versailles, the Petit Trianon is Marie Antoinette's private palace and I am more curious about that now :)
-The Tuileries might also be interesting

For our particular guys Voltaire and Émilie, there's Cirey, but at 2 hrs 40 min away from Paris probably not worth it for you guys! Also apparently the statue of Voltaire is being cleaned or something??

selenak has an interesting post on an England trip, including a visit to the Royal Observatory and the Maritime Museum, so possibly she might weigh in on that. Actually her whole England tag is maybe worth looking at.

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[selenak]

Psst, the Bastille doesn't exist anymore. There's an opera on roughly the place where it once stood, though.

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[cahn]

Lol, whoops! I did know that, at least back when I actually knew things about the French Revolution :) I may have had the opera house in the back of my head, which I've watched at least one video from (you will be utterly not shocked to hear it was Don Carlos)

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[luzula]

Thanks for the tips! Oh, and I am also considering the forest of Fontainebleau, for a completely separate interest of mine: there are areas of that forest which have been untouched by forestry for hundreds of years (because they were a game park), and it would be very interesting to see such a continental deciduous forest. Says the person who is also engaged in forest conservation. : )

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[cahn]

I, uh, mostly know Fontainebleau as the setting of the first act of Verdi's Don Carlo(s). But that's really neat!
and sounds very interesting from an ecological point of view :)

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[luzula]

Hee, we all have our different reference points. : )

Re: 18th-century-related travel advice?

[selenak]

I see cahn already linked you to my old photo post that includes Greenwich, which definitely is a must, and while you can go there via subway, I recommend taking the boat for the sheer beauty of it if you have the time. Said post also includes Dr. Johnson's old house, which is contains a museum devoted to him. Samuel Johnson is probably one of the most famous and snarkiest Georgians, and even if you're not much interested in him in particular, it's a good example of a non-noble Georgian lodging. Also, some of the exhibition is devoted to his servant (not a euphemism for slave! Johnson was against slavery and famously snarked about the declaration of Independence, "how is it we hear the biggest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes?") and heir Francis Barber which includes some information about black people in Georgian London.

Again depending on your time, you might want to visit Kew Palace, which is in competition for the most attractive place the Hannover cousins left Britain and has gorgeous gardens courtesy of Fritz of Wales and his son G3. (G4 and successors had the buildings demolished, but they were restored.)

Paris: Versailles is so far away that you shouldn't be planning to do anything else on the day you go there (to Versailles). (This was intention on Louis XIV's part.) But it is a must. Within Paris, there's the Hotel de la Marine at the Place de La Concorde. a Parisian town palace full of 18th century stuff, open until 19:00 pm, on Friday even till 21:30, and you need a vaccination proof of a negative test.) This is actually the oldest museum of Paris (though not under that name), opened in 1777.

Also, a stroll through the Marais should give you lots of 18th century glimpses.