Through the wardrobe to Narnia

I joined a virtual tour this afternoon of an ancient commune in the centre of Italy called Narni (Narnia in Latin).  It inspired the writer, C S Lewis to use the name, Narnia, for his Chronicles.  He found the name on an old map when he was at school during World War I.

In 1979, a group of young cave explorers discovered a 12th century underground church which had lain hidden and forgotten for centuries.  The church was a Dominican church called St Michael's.  On further exploration, they found a cell containing masonic symbols.  It turned out to be a room where heretics were tortured by the Inquisition, and one of those was a captain in the army  who was also a freemason.  The underground church is now a tourist attraction run by volunteers who maintain the site.

There are two other tenuous connections to C S  Lewis and that is San Lucia who may have inspired Lucy, one of the children in the Narnia Chronicles, and a stone lion, which may have inspired Aslan.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia article on Narni.

Amsterdam

I joined a virtual tour of Amsterdam this afternoon with Stephan as the tour guide.  I have been to Amsterdam three times in the past, but this is the first virtual tour.  Our guide was very nearly attacked by a nutter who then chased after him.  But Stephan emphasised that, generally, Amsterdam is a very safe city, and he should know,  having lived in the city for many years.

  

The guide took us to the underground cycle park and rental where people can rent bikes for a reasonable fee.  Amsterdam is a very cycle-friendly city.  

He also took us to see the canals that crisscross the city and Centraal Station and told us the history of Victoria Hotel, which was built to accommodate travellers coming in on the newly built Centraal Station in the late 1880s. However, the architects had a problem.  Two existing home owners didn't want to sell their properties.  To cut a long story short, the builders built their hotel around the houses, and this apparent anomaly is still there today.

I enjoyed this tour all the more because it's a place I've been to in person, in 1978, 1982 and 2004.  Unfortunately, this tour did not include the Anne Frank House or the van Gogh Museum.  They have a tour of their own.  Here are some postcards I took on the tour.

Centraal Station

The underground cycle park

Peter Stuyvesant statue

Stephan, our guide

Old map of Amsterdam

Amsterdam tram

Cycles galore!