Peter

Comment Threads

• paws4thot commented on Making history personal
  Paras 2 and 3 - The other reason why traditional Japanese residential architecture was so often paper on wooden frames was that when (not if) if fell over in an earthquake it:- 1) Didn't hurt people it fell on. 2) Was cheap, quick and easy to re-erect....
• Soames commented on Making history personal
  I've rather enjoyed reading people's accounts, lots of good ideas for trips! My list: Oldest Slept Building I've stayed in a bunch of hotels or apartments from the 17th century across Western Europe, Italy especially. Common enough that it isn't worth listing. I think I may have stayed in an older hotel in Granada, maybe 15th century, but I can't verify that. Oldest building I've spent a bit of time in Spain and Italy over the years, but I think the oldest maybe the Duomo/Cathedral in Syracuse, on the island. If I recall correctly, the original building has been repeatedly...
• Soames commented on Making history personal
  I see a lot of us New World types have been penalised! So here is one for us: The farm I grew up on is situated on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand, inland, on the foothills of a mountain range. The foothills had light forest cover till that was removed by fire/clearance by the Maori and British settlers, much of which wasn't completed till just before WW1. For several reasons, the wrong crops, slowly increasing populations, the specific area I grew up in was not permanently or seasonally settled by Maori, as there was no...
• jsandercock commented on Making history personal
  Slept in - probably a Cornish inn in Polperro built ca. 1400. Been inside Stonehenge - back in the 1970s when you could do that. Also a church on a hill near Verona with pre-Christian origins. Also the arena there. Here in NY we have several 17th century houses on the East End of Long Island. Oldest is said to be from 1649....
• kali.ratatosk commented on Making history personal
  When I lived in the UK as a child, our house was built in the 1850s. We went to church in a building that was allegedly built in the 1200s....