This week I went on a field trip to the National Archives in Kew. We got to look at lots of great stuff. Contrary to popular believe, when handling old documents, you don't have to wear gloves. They are actually worse for the documents and make it easy to rip the pages. Clean hands are the best. They only make people wear gloves when they're being filmed for documentaries because if they don't, they get lots of angry phone calls from concerned people wondering why the specialist weren't wearing gloves.

I was the only person who had a camera with them, so our teacher, Dr. David Carpenter, made me take lots of pictures.

We all got a charter or roll and had to figure out what it was. My partner and I were able to deduce this was part of the Pipe Roll from the 10th year of King John's reign. We felt so smart.

Part of the Fine Roll. It's so long you can only uncover parts of it at a time.

This is a famous doodle on part of the Fine Roll. Every time I would start to look at something, Dr. Carpenter would call me over to take a picture of something, like this.

This is a very special picture. The first time the words, "Magna Carta," were ever used is in this roll. A scribe was writing about the magna carta, which didn't have a name at the time. In order to distinguish it from another charter he was talking about he called it the magna carta because it was physically bigger than the other one, so people would know which charter he was talking about. The name stuck. Oddly, the actual roll had never been photographed with that part. My teacher found the section and was very excited because these are the first pictures in history of the first time we see the name Magna Carta in print. I'm so glad I had my camera and got to be the one to take the picture.

In case you had a hard time finding it in the other picture, here is a closer view.

Even closer. This picture is history! I think Dr. Carpenter will put it in the book he's currently writing. I hope I get credit.

A charter during King John's reign. So pretty.

This is the same charter and next to it is a parchment that was used to draft the charter. The middle section of the roll on the right is the charter part. It's fun to see the working versus finished forms.

I went to Paris a month ago and I'm finally getting around to putting up some pictures

Arc de Triumph

The catacombs: an interesting place to visit if walking through endless tunnels of bones doesn't bother you.

The Musee du Louvre or Louvre as we Americans say.

The Mona Lisa or as the French call her: La Jaconde

Notre Dame - It was actually about to be torn down and then Victor Hugo published The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the people of Paris demanded it be preserved and then renovated it. The famous gargoyles were then added because of the book. It is the most famous Gothic cathedral in France thanks to Victor.

If you stand in a long line and climb to the top of the cathedral, this is what you get to see. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but  this is not a gargoyle. It's a grotesque. A gargoyle is a fancy rain gutter and is so named because it makes a gargling noise when the water comes out of it. Now whenever you see a "gargoyle" you'll know it's really a grotesque.

This is a gargoyle. See the rain? Don't you feel smart now?

After standing in the freezing rain for 2 hours and climbing over 100 stairs, this was the best smile I could manage.

Eiffel Tour

Waiting to get inside the cathedral.

There's a bridge by Notre Dame covered in locks. Apparently if you and your significant other put a lock on the bridge, you will always stay together. I watched a little boy kick a bunch of the locks because he was bored. I wonder if the couples broke up after that.

Versailles before it opens

Someone's bed chamber. Can't remember who.

The courtyard

The magnificent gardens

Marie Antoinette built a little village to escape from the palaces at Versailles. It's quite charming.

The old mill

It feels a little like Fantasy land in Disneyland.

Victor Hugo's bedroom. His house is now a museum. He was a wealthy man, but became the spokesperson for the impoverished in Paris. His book Les Miserables showed how grim life was for the Parisians and it made him loved by his countrymen for bringing their wretched lives into the eye of the public. The people of Paris loved him long before his book became a play and recent film.

Victor Hugo