At the beginning of every year I plan, or rather plan to plan. But unofficially I dream of escape, and having cut my literary teeth on fairytales and fantasies, it’s fairytale settings like these I long to visit, or even make my home in. Say, a cozy English cottage or a charming 300 room French castle. One of these places, MacLachlan Castle in Scotland, is my family’s ancestral home. And it’s for sale! But it’s a wee bit beyond this laddie’s budget (a wee million £). So it’s back to writing I go. Oh, who am I kidding? I live to tell stories… It’s where all the best adventures happen!
(Click on any picture to enlarge it, or to start slide show)
“The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in.”
~W.H. Auden
“Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground.”
~Judith Thurman
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ~Marcel Proust
“Into the woods, each time you go,
there’s more to learn of what you know…
Into the woods, then out of the woods–
and happy ever after!”
~Stephen Sondheim
Mitch Teemley 
Reblogged this on Blue Dragon Journal.
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Okay – I’m off to check my savings account – I want to go to all of those places.
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Send me your agenda when you book it. I’ll meet you for mead in the Great Hall of [insert castle of choice here].
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Some beautiful places you collected here.
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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I will be spending a month in Heidelberg, Germany this summer and hope to visit as many castles as possible!
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How cool is that?!
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You made me homesick … the Eltz Castle (Burg Eltz) is only 45 minutes from my mom and dad’s place, where I grew up.
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Beeindruckend! (My translator says that’s “wow” in German.)
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Impressive!
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Amazing collection! Can’t wait to see what awaits us “in that bright land where we’ll never grow old”!
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Amen, Max.
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Beautiful, fairytale castles, and dreamer in me is awake again 🙂
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Maybe we can all pitch in and buy your family castle 🙂
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Ach, let’s do it!
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Enchanting.
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Beautiful places 😍
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We have a castle where I live. I used to work in the kitchen. It’s famous for being haunted, a bit comical, because it is probably the least haunted place in town. I would know, I am a big chicken, and working nights, I often had to run down to the basement in the dark. If there was a self respecting ghost anywhere in that place, it would have gotten me already. 🙂
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They’ve probably read some of your more ranty posts and don’t want to mess with you. ;>)
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LOL! 🙂
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So many magical places. I have been to some of them but there are so many gems to still be explored. What a wonderful collection, Mitch.
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Thanks, Erika.
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You are welcome, Mitch 😊
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Great read. I’ve rediscovered my connection to childhood magic as of late and it got me thinking that human life has three stages, “seeing life through the eyes of a child”, then “seeing life through the eyes of an adult” then the third, “seeing life as an adult through the eyes of a child” A life built on magic thought, is a magic life. 🙂 Thanks for this.
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Yes! Parenthood tends to usher that latter stage.
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So many reminders of all the time I entered houses and castles and hollowed trees in my favorite Grimm’s fairy tales.
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And yet somehow you survived. ;>)
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My imagination was omnipotent.
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Incredible post with stunning photos of such mystical places! Indeed, when I toured 2000 miles around Ireland, I came to understand it was truly the land of fairy tales as well. Enchanting places.
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Must. Get. To. Ireland. Someday!
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Oh Yes! Do that!!!! It’s magical!
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Thanks so much, Mitch!
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Adventure awaits! It’s good to be reminded there’s a big world to explore beyond all the bummer headlines.
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It is indeed, E.
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I’ve been to both Colmar and Mont Saint Michel and they are very different but both well worth a visit. In Colmar is the Isenheim Altarpiece by Grunewald–beautiful and moving paintings of Christ’s life, preserved through wars and now on display in a convent turned art museum. All just a high-speed day trip from Paris! And Mont Saint Michel is awe-inspiring for so many reasons-not to mention all it took just to build it!!!
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I’m jealous, Kathy!
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I didn’t get to visit these sorts of places until the last few years, so now and especially as an art teacher, I think I appreciate them more than I would have earlier in my life. I visit places like Mont Saint Michel or Colmar and pinch myself to believe I’m really there and thank God for such a wonderful blessing!
It was fun to see that you included Colmar. Most people have never heard of it, and it’s a charming town with old buildings with crazy decorations and a short but pretty canal. And the altarpiece is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece! I posted its Christmas picture and ones from the Resurrection last year on my blog.
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I’ll take one of those cozy cottages, please! Imagine living several months each year in one of those idyllic, fairy-tale villages–a lovely daydream!
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That place in Florence, actually looks very beautiful and incredible. I wonder who the architect of it was.
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Afraid I don’t know, Caden.
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What a great collection….meet you in the turret room of castle…..
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Deal.
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Such beautiful pictures and places!
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Beautiful. I have a fascination for castles too.
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