Lost Keys - Is It your marriage or your Jetlag Making You Forgetful?

I overheard a woman saying she had lost her keys dozens of times. All through her first marriage.

But during her second marriage, she never once lost them.

What does this mean?  Three possibilities;

1 Freud might say this symbolised the fact that she wanted to be out of the house with her first husband and out of the marriage.

2 Maybe her first marriage was so disturbed that she was continually forgetful, worrying about her marriage.

3 Maybe she was awake all night during her first marriage - which was about sex and nothing else, or on the contrary, no sex, just sleepless nights, making her forgetful and inefficient the next day.

Where do I get point three from? I noticed that after a long flight, and jet lag, my husband forgot things several times.

Either you are so tired that your mind is empty and not on your surroundings and tasks.
Or your mind is so full with items you need to deal with, that you forget the 'little things' like door keys and phones which cause so much trouble when lost.

How To Keep Your Keys Safe
I learned this trick when I had a new soft handbag with a long ribbon from the pocket with a metal circle to which you could attach a door key. After the bag fell apart, I pulled out the ribbon and dewed it into another bag. When the ribbon's attached end pulled out of the bag lining, I temporarily attached the ribbon to the inside of the bag by using a safety pin.

Attach your keys to a ribbon inside a handbag or jacket pocket. If you need it to be longer to reach up to a top lock, attach to the end of the ribbon a spiral expanding key 'chain'.

Useful websites
Extendable key ring.
Retractable key ring.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author of
Quick Quotations.
How To Get Out of the mess you're in.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Homes of the famous on your top ten wishlist: 1 Edison

Robbie Burns, Ayr, Scotland.

Problem
Where can I see the homes of some inspirational people? Who should I choose?

Answer
Who do I quote most often? My top ten famous people list includes:

(In alphabetical order)
Robbie Burns 'For the sake of auld lang syne'
Winston Churchill 'We shall never surrender.'
Thomas Edison 'I did not fail 1000 times. I found 999 ways not to do it.'
Benjamin Franklin 'A place for everything and everything in its place.'
Sigmund Freud 'Time spent with cats is never wasted.'
Helen Keller 'Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.'
Rudyard Kipling 'If you can fill the unforgiving minute ...'
Abraham Lincoln 'If this is coffee, bring me tea, but if this is tea, bring me coffee.'
William Shakespeare 'Neither a borrower nor a lender be'
Noah Webster 'Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary makers, but is something arising out of the work of generations ...'

Of course, there are many more. Dylan Thomas in Wales. Every country has somebody famous.

Useful Websites
Britain
visitbritain.com
visitscotland.com

Edison:
http://www.menloparkmuseum.org
visit-usa.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several posts on homes of famous people in the UK and Europe and Worldwide including Israel and Romania.

What To See In Vienna and Austria

Problem
What to see in Austria? In Vienna last time my focus was on the Freud Museum. What next?

Answer
The New Year's Day concert showed the Clock Museum. Not a place I would normally have put high on my list. But now I've seen it on video, I'm interested. The museum possesses a staggering 4,000 clocks.

The video shows, not just grandfather clocks, and small clocks, but clocks animated like the astronomical clocks you see in some European town squares, with little figures.

I watched: a clock face set in a figurine of a horse and rider, a clock on a character whose eyes moved; a procession of little monks; a character pushing a cart.

Other museums, according to the video, included those devoted to funerals, and esperanto.

Story
We drove around Salzburg trying to follow the map. I was passenger and guide. The driver kept seeing road signs pointing the opposite way to my map. After several arguments, goring increasingly heated. Lucky there wasn't a divorce, murder, or road accident as we changed direction. The driver pulled in and grabbed the map and discovered the problem. North was at the bottom of the map.

Tip
Learn one place in the north of the city, one on the south, one on the west and one on the east. That will help you to read a map and follow the road signs.
The satnav on many cars can be programmed by choosing one of two options either to show not at the top of the screen, or to show the direction in which you are heading in front of you at the top of the screen.
Useful websites:
Uhrenmuseum, Wien.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Homes of the Famous in the USA, UK, Europe : authors, presidents, singers

AMERICA

ALABAMA - HARPER LEE - SCOTT FITZGERALD - HANK WILLIAMS SNR
(To Kill A Mockingbird)
Literary capital of Alabama is Monroeville, which has a trail based on the books To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. (See more details in my previous post.)
Scott Fitzgerald
Scott Fitzgerald Museum in the last house occupied by Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda.
Hank Williams Snr's home in Georgiana.

CALIFORNIA - JACK LONDON -
(Call of the Wild)
http://jacklondonpark.com/jack-london-directions.html
I also went to Hearts Castle but didn't feel I learned much about Hearst, just about the venue.

COLORADO - MOLLY BROWN
Molly Brown, heroine of the Titanic
Molly Brown House, Pennsylvania Avenue, Denver. I felt I learned about her house, but not about the Titanic.

CONNECTICUT - MARK TWAIN HOUSE - NOAH WEBSTER
NOAH WEBSTER HOUSE, West Hartford  (The Schoolmaster of America, wrote Webster's dictionary, reformed British English and created American spelling.)

FLORIDA - ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Author
Ernest Hemingway home and museum, Key West

GEORGIA - MARTIN LUTER KING JNR home
Atlanta, Georgia.

ILLINOIS - ABRAHAM LINCOLN -
(Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Springfield)

MARYLAND - CLARA BARTON
(America's Florence Nightingale)

MASSACHUSETTS - CLARA BARTON Homestead (founder of American Red Cross)

MISSOURI - Mark Twain birthplace, Florida, Missouri.

PENNSYLVANIA - EDGAR ALLEN POE (Philadelphia)

TENNESSEE - ELVIS PRESLEY - JIM REEVES
(Elvis, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee)
(Jim Reeves, Nashville, Tennessee)

VIRGINIA - THOMAS JEFFERSON (Monticello) - GEORGE WASHINGTON (Mount Vernon)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monticello

Edgar Allen Poe Museum, Richmond

WEST VIRGINIA - PEARL S BUCK Birthplace, Hillsboro

NORTH, CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA
MEXICO - KARL MARX.

MORE IN AMERICA
See real life and online Halls of fame - eg music, baseball; more places connected with Edgar Allen Poe, Elvis. Cemeteries such as the one with the statue of Al Jolson. Graves of Wild West folk heroes. Jewish Museums. Battlefields and wartime heroes and leaders. Songwriters. Car manufactures. Coca Cola, Hershey, Pizza. Painters. Founders of railways. Owners of departments stores and newspapers (Hearst in California). Food factories and drink: Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Vermont.

***

EUROPE
AUSTRIA - MOZART birthplace, Salzburg.
BELARUSSIA - CHAGALL.
DENMARK - HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN Museum, Odense.
FINLAND - SIBELIUS museum.
FRANCE - CHAGALL. ZOLA/DREYFUS (Medan). PROUST trail.
GERMANY - BEETHOVEN (Bonn.)
IRELAND George Bernard SHAW birthplace museum, Dublin.
ISRAEL BIALIK museum, Tel Aviv. (Playwright, also established Hebrew as the national language, because it was the classical language of the bible, close to Aramaic and Arabic, although I would prefer Yiddish, more modern and fun, like German with a sense of humour, told by a comedian.)
ITALY - PUCCINI home, opera. Statue of the man with the cigar which no doubt killed him.

NETHERLANDS - ANNE FRANK HOUSE, Amsterdam; REMBRANDT.
NORWAY - IBSEN museum, Oslo.
POLAND - CHOPIN birthplace. (Also huge monument in Warsaw is passed by tours.)
SPAIN - DALI.
SWEDEN - JIM REEVES. STRINDBERG museum.
Jim Reeves Museum
http://www.jimreeves.se/Jim_Reeves_Museum_Sweden/Om_oss.html
UK - BRONTES; BYRON; Capt'n COOK; DAHL; D H LAWRENCE; T E LAWRENCE (of Arabia); FREUD; JIMI HENDRIX; HANDEL; KEATS; Beatrix POTTER; WORDSWORTH; SHAKESPEARE
Jimi Hendrix museum (opened 2016) and Handel museum (adjacent) in London, England. (See my previous post in this blog.)
Freud Museum, London.
Keats Museum, London.
Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford upon Avon; theatre in London, bust in church in London.
Also see Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London.
Captain Cook birthplace, Marton, N Yorkshire.
Bronte Museum, Yorkshire.
CROMWELL Museum, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks.
Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Buckinghamshire.
Beatles Story, Liverpool.

WALES DYLAN THOMAS Boathouse and two more museums.
SCOTLAND - BURNS; SCOTT; DAVID LIVINGSTON (Dr Livingston, I presume?)
Sir Walter Scotts House, Waverley.
N IRELAND & Ireland:
George Bernard SHAW birthplace museum, Dublin.
JAMES JOYCE.
YEATS.

AFRICA - MANDELA
Home of Nelson Mandela, Soweto; also Robben Island. (More about Mandela in the Jewish museum. A Jewish friend bought a farm for Mandela to hide.)

ASIA
CHINA - SUN YAT SEN home, Shanghi. Also Hong Kong.
INDIA MAHATMA GANDHI Museum, Delhi. (Includes his polite letter to Hitler.)
THAILAND - Jim Thompson house, Bangkok. (American born Silk King.)

AUSTRALASIA
NEW ZEALAND KATHERINE MANSFIELD HOUSE.

MORE IN UK
Burns in Scotland; Wilberforce in Hull; JANE AUSTEN in Bath; DICKENS in London; ROTHSCHILD; ISRAELI; SASSOON.

More information from:
http://experience.usatoday.com/america/story/best-of-lists/2015/10/05/50-state-famous-americans-homes-museums/73410480/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton_Homestead
https://www.noahwebsterhouse.org/visiting/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Birthplaces_of_individual_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen_Museum
http://gandhimuseum.org
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/ (Hull's Wilberforce Museum)
http://www.maisonzola-museedreyfus.com/uk/zola_uk.html
(Tourist Boards and citizens, if you have any suggestions please send them to me.)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker.

International Museum day is May 18.
Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, CL, ATG, author, researcher, travel writer and photographer, speaker.

London Statues - New Statue of Gandhi in Parliament Square, London - photographing statues worldwide

A new statue of Gandhi is in Parliament Square, London. It is nine feet tall. To photograph yourself next to it, somebody else needs to take the photo from some distance away.

I like to be photographed next to statues when travelling. If you had no other plans for a themed trip to London, you could travel around photographing statues and yourself next to statues. One of my favourites is Oscar Wilde reclining.

I also photograph statues in countries I am visiting. They tell local and national history.

You could also collect photos of statues just in London or worldwide on a theme, such as political figures, royals, religious, philanthropic, WWII, statues and monuments in cemeteries, theatres, hotels and clubs.

Political Figures
In London: Politics: Gandhi and Churchill.
In London: royals, Kings and Queens (including the memorial to Princess Diana, the gates for the Queen Mother).
Victoria & Albert: Worldwide - start in London if you are in London, including the Albert memorial and the Albert Hall in London, statues of Queen Victoria .
Religious leaders: I made a special trip to the museum in East London for Methodist Wesley and took a picture of his statue.
Theatrical: statues of actors outside theatres, often on provincial theatres, worldwide, also opera houses and concert halls show

For a school project or talk to a history society, you could photograph characters from each century, or each decade.

Museums are a good source of statues and busts. Sometimes you need permission to photograph a statue inside a museum, and you need to be there during opening hours. But those outside buildings in the UK are generally OK to photograph and you can visit them any time of day or night. With photoshop and iPhoto nowadays even a photo taken in poor light can be adjusted later.

Silhouette Statues
In late evening, if you cannot get detail, you can aim for a silhouette of the statue against a lighter sky. I once took a day trip on a ferry from England to France, part sponsored by Polaroid cameras. I won a competition for a photo with a contra-jour picture of a statue at the French port silhouetted against the white sky.

Animals
Cats, dogs, horses and animals. My favourites are; in London - Dick Whittington's Cat in Highgate. In the USA - the horse of the Civil War leader. I seem to remember a statue of a donkey or horse in Australia, at a museum about the Great War (WWI). It was either Canberra or Sydney.

Benefactors
Benefactors and campaigners who benefited human rights (Eros for Lord Shaftesbury - interesting story. George Lansbury in London's East End who worked for the seamstresses).

WWI - with the centenaries, lots of opportunities. A project for schools or local or national newspapers or blogs for Armistice Day, and the other celebrations worldwide, Anzac Day, VE Day.
You could collect pictures from the internet, such as Wikipedia, and then gradually visit them on your holidays or business trips overseas.

Long ago I bought a book on statues of London. With Lulu.com and other printers on line, you could make a book of your travel photos, featuring statues of yourself with statues. I try to take the statue alone, and another showing myself next to it. Some publications like to see the author, others prefer the statue without clutter or anything which dates the photo. Adding a person can give a humorous effect. Tall statue with tiny toddler or dog. This might look silly or disrespectful, or could be a winning humorous picture.

I like to photograph inscriptions on all four (or more) sides of a statue or monument. It helps when writing captions later. You can check the spelling of the name or a person or place, and the dates they lived or the battle they fought in. The inscription also often includes a quotation or eulogy (praise).

My favourite London statues:
Oscar Wilde.
Kissing couple on Paddington station upper level.
Brunel on London station.
Australian mapmaker on Euston station.
Florence Nightingale, outside hospital.
Sigmund Freud, near his home in London.
Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery.
Shakespeare bust (in a church).

Churches and cathedrals are a great source of statues. Starting with Poets Corner in London, you could then do a literary trail around Britain.

My favourite memorable statues Worldwide:
1 Einstein, USA.
2 Sassoon, India.
3 Captain Cook, Australia.
4 Raffles in Raffles Hotel, Singapore.
5 Charlie Chaplin, London. (Another in Switzerland.)
6 Sherlock Holmes outside Baker Street Station, London.
7 Queen Victoria - everywhere, the latest I've seen was in Malta's capital, Valletta. Others are in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand.
8 Al Jolson, cemetery in the USA.
9 Disraeli in his area near Tring.
10 Monash, WWI leader, in Australia, with the university named after him in Melbourne. I saw an equestrian statue in a main road and a bust in the uni.

My favourite London station statues:
1 Sherlock Holmes, Baker Street
2 Brunel, Paddington Station
3 The mapmaker and cat, Euston
4 The artist, Waterloo

Most photographed in London?
Probably Eros in Piccadilly and Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.

Other world famous monuments include:
The Burghers of Calais, France.
Iwo Jima (same flag raising theme copied in a monument in Malaysia).
Chopin in Warsaw, Poland.
Lincoln in Washington DC.
Four Presidents cut into hillside in the USA.

If you want to add guitarists and guitars, and rock stars and singers, think of Elvis in the USA, John Lennon in Liverpool airport, music museums in the USA and Australasia, and halls of fame all over the USA.

I also look for quotations. My favourites are:
For your tomorrow they gave their today. (Kohima monument in Latin, variously translated on monuments worldwide. You find quotations and local characters and Greek and Roman Gods and mythological characters on all sorts of building, including friezes around the exteriors of art galleries and the exteriors and interiors of shopping malls. St George's shopping mall in Harrow, interior. Lakeside shopping Mall.

Angela Lansbury BA Hons is a travel writer, photographer and speaker.