Travels with the Empress Elisabeth, and my Goodreads bookshelf on her.

[Valancy]

I finally got around to adding my photos of places related to the historical Elisabeth that I saw during my three-month stay in Switzerland last year (there are more than three photos, but because I added them in batches, the community only shows the number in my last batch). I lived in Geneva, where Elisabeth was assassinated, and I often walked along the boulevard where Lucheni had attacked her, saw the memorial plaque commemorating the place and passed by the statue of her located close to it. I became so fond of the statue, feeling that she kept me company in a strange city, that I deposited a rose by it on one of my last days. Elisabeth died in her hotel suite in the Beau-Rivage Hotel. I didn't get to see her rooms - despite their outrageous price they were occupied whenever I actually remembered to go and ask if I could see them (I have to say that I had so much to do there I didn't go and ask many times, though I meant to). But I did get to go inside the hotel, which is frighteningly fancy and beautiful, and I and my friend were taken to the first floor to see the glass case that kept some of the objects she had had with her on her final days.

I also visited Montreux, which is at the eastern end of the Lake Geneva where as Geneva is at the western end. Elisabeth apparently visited that town often, and was also on her way there when Lucheni assassinated her on her way to the boat. In the town of Territet, which is a part of Montreux, they have a statue of her. And as you can see from the picture of the "Sissi Sphinx" and my explanative description, that was not the only way in which she is remembered there! Both Territet/Montreux and Geneva are extremely beautiful, and if there's anyone who is curious to see more of these places which Elisabeth so much enjoyed in her last years, let me know. I probably shouldn't upload lots of pictures of Geneva into this community, but I'll be more than happy to e-mail selections to someone who is interested. Though if you're on my journal friends list, you'll probably see them there eventually, too.

I love travelling almost as much as Elisabeth, and since I'm interested in her, I like to see the places which were in some way important to her. So far the only places besides Switzerland which I've seen have been Vienna and Budapest - though obviously those are very important ones, and I love them myself so I think I'll be returning to them many times. Very high up on my list of places to see is Elisabeth's castle in Gödöllö, near Budapest, which seems to have been the residence she loved the most. But I would also love to see Corfu and Madeira, as well as places in Austria and Germany where she has been.

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Unrelated to travelling, but related to the historical Elisabeth: I have recently joined Goodreads, a website for listing books, reviewing them and seeing what your friends are reading/have read. I've already listed quite a few books about the historical Elisabeth, Rudolf etc. that I have read or have been recommended and plan to read, and I have gathered them to their own bookshelf. So if you're interested in recommendations/thoughts on books about Elisabeth etc., there are some there. I haven't gotten hold of as many books as I'd like to, but on the other hand I've got the impression I've already read or bought most of the good and important ones. A few more are on my to-read list. I have reviewed most of these books which I've read. My profile is here, and you can see my bookshelves there. The Elisabeth-and-Rudolf bookshelf is currently unelegantly called "elisabeth-rudolf-etc", but I haven't yet decided if I should split Elisabeth and Rudolf onto separate shelves. So I'm not linking directly to the shelf as it might change.

(Additional note: I also did a bookshelf for "musicals", for all those books about which a musical has been made, or in case of Elisabeth and Rudolf biographies a musical has been made on their subject matter though not necessarily based on that book. It amuses me how many books I've read because of musicals, and I don't think it includes everything yet.)