Clock Work

This is one of my all-time favorite thought questions- as a history major and erstwhile classicist, I have debated this over and over. My first instinct is to go with either Rome at the time of Augustus or Victorian London, but I would also guess that these are both pretty popular choices. In fact, I'm going to immediately take back London, because I think my ideas about what it was like are too heavily influenced by literature and film (thanks a lot, Sherlock Holmes!) at this point for me to make an objective choice to visit there. My romantic vision of this time and place is likely a mere figment of my over-mediated imagination.

The more I think about it, the more periods come to mind. Northern India during the Buddha's lifetime, the American West before contact, Machu Picchu at the height of its power, antebellum New York, the town my great-great-grandfather was born in (now located in the Ukraine but formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire)...

My answer? If I could, I would visit as many historical eras/locations as possible. What's that you say? I didn't really answer the question? Shut up. This is my blog and I make the rules.