The Grand
Tour
My only previous exposure to the "Grand Tour" by British aristocracy was Jeremy Clarkson's journey to Amazon Prime. However, there was also an historical example during the Enlightenment.
British aristocrats would travel to Europe by horse or carriage to explore the key cultural centres of Paris, Rome, Venice, and Florence. This type of tourism continued until the Napoleonic Wars.
This real history has it's own SIM on Second Life called Rocca Sorrentina. The entire virtual world has been rendered in Enlightenment style. It is similar to walking through an art gallery; and it would be a good place to go to study Art History.
There is a room which profiles famous artists, such as Goethe (see below)
One interesting thing I found was this inn. Each of the rooms could be rented for real, and your avatar could stay in a room rendered to simulate an 18th century upper class inn.
My hair and clothes got singed and burnt off!
Fin
Is the Grand Tour an activity or experience that actually happens in real life? It's really interesting how these museums can actually educate residents, I wish I got a few more screenshots so I could post about the museums where I actually learnt a few historical things. I feel like SL is good for small snippets of information but maybe not for larger scale learning.. Maybe this is just because I would prefer my more intense education to be conducted in real life (even if by correspondence or distance) rather than a game. Although I do admit that my taste is pretty old school. What do you think?
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