Count of Monte Cristo & Chateau d'If

The Count of Monte Cristo and the Chateau d'if and Napoleon and Mercedes are rolling around in my head lately just like old pals. Isn't it amazing how intimate one becmes with the charachers and places in novels one reads? They become like family members, friends, even intimate enemies.

This is a really hot Napoleon!

Here's the "Count" with his lovely Mercedes. Isn't she cute? How sad that he had to live all of those lonely dark years without her... and not even knowing why! Poor fellow....

Okay, another hot rendition of Napoleon.

Le chateau d'if. I want to try to visit it this summer if I ever get to Marseilles. I remember sitting in my jr. high English classroom reading The Count of Monte Cristo and envisioning what this awful, dreary place looked like and felt like, even smelled like. I want to see if the real place is anything like what I imagined. I know, its a lot like Alcatraz here in my own back yard, but somehow being a continent away and several centuries old makes it far enough removed from anything familiar so as to make it a little less creepy. I hated Alcatraz. I think I still do.