Excuse me, which way to the loo?

Imagination Prompt:

If you could choose a different time period to live in, when would it be?

Medieval times, hands down -- specifically the 1400s and England. I love that era -- love the intrigue, the Wars of the Roses, Edward IV and the Woodvilles, Richard III -- his short reign and battlefield death. I have to actually make myself read books set during other eras. After the medieval era, my favorites are the American Colonial/Revolution era, followed by the French Revolution. In all honestly, after the early 1800s, I'm not as enthralled with history -- the American Civil War through more modern times just don't keep me as interested. And I seldom read novels with contemporary settings unless time-travel -- or, sometimes, the paranormal -- is somehow involved.

Of course, I'm talking reading here -- which isn't really the question. There's a big difference between reading about something and living it. Medieval living was, at best, difficult; at worst, horrifying. I think the only way I'd actually go back there (that is, if time-travel were real -- I'm not that crazy -- yet) would be if I had a magical talisman which would transport me back to the present very quickly. As in immediately. But what an opportunity to see how things really were!

If you ever watched the movie TIMELINE (there's a book, too -- by Michael Crichton -- which I did read but I'm really pinpointing the film here), a group of folks were sent back to medieval France to find someone who was "lost" there. It was not a great movie but one of the lines I always remember was one of the sent-back people remarking on all the vibrant colors -- because, I think, we often tend to think of history in shades of black and white -- not as a living, breathing world, with people and colors and smells (ew!) and sorrow and laughter -- and all of those things we have in our own century.

The idea of being able to see a different era firsthand is absolutely thrilling -- however, I must admit the bathroom facilities and the plague do give me pause...