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Romania - first impressions

Penulis : Unknown on Saturday, 31 July 2010 | 23:57

Saturday, 31 July 2010

I arrived in Bucharest on Friday, grabbed a rental car, turned right out of the parking lot and were on the E60 direction Brasov, where we would stop in Sinaia, a small town about 120 kilometers from Bucharest.

Sinaia got its name from a Romanian nobleman who went to Mount Sinai in 1695, came back and founded a monastery. It was also the home of Romania's first king, King Carol I, who built a jaw-dropping magnificent castle there in 1875. It is about 3,000 feet up in altitude in the Carpathian Mountains, the gateway to Transylvania. I checked out handy dandy guidebooks and booked a hotel en route, The Economat, a beautiful hotel that is at the foot of the Peles Castle.

The beauty of the terrain took my breathe away, the closer I got to my mountain destination. The mountains begin gently as you approach, with lush green forests and end dramatically, craggy and haunting. It is Rustic (with a capital R), the freeway is a dangerous affair and one to maneuver slowly and with great caution as there are people on foot, children on foot, bicycles and people riding a horse and cart, people selling things along the side of the freeway....

The hotel was drop dead gorgeous.


Kinda creepy, vast and empty inside.




Big white halls with cheap communist era carpet.




The room was large and the lead paned windows gave off to a huge forest. Even when closed, you can hear the roar of the river below. Stunning. 

There are many wild bears, wolfs and packs of wild dogs. Signs warn of bears.

The room felt very communist era. The mattress was two inches thick at best.




The bathroom! Ha ha! Rustic for days!! Love the plastic pipe that connects the toilet with the water supply.




Love the shower.




I have to say that I haven't slept as well for months as I slept in that room. I left the window open all night for the sound of the river. I smelled the fresh mountain air. The silence of the forest. The sky full of stars.

I had dinner in the restaurant downstairs. It felt as though I had gone back in time. Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree played on their radio along with other similar songs. You order a tomato, you get a tomato, ploomp, slapped unceremoniously on a plain white plate with no garnish. Its up to you to cut it and sprinkle a little salt on it: Yum! The service was terse. You get the feeling that the Communist Era crushed these people and their country and they are slowly wakening and suspiciously coming out of a dark, dark moment in their history.

Voila! More soon, rather tricky getting internet access most times.

Gros Transylvanian bisous!!

Love, Charley
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Alfons Mucha

Penulis : Unknown on Thursday, 29 July 2010 | 10:16

Thursday, 29 July 2010



Born in 1860, Alfons Mucha wanted to be an artist and began painting interiors in his native Bohemian Empire, now Czech Republic. He painted the interior of a castle for a Czech noble, then another and was sent to Paris to study art by Count Karl Khuen.

When he lived in Paris, he lived the high life, his place became the gathering place for artists; writers and gorgeous models. I love this photo of Paul Gauguin in Mucha's apartment; drink a little Absinth much!!



Mucha's sponsor eventually dried up and he was obliged to do ads, illustrations and design labels for a living. Here is his Moet and Chandon label.


Mucha became an overnight success when he began doing theater posters for hugely popular actress Sarah Bernhardt.

He pretty much single handedly began the "Art Nouveau" movement which led to Art Deco. In his lifetime he designed jewelry, furniture, appliances, interior design, exterior design, classic paintings, and posters. 




He returned to his native Bohemia (todays Czech Republic) and lived a full life with his wife and children. He gave much to his country, was a longtime Freemason and responsible for setting up the new Czechoslovakian temples, which led to his eventual demise. He was one of the first people to be arrested by the Nazis when they invaded Bohemia. (Not only did they seek to exterminate Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals, but Freemasons as well.) He was released and allowed to return home, but the experience broke him and he died shortly after in 1939.

Visit the Mucha Museum next time you are in Prague!!

Gros bisous!

Love, Charley
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Praha

Penulis : Unknown on Wednesday, 28 July 2010 | 11:10

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Praha, or Prague as we know it, is a gorgeous place on earth. The people are super mega friendly and really laid back and cool. They are always smiling, eager to help, eager to please and the client service is golden (unlike Lyon!) Oh, don't get me wrong, I love, love, love France but ... but, the French are uptight, sassy and client service is nonexistent (I know some of you are covering your mouths and gasping right now. Please forgive me my beloved French friends and my beloved France, but I gotta say the truth.) When you come to a place like Prague, you really notice the difference.

So, we have established that the people are amazingly wonderful. Now, the city ... the city, ahhh....





Beautiful, ornate, stunning ...




















well preserved, classy...







everywhere you look, its amazing!




It seems as though every building is covered with intricate design. Its all in the detail.





























Look closely ...
























Love these guys!!



















I was looking down and noticed that even the grates to the city sewer are fabulous!!!!













Then we stumbled upon an abandoned old--I don't know what you would call it --an old fashioned family style dwelling? It took up half a block (that is if they had blocks here which they don't) and it had an old courtyard with carriage housing, chicken coops, etc. I tried to get in to take photos of the inside, but this tall, cool, handsome Czech man in a smashing and expensive business suit came sauntering my way and said in a thick Eastern European accent (roll the r's hard here as you read this in your head), "No trespass." I smiled in a friendly way, tried not to look too much like a bum tourist and said, " Wow, it sure is beautiful here!" and then I tried to ease my way further in. He was having non of it and replied, "Eets new project." And he smiled back in a definite "get the hell out of here, lady kind of way. 

As the neighborhood was pretty chic, I can only begin to imagine what kind of stunning project they will make when they redo this gorgeous piece of property smack in the city. Here are the photos I did manage to get.

Walking down the street


Spy the gorgeous property!



Zee door


Zee door different angle



The old doorbell



Zee window




Smashing!

So, a couple more details on Praha. Love the name of this shop!!!!!




And love this iron fence filled with all kinds of locks.




Peace out.

Love Charley


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Praha Jewish Ghetto



Praha is how the Czechskys say and spell Prague.

Praha has an incredibly well-preserved Jewish quarter called Josefov. Jewish people settled into Praha in the 10th century. The first pogrom was in 1096. Shortly after, the Pope declared that Jewish people weren't equal to Christians and should thereby be confined to a ghetto so as not to mingle with the rest of the population. In 1848, the ghetto walls came down and Jewish people were allowed to live where they desired. 700 + years of ghetto life, that leaves me speechless.

The Praha Jewish community had relative freedom up until the time of Hitler. The Nazis wiped out 90% of Praha's Jews, only 6,000 remain today. Nazi concentration camp Terezin was set up on the outskirts of Prague. It was a holding camp for Jews from Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands and Denmark. There, they were transported directly to Auschwitz. 33,000 people died in this camp due to its horrific unsanitary conditions.

Normally the Nazis destroyed synagogues and melted down the gold and silver from Jewish religious items. Praha's Jewish Ghetto is, today, incredibly well-preserved because Hitler had plans for it to be a museum of an extinct race. He imported artifacts from other synagogues from all over the ancient Bohemian Empire (for which Prague was the capitol). Hitler set out to wipe out the Jews and then wanted a museum of their extinct race. It is impossible for me to understand how human beings can do this to other human beings.

There are 5 synagogues in Josefov. One is a memorial to the Jews who were killed in the concentration camp Terezin. Its white washed walls are covered with the names of the departed. I found dozens of people on the walls with my family name, Brunner. Tears streamed down my face. As my origins are a mystery--I know I am from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but no more than that--I was profoundly affected. Could any of these people be my relatives?


There were many children in camp Terezin. Their teacher hid some of their artwork under the floorboards; it was found after the war. Here is a picture drawn by Kitty Brunner of life before the camp.



Behind this synagogue lies the Jewish cemetery where 20,000 were buried. They ran out of room and had to stack them 12 high in the graves. On the right is a grave of a Cohen, as the hands symbolized this family.



Here is the grave of the famous rabbi Low. He is said to have had magical powers. He created a monster from clay called Golem. He put a pebble in the Golem's mouth and the monster ran amuck, killing bad people, protecting the Jews. Rabbi Low was scared of his own monster, took the magic pebble out, and legend has it, put the Golem in the attic of the Old New Synagogue where it still lies today.


Pieces of old tombs. People have placed pebbles and scraps of paper on these tombs as a means of saying a prayer or making a wish.




There is the Old New Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Europe. It was built in 1270, gothic style.


The 19th century Spanish synagogue.



There was a big Czech resistance against the Nazis, as important as the French resistance. In 1942, they managed to kill Reinhard Heydrich a real nasty guy. He was in charge of Bohemia and Moravia and a chief planner in the final solution.

The Czech people fought long and hard against the Nazis. They helped liberate their own country only to fall into the hands of the Soviet Union where they suffered many horrible years under Communism. We came across a memorial for the hundreds of thousands of people murdered under the Soviet regime.

 

Whew! Stay tuned for more upbeat information. I am here to report all my experiences in the Czech Republic and the Nazi occupation and the reign of Communism marked this beautiful, peaceful country profoundly.

Gros Czech bisous et a demain!

Love, Charley

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Czech Modern Art

Penulis : Unknown on Monday, 26 July 2010 | 01:24

Monday, 26 July 2010

While meandering in an I've-been-working-too-darn-hard-and-don't-know-how-to-be-on-vacation daze, I discovered an amazing modern art gallery. The space was white washed walls with polished cement floors.


This is a plaster torso surrounded by thousands of real feathers.


Bette Davis Eyes?



My personal favorite



There was an amazing piece that was constructed of hundreds of small square mirrors with a camera lens in the middle. When the camera lens detected movement, all of the mirrors moved with you. I captured it on film and will try and make a movie for you.

This next piece disturbed me greatly. The dog and cat were facing one another and I believe that they were real. I took this to be an anti-fur statement - these are animals too, just like mink etc.




Alright, off to more adventures!!

Gros bisous et a demain.

Love, Charley


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Un dimanche inhabituel ...

Penulis : Unknown on Sunday, 25 July 2010 | 04:24

Sunday, 25 July 2010

***
Ma maison est devenue le refuge des chats de hasard ...
Je vous présente un des bébés de Blanca qui préfère habiter chez nous !
Allez savoir pourquoi !
...

Comment ne pas craquer ...
...

Jeux de pattes, duo tendresse entre Blanca et son chaton, adopté à l'unanimité !
...
C'est un dimanche d'été sans les enfants petits et grands, les uns sont en Corse, les autres en Italie, je m'occupe à des petites choses, cueillir des fleurs de bords de chemins,
...
photographier les lauriers, roses
... ou blancs, ils sont magnifiques cette année.
...
Et passer fairer un petit coucou d'amitié à vous qui poussez ma porte ...

Je rêvais de calme, je suis servie !!!

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