Garden as of June 8th

Not much colour, save for the weeds!

MARK TWAIN HOUSE, HARTFORD

Today I chaperoned a small field trip to the Mark Twain House Museum in Hartford at 351 Farmington Ave Hartford Connecticut 06105. http://www.marktwainhouse.org/

All in all, it was a pretty good tour and there is plenty to see. However, The place, although it looks like they just spent eighteen million dollars on a renovation project, is seriously strapped for cash and is facing bankruptcy.

Samuel Clemens aka Mark twain, was an amazing author who wrote such works as:

The $30,000 Bequest by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

A Connecticut Yankee by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Pudd'n'head Wilson by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

Tom Sawyer Detective by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (fiction)

What Is Man? by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (essay)

The sad thing is, its such a great place and the font of the biography of one of America's leading literary giants.



you too can help

PLEASE DONATE:

http://www.marktwainhouse.org/

Romania wants Dracula’s castle back

The Transilvanian castle that inspired Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula should be returned to the State by its present owner, the Romanian Parliament ruled yesterday.

Bran Castle, near the historic city of Brasov, central Romania, is the country’s most popular tourist destination because of its link with the 15th-century Prince Vlad Tepes III, who went down in history as the Impaler for his preferred way of executing opponents. Historians are split over whether he spent several days or years in the castle.

The formidable 14th-century fortress had belonged to Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Queen Marie of Romania, but in 1956 it was seized by Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist regime, which turned it into a museum.

Last year the castle was given back to Queen Marie’s descendant, Archduke Dominic Habsburg-Lothringen, of the Austrian house of Habsburg, under a restitution agreement that included a pledge to keep it open as a museum for three years even if the property were resold. The 69-year-old Archduke, a New York-based architect and designer who lived in the castle briefly as a child, has since put the property on sale for a reported £100 million.

A group of politicians are trying to prevent him from selling the castle, which they consider an inalienable part of their country’s legacy. Their campaign resulted in yesterday’s parliamentary decision, and it is now up to the Constitutional Court to make the final call on whether authorities can repossess the property.

Corin Trandafir, the Archduke’s legal representative, told The Times that the decision to renationalise the castle was a political move and that his client would be suing the Romanian State for €150 million (£105 million).

My Bucuresti

Basic Bucuresti city map.



My beautiful home, the capital city of Romania serves as the Cultural epicenter in Eastern Europe. The picturesque gardens, well arranged lakes, handsomely designed avenues, and strategically laid out grand boulevards lead you to narrow cobble stone roads and pretty corner shops as well as historic places of interest. The spacious parks are surrounded by imposing museums and palaces of old. Opera houses along side well appointed Mansions and looming Military monuments give way to rows and rows of Communist style housing blocks. This is my home town, this is Bucuresti!





Ceausescu's Palace


The Palace of Parliament - also called the House of People or the House of Ceausescu has been built between 1984-1989 and it represents the grandest administrative construction in Europe. It has hundreds of offices, halls for receptions or for other events (scientific, cultural, social-political), dozens of conference rooms. It covers 265.000 sqm interior surface, being the second biggest in the world after the Pentagon building in Washington.


The Athaeneum


The Romanian Athaeneum - one of the most representative buildings of the capital, erected in 1886-1888 following the plans of the French architect Albert Galleron. The necessary sums for the erection of the building were raised through public subscription. The exterior architecture represents a combination of styles: neo-classic, baroque, ionic, etc.




Arch of Triumph


The Arch of Triumph - inaugurated on 1st December 1936, glorifies the bravery of the Romanian soldiers who fought in the First World War, celebrating at the same time the 1918 Union of Romanian provinces. Designed by the architect Petre Antonescu, the monument is 27 m high.

Bucuresti Military Statue



Thank you for taking a moment to view my beautiful city.

The STINGING truth!

Ive been working all sorts of hours lately. Seems like three days since Ive looked online. Wednesday, I was pulling weeds and I uncovered a Hornets nest. BAMB! I felt a burning on my knuckle and figured I had caught it on a briar. As I glanced down I noticed a hornet digging his stinger into me in the same fashion as an Alaskan oil driller, drills for black gold. Last time I was stung I was eight and still living in Romania. I had a terrible reaction to it and was hospitalized. (clearly an over reaction to it by a British Mother in a Communist country with limited medical access) Now, my allergic reaction seems to have faded over the years, because other than the burning, no ill effects were felt. So I have since, abandoned that patch of soil and moved on as they say to "greener pastures"!