Tag: language

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Bran, Romania – Mythical Eidolon

A drive of some distance from Buşteni lies the town of Bran. Somewhat nondescript, but having all the trappings of a typical tourist area, it is for sure a more relaxed atmosphere than the Prahova Valley.

Bran Castle – Interior

Its claim to fame is of course Castle Bran, the so called home of Vampires, Count Dracula and other Penny Dreadful, that Bram Stoker made so famous. It neither has the feel nor unearthly aura of a place where so many horrors could have ostensibly been committed by Vlad Tepes, or more noteworthy, Vlad the Impaler, as current folklore would have it. Overall, it was an interesting day trip, warranted by the excellent restaurant we ate at, and to finally put to rest in our own minds exactly what all the vampire fuss is about. Others will probably have similar epiphanies if they visit, just as I did.

Bran – The Town

Bran is an out of the way town which seems to enjoy some tourist traffic, but only because of its namesake. It lies on E574, which is on the west side of the Bucegi Range of the Southern Carpathian Mountains and about an hour’s ride from Buşteni, that is in good weather and when there is no bridge or road construction (something we were unfortunate enough to experience on our return to Buşteni).

The rivers Poarta and Turcul run through the town, but they are hardly noticed due to their diminutive sizes. There are several places to park, a very large overflow parking area may be found on Strada Doctor Aurel Stoian, when the tourist season is in full gear. We parked in the Castel Parking place off of E574, right next to the restaurant we visited for lunch.

Castle Bran

The castle is perched on the side of a hill of the western Bucegi Range and commands a view of the entire countryside, as well as the valley below through which the river Turcul runs. One can hardly doubt that it is fixed to its position with the help of an outcropping of rock, for which Bram Stoker used against it to steal its reference from an illustrative book. It is of course a misrepresentation and artistic license that allowed him to do this, though some in this area would detail occurrences of Strigoi, evil spirits who wander the night between the hours of midnight and daybreak, in his defense. But one should not think them related to the castle, nor Vlad the Impaler, who, as evidence would suggest, has become a victim of his own success to levy tariffs and taxes on the German merchants who did not want to pay. The idea of money representing blood, blood money, etc., is not without parallel in our own history.

The castle has no doubt cashed in on the mythology of Dracula or Count Dracul, however, they are careful not to inflame any details regarding this myth. There are little to no reference to Count Dracula nor Vlad as an Impaler. However, there is a very good Torture museum on the grounds, which for about 10€ more will gain you entrance.

The character of Dracula is often confused with Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad Dracul, who was a Walachian Prince who lived in Bran Castle. It is the only castle in all of Transylvania that can possibly fit Bram Stoker’s description of the castle that Dracula in his book lived in; hence, it is now known throughout the world as Dracula’s Castle. His novel described the castle as,

. . . on the very edge of a terrific precipice . . . with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm [of] silver threads where the rivers winds in deep gorges through the forests.

Bram Stoker obviously stole the appellation from an illustrated book that showed Bran Castle and then took it as his fictitious abode for Count Dracula. He used rather straightforward references to imply the he meant none other than Vlad Tepes, who was the Wallachian Rules from 1456 until 1467, and who, for political reasons, was labeled as a blood thirsty tyrant, as has already been previously mentioned.

Nonetheless, in Bran and the villages nearby, one can still find the belief in the existence of evil spirits called Strigoi. There was and still a belief that there exist certain living people, or Strigoi, who lead an abnormal life at night, when during sleep, their souls leave their bodies and haunt the village tormenting people while they sleep. These evil spirits supposedly haunt their prey from midnight until dawn, when sunlight appears to affect their powers and their potential to do harm fades. The character of Dracula derives no doubt most of its power from these local myths, there is no other explanation for its endurance. Its power has however faded over time, that is, when exposed to the corrosive of the sunlight of education and scientific scrutiny, as most other things preternatural.

In the Fall of 1462, thirty years before Columbus visited the New World, an army of the Hungarian King Matei Corvin captured Vlad Tepes near Rucar. He was taken to Bran Castle and imprisoned there for at least two months. This could quite possibly be his one and only association with the castle. Where others have tried to fabricate, inveigle or obfuscate the narrative of Count Dracula from the Stoker book, history reveals the truth. Sleep well.

Restaurants

There are many restaurants in Bran, the most convenient one that we found was directly next to the parking lot we used. However there are several others that are without a doubt very convenient and good to use as well.

Casa di Bran

This restaurant offered a very cosmopolitan and Romanian based menu, one for which anyone could order something to please them.

Above are my choices for lunch which included wine, coffee and dessert, though all were served à la carte.

Our family had a very good lunch, while it rained for a while outside. Good timing before our visit to the castle.

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Bacharach, Germany – Model Medieval Town

On a bend of the Rhine River above Mainz sits the small town of Bacharach. Nestled among the varied and many castles of the west bank, its row of buildings and high walls demonstrate historically how important this part of the Rhine was in the Middle Ages.

Bacharach – Above Burg Stahleck – August 2021

The walls of the Rhine River valley provide an ample perch for the many castles and fortresses that were built to protect the towns along its banks. The Stahleck Castle sits above this small town and extends it length of walls, turrets and towers around the small community like a net from above. The curtain of walls is formidable in both height and width, being its strongest at river level, where perhaps most of the attacks (if any) would probably originate.

The Town

There is no real center of town, since it is more of a stretch of houses and building along the Rhine. Points of interest include the main street called Mainzerstraße, where all of the shops are located, Blücherstraße which starts at Saint Peter’s church and continues up through the Steeger Tor, a smaller street called the Langestraße which parallels the main street and the beautiful park along the banks of the Rhine.

A main attraction here is the beautifully preserved Altes Haus. It is here where Robert Stolz wrote his operetta Wenn die kleinen Veilchen blühen, or “When the little violets bloom”, which was eventually performed in the Haag in 1932. Aside from that, it is an excellent example of Half-Timber, or Fachwerk framing.

The hillsides in this area are dominated by vineyards, the area being a major wine producer for Germany. There are many Vintners here and many, if not all, sell directly to the public. Unfortunately after taking so long to eat, we were not predisposed to try and visit any of them.

Restaurants

There are several restaurants in town to choose from, all of which appear to serve a mixture of traditional German fare and some Mediterranean. It is probably preferable to find something on one of the side streets, since traffic is still allowed through the main thoroughfare.

Restaurant Burg Stahleck

We choose this restaurant based on its menu and amount of outside seating. Plus we were just lucky to get the last table with its advantage at being in a very strategic corner, in order to view the goings on in town.

Bacharach is indeed a great place to spend a day or afternoon. The combination of the town, the banks of the Rhine and Castle above it provide more than enough to do for anyone in the area looking for a day trip.

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Dreieichenhain, Germany – Fachwerkhaüser Allesamt

I considered a title in English, however none appeared fitting to me, or at least to my ear. The above essentially translates to Timbered Houses All or all of them. Most, if not all (I didn’t take a census) are built in this style, at least within confines of the ring wall.

Half-Timbered House – Dreieichenhain, Germany

The exemplary example shows all the features of a timbered or half-timbered house in this region of Germany. In fact, Dreieichenhain lays on a three thousand kilometer (appr. 1800 miles) long Deutschen Fachwerkstraße of timbered framed houses in Germany. This virtual road runs through Niedersachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Hessen, Thüringen, Bayern and Baden-Württemburg. This town lays on the portion from the Rhine to the Main and Odenwald.

As you walk along the Fahrgasse, the main street in Dreieichenhain, there are several signs explaining the history and method of this type of construction. In typical German fashion, each timber has its own name and in many cases they may have multiple names, depending on their actual purpose.

These include the Rähm or Rähmbalken for the top beams and Schwelle or Grundschwelle for the beams located on the bottom. Echpfosten, Eckstiel and Eckständer may all be used as names for the column posts used for the corners of the buildings.

Here are some additional examples of this construction practice, which many tourist find to represent the idyllic German town. All of them have very restrictive auto and driving rules, many of which require you to park outside the town and walk in. Though we parked outside the town and walked in, the walk was rather short, even though there were two small traffic circles that we had to walk through. While doing so we discovered the town also has its own parking area a few hundred meters from one of the town gates.

The Untertor Gate – Dreieichenhain

Aside from the interesting houses the town is surrounded by the typical Roman wall. This wall has only three gates, through which anyone approaching or leaving the town must pass. The rest of the wall is sparsely populated by lookout towers. The wall is also supplemented and takes advantages of some the buildings in the town to supply part of its construction. For example the church and several stone buildings that were incorporated and included in the wall in order to remain part of the town proper.

The Ruins

Near the Untertur entrance are the ruins of the Burg, or castle, which was rather small, but probably adequate for a town of this size.

The Castle Ruins – Church In The Background – Dreieichenhain

The castle has had a lot of work on it to stabilize its structure and to make it safe for tourists to enter. There is not much to see, but you can enter the ruins and discover the old main hall chimney and other construction items of interest.

Ericka And Patti – Dreieichenhain Castle – Dreieichenhain, Germany – August 2021

Below is another view from outside the ruins and one of the main hall with chimney.

Restaurants

La Table

Though actually a restaurant, it appears as a rather quaint little boutique coffee shop that sells amazing cakes and desserts. We stopped at La Table for some refreshment, after we had completely discovered what this little town had to offer, and what the local weather kind of forced us into sitting under some kind of cover. Our attempt to sit outside under the coffee shop’s awning was dashed, when what started out as a shower turned into a full blown thunderstorm. We persisted in our belief, along with another cute little old lady from town, that we would be able to sit it out under the awning. But soon enough it rained harder and harder and then the wind picked up and drove us all inside.

Gabi And Ericka – La Table – Dreieichenhain, Germany – August 2021

Luckily, most of the other guest had been driven home by the inclement weather so there was plenty of seating for the rest of us inside, including the little old lady who turned out to be quite the chatterbox. So we ordered up some glasses of Martini Rosso, Prosecco, and hot chocolates along with some cake and had a nice little Kaffeepause out of the rain and eventually hail.

The Burgweiher – Dreieichenhain, Germany

Above a parting shot of the castle’s water source from the nice little town of Dreieichenhain on the Deutschen Fachwerkstraße.

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Lyon, France – Silk And Murals

If one were to think of two words that exemplify Lyon, besides being known for its culinary heritage, it would be as the city of silk and murals. There are other sights to see of course, but these two are the ones that you will not forget if you visit this city in the heart of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Lyon – Panorama of the city of Lyon, taken from the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

During the week of the tenth through the twelfth of August, 2021 we were fortunate to travel through Lyon. Our expectations were mixed, having known or read little of the city in the past. In fact, until we visited we had no idea of the impact that Lyon had had on the silk or weaving business in the world.

Lyon – Cour Des Loges

The Historic City Center

The historic part of the old city is backed up against the hill on the other side of the Saône below the basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. Here you will find the old narrow streets paved in cobblestones and buildings fitting their age. The Place of the small college, right next to our hotel The Cour Des Loges, is an example of this as seen below. Though I must admit I am not a fan of walking on cobblestones and prefer the larger stoned walkways of Turin. Walking in one thunderstorm or shower will testify to their slipperiness.

Lyon – Place Du Petit College

Many of the old building date back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and were deeply involved in the silk trade and fabric making. This included our hotel which has several stairwells within it similar to the one above. Though they are inside the hotel, they were customarily on the outside and almost always in the form of a helix.

Rue Du Boeuf An Old Staircase

Bordering the Historic City Center to the east is the river Saône. There are many bridges that span the waterway and will bring you to other old parts of Lyon in the district in and around Bellecour.

The Place Du Bellecour sports the traditional statue of Louis XIV on a horse. Aside from a well architected space around it that serves as a park, the space seems to otherwise be devoid of purpose, it is not even paved well.

Fountain Of The Jacobins

However, the area in and around the Fountain of the Jacobins seems more impressive and well designed. It is situated closer to the buildings, including a ring of trees with a beautiful fountain at the center. The only thing it appears to be missing are cafe tables and people.

Roman Ruins

There are several roman ruins spread across the city. Most are comprised of amphitheater that we used by the local population for amusement. Lyon has at least one example of twin amphitheater, which frankly I have never seen before, even in Italy. The two are adjacent to one another on the hillside overlooking Lyon and just below and to the south of the basilica atop the hill. Both still appear to be used for special events and have wooden stages carefully erected over them.

We actually arrived at the amphitheaters quite by accident, trying to find our way up to the basilica. We both knew they were there, we were just both surprised that we happened upon them in that location.

Basilica Of Notre-Dame De Fourvière

Continuing our walk up the hillside from the roman ruins you can easily see the basilica, so groping for directions on your phone is not such a big deal. The basilica is impressive, both inside and out. However, it appears to have been place on real estate where they allowed residential houses to encroach upon it. This takes away from one’s ability to get an actual appreciation of the scale of the structure from outside.

Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Inside is a totally different matter. There are actually two churches within the basilica, one above (the actual basilica) and one below in the crypt. Though the directions indicate crypt, in fact there numerous persons buried below, it appears to also function as a full church with pews and all.

Inside Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Croix Rousse

Across the river Saône from the historic district lies the district on the hill called Croix Rousse. This area is known for its historical ties to the Canuts and those who established and made the silk trade famous in Lyon.

The Museum Of The Canuts

Anyone interested the history of weaving or silk, or anyone interested in old machines should probably put this somewhere on their list of places to visit. They have a small but authentic collection of old and rare machines dating back to the time the Canuts flourished in this area.

A canut was a master weaver of gold, silver and silk thread. The word has probable origins in the word canette, which in french means spool, for which they were responsible in changing out in order for the weave to be successfully finished. The start of the industry can be traced back to its start in and around the year 1536.

The Fresco Buildings

There are several buildings in this area that have been frescoes painted on them. Some of them have been done numerous times over, in order to keep the appeal up and to changed the theme slightly.

Mur Des Canuts – Croix Rousse
Fresco of the Lyonnaise

Other Weird Points Of Interest

The are at least a few unusual points of interest, where artists apparently had a hand. Owing to a profound lack of graffiti in the city my wife and I thought them interesting. Here are a few.

Restaurants

Many of the restaurants here serve local food, or as close to traditional home cooking in these parts of France as you can get and are called Bouchon, it is sometimes spelled Buchon. They are similar to Italy’s Osteria or Trattoria and being in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes are very meat based establishments. Most menus include sausages from the region, both sliced as an appetizer and fully cooked served with a sauce or gravy. It is obviously interesting to try, but over the course of a few days can become tiresome.

Buchon Fiston

The second restaurant we tried with such fare was Bouchon Fiston, the first being of no particular note and right across the same street. Trying to mix it up a bit I went for a soup and salad. The onion soup came with a delicious filo dough top and the salad came with melted regional cheese on toasted bread. Patti ordered a lentil salad, which came as a combo of a lentil compote and green salad on the side.

Bistrot Des Cours Des Loges

Belonging to our hotel is a small bistrot that serves many good specialties from the region. Our second evening in Lyon found us visiting it, because the main restaurant normally served by a famous chef was closed for the holiday season.

The bistro offers outside seating under the amazing trees of the Place de Petit College. We had a most enjoyable evening sampling many fine dishes and enjoying the wine.

Le Cabaretier

Our last evening in Lyon found us dodging raindrops to make it to the Cabaretier for dinner. After a rather warm afternoon the thunderstorms would not be denied, but neither would we.

Le Carabetier – Lyon

The place was vacant for the most part, possibly owing to the rain, since most other places appeared equally bare. The owner and ostensibly the cook at this is a real character and listens to American music all the time. Once he learned we spoke English and were from the States, he was constantly buzzing around trying to help or playing songs he thought we would like to hear. If anything it made for an interesting evening.

Yes, That’s Sausage, But I Had To Try It – Andouilette Sauce Moutarde

The inside looks as though it belongs as a Antiquariat and not a restaurant. But the eclectic furnishings did not take anything away from his authentic Lyonnaise food.

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Annecy, France – The City Of Canals

Annecy – From The Chateau – August 2021

Arrival In The Rain

We started our travels knowing well that we were headed into bad weather. The rain storm that had been predicted for a few days arrived with a wall of thunderstorms and a strong front of rain. No matter, we spent the major portion of our morning traveling from Turin to Chambry and then to Annecy by train.

Train Ride From Turin To Chambry – August 2021

Being delayed a bit in Modane, France by the French authorities, who by the way did a thorough check of everyone’s passports and vaccination status before we were allowed to move on (at least someone is paying attention), we missed our local train in Chambry to Annecy. But that was no big deal and forced us to sit at a cafe there for an hour and have a coffee and a small bite to eat.

We later arrived in Annecy around lunchtime and into our hotel between downpours, so we only experienced a few drops on our stroll across Verdun Square to the Carlton Best Western where we are staying. A newly renovated modern facility which appears adequate for a four star hotel, though it shows some signs of lack of maintenance here and there (just stupid things I would notice.)

Patti On The Quai Madame De Warens – Annecy – August 2021

The city of course was obviously built around the power of the water the pours out of Lake Annecy via the Thiou River. This river is divided by a network of sluices and other diversions for use by the prior residents in numerous ways. There are numerous artifacts along the Quias were used to stop and gather the water for redirection towards mills and perhaps other structures that no longer exist. At least one large canal still exists, the Canal du Vasse, which today is primarily used solely by the park and some boat rental concerns.

Historic Center

The historic center consists of less than a square kilometer of land and buildings, all concentrated around the mouth of the River Thiou and the Canal Le Vassé.

River Thiou – Quai Perriere – Annecy – August 2021

The chaotic nature of the city belies its origins in time, owing to the many narrow side streets and other small venues.

The town has a noteworthy palace and a chateau that has been converted to a museum at the top of the one hill off-center of town. The palace is peculiar, in that it exists on the one small island in the middle of the River Thiou.

Palais de L’Isle – River Thiou – Annecy – August 2021

Les Musées d’Annecy

The museums of Annecy are few and for the most part only in French. We purchased our Tickets for Two for the Chateau Museum, if only to see the views. But also with the hope that there would be something of interest inside that we might learn. There was but unfortunately it was only lightly covered by signs with minimal English. So if you visit one of these museums an Optical Character Recognition application must be used to auto-translate any placards or signs if you hope to learn anything at all, in the case you only know limited French.

Tickets For Two – Annecy – August 2021

We actually visited two museums of this group, the Musée-Chateau and the Musée du Film d’Animation. The first holds most of the original artifacts of the chateau, including old chests and some period paintings (including an amazing portrait of the 1858 Donati’s Comet). The second is a French specific museum of film animation of which I could not think of a single example or contribution to non-European film art, hence most of this art remains unknown to many outside this country.

Restaurants

Le Lilas Rose

Le Lilas Rose – Annecy – August 2021

After a short rest, in order to miss the rain that had been following us and started falling, we went out for dinner. Not far from our hotel we found the cute little restaurant Le Lilas Rose which features simple fare from the region of the Haute-Savoie.

Erick’s Chacutierie Plate – Le Lilas Rose – August 2021

I chose the Chacutierie plate, which included an assortment of Parma ham and other dried meat along with potatoes, pickles, cheeses and salad. Paired with a very good Côtes du Rhone and local bread, it made for a very good dinner.

Les Caves Du Chateau

A small and indistinct destination on your culinary adventure here, may take you to The Caves, or Les Caves De Chateau. Though we had actually known about it and marked it down as one possible place to visit, we happened upon by pure accident. It is situated in such a way coming down the Rpe Du Chateau, that it can be easily missed. We decided to stop initially to try the wine, since their list of local and French wine is impressive, and ended up staying for lunch, or déjeuner as they refer to it here.

Les Caves Du Chateau – Annecy – August 2021

Patti tried a local Rosé and I sampled a Paulliac – Les Fleurs des Haute-Bages and a St. Estephe – Cos de Labory, all very excellent choices.

For our meal we had the Charcuterie Board with a large selection of local cheeses, dried meat, pickles and other delights. A small but filling start to our afternoon walk.

Ô Savoyard

On our second evening we made reservations at the Ô Savoyard, a mix of local tradition and tourist hot spot. We arrived early and were able to acquire an excellent table outside away from most people, a necessary precaution when eating out during these times of Covid.

Ô Savoyard – Traditional Savoie Cuisine – August 2021

For my main dish I ordered the traditional Tartiflette special of the restaurant. This is a skillet dish with potatoes, diced bacon or pancetta, with melted wedges of local cheese covering it in a special sauce. For any potato lover it should be the go-to dish in Savoie.

I ordered a nice red wine from the Savoie region made from the Mondeuse Noire grape. A dry, fruity and well rounded wine reminiscent of a young and immature Pinot Noir, I found it a real surprise and very enjoyable.  The Chartreuse Verte was surprisingly very herbal and more a digestive than the typical liquer that one might expect.  There is also a common local variety called Génépi, which the locals make from herbs and plants that they know, some of which is sold and can be sampled at restaurants.

Auberge du Lyonnais

The hotel on the banks of the River Thiou also sports an exceptional restaurant, at least for lunch. They have a limited menu which for some can be a very negative proposition, especially those with children or older adults. However, the daily specials are first rate and the cover the minimal range of something vegetable, something with meat and at least two selection of fish, both from the local streams, lake and the ocean.

Patti and I found the restaurant a highlight of the day and if time permitted would visit it again.

Tomorrow it’s on to Lyon and the continuation of our vacation and trip winding through France on our way to Germany.  Our trip to Annecy was great and we enjoyed what we saw and did, and we would recommend it as a two or three day stop for the adventurous.  For those who are less adventurous, especially with their language skills and temperament, it’s probably a place to be avoided.  There are few if any English speakers here and you have to remain flexible.  If you know any French at all, it will come in very handy.  If not, you will be using your phone to translate menus and perhaps requests you make of people.  Above all else, be patient,  the  French here are very amenable and want to please you, once you get over any communication barrier.  Enjoy!