KADRIORG PALACE, Day 2 in Tallin, Estonia

Palace fountain in the garden

May 23, 2019

Today’s adventure was to Kadriorg Palace.  Peter the Great built this  baroque summer residence for  Catherine 1 of Russia in 1718.  The palace is now an art museum.

Kadriorg Palace and Gardens

 

The Great Hall was the most  grandiose of  all the rooms.

A fresco covered the ceiling of the Great Hall.

Beautiful ceramic tiled heaters/fireplaces/stoves  were  in every room of the palace.

The gardens were modest but it is still early in the flower season here.

I loved  this maritime scene – “Odessa Pier”  1885 by Rufin Sudkovsky .

Is this not a great tree??????  After leaving the Palace, I walked to the Kuma Art Museum. and found this interesting/monster like tree on the way.  A nature-made tree  sculpture .  : )

There was a display of  1952 soviet propaganda  posters at  Kuma.  This one is:  “The Greatest Happiness of All is to Grow and Study in a Soviet School” ”

The best of  the museum was the Estonian Art that focused on the 50 years of Soviet  Occupation (June 1940-1991 ).

Another propaganda poster –  “The Red Army Protects our Family”

On a happier note  – in Old Town, there is a display of 15 flowers stalls all next to each other.  You can smell the floral blooms before you even see it.  It is incredible!  How wonderful it would be to live  across the street and have this view all day long.

Beautiful bouquets every where I looked!

Bird of the day – the fieldfare, a thrush.

Thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoyed!

KRAKOW, POLAND – The City Defense Walls and Towers

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May 9, 2015

Krakow’s original rampart had 45 watchtowers and 8 gates. All with a moat surrounding the outside of it.  It was built  in 1241-ish.   In the 19th century  it had fallen in disrepair so most of  it was torn down.  The  moat  was then filled in, trees were planted and it was made into a park.  So now the city has a wonderful park area that surrounds the Old Town area that is 2 and 1/2 miles long for walking, biking or just sitting on a bench and enjoying nature.

Here is what remains of the towers and wall.:

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This is the Barbian  Florian Gate which stood between the moat and the tower gate – as an extra  layer of defense.  My 2nd daughter Corrine Zeller is beautifying the Barbian.   Corrine lives in Germany and  I was lucky enough to have Corrine come  join me while I was  in Krakow.  We had a great time exploring the city together.

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I climbed one of the three   towers and walked the bit of wall that remained. Built into the wall  was an extension where I discovered a chapel:

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One side of the remaining wall is now used as an art gallery for students to sell their paintings.

Bird of the day:

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In the moat-made -into-a park area I found dozens of these pretty birds. Acting like Robins,  they were pulling bugs and worms from the ground.  They are called Fieldfares, in the thrush family.

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“The early bird gets the worm. The early worm gets eaten.”

(Norman Ralph Augustine)

Thanks for reading…

Next comes the Krakow  Nativity Cribs…..