A few reasons to enjoy "Being Erica"

- If you are tired of typical American TV shows, here's a getaway (Canadian show). Touching, sweet but not overwhelming, mingling reality and SF in a reasonable, enjoyable way.

- The show actually has a point, and offers quite a life lesson to everyone: when you're down, there is always a way to get over troubles and get back in the sadle, and the only one who could help you is yourself! Of course, there is a therapist in the show, but not everybody affords going to a therapist. You can simply become your own therapist, review your entire life, write a list of regrets, and instead of going back in time to fix them, as Erica did, just learn to live with them, see them in a different light, or get rid of them as soon as possible. By the time Erica becomes a therapist in season 4, you should be capable of handling any situation without despair, stay calm and resolute about your most difficult decisions, remain focused on the future rather than the past. Once you get rid of regrets there's nothing holding you back, you are able to let go of everything that happened in the past and open a new symbolical door towards the future.

- Makes you wanna travel through time! Erica's therapy makes it so real and accessible.

- Makes you perceive doors from a different perspective! Every door becomes a new potential world - into your past or your future. More respect for doors! :-) Wish the doors in my life were so flexible!

- Makes you wanna wear a lot of dresses! Erica's collection of dresses is amazing. She rarely wears anything else. She' so feminine and natural... a good example to all women who have no idea how to become more attractive.

- Makes you wanna clean up the mess in your life and start all over again, as Erica did, having a new approach to life - more positive, more optimistic, more considerate towards others, in order to avoid other regrets added to the list!

- At least two or three nice love stories to watch out - Julianne & Brent, Dr Tom & Amanda, Sam & Lenin, and my favorite - Erica & Kai (I don't particularly like Adam...)

Religious behavior: Middle Ages vs 21st century

Ever since its creation, the church has been an influential institution but also a powerful weapon able to manipulate and hold people hostages of their own fears.

Let's see what really changed since the Middle Ages.

1) Pilgrimages
In medieval times people often travelled hundreds of miles just to see a relic, hoping for a miraculous cure. Churches kept whole bodies of saints, heads, arms, pieces of Jesuss cross, pieces of bone, hair and blood and were expecting pilgrims with bottles of the martyrs blood and even souvenirs.  Well, don't laugh too much. Thousands of people still go on pilgrimages every year in our century.
Stories of miracles used to circulate in the middle ages as well as presently and people believed them to be true, without any evidence. Curiously nobody has ever witnessed such events, we are only expected to believe the legends and fear vengeful saints. Back in those days, most stories were invented by the church to intimidate people, determine them to go on pilgrimages and spend money on saints. In fact, medieval pilgrimages were a huge industry relying on sales of badges, souvenirs, offerings. There are documents that prove that sometimes demonstrations of supernatural power were organized in advance to give people what they expected to see - resurection from the dead, miraculous cures (people were hired to produce miracles for profit). Despite clear evidence of corruption and fraud the church's grip on the medieval mind remained strong in medieval times as well as nowadays.

2) Intolerance of other religions
The word of the church was the word of God. It had the power to absolve sins, protect from evil. If you didn't accept the beliefs of the church you were simply an outsider, an enemy. The church showed a belligerant attitude towards the outsiders. Anyone who disagreed with the church was considered an heretic. In our century, being part of a congregation still means sharing 100% its principles and beliefs, otherwise you are considered an outcast. No idea of reform is ever taken seriously. Unfortunately, many priests sometimes forget that Christianity did not begin as a bellicose religion. Although preaching Jesus, the church takes a different view according to political or social circumstances and require its believers to hate, ignore, deny and even kill for a religious cause. Take for example the crusades - when the pope urged knights to defend Christianity and free Jerusalem from Muslims.

3) Fighting and dying for your faith
The crusades were wholly wars, approved and encouraged by the pope. The church authorised them and offered spiritual benefits in return. The battle between Christians and Muslims became the battle between good and evil. The Muslims could never forget our interferance so many centuries ago and the crusades consequences are felt even today. Our history is full of hatred towards Muslims, Jews, protestants, directed and initiated by the church. "Don't worry, you are doing God's work." Those who attacked the wealth of the church and its involvement in politics were executed. And even in our century, the church generally aims to root out all opposition.

4) Fascination with the supernatural
People used to believe and they still do that going to church can get them rid of diseases, misfortunes, and the evil eye. So, they all go to church, kiss icons and worship bones of saints hoping for a miracle. They do not realize that in fact they don't need intermediaries in their relationship with God and that miracles happen only when they are supposed to happen, according to God's will, not priests' or anyone else's. Your faith is not strong enough if you rely on someone else to do your prayers for you. That's been going on for centuries.

To conclude: the cult of saints still exists, the hostility towards other religions still exists, the great journeys of pilgrimage still go on. So, is there anything that really changed in our religious behavior since the Middle Ages? Not really. 

I could never really understand this need for belonging to a certain religious group, since we are all different, have different ideals and obviously perceive divinity in different ways. Centuries ago, just like nowadays, believers were and are ready to kill others (throw bombs in metro stations, organize terrorist attacks) or suicide (in Islam - Kamikaze) in order to impose their religion on others. The 21st century should be the age of reason, yet humankind continues to interpret saint scriptures as an excuse to do wrong.

Interesting facts about Christianism

1) According to the earliest Christian documents, Mary Magdalene was a close friend of Jesus, accompanied him everywhere, stood by his side when he was crucified, was the first to discover his resurrection. However, she is not an apostle, her role in Jesus' life has been forever minimized by the church just because she was a woman. Not to mention the legend of her being a prostitute, invented to decrease her credibility, as she tried to continue her friend's work by preaching (after all, she knew what she was saying, after spending so much time with the son of God!).

2) Mary, the mother of Jesus, is believed to have been a perpetual virgin all her life, but actually, she had other children after Jesus. The truth has been very well concealed by the church because the idea of a virgin divine mother suited the new religion's purposes. The same early documents prove the fact that Jesus had 4 brothers and even sisters. Just one reference to the family is mentioned in the New Testament, all the others have been deliberately deleted by the church. 

3) James, the brother of Jesus (traditionally half-brother), preached to the Jewish Christians for 30 years after Jesus' death, however, his role has also been minimized by the church, simply because he was the son of Mary, allegedly a perpetual virgin, but also because of the rivalry between James and Paul (at that time, the Church faced a choice between James’s or Paul’s versions of Christianity).

4) Many people have no idea that John the Baptist was also related to Jesus (a cousin, there is but one reference in the Bible, if you read carefully). Jesus looked upon him as a teacher and admired him very much. The Christian church tried to cover this family relationship for centuries and the admiration Jesus felt was regarded as unworthy for a divine figure.

5) Chistianism, at its foundations, is pioneered by the apostle Paul, who ironically never met Jesus in his life. His beliefs, which later became the basics of Christianity (especially Orthodox and Catholic), relied on a vision he once had, nothing more.

(inspired by - The Secret Family of Jesus, documentary, 2006, UK, by Robert Beckford)

Why do women enjoy "Desperate Housewives"?

Why do women like to watch "Desperate Housewives"? I guess each of them can easily identify with every one of the characters. I have always loved this show, especially the first 5 seasons, and found it hard not to be touched by Susan's natural awkwardness, Lynette's frankness, Gaby's spontaneity and Bree's accuracy.
These four types of personalities overlap so well with our own in different situations.
When cooking and cleaning the house, I am Bree.
When going out, wearing a sexy outfit, I am Gaby.
When taking care of my family, I am Lynette.
When falling in love and playing the victim, I am Susan.
Which one are you?

What is happiness?

Defining happiness is not easy, as human beings perceive this notion in a totally different way. There are few moments in life when we realize (on an emotional level) how happy we are, but the feeling is so soon forgotten that it immediately turns into a faded memory.

Positive emotions commonly generate happiness, such as achievements, shared love, affection, joy, or a state of well-being, like pleasure. Merely seeing a beautiful flower or looking at the blue sky can bring happiness to some people.

We all want to be happy, but we can’t really say when we are… It’s obviously ironic that such a powerful life goal can’t even be identified when it turns into reality. As soon as we achieve what seems to make us happy, we instantly find another object of desire to start the quest all over again. It is never enough for humans; they can never be entirely satisfied. Our mind is vulnerable and miserable without some kind of long-term motivation.

Happiness clearly cannot be reduced to a few agreeable sensations. Rather, it is a way of being and of experiencing the world. Unfortunately, most of us acknowledge that we rarely feel happy as a whole. Is such a permanent state even possible? Perhaps that’s the explanation for so many people turning towards divinity in search of ways to maximize their chances of happiness.

Instead, let’s just try to make it simple: establish a goal and show absolute commitment, no matter the sacrifice. Spiritually not materialistically. A true state we must aim at from inside. The search for happiness comes from within, like so many other things we get in life.

The Euro zone still deep in the dumps

I couldn't help but notice that after several years of struggling and brainstorming, the fate of the euro still remains uncertain.  The European currency continues to walk around like a very sick patient looking for a miraculous cure. Whereas its various parts are being periodically swathed, nobody considers treating the poor patient as a whole. Unfortunately, the euro zone is still going through a serious sovereign-debt crisis and growth stagnation.

There are actually very few solutions to boost the European economies. Most governments in the euro zone have been recently tossed out by budget deficit and eye-watering costs. The dire economic straits are currently emphasized by visible lack of fiscal unity. There is still a huge gap between old and new members on so many levels. Most European citizens cling to the hope that a certain federalism will eventually emerge to keep things going, but that could take another decade or so.

At this point, the net foreign borrowing in the public, as well as in the private sector, remains problematical. Indebtedness prevents governments from applying the usual fiscal incentives, such as currency devaluation and monetary policy. Structural reforms are out of question, at least not in the near future.

Countries dealing with budget deficit could reduce payroll taxes in order to minimize labor costs. Otherwise, they could take the painful decision to raise VAT and cast down imports. It seems like globalization can really gobble up a big chunk of economic perspectives for the European markets, favoring other ascendants, such as China. On the contrary, countries dealing with consolidated budgets should slow down their rhythm by letting inflation run higher. The problem with such countries, as Germany, is that they refuse to take initiative for an eventual unity and are afraid to risk their own competitivity.  Although Germany often suggests political unity, desired by most European leaders, it dodges the idea of fiscal unity, so necessary in the future, to maintain EU afloat.

Even countries that have already received considerable bail-outs over the past two years find themselves still deep in recession and may need second or third aids. EU leaders are currently evaluating the possibility of raising the amount of rescue funds, as a viable solution to save the Euro zone. Many economists highly doubt that would help. The consequences for each of these beneficiaries can turn out to be disastrous in the long run. 

Europe appears sluggish and unprepared to face another euro crisis and it is almost swamped by the harsh perspective of having to give up on its dearest currency. But what are the alternatives? Almost non-existent. The euro must survive in order to avoid an economic chaos and secure the magnificent euro project. The only option for Europe now is to square off and focus on how to make the economy grow, even in painful circumstances.

Afraid of being different

It takes a lot of courage to be different. Very few people ask themselves: Why should I be like everyone else? Why should I do what everyone else does? As far as I know, we are the most evolved species on earth, but some of us never take interest in such questions. And even fewer succeed to distinguish themselves by thinking differently or doing something unique. Most people are too comfortable in their choice of following certain patterns in life and enjoy acting as if they were part of a herd of animals. Social rules and prejudices transformed us into millions of copycats. For example: we all have to dress in a certain way in order to be accepted in society, we all have to be baptized into a specific religion, we all have to get vaccinated at a certain age, we all have to buy an apartment and get married by the age of 30, etc. Every day we act like robots, not even realizing how ridiculous and boring we really are.

The human brain allows listening to and considering other people’s opinions but is perfectly able to create personal ones. We are absolutely capable of acting and thinking in our own way. Unfortunately we don’t. Perhaps doing what everyone else does and embracing others’ opinions as our own is the easiest way to go through life. It’s also very common to judge and despise fellows who display powerful personalities by going against social conventions. We never appreciate their courage and boldness. They are “outsiders” and “freaks” just because they are different.

Defined as complex and fascinating, the human being tends to resemble animals, rather than aspire to a higher level of intelligence, simply because being unique involves originality, individualization and crossing “borders”, which is beyond most people’s effort and acceptance. Before taking any decision in life we usually consider what others might say: family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc. It is true, by adopting their beliefs we very often avoid awkwardness, disputes, and gossip. But choosing to go with the flow and refusing to take into account the options does not lead to evolution.

Yes, it takes a lot of courage to be different. People are not brave enough to accept the challenge of shaping their own individual personalities and looking at life from a subjective perspective. We are too busy worrying that the pack of wolves we are part of might not actually approve of our choice. So what?
Being unique is so refreshing, rewarding and uplifting. And SO HUMAN.

Why do some friendships fail?

I have an old best friend for almost 14 years. The truth is, I‘ve been the only one to initiate contact with her for some time now. Our friendship is clearly fading away. No point in trying to see if she would contact me. I know she wouldn’t, at least not unless she has a good reason, like to congratulate me on some kind of occasion. I’ve been almost ready to accuse my friend of indifference so many times, I’ve had several attempts to defy her, but every time I lacked courage. Weary of waiting and analyzing, I now find ending the friendship officially more palatable than continuing to pretend our communication is still meaningful. On first blush, it seems like an optimal solution.

Sometimes we discover that our best friends, to whom we used to speak on a day to day basis and with whom we used to spend a lot of time, are no longer our friends. What could have possibly gone wrong? I guess being so close for years and then gradually falling out of touch is pretty common. There is no answer or possibly several answers to the question “why”. It’s either intentional or unconscious. At a certain point, we begin to question the very foundation of our friendships, particularly those that seemed to be so solid, and realize that we never really had that much in common after all. We just happened to be colleagues, neighbors or used to share the same passions for a while. If you think about it, people are drawn together by certain things in life, which never last.

They say true friends never fade out, and a friend in need is a friend indeed. Unfortunately distance seems to be the most common reason to lose contact with friends.

When a friendship gets to the point where you have to worry about calling or not after 6 months of silence, it has obviously reached its expiration date. No closeness and openness are possible at this stage. It turns into a one-sided friendship, which never works. So, why does it hurt? Maybe because I couldn’t face her and tell her the truth in order to get a closure and move on with my life. I am so afraid to hurt her feelings although she has already hurt mine several times by not being there for me. And vice versa, other things are consuming her and she clearly doesn’t feel like sharing them with me anymore. I don’t think she even realizes that our friendship is lost.

In the end, take it as a life-lesson. Friendships are prone to fall apart if they aren’t continually nurtured. It’s up to both sides to make efforts to sustain the relationship.

Religion – accepting inheritance or making a choice?

I wanted to write about this for such a long time but, frankly speaking, I was afraid to make waves. Religious issues have caused wars in the past centuries and even nowadays people continue arguing about religion and keep imposing their religious beliefs on other people without realizing that such an attitude endangers our freedom of thought as individuals.
Every human being has the right to believe in whatever he/she wishes to believe in and nobody is entitled to compel him/her to believe in something else or to question his/her choice. But most of us do that consciously or unconsciously during our entire life.
Unfortunately, even atheists tend to engage into religious debates and never miss the opportunity to display the rationality of their own considerations on this subject. No matter our religious education we just cannot help trying to force other people to share our beliefs. I cannot understand why. Although we more easily accept vegetarians or homosexuals, when it comes to religion, conflicts always turn out to be deep and dangerous.
I was born in a Christian Orthodox family and baptized in an Orthodox church at a very early age, being unable to agree or disagree with my parents’ decision to make me an Orthodox. In our country children are simply condemned to continue the tradition, based on a decision that has never been theirs.
I have read many things on different religions ever since I grew old enough to ask myself various existential questions and the subject started to interest me as from a philosophical point of view. Like everybody else, I used to share my family’s beliefs out of habit, but as I continued to build my own assumptions I gradually realized that the religion chosen for me by my parents does not define me at all. I am not in any way against it and I would never try to convince my family to share my views, however I prefer to be offered the freedom of choice at this age, without being misjudged or looked upon as a traitor or a freak.
Theoretically I have this freedom but breaking up with tradition would definitely mean alienation from my family, a hostile social environment, and having to deal with people’s incapacity to accept my new beliefs.
In conclusion, I would like a different life for my child. I want to encourage him to make his own choices in every possible matter, including religion. At the right age, he would probably show some interest (or not) in reading about religion and decide what he wants to believe in. I would be fine with him choosing any religion, something among the existing ones or even creating his own personal faith, as long as he believes in GOD. I still hope this beautiful perspective is possible and applicable without causing a social scandal.
We are not obliged to adopt our parents’ religious, political or any other kind of views. Religion is simply a choice we make. The important thing is to believe in what makes us happy.

No beauty during pregnancy

People say pregnant women look more beautiful than they did before. I think it’s totally false. When you see a pregnant lady who got fat you obviously cannot tell that to her face, instead, you try to approach her with more delicacy by saying something nice and cliché like: wow, you look even more beautiful!

Pregnant women cannot look better than they did before for several reasons. First of all, they are getting fat. It’s normal, it’s obvious and it’s visible. When a woman feels fat she cannot look beautiful, at least for herself. Secondly, pregnancy makes some odors almost intolerable, including make-up and creams. Most pregnant women tend to avoid make-up or stay away from it. And another reason is that morning sickness makes everything so unimportant, like wearing a sexy dress or a fine make-up. You’re going to throw up anyway, no matter what you are wearing…. So, why bother?

No beauty during pregnancy, that’s the harsh reality. But there is still hope after the baby is born to get back to the old mermaid shape or even better. It all depends on the woman’s strong will and motivation.

Picture hanging on a hospital room wall

I once wrote a poem about a picture hanging on a hospital room wall. It was about ten years ago. There’s an empty hospital room again, only this time the picture is real and the poem is undone. It’s the spirit that’s hanging. An indefinitely shaped spirit is haunting me. But the picture is definitely real. I have it all. Or almost.  At last I have something real to rely on, but still so intangible and hard to perceive.

Actors' Resemblance: Aaron Tveit & Charity Wakefield

I watched Gossip Girl season 3 and then Sense and Sensibility mini-series of 2008 and then I realized how much Aaron Tveit (playing Tripp Van Der Bilt in Gossip Girl) and Charity Wakefield (playing Marianne Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility) looked like each other. First I thought they might be brother and sister but apparently they are not. Judge for yourself by comparing the photos.

 

Movie Review: The Secret Life of the American Teenager

I was looking for a teenage sitcom to cheer me up a bit and make me remember my adolescence days, when I used to have no worries and life was so easy. Someone advised me to watch “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”. To my disappointment, this TV series pictures a life which is even worse than my adult life!

First of all, girls get pregnant at 15 and end their childhood in raising a baby or getting married. Not likely to happen in reality, although I agree, there might be some exceptions.
Boys of 16 take full responsibility of their own actions and never run away from the girls they got pregnant. How far is that from reality?

Of course, there are teenagers who really get into such troubles but what are the odds of this happening to two girls related by the same ex-boyfriend? Amy’s getting pregnant really seemed like a pure accident but Adrian’s, hmmmm, not so much. It happened in a car, she was on the pill and they used a condom… Dear producers, you succeeded to scare the hell out of all the boys looking for sex in high school!

But what struck me the most was that all the characters could ever talk about was sex. If you listen to their conversations, the phrase “having sex” comes up once a minute. I understand the producers’ concern to warn teenagers against the dangers of involving into early sexual relationships, but don’t you think repeating the word obsessively will only make them want it even more? You know how reverse psychology works.

In “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” relationships are built on whether to have sex or not, which doesn’t always reflect reality. Back in my days, we used to go to the movies, take long walks, kiss in the backyard before returning home after dates and fantasize about the other person in a totally naïve and dreamy way. Maybe things have changed since, but I still believe adolescence to be much more than an obsession with sex.

If the creators of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” really aim to teach teenagers a lesson by presenting Amy’s or Adrian’s fate, their way of doing that is totally lame. How can you recommend young girls to take contraceptive pills at 15? Don’t you know they are totally unhealthy at that age? Restraining early ovulation can result in not being unable to conceive later on, true fact confirmed by specialists. Unless teenagers are resolute to take this road, I plead for condoms, as the perfect way to avoid early pregnancy or transmission of sexual diseases. They work in 99% of the cases. Or else, abstinence before 18.

As to the TSLOTAT dialogues, they are commonly long, iterative and boring. Characters are usually discussing insignificant issues and it seems like all they do is talk. The most commonly used phrase after “having sex” is “we have to talk”, like there’s always something important to say, but as we listen to them we realize how futile most of their conversations are.

The series started on the right foot, and I kind of enjoyed the first season, but as I moved forward to the second one, it gradually turned into a cheap soap opera. A week in the movie lasts as a week in our real life. After the first season I thought that each season’s action would end up by the beginning of the summer vacation. They weren’t able to do that during the second season and expanded the action so much that Amy’s trip to New York lasted for several episodes, which was really annoying.

The producer focuses on teenagers’ personal lives and neglects the importance of school. A teenager’s life mainly consists of studying rather than chatting in the school halls. The characters are so busy with considerations about sex or discussing apparently important subjects that they forget about what should be their main concern at their age: getting an education. How can you promote such an unhealthy perspective?

In their high school there are no real teachers (they are never there), just a counselor, who is replaced every year and interferes with the characters’ lives. It can leave viewers with the impression that school is only important for personal matters.

Parents are so involved in their children’s “secret life” that poor teenagers have no privacy at all. It’s very annoying.

I would go on and on about it, but I guess it’s useless. “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” is supposed to be life-like but it isn’t.
Dear teenagers, please don’t watch it, save your time, go to school, do whatever you like, just don’t take birth control pills and enjoy life!

Chambord – the Dreamlike Castle

Pick a sunny day to visit Chambord. It will be the perfect occasion to take wonderful pictures inside and outside the magnificent residence.
The estate of Chambord is part of the vast French heritage, a unique spot in France and one of the top visited castles in the world.
The huge enterprise of building the castle was initiated in 1519 when the king François I was only 25 years old. Intended not as a place to reside in but rather to brag about, Chambord’s splendors were designed to display the French monarchy’s power and wealth. The result challenged both the Spanish emperor and the English king, who subsequently couldn’t help creating their own local imitations.
Chambord is undoubtedly the most eloquent example of Renaissance architecture, including a few late medieval elements. It is in fact a synthesis of shapes and decorations beautifully combined to offer surprisingly modern for those times loggias, terraces and facades.
The initial hunting lodge grew into an extravagant château containing 426 rooms, 77 staircases and 282 fireplaces. The entire construction appears delightfully graceful and well-balanced. The perfect symmetry makes it look like a doll castle from above.
It’s a pity that François I spent only 72 days of his reign here. He used to travel a lot and Chambord was not among his numerous residences, but rather a place for hunting and showing off to special visitors, like the emperor Charles V.
The construction was later on continued and finalized by his offspring Henry II and Louis XIV.
What I really enjoyed at Chambord was:
- the famous double spiral staircase - comprises two concentric spiral flights of stairs that wind independently so that two people each taking one flight can never meet
- the coach room - an exhibition of old horse-drawn carriages
- the terraces – offer a spectacular view over the entire estate
- the park - covers 5440 hectares surrounded by a long wall enclosing a forest and a national reserve for wild animals.
I strongly recommend visiting Chambord, one of the best attractions of the Loire Valley in France. You need two hours to see the castle inside and about 2-3 hours to discover the rest of the estate. There are some very nice restaurants just across where you can have lunch in the sunshine and enjoy the lovely view.

The truth about Moldova

- Moldova is a small ex-soviet country situated in the Eastern Europe
- Moldova is the last European country to be governed by the Communist Party (until 2009)
- Moldova has EU prices and third world wages - average salary is 100 euros, 1kg of potatoes -1,5€, a pair of shoes - 80€ and home heating energy bill in winter - 90€/month.
- 50% of the Moldavian population is working abroad to support families left at home
- Moldavians are very nice and friendly people unless you ask them about their history, which is painful
- Half the inhabitants sympathize with Russia and the other half with Romania, creating an atmosphere of mistrust and dissension
- Moldova has no president for over 2 years, due to lack of political agreement between the major parties
- Moldova occupies a surface of 33846 km2 but has more political parties than any other country in the world
- Most Moldavians are nostalgic about the Communist period when their lives were secure and simple
- Corruption is almost legal in Moldova, everybody knows but nobody does anything to stop it
- Moldavians really love their country, but they have never been able to protect it from invaders and submissively yielded every time
- Moldavians are obsessed with food and fancy clothes. They cook way too much on special occasions only to eat half of it, and wear fancy clothes every day only to display their wealth
- Moldova is a country of contrasts. The poorest European country shows off the most expensive houses, cars, clothes, jewelry. But in spite of appearances, most people are actually striving to survive.

Updated cooking album

Check out my cooking album updated, mostly French recipes, but also Romanian and international. Copyright on photos.

http://stelagheorghe.blogspot.com/p/cooking_06.html

Dreams coming true

Château de Chambord - visited in 2011
Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire - visited in 2011
Forteresse d'Angers - visited in 2011
Manoir du Clos-lucé - visited in 2011
Forteresse de Chinon - visited in 2011
Château de Chenonceau - visited in 2010
Château de Azay-le-Rideau - visited in 2010
Château de Langeais - visited in 2010
Château de Plessis-les-Tours - visited in 2010
Château d’Amboise – visited in 2010
Château royal de Blois – visited in 2010
Louvre – visited in 2009
Château de Versailles – visited in 2009
Château de Vincennes – visited in 2009
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye – visited in 2009
Château de Fontainebleau – visited in 2009
Basilique de Saint-Denis – visited in 2009

Yet to come:  Saumur, Montsoreau, Loches, Ussé, Villandry, Cheverny, Nantes, La Rochelle, Brest, Calais, Pau

The unstoppable French mailman

Forms of modern communication evolve everywhere in the world as digital platforms gain ground in the market. But ever since I have moved to France 6 months ago I gradually realized French people are a bit different than other Europeans, in terms of communication habits. Whereas in most European countries Internet has long ago been crowned as the favorite communication way, in France the post has not yet been dethroned. Emails seem to remain insignificant facing the serious competition with written/printed letters/documents, which continue to be regarded as of outmost importance.
It is true that the number of Internet users increased in size over the past few years, but the percentage hardly reaches other countries’. France, a modern, emancipated country, chooses to remain conservative, who would have imagined?

The postal system has always been a major institution here and the cyber revolution did not affect people’s confidence. The French mailman delivers not only official letters (and there are piles of them!) but also all kind of envelopes containing more or less important notifications issued by banks, other authorities, retailers, bills, etc. Sometimes such papers might contain confidential information. Leaving them in the mailbox is a bit risky, as there’s a small chance someone else gets hold of the letter.

Internet does not currently have so much power in France as it does in other countries. For example, if you send your resume by email there’s little chance to get an answer at all. (I can tell you that from my own experience). But if you apply by post, the chances visibly increase and you will surely receive an answer within several weeks, whether positive or negative. Imagine my surprise when I got a reply by post after having applied for a job online! Unbelievable but true.

Most companies have unlimited access to Internet and even encourage employees to explore its opportunities but seems like thousands of emails are often lost on their way, delayed or deleted without any specific reason, simply because the information does not come along printed on paper, in an envelope and with a stamp on it.

Blogs and social networks’ popularity is undoubtedly growing in France as in other countries, but after 6 months observation and talking to people there is clear evidence that French are not so crazy about sharing their life on social networks. Most of them have a Facebook account but rarely go online or display a visible tendency to deny any request from people they don’t know (unlike Americans, for instance, who seem to be much friendlier to strangers). Apparently lots of parents forbid their kids to use social networks thus intending to keep them away from negative influences.

Every country has its own habits, and each individual is given the option of choosing between email and classic mail, but seems like the French mailman will probably still be busy for the next few years, until people decide to break with tradition.

Chinon, an authentic medieval fortress

Chinon is probably not the most beautiful fortress you could visit in France but it surely requires our attention for several important reasons:

- It was built on some ancient Gallo-Roman ruins, dating from the 5th century
- At the beginning of the millennium it was held by the Counts of Blois and then seized by the Counts of Anjou, who fortified the existing castle and turned it into one of their principal residences.
- Chinon was the setting for the famous conflict between Henry II Plantagenet the king of England and his son, Richard The Lionheart and the place of imprisonment for Eleanor of Aquitaine, his wife.
- The fortress is captured in the 13th century by the king of France, Philippe Auguste, who takes time to improve the fortifications and celebrates at Chinon his marriage to Isabella of Angouleme.
- Chinon also witnesses the historical encounter between Charles VII, the future king of France and Joan of Arc. In 1429 she is received by Charles who agrees to grant her an army, anticipating the re-conquest of the kingdom of France from the English after 100 years of war.

The citadel consists of 3 wings: the Fort Saint-Georges (not open for visits, reserved for archaeological excavations); the Château du Milieu reachable via the Tour de l’Horloge (however I didn’t see any clock on top of it) and containing the old royal apartments that can be visited as well as a small museum dedicated to Joan of Arc - rooms are not furnished all quite similar in terms of architecture; and the third wing - the Château du Coudray, which consists in fact of several towers hiding a remarkable military art work: one of them, the Argenton Tower is famous for holding the dignitaries of the Order of the Knights Templar and the Grand Master Jacques de Molay who were later on burned in Paris by Philippe le Bel (1314).

Overlooking the river Vienne, Chinon fortress leaves a powerful impression mostly due to its authentic ancient towers where you can actually go down to the lowest level by taking some very narrow spiral staircases and mysterious passages await you at ditch height. The towers are all a prime example of medieval military architecture, typical for Plantagenet castles.

Birth date of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland

On this day in history, 8th December 1542, Mary of Guise gave birth to the future Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who lost her father, James V of Scotland, only a few days later and was coronated at a very early age, as Queen of Scotland.
I am not going to tell her story here, which is long but fascinating. On this occasion I would like to remind the world of her importance, even 5 centuries after her death.
Mary of Scotland is probably the best image of a woman definitely destined to be a queen. She was already a queen in her infancy, she claimed to be queen of England after the death of Mary I in 1558 (as granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII) and she became queen of France in 1559, after her first husband François II ascended to the throne.
Having read a lot of material about her, I never cease to wonder how tragic and troubled her fate was. Playing the role of queen is not as easy as it seems. You have to choose between acting like a strong, level-headed monarch and acting as a woman craving for love. Mary Stuart wanted to do both but we all agree she failed, because it was not possible, especially in such a violent and wild century as the 16th. Unlike her cousin Elisabeth I, queen of England, Mary was prone to making choices rather with her heart than with her mind and consequently made a lot of mistakes that eventually led to her destruction.
Her intelligence, passion, spirituality and generosity were no secret to the world and many acknowledged her as one of the most emancipated minds of that time. Upon her return to Scotland some would profit from her weaknesses and make her a prisoner of her own fate. Executed on 8 February 1587, after a long imprisonment in England, she is considered a martyr by the Catholic Church. Her only son, James, inherited both kingdoms: Scotland and England, thus forever uniting the two nations drifted apart for centuries before that.

Recommended biographies:

Friedrich Schiller "Mary Stuart"

Stefan Zweig "Marie Stuart"

Alison Weir "Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley"

John Guy "Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart"