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Aug. 6th, 2002 09:44 pmThe computer keeps thwarting me, and I lost half an hour of writing just now. So, in short, I have seen castles, eaten ice cream and had coffee.
Valtice and Lednice today. It is hard to describe just how achingly beautiful the Czech countryside truly is. Imagine a watercolor sky, clouded and shifting, the terraced hills of vineyards, apple trees dropping fruit, fields of sunflowers with their pale heads bowed under the weight of the black seeds, zellow castles with red roof tiles, dusty paths, tall green trees, the golden halo of St. Jan of Nepomuk, green slow water, and lonely monasteries on mountaintops.
The castles were once part of the Lichtenstein family holdings, built centuries ago. Lednice is my favorite, because of the impossible woodwork on the ceilings, the parquet floors and the staircases. In the main entry hall is a freestanding wooden stair case, and the library has an intricately carved spiral. Oh, for a library with blue damask walls, a marble fireplace, the oak and limewood ceiling, the curtains opening onto a sunroom with a marble Venus and plants in Chinese vases, and oh the books, ancient beautiful books. It was like some dream of mine, a perfect castle library. They also had enormous marble bath tubs, deep and smooth. The private chapel is filled with lovely paintings, and the ceiling soars high above, scripted between the saints In Excelsis Deo... the kind of place it would be good to go to often.
Outside, I cajoled a postcard from a young man with a falcon on his wrist. There were hawks, eagles and owls about, as there seems to be some sort of training program. Such majestic birds. One man held a golden eagle, with talons the size of my fingers and a wingspan nearly the length of my arms. Another held a small owl, squinting in the afternoon light. (I have to smile now, at every owl I run across, and I feel more than ever the inherrent rightness of my tattoo.)
Moje srdce bolí mě.
Valtice and Lednice today. It is hard to describe just how achingly beautiful the Czech countryside truly is. Imagine a watercolor sky, clouded and shifting, the terraced hills of vineyards, apple trees dropping fruit, fields of sunflowers with their pale heads bowed under the weight of the black seeds, zellow castles with red roof tiles, dusty paths, tall green trees, the golden halo of St. Jan of Nepomuk, green slow water, and lonely monasteries on mountaintops.
The castles were once part of the Lichtenstein family holdings, built centuries ago. Lednice is my favorite, because of the impossible woodwork on the ceilings, the parquet floors and the staircases. In the main entry hall is a freestanding wooden stair case, and the library has an intricately carved spiral. Oh, for a library with blue damask walls, a marble fireplace, the oak and limewood ceiling, the curtains opening onto a sunroom with a marble Venus and plants in Chinese vases, and oh the books, ancient beautiful books. It was like some dream of mine, a perfect castle library. They also had enormous marble bath tubs, deep and smooth. The private chapel is filled with lovely paintings, and the ceiling soars high above, scripted between the saints In Excelsis Deo... the kind of place it would be good to go to often.
Outside, I cajoled a postcard from a young man with a falcon on his wrist. There were hawks, eagles and owls about, as there seems to be some sort of training program. Such majestic birds. One man held a golden eagle, with talons the size of my fingers and a wingspan nearly the length of my arms. Another held a small owl, squinting in the afternoon light. (I have to smile now, at every owl I run across, and I feel more than ever the inherrent rightness of my tattoo.)
Moje srdce bolí mě.