Nurnberg Trempelmarkt

The Nurnberg Trempelmarkt only happens twice a year and it is HUGE.  It wraps around the old town and has everything.  It's usually held in May and September.  I went last May and wrote about my finds and the yummy spargel soup I made from the market here.  But when I went to the flea market in May I didn't take any pictures of the actual market.  This time I did.  I'll show you my flea finds via my iPhone and my loot down at the bottom. 

My friend and I hopped into my car early in the morning and headed to Nurnberg.  I should also mention that we kind of wanted to be out of Nurnberg by noon because there were some rallies that were scheduled to be going on during that time.  Though the flea market wasn't a direct destination of the rallies, it was in the general area. 

The first items that I noticed were a variation of different vintage typewriters.  There were so many cool colors and styles.  I thought about buying one.  But I couldn't think of a place to put one right now so I moved on.




Check out this jade colored decanter.  It really caught my eye, but my husband already bought us one in black from Iraq. 





The beautiful mostly Bavarian, ceramic and porcelain tea cups and dishes of various types and colors.




Do you see the creepy doll head?




I loved this little gold side table!




I don't know what it is about this owl decoration but I thought it was beautiful.  The price tag on it was 375 Euro so it must be made out of something magical but I could never justify paying that price for a fake owl.




This chair below is gorgeous!  White, blue and, gold.  I should have asked how much it was but in reality I didn't want to carry it to the car through the streets of Nurnberg.  The car was parked pretty far away so I just moved on.



I liked this blue vintage perfume bottle!




Now that you got to see some of the fabulous items at the Nurnberg Trempelmarkt, I'll show you what I came home with.

I bought some new paintbrushes that a guy was selling for a Euro each. They will definitely be used.  Here is a "gold" key that I purchased because I thought it was neat for 2 Euro.  Pull on each end and it opens up to be a cork screw!



I bought this mini blue tea cup because it perfectly matches the large tea cup and saucer I bought a couple of months before.  It's the same maker as well, H & C Heinrich from Bavaria.   What are the odds I thought?  There were a bunch of other colors too.




Then I saw this wonderful Bavarian hand-painted wooden box.  If you ever go antique shopping in Bavaria you will notice this style of painting on furniture everywhere.  I was excited to take home this little piece of Bavarian furniture and what's even better was the history attached to it.  The young man selling it said his grandmother had given it to him as a boy.  There are stamps all throughout the box with his name on it.  How do I know this is his name?  He showed me his family crest tattooed on his arm!  How fun.  He told me to make sure I take care of it.  Of course I will.



After buying that box, I saw another one that I wanted.  I saw this wooden box disguised as a book with a round map of the world on it.  I had to have it.  My friend tried to talk me out of it because I had already bought a box just minutes before (and she didn't want to carry it).  But I kept going back and just bought it.  It's travel themed!  Later on Brandon said it was a cigar box and that he wanted it.





Before we left, we also stopped at the farmers market and picked up some goodies like fresh raspberries and cheese stuffed olives.  Random, I know, but delish! 

If you are ever making a trip to Nurnberg, try to make it during the second weekend in May or September when the flea is held.  It won't disappoint.

Did you see anything you would buy?


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"The Bone Church"

The Sedlec Ossuary or more commonly known as "The Bone Church" was the destination I chose for a spontaneous trip to The Czech Republic last weekend.  Brandon and I had initially thought we'd be pub crawling in Prague which sounds equally awesome, but we decided to do something a little less conventional and hit up Kutna Hora, Czech Republic for the night.

The Bone Church is located in Sedlec which is a suburb of Kutna Hora and it had been a place I was extremely interested in visiting since I had heard about it here and there.  We stayed in a hotel called Hotel U Kata which was right in town and only 60 USD for the night.  They even had a restaurant, bar, and a spa and pool.  This is a very cheap town to visit and find activities.  Though the actual town of Kutna Hora isn't very good looking, there is a lot of history, a lot of churches to visit, and good food, yes I said I have found good food in Czech, but I'll get to that later.  It's also only an hour from Prague so you could visit as a day trip from Prague.

The Bone Church cemetery was a destination where a lot of people from Czech wanted to be buried because of the abbot, Henry, who had sprinkled some sacred soil from Golgotha on the burial grounds in the 1200's.  As a result, the cemetery had reached it's maximum capacity.  This combined with the overwhelming deaths from the Black Plaque resulted in an overflow of bodies.  In the 1400's the church was built in the middle of the cemetery and by 1870 the actual organization of bones and designs that fill the church were constructed.  It is an immediate chilling reminder of the human form and its inevitable conclusion.







The church isn't that big, but it is filled with so many bone-filled designs. There is even a huge bone chandelier in the center of the church.  How many bones are in the church?  Over 40,000!







Below, the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family













The cemetery around the church




Below, the Gothic exterior of the the back side of the church and the front side



There are really a lot of churches to visit in this area.  Below, Cathedral of Our Lady, is another example which is only a block away from this one.  You can also purchase some fine Bohemian crystal from one of the many shops that line the streets by the church.


Unfortunately we didn't swing  by and visit the huge Santa Barbara Cathedral in Kutna Hora, but I suggest you take a look.  A picture of the church below:

source



What else did we do in Kutna Hora?  I had searched to find what the best restaurant in Kutna Hora was and it directed me to this place, Dacicky Pivnice, which was only a few blocks from our hotel.  What drew me in to this restaurant was the medieval vibe it boasted and everyone else in our party was excited as well.  I was hopeful but not expecting much, considering I hadn't had too many great experience with Czech food.  But we were all pleasantly surprised with the menu, decor, and friendliness of the staff.  

They boasted a menu of traditional Czech and Bohemian foods such as meat on swords, goulash in a pot over a candle, potato pancakes, cheese spreads, and many other delicious dishes.  Their beer and wine list was extensive and they even had mead.  We literally spent the next three hours at this restaurant having dinner, drinking, and having a great time.  We even went back later in the night to drink again.  Everyone in our party agreed that they would make the 3 hour  drive just to go back to this restaurant, it was so much fun.

Kutna Hora was a great little trip for us and definitely off the beaten path.  Would you visit The Bone Church or would you be too freaked out?




Linking up at:

Dagmar's Home
Ivy and Elephants
Lavender Garden Cottage
Knick of Time
Twigg Studios
The Brambleberry Cottage
No Minimalist Here
From My Front Porch To Yours
Rooted in Thyme
Pret-a-Vivre
Sunday View
Travel Photo Discovery
The Dedicated House
Coastal Charm
A Stroll Thru Life
Kathe With An E
Savvy Southern Style
Time Travel Plans
Budget Traveler's Sandbox
Common Ground
The Tablescaper
Finding Fabulous
A Dose of Paige
Serenity Now


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6 Things About Me

As I'm sure a lot of bloggers and blog readers have noticed, the "6 Things About Me" posts have been popping up everywhere.  Well, another (pretty cool) expat blogger that lives in England named Dannielle from Chic-a-Dee has tagged me!  Normally I don't participate, but I figured "what the hell"  every blogger likes to talk about themselves right?  So here are my six things and you better believe I'm tagging 6 more people :)


1) What is your favorite animal and why?  

Naturally, I'd have to say my French Bulldog, Louis.  I've talked about him before on here and he is literally the cutest and funniest animal I've ever had.  He's so funny and you have to have owned one to know what I mean.  But besides my little guy, I am oddly in love with sloths.  Yes, sloths.  Whenever I see a sloth gif or a sloth picture, it brightens my day.  They look so happy and so cute.  I mean, look at this little guy!





 2) Would you prefer a city break or a sun, sea, and sand vacation?

Tough one!  It depends, but ultimately I think I'd enjoy going to different cities way more than going to a bunch of beaches.  I can only take so much laying out and swimming, but there is so much to do in a new city!  Don't get me wrong, I love a beach vacay as much as the next overworked poor chum, but I think the city break wins this round.

Prague


3) If you could travel to one place in the world, where would it be?

This one is easy.  I don't like being bound to only one place, so I will mention that I absolutely want to visit Spain and more than once before I leave Europe. I've studied Spanish for a long time and would love to get some practice. Plus Spain is beautiful.  But more than Spain I want to visit Iceland.   I am kind of obsessed with Iceland and I've been wanting to visit for many years now and I will finally have the chance now that I live in Europe.  Why do I want to go to Iceland so bad?  Well, it's probably because I love a lot of bands that randomly come from Iceland and I think the language is so interesting and the geography looks beautiful.  It probably helps too that I've been getting non stop inspiration from sites like "Guide to Iceland" and "Ask Iceland" that I like on FB and get feeds on.  Plus I follow a couple of cool expat Iceland blogs.  I mean, check out this image below!

Source


 4) How many countries have you traveled too?  How many of the 50 states?

So far for countries: USA, Canada, Jamaica, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Greece, and Croatia.  I think that's it so far.

States in the USA: Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Delware, DC, Maryland, California, Puerto Rico, New York, Massachusettes, West Virginia, and Nevada. (This is not taking into account the fact that I've driven cross country from PA to CA before).

Strasbourg, France

 5) What is your favorite thing about yourself?

Haha well that's an extremely vain question to answer and of course I have an answer.  I guess I appreciate (I don't know if anyone else does) the fact that I am a very honest and blunt person.  I don't know any other way to be.



6) What is the best advice someone has ever given you?

Hmm, the best advice?  I'd have to think pretty hard for that one but a really nice quote I saw the other day really stuck out to me.  And that doesn't happen too often. I think it really speaks out to writers and travelers especially and it was inspiring too:




So the six bloggers I am calling out are Shannon, Laura, Diane, Amy, Erica, and Lauren! Sorry if you've already done one of these.  If you participate, great.  If not, I'll get over it :)  Also, if you weren't tagged and feel like joining in, then feel free!

Here's your questions (choose 6):

1) What is your favorite animal and why?
2) Would you prefer a city break or a sun, sea, and sand vacation?
3) If you could travel to one place in the world, where would it be?
4) How many countries have you traveled to?  How many of the 50 states?
5) What is your favorite thing about yourself (or quality you like in others if you don't wanna talk about yourself)?
6) What is the best advice someone has ever given you?
7) What did you want to be when you grew up and what do you do now?
8) What is a pet peeve of yours?
9) What is the LAST concert you went to?
10) What is something not a lot of people would know about you?




Linking up at:

Pret-a-Vivre
Kathe With An E
Dagmar's Home
Savvy Southern Style
 



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Monthly Inspiration: Baroque

It's September and things are already cooling down here in Germany.  With the cooler weather I'm already conjuring visions of Fall and Fall colors.  But rather than use fall as my inspiration I'm going to talk about Baroque or Louis XIV style, interiors, and furniture.  It is worth noting though that Baroque also had prominence in art and music.  Baroque is very similar to Rococo, in fact Rococo is sometimes called "late Baroque" and this is because Baroque pre-dates Rococo and blends seamlessly into Rococo style but with noticeable differences.  While Rococo is full of pastel colors and asymmetrical designs, Baroque is full of rich, deep, dark, luxurious colors and symmetrical designs.  The differences in Rococo are in response to the style that pre-dated it.  Baroque is beautiful and extravagant, and largely inaccessible to those during its time and now especially.  I think most people (myself included) get Baroque and Rococo confused because they are so similar and pieces today are hard to identify without taking a close look.  I'm always learning and eager to see pieces of both styles in books, magazines, and sometimes in person.

Whereas Rococo flourished in France, Baroque began in Italy, specifically Rome beginning in the late 16th century.  You can see Baroque interior in many Catholic churches in Europe and this is because the churches were a way for the Italians to show of their grandeur and promote religion and power through beauty.  It's not hard to see why Baroque style churches are some of the most beautiful.  Living in Germany, I see plenty of these style of churches, even in small towns and they never fail to blow me away with their visually stunning architecture and design.   Here are some examples of Barqoue architecture:

Fontana Di Trevi in Rome, Italy
Berlin Cathedral in Berlin G


Below are some examples of Baroque interiors:


Ettal Abbey in Ettal, Germany


And my favorite; examples of Baroque style furniture.  Baroque furniture is a lot bigger and sturdier than Rococo.  It is meant to make a statement and is ominous and elegant with deep colors in reds, greens, blues, and purples.


Estoi Palace




While it's difficult to find genuine Baroque furniture and even images, there is no short of repro and modern takes on Baroque style furniture.  Here are some examples of new and pretty interesting interpretations below:




    




So there's my September inspiration.  Yes, it's a little tacky for today's tastes, but visually appealing nonetheless.  What do you think?  Do you think one style is better than the other or are they both tacky?  




Sources:

pic 1: N/A
pic 2: wikipedia.com
pic 3: wikipedia.com
pic 4: algarveresident.com
pic 5: wikipedia.com
pic 6: vam.ac.uk
pic 7:socialbliss.com
pic 8:decorating.vistacasas.com








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