Discovering Puduhepa And Nefertari

Wishing you all the best in the new year, I want to tell about an interesting place to visit "before you die" as suggest the widget for travellers. This place is connected with the feasts because I tell you about the capital of a very powerful kingdom mentioned in the Bible. I tell you about hittites and their capital Hattusa.

If you read the romance about Ramesses II and his battle against the hittits (near Qadesh 1274 BC) -you understand, what are we telling about here. So, the place to visit is in Turkey.

There are special tours when you can visit all the places connected with the history of hittites Empire. GAZIANTEP - URFA - ADIYAMAN-NEMRUT - ANTIOCHIA -MERSIN - SILIFKE - KONYA -CAPPADOCIA - HATTUSAS (photo Wikipedia)

As for me, I was very interested to listen (in un documentary) the story about Hattusili III, his wife Puduhepa and HER relations with the wife of Ramessese, Nefertari. The women of that period were so independant that did not need femminism else...
Mmmm? I awoke your interest?

Happy New Year 2010!!!

(This post is pre-schedule for automatically posting)

Hi everyone,
When you're reading this post, I'm already at Colorado for our family winter ski trip. I can't believe that it's almost 2010! I'd love to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to you all for your wonderful continuing support and your love of my blog. I appreciate it very much and I hope your support and love continue on into next year. I wish you all a new year full of love, peace, health, happiness and may your wishes come true!!!!
What are you doing for New Year's Eve? staying home or going to party? If you're going out for a New Year's party, what would you wear? My outfit below, which I may or may not wear (haven't decided yet) is for a New Year's Eve party at the Ritz- I'm so excited to share it with you guys. This is my favorite dress ever, because I wore it at my wedding, and here I style it with Ann Demeulemesster 14 buckles belt. I don't know if you all are tired of seeing this belt but I'm never tired of wearing it. Here is the outfit!

Fully buckled.
Fully buckled in the back.
Here is the dress without Ann D belt. I accidentally found this dress at the old Calvin Klein boutique store in Dallas ( used to be in Highland Park Village) after months of looking for my wedding dress at lots of bridal salons. The ones at the salons have mostly more details and lots of things going on. I just wanted a white, simple, sleek and stylish dress, because I also wore two other dresses (one traditional Vietnamese for my mom's family, and old century Chinese style dress for my dad's family) which has more details and busy. This dress is two pieces; the opened back top and the full long A-line skirt and it was perfectly worn for my first dance (I had my hair up with crystal tiara). Another reason that I chose this dress is because it's less expensive than a real bridal dress, and I want to wear it again for a fancy party or gala night or something like that...I don't want it just hanging in my closet, and after all, who knows if my kids will want to wear it for their special day. But when they saw me wearing this dress for the photo shoot, they say that they want to wear it for their high school graduation day. I hope it will fit them ;-)

Once more wishing you all and your family a wonderful, joyful, peaceful, healthful, delightful, successful new year 2010!!!!!!!

See you next year ;-) when I get back home!

Big hugs and kisses...Hanh ;-)

Ps: Necklace by Annie Costello Brown. It can be worn single layer (as you see I had it on in the previous post in the first outfit with Yohji grey top) or doubles layers.

Bob Cohen on East European Diaspora Haunts in New York

I have a link to Bob Cohen's Dumneazu blog on the sidebar of this blog, but his current post, "From Katz's Deli to Williamsburg, Let My People Go!" on visiting (and eating in) New York haunts of East European Jewish immigrants is well worth reading... the photos and his descriptions go back and forth between the Old Country and the New World, pointing out wonderful visual and gustitorial links and influences.

How much does travelling to Tuscany cost?

Hello friends,

Today I have prepared an article to help you work out the cost of a trip to Tuscany.

Currency and Exchange rate
All those readers of this weblog who are not Europeans have to know that in Tuscany the currency is the Euro, whose present exchange rate for USD is not favourable as it is 1 Euro = 1,50 USD. Anyway as exchange rates are variable I recommend that you visit this page in Yahoo to know the exact rate of exchange.

Restaurants
Dining in a restaurant is about €25-30, although prices can lower substantially depending on whether you drink wine or not. Eating at a pizzeria can turn out somewhat cheaper as cost ranges from €20-25.

Bars
A coffee is about €1 and full breakfast is about €5. Bars and pizzerias are the places where it is possible to have lunch for about less than €6.

Public means of transport
A bus ticket tends to cost about €1 and a train ticket Rome-Florence (3 hours of train journey) tends to cost €30 depending on the type of train. Important: tickets cannot be purchased on buses or trains but in the tobacconist’s or in some specific places devoted to selling them and then have to be validated on the bus or, in the case of the train, in the yellow machines that there are on the platforms.

Getting on a train without a ticket may cost dearly¡ therefore, watch out¡

Lastly, taxis are generally extremely expensive. There are a few and they have to be phoned, therefore you should avoid them as a journey of about 10 minutes can cost you about €20.

Sleeping- Hotels
The offer of Hotels in Italy in general is quite old and hotels tend to be of low quality, mainly, in cities where the strong measures to keep the artistic heritage prevent important restructuring.
A 3-star hotel in low season in the centre of Florence can easily cost about €120 per double room/night. If you can enjoy a trip of several days or have a car, I recommend that you stay at a country hotel in the surroundings of cities where it is possible to find accommodation of excellent quality at lower prices.

Parking
All towns are very ancient are were founded when there were no cars, therefore they are not equipped with parking area and more often than not it is hard to find it.
Street parking, in the Blue Area, tend to cost around €1.50 an hour (depending on the town you are staying), while private parking generally costs about €2 an hour.

Certainly, I hope you might find this information useful in preparing your trip,


Best regards,

Giovanni

Rick Owens Jacket with Blue Scarf

Hi everyone,
Thank you very much for your Xmas wishes. I hope you all had a wonderful time with your family and friends on the Christmas holiday, and Santa brought lots of presents to you all. I know that he did for my kids and he brought for me a fabulous umbrella which is the only present that I wished for. I love this Louis Vuitton umbrella, it's more glamorous than I expected. I just wanted to have a nice umbrella and big enough to keep me out of the rain. Thank you sweet Santa!

This blue scarf from Club Monaco is one of my favorite scarves in my closet, its color is perfectly pops out in winter time. Wearing with Rick Owens strong-shoulders leather jacket, the Row leggings, Zara black turtle neck, Yohji grey top.

Pierre Hardy shoes.

Rick Owens jacket is something that I can never say no to. I'm just crazy about his jacket creations. Again, I style it with the Row leggings (these leggings are such a great investment piece, they look fab on and I've worn them countless times. It's worth it to buy), Phillip Lim black turtle neck and Zara creamy sleeveless dress.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Kisses...Hanh ;-)

PS: The gloves in both outfits are no brand and DIY cut-out to be fingerless gloves

Italy -- Historic Synagogue in Sabbioneta Closed

                  

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The entry stairway to the early 19th century  synagogue in the historic northern Italian town of Sabbioneta has been declared unsafe and the building, now used as a museum, closed to visitors.

Sabbioneta, on the Po River near Mantova, was laid out as a walled "ideal city" in the second half of the 16th century by Prince Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna. It is on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites, paired with Mantova as two aspects of Renaissance town planning.

Mantua shows the renewal and extension of an existing city, while 30 km away, Sabbioneta represents the implementation of the period’s theories about planning the ideal city. Typically, Mantua’s layout is irregular with regular parts showing different stages of its growth since the Roman period and includes many medieval edifices among them an 11th century rotunda and a Baroque theatre. Sabbioneta, created in the second half of the 16th century under the rule of one person, Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna, can be described as a single-period city and has a right angle grid layout. Both cities offer exceptional testimonies to the urban, architectural and artistic realizations of the Renaissance, linked through the visions and actions of the ruling Gonzaga family.



Sabbioneta represents the construction of an entirely new town according to the modern, functional vision of the Renaissance. The defensive walls, grid pattern of streets, role of public spaces and monuments all make Sabbioneta one of the best examples of ideal cities built in Europe, with an influence over urbanism and architecture in and outside the continent. The properties represent two significant stages of territorial planning and urban interventions undertaken by the Gonzagas in their domains.

Jews lived in Sabbioneta from the town's early days -- even before it was laid out in its present form. There was a ghetto here, and the town developed into an important center of Hebrew printing.   The Sabbioneta synagogue dates from 1824 -- its present form is an enlargement and rebuilding of an earlier structure by a noted Lombard architect named Carlo Visioli.

The synagogue lay in sorry disrepair for decades until it was restored by local authorities, turned into a museum and inserted into local tourism itineraries. It has a gilded ark behind a low, elaborate grille and  flanked by Corinthian columns. The ceiling is decorated by ornate stucco work.

Red

Hi everyone,
Before I talk about "Red", I have exciting news. Life-in-Travel got featured in an Irish Fashion Magazine called EVE. Big thank you to Vicki who made this article happen! she has her own fabulous blog at magpie-girl.

RED

I got the cutest tag from Mads to find 7 red things in my room or house. I'm not a red person. But luckily, my living room has been transformed with lots of red during the Christmas season,

so there are tons of red things around me. I'd like to pass this tag to Mom and Son, Bisou-Joue, Mode Junkie, for 7 blue things around the house. I hope you have fun with this tag. Here are my red things:

The Tibet art- watercolor hand painting hanging over fireplace brought home from Tibet; red candles on the mantle; red ribbon; red stockings; red Xmas Santa toys...

Xmas tree with red ornaments. This hand made red quilt with mirrors was bought home by my hubby from India.
Red throws.
This is also something red; Tao sweaters paired with second hand Comme des Garcons skirt, Jil Sander thigh high boots. It was below 40 F degrees when I had these photos taken, I had a thick jacket on but it's not showing in the pics. This year, the weather is much colder, and this reminds me of 15 years ago when I just moved here. The first couple of winters was pretty cold like this year, then it started getting warmer...I've been enjoying this cold, so that I can dress in layers and bring out the leather jacket, sweater, hat, scarf, gloves, boots...especially sitting in front of the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate, telling stories with my hubby and my kids - it is such a cozy feeling. Nice thing about winter in Dallas is that it's cold for a week or so and then it has a couple of warm days to take a break from the cold. It normally snows a couple of times during winter, I wish we had more...beautiful snow! because my kids just love it. Although it's uncomfortable if it's too cold, as it is up north.
Remembering the past posts, we had pics taken for the family Xmas card and this is what it looks like. The kids' pic is more clear in person.

I wish this holiday season brings peace, love, joy to you and your family!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Kisses...Hanh ;-)

Austria -- Government to Help Fund Jewish Cemetery Restoration

 Historic Jewish cemetery in Eisenstadt, Austria. Photo: Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The Austrian government is mandating 20 million euro over the next 20 years toward the care and restoration of abandoned and neglected Jewish cemeteries in Austria. An agreement reached Monday night broke what Austrian Jewish leader Ariel Muzicant said had been a stalemate lasting nine years, following an agreement made in 2001 under which Austria had committed to care for Jewish cemeteries as part of a compensation deal for Nazi crimes.

Vienna's Jewish community called the government's 20 million euros (29 million dollars) a "late Hanukkah gift." "Nearly nine years after the signing of the Washington Agreement, the last issue that was still open in terms of international law is settled," the community said in a statement. Under the new funding agreement reached late on Monday, Jewish communities are to raise an additional 20 million euros, while the city of Vienna and the province of Lower Austria also pledged contributions.

          Read full DPA story

          Read Associated Press story

There are about 70 Jewish cemeteries in Austria, about 20 of which are said to be in particularly bad condition. The Austrian Jewish Community web site has an extensive page listing all the cemeteries and giving their history, size, location, condition and notes on any current or recent restoration efforts.

Me -- Interviewed about the Virtually Jewish on a Canadian Radio

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

When I was in Budapest this month, I was interviewed by phone about the Virtually Jewish phenomenon by Radio613, an independent Canadian Jewish radio program. Click RIGHT HERE to listen -- but be forewarned, it runs about an hour!

The interview highlights Jewish cultural developments and other contemporary European issues that are critically examined in her book Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture and her recent essay featured in the Jewish Quarterly Review, “Beyond Virtually Jewish: New Authenticitiy and Real Imaginary Spaces in Europe”.  Ruth Ellen Gruber shares insights on the state of Klezmer in Europe with music this week from Itzhak Perlman and the Klezmatics (“Dybbuk Shers”), Brave Old World (“Berlin 1990″) and Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird (“Broken Tongue”). Tune in!

Neapoletan Christmas Cribs

Happy Christmas!

One of the traditions in Campania are the visits of "Presepe", the representations of Christ's birth. The idea comes from S.Francisc that wanted to explain the Bible to the simple persons. But it seems, the greatest diffusion it became in Neapoletan area. There are entire streets in Neaples dedicated to sell pieces of Presepe. And many of them are really works of art. To visit Presepe is a sign of auspice. And there are different possibilities. There are, for example, alive representstions where the persons show a sort of theater. There are little and large size pictures.

I visited one of them, exposed every year not far from Dom. The scene is crated on a round table, so I made some photos walking around it. Hope, this visit will bring you fortune too! :0)))

Many persons probably create a Presepe in their homes too. There are many places and even special shops where you can buy everything you need for it. All the figures seem to be alive. Made with great attention and love.

What is interesting, the image of Christ-child they put it on it's place only AFTER the birth. And in some cases all the "partecipants" like visitors of the Holy Family "come" every day nearer and nearer to the place of birth. Every day when you visit Presepe you will find other situation.