Loren´s biography

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is Sophia Loren's autobiography, revealing her personal life from the hardship of her childhood in Naples to her life as a Hollywood star, sharing stories of other actors, films, and her family.

When she met Cary Grant, who even proposed to her, Sophia and Carlo Ponti were together but couldn’t marry because he couldn’t get a divorce - the law in Italy at that time was extremely strict related to divorce. This was, of course, a very frustrating situation.

Today I was really shocked when I read this passage:

… I was just starting to relax [on the plane] when I let an innocent comment slip. Or maybe it really wasn´t that innocent.

“ Cary sent me a bunch of yellow roses before I left. Yellow for jeaulousy? He´s so adorable…”

Carlo turned toward me suddenly and slapped me in the face, in front of everyone. My face turned bright red with anger and shame, the white impression of his fingertips on my cheek stinging. I felt tears land one by one on my cheeks. I wanted to die, but inside I knew that I had somehow deserved it. And yet I still didn´t regret what I´d said…I knew that Carlo´s slap, which may be hard to understand today, was the gesture of a man in love, who had seen his love threatened by another man…This was the confirmation I had been seeking for a long time. Carlo loved me, I had made my choice, and it was the right one”.

(page 127)

NO COMMENTS !!!!!

However the story of her life evolved into a captivating, sometimes poetic  narrative as elegant and beautiful as Sophia Loren herself.

The actress of A special Day (1977) couldn´t let me down:

There will always be a once upon a time for every little girl who looks at the world with big eyes and a lust for life

(page 315)

Sophia Loren turned 80 last year.

The most beautiful bridges in Europe

Three bridges in Portugal are among the 15 most beautiful bridges in Europe:

1. The 25th of April Bridge, Lisbon

5. The Dom Luis Bridge, Porto

14. The Vasco da Gama Bridge, Lisbon

In Italy:

The Ponte Vecchio, Florence

The Rialto Bridge, Venice

The beautiful bridges of Budapest:

Open the link and vote for the Best European Destination 2015:

http://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/top/most-beautiful-bridges-in-europe/

A Festa das Fogaceiras em Caracas

A Festa das Fogaceiras celebra-se há mais de quinhentos anos na cidade de Santa Maria da Feira,  uma tradição muito antiga das gentes daquela cidade em honra de S. Sebastião, o santo cuja intervenção salvou a população de Santa Maria da Feira da peste, no ano de 1505.

Hoje em dia, a cidade é um centro industrial, que acolhe o maior centro de transformação de cortiça do mundo e sede de empresas de grande expressão noutros setores como calçado, papel, embalagens, puericultura, metalurgia e outros.

Em Caracas esta festa é comemorada anualmente, há 15 anos. Este ano foi homenageado o poeta venezuelano Joaquim Marta Sosa, nascido na freguesia de Nogueira de Santa Maria da Feira. A secretária da associação "Amigos de Santa Maria da Feira", Maria de Lurdes Almeida (Milú) também recebeu um diploma de mérito da Câmara Municipal de Santa Maria da Feira.

Depois do almoço, com deliciosas iguarias do norte de Portugal, a festa continuava com baile.

Durante o almoço com o  presidente da CM de Santa Maria da Feira e sua mulher .

Robert Burns´s Day

On 25th January it is ROBERT BURNS´S DAY  in Scotland.

People pay tribute to the national poet of Scotland through the ritual of Burns Supper, a celebration of his life and poetry, which should include Haggis, a traditional Scottish dish.

RED, RED ROSE by Robert Burns (1759-1796).

On New Year´s Eve, just after midnight, people celebrating Hogmanay sing together the following tune, one of the most well-known songs in the world: Auld Lang Syne. (lyrics by Robert Burns)

Auld Lang Syne in Out of Africa (1. 26min)

and ...of course Auld Lang Syne in the Classic film It is a Wonderful Life

Capicua! 1300031

Há muito tempo que tento apanhar uma capicua, mas ou falta pouco ou já passou. Hoje foi o dia!


1300031

Dia 24 de janeiro. Um dia de sorte...

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846 -1905) was a Portuguese artist best known for his caricatures, illustrations, cartoons, sculpture, and ceramics designs.

Zé Povinho, an iconic character of a poor and robust man symbolizing the Portuguese People, is his most famous creation and even today everybody in Portugal recognises it.

Yesterday, on the 110th anniversary of his death, I could not help having a look at older photographs, when I visited the ceramics factory he founded, in Caldas da Rainha in 1885. There he designed and created many of the pottery for which this city is known. 

In Caldas da Rainha, not far from Lisbon, we can also visit the beautiful mansion, which  belonged to the Viscount of Sacavém, that now hosts a ceramics museum.

I like decorating the table with BP pottery, because, as my mother used to say: "we first eat with the eyes". It is simple, cheap and we can find it everywhere in Portugal.

In Portugal, during the Constitutional Monarchy, there was freedom of press. Even the monarchs, like the Kings D. Luis and D. Carlos were often criticised and the topic of caricatures in which they were portrayed in very mean ways. Nevertheless the authors were respected and tolerated.

There is a Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro Museum in Lisbon dedicated to his life and works.

His brother, Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (1857-1929) was a famous painter.

The Imitation Game

The British historical thriller film The Imitation Game (2014) starring Benedict Cumberbatch as  Alan Turing (1912-1954), the brilliant mathematician who cracked the Enigma code used by Nazi Germany and the father of modern computing  is a very interesting film.

Alan Turing

During the Second World War Turing worked for Britain's codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park. He was later persecuted by the government for being homosexual and put on trial for homosexual acts. Found guilty and ordered to undergo humiliating hormone therapy, he committed suicide two years later.

I saw the film recently in Lisbon.
When it started I realized I had the book at home.







Alan Touring built "the bombe" to help decipher the Enigma code when he worked at Bletchley Park.

The Bombe

Bletchley Park can be explored today with daily visits.

Queen Victoria´s Long Reign

Queen Victoria died on 22nd January 1901 and remains the longest reigning monarch in British history, ruling for over 63 years.

On 9th September 2015, Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest serving monarch. 

The official beginning of the reign of a British monarch is the moment of the death of the previous monarch. The date is not taken from the ceremonial coronation, which generally occurs quite some time later.

Recently I bought in Hampton Court gift shop a tea towel with the names of all Kings and Queens of England to substitute an old chart I used to display at school.

Queen Elisabeth II becomes world's oldest monarch after the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

Gödöllő Royal Palace

The Palace is situated 30 km northeast of Budapest.

Queen Maria Theresa

It was built by a distinguished Hungarian nobleman and minister of Queen Maria Theresa von Habsburg, one of the most remarkable rulers in 18th century European History (one of her children was Marie Antoinette, who became even more famous than her mother, for a very unfortunate reason).

Sisi

In the time of the Austro- Hungarian monarchy, the Palace was one of the favourite retreats of Sisi, (Queen Elisabeth). She used it for family celebrations, hunts and horse riding contests. Sisi often spent weeks and months in Gödöllő to get rid of Vienna court ceremonial. 

When she died in 1898, the court life in Gödöllő came to a sudden end. Francis Joseph, her husband, seldom visited the palace. His heir, Charles IV, who was crowned in 1916, and his family came to Gödöllő only once, in 1918, when the monarchy collapsed. 

After World War II the palace was used as both a barracks for Soviet troops and as a home for the aged, which led to the decay of the building.

Its renewal started in the 1990s, after the departure of Soviet troops, and since 1996 it has been open to visitors.

No photographs are allowed inside.


Gödöllő, 11 January 2015

Vienna in 1 day

by train (Budapest-Vienna: 3 hours) and taxi

Schönbrunn Palace

Belvedere Palace

St. Stephen´s Cathedral

Graben

 Hofburg Palace

The original Sacher Torte

The Parliament Building in Budapest

Budapest, (Paris of the East), is one of the most beautifully situated capital cities in the world. It occupies both banks of the river Danube : Buda on the west bank, and Pest, on the east. The landmark of the city is the gorgeous Hungarian Parliament building. It was built in the 19th century in the Gothic Revival style. It has a symmetrical façade and a central dome.

Buda side of Budapest

view from Fisherman´s Bastion

The Holy Crown of Hungary or The Crown of St. Stephen was the coronation crown used by the Kings of Hungary  since the 12th century. It has been on display in the Domed Hall since 2000.