CastleView: Lucy Worsley's Empire of the Tsars

Photo: BBC 4
So, I was sick the other weekend* and I watched some documentaries and I found "Lucy Worsley's Empire of the Tsars" by BBC. I only know little about Romanov history, or rather some parts of it, but am in now way anywhere near to knowledgable, so the three one-hour parts of the documentary gave a nice overview.

Reinventing Russia

Age of Extremes

Road to Revolution

*Yep, I pretty much only get sick during the weekends, not the weeks - I'm every employer's dream.

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Schloss Corvey

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Castle, abbey, even Imperial Abbey. All of those terms would be correct descriptions of what we are simply going to call Schloss Corvey , the home of the Dukes of Ratibor and Princes of Corvey - more on their family later - in today's post. The Schloss , which might become a UNESCO World Heritage Site this year, boasts a rich history going back to no other than Charlemagne (747/8-814) himself. It was the King of the Franks who firstly had the idea to found a monastery in the recently conquered area to missionise the local heathens though his plan was only realised by his son, Louis the Pious. In 815, Louis announced his plans for the foundations of an abbey east of the Weser river. A year later the first monks arrived from Corbie Abbey in Picardy to a site called Hethis where they founded a new monastery. The monastery was given the name Nova Corbeia , 'new Corbie', a name that would later evolve into 'Corvey'. However due to unfavourable location, the mon...
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Why You Shouldn't Bother Watching "Sisi", the New TV Series By RTL

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Hi there! I watched a series today that was so bad it made be write the first blog post in one and a half years. Will I write more again in the future? I don't know, I guess we'll see. In the meantime, follow all my latest castle adventures over on Instagram . See you there! Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the immortal Sisi, has inspired the imagination of the people for more than a century now. Her life, her love, her tragedies, her death. Adored, free spirited and one of the original royal IT girls. A face that could launch a thousands ships, well, bring peace to two feuding nations by simply being her charming self. A woman that, 120 years after her death, can still draw crowds and be the foundation stone of what seems like half the tourist industry of several regions. (Okay, that might have been slightly exaggerated but have you ever been to Vienna and seen the souvenir shops?) So it's not too surprising that time and time again, cinema and TV productions have tried to ca...
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CastleDrama: Three Wishes for Cinderella

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Today is the first Sunday of Advent and so from now on it is totally legitimate to start listening to Christmas music - and watch Christmas movies. Like Christmas markets and Glühwein part of each year's pre-Christmas season in Germany also is a period drama - or rather fairytale film. "Three Wishes for Cinderella" (known as " Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel " in German or " Tři oříšky pro Popelku " in Czech) is the Bohemian version of the classic Cinderella fairytale including three magic nuts and prince who must actively pursue his love and has to solve a riddle in order to find her: The cheeks are soiled with ashes but a chimney sweep it is not. A hat with feathers, the crossbow over the shoulder but the a hunter it is not. A silver dress with train at a ball but a princess it is not. Don't worry though, there is still a shoe involved. And the the Czech-German co-production has become such as Christmas classic in Germany that it is o...
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