CastleDrama

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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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Sparkly Splendour: The Galerie d'Apollon and the French Crown Jewels at the Louvre

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When you think of the Louvre, you probably think of paintings and art - but it is also home to another kind of incredible craftsmanship: The French Crown Jewels. The Palais du Louvre , of course, served as a royal residence between the 14th and 18th centuries. And it is here in the  Galerie d’Apollon , a work of art in itself, where you can find a variety of tiaras and other bejeweled objects. The room owes its existence to King Louis XIV, who famously identified himself with the sun god Apollo. This gallery was one of his first building projects to represent that image. To create this masterpiece of architectural decoration, he summoned the greatest painters, gilders and sculptors of the day, who later also worked on the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles .  But the focus of today's article shall be on all that glitters.   Personally, I always found royal jewellery a fascinating way to learn about history as oftentimes you can trace them through various royal families of
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Beyond Potsdam: Eleven Castles in Brandenburg to Visit Off the Beaten Path

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From the Prussian palaces of Potsdam to plentiful noble homes scattered all around the state, we have probably covered dozens and a dozen more of castles located in Brandenburg, the German state surrounding Berlin. (Find all of them here .) But still, there are a gazillion more to discover, so here are ten castles you have probably never heard of. Most of them actually aren't open to the public yet many of them have surrounding parks you can stroll through. How I visit them? These sorts of castles usually aren't the main destination of my days out castle hunting. I either see them on the way to or back from places open to the public or I try to include them in a hike. Schloss Wiesenburg Schloss Wiesenburg may just be the most idyllically located of all idyllically located castles on this list. Looking over a large park, its origins date back to the Middle Ages when a fortified castle was located on the same site. The oldest parts of today's Renaissance-style  Schloss dat
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