A Netflix Castle, Averting Disaster and Spider Plants

Today’s postcard is a dusk photograph of a castle in Sinaia, a small town that is a short train ride from Bucharest.

Bucharest May 10^th (1975)

Dear Charlotte and Phil,

This isn’t in the same class as a Doug Gore tour, but we certainly are seeing some beautiful country castles and churches. Sorry you and Phil aren’t here to go to the opera tomorrow night. It begins at 7 PM a little better than the 11 PM concert in Madrid. Eleanor and I are having a good time but I sure miss Les.

Love Jo

PS The plant needs very little water. Hope it isn’t raising your Hydro bill.

You, dear reader, have maybe seen this castle, Peles, in some holiday movies on Netflix (A Christmas Prince and its two sequels). It is not as old as you’d expect, begun in 1873 to be a summer residence for King Carol I. The King was not easily satisfied, rejecting the first three plans he saw, and then, continually adding and renovating until he died in 1914. After King Michael I’s forced abdication in 1947, the Communist regime seized the estate and opened it as a tourist attraction. It became a museum in 1953 but was closed between 1975 and 1990 when Nicolae Ceausescu declared it a “State Protocol Interest Area” and only military personnel and maintenance people had access.

So, we don’t know if Jo actually was able to visit inside the castle, or just enjoyed seeing it as she visited the town of Sinaia. Here’s a traveller’s blog Kami & The Rest of the World where she posts interior shots of the castle.

Interior Pics of the Castle.

I’m not sure what opera our tourists attended, likely at the Romanian Opera House in Bucharest. You could see Don Quixote (ballet) this month, or The Barber of Seville or Samson and Delilah for a very good price, the best seats for 110 RON (Romanian Lei) which is $32.44 Canadian.

They may have enjoyed a performance that included Mihaela Mărăcineanu the mezzo-soprano and soloist, who was a victim of the Vrancea earthquake just two years later. This 7.5 magnitude disaster killed more than 1500 people in Bucharest on March 4, 1977.  

Just last year, in Sept 2022, photos taken 2 days after the earthquake were released to the public. (That’s 45 years after) https://www.rferl.org/a/photos-color-1977-romania-earthquake/32013831.html

I am unsure what “Doug Gore” tours are, I find no reference to them. I wonder if he was a local travel agent in Owen Sound.

Jo is missing Les, although she is with Eleanor. Perhaps she is recently widowed?

And what kind of plant needs little water. Perhaps Charlotte (because we know it’s her and not Phil doing the plant-sitting, right?) is taking care of Jo’s Spider Plant, which are very popular now and were also popular in the 1970s. It might have been hanging from a crocheted plant holder. Remember those?