THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

BY JANET STEINBERG

                   “The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.”                                                       Casablanca-1942

Clocks make a statement.  You can be transported back in time or catapulted into the future just by looking at a clock.  Timepieces, differing around the world, can range from medieval to modern...serious to quirky.  They may be works of art, set a mood or give a feeling about their location, their customs or their people. 

On Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic, The Old Town Hall’s medieval Astronomical Clock (Prague Orloj) puts on an hourly show known as The Walk of the Apostles.  The show, that never fails to draw a large audience, features miniature figures of the Apostles—plus a skeletal representation of Death—who strikes the time every hour on the hour. The mechanical clock and astronomical dial date back to 1410 and has been repaired many times over the centuries.  The clock’s 600th anniversary in 2010 was celebrated with a light show on the face of the clock tower.

PRAGUE’S ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK

VALENTINES ARE PRETTY IN PINK

BY JANET STEINBERG 

                                                                        

      I claim there ain’t

Another Saint

              As great as Valentine.

                                           Ogden Nash

Ahhhh, the color pink!  The color pink is symbolic of caring, compassion and unconditional love.  This magical melding of the colors red and white exudes a passion that puts stars in lovers’ eyes and links hearts together.  So, as we pay tribute to Saint Valentine, why not sweep your love off to a romantic pink palace, bathe in a sybaritic pink marble bathtub, or toast your love with the ultimate classic pink drink.

Cupid points his arrow at …

The Don CeSar Beach Resort & Spa is the crowning glory of Florida's Gulf Coast.  You'll be tickled pink as you cross the causeway and catch your first glimpse of "The Pink Palace" majestically poised like a pink-iced wedding cake on the sandy shores of St. Pete Beach.  Affectionately dubbed “The Don”, this historic resort on the Gulf of Mexico opened in the late 1920s as the playground for America's coddled rich and famous.  In the early 1920s, this castle-by-the-sea was but a castle-in-the-air for Irishman Thomas Rowe who made his fortune in Florida real estate.  The hotel's pink exterior is reminiscent of the rosy lime and mortar mixture Rowe observed as a child in Ireland.  The hot pink color, known as "Don CeSar Rouge" is maintained partly to retain the Don's stature as an historic landmark in the National Register of Historic Places.