My 2023 Back to School activities in Romania

Covorul de flori din Bruxelles: Mândria unei tradiții de 50 de ani

Travelling stories

Un eveniment unic

Orașul Bruxelles sărbătorește anul acesta 50 de ani de la crearea primului Covor de flori begonia, întrucât în 2021 evenimentul nu a putut fi organizat din cauza pandemiei.

Primul Covor de flori din Bruxelles a fost prezentat vizitatorilor orașului în Grand Place, în august 1971. De atunci, evenimentul are loc o dată la doi ani și abordează diferite teme culturale.

Datorită conceptului artistic, Covorul de flori a devenit unul dintre cele mai cunoscute evenimente florale din lume, un motiv pentru care turiști din toate colțurile lumii vizitează orașul Bruxelles la jumătatea lunii august.

Covorul de begonii din Bruxelles, 2022; Fotografie de Petru Dumitru

Ïn 2022 Covorul de flori din Bruxelles reproduce primul design din 1971. Acesta include Sfântul Arhanghel Mihail și Leul Belgian.

Covorul conține mai multe arabescuri cu motive vegetale, din frunze și tulpini, realizate la rândul lor din flori, majoritatea fiind begonii de câteva culori.

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Brussels’s Begonia Flower Carpet 2022

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One of a kind event

Brussels celebrates the 50th anniversary of the famous Begonia Flower Carpet this year, as in 2021 the event could not be organised due to the pandemic.

The first Brussels’s Flower Carpet was on display in August 1971. Since then, the event has been taking place every two years and has been focusing on different cultural themes.

This approach makes the Brussels’s Flower Carpet one of the world’s most famous events, a pretext to welcome tourists from all the world corners.

Brussels’s Flower Carpet 2022, photo by Petru Dumitru

The 2022 Brussels’s Flower Carpet replicates the very first 1971 design, including Saint Michael the Archangel and the Belgian Lion.

The carpet features multiple arabesques made out of leaves and stems.

Making a Flower Carpet is an elaborated project which takes about two years. The project runs through the traditional stages, from planning and designing to…

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Days go past and days come still with Eminescu

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Romanians celebrate their National Culture Day on January 15. Introduced in 2010, the event honours the birth of the Romanian national poet, Mihai Eminescu.

I believe that there is no Romanian who does not resonate with Eminescu’s most popular poems. I first heard about him in my earlier years, as a child, in my home country. While putting us to bed to sleep, my mother used to recite us “Drowsy birds”. This short poem is about the moment when little birds gather at their nest to hide together for the night.

My mother knew the poem by heart. She was a humble woman, living in a poor village, somewhere in the Eastern part of Romania. She was familiar with some of Eminescu’s poems as most people in her generation, who used to complete seven years of primary education in the 1940’s.

Even if it is considered an easy-to-understand poem, the

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Eminescu’s Somnoroase păsărele: From Drowsy Birds to Sleepy Little Songsters

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On this page, I gathered a number of English versions of the “Somnoroase păsărele” poem, written by Mihai Eminescu. The English translated titles vary from “Drowsy Birds” to “Sleepy Little Songsters”.

Dimitrie Cuclin, Sylvia Pankhurst, Andrei Bantaş, Corneliu M. Popescu, Brenda Walker, Dan Solomon & Emil Ciolan authored the translations. The original poem is also part of this compilation.

Illustration by Ligia Macovei

More poems translated into English are available on the Discovering Eminescu website, published in 1998.

Somnoroase păsărele, de Mihai Eminescu

Somnoroase păsărele
Pe la cuiburi se adună,
Se ascund în rămurele –
Noapte bună!

Doar izvoarele suspină,
Pe când codrul negru tace;
Dorm şi florile’n grădină –
Dormi în pace!

Trece lebăda pe ape
Între trestii să se culce –
Fie-ţi îngerii aproape,
Somnul dulce!

Peste-a nopţii feerie
Se ridică mândra lună,
Totu-i vis şi armonie –
Noapte bună!

Mihai Eminescu, Opere I, Ediţie critică îngrijită de…

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Parc du Bon Pasteur, Evere’s one-of-a-kind green gem

This gallery contains 15 photos.

Originally posted on Travelling stories:
We moved to Evere of Belgium four years ago. I believe we were very inspired to make this choice as we are greeted with a beautiful view on the Parc du Bon Pasteur, every day.…

Nantes’s Graslin Square bridges contemporary and neoclassical styles

Originally posted on Travelling stories:
The Graslin Square or Place Graslin, in French, is a gorgeous area in the French city of Nantes. Most of the square is pedestrian, which makes a number of buildings more visible while facing each…

Trentemoult: The French village where all world’s colours come together

Originally posted on Travelling stories:
While in Nantes, we wanted to enjoy a short trip on the Loire, in Nantes. Visiting Trentemoult was the right choice. Connected to Nantes by Navibus, a small boat belong to the public transport network,…

Passage Pommeraye, a historical witness of Nantes’s wealth

Originally posted on Travelling stories:
Nantes’s Passage Pommeraye is one of the first world’s covered shopping plazas, in France. Built in 1843 and renovated recently, the Passage is a three storey shopping arcade. Today the monument keeps fascinating us with…

Nantes’s Cathedral, one of France’s reference landmarks

Originally posted on Travelling stories:
Nantes’s Cathedral, which is one of France’s last Gothic cathedrals, bears the name of St. Peter and St. Paul. Under the French Revolution, the cathedral served as a military observation post during the siege of…