Song Celebrating Romania - Jiddish Song: Rumania, Rumania (Live at the 5th International March of L...

My trip to Romania caused me to look for songs about Romania and I found this gem. Rumania, Rumania. That is the old spelling of the country.

The Songwriter Lebedeff

My favourite song and recording of it is the old one set in a tavern sung by the entertaining comic Yiddish singer and performer, Aaron Lebedeff, who wrote the song. He was from Belarus. He performed all over Europe and went to live in the USA where he was buried in Mount Hebron cemetery in New York state in the Yiddish Theatrical section. 

But this girl singer in the video above is great.

Useful Websites

Lebedeff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Lebedeff

https://www.mounthebroncemetery.com/interment/?id=127696#details

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania

Please share links to this post.

Where to see Memorials to Katyn and Khatyn, in the Belarus Republic, Poland, Russia and Worldwide - And Survivor Stories

 

I was confused about the spelling. Belarussia or Belorussia? It is now the Republic of Belarus. Previously under the Soviets it was  - let's take the Wikipedia comments.

Belarus (/bɛləˈruːs/; Belarusian: Беларусь [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ]; Russian: Беларусь [bʲɪlɐˈrusʲ]), officially the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Рэспубліка Беларусь; Russian: Республика Беларусь) and formerly known as Byelorussia or Belorussia (Russian: Белоруссия), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.^[12] It is bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk.

....

Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). 

Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II.^[14][15][16] During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources.

...

Many countries have hidden histories of massacres. 

For example: Oradour-sur-Glane in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre.

'On 10 June 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed when 642 of its inhabitants, including non-combatant women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company.

A new village was built nearby after the war, but President Charles de Gaulle ordered the original maintained as a permanent memorial and museum.

In more recent times we have heard about the Pol Pot massacres, the killing fields in Cambodia. And Nigeria, the conflict .'

The Anne Frank Foundation has an exhibition, showing how the Never Again message still need to be heard.

In a previous post I described the Brest Fortress.

Khatyn, Belarussia.

This was only one of several villages where the buildings were burned and the people were burned to death.

Khatyn memorial, Belarussia.

In Belarus the Bielski brothers led a group of survivors in the woods, of Jews, including children and the elderly, who had escaped. The film is fascinating.

Katyn, Poland

For some chilling survivor stories, read the accounts online from Yad Vashem. 

For light relief, in Belarussia see the Chagall Museum, or the Grandfather Frost Residence.

For light relief in Poland, see the Chopin museum.

Useful Travel Websites (Alphabetically by Country

BELARUS

https://www.belarus.by/en/

https://www.brest-fortress.by/?sec=2

https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/chagall-museum

https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/khatynand hs

(khatyn not to be confused with Katyn

CAMBODIA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Fields_(film)

FRANCE

Fascinating account of survivor of the WW2 massacre in France, how he and a couple of others survived. How do we know who died? Apart from survivors, from relatives who were not there such as his sister who had married and moved away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H%C3%A9bras

JEWISH/WW2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_survivors

POLAND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre)

About the Author 

Chaim Soutine Museum in Minsk, Belarus

I was researching alliterations for my forthcoming ebook Improve your English, looking for an alliterative attraction in Belarus. I scanned down the sights of Belarus and Minsk and found a museum about the artist Soutine.

Okay, remind me. Who was Soutine? He was born in the Minsk are of Russia, now Belarus, of Jewish parents. His father was a taylor. Soutine studied art and worked in a photographic studio as a retourcher.

He went to Paris which was a centre for art and artists in those days and lived in an artist's colony with other famous artists.

At first he was short of money. Then a collector bought a large number of paintings and he was suddenly rich.

When the Nazis threatened to take over Paris he escaped south, and eventually went on the run. At one time he slept in the open in the forests.

This period of uncertainty lasted about two years. He eventually died of ulcers. When the bleeding got too bad, he risked returning to Paris for an operation. the operation was not successful. He died in the mid 1940s, aged 50.

Friend of Chagall.

Painted by Modigliani. The Modigliani portrait of Soutine is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, USA.

Soutine by Modigliani, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA.

Soutine, self-portrait, on long term loan to the Princeton University Museum of Art in New Jersey, USA.

Useful Websites
UK
Paris style restaurant in St Johns Wood, England.
https://www.soutine.co.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Soutine
BELARUS
Note that by in the website stands for Belarus
https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/sightseeing/tourist-attraction-minsk
https://soutine-smilovichi.by/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I have many more posts about destinations, dances and decorations.
Please share links to your favourite posts

Quiz on capitals: Bosnia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia,

Problem
I have a hard time remebering these. I bet you do too. Instead of giving you the questions first and then the answer, this time I'll give you the answers first, then test you to see if you remember them.

Capitals are not always the largest cities

Country - capital

QUESTION AND ANSWER
EUROPE
Travelling to Europe?
Belarus - Minsk (Remember the s ends Belarus and appears in the capital MinSk.)
Bosnia & Herzogovina - Sarajevo (disputed). (You could remember SARA went to SARAjevo.)
Bulgaria - Sophia (You could remember that SophIA went to SophIA in BulgarIA.)
Croatia - Zagreb
Germany - Berlin (no, it's not Bonn)
Ireland - Dublin, Eire (Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland which is part of the UK)
Macedonia - Skopje (The c in Macedonia sounds like S which starts the name of the capital)
Poland - Warsaw (I saw the big capital, Warsaw. Years ago it was cute little Cracow or Krakov.)
Republic of Macedonia -
Romania - Bucharest (Rest in Romania; book a rest, Bucharest)
Serbia - Belgrade (Letter B in the country and the capital)
Slovenia - Ljubljana (Slovenia has one l in the country and two in the capital)
Turkey - Ankara (But most tourists charge like bulls to Istanbul: K in the country and the Capital)

Travelling to America?
AMERICA
Canada - Ottawa (No, it's not Toronto, nor Montreal. The letter a appears twice in Canada and its capital Ottawa.)
Mexico - Mexico City
USA - Washington DC (No, it's not New York. Both New York in the North; and The South wanted the capital in their part of the country. As a compromise, a new city was built at the border.)

Travelling to Asia?

ASIA

China - Beijing (The letters IN are in both country and capital. ChINa and BeijINg.)

QUESTION - What's the capital"

EUROPE
Travelling to Europe?
Belarus -
Bosnia & Herzogovina -
Bulgaria -
Croatia -
Germany
Ireland / EIRE
Macedonia - area of Northern Greece as well as a separate new country to the north of Greece so the new coutnry is provisionally, in 2018, renamed Republic of Macedonia - which see below.)
Northern Ireland, UK
Poland -
Republic of Macedonia -
Romania -
Serbia -
Slovenia -
Turkey -

AMERICA
Canada -
Mexico
USA -

ASIA
China -

USEFUL WEBSITES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_national_capital,_largest_and_second-largest_cities
https://www.infoplease.com/world/countries-world/world-capitals

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Humroous after dinner speaker. I am still talking at breakfast - you can't stop me.

Chagall sites - Belarus, France, Israel, Switzerland, USA

Problem
Where can I see Chagall paintings or stained glass windows or visit a Chagall Museum? Let's make a list. What about making my own Chagall collection or display?

The Fiddler, by Marc Chagall, which inspired the musical Fiddler on The Roof

BELARUS

Childhood house, now museum, of Marc Chagall (6 July 1887-28 March 1985)

Vitebsk, Belarus.

FRANCE, Paris

France. Paris. Opera. Ceiling by Marc Chagall in auditorium.

FRANCE, Paris

Jewish Art and History Museum, Marais.

See: Chagall's The Father; Chagall's The Cemetery Gates; a collection on the Dreyfus case and the Dreyfus statue.

(Nearby in the Marais district are the Holocaust museum and a Picasso Museum.)

The Cemetery Gates, by Marc Chagall, Paris, France.

Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme.

The Father by Marc Chagall, Paris, France.

FRANCE, Metz

FRANCE, Nice

Chagall Museum, Nice.

ISRAEL

Chagall Windows, Hadassah Medical Centre, Jerusalem.

SWITZERLAND

Chagall Windows, Fraumünster Church, Zurich. 

USA

The Green Violinist by Chagall is in the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, New York City, NY.

To make your own tribute or collection:

When visiting a museum: Buy postcards. 

Frame two or three or more in a line or diagonal or triangle. Print the life of Chagall from Wikipedia. Stick printed life story on the back of your picture or frame it alongside. Use it to answer the questions of visitors. Or learn it to impress visitors with your knowledge.

Order online. Add to your Amazon or Ebay shopping cart until you qualify for free delivery and so you only have to stay home once to receive one delivery and can be sure all items have been received. 

Add to your Christmas list. Or birthday wish list.

If budget allows buy poster size prints. Use to decorate your home, restaurant or business reception or waiting area. 

Use as secret Santa gift at a Christmas party.  Or a Hanukkah gift. Or donate to a fund-raising raffle for your club.

Websites and more tips

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g293983-d560302-Reviews-Chagall_Windows-Jerusalem_Jerusalem_District.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Violinist

See the picture of the green violinist here:

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/802 They discuss the fact that the Hasisim or Chassidim believed that you communicate or connect with God through music and dance, interesting the opposite of some other Orthodox Jewish groups. I have to say I'm with the musicians.

TRAVEL

http://uk.france.fr

http://us.france.fr

https://www.visittheusa.co.uk/USA

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author and speaker. Please follow and share links to your favourite posts.

Post being expanded. Come back later.

Where to find tourist board websites and cities

Problem
How do I find tourist board websites and cities?

Answer
Country List with Flags and Capitals
Got to www.Wikitravel.org
See www.countryconnect.co.uk

The quickest way to find a list of countries of the world is not to go to wikipedia which gives you the flags, which is good, together with the capital which is good, but in most of their tables several columns of other information.

Simpler List
Instead go to Simple.wikipedia.org

It's no use copying with select all because you get all the wikipedia page logos which overlay anything else you have already typed above.

Finding Addresses
How to find the tourist board addresses? I used the address cards and the WTM Catalogue 2016, issued in November 2016. Then I discovered a website with the addresses of the tourist boards in London and the addresses for getting a visa.

USA
Major cities and states include: Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington DC.
Visit sites associated with Edgar Allen Poe, Houdini, Molly Brown, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley and Presidents Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, JF Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jnr.

www.visitusa.org.uk
www.VisitTheUsa.com

UK
www.visitbritain.org

ENGLAND
Major cities in England include: Bath, Brighton, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Oxford, Windsor, York.
Major attractions include Madame Tussaud's, Sherlock Holmes' House, The V&A, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery, and a trip to Warner Brothers Studio Tour (Harry Potter locations).
Visit sites connected with Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Disraeli, Beatrix Potter, Queen Victoria, The Rothschilds, William Shakespeare, Wordsworth.
Major areas to visit include Cornwall and Devon, or the Lake District.

The National Trust
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
www.visitlondon.com
www.visitbath.co.uk
www.visitbrighton.com
www.wembleystadium.com
www.westminster-abbey.org
www.wimbledon.com/museum
www.wbstudiotour.co.uk
www.visitisleofwight.co.uk

www.VisitEngland.com is the official tourist board for England.

WALES
Places to see: Caerleon, Cardiff, Fishguard, Llangollen, Tenby.
Northern Ireland
Major attractions are The Giants' Causeway; Belfast's Titanic Exhibition.
www.visitwales.com

SCOTLAND
Major cities are Glasgow and Edinburgh.
www.visitscotland.com

CHANNEL ISLANDS
www.visit.guernsey.com
www.jersey.com

ANTIGUA and BARBUDA tourism authority
www.antigua-barbuda.com

ARGENTINA
www.argentina.travel

ARUBA
www.aruba.com

AUSTRALIA
(Major cities: Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney.)
http://www.australia.com/en-gb

AUSTRIA
See Salzburg, Vienna (Freud Museum).

BELARUS
Major cities include Minsk, not to be confused with next city which is Pinsk.
www.belarustourist.by

BELGIUM
See Brussels and Flanders Fields.
www.visitflanders.com
www.waterlooandbeyond.be

BRAZIL
visitbrasil.com

CAMBODIA
Allow three days to visit Ankor Wat temple and city walls, and tour half a dozen other temples, near the top tourist city, Seam Reap. Recently voted the world's top attraction. Tour in a tuk-tuk. the capital city is Phnom Penh.
tourism.cambodia.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Penh

CANADA
visit-canada.com
www.tourism-vancouver.org

CHILE
www.chile.travel/patagonia

CHINA
Top tourist cities are huge Shanghai with art deco waterfront, Big Beijing the capital and Xian for the now exposed once buried statues of warriors.
www.cnta.gov.cn

COSTA RICA
essentialcostarica.com
www.visitcostarica.com

CROATIA
www.croatia.hr

CZECH REPUBLIC
Captal Prague with Charles bridge hilltop castle and Kafka museum.
www.czechtourism.com

CYPRUS
www.visitcyprus.com

DENMARK
Major city Copenhagen.
Major character: Hans Andersen.
www.visitdenmark.co.uk

DUBAI - see UAE

FINLAND
www.visitfinland.com

FRANCE
From the UK on the ferry or tunnel or by air. Paris, the capital, the Loire valley castles, or south to the riviera.
www.uk.rendezvousenfrance.com

GERMANY
Berlin, the Romantic road through cities with riverside castles.
www.german.travel

GHANA
www.ghana.travel

GIBRALTAR
Gibraltar Tourist Board, 150 Strand, London WC2R 1JA UK
tel:+44 (0) 20 7386 0777.
www.visitgibraltar.gi

GREECE
Athens or second city Thessaloniki. Islands including Crete, Kefalonia, Mykonos. Trip to Olympia, flame site.
www.visitgreece.gr

GUYANA
www.guyana-tourism.com

GUATEMALA
Land of Catholics, cobblestones, coffee, Conquistadors, Mayan villages and volcanoess.
www.visitguatemala.com

INDIA
Major tourist cities and states and areas include: Agra, Delhi, Mumbai (previously called Bombay), Calcutta.
Ministry of Tourism:
www.incredibleindia.org
Railways:
www.irctc.to.in
Hotel Association of India (HAI) www.hotelassociationofindia.com
Airindia:
www.home.airindia.in
London Office:
email:indiatourism@aol.com

INDONESIA
Jakarta. Bali.
www.indonesia.travel

ISRAEL
Major cities include: Bethlehem, Eilat, Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv (Bauhaus-art deco). Biblical characters (Old and New testament, too many to list. OK - cities, tombs, walls, building, Abraham, Solomon, Jonathan, David, Romans and ruins, Jesus, rabbis.)
Jerusalem-hotels.org.il

IRELAND
Major city Dublin.
www.tourismireland.com

ITALY
Major cities include: Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, Assisi, Perugia.
www.umbriatourism.it

JORDAN
Roman ruins and churches, Moses stood here.
www.visitjordan.com

KOREA - South Korea
Major city is Seoul.

english.visitkorea.or.kr/

LITHUANIA
Major city Vilnius.
www.vilnius.lt

MACEDONIA
www.visitmacedonia.com

MALAYSIA
Day trips and buses from Singapore. KL capital city. Waterfalls. Pink city.
www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my

MALDIVES
www.visitmaldives.com

MALTA
Side trip to second island.
www.airmalta.com
www.visitgozo.com

MEXICO
visitmexico.com
www.mexicoonline.com

The NETHERLANDS / Holland
Amsterdam.
Board of Tourism
Http://www.nbt..nl/holland

PERU
www.peru.travel

PHILIPPINES
www.tourism.gov.ph:
itsmorefuninthephilippines.co.uk
https://www.tourismphilippines.com.au/

PORTUGAL
Lisbon. Oporto.
www.visitportugal.com

ROMANIA
Bucharest.
www.romaniatourism.com

email romaniatravel@btconnect.com

or tel:0 207 935 6435.

RUSSIA
Moscow. Stalingrad / Volgograd / St Petersburg.
www.visitrussia.org.uk

SERBIA
www.serbia.travel

SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg, Pretoria,  Durban. Trip to Sun City.
www.durbanexerience.co.za

SPAIN
Madrid. Seville. Fly drive staying at paradores.
Barcelona is in the Catalan region.
Catalan Tourist Board
17 Fleet Street, 3rd floor, London EC4Y 1AA. tel:+44 (0)20 7583
8855
info.act.uk@gencat.cat
www.andalucia.com
www.catalunya.com
www.spain.info

SWEDEN
www.visitsweden.com

THAILAND
https://www.tourismthailand.org/
Tourism Authority of Thailand

Address: 370 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238870

Phone: +65 6235 7901.

UAE
Dubai is the largest city. UAE consists of several emirates.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
https://www.visitdubai.com/en-uk/

UKRAINE
(Main cities: Kiev; Lviv; Odessa.)
kyivcity.travel e-mail:kyivtourism@gmail.com
www.lviv.travel
www.odessa-tourism.com

VIETNAM
www.vietnametourism.gov.vn

Open top buses:
www.bigbustours.com
www.city-sightseeing.com
For the latest feedback on which is best in the city your are visiting, see TripAdvisor.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to posts.
Azerbaijani is the primary and official language of Azerbaijan, and is also known as Azeri Turkish. It is alUKRAINEso t

Authe primary language in northwestern Iran, and is also spoken to a small extent in southern Dagestan (Russia), the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia, and eastern Turkey. It is a Turkic language with notes of Russian and Persian influence.
Azerbaijani is the primary and official language of Azerbaijan, and is also known as Azeri Turkish. It is also the primary language in northwestern Iran, and is also spoken to a small extent in southern Dagestan (Russia), the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia, and eastern Turkey. It is a Turkic language with notes of Russian and Persian influence.

Chocolate delights discovered today: chocolate chickens to buy, and Museums in Minsk and London

Where can you buy and try chocolate eggs, and chocolate chickens? Which came first, the chocolate chicken or the chocolate egg?

Chocolate hen and eggs, according to the ad in today's UK Metro newspaper, (which is free at London underground stations most mornings), £2.99 from Lidl supermarket. (The small print informs you: 250 grams, selected stores, £1.20 /100g.

Nestle Smarties Egg, an egg filled with Smarties, costs £1.50 for the (122g egg, but only £1.35 with a MyWaitrose card.

You can join and get a card from waitrose.com/mywaitrose - also 10% off Easter confectionery. Small print on their ad reads: Selected stores and lines. Offer ends March 22nd.

Asda's ad in yesterday's Metro suggested get egg-cited for Easter and offered three eggs for £10. The five varies are Mars and friends egg containing three bars, Snickers, Mars and Twix, £5 each 327g.
The Galaxy Minstrels contains three Minstrels. The Maltesers teasers contains three Teasers. The Twirl contains 2 Twirls (I needed a magnifying class to check the small print on the box, but the box picture accurately shows the number you receive). The Cadbury Heroes contains a variety of miniatures.  Click and collect ASDA.com/clickandcollect

If you want to visit a chocolate museum and cafe in London, England, there's one in Brixton, south London:
The Chocolate Museum

187 Ferndale Road, 

Brixton

London, UK SW9 8BA

United Kingdom
www.thechocolatemuseum.co.uk

Other chocolate museums are in Belgium, Belarus, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the USA and more countries. Just a few:

Choco-story, Bruges, Belgium.

Chocolate Museum, Minsk, Belarus.

Chocolate Museum, Minsk, Belarus. According to Metro, the Chocolate Museum in Minsk, Belarus asked visitors to stop eating the displays, otherwise there would soon by nothing left. Better visit it soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chocolate_museums
You can read reviews of chocolate museums on Tripadvisor.

Angela Lansbury B A Hons, chocoholic author, photographer, speaker.