TRAVEL
Now you may remember that Austria, with its capital Vienna, does not have a coastline, so sadly the Habsburg royal family could not have a seaside cottage.
But, nothing daunted, they decided to have another attraction instead. Can you guess what it is? A zoo! As the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I set it up in 1752 it’s the oldest continually operating zoo in the world.
We loved it and spent lots of time there particularly as they have giant pandas.
The lady panda is called Yang Yang and there are three males Long Hui, Fu Long, and Fu Hu. What a lucky lady! And she must be a happy panda as in August 2007 Fu Long was born the first by natural insemination – and then 3 years later Fu Hu was born by natural mating. Yet another baby Fu Bao arrived in 2013 and then twins Fu Feng and Fu Ban.
They were quite difficult to see, as they liked hiding in the leaves and DH tried to convince me that unless I was waving particularly nice bamboo leaves at them they wouldn’t wake up and come over for a chat.
HISTORY
The Dowager Queen, little Princess Isabella’s mother is sure that King Henry is out to get her children, she is quite paranoid about it, so she whips the two youngest off to another dark, damp and drafty castle in Aravelo to keep them safe.
The Princess Isabella has lessons and, under instruction from her mother spends an awful lot of time praying. She spends hours and hours each day on her knees. Court etiquette is rigid, it’s more nunnery than a royal court. Her mother is so cruel she won’t even let her meet up with friends at the local shopping mall.
AFRICA FACTS
Last time I left off as we were filming in deep rural Africa on a project that was excavating the Devil’s Claw. A pharmaceutical company in Germany had tested the root and found it had benefits for arthritis so they ordered supplies from this rural community.
I accompanied the women who scoured the ground then pounced and dug up a root, taking only part of it before covering it over with soil again to continue growing – very ecological and sustainable. What astounded me is they seemed to know exactly where the roots are – the dry, sandy surface of the ground gave no indication that a root would be in exactly that place yet each time there it was a couple of inches below the surface.
Not only had they prepared an ‘interesting’ lunch in the village hall for me and the crew they had also written and produced a play for us to shoot. A local villager consulted the witch doctor who (not surprisingly) prescribed Devil’s Claw for all his ailments. When we left they handed us bags full of roots, which DH tried later following the precise instructions, but from the look on his face, it didn’t taste nice at all.
All my books (except Unhappily Ever After my Fairyland comedy) are set in Africa which must be the most fascinating continent on earth.
You can find them all on my author page:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lucinda-E-Clarke/e/B00FDWB914/
or my web page: http://lucindaeclarkeauthor.com
Till next time, take care
Lucinda
lucinda E Clarke 
I am amazed at DH trying Devil’s Claw. A bit like my old man (he’s 15 months my senior) drinking a non-alcoholic beer by the sounds of things.
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Oh he tried it all right when I told him it was supposed to be good for his arthritis, but if you remember the pic from last week it doesn’t look appetizing at all. He grated it and boiled it as per instructions but it tasted so awful, he didn’t manage to swallow any. These rural Africans are made of stern stuff. They were pouring in down their throats as if it was Dom Perignon. 🙂
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Haha, I did giggle at DH trying the Devil’s Claw. I will confess my wicked mind thought up all sorts of not so innocent reasons for him trying it, but I never would have come up with arthritis…love the photos! All of them!
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No, he only drank it Val! I rather thought the pics of the cars in the background took away from the theatrical scene deep in rural Africa!
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