On our tour of Eastern Europe, we discovered gold. As we explored its landmark churches and palaces, gold stood out as an indispensible decorator tool.
It was splashed around - not necessarily with style - but certainly with abandon.
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| While gold was affordable, apparently bras were not. |
It was the era before electricity, and winter nights were long and dim. The glow of gold doubled the wattage of candle or chandelier power, possibly allowing you to read by light reflected from your gold cherubs.
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| Gold cherub reading lamp |
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| Gold wattage |
But - I suspect - gold's real point was prestige. If you could afford to flaunt gold fittings and fixtures, then you were seriously wealthy, possibly with power and influence to go with it. You could command respect and even the odd bribe.
Nothing drives this point home more than a full set of gold Greek columns...
...complimented with gold chandeliers...
gold chooks...
gold chicks...
and, of course, gold chairs.
Gold was also lavished on the exterior of buildings: it was the neon lights of the 1860s.
The Catherine Palace towers, so perfectly formed, needed that touch of gold to finish them off.
Neighbourhood birds rated these towers highly as a vantage point. On a scale of one to ten, they gave them 8.5 in the height and classy category.
Gold lace trimmed the churches, both outside...
...and inside...
The Madonna wore gold...
Even the bibles were gold, though somewhat encrusted...
Then there was that golden note...
And off we went, to see the golden sunsets:
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| Budapest sunset |
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| Budapest by night |
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