Grand Budapest Hotel

I loved the film for being witty, fast, full of surprises, romantic, fictive and real and compassionate on a profound level. Of course great music, an excellent cast and the most amazing settings weren't doing any harm either.

Secondly I had long wanted to go on a photo safari through Görlitz (also the home of the Grand Budapest Hotel),  the most Eastern German town, right at the border of Poland. Inglorious Basterds, Der Vorleser, In 80 Tagen um die Welt  have been set there as well, so no doubt the town has a cinematic feel to it. When I heard that the "Grand Budapest Hotel", actually a department store build in 1913, would be closed in a months' time to be completely renovated I decided to visit now or never. The only way to catch a glimpse of the old grandeur, was through a glass door of a perfumery on the ground floor.

In the film they have this sweet little cake tower called the courtesan au chocolat, it pops every so often throughout the whole film. I had never seen such a construction and of course it moved right on my mental checklist of "things to recreate at home". And the cute pink Mendl box!


With compliments of Mr. Mendl: the Courtesan au Chocolat

With compliments of Living in Dresden: the courtesan au Bisquit