kristinawood.com ~ View topic

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

I have been trying to discover where Bon Bon is located in the world with no avail so far so, I thought I'd post the question and see what happened. My belief is Bon Bon is located in either Britain or France. Care to enlighten us, Ms. Santato? Opinions from anyone intrested in giving theirs are also welcome, of course.

Official Artist Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 1088

One year before I invented the story of Bon Bon I allowed myself a small trip, a vacation in a wonderful place in the north of Italy in the region of Trentino, close to the Austrian border.
http://italia.dascoprire.net/immagini/TRENTINO_ALTO_ADIGE.png
It was a small town named MOENA and I fell in love with it! love

http://www.trentinomtbhotels.com/binary/trentinomtb/localita/c_fassa.4014_2363_1.gif
So, the following summer I loaded my camera and went back to Moena because I had decided to locate Bon Bon there. Curious

http://www.fotoeweb.it/moena/fotoMoena/Desktop%20Moena%20piazza%20italia.jpg
http://www.dolomitibooking.com/moena/immagini/dolomiti-booking-hotel_09.jpg
http://www.fotoeweb.it/moena/fotoMoena/moena%2006%20p%20italia.jpg
http://www.fotoeweb.it/moena/fotoMoena/Piazza%20battisti.jpg
I took a lot of photos, but Moena only represented the most rural side of the idea that I had for Bon Bon, the landscape and the houses, but I needed something more!
So, after three hours of highway I got to Innsbruck, in Austria,
http://www.caesartour.it/Cartoline/Foto/Innsbruck-012.jpg
http://www.city-skylines.de/innsbruck1/images/innsbruck.jpg
and there I had the idea of the Delight Castle and the casino! Idea

In the center of Innsbruck there is a main road " Herzog Maximilian Strasse " with shops and coffee shops and at the end of the road there is a golden-roofed castle Shocked

http://www.caesartour.it/Cartoline/Foto/Innsbruck-010.jpg
called 'Best Western Hotel Goldener Adler' or "“Goldenes Dach’l”" ex recidence of Mozart Exclamation

with the central part of the front quite similar to the Delight Castle Very Happy

! So that was the inspiration! Idea

Moreover in Innsbruck there is the Casino and also the Swarowski Kristal world
http://www.tirolaustria.com/imperi/story/pic/glaswe.jpg
http://static.twoday.net/andiamo/images/Swarovski-jpg.jpg
the empire of the most valuable crystal in the world, discovered in a mine by cound Swarowski himself! Simon Blue and his diamond mine were born from this story!!!

So Bon Bon is a half of Moena (the houses and the surrounding landscape of woods and mountains) and a half of Innsbruck (the center of Bon Bon and the Delight Castle).
If you agree and are interested, I'll open a photo gallery in the site with the locations that I photographed to invent PBB!
Let me know Smile

!

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1556

I have too been wondering myself...and Oh wow! Those are some beautiful pictures and I can fairly see some of the similarities. Very Happy

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

Photographist, artist, writer, gentlewoman, does your skill set never end? A definite set of positive characteristcs for anyone to have. Beautiful photographs, Vanessa, brava. Turns out my guesses on where Bon Bon is located were far off the mark but I don't mind, I'm just happy to know where it is now.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 1000

Northeast Italy, huh? Dang. I was guessing somewhere on the French-Italian border. Maybe it's own little mini-country like Monaco. I can definitely see why it's there, though. Those are quite colorful pictures. Smile

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 256

Very beautiful picters..... i wish i could go there... a man can dream...

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

"A person has the right to dream". I'm afraid I cannot recall who said it but I do know there are at least five variations of that phrase that I know of, though the only variation is in the gender of the person dreaming, man, woman, boy, girl, and child.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 2311

For some reason, I thought BonBon probably existed in Austria, though I couldn't really explain why I thought that, as I've never been to Austria myself (or, for that matter, the contintent of Europe, though I hope to be able to visit some day). Another guess was somewhere in Switzerland, though I might as well have guessed Italy, seeing as that's where Vanessa lives (duh!)

Nice photos! I actually have a cousin who lives in Austria (he went to a music college there to learn to play classical guitar, and speaks numerous languages including Austrian and Italian). Your photos reminded me of some of his photos from Austria, though my brain is blanking on the name of the town he lived in.

Rank: Rookie Joined: 16 Mar 2007 Posts: 82

Yes, many places in austria are wonderful (special everything in the middle of vienna). I live in austria and I am a big fan of Bon Bon, to know that it's inspirated a bit by the building of austria is really a pleasure for me.

Official Artist Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 1088

OOOOH!

what a lucky you are!
I love your country, hope to have been right in the description! I hope to visit Vienna, I am a Sissi fan Smile

and I would like to visit Salzburg.
A lot of austrians tourists visit Trentino and so there people speaks german . In the all things that I love of your country, besides the classic music, the food ( sakertorte! Razz

yum! And Mozartkugeln: Mozart balls! http://p.vtourist.com/1/1722000-Mozart_Chocolate-Salzburg.gif ), the Kommissar Rex, the artisanship and the nature there, is also that education and respect for the order and discretion . To Bon Bon, in fact, " no one asks who you are and people are extremely discreet with the activites of pleasure. The perfect place if you need to hide" ! Very Happy

Rank: Rookie Joined: 16 Mar 2007 Posts: 82

I think austria is special so much visited because we try to keep our traditions and old buildings. When I am now in vienna it remembers me of Bon Bon.

Some pictures of places who remember me of it.
http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/6972/viennastreetcarriagewe2.jpg
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5593/viennamichaelplatzly5.jpg

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

Beautiful pictures, BrightAngelChii, I especially enjoyed the horse drawn carriage. Friends or, dare I say it, relatives of yours, Drake? Laughing

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 1000

Don't mind him, Drake. He's only horsing around. Laughing

Those are wonderful pictures. I've never seen that kind of architecture before in person. While my hometown, Annapolis, also loved to preserve it's old buildings, the majority of them are from the 19th century. Kinda makes it look like a factory and shipping town, due to the Victorian aesthetics.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 256

Haha

so are you it seems Wink

They are missing the golden hair and braids to be in Drake's family Razz

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

Come now, what's life without a little horseplay? Laughing

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 256

Drake is very good at horse play Smile

as you'll hear in the story.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 2568

I was close. I figured it had to be somewhere around Italy, being your from there and all. Razz

I'm especially grateful for this background information on BonBon, for I did not know that about the Swarowski crystal. That gives Mystic even more of an "excuse" to come visit BonBon.

Thank you Vanessa.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

I can't imagine many people needing an excuse to visit the town of Bon Bon, setting aside the women there, it's a very beautiful location.