Friday, October 16, 2009
France -- Paris -- Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday
My Paris
Party all the night
Art museums all day
Rive Droite* for shopping
Île-de-France** for herShe's Paris Hilton
Copyright © 2009 Jimmiehov
All Rights Reserved
Top (day) Eiffel Tower : [large picture] [super sized]
Bottom (night) Eiffel Tower:[large picture] [super sized]
Notes:
*Rive Droite's (The Right Bank) most famous street is undeniably the Champs-Élysées, but there are others of prominence, such as Rue de la Paix, Rue de Rivoli and Avenue Montaigne. (Wikipedia)
**Île-de-France is one of the twenty-six administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area. Its name literally means "Island of France", maybe from ancient Frankish Liddle Franke, "little France". (Wikipedia)
Copied from my other blog, Jim's Little Photo and Poem Place (today's post, October 16, 2009)*Rive Droite's (The Right Bank) most famous street is undeniably the Champs-Élysées, but there are others of prominence, such as Rue de la Paix, Rue de Rivoli and Avenue Montaigne. (Wikipedia)
**Île-de-France is one of the twenty-six administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area. Its name literally means "Island of France", maybe from ancient Frankish Liddle Franke, "little France". (Wikipedia)
Labels: Acrostic, France, Life, Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday, People, Poem
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The French like Blue -- MidWeek Blues -- Blue shutters
It doesn't seem to make the French feel blue. Well, maybe this is different for the artists, some get real moody or worse.
We found this original in the Lautrec Museum in Albi, France. It is by Paul Cézanne (1839 to 1906) and yes, he was pretty quirky. (Cézanne Wikipedia link)
In just a lot of his pictures you can see Mont Sainte-Victoire as in this one. It is a mountain in Provence, France. Cézanne can see the whole view of the mountain from his house near Aix-en-Provence. He drew a series of oil paintings about or using his favorite mountain of his.
The blue colour on his mountains is supposed to be an impression of air. I'm not at all knowing what that signifies. Do you?
Even the sky is blue in France, bluer than most of the U.S. except perhaps the Texas skies. Pictured is son, Tim. Tim went with Mrs. Jim and I to Spain, France, Andorra, and Belgium on our Spring 2009 European Holiday. (link to posts so far)
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There aren't any blue shutters in this last picture but Mrs. Jim really likes these Citroën 2cv cars. She likes blue ones too and would drive one around here if I would get her one.
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I have a blue Citroën in much better shape than this one. I am saving it in case I want to do mischief with it. Have to plan my escape route carefully, their top speed is 40 mph. Mine is a 1:18 scale diecast from Solido (link for a grey one). I bought it in France back in 1992.
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If you want to post a MidWeek Blues picture, go get directions from Rebecca by clicking on the logo below. She has a Mr. Linky and good directions . Just do what I did.
Or do less. All she requires is a BLUE PICTURE, you don't have to write.
Labels: France, Midweek Blues, Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday, Travel
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "A" — Some places I've been starting with "A"
"A" is for some places, countries, a city, and states, starting with the letter "A" where I have traveled
Andorra -- Wikitravel, Andorra link -- 2009
Antibes -- Wikitravel, Antibes link -- 2006
Aruba -- Wikitravel, Aruba link -- 2009
Australia -- Wikitravel, Australia link -- 2014
Austria -- Wikitravel, Austria link -- 1992, 2000, 2002, 2005
and the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas (I've been to All fifty states)
Blog posts:
Andorra -- We went in 2009 and spent two night there. Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees mountains, between France and Spain. We were traveling by car from the Toulouse, France, area over to Barcelona, Spain.
Andorra is a tax haven, with foreign (dah) banks, no taxes, and lots of gambling.
It is also a great place to ski. There was still snow in the fields beside our road in June of 2009 when we were there. The road was carved through the snow which was higher than our car.
Andorra is a nice for high dollar shopping also. The picture here shows a few of the stores.
Antibes is the next city of any size south of Nice, France. It is located on the French Riviera Coast on the Mediterranean. In 2006 we spent two nights at a B&B there on our way from Milan Italy where we flew in from Sicily (Naples airport) and going to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, 2006 where we were to spend another five nights at a small hotel.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. I have some on my auxiliary hard drive of Antibes but it got too late to get then out.
Andorra -- Wikitravel, Andorra link -- 2009
Antibes -- Wikitravel, Antibes link -- 2006
Aruba -- Wikitravel, Aruba link -- 2009
Australia -- Wikitravel, Australia link -- 2014
Austria -- Wikitravel, Austria link -- 1992, 2000, 2002, 2005
and the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas (I've been to All fifty states)
Blog posts:
Andorra -- We went in 2009 and spent two night there. Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees mountains, between France and Spain. We were traveling by car from the Toulouse, France, area over to Barcelona, Spain.Andorra is a tax haven, with foreign (dah) banks, no taxes, and lots of gambling.
It is also a great place to ski. There was still snow in the fields beside our road in June of 2009 when we were there. The road was carved through the snow which was higher than our car.
Andorra is a nice for high dollar shopping also. The picture here shows a few of the stores.
Antibes is the next city of any size south of Nice, France. It is located on the French Riviera Coast on the Mediterranean. In 2006 we spent two nights at a B&B there on our way from Milan Italy where we flew in from Sicily (Naples airport) and going to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, 2006 where we were to spend another five nights at a small hotel.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. I have some on my auxiliary hard drive of Antibes but it got too late to get then out.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [5th], Jim Does, Travel 2
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday -- Etretat, France -- Ruby (Red) Tuesday --
I received a prayer request for Jeffrey; "he is 58; and battling more than one potentially terminal disease." I am praying for him, will you please join me, thank you. (link for more information)
I call these the RED GIRLS. We were on our way to the beach at Etretat, France. They were stopped ahead of us at the traffic light. Of course we went around them after the light turned and the road was clear, they were extremely slow pedaling along enjoying being observed.
Our mission was to climb the trail up to the top of this ridge. These are the alabaster cliffs that the line the coast along the English Channel here.
Things below looked small when we got to the top. I was puffing a little and thanking my Cardiologist for my stents. At the center top is a nice golf course across the way
The RED GIRLS on the bicycles finally got up here in their own time (no picture).
While we were up there the fog came in off the English Channel. You can't see the golf course any more. The rental boats came scurrying in too.
I thought I had a shot of a nice painting by Claude Monet of the cliffs but I guess it didn't take. The original was under glass there on a stone on the beach. He visited here quite often for some of his sea scenes.
Traffic leaving town was fierce so we stopped at this little pizza place for supper. We might not have stopped there but for the cat's invitation.
After supper traffic had pretty well cleared out and we could head back to Honfleur (France) where we were staying.
In the morning we had driven over to Rouen where Joan of Arc had been burned at the stake. There was a neat shrine over there. That will be another post.
Things below looked small when we got to the top. I was puffing a little and thanking my Cardiologist for my stents. At the center top is a nice golf course across the way
The RED GIRLS on the bicycles finally got up here in their own time (no picture).
While we were up there the fog came in off the English Channel. You can't see the golf course any more. The rental boats came scurrying in too.
I thought I had a shot of a nice painting by Claude Monet of the cliffs but I guess it didn't take. The original was under glass there on a stone on the beach. He visited here quite often for some of his sea scenes.
Traffic leaving town was fierce so we stopped at this little pizza place for supper. We might not have stopped there but for the cat's invitation.
After supper traffic had pretty well cleared out and we could head back to Honfleur (France) where we were staying.
In the morning we had driven over to Rouen where Joan of Arc had been burned at the stake. There was a neat shrine over there. That will be another post.
Click the Ruby Tuesday button for Mary's Ruby Tuesday post list.
Mary is in charge there, you can see more or post your own from there.
Labels: France, Holiday Posts, Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday, Places, Ruby Tuesday, Store Windows, Travel, Weather
Monday, May 18, 2009
Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday -- Albi and Caunes-Minervois, France -- Ruby (Red) Tuesday
This is my RED for Ruby (Red) Tuesday. Most all of the roofs in Albi, France are made of red tile. The older ones dim, the newer ones can be very bright red.
While taking this picture, I was standing beside the Musée Toulouse Lautrec (museum) waiting for it to open. All of these ancient buildings are across the river.
In Southern France the Spanish influence shows to quite an extent. One of the major items is the closing of all businesses and most public facilities two hours for lunch. They close at noon and reopen at two. I do not know if they take siestas or not.
Below me was a very pretty French type garden. I did not go down into it, son, Tim, did. He also climbed to the top of the wall in the left picture and walked to the end.
In the center picture, all the green is shrubbery and is manacured with hedge clippers. I don't think there will be any flowering plants in this garden even later in the year. I don't have a picture from down there, it's a wonder since I did walk around in there.
The right side picture is the type of streets that we would walk through to get back to our car.
It's hard to pass up an information center. This one was full of posters, I choose this one for a snapshot because it showed what we had seen taking the pictures above.
If it bothers you that there are no pictures from inside the museum, that is because picture taking inside is not allowed (link to 'about' the museum).
The picture on the right says we are headed back to our hotel. We must pass through Mazamet on the way.
Supper was ready at our hotel dining room when we got back. People really don't start on the evening meal until around eight but we Americans like it earlier. Our reservations were for seven-thirty.
We are just starting on the first course, we had been served but before we started eating our waiter, the hotel owner, Frederic, took our picture. Clockwise, Mrs. Jim, (son) Tim, and moi (Jim).
Back in town now and the next morning after our trip to Albi, we went for a little walk around our town.
Walking down now, but we drove up this narrow street to find out hotel. Further on down behind that little green bush we found the studio of an English artist. He has been painting in Caunes-Minervois for five years and considers the town his home.
One of his favorite subjects is his cat. We just woke him up from an early morning nap but he didn't seem to mind. The owner/artist told us his name but I can't remember it. I am not good at names.
Walking down now, but we drove up this narrow street to find out hotel. Further on down behind that little green bush we found the studio of an English artist. He has been painting in Caunes-Minervois for five years and considers the town his home.
One of his favorite subjects is his cat. We just woke him up from an early morning nap but he didn't seem to mind. The owner/artist told us his name but I can't remember it. I am not good at names.
This pretty work is just about finished and is for sale now I can't remember the price.
The last two pictures give an idea of what the inside of an artist's studio might be like. Except for the cat and the painting, it looks similar to my office, a little messy.
The last two pictures give an idea of what the inside of an artist's studio might be like. Except for the cat and the painting, it looks similar to my office, a little messy.
Click the Ruby Tuesday button for Mary's Ruby Tuesday post list.Mary is in charge there, you can see more or post your own from there.
Labels: Animals, Cats, France, Holiday Posts, Jim Bunch Eats, Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday, Places, Ruby Tuesday, Store Windows, Travel
Thursday, November 27, 2014
My Alphabe-Thursday (5th), the letter "B" — Some places I've been starting with "B"
"B" is for some places, countries and cities starting with the letter "B" where I have traveled:
Countries:
Bahamas, The
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bulgaria
and the cities of Barcelona (Spain), Benton Harbor (Michigan)**, Berlin (Germany), Boston, (Massachusetts), Bruges (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), and lots more cities and towns of course. These six are memorable.
Blog posts:
Barcelona, Spain -- After we flew in from Texas, with a short layover at Paris, we rented a car in Barcelona and promptly left town for Southern France where we stayed four or five days. We had our youngest son, Tim, who was in his 40's with us.
After the stay in France we came back and stayed in Barcelona to finish our week out. We stayed on the Los Ramblas Boulevard (link), where all the ACTION IS. Probably all the Mimes I enjoyed the most, although just strolling, eating, seeing (the sites) and watching (people) . The Red hop-on hop-off bus tour was great, our longest 'off' was at the Gaudi Cathedral.
We turned in the car when we got there, that wasn't needed, and stayed at the old Continental Hotel on Los Ramblas Boulevard (link 1)(link 2). I would stay there again, they are not terribly expensive, in the lower $100's a night. Best get off the Los Ramblas after 10ish or by 11PM or so as the drug pushers, pimps, and hookers take over the street scene. Drug dealers will be carrying a six-pack of soft drinks, claiming to be selling those.
Barbados -- (click this) Our son, Mitch, and DIL, Carmen, had a May wedding there. I had just had back surgery two weeks before but made it fine. The next day Mrs. Jim and I rented a Taxi for a close-up look around the Barbados island. Most memorable were the banana groves with bananas hanging in plastic bags to keep the birds away from the fruit (our driver got us each a banana from a tree), the many orchid gardens, and of course the wedding at an old plantation where we had the reception dinner in the plantation house.
Bruges, Belgium (click this)-- Very enjoyable here, a fun place to stay. We drove up from Paris with out son, Tim, after leaving Barcelona and a few days in Paris. We had rented a B&B in Bruges for three nights but when we got there, they had no room for us.
It turned out we were a day earlier than our initial plan so we stayed the first night at a hotel, on the canal that night. Our plan was to run over to Normandy after leaving Honfleur (France, two nights there in an old main street hotel), near Le Havre. But Tim didn't have much interest in Normandy and WWII things and since we had been there three other times, we skipped it (and made us the day early).
Our favorite activity in Bruges was walking around visiting here (shops) and there (buildings and historical stuff), doing the canal boat round trip, and EATING (Belgium waffles, French hot dogs (mmm !!!) and chocolate really good).
Belize (click this) -- Actually this is for the future, we have a January cruise and will stop here. Never been to Belize before.
Budapest -- No pictures, taken before we had a digital camera, but I would recommend going there. We spent two nights and most of two days playing and exploring.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. I have some on in an album of Budapest.
Countries:
Bahamas, The
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bulgaria
and the cities of Barcelona (Spain), Benton Harbor (Michigan)**, Berlin (Germany), Boston, (Massachusetts), Bruges (Belgium), Budapest (Hungary), and lots more cities and towns of course. These six are memorable.
Blog posts:
Barcelona, Spain -- After we flew in from Texas, with a short layover at Paris, we rented a car in Barcelona and promptly left town for Southern France where we stayed four or five days. We had our youngest son, Tim, who was in his 40's with us.
After the stay in France we came back and stayed in Barcelona to finish our week out. We stayed on the Los Ramblas Boulevard (link), where all the ACTION IS. Probably all the Mimes I enjoyed the most, although just strolling, eating, seeing (the sites) and watching (people) . The Red hop-on hop-off bus tour was great, our longest 'off' was at the Gaudi Cathedral.
We turned in the car when we got there, that wasn't needed, and stayed at the old Continental Hotel on Los Ramblas Boulevard (link 1)(link 2). I would stay there again, they are not terribly expensive, in the lower $100's a night. Best get off the Los Ramblas after 10ish or by 11PM or so as the drug pushers, pimps, and hookers take over the street scene. Drug dealers will be carrying a six-pack of soft drinks, claiming to be selling those.
Lots of motorscooters and motorcycles. Not like in the U.S.
This may have been a paella mostly eaten, I am not sure
[click on a picture for larger view size]
We had 'free' entertainment with our meal. We ate in the patio out back.
Mrs. Jim catching up on here reading from our balcony while we watched out at Los Ramblas.
We saw these little yellow rental buggies all over town. We declined.
Here is the restaurant patio. Our son, Tim, is sitting by the post
while we joined in the entertainment outside.
Bruges, Belgium (click this)-- Very enjoyable here, a fun place to stay. We drove up from Paris with out son, Tim, after leaving Barcelona and a few days in Paris. We had rented a B&B in Bruges for three nights but when we got there, they had no room for us.
It turned out we were a day earlier than our initial plan so we stayed the first night at a hotel, on the canal that night. Our plan was to run over to Normandy after leaving Honfleur (France, two nights there in an old main street hotel), near Le Havre. But Tim didn't have much interest in Normandy and WWII things and since we had been there three other times, we skipped it (and made us the day early).
Our favorite activity in Bruges was walking around visiting here (shops) and there (buildings and historical stuff), doing the canal boat round trip, and EATING (Belgium waffles, French hot dogs (mmm !!!) and chocolate really good).
Belize (click this) -- Actually this is for the future, we have a January cruise and will stop here. Never been to Belize before.
Budapest -- No pictures, taken before we had a digital camera, but I would recommend going there. We spent two nights and most of two days playing and exploring.
- Jenny is starting in now on her tenth series of Alphabe thursday. With 52 weeks in a year and 26 letters in the alphabet she is now in her fifth year. I am linked to her blog, GO HERE for more participants and their offerings.
- I am in my fifth series of Alphabe Thusday. I intend to put on some pictures of my travels when I can find a few. I have some on in an album of Budapest.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday [5th], Jim Does, Travel 2
Friday, May 15, 2009
On the Road to Albi -- SkyWatch Friday (my twenty-sixth) -- Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday
I could tell it was going to be a nice day, not a cloud in France's big blue sky!
We were headed to Albi, France, to visit the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Museum (link). I have a picture (print, copy) Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (link) painted for my office and this would be an opportunity to see more of his original art.
I am glad we did because of the small things, being there with his associations, and seeing so many of his paintings in one sitting helped me appreciate this man still more.
My opinion of him? At first he painted fairly run-of-the-mill pictures of people. There may have been a slight impressionist leaning in some. Towards the end of his life he was so intrigued with dancers at the Moulin Rouge (Paris) and prostitutes that that was about all he painted. Well, he was still painting entertainment posters. I would like to have one of those or a copy.
I never did figure out what the fields of yellow were. The plants were about height of yellow clover but they were courser and bushier. Anyway they matched the colors of the old John Deere tractor.
The tractor was decoration for the middle inside the turn-about. I went around twice to get the better picture. Of course the road was one way. How could a person miss with nice blue signs like this?
Finally we got to Albi. Parking was going to be a problem, but they must have known we were coming and saved this Handicap parking place just for me. I always travel with my hanging Texas Handicap Parking Permit.
We had fun. I will write more of our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday later.
We were headed to Albi, France, to visit the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Museum (link). I have a picture (print, copy) Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (link) painted for my office and this would be an opportunity to see more of his original art.
I am glad we did because of the small things, being there with his associations, and seeing so many of his paintings in one sitting helped me appreciate this man still more.
My opinion of him? At first he painted fairly run-of-the-mill pictures of people. There may have been a slight impressionist leaning in some. Towards the end of his life he was so intrigued with dancers at the Moulin Rouge (Paris) and prostitutes that that was about all he painted. Well, he was still painting entertainment posters. I would like to have one of those or a copy.
These are pictures we took at a pull-out along the way. We were staying in Caunes-Minervois (link) which is a short drive from Carcassonne, France. At first there were a lot of grape fields which soon gave way to pastures with cows and sheep.
Then we hit the mountains. From the pictures you might guess were in West Virgina, U.S.A. We would next go down into this little town, Mazamet (link), to the market. Thursday (April 23, 2009) was market day for Mazamet. Sorry, no pictures, we were to busy eating our food and shopping.
Then we hit the mountains. From the pictures you might guess were in West Virgina, U.S.A. We would next go down into this little town, Mazamet (link), to the market. Thursday (April 23, 2009) was market day for Mazamet. Sorry, no pictures, we were to busy eating our food and shopping.
I never did figure out what the fields of yellow were. The plants were about height of yellow clover but they were courser and bushier. Anyway they matched the colors of the old John Deere tractor.
The tractor was decoration for the middle inside the turn-about. I went around twice to get the better picture. Of course the road was one way. How could a person miss with nice blue signs like this?
We had fun. I will write more of our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday later.
Other Participants and How to Have Your Own Skywatch
Labels: France, Holiday Posts, Our Spring 2009 Europe Holiday, SkyWatch Friday, Travel
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