THE ARDECHE IN FRANCE (3)

The village in the Ardeche where we spent our holidays last month was called Vals-les-Bains, it has only about 3500 inhabitants but it was once very famous for their water that has good influence on your health and the spa’s they had, it was like the spa’s we have now, only less modern. They once were visited by the rich and famous, we were told even King Louis the 14th came to Vals with a horse and carriage to improve his health, today they just have normal tourists from all over the globe.

They have an old natural source in the middle of a park that is spraying every 6 hours. We went to see it one day and it was quite fun, we were all waiting for the water to start spraying, lots of people got wet ofcourse as they came too close to the spray.

AND SO IT BEGINS

AND IT GROWS

AND GROWS

AND IT GROWS UP TO 6 METERS HIGH, SOMETIMES EVEN TO 8 METERS HIGH

If you know it started spraying for the first time about 200 hundred years ago I think it is quite amazing.

Have a fun week and thanks for stopping by.

BRUGES BELGIUM (2)

Today I want to show you more pretty sights from Bruges, world famous for it’s handmade lace and visited by people from all over the world. When you walk arround in Bruges you hear so many different languages.

THEY HAVE LOTS OF TRUNCATED TREE’S

A PLATAN WITH NEW LEAFS AND OLD FRUITS, IT’S FRUITS ALWAYS REMIND ME OF LITTLE MEAT BALLS

THE BOAT TRIPS ARROUND THE CITY CENTER ARE ALWAYS VERY POPULAR AS YOU GET TO SEE BRUGES FROM ANOTHER SIDE, BECAUSE OF THIS BRUGES IS ALSO CALLED “VENICE OF THE NORTH”

HANDMADE LACE, FOR CENTURIES MADE IN BRUGES BY WOMEN, YOU CAN STILL LEARN HOW YOU CAN DO THIS BUT IT IS COMPLICATED !!

AND OFCOURSE FOOD AND DRINKS ARE VERY POPULAR IN BELGIUM, WAFFLES, CHOCOLATE AND BEER

AND OFCOURSE BELGIAN BEER

There is a shop in my village that sells over 1500 different sorts of beer, not only Belgian beer, but 1500 different beers; I think that is a LOT !! Mind you I don’t drink beer, I don’t like the taste of it.

WE ALSO VISITED THE BEGUINALE HOUSE IN BRUGES

There are no beguines anymore, their houses are rented out now.

BEGUINALE HOUSES, THEY ALL HAD A SMALL ROOM AND ALL THEY DID WAS PRAY, WORK, SLEEP….

WHEN THERE IS WATER YOU HAVE BIRDS.

AND IN SPRING YOU HAVE CHICKS

AND IN BEAUTIFUL PLACES YOU HAVE PAINTERS

AND ART EVERYWHERE , NEW

AND OLD

Have a great weekend all !! And thanks for visiting.

 

BRUGES BELGIUM (1)

We had a day out in Bruges (Belgium) this week, it is a very old small city that attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world. I intend to do a few posts about Bruges and this is the first one. I’ll show you a bit of old church art. There are lots of churches in Bruges, all well kept and filled with old art.

ONE OF THE MANY CHURCH TOWERS

WE FOUND ONE PIECE OF NEW ART IN AN OLD CHURCH, A FONT

A PIECE IN BLACK SILVER AND GOLD

A CLOSE UP OF THE ABOVE

THIS IS THE TOP PART OF A PULPIT CARVED IN WOOD

THIS IS THE LOWER PART OF THE PULPIT

 

PART OF A VAULT COMPLETELY MADE OF STONE( this church was build in 1762)

THIS IS A LARGE POT WITH A SILVER LAMB ON IT

A VERY OLD PAINTING OF JESUS IN GOLD AND A SILVER CROSS NEXT TO IT

MOTHER MARY AND HER SON JESUS WITH A FEW GOLDEN ANGELS

I hope you are all well and happy.

 

 

 

LA DOUCE FRANCE (4)

Today it is just some pictures I made whilst in the South of France.

 

Have a great week all ! And thanks for visiting  !

LA DOUCE FRANCE(3)

This one is about  some of the art we saw on our travels through the Provence.

MURAL

OLD ART IN A CHURCH

AND NEW ART IN GARDENS

 

In France you find art where ever you go, old, new, you name it , they got it !

 

Thanks for visiting, have a great day !

LA DOUCE FRANCE (1)

We just came back from a holiday in the South of France. France is one of our neighbouring countries and to go there is about 1100 kilometers.I would advice you not to go there in July and August unless you really have too as it is the  summerschoolholiday for the whole of Europe then. But France is amazing and I am not surprised it gets the most tourists in the whole world !!! Personally I prefer the South, the Provence and the Cote d’Azur.

But hey, I think you want the pictures, not my bragging. So here they come.

We visited a special garden, it was the garden of a monastery in Mane ; Jardins de Salagon.

FROGS IN THE POND

PART OF THE OLD MONASTERY

DETAILS OF THE WALLS

THE FOLLOWING PICTURES WERE TAKEN IN THE GARDENS

 

IT WAS DEFINITELY PUMPKIN TIME IN FRANCE, THEY WERE EVERYWHERE

 

FIGS EVERYWHERE IN THE SOUTH, REALLY EVERYWHERE !!!

THE WILD PIGS RUINED ALL THE GARDEN PATHS THE NIGHT BEFORE OUR VISIT.

As you can see is was definitely Autumn in the South of France, earlier than usual cos of the severe heath and drought they had for months on end. Here too we have an early Autumn.

There is more to come about our vacation in France so if you are interested watch my blog.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

 

 

A SHORT VACATION (3)

This is the 3rd and last post about our trip to Scotland. Edinburgh was our destination. A beautiful and buzzing city.

THE SUMMER FAIR

A BEAUTIFUL OLD BUILDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY CENTER

AND ANOTHER ONE

GRAFITTI ON THE WALLS

BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS

FLOWERS IN PEOPLES FRONT YARD

A CHRISTMAS SHOP THAT WAS OPEN ALL YEAR !!

STREET ARTISTS

BRIDES

UNUSUAL HAIRDO

AN SCOTTISH TERRIER, THEY HAVE THEM IN BLACK AND WHITE, WE SAW LOTS AND LOTS OF DOGS, IN ENGLAND AS WELL AS IN SCOTLAND

A CHANDALIER MADE OF WINEGLASSES IN A RESTAURANT

ON OUR WAY TO THE FERRY WE WENT TO SEE THIS CASLE AT BAMBURGH

THE END

We had a lovely short break, saw many interesting things, and we were lucky with the weather, what more do you want.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by !

 

 

 

 

A SHORT VACATION (2)

From Windermere we drove to Gretna Green, worldfamous for being able to get married without permission of your parents, even as young as 16 ! . I don’t now if you still need the permission of your parents these days but a long time ago you did. It was very busy over there and we saw at least 5 weddings in the hour we spent there….But I enjoyed looking arround, to the people, the little shops and the many dogs who were on vacation with their owners.

ALL THE SHOPS ARE BUILD ARROUND THIS BLACKSMITHS SHOP WHERE THE WEDDINGS TOOK PLACE IN THE OLD DAYS BUT NOT ANYMORE, THERE IS A WEDDING OFFICE NOW

WE SAW OUR FIRST SCOTTISCH BAGPIPER THERE, A MAN IN A SKIRT, I LIKE IT !

 

THIS STATUE STOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKETPLACE, IT WAS A HUGE BOW WITH THE HANDS ON TOP

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN BY MY HUSBAND (CAN YOU TELL WHO IS THE BOSS IN THIS RELATIONSHIP ??)

Our next visit was to Edinburgh, the photo’s will follow soon.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting !

 

 

 

ART CREATED BY NATURE

I love gemstones and fossils and I find it fascinating how incredibly old they are and how they were made by nature.

On our travels in Arizona last March we found this museum in a cacti garden somewhere and it was awesome !

 

These biggies we found in Nogales at the border with Mexico.

Thanks for stopping by !