Category Archives: Travel

Toys for Toddlers in France

These beautifully handcrafted wood and metal cars are just the right size for a toddler to enjoy. And they are displayed attractively right off the main street in Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives.

Lovely little things, eh?

Toddler sized toy cars outside shop in Normandy, France.

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Marche de Noel (Christmas Fair) in Normandy, France

We have the most glorious place to hold the annual Christmas market here in our part of Normandy — the huge medieval market hall in Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives where the normal Monday market is held.

This past weekend — the 10th and 11th of December — was the annual Marche de Noel and we were quite lucky to have a relatively mild day with lots of sunshine for the two days of markets. Much nicer than a frigid and wet weekend, eh?

Enjoy!

The heart of the Marche de Noel (Christmas Fair) in Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives in the Calvados region of Normandy, France is the medieval market hall in the centre of town.

Just inside the entry, I hadn’t expected to find a manger set up with LIVE animals (and very well behaved ones at that!).

Manger with live animals set up inside the Marche de Noel in the medieval market hall of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives.

The twinkling lights inside the market hall added to the festive air whilst shopping.

Yummy cheese for sale at the Christmas market.

Each stall in the medieval market hall was doing a brisk business.

A variety of marinated olives on offer.

Personalised wine bottles for various events like birthdays and anniversaries.

More small stalls outside under cover.

The balloon seller waiting for some customers.

A surprising lunch option — sausages and beer from Germany from the town that is ‘twinned’ with Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives.

Inside stalls in the Salle des Fetes across from the Market Hall.

Lovely Christmas ornaments for sale.

Photo Of The Day — The Carrot Carrying Man in Normandy

Just in case you wondered about those HUGE sacks of carrots in my Monday Market post, here’s a man hefting one of them across the square towards his car.

So when I wondered aloud if they’re for animals or people — Mark commented, ‘One would think that he’s a man with a horse or two!’

Carrot sack toting man at weekly market in rural Normandy.

Black and White from Ballarat

Just a quick flashback to a walk around the lake in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in the winter. With the exception of one bizarrely bright bird, absolutely nothing was colourful that day and the wind was icy cold and quite gusty.

I briefly glanced at these when I first took them, but since we were already up to our eyeballs in packing boxes and mess, I didn’t have the energy to devote any time or inspiration to them back in August.

Here I am back in France, happily and cozily parked in front of the fire in December, and now I’m glad I saved these for the right time. Some of these are potential book covers or perfect for doing a matte and frame treatment. I can tell when my heart is happy again because my productivity level just soars. That’s a lovely thing to be able to say at my age!

All of the images in this short photo essay are from Lake Wendouree in Ballarat. Enjoy!

Unidentified woman and child walk along the lakeside on a cold winter day.

Partially submerged tree and water grasses in a rain-swollen lake.

A bench at the edge of a swollen lake.

Wind whipped dunegrass alongside the water’s edge of a lake.

And finally — the ONE SPOT of colour…

An Australian bird with a bright red face and deep blue chest picks its way through the marsh grass of an inland lake.

An Unexpected Road Sign

We are time travelling back to Australia for this post and I am sharing a road sign that we stopped to photograph on the island of Tasmania off the south coast of Australia.

It’s a beautiful and mainly rural place with gorgeous undulating scenery. And it is also the home to rather a lot of kangaroos and wallabies, all of which are more active between the hours of dusk and dawn. Just as it was when we lived in Country Victoria, one has to be very alert when you drive at night lest you end up with a severely damaged front-end of your car from colliding with these very muscular and dense-bodied creatures.

Hope you enjoy this drastic change of pace from the photos of France!

A serious warning about what you could unexpectedly encounter on the roads as you drive at night in Tasmania, Australia.

Photo Of The Day: Vast Art Spaces From Re-Purposed Buildings

Stunning open space inside the Tate Modern in London, England. The former Bankside Power Station was re-purposed as the Tate Modern — but it continues to evolve with the Tate Modern Project which will drastically transform the external appearance of this important art institution.

An impressive open space in part of the Tate Modern art museum in London, England

Photo Of The Day From France: Les Braves

The wind whipped the flags behind us and the gusts were so strong that I was compelled to lean against any available building or post when I had a chance. But the sky was gloriously layered as Mark strode between the metal blades of the sculpture and the beauty of it all took my breath away.

Les Braves is not the usual type of memorial that one sees on battlefields. It is a soaring piece of contemporary art that was commemorated in 2004 at the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy during World War II. The French government commissioned this magnificent piece created by the woman sculptor Anilore Banon.

Les Braves monument on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France

We were fortunate to be there when the tide was out enough to walk around. But as you can see from the video on Banon’s site, the monument is surrounded by water when the tide is high and that too is quite a dramatic sight.

I have intentionally used a smaller version of the image so that you can click on the photo and EXPAND it to see the stunning beauty of that place, the somber moodiness that the weather created, and most of all, to take in the striking work of art against the sea and the sand.

To me it appears to be a glistening collection of swords impaled in those previously bloody sands, hilts buried in the beach and blade ends rising heavenward. But they also have the appearance of very contemporary and glowing angel wings. I suppose that it is up to each of us to interpret it according to our own personal vision and response.