Tag Archives: EU

Photo Of The Day: Lazing By The Lake

The eerily green Lac de Bethmale in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France was the spot where these two men chilled out, ate their picnic food, and carried on a very relaxed conversation on a Sunday afternoon while they waited for the fish to bite.

The circular path around the lake was a busy spot for walkers and other visitors who chatted quietly as they passed lest they disturb the fish!

Relaxing whilst fishing at Lac de Bethmale in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

Picture Of The Day: Taking Home The Groceries Via Bike

So what do you do if you live in a small town near Dresden in eastern Germany — Ortrand to be specific — and you either don’t have an automobile or you choose not to use it? How do you take your groceries home?

This man rode his bike past the pretty, pastel buildings after I watched him filling the cart up with plants from the garden shop and groceries from the greengrocer. No traffic stress, no petrol bills, a nice bit of exercise, and definitely a way to live more lightly on the planet!

Taking home the groceries via bike in Ortrand, Germany

Lovely Lengthy Lunchtime in Lisle Sur Tarne

They do it well in France — the lovely, lengthy lunchtime. Almost all businesses are closed from noon until 2 PM so that the employees can have a proper sit-down lunch and then digest their food properly. It is an oh-so-civilised break in the day.

Plat du Jour — plate of the day — is the lunchtime special and it includes your choice of a main course, bread on the side, a carafe of wine, dessert, and sometimes your after-dinner coffee. And the average cost of this all-inclusive meal is usually well under €10 per person. How brilliant is that!

The central square in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

We stopped for our lunchtime break on this particular day in Lisle Sur Tarn — a beautiful medieval town in the Midi-Pyrenees in southern France. The hot sun was broadcasting both heat and an intensity of light that made removing your sunglasses painful on the eyes. The only place that was, thankfully, cool and comfortable was beneath the brick-arched overhanging arcade that stretched around the square. And right there was where we chose to have our own plat du jour alongside some of the local folks.

Lunchtime in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

We had a brief ramble through the town for about an hour after lunch and were charmed by the combination of architectural styles and the tipsy buildings leaning into the narrow streets in many places. And we found as many of those cool and quiet arcades to walk beneath as possible in that heat.

A narrow street in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

The cool brick arcade in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

Lisle Sur Tarn — a definite stopping point for your own driving tour through the Midi-Pyrenees!

Street corner in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

Posted on 19 June 2011

Picture Of The Day: Get That Thing Away From Me!

The Luftwaffe Museum in Berlin, Germany has been profiled by me in previous posts. But this is a one-off funny shot taken by Mark when we were walking amongst the vintage jet fighters outside of Hanger 3, my favourite part of the vast aviation complex.

That was a r-e-a-l-l-y pointy needle-tip at the front of that jet!

Get that thing away from me!

Pourquoi Parking Signs Called The Musketeers?

Whilst driving north from the Pyrenees to Normandy over a several day period, we stopped one afternoon at an Intermarche grocery store to pick up picnic supplies for one of our cheerful and healthy lunches and I saw these signs on the covered parking area for bicycles and motorscooters. I didn’t know what the words meant at the time, but when I took a few minutes and did a Google translate of them a few days later, I discovered that Les Mousquetaires meant The Musketeers.

Les Mousquetaires logo on the cycle parking at Intermarche grocery stores in France

But why??? What did parking spaces have to do with the legendary musketeers of old? And was there some kind of association with Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers???

Image by Maurice Leloir, 1894

A bit of research answered that question — and don’t we just love the internet for speedy answers! The Intermarche grocery chain is one of several companies owned by a retail marketing conglomerate called Les Mousquetaires.

Ah well — marketing — plain and simple — using the romantic imagery of heroic figures as the name of a retail umbrella corporation.

C’est la vie!

Turning This One Over To Mark

Most of you who follow this site know that I have been a professional photographer and journalist for most of my life. But an emerging talent needs to be introduced.

I bought Mark a slightly more user-friendly version of a Nikon camera than my big, heavy pro cameras when we left Australia and I told him what my university instructors in the journalism department told me decades ago — a good photo is dependent on the skills of the photographer, not on the cost of the camera or lens. And then you need to practice, practice, practice. We’ve been spending time as we travel fine-tuning his technique, his stance, what to include or not include in a picture, general lighting questions, etc.

Mark taking photos inside canal at low tide in Mimizan, France

When we were at the seaside at Mimizan on the Atlantic coast of France last week, Mark wanted to climb inside a canal that was practically empty since the tide had gone out. I politely said no thank you since I didn’t wish to (1) fret about getting my own two cameras and a camera bag safely down there and (2) worry about when the tide would come back in and fill the canal. I was right on both counts because (1) I was coughing too hard from a developing chest cold to have fabbo balance whilst scrambling over rocks and (2) no sooner had Mark finished taking his pictures than the sea began to slide back into that canal as I kept repeating, “Mark, the water is rising at the end of the canal!!!”

Mark inside canal in Mimizan, France as tide begins to come back in!

Enough from me — enjoy some of Mark’s moody mossy shots.

Posts abloom beneath the waters of the canal in Mimizan, France

Base of the canal wall in Mimizan, France

Posts like standing stones beneath canal waters in Mimizan, France

Bumpy bottom of canal revealed at low tide in Mimizan, France

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes and ©Mark Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

By The Sea, By The Sea — But Where Are We?

The familiar elements were all there…

The surf shops were selling t-shirts, swimsuits, and surfboards with names that I knew — Rip Curl, Billabong, Cocoa Beach — and the stack of blow-up flotation rings waited for the wee folks to waft about on the waves.

Beach clothing and boards on sale at surf shop

Cocoa Beach shop

Stack of 'floaties' waiting for the children

The red flag was flying on the beach to warn of the unstable swimming conditions and young families were riding their bikes in formation.

Red flag at beach warning of swimming conditions

Family on bikes in Atlantic seaside town

But wait a minute — where were we??? Did that pink neon sign say La Croquandise??? And what does gaufres mean??? I found out later that it meant waffles! And being very European, we could have put some glacé (ice cream) on those waffles. Yum!

Food stall in Mimizan

We weren’t in a seaside town on the Atlantic Ocean in Florida no matter how familiar it all seemed. We were in a seaside town on the Atlantic Ocean in France — in Mimizan to be specific. The colour palette was more gray than blue since it was coldish and overcast on and off for our two days — definitely jeans and a fleece jacket time instead of shorts.

The architecture was even similar to Florida’s beachside communities — high-rise apartments hugging the intercoastal canals and generic concrete-rendered houses with red tile roofs. We found a basic and rather old-fashioned hotel a mere one block from the roaring ocean which we could hear through our sliding glass balcony doors.

Intercoastal apartments in Mimizan

Houses on canal in Mimizan, France

Le Plaisance Hotel in Mimizan, France

And speaking of the roaring ocean, our walks down there were rather brief because it was quite cold and windy!

The French coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Mimizan, France

Come back soon for more adventures as we wander and work our way around Europe!