Mossy fountain, Aix en Provence, France. Aix is the city of fountains. Almost every intersection has one. They help keep the town cool in hot weather, like we had when we were there - 30 degrees every day!
Monday, August 07, 2006
Another fountain, Aix en Provence. Aix was an interesting city. We stayed a way out of the historical centre in a newer suburb. Despite being in suburban hell, we discovered the Vasarely Foundation across the road. This was an art museum built by the Op Artist Victor Vasarely, to house his own work. What a find, especially seeing we missed the Van Gogh celebrations by a month or two.
Booga, plus the interior of the tropical biome, The Eden Project. The Eden Project was really interesting, especially in the Biomes. Outside it was pretty much like any botanical garden, with seasonal flower beds. Have to say I expected more permanent displays outside, highlighting environmental issues, rather than beds of tulips and agapanthus!
Proof - the finish of the Wimbledon 10K!
next stop - Great North Run in October (Newcastle, England) - half marathon!
Monday, February 27, 2006
Welcome to the Hotel Amster-da-am
A somewhat surreal start to our holiday. Sorry for the delay in putting these photos up. Phil and I whipped off for a trip to Amsterdam at the end of January with others from Phil's hockey team. What was supposed to be a weekend of fun and debauchery was dampened by both Phil then I coming down with flu over the course of the holiday. However, all was not lost - over the four days we did manage a trip to the Anne Frank house, the Rijksmuseum and a sex show ?!? in the Red Light District. A few wanders around the city did flag up some amazing sights, a few of which I did manage to capture on camera (see below)
The start of our weekend in Amsterdam
Can't believe how lucky I was to get the cyclists in the picture too. Cycling really is the primary mode of transport (other than walking) in Amsterdam. We were en route to the Anne Frank house. Phil was unfortunately holed up in the hotel with the flu at this time (mine was yet to come). It kept snowing on and off which was really pretty - but really cold!
Can't believe how lucky I was to get the cyclists in the picture too. Cycling really is the primary mode of transport (other than walking) in Amsterdam. We were en route to the Anne Frank house. Phil was unfortunately holed up in the hotel with the flu at this time (mine was yet to come). It kept snowing on and off which was really pretty - but really cold!
Guess where we've been? - Red light district, Amsterdam
We'd just been to one of 'those shows'. The district as a whole is quite sleazy, but you still see plenty of family groups wandering around. Loads of people were stopping to have their photos taken on this bridge with the church in the background.
We'd just been to one of 'those shows'. The district as a whole is quite sleazy, but you still see plenty of family groups wandering around. Loads of people were stopping to have their photos taken on this bridge with the church in the background.
Phil and Cat (the reincarnation of Poppy) Brown cafe, Amsterdam
This was the last place we visited in Amsterdam, before we headed to the airport. A fabulous little cafe (no - not THAT sort of cafe) where we had some reviving chicken soup (I tell ya, I really needed it) and I was able to get in some cat petting action as well. Brown cafes by the way are called that due to the colour of their walls (years of tobacco smoke apparently).
This was the last place we visited in Amsterdam, before we headed to the airport. A fabulous little cafe (no - not THAT sort of cafe) where we had some reviving chicken soup (I tell ya, I really needed it) and I was able to get in some cat petting action as well. Brown cafes by the way are called that due to the colour of their walls (years of tobacco smoke apparently).
I'm going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo, how about you, you, you
In the last few weeks that Briddy was in London, we made an effort to do a few things around London together. One of these was to go to London Zoo. Well, it is the middle of winter here and by golly it was FURREEZZZZING. Most of the animals were either acting sensible and staying out of the cold weather, or were moved out of the zoo as the poor human construction workers got on with building new structures and enclosures for the zoo. Larry and Janice (who are now in Dublin) came along for the day. By the end of it I was totally regretting not having any gloves! The animals did on the whole look happy (in their heated enclosures - dammit!). We repaired to the Honest Sausage in Regents Park afterwards in a (vain) attempt to warm up afterwards. See the photos below - the sun was out, but it was for show only....!
Monkey!
These monkeys run around like the ones in Wellington Zoo right next to you. They are quite camera shy and turn away when you point your camera at them. The keeper told me they have learnt that too many people had leave their flashes on... smart monkeys!
Larry, Janice and the dung beetles (what are they sitting on?)
Larry, Janice and the dung beetle (what is the beetle sitting on?)
Originally uploaded by mellopuffy.
Bridget, Larry, Janice and a bear
It was absolutely freezing! We were across the path from the Sloth Bears, which stayed true to their names and had to be prodded out of their enclosure (quite sensible, I think)
Monday, October 31, 2005
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