Fluffy

What with the weird weather around the world, unseasonal storms seem to have made their way to France. Here's a little of what makes storms cool...
























photo by Sophie













photo by Sophie






























































































































Hope you get to enjoy some silver linings...

Lyon

A little while back I spent a day wondering France's second largest city. With both the Rhone and Soane to and some character, strolling the old city of Lyon is a great way to while away the day.















View of the old town from across the Soane.






















Some serious little hills to negotiate by car, bike or foot. The Lyon girls must rival those of Valparaiso in Chile for the best legs, or so I was told by the Chileans ;)
















Red roofs of the city around Hôtel de Ville, situated between the Soane and Rhone.





















The cathedral up on the hill overlooking the old city.
















Some Gallo-Roman ruins with a wonderful view of Lyon.















Made me think of Oliver Twist, Mary Poppins or some such bygone era with lots of tiny streets, brick building and plenty of chimneys to clean.






















A little pedestrian street, keeping with the terracottaish feeling the roofs lend to the neighbourhood.





















A cool thing in Lyon, coming to Paris too at the moment, a communal bicycle type scheme. There are parks like this one all over Lyon, so you check a bike out here and ride it to where you want to be, and voilà, just dump it there. All automated too. Imagine if hiring a car was so convenient, and automated, something the hire car people should think about, what a bonus if they did away with their staff ;)

A very cool city, you get the feeling that it is a tranquil, older and less poncy Paris. If you get the chance, a visit to the old city of Lyon is really cool.

Jee ate

The roller coaster of fame and fortune seems to have made a stop for only the purist of potato brews... Check out Sarkozy at the G8.

Two worlds collide

Thought I would let you know about a new co-authored phot blog, bringing you a snapshot of life in Pakistan and France through the photos of the week. Check it out: Photo of the week.

Nymphaea

Apparently yesterday a water lily painting by Claude Monet went for $37 million, not a particularly large one either. I can't imagine what the Nymphaea in l'Orangerie museum must be worth . The other day I was lucky enough to pop in an take in the beautiful paintings on the figure of eight shaped walls. Even with the tourists it has a lovely peaceful feeling about it.

Hope you have a little of the outdoors, even if it is indoors, to feel a little peaceful.

Photo collection

Although you have seen many of the images on this blog, I have also decided to put some of my favourite photos on Flickr, so if you feel like skipping the bumph I write and just browsing through my favourite images you can check them out here:

My photo collection on Flickr

Just started posting there, but will update it all the time, so be sure to head back there occasionally. It features quite a cool map section where you can see where the photos where taken.

Jura Gems

Until not so long ago, I wouldn't have had the foggiest if you asked me where the Jura was. Well, apart from that Island that makes whisky. Now I get to spend quite a bit of time there, it's really quite beautiful, unspoilt in many ways, good to get away from the city occasionally. Here are some highlights from the last trip to the Jura mountains.

Apparently a protected flower of the region.

















The rolling meadows of the region.

































Quite a bit of plantation activity.

Jurassian wildlife, about as close one will get to Jurasic Park lookalikes here. Also to be spotted are wild boar, little bambi wannabes. Oh yes, and the things you use to dry your car, the chamois, they also stroll the hills.

Ahhh the forests
















Some more wildlife, this time of the indoor variety, and the predators of said wildlife:

Hunting is quite big in the Jura, even moth hunting, and it takes serious concentration...
















and apparently teamwork.














































Poppies can often be found sprouting on the sides of the roads.
















So if you are ever in France and want to spend a few days in tranquillity, away from it all, then take in the hills, lakes and forests of the Jura region. Head towards Switzerland, if you hit Geneve you have gone too far.

Seine scenes

A stroll down the Seine the other day presented a few man-made marvels.

Recently the fastest train in the world, SNCF's trainset 4402, was floated down the Seine for all to see. It is of the TGV family, which now holds the world speed record for conventional rail travel of a tad less than 575 km/h. Looks like a normal TGV from the outside with a cool paint job, good news for street car tuners, maybe those blue lights and garish colours do make it go faster. Wow! 575.... hmm more than half a plane without the 'please arrive an hour before' inconvenience...

Further down I popped in to Manhattan, well sort of, a quieter, less assuming, smaller version of the one the French shipped off to the States in 1886. Much of the structural work done by some guy called Eiffel...

I'm afraid while I am in Paris, you will have to put up with many a picture of The tower. It dominates the concept of Paris, and to think it was to be a temporary exhibit. Of course it's an essential part of the Seine scenes.

Speed, liberty and endurance... sounds like the perfect combination.

SA: Flavour of the month

You can't imagine how surprised I was yesterday to spot a sunset behind Lion's Head in Cape Town. "What you on about???", I hear you Capetownians say, the sun normally sets around there. Yes, indeed, but this was inside the Paris Metro, an ad for Desperados... city look familiar?

excuse the phone photie

In fact, it is quite difficult to feel like one is too far away from SA here in Paris. The department of tourism is going bos on BBC World with a cool campaign of ad's that makes one quite proud to be South African. A trip through the metro normally boasts posters of some or other concert by SA artists, or an African festival.

I know the experience can more than surpass the propaganda, but I hope the SA government is owning up to problems that need to be tackled, so the tourists do keep going back. You better make it worth the increased airfares that I have to pay to visit!

Maybe I should be less surprised about seeing lots of 'home' here, after all the French football team is African.

Wishing you a Cape Town sunset, if you haven't seen one yet, you best get your butt down to the most beautiful city in the world. Please, just not when I'm trying to get a ticket!

Storm Brewing

This last weekend has seen some fair storm action in the west of France. Here it is brewing up a storm in the Jura, on the east.
















Rainbows for you this week!

Weekend strolls

I at least have two less people who write my political blah off to cynicism; the two guys serving unprecedented jail sentences for being caught in the post election riots. I agree, those that burn cars for fun in the name of protest are peasant scum, but amazing how justice can change in a few days since Sunday's elections... hmmmm

Not too much else to report, so just quick Parisian weekend in photos...

Rue Mouffetard, apparently a road from the Roman days, with its market that dates back to the 12th century. A feast for the senses with a jazz quartet on the corner, coffee wafting out the brasserie and meat, bread , fruit and flowers all along the road.

Sorry there are quite a few flower photos that you have had to put up with of late, but it is spring, and it has certainly sprung in France. Such beautiful roses and rhododendrons to be found all over.

The sun and storm clouds jousted for dominance on Sunday afternoon, above and below are not only the same day, but probably 10 minutes apart, beautiful day for a stroll. Both photos of the beautiful Pont Alexandre III.

"Ball games strictly forbidden", hmm seemed to work ;)
















Believe it or not, the military school, expect it to be some botany institute huh?

Hope the flowers are smiling at you this week.