Cimbalom!!!

This is a virtuoso cimbalom player!!! Wow! A cimbalom is a kind of eastern-european concert hammered dulcimer. You play it by hitting steel strings with 2 beaters. Wiki knows more, here.
And here is his band:

I absolutely adore this type of music!!! If you want to hear some, just search for cimbalom gypsy mus on, or cimbalom klezmer on Youtube.

That girl from Domremy

Yes, you probably saw some movies about her, or studied her at school. Saint Joan of Arc (to Catholics), the national symbol of France par excellence. More about her here, if you're interested.
This statue is situated inside the cathedral. She was put there in 1937, as a thank you for  'kicking the Germans out of France' during WW1. BTW, I removed the 'don't touch' sign from this photo: it was in French... and German...
Nowadays, Joan -Jeanne - is the saint patron of the french nationalists, the highly controversial National Front, for example, wanting to kick all the non-white foreigners out of France, specially what they call the 'Arabs" (anyone not having had french ancestry for centuries). Reminds you of some ''politicians'' in the US of A, doesn't it?!
2 weeks ago, in the news... Some french guy, descendant from nobility, bought Joan's ring at a auction in London, for 370.000 euros or so. He wants to display it at his historical amusement park...

11, the crazy number - 11, chiffre fou

In the Middle Ages, for some reason, 11 was considered the crazy number. In Germany, carnival starts always on the 11th of November, at 11.11 AM.
Here, it is today, starting at 2.11 PM (we are not as crazy as the Germans, maybe...). Hoping to see more gorgeous babes, like this bunch, spotted last year

Au Moyen-Age, le chiffre  11 etait considere comme le chiffre qui rendait fou... C'est pourquoi en Allemagne, le carnaval commence le 11 novembre, a 11h11.
Etant moins fous que nos voisins (???), ici ca commence cette apres-midi, a 14h11. J'espere y voir plus de pinups comme celles-ci!

Constant traveling

Constantly improving my photographic skills, I have been lately reworking some old photos. Needless to say, this ain't Strasbourg. I move a lot, been living and working in many countries... So, let me show you some places I love.
This is the entrance to the port of Tarifa, southern Spain, famous to all surfers. In the back, the Rock himself, Gibraltar. Very nice place indeed!

Skywatch Friday. Post 100, btw!

 Did you spot the cathedral?

More Skywatch Friday photos here.

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are!

High water!

This is a floating ticket desk, for the inner-city mini cruises. As it is been raining quite a lot lately, no cruises at the moment, the boats wouldn't pass the low bridges.

White

Some very photogenic swans I spotted this morning, enjoying the too rare sunshine. They were kind enough to pose for me.

Angels - Anges

Lots of graffiti in town, some of them really good, others rather obscure...

Beaucoup de graffitis en ville, certains tres bons, d'autres assez obscurs...

Les parapluies de Strasbourg

Now, I know some ladies who would miles for a nice brolly...

J'en connais quelques unes qui feraient des kilometres pour un beau parapluie...

Rohraffe

Rohraffe, literally 'pipe monkeys'. The 3 wild men live just below the cathedral's grand organ (you can see it here).
Now then, they are a wild bunch... And part of one of the stranger stories around.
Starting in the 14th century, on Pentecost Sunday, when parishioners arrived for mass, monks, hidden in a small cave behind the wild men were moving levers. The left one was  playing his trumpet, Samson at the center was opening and closing his lion's mouth, while the last was waving a... pretzel, of course. Then, they began to giggle, sing, shout, throwing jibes and insults at the parishioners and the priests, often contradicting the priests during their sermon...
Unfortunately, this practice is forbidden now. What a shame.

L'horloge astronomique

And back to the cathedral.
This the famous astronomic clock, the latest one this is, built in 1843 by Jean-Baptiste Schwilge. It is a marvel of ingeniosity, with a very early (kind of) computer. More info here.

Skywatch Friday

One early morning, going home...

Rentrant a la maison de bon matin...

It's SKYWATCH FRIDAY!!!

By boat... En bateau!

One of many ways to go round town.

Bon moyen de deplacement!

Longing...

If you are longing for faraway places, Strasbourg is the place to be! Although we only have a tiny (5 gates) international airport, you can fly to Greece, Morocco, Turkey... By direct train, to Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany... By bus, pretty much anywhere in Europe and Morocco. By boat, some river cruises go to the Netherlands, Venice, Romania, Russia. Hitchhiking, a local guy went round the world, in 5 years... Kudos to him.
I took this photo above, arriving in Skopje, Macedonia. Alexander the Great Airport.

Belonging

Where do I belong? Intriguing question at first... But the answer is quite obvious to me. I sometimes define myself as a constant traveler. My answer to this question would therefore be: on a train, on a plane, on an automobile, going around the...

Goa would be nice right now!

Theme day: belonging

Immigrants. Where do they belong? Not on the street. Not in camps. Not outside in the cold. No, they belong in our home. In John Le Carre's words: Home's where you go when you run out of homes.

More about this theme here.

St Laurent

An older photo, published on several websites before. The St Laurent chapel (1495-1505), used for adoration, weddings and funerals of parishioners.

Rock star!

Carrying on with my little series about, may I introduce the minstrel, the true rock star (pun intended) of his time! A bearded bard!

Skywatch Friday

Early morning, live from my kitchen window.

Photo prise depuis ma cuisine...

Skywatch Friday!

The pillar of angels - Le Pilier des Anges

And this is what yesterday's little jealous guy was looking at...
Et voice ce que notre jaloux d'hier regardait...

Plus d'infos ici, en francais.

The Pillar is a representation of the Last Judgement, and is situated in the south transept, just next to the astronomical clock, to which I will come back... one day.

The man on the railing - L'homme de la balustrade

Another curious figure is this man leaning on a railing. Legend says that he is an architect, jealously watching what his competitor had built.

La legende raconte qu'il s'agit d'un architecte regardant ce que son concurrent avait construit.

Le chien de la cathedrale The cathedral's dog

Yes, there is an old dog living in the cathedral. It is Jean Geiler's dog, a renowned 15th century theologian, Geiler used to preach from the magnificent pulpit (by Hans Hammer, 1486 AD).
And where can you see the doggie? Well, on the pulpit, of course! Try to find him, he is tiny... Just above the end of the watermark... There he is!

Le chien du predicateur Jean Geiler de Kaysersberg, sculpte par Hans Hammer, en 1486. Comme tout bon chien de predicateur qui se respecte, vous le trouverez bien sur... sur la chaire! Juste au-dessus de la derniere lettre de mon nom. Attention, il est minuscule!

Cutting it fine

Forgot your Valentine present? Here's an idea...

Is it a horse or a bird??? Cheval ou oiseau???

Well, it is a horse with bird's head!

Created by the Italian Mimmo Paladino, his head is covered with real gold. The city of Strasbourg bought it 20 years ago for 250 millions italian lire, quite a lot. 4 meters tall, it stands on the roof of the Museum of Modern Art, and is called 'Hortus Conclusus', which means 'enclosed garden'. Don't ask me why.
No, really don't.

Weekend Reflection

Yet another reflection for this weekend. Click here for some more!

Friday Skywatch

Hier, au reveil, un lever de soleil eblouissant!

The most gorgeous sunrise yesterday morning!

Friday Skywatch, click ici/here!

Winter Hiver

Nice weather today, good enough to have a hot drink on the terrace. Tomorrw: rain.

Belle journee d'hiver, suffisament clemente pour se permettre la terasse. Pluie annoncee pour demain.

Bon appetit!

A short introduction to Alsatian baking. The ubiquitous beignets (donuts) of course. No ringed ones here. The kougelhopf (many ways of spelling it...). Either sweet, with raisins and almonds, or salted, with bacon bits and walnuts.
In the bags, you can see different varieties of 'bredele', Alsatian for biscuits.
What will it be, sweet kougelhopf, or salty kougelhopf?

The Buddha shop Tiens, voila du Bouddha!

Found this strange and very inviting shop. Although very interested in Buddha's teachings, I don't think I'll ever get myself a statue. Who knows, I might change my mind.

Hiver bucolique... Bucolic winter...

Parc de l'Orangerie

Le boulanger The baker

What are you having for breakfast?

Que prenez-vous au petit-dejeuner?

Not just a big puss! Ce n'est pas un gros minou!

No no, it is actually actually a European lynx, a good-sized one. Mighty nice of to posing for me! Nice pussycat!

Ceci est un lynx de nos montagnes, pas vraiment le minou qu'on caresse dans la rue...

Skywatch Friday

Right before last weekend's violent storm, there was this incredible burst of sunshine, piercing the clouds just above the football (aka soccer, for some) pitch.

More sky photos here.

Stormy night. Nuit de tempete

It was stormy here last weekend, with rain falling horizontally. I stayed in.

Nuit de tempete le weekend dernier, avec de la pluie tombant a l'horizontale. Je suis reste au chaud chez moi, pas folle la guepe.

Home sweet home

We moved last weekend, and this the view we have now from our living room and from our kitchen. Nice, innit?!

Apres notre demenagement le weekend dernier, voici notre nouvelle vue. J'aime!

Important place!

Ok, S(a)DP is back in business, much earlier than we were 'promised'. 8 days to get internet... Still too long.

Right. This is a very important building! It is the...

:

Should you have something to tell them judges, like him
Well, this is the place.

S' Buerehiesel

Looks like straight out of a Grimm's tales, complete with a witch or 3 , the kind who eat children for breakfast... But wait... It is actually one of the very best restaurants n town! The name means little farmer's house. Go there, you might sit next to several ministers or presidents, or other celebs.

La maison de la mechante fee Carabosse??? Que nenni! Il s'agit en fait d'un des meilleurs restaurants de la ville, a en croire Mme Merckel, ou autres Hollandes ou Sarkozys...

Time for a unvoluntary break .Moving house tomorrow, saturday, but internet reaching us only much later, on the 24th they say. So, WILL I SURVIVE??? I certainly think so! C ya then!

Les lenteurs de tous genres en France...Je demenage demain samedi. J'ai commande l'internet il y 1 semaine, sans m'attendre a l'ineffable lenteur d'une compagnie qui ferait mieux de continuer a construire des maisons et a oublier internet. Donc pause forcee, passage oblige dans des cafes internet... A dans 2 semaines 1/2 donc!

Blended by the light

Lac des cygnes. Swan lake, or Swanee river?

Weird Etrange

I spotted this weird bi-headed statue the other day, in the Orangerie park, Wasn't able to find any info about it.

Cette statue bicephale se trouve a l'entree du parc de l'Orangerie. Quelqu'un aurait-il des infos a son sujet???

Not Strasbourg

Carrying on traveling... And carrying on with this month's theme, the coffee house. Paris, Le Nemours, Facing the Louvre museum, in my opinion one of the finest and dandiest place for a 'petit noir', un express.

The eagle is about to land.... L'aigle va aterrir...

Did a bit of ''painting'' today, with my laptop. There is a ever so tiny zoo at the Orangerie park.

Un peu de ''peinture'', avec mon ordinateur. Dans le zoo rikiki du parc de l'Orangerie.

Scene d'un cafe Scene of a coffee house

Scene from a coffee house, is today's theme for the City Daily Photographers. See this guy, sitting there on cold but sunny day... He will so enjoy his coffee... Watch closer... See how the coffee and the milk are smoking, exhaling their aroma... A true connoisseur. A gentleman. He even has a halo...

Scene d'un cafe, tel est le theme de ce premier du mois pour la communaute des City Daily photographes. Admirer cet homme, attable par unr froide mais ensoleillee journee d'hiver. Il va apprecier son cafe. Voyez comme le cafe et le lait fument, exhalant leurs aromes... Un connaisseur, Un homme du monde. Il a meme un halo...

Plus d'entrees sur ce theme, more posts about this theme here/ici.