L'ami Fritz

The sun is back!!! So, I went to the mountains, 20 km away.

Accent circonflexe

One of many bakeries in town. The reason I chose this particular, is the accent above the 'a', which the right way to write it.

Here were lions, strange ones

OK. Now that you have seen the red sky, look down. See the field (more of a lake today...) at my doorstep? It ain't a field, no no no. It is an archaeological dig. A few centuries, this was a roman graveyard. And look what they found here last summer, among other things:

Photo from a newspaper, L'Alsace.

Now it is changing rapidly into a lake, due to the weather. Nothing more to be seen, they covered the site.

Oink!

Well, being a city guy, I don't know if the farmer give wine to their pigs. I doubt it.
This said, we cook a LOT with wine, mostly of the white persuasion. Check out this beauty here! Vegetarians, DON'T CLICK ON THE LINK!!!
Sorry about the 'typical' french music (and the publicity) on the video.

Skywatch Friday

Well, some of you might already familiar with my early bird special, live from my kitchen... Skywatch Friday, now, HERE!

Ladies and gents...

...the Supremes!!!

Kleber and the Napoleon sphinx

Strasbourg is very proud of General Jean-Baptiste Kleber! They named the main square after him, with the obligatory statue of the great.
More info about him here
Curious detail. Underneath the square, there is a car park. And right in the middle is Kleber's cenotaph, complete with his corpse.
He accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt. Is this the sphinx on the memorial looks Big Boss Napo???
And, finally, he died in Cairo... killed by a student.

The zebra door

I really wonder what's behind this door... Someone colorful, I'm sure, having a laugh! Or it may be a dentist...

The tree

See the tree? You can't miss it! According to the city historians, he is well over 500 years old. Nice, but who cares, when all you need in the summer is  a hard-fought place in his shade.

Shooting into the sun

Should be a nice day today.

A weekend reflection

Reworking an old photo (2014), of my favorite and most photogenic place. More weekend reflections here.

Un petit noir bien serre, s'il vous plait

France is a country of coffee drinkers. Order your cafe au lait, express, expresso, petit noir, cafe americain, you will find a brew you like here!

Don't forget to click here, if your coffee is either black or white! Happy weekend everyone!

Rivetoile

Not the nicest weather today...
The cranes were used Nowadays, the area got gentrified: cinema, music high school, central library, shopping mall... And a lot of birds, muskrats, cats...

String puppets

This used to be a popular pastime in France, like playing games with your family, reading, going for walks, etc.., .Replaced now by video games, mobile phones, computers, TV.
OK, I know: showing my age. Who cares, these were better times.
On this photo, this is just a decoration, above a restaurant.

Armed women

Another rather strange graffiti...

New!

This is unique, It is the newest 'vitrail', stained-glass window, in the cathedral. There are 2 of them, will show you the other one as soon as I found a way to put a 5 meters tall window in a photo, without breaking my neck.
What's special about this one...The face is composed of photos of 150 anonymous inhabitants of our fair city. This photo were sepia-colored, and somehow transposed into glass tiles. At a cost of 200.000 euros, to celebrate the cathedral's millennium, in 2015. The picture was taken from a 15th century painting. Amazing thing.

Public

I spent a few days near Besancon, 250 km south of Strasbourg. Whilst discovering the city again (been a while), I suddenly felt the need for a public toilet. Here is what I found, the entrance is at the side. Played a little with the photo. Afterwards.

Foggy bottom, no boys

To check what I'm referring to, click here to see the video....

And click here for more Skywatch Friday pics. Oh well, it has to be Friday...somewhere.

Beauty in simplicity, take 2. Wordless.

Theme day: the beauty of simplicity

Happiness could be just this: a good book, both feet in the water, a hot summer day(old photo)... Beautiful, and so simple.

More photos about it here.

The little house on the water

I wonder who lives there. This little house seems like from another time, quaint, peaceful. It is a safe haven for ducks anyway. Can you see them, Mr and Mrs Duck?

Scared Bunny

You can come down now, you're safe. Easter is over

La Grande Ile

2 arms of the river Ill form an island, la grande ile, or the great island. It is the 2000 years old historical center of town

Skywatch Friday, on Saturday

Another sky shot, as usual from my kitchen window. As usual for Skywatch Friday

Spring 2

A glorious season indeed.

The baby

You might remember one of my first posts about these 2 storks, mum feeding the baby. Well, baby got big!

Winter is over!!! L'hiver est fini!!!

Spring for joy!

5.37 AM

Right. The name of this blog contains the word 'almost'. Well, I'm off for a few days, not sure if I'll be able to post photos. If not, see ya all after Easter!
Photo taken from my kitchen window. Yep, I'm an early riser.

Saint Paul

St Paul church, protestant. The boats... are mainly for drinking and partying. Some protestants might disagree to that...

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!