Before and after

Before...

...and after the storm

A troubadour

troubadour

Origin

French, from Provençal trobador, from trobar ‘find, invent, compose in verse’.

Holidays!

C ya soon!

The local version

Like... the other one. Well, almost

14 juillet, Bastille Day

The traditional 14/7 fireworks, as seen from the safety of our balcony.

Skywatch Friday is here.

Carpe diem

14 juillet, aka Bastille day. Today, 227 years ago, Parisians stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, freeing all 5 prisoners (including the Marquis de Sade), shouting liberté, égalité, fraternité, liberty, equality, fraternity.
Empty words nowadays...  Very little of it left, if any.
Big army parade in Paris, militaristic lobby sponsoring...
As for me, I am neither militaristic, nor patriotic or a nationalist at all, as they are all empty, hateful words for me. Symbols of oppression. But then, I am so little french after all.
And anyway, I hate ALL flags!
But hey, it's a day off! So carpe diem, let's have a nice meal!

Welcome!

This is the very inviting entrance to a hotel on the Place du Corbeau, or raven square.

The hidden parts

Well, it takes... guts to do it! Would you do it???

Tall!!!!

Gosh, she is tall!!! 142 meters. Which makes impossible to get her on one single photo without a very expensive fisheye. But where is a will, there is a way, with a photo-stitching program. 7 photos in one, using Microsoft ICE, a free program.

A Weekend Reflection

There are many many art galleries in town, a surprising number for a midsize city...
This is for the Weekend Reflection meme. Click here to see more reflections from all around the world.

Let's throw someone in the river!

The big naval battle, Strasbourg vs Schiltigheim. When I left, Strasbourg was leading, 2-0

The hat man

It is pink tourist weather, Thanks mate for your invaluable contribution to the general wellbeing!
And no thanks, I dont like hats.

Tu tires ou tu pointes???

Pétanque, aka boules. More commonly played in the south of France. Two main ways to play it: rolling the ball, or shooting it. The goal is to get your ball closest to the cochonnet, the smaller ball.
It is a men's game for some reason, you rarely ever see women playing it. Maybe they have better things to do. A shame.

Love

The little dog saw me!

Beauty and the photographer

Came across these ladies last Sunday. Maybe models on a photoshoot

The 1776 BREXIT

Yes, they did it 240 years, exiting Great Britain (not the EU, lol!).
And 150 years ago, the first US general consulate opened in Strasbourg, adorned with a flag, with 36 stars and 13 stripes.
2 interesting documents about it, here, and also here, the latter from President Obama. Have a look!

How do you like your mushrooms? Bottled?

 Well, an artistic take on... anything, really, is always welcome!!!

A weekend reflection

No nice weather at all at the moment, cloudy, drizzle. But now and then, it is good enough for a drink outside.

More Weekend Reflections here.

CDP monthly theme day: look down

Looking all the way down, on a flight home from Barcelonavto Strasbourg one Christmas, via the French and Swiss Alps. These are the Aiguilles d'Arve, in Savoie, Savoy.

Moore theme day photos from my City Daily Photo friends here

Not Strasbourg, not the theme day

Tomorrow, first day of the month, it is the monthly theme day; look down. Well... I'm always looking UP!!! Always staring at the sky, birds, trees, architectural details...
So, I have a problem.
Well, this is not my "official theme day" post. Let me see what I can find tomorrow.
So, anyway, being a very well traveled dude, I'm posting this today, from the time I was living in Amsterdam. Guess where I took this? Yessss, the red light district, on the pavement in front of the Oude Kerk, the old church!!!

Buddha was here

An old photo, an exotic shop somewhere in the Petite France area.

Post 200, yeah man!

One of several rose windows (french: rosace) in the cathedral.
Just plaing around, dudes and dudettes! LOL

Sunday

Some flowers for you!

Last night...

...after the (almost) daily storm. It's official: we have the wettest June on record. Ever. I am slowly turning into a duck, you should see my palmed feet...

St Paul

St Paul is a protestant church, built by the Germans 150 or so years ago, as their garrison church. The church has 14 entrances, one for each army corps... It is 70 meters tall, the 2nd tallest after the cathedral.
Some more skywatch photos here

Voila l'été!!!

33.9 degrees C in the shade!!! Summer has arrived, for a short time anyway!

Europa

So, Brexit or not Brexit? As capital of Europe, with the Council of Europe and the European Parliament (and some more institutions), whatever happens, we will be directly impacted.
Well, more news in 24 hours or so

Not your average hotel...

This, ladies and gents, is a hotel. You cannot book it on your favorite website, as they only accept insects. A insect hotel indeed, open to anyone with more than 4 legs, I guess.
You wouldn't want to stay there anyway. Although I stayed in places with same crowd... Sigh, memories...

Side streets

One of many side street in the Grand Rue area, with ah so lovely restaurants. The Grand Rue, or long street in alsacian, is the former roman highway leading to the Saverne garrison, 45 km away,  over 2000 years ago . How old are your streets???

Weekend reflection in black and white

Feel free to browse more weekend reflections or monochromes!

An entrance

... to a restaurant...

Sax

A little color for this grey and rainy week. Or month.
And music.

WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe the swan wanted some in-flight entertainment... You know: movie  (Pearl Harbor?), snack, attacking boats...
One of my rare snapshots.

Ironman!

This is the place de l'homme de fer, iron man square. No superhero to be seen anywhere around (well, you never know...). The name comes from a  medieval armor on one of the buildings. A main transport hub, many tramway lines crossing here

Windowshopper

A quiet street.

Time

Do not open this time capsule before 23/09/3790!!! Hoping this blog might still be around...lol

November sky

Well, this is not Strasbourg, capital of Europe, but the other one, capital of France.
In Paris, the big football thinggie started yesterday. I wont say another word about it, as I really really cant stand that stuff. Just hoping that nothing bad will happen.
A bit late, but this is for Skywatch Friday.

Green, but also B&W...

Some bamboo shoots at the botanical garden.
The same, for the excellent Weekend in B&W meme, here.

Accidents happen

Yeah, they happen, even after taking photos for 45 years or so. Overexposed, underexposed, wrong camera settings, etc, the list is long.
Well, I have different ways to fix them accidents. First of all, I dont do Jpegs, no no no! I'm shooting RAW, always. Which give me far more possibilities.
Also, I love changing my photos into 'paintings'. Many ways to do it, no Photoshop involved.
Below, the original, the Ponts Couverts, or covered bridges, Strasbourg's old fortifications. Underexposed, it is. An hour's work. Ask me if you want to know more.

Quai des Bateliers

Quai des Bateliers, or boatmen dock, in the Krutenau area. There are a lot of places whose finish -au, Elsau, Wantzenau, etc. The ending -au means they were former, dried out fens or marshes.

Oasis

Well, almost. The inhabitants of the waterlily pond at the botanical garden were rehearsing for theit next concert. Lots of harmonious ribbits (see yesterday's post), some less harmonious quacks...

Nevertheless, this is my favorite place in town, with or without...music.