Friday, 8 April 2016

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!

Thursday, 7 April 2016

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...

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

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.

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Monday, 4 April 2016

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.

Sunday, 3 April 2016

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.

Saturday, 2 April 2016

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.

Thursday, 31 March 2016

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.

Wednesday, 30 March 2016

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?

Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Monday, 28 March 2016

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

Saturday, 26 March 2016

Wednesday, 23 March 2016

The baby

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

Thursday, 17 March 2016

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.

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Saint Paul

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

Tuesday, 15 March 2016

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.

Monday, 14 March 2016

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...