Petite France + syphilis...

Poetic, no? Although... The name Petite-France ("Little France") was not given for patriotic or architectural reasons. It comes from the "hospice of the syphilitic" (Hospice des Vérolés, in French), which was built in the late fifteenth century on this island, to cure persons with syphilis, then called Franzosenkrankheit ("French disease") in German. Wikipedia.

Poetique, n'est-ce pas? Or... Le quartier tire son nom de l’hospice des vérolés, construit à la fin du xv^e siècle pour accueillir les soldats revenant de la campagne d’Italie atteints de syphilis, appelée également le « mal français »

Couleurs - Colors

So many colors on this embankment wall!

Un quai de toutes les couleurs!

Horreur, malheur, dang, blast: they have landed!!!

Je me souviendrai toujours de ce mardi funeste...

I remember the day when THEY came... It was on a Tuesday...

On any other day, it's the local train station, hiding a gem.

Blague a part, la gare SNCF m'inspire.

Vendredi! Friday!!!

Party!!!

Holy mackerel! Zut!

Zut! I was looking at possible definitions for this word... Here is what Wordreference.com has to say... French is such a colorful language!!! Dang, blast, and a holy mackerel!

Principales traductions
zut interj	familier (flûte, mince) (colloquial)	drat, blast n
	Oh et puis zut à la fin, je te répète que je n'en sais rien !

.

WordReference English-French Dictionary © 2016:

Formes composées
et puis zut à la fin interj	(tu m'énerves)	for the last time expr
		once and for all expr
		for heaven's sake expr
	Oh et puis zut à la fin, je te répète que je n'en sais rien !
zut alors ! interj	(antiquated)	dang
zut alors ! interj		shoot
zut alors ! interj		shucks
zut alors ! interj		holy mackerel

Snowy. Kind of.

We had a little snow last Sunday. It is still here, as it is far too cold to melt, with temperatures going down to minus 8 degrees C at night.

IL FAIT TRES FROID!!!!

Les Ponts Couverts

Ponts Couverts, covered bridges, are part of very old line of fortifications who protected the town from invaders in the 13th century. More about them here.

Les Ponts Couverts, partie des vieilles fortifications protegeant la ville des envasseurs au 13eme siecle. Plus d'infos ici.

Illusion

Trompe-l'oeil, rue Sainte Helene

Enfin! Finally!

First (little) snowfall of this winter! And suddenly, the town becomes the stuff of (icy) dreams...

Premiere petite chute de neige. Et soudain, la ville prend un aspect feerique...

Orangerie monochrome

It is winter here in Alsace, so nobody uses the rowing boats in the Orangerie park.

Personne n'utilise les barques du parc de l'Orangerie.

To see more monochrome photos/pour voir d'autres photos en noir et blanc... ici/here!

Weekend reflection

La terrasse Vauban, partie des vieilles fortifications. Un peu de magie pour le weekend.

A part of the old 17th century fortifications. Much nicer in peaceful times

More/plus de Weekend Reflections ici/here!

Lost... Perdu...

Lost and found office, Lost blonde girl, 6 ft, blue eyes... Will come back.

Bonne chance!

The red house - la maison rouge

A rich burger's house near the cathedral

Maison bourgeoise cossue, pres de la cathedrale

Jack

I saw quite a few elephants in my lifetime, last on a highway in New Delhi, but this is a first for me! He is HIP!

J'ai vu bien des elephants dans ma vie, le dernier sur une autoroute a New Delhi, mais celui-ci sort du lot!

Look me in the eye...

I'm watching you, with that big black thing pointing at me!

Serena, Barney, Helmut, Rose, Princesse & Gordon, la menagerie

Sometimes, it's hard for me to differentiate between a graffiti and a painting. Let us call this... art. The artist in this case is called Delphine Harrer.

Difficile de differencier graffiti and toile. Ceci est en pleine vue et rue, appelons ca de l'art, tout simplement. L'artiste s'appelle Delphine Harrer, cliquez ici pour en savoir plus.

Bucolique - Bucolic

And not a cat to be seen...

Et pas un chat dans le coin...

Weekend reflections...

Monochrome cathedral

Le grand orgue de la cathedrale. Votre weekend en noir et blanc commence ici!

The cathedral's main organ, in all it's splendor. Your black and white weekend starts right here and now!

1872

1872. It is when they started fabricating the very french casquette, caps. That's how the shop looked at the end of the 19th century:

And this a casquette, a very french one:

Nowadays, they are selling all kinds of headgear as well!

La fabrique de casquettes dans la Grand Rue. Ils en font et en vendent depuis 1872, voir photo du millieu. Mais aussi d'autres chapeaux, berets, etc.

Winstub

A winstub. Win: wine. A stub is a room, a chamber. You can grab a bite as well.
This particular is called Holy Sepulchre.

Winstub, le debit a vin. On peut souvent y manger aussi. Cet endroit s'appelle le Saint Sepulchre.

Bierstub

This is a bierstub, literally: beer chamber. It is where you can have your...not coffee, but beer, la biere. I am more of a wine drinker (actually, most of my wine goes into whatever I am cooking) than a beer drinker, but the locals say it is quite good. There are even 2 beer academies in town!

Une bierstub, c'est la ou on boit de la...biere. Les connaisseurs disent qu'elle est bonne. N'y connaissant rien, je m'incline devant leur sagesse...avec moderation, bien sur!

Soleil hivernal - Winter sun

Sunny but cold in the Grande Ile.

Journee belle mais froide dans la Grande Ile.

Red - rouge

Not sure what this is about...

Pas sur ce dont il s'agit...

Hiver doré - Golden winter

Now and then, rarely enough, there is a moment in time when the light is just... perfect. Then, I take out my (rather good) camera, and try to capture the moment. But, a camera is by far not as good as the human eye... Up to me to try to recreate what I actually saw.
No, that's not it... Trying to recreate a feeling, rather than a view. With this photo, I got it close enough.

De temps en temps, la lumiere est... parfaite. Mais mon appareil photo n'est pas aussi bon que mes yeux... Je tente donc de recreer ce que j'ai vu.
Correction... Tentant de recreer une impression, plutot qu'une vue. Parfois ca marche bien, comme ici.

Christkindlsmarik, the end/la fin/das Ende

Une derniere photo du marche de Noel, pour cette annee du moins.

A last photo of the christmas market. For this winter anyway.

Ein letztes Bild vom diesjaehrigen Christkindlsmarkt.

2016!!! First theme day of the year!

Today, 1st day of the month, theme day! Please below my favorite photo of the year. Well, one of them anyway... My BFF (Best Furry Friend), Teddy, living in Harrow, north London.

Click here to see how my fellow friends from the City Daily Photo group were inspired.

L'intrus - The intruder

Un intrus!!! Vite, chassons ce rat musque!  Scene ordinaire du centre ville: 2 rats musques, au milieu de la gent ailee.

An intruder! Let's chase that muskrat away! And the second one too It is our city centre!

Une/a reflection

At the/a la Mediatheque Andre Malraux

See more weekend reflections here, and more monochrome shots here.

Les couleurs de la ville - A city full of colors

Many ancient buildings (a lot of them around!) were built from pink(ish) sandstone from the nearby Vosges mountains. But not all of them, fortunately!

Beaucoup de batiments anciens ont la couleur gris-rose sale caracteristique au gres des Vosges. Mais pas tous, heureusement!

A warrior's rest... Le repos d'un guerrier...

Mister Claus had a warm welcome, after his trip...

Madame Noel souhaita la bienvenue a son homme...

Le Carre d'or, the golden square...

Le Carre d'or, an area at the heart of the Grande Ile, the island between both arms of the river Ill. Was until december 24th the location of one of 9 Christmas markets.

The Carre d'or, au centre de la Grande Ile (entre les 2 bras de l'Ill), un des marches de Noel traditionnels.

Lighting candles

Do you light candles, like at ND de Strasbourg? Why do you do it?

Allumez-vous des cierges? Pourquoi?

Noel!

Merry Christmas, joyeux Noel, und frohe Weihnachten!

Hot!!!

My favorite during the festive season: hot chestnuts! Want some???

Marrons chauds, mes amours! Meme si ce sont des chataignes!

Light - Lumiere

Another yearly Christmas decoration, on Place Gutenberg. Hurry up, closes on Christmas Eve.

Decoration annuelle, place Gutenberg, dans le village international. Depechez-vous, le marche de Noel ferme le 24 decembre.

1000 ans/years

1000 years... Not me: the cathedral, in the background!

1000 ans... Pas mon age, mais celui de la cathedrale, silhouettee au fond de la rue!

La vieille dame - The old lady

And here she is, our 1000 years old lady.

Et la voici, notre vieille dame millenaire.

Germany, as it is NOT!

We went for a bit of shopping to our neighbor city Kehl am Rhein, on the German side of the border. Whilst waiting for my wife on a bench in the local shopping mall, a family, a kid with 2 adults in their 30es, passed by. The woman said, I quote: don't buy from this (clothes) shop, they are f...ing Jews. The man agreed. In German, a language which I speak fluently.
Just outside the same mall, I took this photo.
It says: here lived
Julius Dreifuss, dead after being deported. Paris, 1943
Rosa Dreifuss, deported in 1940, dead the same year.
Harry Bruchsal, fled to Palestine, survived.
Sofie Bruchsaur, deported, murdered in Auschwitz
Julius Dreifuss, fled to Palestine, survived.

Just a reminder to that minority (or so I hope). I am Jewish, I am Christian, I am a Muslim, I am an atheist. I am gay. If you don't like it, go to hell.
Oh, you're already there...

A black and white weekend reflection in the Aubette

Click here to see more reflections, and here to some wonderful monochromes!

La cathedrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg

I have a photo request! Here is for you, dear Dina!

India - Inde

Not just traditional and local stuff at the Christmas market, thankfully!

Pas uniquement la couleur locale au marche de noel, heureusement!

Strasbourg: the pig issue

How to recognize a butcher shop at Christmas.

Comment reconnaitre une boucherie porcine a Noel.

Aux amours citoyens

Paraphrasing the chorus of the Marseillaise, the french national hymn (written a few meters from here, btw) : aux armes citoyens, to your weapons, citizens, replacing weapons by love. This is manifestation of support, at the aftermath of the 13.11 killing in Paris.

Paraphrasant la Marseillaise. Pris place Kleber, apres le 13 novembre.