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.

Europa

Strasbourg est le siege de plusieurs institutions europeennes, dont celle-ci, le Parlement Europeen.

Strasbourg hosts several european institutions. This is one of them, the European Parliament.

Weekend Reflections? Here, ici!

Grande Synagogue de la Paix. Shabbat shalom

Stronger than the sword is my spirit. In memory of the Jewish people killed here.

En memoire des Juifs tues en Alsace.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Strasbourg.html

Hungry? Une petite faim?

A very illuminated restaurant near the cathedral, very popular with tourist but not that much with the locals. We eat very well here in Alsace, btw!!!

Restaurant joliment illumine a la cathedrale. Bonne nourriture alsacienne! Tres prise par les touristes, beaucoup moins par les gens du coin. Les torchons et les serviettes...

Museum of modern lard - Musee du lard moderne

AKA the museum of modern art... But I guess, for many Strasburgers (yes, Ich bin ein Strasburger, lol), the joke has to made... It is the multicolored building in the mist, btw.

Musee de l'art moderne, en fait... Mais pour beaucoup de gens, la vanne est sans doute trop bonne... C'est le batiment colore dans le brouillard.

Du neuf sur de l'ancien - Where old meets new

Seems strange to me to see a glass... thing next to 15th century buildings... Oh well, at least it is too much of an eyesore.

Je me demande ce que les gens du coin ont du penser quand on a construit ce truc en verre... J'aime assez.

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