What's for dinner, dear?

-Oh you're right, dear, I'm positively starving myself! Chinese?
-Oh, we had chinese yesterday... Boring.
-What about those japanese tourist, don't they look particularly scrumptious tonight?
-Okey dokey, one each then. Fries and coke with them?
-Don't be silly, deary! Rice and soy sauce, and a sake!
-Waiter!!???

True colours

Some colour amidst the usually grey-brownish buildings.

Ancient scents

An old photo, taken by my wife, some ancient perfume container, at the perfume museum in Barcelona

There can only be ONE

May day, theme day. Smell, is the theme. Easy. No pretty flowers, no expensive perfume, no stinky socks or cat litter... No. What gets me going, what keeps me going is the smell (and the taste) of a good cup of...

Click here to see what my friends from the CDP family did.

Light

And back to the cathedral, with it's never-ending photo opps.
The big chandelier in the St Laurent chapel

Asperges d'Alsace

Despite of the s....y weather lately, the asparagus season has started. 30 years after Chernobyl, I wonder if they are ever so lightly radioactive... Ah right, I remember: according to the french government, the radioactive cloud stopped at the french-german border. Right in the middle of the Rhine river. STOP, POLICE!!!

Ah, the smell!!!

The theme day is almost upon us! You guessed it: the smell. C ya all on May 1st!

s' Gaenseliesel

A common sight in many german towns, s' Gaenseliesel, little Elisabeth taking the geese to the market. This one is in the Orangerie park since 1898, when Strasbourg was, once again, part of the German Reich.

Not a shy beggar!!!

Still at the Orangerie park... A hungry bird, a cotton candy lady. The bird seems to be a regular customer, as the lady was feeding him no candy, but mince meat. Which is not usually used  in cotton candy (oh well, what do I know... Different countries, different customs. Lol)

?

I have seen this flower before, but... Anyone knows it's name???

Ecureuil

I am used to big grey squirrels, the not-shy-at-all kind. But what we have here is very different, smaller, brown, shy and much faster. A lucky and rare shot.

A weekend reflection

More greenery from yesterday's walk in the park, for the Weekend Reflection meme. Which is right here.

Chlorophyll

 Well, I needed some of the green stuff today, together with other colors. So I went to the Orangerie park, to visit my feathery, furry and scaly friends.

Schoolbus????

Hold on tight, kiddo!

Pilgrims to the eyesight

This the  way to San Jose.... Ah sorry no, to Sainte Odile, holy patroness of Alsace. Born blind around 660 AD, she recovered eyesight through a miracle. What do you do then, normally??? As a daughter of the local duke, she founded a monastery on top of a mountain (mount St Odile nowadays).
So, should you have some eye trouble, this is the way to the monastery, 15 km up, as she is also the patroness of blind, or partially blind people. If you can find the way, of course.

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...