Category Archives: Weekend Getaways

Paris Rendezvous — Part Four

The latest post is a sprinkling of images from our last days in Paris. It was a very compressed 5-day visit during an intense heatwave.

View of the Eiffel Tower from the Avenue de La Bourdonnaise in Paris.

Resting in the shade by a cooling water garden in back of the Musee Quai Branly in Paris. The Rue de L’Universite.

This isn’t chalk — these are painted designs on the bicycle and scooter lane alongside the Quai D’Orsay in Paris. Can’t find any information about what the marks mean!

Dinner at the Brasserie Terminus Balard in Paris.

Next up — a post full of images taken by Mark Harmes in Paris!

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©Deborah Harmes 2007-2018 and
©A Wanderful Life 2007-2018
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Vibrantly Beautiful Vannes

After one of the longest, coldest, wettest, and gloomiest winters I have ever endured, I was feeling frankly tired of northern France. But that turned around when we took a much-needed 3-day getaway in Vannes.

I was unprepared for just how pretty the medieval town would be and was quite pleased that we had chosen to visit just before the hoards of summer tourists arrive in France.

For anyone who is not in a tip-top state of fitness, be warned that the hills and cobblestone streets can wear you out rather quickly. Now, having said that, enjoy this little slice of Vannes and do make an effort to see this charming small city for yourself.

A pretty street full of historic houses alongside the port in Vannes, Brittany, France.

People walking and sitting along the rampart walls in Vannes, Brittany, France,

The Derriere bar, cafe, and restaurant at the back of Les Halles, the food halls in Vannes, Brittany, France.

Walking uphill through the square in the mostly medieval heart of Vannes in Brittany, France.

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©Deborah Harmes 2007-2018 and
©A Wanderful Life 2007-2018
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Refresh — Regroup — Relaunch

You may have noticed a significant absence of posts for the last three months — and that’s because Mark has been working away like a busy little bee over in the 1400s house. And I’ve been carefully building a base of clients for my writing and editing business.

We took a much-needed weekend escape at the end of February — over to the far western side of Normandy in beachside Brehal. We didn’t do a lot — ate, slept, read, watched movies, and had a few outings in the icy cold weather. But it was a good break and we came back feeling refreshed.

Mark looking out to sea in Brehal, Normandy, France

Mark looking out to sea in Brehal, Normandy, France

A moules (mussels) farm at the seaside in Normandy, France.

A moules (mussels) farm at the seaside in Normandy, France.

On an afternoon drive along the seacoast, we stumbled upon this medieval chateau ruin from the 14th Century in Regneville sur Mer and had a quick walk around. It’s a tiny but very pretty village facing the sea.

The corner of a 14th Century chateau ruin in the seaside village of Regneville sur Mer, Normandy, France.

The corner of a 14th Century chateau ruin in the seaside village of Regneville sur Mer, Normandy, France.

What was meant to be a short hop back over to England for Mark’s parents’ 40th anniversary party ended up being a two week visit instead. It’s always wonderful to visit with them and see all of the other assorted family and friends, but everyone in the house ended up sick as could be with whatever lurghi was hanging around England at the time and I ended up in A&E getting meds for a chest infection when our local GP couldn’t see me. Aarrgghh!

Margaret & Brian Harmes at 40th Anniversary Party

Margaret & Brian Harmes at 40th Anniversary Party

We arrived back in France exactly 4 weeks after our icy cold visit to the seaside in Brehal — and everything here at the farmhouse in Notre Dame de Fresnay had burst into bloom!

View of the Normandy countryside through the bedroom window in Notre Dame de Fresnay.

View of the Normandy countryside through the bedroom window in Notre Dame de Fresnay.

Daffodils beside the old well.

Daffodils beside the old well.

Down by the duck pond.

Down by the duck pond.

We’re preparing to move on from here in three very compressed weeks. But we’re headed to the OTHER large house belonging to the owners of this house — and we’ll be there for 6 weeks whilst Mark does renovation work on it. I’ll send pictures of that project as it progresses.

The REGROUP and RELAUNCH part of the title refers to us regrouping, going over to England for several weeks at the end of June, and trying to decide if we want to settle down or continue to work and travel for awhile longer. That’s a longer stand-alone post about the turbulent social and political factors at play here in Europe right now, so we’ll save that for another time.

I have to be truthful, it’s one of those things that sneaks up on you a bit as you get older — the mental cushion of a home base. And right now our ‘home base’ is a huge storage unit full of our possessions in England — one we refer to far too often when we reach for something and then realise that it’s in the $%^&£@! storage unit!

In the next couple of months, we will be relaunching ourselves away from here. And I have ALSO just relaunched my personal website — but I’ll leave that for a follow-up post.

Back soonish!

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Inside the Salvadore Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain

You’ve seen my previous articles and photo essays — the goddess atop the Cadillac — followed by the eggs adorning the exterior facade. So now it’s time to have a wee peek inside the museum.

As I mentioned before, the Salvadore Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain is spread out over 6 levels accessed by stairs, stairs, stairs. So do be prepared for that!

Many of the items on display are either framed and behind glass, surrounded by reflective surfaces, encased within glass boxes, or were completely obstructed by other people in the way. All of those factors limited the amount of photos that I could take which would have even been worth trying to post online. But I think that this sprinkling of images will give you a small bit of insight into a very complicated mind. Whether it was drawing, painting, sculpture, film, or jewels — Dali seems to have been inspired to work in a variety of artistic mediums.

The final photograph was taken in a room full of jewelery and small carved objects — and I found it rather poignant that he chose to be there at the end, surrounded by the work that he created with love.

Take your time when you go to this museum — there is quite a lot to see and absorb.
 

Nose of the black Cadillac within the central courtyard


 

Goddess riding atop the Cadillac in Dali’s courtyard


 

Another view of the always busy courtyard


 

Sculpture niches in the courtyard of the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain


 

Dali’s humour on display in this vast ‘Sistine Chapel’ ceiling


 

The chairs which appear to be so small beneath the painting actually reveal the massive scale of this work of art by Salvadore Dali.


 

A very large and very lovely painting of women comprised of rock shapes


 

Dali’s “Soft Self Portrait’


 

Dali’s tomb within a wall of his museum in Figueres, Spain


 
Come back soon for more articles and photos of Barcelona and Figueres.

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Dali Dreaming

Where did the last 21 days go? I am sitting in my darling apartment in the South of France and as I edit photos, I have just realised that it has been 3 weeks since I took these pictures in the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain.

The center atrium (more shots in an upcoming article) has the type of feature that reveals the wildly humorous streak which infused Salvadore Dali’s work. A gigantic sculpture of a goddess figure is riding atop a vintage black Cadillac beneath a stunning eye to the sky opening. It is actually breathtaking because it knocks your visual senses off-kilter.
 

A massive statue of a goddess rides atop the roof of a vintage black Cadillac at the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain.


 

An oculus or eye to the sky hovers above the atrium sculpture garden in Salvadore Dali’s museum in Figueres, Spain.


 

We’re already thinking of our next trip to Spain — but for now, here was how we spent an hour before we went to see the Dali works of art.
 

Mark pouring a glass of wine at lunch in Figueres, Spain.


 

Make sure to come back for more interior and exterior views of the Dali Museum in the coming days.

 

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By The Sea, By The Sea — But Where Are We?

The familiar elements were all there…

The surf shops were selling t-shirts, swimsuits, and surfboards with names that I knew — Rip Curl, Billabong, Cocoa Beach — and the stack of blow-up flotation rings waited for the wee folks to waft about on the waves.

Beach clothing and boards on sale at surf shop

Cocoa Beach shop

Stack of 'floaties' waiting for the children

 

The red flag was flying on the beach to warn of the unstable swimming conditions and young families were riding their bikes in formation.

 

Red flag at beach warning of swimming conditions

 

Family on bikes in Atlantic seaside town

 

But wait a minute — where were we??? Did that pink neon sign say La Croquandise??? And what does gaufres mean??? I found out later that it meant waffles! And being very European, we could have put some glacé (ice cream) on those waffles. Yum!

 

Food stall in Mimizan

 

We weren’t in a seaside town on the Atlantic Ocean in Florida no matter how familiar it all seemed. We were in a seaside town on the Atlantic Ocean in France — in Mimizan to be specific. The colour palette was more gray than blue since it was coldish and overcast on and off for our two days — definitely jeans and a fleece jacket time instead of shorts.

The architecture was even similar to Florida’s beachside communities — high-rise apartments hugging the intercoastal canals and generic concrete-rendered houses with red tile roofs. We found a basic and rather old-fashioned hotel a mere one block from the roaring ocean which we could hear through our sliding glass balcony doors.

 

Intercoastal apartments in Mimizan

Houses on canal in Mimizan, France

Le Plaisance Hotel in Mimizan, France

 

And speaking of the roaring ocean, our walks down there were rather brief because it was quite cold and windy!

 

The French coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Mimizan, France

 

Come back soon for more adventures as we wander and work our way around Europe!

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Rambling Around Rotterdam – Part Two

Asking our friend Amalin what the citizens of Rotterdam did on a Sunday afternoon produced an instant response. “They go shopping!” And she certainly wasn’t kidding! Out the door we went, constantly remarking about how visually tantalising everything seemed.

Red tulips and a black cycle

We made our way to the tram after a leisurely brunch, headed into the shopping precinct, and were simply astonished at how clogged the sidewalks and shops were with people. But the area is quite attractive architecturally, there are plenty of places to stop and eat or get a coffee, and there was a happy vibe amongst the people who were out and about in the sunshine.

There are boutique-small and department-store-large places to shop for block after block. One section is a deep slash in the street which leads down to even more shops. The Dutch have a marvelous sense of humour about this particular district. They refer to it as “shopping in the buying gutter.” If you click on the picture, it enlarges so you can see more of the detail. Click again and you will see just how many people are milling around on that upper level!

Rotterdam shopping on a Sunday afternoon

Close-up of flashing tram sign

Flashing signs at tram crossing

The tram system here is utterly delightful and seems to get you just about everywhere you want to go. But you must be aware as you are crossing the tracks that the trams can be ultra-quiet and it would be far too easy to step out in front of one. For that reason, there is a tram crossing sign at the intersections of streets that makes a ding-ding-ding sound to draw your attention and there is also a flashing sign at the corner with a tiny little tram symbol in it. Wonderful!

We have seen no traffic congestion here at any time of day or night. I believe that this directly relates to the availability of public transportation throughout Rotterdam via tram, train, or metro. And there are quite a lot of people who ride their bicycles everywhere! There are dedicated bike lanes, some which also allow motor scooter traffic, and it keeps the number of cars on the road at a minimum compared to most other metropolitan European cities.

And to mention the Dutch sense of humour for a second time, I know of no other place that would have a bronze piece of sculpture in a public street that was an ‘homage’ to a dog and his poo!

Special lane only for bikes and scooters

Dog and poo sculpture

Come back tomorrow and I’ll have Part Three of Rambling Around Rotterdam with lots more pictures!

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