Last leg

Vancouver-Wellington

My stay in Vancouver was just perfect and returning home on the inaugural Air New Zealand Vancouver - Auckland direct flight was a great finale. With a specially decorated entry to the check-in facilities combining scenes from NZ and scenes from BC, New Zealand greeted us from the start. Beyond the formalities of security and paperwork, it was party-time at the departure gate. Unlimited Lindauer bubbly, lamb kebabs, up-market fish and chips, amazingly thin nachos in three colours (corn, spinach and beetroot) to go with the hot dip of spinach, artichoke heart and cheese (and maybe some leek) and a few other offerings. Maori action songs for entertainment. A small speech or two.

On the plane a gift of various creams to help us through the flight, a special menu and the best champagne I have ever had in flight, (Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Reserve - didn’t get the year at a glance!) Luckily there were not too many takers and there was enough for a refill…Leaving at 8pm (7pm in their winter), the flight is timed to give people time for a meal, some leisure time and a good sleep before breakfast, arriving in the early morning. Maori welcome party in Auckland but no time to stop and enjoy it with a connection to make. By 10.00 am (roughly) I was sipping coffee with Rodney and Thoron at Simply Paris. And sharing a pain au chocolat and tarte au citron. Robin arrived in record time as well. How nice to have friends! Last lunch in Vancouver? Quiche and salad with Diana and Susan at La Petite France. I may have left France behind but there are still traces!

You will see from the photos that I am in Wellington now. (Even if the signs look familiar, the background is different and the cars are driving on the left!) There are also photos of Robin,Thoron and Madeleine (with Rodney), at Leuven , for those of you that know them. The Kelburn photos are taken from the house that Madeleine is staying in at present. Fantastic view! We watched the Guy Fawkes firework display over the harbour from there, the night after I got back. And you will also see Millie, who has followed my travels enthusiastically from the beginning and is staying a few days with us now. The first opportunity for me to be the giver of hospitality after such a long time receiving.

Thanks to all who made this trip so amazing. You are all fantastic people.

Photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/LastLeg

Merci à tous! Et au revoir!

Museum of Anthropology

University of British Columbia, Vancouver

At last a museum where you are encouraged to take photos! Not too much flash, but that’s okay. In a museum whose architecture reflects the post-and-beam structures of Northwest Coast First Nations, is a collection of articles from many different cultures, used for teaching purposes. Those on display in the main halls are from the areas closest to Vancouver (coastal British Columbia) and represent three main tribes. There are lots of carved poles (cedars), as they were used in housing, inside and outside the house, which may have had 50 people living or gathering there. In addition there are burial poles and totem poles. The poles generally have a life of about 70 years, after which time they are allowed to return to nature and a carver is commissioned to do a new one, which will be installed with ceremony. House poles generally tell you something about the people in the house but only the carver and the family know the story. The rest of us have to surmise, even the experts.

Bentwood boxes were also on display – they are the ones that are made out of a grooved plank which is steamed and bent, so that you have an insect-proof, waterproof box, which was used for storage of blankets or clothing or even for cooking. They sometimes have lids. The bottoms are pegged in and the fourth side sewn with fine tree roots. There is a photo of the volunteer guide holding up both a flat plank and a box. There are photos of the boxes as well.

From 1884 to 1951, if I have my dates right, ceremonial dances were banned. These ceremonies were at the heart of the culture and celebrated important milestones such as the birth or naming of a chief’s child, the passing on of traditional rights, the equivalent of unveiling a headstone a year after the death, a marriage and other such events. The languages were outlawed and children taken away from their tribes and educated in institutions far from home. The culture, of course, still continued, whether against the law or not but it was certainly a huge knock-back for the people. The renaissance of culture and language came just in time for the younger generation to earn from their elders before they died. Sound familiar?

There are also examples of modern works, such as those of Bill Reid (http://www.civilization.ca/aborig/reid/reid02e.html) and woven mats by the current generation of women. The research collection is extensive, with many different kinds of masks, musical instruments, boxes and other artefacts from many different places.

Anyway, have a look around at your leisure.

The web site is

http://www.moa.ubc.ca/

And my photos are at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/MOAVancouver

Maritime Museum et al

Vancouver

Vancouver Maritime Museum houses an entire ship. True. They brought the ship up into a specially prepared dry dock, put an A-frame over the top and then restored the ship to the condition it had been in 1944. This is the St Roch, used by the RCMP (Mounties) to service artic outposts from 1928 until retired in 1954. When the ship was blocked in by ice they patrolled using dog-sleds. During the war (1940-42), the ship did an east-west crossing of the Northwest Passage. It took several years, as the ship was trapped by ice for two winters and had to wait it out. In 1944 it did the first east-west crossing, taking only 86 days, by a more northerly route. A video recounts the story, after which you are allowed to roam over the boat for 20 minutes. For a New Zealander used to tales of the Antarctic, this was a new angle on polar journeys, which I found very interesting.

In the photos you will see a tent erected on the deck. This was where, in 1944, for the west-east crossing, a family of Inuits travelled with the crew to help out in the areas of their experience – very necessary. The family consisted of a husband and wife, their 5 children and the children’s grandmother. All these people in one small tent, on deck where temperatures could get down to minus lots and lots. One night, in the fog, when the captain had no idea where they were, the grandmother was summoned to the bridge and was able to tell them exactly where they were – checked out by the sailors with their instruments the next day, when it cleared. I guess the ship is interesting but the stories attached even more so.

That was only the first part of the museum. The rest dealt with the maritime history of Vancouver, including the ships that used to link Vancouver with Japan and Hong Kong (a nice link here with the St Nazaire virtual trip to Yokohama), a section on pirates, a lovely hands-on section for children, which attracted several young men while I was there, and some amazing model ships. The latter were sometimes made by prisoners of war. One was finely carved in bone and detailed down to the last centimetre of flaps opening for cannons. Quite amazing.

To get around I took a daypass on an aquabus, little vessels that ply the waterway, stopping every 5 minutes or so. During the course of the day I saw a seal and two more bald eagles which have a nest in a tree near the Maritime museum. One came to rest on a pole and the other on the top of the A-frame of the museum. I started my water journey at the Granville Market, which is a covered market, spreading over several buildings. One has mostly produce, while the others have crafts, books, toys, clothes, and even a shop selling mostly rubber stamps – a huge variety. Halloween is everywhere, especially in the ‘goodies’ area but also in the shop windows and decorations in general.

From the Maritime museum it was a half-hour journey to the end of the line, where I decided against Science World (head too full of the Maritime museum). Instead, I took a couple of trips on Skytrain, a driverless system which links the city and suburbs and is currently being extended for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and walked to the Chinese Garden. This seems smaller than the one in Sydney but has been constructed with the genuine article, imported from China – even the pebbles for the courtyard. Chinatown also houses a big Chinese Cultural Centre. There are many Chinese in Vancouver. (Wikipedia says about 30% of the population.)

The photos are in two sections, the Maritime museum and the rest of the day, which includes the Chinese Gardens, a lot of photos from the waterway and some of Granville market. Science World is the big round building seen from the waterway (False creek).

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/MaritimeMuseum

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/ChineseGarden

Halloween

Vancouver

Halloween is in full swing as I write this. It will be over when you read it. There are goodies in the shops, both to eat and to give away, decorations everywhere – witches, broomsticks, spiders and their webs, black cats and, of course, pumpkins. House fronts have been decorated, at least those houses which will welcome the trick or treaters, pumpkins have been carved.

Here we have David, who has carved some pumpkins beautifully and also brought home from the office a magic nylon 3-tiered pumpkin which not only turns on a light when you plug it in but inflates itself as well. Such are the benefits of modern technology! This lighted pumpkin is the welcome for people at the bottom of the drive and a series of carved pumpkins with candles inside lead them to the front door where they will get their candy to fill their (orange, possibly pumpkin-shaped) bags and run happily down the drive to the next welcoming house.

Costumes are very varied. The kids wear them to school during the day so you get to see quite a few if you are on a bus at the right time. Among others I have seen a scarecrow, quite a lot of witches, a black cat, skeletons, Goths of various sorts, princesses and animals. In the hallway are boxes of candy and we turn out the light and make scary noises when we see someone coming. There are a few photos of children at the door in their costumes.

The other photos are of some of the goodies in the market shops, David and Susan (Diana’s sister) carving pumpkins, the dining room set for a special Halloween meal, the first little ladybird (18 months) to be welcomed, and pumpkins on the driveway. The last 5 are David’s pictures, taken with a tripod and SLR. Thanks David!

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Halloween

Victoria

(Vancouver Island)

Vancouver Island is an island in the same way that the South Island is an island: it is surrounded by water. But it is about 500km north to south and maybe 100km across, so distances are still substantial, even if not as vast as mainland Canada.

Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is situated here, the seat of the Legislative Assembly (the Parliament). The Parliament buildings are not unlike our own at first look, and inside have been beautifully restored relatively recently. They have even incorporated a stained-glass window that lay in the basement undiscovered for 62 years, between restorations! There are murals of mining, fishing, agriculture and probably something else. At present they are re-doing some murals which date from an earlier era and which depict the First Nations people in ways that are deemed to be not as it really was.

But for First Nations people, the Royal British Columbia Museum is the place to go. The first display takes you through the civilisation that existed prior to the coming of the white man, with amazing masks, fishing and hunting tools, fabrics and furs, building materials, methods of housebuilding for both winter and summer locations, food storage and much more besides. Absolutely fascinating for me was their method of making square packing cases, out of cedar, with very few joints. This involved carving out corners, steaming the wood and folding it round to make a square box (no top or bottom yet though). They also used steam to make birch bark into really fancy baskets, too. All very interesting.

The next section showed the influence on the culture of the arrival of the ‘pale-face’. Apart from smallpox, which was devastating to the native population, there were other spin-offs, for example the use of steel for blades for tools. They used their own tools but replaced their traditional blades with steel, which was much more robust. Totem poles also had a growth spurt, as the native people became richer by selling fish, furs et al. A totem pole has to be ‘supported’ by things of value to be meaningful, and with people growing wealthier, tools becoming sharper and carving becoming quicker, there was a big rise in the number of totem poles created. Some of the carving also reflected objects or people which had hitherto not existed. There are a number of totem poles in the display area. Again, all very interesting.

You can see a bird mask at http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/First_People_Gall/default.aspx

(There are some other interesting links on the Royal BC Museum site if you feel like exploring.)

On this floor history also progressed through the 20^th century, with a hall containing 20^th century objects, rather like Te Papa, an old street, (like Christchurch museum and Shanghai, among others), and a salmon cannery, a waterwheel and the captain’s quarters of a ship of discovery.

No photos were allowed in the First Nations section but you will find a few of the dioramas found in the Living Land exhibits on the next floor down. Ecological issues are also broached here, as they were in the Vancouver Aquarium.

Outside the museum are more totem poles and First Nations meeting houses, an original house on its actual site, and an old schoolroom which was shifted there more recently.

My hotel (kindly arranged at a discount price – thanks David!) was along the waterfront, with great views and a walking path along the waterfront all the way to the city centre. Past hotels, apartment complexes, another ferry terminal (from Port Angeles), a marina. I even passed a boat with an NZ flag, registered in Auckland. The Empress Hotel, opened in 1905, dominates that end of the waterfront and is worth the look inside for the grandeur of the era. The city centre has restaurants and retail, quite enough to keep one occupied for longer than a day.

The trip from Vancouver by public transport takes about 4 hours. Bus from Central Station to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen, boat through the sounds to Swartz Bay and bus to Victoria. The boat trip is not unlike the trip from Wellington to Picton without Cook Strait, ie all the good bits and not the rough patch. Beautiful views all the way. To capture it on film you need a better lens than mine but you will get some idea anyway from the photos. The photos look repetitive – and I have culled lots – but it really is a big area. We saw seals too, but on a photograph they would look like nothing but a swirl of water.

Photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Victoria

Whistler – for skiers really

Whistler and Blackcomb, Vancouver

Within 30 minutes of Vancouver lie the ski resorts of Grouse mountain, Seymour mountain and Cypress mountain. Further away, at the end of a highway which is being transformed for the winter Olympics of 2010, are the twin areas of Whistler and Blackcomb. Probably about two hours away. More with roadworks.

Although this is the season of rain before the fall in temperature will make it snow instead, Diana and I went up to Whistler/Blackcomb for a day. I saw a bear! This is bear habitat which has been taken over by humans and an effort is made to cater for the bears. The one I saw was walking around the side of an apartment complex. Just like that!

We first visited some of the smaller residential areas, like Whistler Creek, taking in the view and the size and construction of some of the homes there. Apparently Prince Charles, William and Harry all stayed in a private house in the Whistler area after Diana died. All homes must be ‘chalet style’. We visited the centre of Whistler, walking around until the rain became heavy – lunch time. There are still a lot of shops open there in this ‘dead season’ and we had time to have a good look around.

I’ve left in a number of the photos taken in the rain. That’s what rain’s like in the mountains in the off-season! I haven’t labelled Whistler or Blackcomb separately, as they are two mountains right next door and two of the lifts (one in each direction) start from the same place. Soon there will be a lift joining the two peaks mid-mountain.

Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Whistler

Walking on the wild side

Vancouver

Canada is vast. It must be, because even this small corner of Canada that I am visiting is vast. The wilderness starts just behind the city and is vast. You would not want to get lost there. Even the city-centre park, Stanley Park, where you find the aquarium, can feel like a wilderness once you are off the main paths. A bad storm in December 2006 destroyed more than 10,000 trees but there are still plenty left. Paths lead through the forest, past a lake or two, and if you leave the track you get the impression that you are miles from anywhere and had better not trip over a root. There are photos of a walk in Stanley Park, from the bus stop near the Aquarium to Prospect Point (views) and Lion Bridge and back to the bus.

The UBC (University of British Columbia) covers a lot of territory and is the location for the botanical gardens, which I haven’t visited, and a Japanese Garden, which takes you straight to Japan and is pretty even in the drizzle. The Nitobe Memorial Garden honours Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933) – his portrait is on the 5000 yen note. Considered to be the best traditional, authentic Japanese Tea and Stroll Garden in North America and among the top five Japanese gardens outside Japan, it is well worth the visit. I had actually gone there to see the Museum of Anthropology but it was closed Mondays, so that is yet to come. However, the campus is easy to wander through, with bookshops as a bonus. Actually, the real bonus was a black squirrel that I happened to see. As we do not have squirrels in NZ but they populated our reading material as children, I find them fascinating to watch. Usually it is hard to get close enough to photograph them. I also managed to photograph a grey squirrel when Diana was buying some hazelnuts from a vendor.

Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Vanwalks

A pretty special walk was in Lighthouse Park, on the way back from Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver. On the way there we called in to the ski area at Cypress, where they were using a helicopter to cement new pylons into the skifield before the weather stopped work for the year. So the photos take you first to Cypress, then down to Horseshoe Bay, from where the road carries on to Whistler, then to Whytcliff Park and Lighthouse Park. Lighthouse Park walk goes through a forested area out to the sea, where there is a lighthouse (no longer in service) and beautiful views seawards. In Whytcliff, people were sitting on the rocks just enjoying the sunshine and the tranquillity.

Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/HorseshoeBay

Beluga whales and a bald eagle

Vancouver (2)

Places you can go when it is raining: the aquarium. Although there are some exhibits outside, much of this is covered. I am really glad I went, as I discovered and learned about the Beluga whale - ‘the amazing white whales of Arctic Canada’. You’ll see quite a few photos of this intelligent animal. They have trained them to follow hand-signals and whistles. There are several underwater viewing tanks. Many of the displays are about the fish or sea-life found in the waters around Vancouver and Vancouver Island. This includes sea lions (enormous), dolphins, harbour seals that have been rescued but are too vulnerable to return to the sea (the aquarium has a rescue and rehab conservation programme) and also sea otters (very cute!).

The middle video of this series on rescuing baby seals is the one I watched at the aquarium. The baby seal is just three days old.

http://www.vanaqua.org/mmrr/rehabilitation/videos.php

There is also a tropical section and an Amazon section, with sharks and alligators respectively. The Amazon section has some very scary enormous fish with whiskers, and large eel-like creatures, among other more neutral creatures.

When it is not raining, on the other hand, a walk on the wild side has a lot to recommend it, and we walked along the pipeline that leads out into the bay near the airport. During the four and a half kilometres (multiply that by two), we saw a seal, some geese flying overhead, some other seabirds and a bald eagle, who came to rest on a pole and sat there for just ages. There are also the remains of entire trees that have been washed down in a storm. And some good views which would have been better if the weather had been clear instead of just not raining. As we were under the flight path for landing at Vancouver airport some time after midday, I can report that the planes are frequent and varied in size and company!

My photo selection is at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/VancouverAquarium

Vancouver

First Impressions

After 6 months of stone and brick houses, here I am in a land of primarily wooden houses once more. In the area I am staying in, most of the houses have a basement with some windows which appear at ground level, then the ground floor of the house, topped by another story. The city is very green, or at this time of the year, multicoloured.

The weather has been damp and grey and about11º since my arrival, a season we would call winter in NZ - but that is yet to come here and involves colder temperatures and snow. Vancouver sits roughly on the 49^th parallel and sunrise is relatively late, as in Brussels. The silver lining here is that last night I sat in front of a lovely fire, and there are cast-iron central heating radiators all over the house.

Diana took me for a drive to get an overall picture of Vancouver and that was wonderful, despite the grey, as I am now able to use the bus system and have a good idea of where I am going.

Art GalleryMy first outing was to the Art Gallery. This is largely given over to temporary exhibitions and I found it very interesting and not at all what I had expected. Emily Carr and the Group of Seven focuses on modern (from 1920s) Canadian art, most of which is related to the landscape, and some of which uses thick paint to represent the texture of snow. Roy Arden is one of Canada’s most respected artists and works in the medium of photography. His themes are diverse and he mostly uses the landscape of contemporary Vancouver to illustrate his points. Mark Lewis is London based and his medium is short, looped films, without sound, projected onto a blank wall. Large. This is really interesting. Sometimes it is the camera which moves across a scene and sometimes the camera is still but the scenes move, as at an airport. It has been suggested that he deliberately blurs the boundaries between film, painting and photography. To me, the films are more like still photographs that change a little every second or so. Much less like films.

Georgia O’Keefe (1887-1986) occupied the ground floor. Very avant garde for her time and an unusual use of colour, which was more important than the theme or the object. The exhibition also included two series of photographs of Georgia herself. Apart from the art, the fact that she lived the lifespan of my grandmother, plus 3 years, made it particularly interesting to me. (Wow, she was painting THAT when she was 21? My grandmother was probably taking off to the Australian desert from Melbourne about then.) (For example).

I have, of course, been for several walks. The photos are of the area in which Diana and Geoff live (Kerrisdale) and of the shore front between Stanley Park and downtown, including the ever-present float-planes. The autumn colours are beautiful.

Photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/VancouverFirst

Exit from Europe

Brussels October
October 5-14

The weather in Brussels was just perfect. For the weekend that Chris was with us it was fine and clear and invited us to go walking. For the rest of the week, while Pedro was at work, it was foggy and nippy, perfect for reading, taking the tram to town and spending time in FNAC or other shops under cover. Heating was on this week in the malls and shops. And for the last weekend, fine again.

Brussels is at the latitude of 50°50”, which in New Zealand terms is way down at the Auckland Islands. A quick look on the web tells me these are 465 km south of Bluff and uninhabited. And that the weather is some of the most ferocious on the planet. So Brussels has fantastic weather in comparison, even if somewhat cold, grey and foggy at times and with a latish sunrise at this time of the year.

Not entirely inactive, I did manage the walk from the city centre to home once (about an hour) and went to a couple of museums. We met up again with Alain, who was there for work, staying with Pierre. Pedro led us to a restaurant where we had an excellent North-African meal. As we came out into the rain afterwards, a bus came by, which took us right to the metro stop. Such are the joys of public transport in a big city.

One of the museums I visited was 15km out of town and needed TWO trams! The second tram track went through forests and was really pretty. Museum at the end of it was a bonus! This was the Royal Museum of Central Africa. It started out when bold Leopold II decided to show the Belgian people ‘his’ Congo at the turn of the century. (We won’t go into the politics and the massacres.) The building is fairly massive in its proportions and has been updated and renovated, seeking to better display the extensive collections. It is also a scientific establishment, with 75 scientists working on cultural anthropology, zoology, geology, history and agriculture and forest economy. There are vast collections of insects, displays of the flora and fauna, currently an exhibition on wood, amazing masks, collections of war spears and even the archives of Stanley. They value the educational function and hold lots of workshops for children and adults, school classes and holiday programs. My teacher’s card got me into both the main museum and the special exhibition for free.

The other museum I stopped by to see is in the centre of Brussels, in the Grand-Place. I’m not sure why I hadn’t been there before. It is a totally manageable museum and not expensive. Interesting videos complement the static displays and the models of Brussels over the centuries help you visualise the growth. Brussels was the centre of wall tapestry weaving in Europe between the late 15^th and the 18^th century, the economic backbone providing employment for many inhabitants, and the museum displays some of these works. Other artwork is used to illustrate the history as well. Particularly effective are paintings of The Great Fire of Brussels, actually the torching of the Grand-Place by Louis XIV’s man, Villeroy, in 1695. 4000 buildings burned down in the city centre, including most of the Grand-Place. All were rebuilt remarkably quickly, testament to the wealth of the city at the time, I guess. The third floor has a section displaying models of the Manneken Pis, wearing costumes from all over the world. I read that he has a wardrobe of over 600 outfits.

The photos I have chosen include Pedro, Chris and Alain, for those of you who know them, images of the city itself, and a few from the museum of Central Africa. The deal with the curtain in front of the Opera is that there is at present a ‘trail’ of art by young people from each EU country around the centre of Brussels. This one is meant to bring the theatre stage right out into the people.

Happy viewing.

Photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/BrusselsOct

Paris Postscript

Paris October 5 - more photos

A last minute change of plans saw Chris and me in Paris early on October 5^th, the morning when Helen Clark opened the giant rugby ball. True. This inflatable ball, 12 metres high and 25 metres long, will stand just in front of the Eiffel Tower for two weeks while the finals of the World Cup are played out, showing a high-tech (7 projectors) promotional video of NZ. Due to helpful connections we managed to get inside for the speeches and early showing, and were indeed impressed. Claire Waddington and Alain Sabatier were both there, as well as several other people we knew.

We made our way across town on foot towards the station, stopping for a coffee with Alain and a photographer friend, and later at Kiwi Corner for a pie for lunch. Mine was a ‘steak of beef’ pie, circular, such as you would never find in NZ and delicious all the same. With salad. And bread. Alain and Pierre also arrived in the same spot some time later.

So the photos are largely taken between the Champs de Mars and the Boulevard St Michel. Plus the Gare du Nord and the Thalys as we headed off to Brussels.

Just a sort of postscript really.

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/ParisPostscript

Paris in September

Photo collection

Over the month of September Paris was the hub for taking trains from one part of the country to the other. It was also very much part of the Chemin des Amis, as I saw Madeleine through the last few days before her departure to New Zealand, spent some more time with Jean-Marc and Rachid and met up with Alex Caloni, who elected to come to the Mont St Michel with me, which was a real bonus.

However, I managed to do a bit of walking and took a number of photos and since a number of people have especially commented on enjoying my photos of Paris, I’ve culled them into a collection. Some of the photos are of familiar territory, others are of places new to me. The weather held up well as you will see, although it was quite cold in the mornings and winter clothes made a serious reappearance everywhere. The leaves were also falling, the days getting shorter, tourists fewer, lots of rugby advertisements including flags of far-flung places like NZ and Australia.

For those of you who enjoy Paris, have a stroll around!

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/ParisSept

Time and Tides

St Malo
26 September

It was for the high tide that I wanted to come to St Malo. I had seen photos of the high tide crashing against the seawall and wanted to see this for myself. Since I was going to the Mont St Michel for the highest tide of the year, and St Malo was almost on the way, no problem. Accommodation was in a sort of Youth Hostel which also lodged apprentices and other young workers. This meant that meals were abundant, cheap and of a more-than-acceptable quality. And the company was young, happy and well behaved. Alex and I really enjoyed our stay. (This is the ex-Spanish teacher Alex, who I met up with in Paris as we were both there at the same time)

The hostel was really near the sea, the weather was great and there was no reason not to walk right along the promenade to the old town. Alex loved the houses, maisons bourgeoises from the late 19^th or earlyish 20^th century, and I loved the wide expanses of beach which were exposed at this stage of the day – low tide. The town itself has extensive ramparts and some interesting old buildings, including some rebuilt in the old style after 1944. It was easy just to wander and enjoy.

In the evening I set out to check the high tide and was not disappointed. The promenade was well lit and the sea was indeed crashing along the sea wall and spraying way up in the air. Mighty impressive, this world.

Album address:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/StMalo

Mont St Michel
27-28 September

It’s only really over a few days at the equinox and at the full moon the month after that the tides are really high in the bay of Mont St Michel. And when they are it is a truly impressive sight. The water comes in a wave up the stream to the west of the island, a wave that soon becomes a torrent, like a river in flood. But this torrent is flowing from the sea upstream, not vice-versa. To the east the wave still comes, a little smaller but accompanied by a volume of water that soon floods all the sandbanks in a wide arc. On both sides the carparks are soon underwater and at high tide you can barely see any signs that they are there.

That’s the view from the front of the island. Looking from the North Tower you see the sea gradually closing in on the sandbanks, covering them over, before the water becomes a mass of swirling and competing currents, with foaming sand being carried along the top of the water, foam that will later be deposited well upstream. The water, moving swiftly, soon covers over the area around the base of the tower and you can totally understand why this island remained impregnable in the hundred year’s war. The soldiers would just never get a decent go at attacking before the next tide would be upon them.

This is the third time I’ve been to the monastery and I am getting to know my way round but it is still awesome in the original sense of the word. The way it is integrated into the granite of the rock, the sheer beauty of some of the construction (for example the refectory windows which give light only directly into the room and are not visible from the ends) and the historical overlays, building onto what was already there. For me, particularly the use of the natural rock to hold up a wall or BE a wall. Alex and I spent the first night on the island itself and were thus able to watch the tide come in, have some delicious soup, wander around the ramparts and the town a bit, then be home.

The next night Alex was back in Paris and I stayed on the land side of the landbridge (digue), from where I walked to the island, watched the tide and followed it back. A different experience and very worthwhile. At this end there is also a centre explaining the new initiative to wash away the vast accumulations of silt in the bay. They have already started construction of a dam which will hold the waters of each tide and let them out in a controlled fashion. In addition, the landbridge will be shortened and a light bridge put in its place, for pedestrians and a shuttle. Watch this space in 2012.

Crème Chantilly always seems like an extreme indulgence to me. I understand that it is mostly air, with a few globules of something to hold the air in place, rather like the sandy foam of the rushing tide, but it still seems pretty luxurious, especially when you already have a crêpe with the local caramel sauce underneath the dollops. Well, you have to eat something after you’ve been out tide-watching, don’t you?

Album address:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/MontStMichel

Caen
29 – 30 September

I have seen William the Conqueror’s castle. This may seem trite but I am of the generation who, in 1954, received a big pencil with all the kings and queens of England written on it. Starting with William the Conqueror. At last the pencil really means something. Even if the castle is mere ruins today it is proof of existence.

William also built two abbeys, one for men and one for women. These, together with his castle, made Caen a good place to live and it prospered, at least for a while. The hundred year’s war and the religious wars of the 16th century did it no good and the destroyed convent buildings of the men’s abbey were restored in the 18^th century. As usual, the French Revolution emptied the abbeys of the last monks and the buildings were used for a school. Interestingly enough, in 1944, when most of the city of Caen was destroyed by bombs, the monastery (now a lycée) and abbey church were designated a no-go zone and provided shelter for many civilians. It is now the administrative centre for Caen.

The tomb of William the conqueror is in the abbey church but as there was a wedding on, I didn’t get to see it. Nor could I see Mathilde’s tomb in the women’s abbey – another wedding. That is a problem with visiting on a Saturday! But I did catch a solo rendering of Ave Maria which was lovely. The women’s abbey was also restored in the 18^th century and after the Revolution became a hospital then a home and since 1986 has housed the Regional Council.

The cathedral is in the process of being cleaned up, the Chateau of the Dukes of Normandy has an extensive museum of Normandy and an Art Gallery, Twisto is the name of the transport system - trams and buses - and the Sunday market is huge, extending from the Place St Pierre, near the cathedral to the end of the boat marina, from where boats can reach the sea at Ouistreham. The range of goods is also huge. They even sell furniture, including those wonderful French tables where you can add almost endless planks in the middle to extend it for 12 or more. I am saving my visit to the Memorial of Caen, a museum to promote peace, for another time. Oh, and I had the most divinely tender boeuf bourguignon with sautéd potatoes. I smelt it from my bedroom window and tracked it down! How’s that for dedication!

Album address:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Caen

Borderline

Abbévillers, Jura

23 September

Yesterday I went from France to Switzerland to France several times. I even walked along the border and came upon boundary-markers, from different times. There are many dated 1788, with a bear on one side and a fleur-de-lys on the other, perhaps separating the Canton of Bern from France. The other main dates found are 1817, after the Napoleanic wars and 1919, after WW1, with RP (République Française) on one side and CS (Confédération Suisse) on the other. All in the course of a little afternoon randonnée, when you are 2km from the Swiss border.

The previous day we didn’t get as far as Switzerland but it was 100 metres or so above us when we were at the Source of the Doue river, not to be confused with the Doubs, which is pronounced the same. Jo, the husband of my friend Laurence, is involved with a community project to restore the old mill house and mill wheel in this very pretty site, and to make an educational feature, probably about the use of water, in the restored buildings.

Jo and Laurence live at 600 metres, so a little walk is pretty picturesque. This a cow-bell country as well - wherever you walk you will hear the clang clang of bells. There are even clanging cows in a paddock over the road. It was good to be there in warm weather, with flowers out all over the place and a sunshade over the outside table for the midday meal. I have always been here mid-winter before, with snow all around.

This time we walked along the paths that are usually followed in snow shoes or cross-country skis. Over paddocks with thick grass (excellent when covered with snow) and also through leafy forests, which are very picturesque when snow-laden. Our goal was a meteorological station, which you can see from their house. We made it! (We drove up to Roche d’Or first, which is where in 1990 we all had tremendous fun with sleds.) Note the very cunning stile, with a lift-up piece so you don’t have so far to climb over.

I enjoy the way their house is so well-designed and built for their needs in a mountainous climate. Jo designed it himself, with plenty of storage for food and drink, a workshop, laundry of large dimensions, almost like a downstairs kitchen, a separate cellar for fruit, veges and wine, a drying room, and plenty of room to put ‘stuff’. from skis to boots to sleds to summer furniture, pingpong table and snow-clearing gear! And that is just the basement. The upper stories are incredibly well-insulated, with thick layers of different insulation material. Well ventilated where required. There’s an attic area as well, also for ‘stuff’, often that of their children, now away from home but visiting with grandchildren. Impressive garden, especially when you consider the climate, and Jo built the garden shed himself.

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Jura