June 28th 2008
My lavander in early June
….. harvested in late June
…..pruned, gathered into bunches, they’re now ideal as home decor and room fragrance. The yellow and orange buttons are santolina or cotton lavander florets.
For a good night sleep, fill a fabric sachet with florets of lavander and place them next to your pillow. Sweet dreams!
June 1st 2008
Our topic for today is Aberdeen, but first, I would like to talk about Sir William Wallace (1272-1305), Scotland’s greatest patriot who fought for his country’s independence.
(Note: my regret to this day: I missed the chance of photographing the city, because i kept telling myself, “let me go
sightseeing first, then I’d go back later to do the photography.” Of course, we never went back!
Lesson of the story: Opportunity knocks only ONCE. Don’t miss it!)
I saw his statue in the center of Aberdeen and at the bottom of his epitaph, it mentions the film “Braveheart”
(image from wikipedia)
Statue of William Wallace next to His Majesty’s theater
The life of William Wallace was portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.
Scotland suffered a period of cruel rule under King Edward I.
What started as William Wallace’s fight for justice for the killing of his wife by the local sheriff has turned into a fight for his country’s independence.
The Scots, finally finding a leader in the person of Wallace, joined his army, winning many battles against the English soldiers.
But his end came when a fellow Scot - knighted by the cruel King - betrayed him. He was put into trial for treason, pleaded not guilty
as he claimed he never accepted Edward as King. He was hung, released while still alive, cut off his genitals, scraped clean of his
viscerals, beheaded then quartered.
The only reason why his statue is standing in Aberdeen is because his left leg was sent there. His head was placed on a pike atop
London Bridge, his right arm was sent to Newcastle upon Tyne, his left arm - to Berwick and his right leg - to Perth. They scattered
his body parts to serve as warning to the Scots but, it created the opposite effect. He was made into a hero - in fact, the greatest
hero of Scotland.
The Granite City
Granite City. Silver city. Aberdeen is so-called because it is built almost exclusively with granite. There was so much of this rock
that it was dubbed the 3rd granite capital of the world after Barre (Vermont) and Elberton (Georgia). Hundreds of thousands of tons of
it were extracted underground to build Scotland’s third largest city, and it was even exported to many places such as London, Japan
and elsewhere. The terraces of the Houses of Parliament and Waterloo Bridge in London was built of Aberdonian granite, so are
monuments, bridges, street pavements and other architectural marvels in Britain. And most of the quarrying took place in just one
spot, in Rubislaw hill, which created the largest manmade hole in Europe.
Granite terrace houses
I wasn’t aware of the granite character of the city. Our trip was a spur of the moment decision by H who suddenly announced his
desire to make a detour to the city where he was twice a resident: first, as a post-graduate university student and second, as an
offshore engineer surveying the bottom of the North Sea. There was no itinerary prepared so I had nary a clue of what I would find.
So when we arrived there on a winter drizzly morning in February, I was dumbstruck by the dual greyness of the place. “Grey” because
of the colour of granite everywhere, and “grey” because of the bleakness in the air: overcast, leafless trees, freezing showers.
Then H started talking in alarming fashion. This same granite makes Aberdeen one of the world’s most radioactive city. Granite contains
more uranium than the average source (other rocks, soil and water). Higher doses of uranium is equivalent to a higher radiation count.
M - So why are we here (Aberdeen) if we are just exposing ourselves to radiation?
H - There is radiation everywhere. It’s just higher in Aberdeen, and besides, we are only staying for few hours!
Fish and chips
(image from wikipedia)
This is Stonehaven. This is where we spent the night before driving to Aberdeen the next day. The harbor is a very pretty sight. I could see the contours of hills on one side. It would have made a very pretty photographic subject, only that it was very dark when we arrived.
We looked around for a place to eat. Everything is closed. One or two pubs were open but the sight of stocky stevedore-looking men tells us that it won’t be a comfortable dining experience. So we kept driving round and round the almost haunted village until we saw a Fish and Chips shop by the sea promenade. We’ve been on almost fried chips eating-out diet ever since we came to England six months ago and another sight of it, or the passing smell of the grease would definite churn my stomach around.
But we ended up queueing anyway. There was no other customer in sight, just H and me, but we had to go through a long undulating rope-enclosed line, as in a cinema box office, which goes to show that this fish and chips shop is very popular. I’m not surprised. Fish and Chips is a British institution. It is the only affordable, popular albeit nutritionally deficient British meal available. And it had been proven to be partly responsible for its obese population.
a fish and chips shop
While on the queue, I couldn’t help but notice the many certificates posted on the walls:
“Fish and Chips Shop of the year 2007″
“Fish and Chips Shop of the year 2006″
“Fish and Chips Shop of the year 2005″
and so on and so forth that the oldest award must have been dated 1905!
Here’s more:
Seafish Friers Quality Award
Member, Federation of Fish Friers
Young Fishfryer of the Year (I wonder what’s the minimum age?)
Fastest FishFryer - 2007
Most Hygienic FishFryer - 2007
Best Acrobatic FishFryer of the year - 2007
Champion, FishFrying while walking on a tightrope
good grief! Is that only in the UK ?
May 31st 2008
This post is dedicated to those who are going to Paris for the first time. Just the very basic words that you should learn to get by:
Let’s begin:
Bonjour!…..Hello/Good morning…..pronounced “bon-joo“. You say this to everybody you would come across with (waiter/shopkeeper/bus driver/hotel staff/etc). It’s considered rude if you don’t.
Bonsoir!…..Good Evening…………pronounced “bon-swa“. You say this after 6pm
Merci!…….Thank you…………..pronounced “mer-si“.
Like in English, you say this everytime someone has done something for you like a waiter giving you your order, or even in cases where someone lets you enter a door first, or after a bus driver hands you your ticket. As above, it’s considered rude if you don’t.
Au revoir!….Goodbye……………pronounced “au-vwa“.
you say this to anybody whom you have just dealt with and you are about to leave:
example: to the waiter when you leave the restaurant (if he’s there), or to the shopkeeper, after paying your bill, or to the bus driver before getting off the bus. It’s a natural thing to say.
S’il vous plait…..Please……….pronounced “sil-voo-plaeh“.
when buying a bar of chocolate, for example, you just say the number + the thing + “s’il vous plait”.
“Un snicker, s’il vous plait!”,
“une baguette, s’il vous plait!”,
un sandwich, s’il vous plait!”,
“un ticket, s’il vous plait!”
So, the order of things should be:
Bonjour! —une baguette, s’il vous plait! —-Merci —– Au Revoir!
Voila! Have a nice trip in Paris!
May 31st 2008
I stumbled upon the receipt of a German campsite we stayed in during our Castles of the Rhine tour. I thought i should share it with you because it is so damn cheap as opposed to staying in hotels.
For 2 persons: 5euros x 2…………..10 euros
car: 2euros…………………………… 2 euros
Rubbish: 1euro………………………..1 euro
Total……………………………………13euros
Use of facilities: toilet/shower/dishwashing area included
Cooking is allowed. We have our own gas cooker.
Optional:
Electricity would probably cost 2euros per night but we didn’t need it because we have our own battery-powered lamp
Tent: pitching a tent would cost another 1 euro, but we didn’t need it as we slept in the car
If we stayed in a hotel, we would have paid minimum 70euros per night for a double room.
May 17th 2008
We always wanted to visit the wine cellars of Château Sainte Roseline: one, for the wine-tasting and two, because we just love visiting châteaux!
This morning was our chance. The Fete de la Rose et du jardinage (Rose and Gardening Fair) is being held there and hopefully, if their restaurant is open, it would be the perfect place to celebrate H’s homecoming.
And just as we expected, the gardens are exploding with roses of different types and sizes. What a shame that it was continuously drizzling, not ideal to take out the camera lest it will get damaged, but i did get a few taken in the shade.
23 Photos
Château Sainte Roseline dates as far back as the 10th century when it used to be an abbey. Its namesake, Roseline, was the mother superior of the abbey from 1300 to 1329. She made a lasting impression to the local community that when she died the property was named after her.
In the 14th century, the grounds were transformed into a vineyard. Today, Chateau Sainte Roseline is a legend, not only for its wine but also for its chapel where it draws pilgrims every year to pray over the preserved body of the saint which lays in a glass case. As this may sound gory for you, and for me, there is a mosaic artwork of Chagall entitled “the Meal served by Angels” which you could look at instead.
The lady guide, narrating in both English and French, started with the figures: that they produce nearly a million bottles of wine each year, 15% of which goes to Canada, their biggest importer.
She then took us to the different rooms showing the different stages of wine production, from the time the grapes are delivered by trucks to the time they are picked as bottled wine for distribution all over France, Europe and the world.
May 12th 2008
Here’s a bit of Ampus, the village i went exploring to today. Goodness gracious, it’s like, everywhere I turn, it’s an explosion of flowers! Not only that, I had my fix of provençal scenery today..I needed that.
May 12th 2008
France observes the feast of Pentecost for two days - Sunday and Monday. It is supposed to be just a Sunday event but it would be unfair to declare a no-work day as a non-working holiday so to make everybody happy they extended the commemoration till the following day, Monday.
And so it’s holiday today…and the expression “the merry month of May” verily holds true in this country. Not only that they are spoiled with all the 12 non-working days this month, there’s also the film festival which kicks off in Cannes next week (14th to the 25th). I know it’s daft that my last festival visit was in 2000 considering that it’s just a 40-minute drive from home. But if we do decide to go, we will definitely take the train as this town is “the traffic capital of the south of France.
It’s not so much the desire to see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in person, that’s asking too much, although we would have a greater fill of them when they get married, when Angelina gives birth to her twins and when they buy a house (not necessarily in that order) HERE sometime this year.
No, not just that. Moreso, it’s the glamour and the “fame and fortune” feel in the air.
Both H and myself have been starved of a good day out together for a month, he, practically a prisoner in a luxurious hotel in Sri Lanka and me, alone in the midst of Eden (that’s what my garden looks like at the moment). And now that he’s due back in few days, a trip to Cannes would be an interesting way to break the monotony!
May 2nd 2008
It’s not only Labour Day that the French are observing every first of May, they are also celebrating La Fête du Muguet (Feast of lily-of-the-valley).
This is the day when bouquets of lilies-of-the-valley are sold on street corners or on roadsides and people are buying them
to give to their loved ones or to those they care about as a sign of good luck and to celebrate the coming of spring.
I received a tiny bouquet today (the tiny white flowers above) from a dear neighbour who, despite recently losing his wife of 40 years,
has to go on with this muguet-giving tradition and to be a recipient of one, buoyed my heart with joy!
But the word “buoy” is an understatement, because when i went to have a coffee chat and i saw his garden, it almost knocked me off my feet!
Who wouldn’t…when right before your eyes, you are surrounded by an array of purple irises, burgundy tulips, golden daisies and…and..and..!!
And I must also mention here the garden of my French/Dutch couple friends of last night, it practically cracked me in tears upon seeing their Eden
of yet more purple irises, clumps and clumps of them everywhere, about one meter high!
May 1st 2008
Well, the ongoing Queen’s Day in Holland has been spilling into our town since yesterday! Some people, presumably Dutch, have been wearing orange clothing and orange accessories. I was hoping I could come across someone wearing that ridiculous orange joker hat so I can take a pic and post it here
And tonight, I had dinner at a French neighbour’s house whose Dutch girlfriend was also wearing an orange attire and we had to make a toast “to the Queen of Holland!”
Whereas that was a free dinner for me, I can just imagine those dining at restaurants in Amsterdam now would still be paying Dutch treat!
April 30th 2008
I took the train to Marseilles (pronounced “Mar-sey”) yesterday for the biometrics appointment I told you about few days ago. The process took about an hour, and with my returning train not due in another 5 hours, I took the opportunity to explore a bit of the city.
I’ve been to Marseilles loads of time in the past, but I always find it a very vibrant place, always alive with its mix of different cultures, most of them originating from North Africa, particularly from Algeria, which France has occupied in the 19th century.
Marseilles is the most populated city after Paris, and the oldest city in France
30 Photos
A must-visit is the 19th century Notre Dame de la Garde, seen at the far distance
Catch the morning fish market, it’s one of the highlights of the city.
The world-renowned Bouillabaisse, a fish stew. originated from Marseilles.
There was a rally going on, held by education lecturers and civil servants, to protest against the continued slashing of teaching jobs in the country.
Travel TIP # 1……When exploring a city on a very limited time (say, for few hours), the best thing to do is to take the tourist bus/train/ferry. These forms of transport will take you to most, if not all, highlights of the city in a very short time, in the comfort of your seat.
I took this little tourist train, at 5euros, to climb up the Notre Dame de la Garde. The view on the way is fantastic and the train moves slow enough to be able to take good photographs.
We were climbing almost at 40deg incline! The train was slowly turning to the right so I had the chance to take a pic of the last car (right)
“always dreaming to be an actress”..written on this graffiti
Didn’t I tell you before that 1 in every 2 cars in France has beeps and bumps!
Travel TIP #2….Avail of the “day pass”, which means unlimited rides to the metro/bus combined, in one day (or 2, 3 days).
The ordinary one-way metro ticket is 1,70euros, but with a day pass, you only pay for 4,50euros and that’s a great way to hop in and out to go to more places in a day (until midnight)!
33 Photos
the size of each mosaic tile is exactly the same as that on the floor.
The view from the Basilica
The towering Cathedrale de la Majore in the center, one of Europe’s largest cathedrals built in the 19th century
Seen off the harbour are 4 islands, the smallest one in the middle is the location of Chateau d’If, made famous by Alexandre Dumas in his novel, “The Count of Monte Cristo”
A famous landmark, The Grand Escalier (The Great Staircase) leading up to the train station.
The Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde
It’s the time of year..
