Fall 2009

    

Un an deja

Arthur est mort il y a un an aujourd’hui. Le temps passe vite.

 

Il nous manque toujours autant.

Lego Convention 2009

 

 

Some of the Lego models on display at BrickCon 2009

C3 Picasso

 

We rented a Citroen C3 Picasso to drive to Vendee this summer. The car became available in the French market just a few weeks before we rented it, so so there weren’t a lot of them on the road.

I loved the neat design features like the boxy exterior and dashboard features and was impressed by how roomy it was inside.

Here we are taking in the scenery from above the speedometer.

Poitou-Charentes

Dompierre

On a découvert Dompierre-sur-Mer, une commune en Charente-Maritime, à 10 minutes de La Rochelle. La commune est petite (5,000 habitants environ) mais on y trouve tous les commerces et les facilites d’une vraie ville : deux pharmacies, deux boulangeries, un super U. Les boulangeries vendent une baguette avec des bouts en forme de cornes. C’est intéressant, mais les cornes sont souvent trop cuites. C’est sympa quand-meme d’avoir du pain frais disponible juste en bas de chez soi.

Certains commerces semblent etre surreprésentes par rapport a la population : un village de 5,000 habitants a-t-il vraiment besoin de trois fleuristes juste à cote les uns des autres?

Mais peu importe. La ville est vraiment charmante, aves des rues qui font penser a une destination paradisiaque ou on connait tous ses voisins.

Coincidence extraordinaire, lors de ses vacances en Turquie cet été, le cousin de David a rencontre une famille qui habite a Dompierre-sur-Mer ! Le monde est petit comme on dit…

  

Outdoor Art?

 

Les Gouts des Autres: mur décoré avec des chewing gums, derrière le Pike Place Market à Seattle.

Seattle Aquarium

Venice without the pomp

 

In the Marais-Poitevin serenity rules. That and duckweed. Locally, the marais is called La Venise Verte, or green Venice, and refers to the murky maze of canals that loop through the Vendee region in Western France, where David spent most of his childhood summers. There are road signs all over southern Vendee indicating the different embarcaderes, or piers, where you can rent rowboats or take guided tours along the waterway.

The system of canals was not created to be a hokey tourist attraction like, say Futuroscope or Parc Asterix. It was used for farming and animal transport. And for the residents, the canals are just another way to get around; almost every home has a rowboat or kayak chained to a dock. The canals were only transformed into a recreational activity when the canals were no longer used in farming, and today, the murky green maze attracts hoards of visitors.

We rented a rowboat from one of the villages in the north and paddled for 1 ½ hours. What a contrast from the cacophony of Boulevard Saint Germain and Paris in general. We heard no Mercedes delivery trucks honking or backing up; no bells from Velib bicycles; no deafening noise from trucks hauling off glass to be recycled and no speed demons riding scooters with a death wish. The most intrusive noises came from ducks and chickens along the banks of the canals, and from the handful of kayakers and other recreational boaters whose paths we crossed on our loop. And of course, the sound of Tiggy’s paddle hitting the water as the boat advanced.

 

Les chemins d’eau de la Venise Verte (Marais-Poitevin)