Danielle and I stayed a low cost but pleasant hotel in Paris in the Opera district – Hotel Baudin. We had one of the better meals in paris nearby at Memere au Piano, 18 rue Jean Mace. The restaurant was warm, friendly and seemed like a place where regulars were greeted by name. Food was great, …
A pre-dawn start today (11:45 Australian time… we’ll have some adjusting to do on our return next week) for a balloon flight in Goreme. I counted I think 102 balloons, around 24 passengers to a balloon so this is a serious business here. For comparison, the township of Urgup has signs claiming 19,700 (permanent) residents. …
Hot Air Ballooning is a very inefficient, unpredictable way to travel. The pilot can gain and lose altitude, and that’s about it. So it was a credit to the man driving ours this morning that we could drift along the valley, at times so close we could touch the tree tops. Dawn came after very …
I have a theory on national civic development. As countries move from some Hobbsian “State of Nature” through to highly developed, there are several key regimes of treatment of stray dogs. At the worst, stray dogs are food. At the best, stray dogs are lovingly captured by local authorities assigned that responsibility by one or …
The drive from Breuzeville-Grenier to Bayeux would essentially take us through Lillebonne, so we took the time to stop and see the “Theatre Romain”. Somewhat hysterically, the gardening crew were mowing the 45-55 degree slope of what was formerly tiered seating… with ropes. A top rope to control the fall of the mower and a …
Just a quick post for Bradley and Todd. There is a huge amount of corn still standing in Normandy fields (and to the south, less so in Germany). Autumn sown winter crops seem to be starting. A lot of root vegetables still in, some potatoes, also beetroot and carrots. It seems maybe 75% permanent cropping, …
Having had two rather full tourist days whilst dragging round the jet-lag crankiness, I still find Paris marvellously interesting. Public buildings are decorated tastefully. The Metro is efficient. Historical events shaped the culture they have today – we have agreed we need to read a lot more to sort out all the Louis and the …
Breathtaking. Anything other than wide angle HDR won’t do it justice, so this is just a teaser. The rest (updated now):
So spending the afternoon walking aroumd on Abu Dhabi At this time of year really required mall air conditioning. From what the taxi driver said, even the round-the-clock construction work crews break between midday and 3pm for the heat. So in the new Centrepoint mall at Marina Village, not only are there approximately 40 watch …
Very Hot. We often encountered the faint smell of of burnt spices or incense. All the buildings are new, towering piles of glass and steel and concrete only shades darker than the sky. The pale dusty sand almost blends with the heat haze and the grey palm trees in the bright light. The opulent, cool …