Were the Maya's right?

The Maya's predicted the end of the world for Dec 2012.

This summer in Belgium was no summer at all. We believe summer actually happened in May.

August has been a very rainy month and in the past 2 weeks we've been experiencing one thunderstorm after the other leading to massive amount of rain and floods everywhere. This weekend we even had hale.

Inevitably, people start to wonder whether the Maya's were right and this crazy weather is the beginning of the end of the world.

Food for thought on a Monday morning...

Cowboys & Aliens

Last night, after an excellent dinner at Resto.bar, we had planned for a movie. We wanted to watch Super 8, but unfortunately it was sold out.

So Wolfram picked another one: Cowboys and Aliens.

With a title like that, you can guess that nothing good will come out of this movie. And you would be right.

It's incredible how bad it was. I would not even know where to start. The whole story didn't hold together. There was no logic between some parts and if you try to find a logical connection you would simply lose your mind on it.

Daniel Craig was as usual all about muscles and fighting, nothing about acting.

Why was Harrison Ford in this movie? I can't explain. Did he need money? Wanted to do a cowboy movie once in his life? Does not care anymore of his reputation?

In case you have seen Alien (the original series) and X-Files the movie, you pretty much know what will happen in this one. Only exception it's with cowboys, how original...

They found it

During our vacation Wolfram was looking for a lavender field blooming with a tree and a little house in the middle and blue sky.

We failed to find the full combination.

Apparently some did.

Thanks for the nice surprise in the mail box!

New toys

This week brought new toys in the house.
We finally received our iPad 2 from work (which keeps Wolfram busy this weekend).

But more importantly, at least to me, my Kitchen Aid appliances are now up and running.

Can't wait to cook with them!

Mokka offered to help

So I could finish faster :)

Welcome Julie

On the way back from the Luberon we stopped to visit Severine and Patrick. Severine was pregnant and about to give birth. And indeed, 24h after we left them, Julie was born.

Isn't she cute?

And for the 1st time...

... the car took a boat!

 Look who's proud :)

Salt marshes in Camargue

In case you wonder why the pink-purple color, it's because of the algae in the water.

Many many birds, several horses and 1 man

La Camargue - Bird park

We were not expecting much and we were wrong. At 9:30am all the birds were awake, moving, eating, cleaning themselves, arguing, etc. you could hear them from the parking lot. It was incredible.

297 pictures, at least half of them of pink flamingoes… no comment

Starting smoothly with an owl

Followed by a vulture percnopterus

A red dragonfly

Egrets

Herons

Some unidentified birds

Stilt birds

Beavers and/or Coypus (I'm not sure exactly but it runs and swims fast)

Pink flamingoes

First glimpse at them... from the distance

(not very stylish when flying if I may say)

And getting closer

It's a pitty that such a beautiful bird from afar has such an uggly face, don't you think?

But why are they pink?

"Flamingo feathers obtain their wonderful rosy pink color from pigments in the organisms they eat. The flamingos’ feathers, legs, and face are colored by their diet, which is rich in alpha and beta carotenoid pigments.

Carotenoids in crustaceans such as those in the flamingo diet are frequently linked to protein molecules, and may be blue or green. After being digested, the carotenoid pigments dissolve in fats and are deposited in the growing feathers, becoming orange or pink. The same effect is seen when shrimp change color during cooking. The amount of pigment laid down in the feathers depends on the quantity of pigment in the flamingo’s diet. An absence of carotenoids in its food will result in new feather growth that is very pale; the existing pigment is lost through molting."

Thanks Alice for sharing your wisdom :)

Note for self: always plan to visit an animal park in the morning when they are active. In the afternoon, like many of us, they take a nap preferably in the shade, i.e. you can’t see them, and thus no picture.

La Camargue 1

Camargue is a region of the South of France famous for its wildlife (horses, birds, bulls) and salt.

Our little trip to Camargue exceeded my expectations as we got to see quite some wildlife. I tried to capture what we saw, but really, the best to go there and spend a day or 2 walking the area and being surprised by a beaver running next to your legs or wild horses running.

Wild horses, seen from the road

Love and Hate

They love me.
I hate them.
By them I mean bugs, especially mosquitoes.

I keep my distance, I spray huge amount of repulsive product on my skin to keep them away and they will strike right where the spray didn't get like the neck or the limit between skin and sock.
When I go hiking I feel under attack as they usually chase me. For example a green square bug had breakfast on me one morning leaving me with a bit that 12 hours later was the size of a tennis ball, despite all the anti-histaminic cream I could put on it.

A horse fly managed to sting me through the fabric of my pants.

They love my blood, that's the drama of my life and... the best mosquito repellant for anyone standing next to me. They will always pick me first.

PS: for the trip to Camargue, i.e. swamp, I re-applied the successful model from Mulu park and sprayed repellant on my entire body, including hair. No living being would stand within 1 meter from me, INCLUDING mosquitoes :) Smelling bad is the price to pay for peace in the swamps.

Mont Ventoux

My Dad had this dream of walking to the top of the Mont Ventoux. THE mountain of Provence with a summit at some 1912m.

After some debate, multiple planning and re-planning, we decided to go for it today. We being Wolfram, Yann, my Dad and I.

Challenge #1 was to find the best hike. Without internet and with useless travel guides (my favourite being the Lonely Planet telling you there are great hikes, just stop at any tourist information office and you can get a map!), this turned out a bit more difficult to plan. Yann used his phone to get us a map of the hiking trails so we would know where to go and how many kilometers we were talking.

Of course once in my parents’ car, the first map that I found in the door was the IGN map of the area covering the Mont Ventoux. All this time we had a map in the car!

We parked the car at Chalet Reynard and walked the 5.4km to the summit. Slowly but surely. In 2 hours we were there. It was tough because of the steep slope in several places, but not that hard as there was a clear trail (unlike in Gorges du Verdon where you really have to climb).

My Dad in action in the last hundred meters to the summit

Temperature dropped quite a bit but prepared as we were we had jeans and sweaters with us. Luckily for us, this year the temperature at the summit was around 12 (it is said it can be negative or close to zero even in July-August).

From the summit there is a great view on the Alps, the Luberon and the valleys around. Unfortunately it was blurred so no great pictures, rather pretty blue and far away, sadly.

Still a great feeling of achievement to stand up there (even if we could have simply driven). Next vacation: Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro or Everest?

No comment

Avignon

Being so close to it, I couldn’t not show Avignon to Wolfram, at least a quick look at it. On our way back from Les Baux, we stopped there shortly so he could have a glimpse at the Palais des Papes (Popes’ palace) and the famous Pont d’Avignon (the bridge).

Unlike in Les Baux where we were the first ones, late afternoon Avignon was packed with people which inevitably means pictures with people on them.  Never the less, I grabbed my wide angle to take a couple of shots of the palace. It’s a bit distorted but that was the only way to get it to fit entirely (almost) on one picture.  

Le Pont d’Avignon

Note that now you have to pay 4 Euros (!!!!) to get the chance to walk on it. We skipped this as there is not much to see or do on the bridge. Still can’t believe they make you pay for it now. It used to be for free as I recall walking it during some family vacation as a kid.

Olive oil tasting

Once done with our castle adventure, we drove back to the valley and explored the different olive oil mills. We learnt how to taste olive oil and differentiate the different flavours in it. Apparently we can taste up to 5… not sure I got more than 3.

We stopped at 3 different places and bought 2L in Mas des Barres and Moulin Saint-Michel. It’s super premium olive oil, only for degustation and salads. I’m looking forward to enjoying them.

Les Baux de Provence

7am we were in the car.

7:30am we stopped at a bakery in Coustellet.

8:30am we were parked at Les Baux de Provence. And we were amongst the first ones. We even managed to park in the very first parking right at the entrance of the village. Shops were still closed. Castle would only open at 9am. The shop keepers were not even in the village.

It was so early I took a picture of the clock on one of the buildings as evidence.

It was surreal to walk the streets of the village almost just for ourselves. There were a few other early birds, but not enough to disturb. Imagine, we could take pictures without a soul on it!

Old chapel from 17^th century, decorated in 1974 by Yves Brayer. He painted biblical characters in a Provence environment. 

Once we were done with the village we headed toward the castle.

And to give you a feel of what we’re talking about, see the drawing below.

I picked up an audio guide to learn about the history of the place. Wolfram ignored it as usual and started immediately the take pictures.

There is not much left of the castle but enough to give you a feel of what it was. It was one of the first castles built out of stones. Actually half of the walls are the rock of the hill itself.

Hopital Quiqueran or what’s left of it

The mill or what’s left of it (in case you wonder, your imagination will be highly needed to picture what the castle looked like back then).

From the top of the hill there is an incredible view on the valley below. One can see all the way to the Camargue and Arles, which is convenient when you fear to be invaded.

Val d’Enfer (valley of Hell)

Looking towards the South West with Arles (the city at the back) and the Camargue

Looking towards the South East and East, with a direct view on the Alpilles, the vineyards and the olive trees fields (basically the 2 agricultural activities of the area)

Troglodyte houses (or what’s left of it)

Tower Sarrasine (imagine there was an arch between those 2 sides)

Second Basse-Cour

Houses inside the courtyard of the castle where one can see how people carved the stone of the hill to make their living: storage places, citterns, holes for the main beams holding the roof, chimney, etc. with a bit of imagination you can take a walk in the house.

The heart of the castle

With its chapel

And its donjon

Some local man

The top of the castle with another tower

The castle from the top

Some parts have been renovated to facilitate the visit, some not so you can really experience what it was to climb to the top of the tower with uneven steps. Imagine at dark under pouring rain, enemies might make more casualties by having people running up and down vs. using a catapult.

The village from the top

The rock itself

On our way out, we were just on time for a demonstration of the different catapults used back then: Trebuchet, Couillard, Baliste, etc. People from the audience were invited to prepare and shoot the replicas. They were not loaded as it was back then (3 tons counter weight vs. 12 tons) but you could already get a pretty good of the damages a catapult can do on the walls of a castle.

War machinery (or toys for the boys)