Tag: travel

I love Paris in the …late summer

Paris

Versailles Gardens

Today’s post consists of photo journey of gardens and garden related things from my recent trip to France. Enjoy!

Palais de Tokyo Gardens

A garden I stumbled upon while lost in the streets of Paris (I think we were trying to get to the Champs Elysee from the Eiffel Tower). It is a lovely mixture of flowers and edible plants.

From Paris
From Paris
From Paris
From Paris
From Paris
From Paris
From Paris
From Paris
From Paris

Père Lachaise Cemetery Garden
Cemetery in Paris where many famous people are buried. I found this nice little garden inside.

From Paris

St. RemyEvery Wednesday, St Remy has a farmers market. It is recognized as one of the biggest and best markets in Provence.
Baby Olive Trees for Sale

 
From St Remy
From St Remy
From St Remy

Dried Lavender

From St Remy

Côtes du Rhône vineyards

From Vineyards
From Vineyards
From Vineyards

Espace Van Gogh in Arles

Monument made famous when Van Gogh was committed here in the 1800’s after cutting off his ear. Gardens are maintained to resemble what it would have been like during his stay.

Nature Watch

Todays post contains mostly pictures from either the yard or trips have I had recently. The pictures focus on bugs, birds and nature in general. Enjoy!

This Yellow Jacket has been buzzing around the bamboo that we now have laying around the yard. I don’t care if he wants to come over to visit, but he better not try to move in.


The Bumblebees love the butterfly garden we created in the front. The bees visit daily to sip on the lovely nectar.

During my visit to my friend’s house in San Diego, I was able to snap some photos of a humingbird. They were dark and blurry but I was able to salvage some to the point where you can make out the bird. This makes me happy because I keep missing the ones that come by my bottlebrush tree.

Honeybees and their other bee friends love the bottlebrush tree in the backyard. They feast on this tree from sun up to sun down every day. When we moved in, I wanted to pull the tree out because I wasn’t a huge fan of them. Now it gets to stay!!!
Finally a butterfly pic from the butterfly garden. This is a Gulf Fritillary Butterfly.

A dragonfly we witnessed while visited the LaBrea tar pits in Los Angelos at the end of July.

A beach bird and some beach crabs my friend pointed out to me while on a nature walk in San Diego at the beginning of August.

LaBrea Tar Pits

During our visit to the LaBrea Tar pits in LA last July, I was able to see some gardening techniques they had on display.
They set up a step like structure where excess water could flow down to lower planters. They have vegetables and herbs planted in here.

Melons were grown on a trellis that also served as a shaded walkway.

Some large bamboo stalks.

Sao Paulo

We are in town for my friend’s wedding. Great couple of days so far in Sao Paulo. We had no problems on our flight here. Although many of our companions had issues due to the brazilian airline Varig going out of business. When we arrived at the hotel we were to call our friend Fe’s mom. When we called the phone we would keep getting some standard Portuguese message and then ended up “obrigado” and hung up. After many tries, we just decided to eat dinner around the block from the hotel. We ordered a recommended dish off the menu. It was a greasy chicken with cheese on the top. Not a memorable meal so far…
The day before the wedding a group of us americanos decided to take a van tour around Sao Paulo. It was set up by Fe’s relatives. The guide requested was an English speaking guide. A few minutes into the tour we realize that the guide barely knew any english and our brazilian portugese was very poor. He referred to things as the “big church” and called the market “big mac”. It actually became quite funny with the group. He kept trying to speak spanish to me and kept telling my friend Kevin that he spoke good portugese.

Futbol on everywhere

That evening we attended the bridal shower for Fe. It was at a family members condo (if I remember correctly). The condos were nice and highly secure (I guess they have to be in Sao Paulo). We were buzzed into a secure holding area and after the doors shut firmly behind us, we were let into the grounds of the condos. Note: At the time there was high crime in Sao Paulo – Fe, Fe’s mother, and cousin were robbed of their cell phones and purses at a traffic light prior to our arrival – thus explaining why were were unable to contact them.
The shower was co-ed and attended by all of the family and friends (grandparents and kids alike). After attending the shower we attended a bar together.

Secure gate

The next day the wedding did not begin until 8 or 9 in the evening so Carlos and I did some wandering around alone. At some point in the trip we ended up at a typewriter museum??? Our attempts to speak Portuguese were useless. No one could understand a word we said. Even pointing to pictures on a menu wouldn’t work because there were always more questions to be answered after we pointed.

The ceremony was in a beautiful church. The pictures I took did not do it justice.

Following the ceremony was an all night reception with a samba band and dancers. It was loads of fun. Unfortunately we booked and early morning flight to Rio so we only stayed until 4 am.

Note some of the wedding pics provided were actually taken by Kevin’s friend Chris, another guest at the wedding.