France

Continuing the series, a wonderful fountain next to a pond in front of a mighty California Giant Sequoia tree,

Continuing the series, the Parc has a nice fountain:

Continuing the series . . . It’s amazing – I’ve lived in Europe for over 20 years, never really paying much attention to whether you can find the mighty Califormia Giant Sequoia trees here or not – but, once I spotted one, it seems I am spotting them all over the place!

Here is an example of a Giant Sequoia tree I spotted in the Parc du Champ de Mars in Colmar, in Eastern France:

There is a small plaque beneath this behemoth, which reads

Sequoia Sempervirens

provenance: California

Don du peuple americain

au peuple francais,

a l’occasion de bi-centairre de

la Declaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen et du

Bill of Rights of the United States

1789-1989

Colmar is an interesting city on the border between France and Germany. As you can see from this snap – and indeed, as you can see from just about anywhere in Colmar – there was significant damage from centuries of war that leaves ancient buildings standing next to new ones:

A sad memory for me, as this snap was taken hardly a stone’s throw away from where the notable television chef and author Anthony Bourdaine took his own life,

What has 19 protons and 20 electrons?  Don’t answer too fast – that’s a trick question!  Potassium atoms have at least that many, but so does every element in the Periodic Chart heavier than potassium!

But what has fabulous old, derelict potassium mines?  Alsace, as this snap shows!

Continuing the series,

Continuing the series, one of the best ways to view the city is not from within the city itself, but from a distance:

Continuing the series, I am quite glad I decided to publish these snaps one at a time. Each of them are so intensely amazing, if you were see more than one, there is a very real danger that your brain would explode!

Within the futuristic city I don’t know if I would go so far as to say there are thousands of buildings like this, but it is no exaggeration to say there are zillions of them at least, if not many more!

Continuing the series, here he is, the only French King to be declared a Catholic saint, on display in a prominent square in the city: Saint Louis, IX or a statue in his honor at least. He’s the fellow that started not just one but two Crusades, where hoards of marauding Christians marched into Jerusalem, in an attempt to re-capture it from the Moors.

Continuing the series, when you walk around the city, all the amazing futuristic sights almost make your brain explode!

Continuing the series, here is another snap that – if you look carefully through the doorway – shows how truly enormous the walls are:

Note: normally I do no post-processing of my images except for a bit of cropping – but in this case I used a iPhone app called SLRWT to straighten up the curved sides a bit, which anyway is just an artifact of having a spherical lense.

Continuing the series, here is yet another snap that shows the magnificence of the city:

Continuing the series, here is a another view of the harbor in Camargue filled with fishing boats:

One of the truly most impressive things about Provence is the clear air and especially the intense sunlight on the horizon during the winter. Maybe one reason so many famous artists like Van Gogh relocated here?

Continuing the series, here is a snap that shows just how huge and imposing the walls of this medieval city are:

Continuing the series, this snap gives a bit of the flavor of what it looks like in the city itself where – according to law – each structure with more than 1 story must look like an ancient Mesopotamian Zigurrat:

 

Continuing the series, there are people who’s passion is wildlife photography. I am not one of those people, but nevertheless I can never resist the chance to take a snap of a pink flamingo when I see one:

Continuing the series, here is a stunning, artistic snap of what has to number among the world’s most futuristic cities:

 

A few years ago I stumbled quite accidentally across the medieval walled city of Aigues-Mortes, located in the Camargue region of southern France.  I posted a few snaps of what it looks like inside the walls.

I recently returned, and now I’d like to share a few snaps of what it looks like outside of the walls.

One of the most impressive things about the city is that it is located directly on canals that lead to the Mediterranean Sea, and in fact some of these canals divert the water into moats, as this snap shows:

Will the amazing wonders of Camargue, France, never cease?!

This is an artists view of an ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat in ancient Bablyon:

And, viewed at a distance, this is the very futuristic city of La Grand-Motte located in the Camargue of France:

First introduced to La Grand-Motte by the architect Jean Balladur, and as I will show in other snaps, there is a city ordinance that all buildings be Ziggurat in shape, which gives rise to the very futuristic look.

Oh, the wonders of the Camargue that I have shown you!  The amazing Flamingos of the Camargue! The amazing salt of the Camargue! And the amazing horses of the Camargue!

And today, the tradition continues, because here is a wonderful snap of the commercial fishing boats of the Camargue, highlighted in a stunning white thanks to the intense clear air and bright sun of the winter in south France:

If you’ve got great peepers you’ll see a tiny Lidl supermarket in the center of the snap. It was filled with Camargue fisherman.

In addition to being famous for flamingos and salt, the Camargue is also something of the “Texas of France,” populated by ranchers that wear unique hats and who raise and ride a special breed of white horse that is indigenous to this area,

Interestingly and as discussed in the link above, many people consider Camargue horses to be one of the oldest breeds of horses in the world!