Berlin - Street Art

No need for words

Official Berlin

The City Hall with umbrellas against the crisis

The old church opposite the City Hall

The museum island

The Cathedral

Of course, the Brandenburg Gate

The Reichstag/Bundestag, with its Dome

The buildings around the Reichstag are very modern

among them, the main station

Check Point Charlie

a portion of the wall turned into an exhibition called "topology of terror". Explaining how nazism was able to take over.

Those buildings are a water tower.

A little overview.

Ooops, Picasa and Blogger had a little disagreement, and did not show the picture of the guys in the previous post.  This is fixed, and the post makes more sense... Sorry...

Let's start our trip with an overview. 

And this amazing pillar.

This is what we could see from the surrounding windows

See the flag? you are right, this is Berlin, Germany.

From the roof of the Reichstag building, now hosting the Bundestag.

Some more views, this time in the morning, from the TV Tower, the highest building in Germany, from the rotating dining roomwhere we were having breakfast while watching Berlin.

More pics soon!

Back from vacations

I spent a wonderful week away from home, with my daughter Amandine.
We met a lot of nice guys:

Tell you more soon!

Karellis

This past weekend, I went to Les Karellis, in the Maurienne valley, to attend a series of conferences over three days. I left the sunny and hot Provence for a glimpse of winter. As we arrived, the village was in the clouds. I could not see any mountain. And it was snowing...
No big deal, I was to stay indoors for the conferences.
On the third day, this is what I discovered:

Chances are that I go back next year. If so, I'll try to go a few days before the conferences start to enjoy that landscape.

Have a good week all!

Lunch time in the Panier

"Panier" means "basket" in French.
This part of Marseille dates back to 600 BC. It is the place where migrating people would settle when arriving in Marseille. It is the oldest part of the town.
Once upon the time, in the 17st century, there was an inn. Its sign was a basket. The street where it was, then the whole neighborhood, became known as the Panier. The name has remained till now.

A painting of the harbor as it was.

Celebrating the local liquor.

and the local beer, named after the Cagoles. Those ladies work was to peel oranges and figs. A dirty job, if you do that all day long. They wore a hat (cagoule) to protect their hair, hence their name "Cagole". They were young, eager to have fun, their clothes were always dirty. Quickly "Cagole" became the synonym of a woman with little moral, and poor taste. The name is still used today, often in a friendly way.

Samples of local appetizers (olive pasta, tomatoes pasta, tomato crumble, ...).

And to finish, a glorious view on the harbor and the church that protects Marseille.

Take care, and enjoy the end of the week!

Cables

For Xmas, I was given this Knit Wear issue. I enjoyed it very much, not only for the patterns, but also for the technical articles in it. I've learnt a lot of things already. And the cover pattern, awwww, isn't it beautiful.
Until now, I have been scared of cables. I don't master all the English knitting abbreviations.  Besides, it is quite hot. but I'm in love with that capelet. So what am I to do? Right, I just have to give it a try. I have nothing to lose, don't I. Just a bit of yarn and time...

So I took a deep breath, prepared a few translations of those mysterious symbols, grabbed my needles, my row counter (what a wonderful tool!) and tada:

It took me only two weeks. I enjoyed the process, and I'm rather proud of myself.
And I do recommend it. 
PS Don't tell my daughters, I think they had something in mind when they bought that issue "for me"... :-)
I would not be suprised if they'd tell me the color they want in their comment :-)
PPS I've fell in love with cables too...