May 27

Seeing is believing.  We just jumped from winter to summer, glorious summer.  This is actually the temperature in the sun at mid-day.  I was only out to take a photo.  You know what they say about who goes out in the midday sun.

My Robin

As I was entering info into my blog I looked out the window and a Robin was taking a bath ... quite a few baths as a matter of fact.  I grabbed my camera as she flew away, then her husband hopped up to the bird bath.  But he only pruned himself and had a few drinks then flew away.  I would guess these are the same robins that wake me each morning at 4 AM with their loud chirping.

And the season starts once again.  Thursday was our first night on the links.  The weather cooperated and was hot, sunny, and NO bugs!  Couldn't ask for better golfing conditions.

Our national animal showed up to entertain us and wreak havoc on the golf course.  There are now 4 beavers and they are cutting down all the trees and damming up all the water ways.  They are trying to work out a beaver solution with the conservation people, but as yet haven't reached a successful conclusion.  So, until then, we will just enjoy their company. 

Another 747

I don't always take photos of planes but considering the Whitehorse airport only once had (two) 747's land here - and that was the two Korean 747's that had to land inWhitehorse when the Anchorage airport was closed to air traffic during 9-11 - and this is only the 3rd one that has landed here.  The Nippon Cargo plane was on-route from JFK (New York) to Anchorage when its instruments showed a fire in the cargo hold.  They made an emergency landing here and the fire trucks were called out.  Quite the excitement.  There was no fire, only a malfunction of the instrument that detects a fire (I won't think that is a good thing either!), but the plane has to remain here until technicians from Anchorage could check out the plane, so here it sits.  I do hope to see it take off as the last time a 747 took off it popped all the lights along the runway (our runway is not made wide enough for a plane that size), stirred up quite the sand storm and JUST made it into the air at the VERY end of the runway.

Oh Man !!!  I just missed it!!!  7:25 PM on Friday night this plan took off.  How do I know??  I heard a plane take off and my whole house shook.  I ran upstairs and looked toward the airport and huge billows of smoke were rising into the air.  So, I missed the departure of Nippon Cargo.  So sad.

Sunday, May 19

And this is what it looks like in my yard at 10:00 PM on May 19!!!  Yes, that is now and it should melt on contact, but it's not!  We had a high of 5 Celcius today - 5 CELCIUS!!!  The ice pellets were falling so hard today that it hurt my face as I was doing yard work on this "glorious" long weekend.  I'm trying not to wish I were still in France, but with weather like this, it is difficult enjoying the weather.  Enough griping, I'm going to bed and hopefully tomorrow will be better ... I'm digging up my garden tomorrow.

Whitehorse Eagle(s)

Apparently the Eagle Cam is up and running.  I just checked it a few minutes ago and although they stated they were having major technical difficulties, within about 30 seconds I was watching the eagle.  The eaglets were just hatched so it should be fun to keep an eye on this site.
http://www.yecleagles.com

Just want to read about our Eagle, here is the CBC Radio site with photos and an interview:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2013/05/17/north-eagle-cam-hatch.html

Here Comes the Queen

Lots of guards standing ready in front of Buckingham Palace.

Then the Queen and Prince Phillip pass by. Charles and Camilla were also in the prossession but I didn't know which carriage. 

Guards line the entire road of the Mall. They are awaiting the Royals return which would be in about one hour's time. We didn't wait. 

We wandered off to Trafalgar Square to see what was on the Fourth Plinth. It was the little boy on a rocking horse - apparently from a famous story (that I never heard). 

Thanks Deb for the photos. 

London, England

Our neighbourhood pub. It reminds me a bit of Rovers Return. We passed it this morning on the way to the underground. 

Today was the day of The Queen's Speech. That's all we heard about on the morning news. Also was the fact that Charles and Camilla were going to attend the speech in parliament - something he rarely did. She was to travel to parliament in a glass carriage. I wanted to see that but they never did say at what time all of this was happening. Then, lo and behold, we rose from underground at Hyde Park Corner to find more horses than you could count making their way to Buckingham Palace, so we followed them.  

It was at this time my camera stopped working!  So I made Debbie take lots and lots of photos, which I hope to post next. 

Memories

On our last day we must remember fondly the cafe with excellent lunch salad, our local cafe which served us our afternoon beverage, and our local supermarket at which we could purchase wine for 3.99€ AND it was superb! Could spend at least five more days here and still wouldn't see all there is to see. I am pleased that Paris has turned into a city that welcomes foreigners, makes them feel at home, and either speaks English or tries to understand it when we try to speak French. Paris was a pleasant surprise and I truly enjoy the vibrant city.

Our Last Full Day

Off to the Louvre. Again, thank heavens we per-purchased tickets. I once again just had to see the famous Mona Lisa. Of course, so did everyone else and it was a bit of a zoo by this painting, but I did weasel my way to the front for a good view. As you can see pick pockets are a big deal here and if I were one I would stand in the squeeze to see the Mona Lisa. I think even a bad pick pocket could do well there. (They also warned us of pick pockets at the d'Orsay as well as sending out a repeated request for anyone who left a parcel unattended to make themselves known - this message they repeated in about five or six different language, which made us wonder ...). Also saw the Venus de Milo, among others. When it began to get too busy we left to find a cafe to enjoy their Plat du Jour, and enjoy owe did, as usual. .

Sunday Continued still

On our way home we again passed the Centre Georges Pompidou. No line up so we walked right in. This is a centre dedicated to modern art, some very very modern, ie, a canvas painted black - and that is it - to works by Chagall, Picasso, Matisse and Warhol to name a few. The one shown below is a Warhol, obviously. After a wander around, we ended the tour with a glass of wine in the restaurant at the top overlooking Marais, a suggestion once again from Lynda. Thanks Lynda, it was expensive but worth every cent.

Sunday Continued

On our way home we passed the bridge of love locks. A couple writes their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love. As you can see there is a lot of undying love. And 'that's a good thing'.

Sunday

The kind of Sundays I like. We walked to the Centre Georges Pompidouu and saw a huge line to enter so continued on to the Louvre. I spoke to an official there and she said the wait to enter would be 3-1/2 hours as it was Sunday and the admission was free. Too long for us so we toured the grounds, walked along the Seine and made our way back to the Marais area. Found a lovely little outdoor café to lunch and continued on our way.

Shopping Day

We've been in Paris for two days now and it's time to shop. So we waked to Galeries Lafayette, famously known and well recommended. On the way we had to walk through a small passageway across the street from where we live and a very pretty passage way it is with greenery, shops and apartments. We then passed the Opera House, a glorious building and I'm told well worth a tour - but we were on a mission, so off to Lafayette. We shopped for about a half hour then headed up to the restaurant on he top floor for lunch. We were a bit surprised that we were able to easily obtain a seat. Then we're read the menu ... and we chose to eat dessert and coffee and still it cost the earth - but well worth it for the view over Paris and for the deliciousness (is that a word?) of the food! The store was glorious with a huge stained glass dome hanging over the many floors and departments within. Our shopping was a success and by the time I think all 2.2 million people of Paris were in the same store we were in, it was time to make our way home for a well deserved glass of vin rouge.

Eiffel Tower

Paris, Paris, Paris. What says Paris louder than the tower Mr. Eiffel built.

Paris

We walked through (a lot of ) Paris today. First stop Tourist Information, the first one we have found that actually gives information. We purchased our city transportation tickets and two museum tickets, one of which we visited today. We passed by the Jardin des Tuileries, the beautiful large park. The Musée d'Orsay was our first museum tour. Luckily we purchased tickets at tourist info and were able to walk right in rather than line up for one + hours to purchase a ticket. Our first stop was the restaurant (thank you Lynda Sapunjis!!) as it was noon and we were starving. We ate from the Menu du Jour and had the best salmon that I think I have ever tasted. Then were toured the museum. ... All my favourites ... Renoir, Pissarro , Monet, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec etc etc etc. this museum is in an old train station that was almost destroyed before its into an art gallery. Very inspiring. Then off to what for me says Paris. The Eiffel Tower. I can report that it is still there and still shouts PARIS.
On the way home we passed Notre Dame Cathedral, now 850 tears old
Still have the Louvre to tour but I believe tomorrow we may venture into the famous department stores to shop.

Reims

Our final stop before Paris. MAY 1st. We should know better. MAY DAY. Like our Labour Day. Almost everything is closed including some streets. There was a pedestrian street that did have a few restaurants open thank heavens. So we did eat a hearty salad for lunch.
Interestingly each town has a carousel set up in a downtown square. This one was no exception. They are always twirling around with no one on them !?!
And we were able to tour the G.H.Mumm cellars and learn about the history of champagne. Their cellars are 14 metres (46 feet) under ground, the 'caves' built of limestone which helps keep it at a constant temperature through all the seasons ( which was a bit chilly). There are 25 kilometres of cellars that belong to Mumm - we explored only about one kilometre before we returned to the surface to taste their bubbly.
Currently we are in our hotel room waiting to go out to the one street with open restaurants -about a 10 minute walk - and it is raining cats and dogs. Dinner may be late tonight.

Hautvillers continued

Just a few more photos of this quaint town. Where we purchased an excellent bottle of champagne and the cute signage posted above the doors of establishments.