Shelagh's Lens
Bringing Vancouver and the world to inspired travellers
Pink Champagne
… or, even better, the drawing to a close of another summer evening. Here at Kits Beach, while the violinist beneath her preferred tree draws her bow to tell the tale of Danny Boy, and the volleyball teams spike balls over their nets, the sun has but a minute before it’s swallowed by benevolent clouds and we toast life on the west coast.
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Your Heart Sings
… or, at least mine does, any time we happen to be at the beach when the tide is out.
After a brief roadtrip to the Okanagan Valley on Friday, we were back at our local beach yesterday and I’m clearly not the only one who delights in walking on the inlet floor and breathing in the beauty all around us.
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Evening Falls
Living in or visiting a large city, one may forego the starry skies of less urbanised areas.
Instead, visitors enjoying an evening stroll have the twinkling lights of condos/flats, which stream here down to the waters of False Creek.
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Paul
Window shopping can be fun and, as may become increasingly apparent, I enjoy the juxtaposition to be had by capturing what’s inside a shop as well as the external environment as reflected from the window’s glass.
When travelling in a new city and deciding where to eat, it’s good to take your cue from locals. On Avenue de l’Opéra, the mid-day line up outside this particular Paul (franchised in France and beyond) seemed a good indicator and so we popped in. There were a number of tempting options; we settled for berries and tasty sandwiches. You’ll want to decide whether you’d like to pay the usual premium to eat at one of the tables inside, find a spot on a bench a couple of blocks away, or eat on the run as it seemed was the case with more than a few.
Here, we have a look inside and beyond the shop window after the line ups had gone, and the boulangerie had closed for the day.
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To market, to market …
… in Barcelona’s wonderful La Boqueria, where it’s tough to decide which is better: the people watching, or the stunning array of wonderful, fresh food.
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Silver and Gold
… a great deal of which were no doubt required to design, build and maintain the beautiful suites of the Chateau de Versailles, which we in North America know as the Palace of Versailles.
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Let them Eat … Brioche
Crowds of fellow visitors aside, the Palace of Versailles is unlikely to elicit neutral reactions from travellers. Elegant and opulent by turn, and often in hand, many of the suites look out onto equally grand gardens.
I’ll post images from the gardens before long but, in the interim, let’s begin with an outsider’s look. The infamous “let them eat cake” suggestion is inappropriately attributed to Marie-Antoinette, the unpopular and unfortunate consort of Louis XVI, during the time of the French Revolution.
In fact, varying sources attribute the French phrase, “Qu’ils mangent de labroche” to Marie-Therese, spouse of Louis XIV, and Madame was apparently suggesting that the poor eat, not cake, but a rich bun or bread that is akin to cake in that its ingredients typically include butter, eggs and milk.
The Chateau de Versailles, as it’s known in French, is now readily accessible in less than an hour from Paris. You ride the Metro and transfer to a train that disembarks directly across the street from no less than a McDonald’s outlet, and you then have less than a 10 minute walk through Versailles to reach the palace grounds. Depending on the season, the time of day, and whether you purchased tickets that preclude line ups, you may then find that the process of purchasing tickets and awaiting entry to the palace easily match the ride from Paris.
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Summer Silhouettes
We’re back to summer again, during early evening at Spanish Banks. As the sun dipped behind the mountains, it cast a gentle glow across the sky and waters, creating the perfect backdrop for this young tree.
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Sun: 1, Fog: 0
While we’re enjoying gorgeous summer weather in Vancouver, here’s a look back at the sun’s winning attempt earlier this year to break through a late afternoon fog.
You’ll see, too, that a little fog doesn’t scare away our outdoorsy types!
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Alhambra: 14th Century Sophistication
If ever you have the opportunity to visit Granada, nab it – for it’s difficult to imagine being anything less than inspired and enchanted by this palace and its gardens.
While history tells us that the Alcazaba fortress here dates back to at least the ninth century, it was the Nasrid dynasty that established a royal residence here in the 13th century. Many of the sights that gave us cause to stop and admire were undertaken by Yusuf I and Mohammed V, of the 14th century, but irrigation in the form of canals was in place here here more than a century earlier.
We took a guided tour of the Alhambra, led by the gracious Juan, and were enthralled with the gardens and sophisticated irrigation systems. Then, as we and literally hundreds of others made our way through the Nasrid Palaces, somewhere between the Court of the Myrtles and the Palace of the Lions, I so enjoyed the sights that I had the dubious distinction of being that person who lost sight of her group amidst the crowds … for the balance of the tour.
While the sunset in this image casts a golden light to the palace walls, their true colour is reflected in the Arabic name from which “Alhambra” stems, Red Castle.
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