Poitiers

This is a view of Poitiers from leaning out Jess's third story window. Such a pretty city.

Happy Birthday

Awesome people do not just grow on trees. They must be carefully selected from the rest of the merely mediocre ones that you see everyday. When you're lucky enough to know three of them, then you have really got something. And when three of the awesomest people you know where all born on the same day? Well, it just boggles the mind.

Christine, Jess, and Ben: I hope you have a mind-bogglingly awesome birthday!

Lost in a Japanese Garden: Are We Still In France?

Jess and I went exploring in Nantes using the awesome rental bike stations that have popped all over metropolitan areas in France. (Only 1,50 Euros for an hour and a half!) We followed our trusty city map directions to the Île de Versailles – which looked promising – and we found ourselves in a Japanese garden wonderland.

Vingt-trois

One of my last days in France Jess took me to an art collective in Poitiers called Vingt-Trois (or twenty-three). When you hear the word "art collective" you usually think of pot-luck dinners, unwashed hair, and communist literature. This commune definitely contained the usually suspects. An eardrum-splitting reggae band performed in the basement and the girl in the picture below had a silk-screen printing operation strapped to herself so that she could walk around and "sell" prints. I say sell, because they would give these away to anyone for the price of a hug. She had a train of helpers following her around with a clothesline of drying prints for passerbys to peruse. One of my favorite things was the wall grenouille (frog) that Jess posed in front of for me.

Île de Ré day

These are some pictures from when I went to the Île de Ré, a picturesque island off the coast of western France near La Rochelle. Jess and Ted and I jumped into our rental car and picked up some friends of mine, Lee and Laura, for a day of wandering and beach-combing.  First, we stopped by an old abbey, abbaye Notre-Dame-de-Ré, also called des Châteliers, in search of the perfect picnic spot.










This old stone abbey provided the perfect wind shelter, since the Île de Ré, while absolutely gorgeous, can tactfully be described as blustery.


We walked through Saint-Martin-de-Ré, which is one of those cute French towns full of narrow winding streets that are perfect for wandering aimlessly. At the same time, Saint Martin is too small to truly get lost, which appeases my mazeophobic side.

Jess found this awesome door knocker. The French have the most random collection of grandiose door knockers.

We also found a shop aptly named... the shop (or le magasin in French). I found it hilarious.


And of course, no trip to the Île de Ré is complete without going to the beach. Islands lend themselves to that. And the beaches did not disappoint. They were pebble beaches, which while picturesque, are a little hard on the feet.


Ouch-inducing beaches did not stop us from wading into the crystal-clear water. Chilly, but satisfying.
The beach also had these larger stones hidden in the sand. Jess constructed this rock sculpture.


What is je-ne-sais-quoi that draws people to the seaside? Is it the air? Is it the water? Is it the unparalleled splendor of the ocean? I like to think it is the splendor. What ever is it, I am missing the Île de Ré today.

Horses

I know that I've put this second picture up before, but I feel like it makes more sense when you see it in context with the picture above. First of all, baby horses are so cuuuuute! I was a little obsessed with all the baby animals on our trip to Ireland. I mean, who can look at a baby sheep and not want to pet it? Baby haters – that's who. Second of all, I love this picture of Jess. Missing from this picture is the apple that she had just been biting into pieces that the horse is now happily devouring. The expression on Jess's face is priceless – even more priceless, because I know there is a picture out there of 3 year old Jess making the exact same face.

Seeing double: Gazpacho time!

Melon gazpacho is a dish best served cold – like revenge. Or so I am told. These pictures have nothing at all to do with revenge and have everything to do with me playing around with different filters on Photoshop. The posterizing filter used here lends a choppy quality that helps tone down the blurriness of the original photo. Plus that gazpacho was really tasty! I like the effect even more on the picture below. It almost looks like a comic book.

Angel hair

This is a picture of my friend Jess. Isn't she pretty?! I love the light in this picture.

Den Haag

The Netherlands was filled with bicycles – dear goodness there were bicycles! I was there with two of my very good friends, Ted and Jess. Then there was also some shenanigans at the Escher museum. And lastly the giant pile of sandwiches. So many sandwiches!

Anyone need a caterer?

Jess and I prepared this sumptuous dessert plate for the Mother's Day Brunch at her house. Let your eyes feast on our café gourmand! First there is a shot of espresso, followed by a salted caramel macaroon, then a peach and custard tartelette, fresh whipped creme in the right corner, next creme brulée in the far corner, then vanilla ice cream topped with peach puree and caramel sauce, and finally fresh peach slices. Magnifique!

Ireland Extravaganza

Came back from Ireland two weeks ago and the only thing I can say about Ireland is that it is amazing. Amazingly cold in February, unfortunately, but still amazing.

This trip to Ireland was the first longer vacation that I have taken where I could only take a backpack along. And thanks to super-strict baggage policies, it was really only a small backpack. My trip was only two weeks long, however a longer trip would not have really necessitated bringing more stuff along. The only thing that I wish I had left behind were my running shoes, since I was more busy bike riding than running. I also wish that I had brought more underwear along, because washing and drying underwear took up more of my time than I would have liked.

Jess and I started out our trip in Galway.

 

We climbed on the rocks, but it was sooooo foggy that even right next to the beach, we couldn't see the water.

Then we visited the aquarium, which had the second-best touch tanks that I have ever seen. Jess was very entranced with the giant sting ray.

We then traveled out to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands, where we rented bikes.

We visited Dun Aonghus (pronounced like Angus), which is a prehistoric fort. See the explanation in Irish!

 

The fort has these weird square stones that looked fake.

Dun Aonghus was right next to the ocean and you could walk right up to the edge of the cliff. A wee bit scary!

There were also very pretty beaches, but it was too cold to even consider going swimming.

We also saw horses!

We also headed south to Killarney and the man that we rented bikes from insisted on taking our picture.

He also told us to bike up this hill, and halfway through we both wanted to die, but the view from the top was totally worth the pain!

We biked around part of the lake, but didn't have enough time to make it all the way around.

We also visited the Jameson distillery in Dublin.