Reims, France

13th of August 2010

We started our journey in the afternoon.
We had our dinner in Louvain, Belgium, in front of the exquisite Town Hall....

From Leuven

.... and then we went on the road again, to Reims, a French city located in the Champagne-Ardenne region that lies 129 km northeast of Paris.

14th of August 2010

We wanted to see the Cathedral and visit the Champagne cellars.

Notre-Dame de Reims (Our Lady of Rheims) is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France used to be crowned.

From Reims

This Cathedral, a master-piece of Gothic architecture, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

From Reims

From Reims

What I love the most in this Cathedral?
The three portals laden with statues and statuettes.
Among European cathedrals, only Chartres has more sculpted figures.

From Reims

In the inside, a statue of Joan of Arc, the national heroine of France and a Catholic saint.
Charles VII of France was famously crowned in Reims in 1429 through the endeavors of Joan of Arc to free the country from the English.

From Reims

Outside, in front of the Cathedral, we had a nice glass of Champagne...

After this enjoyable moment, we decided to visit the Pommery cellars. This house was founded in 1858 by Alexandre Louis Pommery and Narcisse Greno.

From Reims

Louise Pommery, Alexandre's widow, built the winery into one of the most respected Champagne houses in the world.

Louise Pommery is also known for producing, in 1874, the first-ever brut (dry) Champagne.

From Reims

A curiosity...the cellars have well known city names...for obvious reasons, I took a photo of this one..;-)
La Haye (Den Haag/Haia). ;-)

From Reims

This nice visit ended with a toast to the journey we started that day... ;-)

From Reims

Cheers!!!

(I normally associate Champagne to these glamorous movies...;-)

Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Swing Time



Stay well!

Strasbourg, France

Welcome to Strasbourg! ;-)

The capital of the Alsace region in the north-eastern France, located in the border with Germany. The city's name is of Germanic origin and means "Town (at the crossing) of roads". Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions such as the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
("No, I haven't seen any Portuguese deputy." ;-)

We have begun our tour in the famous Petite France neighbourhood,
a name given by the former German inhabitants because of the numerous prostitutes who used to work there in the Middle Ages.

From Strasbourg

The timber-framing houses we see on the photos are, perhaps, the best example of the Franco-German culture fusion in Strasbourg.
Although violently disputed throughout history, the city has been a bridge of unity between France and Germany for centuries.
The University of Strasbourg, currently the largest in France, and the co-existence of Catholic and Protestant culture are the main reasons for this enjoyable sfeer.

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

Below, photos of Strasbourg's historic city centre, the Grande Île ("Grand Island"), classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988.

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

After this gezellig moment, we went to Strasbourgh's Cathedral, today the sixth-tallest church in the world.

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

This Cathedral has a life-sized group of sculptures, "Christ on the Mount of Olives", in the northern transept...

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

and, in the south transept, a 18m astronomical clock, one of the largest in the world.

From Strasbourg

This clock dates from 1843. Its main features, besides the automata, are a perpetual calendar (including a computus), an orrery (planetary dial), a display of the real position of the Sun and the Moon, and solar and lunar eclipses.

We didn't know that the main attraction was the procession of the life-size figures of Christ and the Apostles which occurs every day at 12:30pm. This walkabout also occurs at midnight.

In front of the Cathedral, we enjoyed this sweet moment...

From Strasbourg

before the lunch in Maison Kammerzell, a 1427 building, in the Cathedral's Square.

From Strasbourg

We toasted to the vacation with the Alsace typical glasses...Sante!!

From Strasbourg

...because we were about 5 hours away home...

In the souvenir stores, I found these postcards with the typical Alsace costumes...looks familiar?? ;-)

From Strasbourg

From Strasbourg

By the way, my Quiche Lorraine was delicious... ;-)

The next entry will be about our journey from Almere to Portugal.

Have a nice week!!!

One day, Three countries

We arrived to Lago Como (Italy) after 4 hours driving through several tunnels in the mountains between Monaco and Milan.
The landscape was breathtaking in spite of the many, many tunnels...
....
The breakfast was nearby the lake, enjoying the view...

This is a photo of Lago Como, where George Clooney has/had a house ( I don't know if he has already sold it)...;-)

The lake is shaped like the character "Y", is the third largest lake in Italy and one of the deepest lakes in Europe.

From Como

We went for a stroll and then on the road to Switzerland...
(The last time I was there was in 1996)....

We have enjoyed splendid views...

snow in the mountains...

From Suiça

valleys...

From Suiça

cascades...

From Suiça

lakes...

as Lugano ...just wonderful, but I couldn't take a photo, we were driving...Lugano is a glacial lake in the south-east of Switzerland, at the border between Switzerland and Italy, situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore.

or Lucerne ...a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country...

From Suiça

We had our lunch in Saint Gothard. What a view!!!
N.B.: We decided not to go by the 16 km St. Gotthard Road Tunnel. This tunnel is the third-longest in the world.

From Suiça

From Suiça

We prefered to go through the mountains, enjoying the views and then take the Col Saint-Gothard...

From Suiça

We were at 2000 m above sea level in Saint Gothard! What a breathtaking day!
I remembered it was like being in Serra da Estrela! :-))
....
In the evening, we reached our next destination, again in France, where we had our dinner...

From Andlau

An afternoon in Monaco

Returning Home....

The day after, we returned to Monaco.

From Mónaco

After the lunch at Cafe de Paris, we went for a stroll in the surroundings.

We went by these beautiful stairs....

From Mónaco

to the harbour...

From Mónaco

to enjoy the gorgeous view of the Mediterranean Sea...

From Mónaco

see the boats...

(No, it wasn't Love Boat...;-)

From Mónaco

(Yes, I became "in love" for this one...;-)

From Mónaco

and, finally, the luxuriant gardens ...

From Mónaco

From Mónaco

From Mónaco

I had a glimpse of Lisbon...;-)

From Mónaco

and then, again on the road, one more tunnel ...;-) to our next destination...

From Mónaco

Cannes, Antibes, Nice et Monaco

Returning Home...

Cannes

My first sight after parking the car nearby the beach: many, many boats and a historical building behind...

From Côte D'Azur

Looking at the beach, I saw Les Pyrenees... ;-)
You know how I love the mountains and the sea...these kind of beaches are my favorite ones. :-)

From Côte D'Azur

After a delicious French breakfast and a wonderful stroll in Grasse, I was ready to spend the afternoon in the beach.
I felt the gentle touch of the sun in my skin...What a gift! The day was shiny and pleasant! Just Perfect!
I smiled. ;-) and I sat down on the sand looking at the sea...

These photos were taken when we were leaving...

From Côte D'Azur

From Côte D'Azur

We stayed in the beach so many hours :-))...I went to the water a lot of times...I had heard a lot of Italian... ;-) Italy is nearby...
I smiled again :-) Portuguese, Italian and French...I was missing this latin sfeer...the friendly and easy way how we, ladies from different latin countries, begin to speak with each other...so nice ;-) Many smiles, a lot of smiles...

From Côte D'Azur

We ate some delicious baguettes and then, with pitty, we left...not before stopping by for a walk in the Promenade de la Croisette...

From Côte D'Azur

I love boats, you know that already...

From Côte D'Azur

We decided not to return to Grasse and have a shower, but go straight away to Monaco by the seaside...;-))

Look how beautiful it was...

Cap d'Antibes

From Côte D'Azur

From Côte D'Azur

From Côte D'Azur

Nice

From Côte D'Azur

From Côte D'Azur

From Côte D'Azur

From Côte D'Azur

VilleFranche-sur-Mer (where we stopped to dinner)

From Côte D'Azur

Monaco

Here I remembered Grace Kelly and the movie To Catch a Thief...

From Côte D'Azur

After driving in several tunnels, two of them with roundabouts (I never saw such a thing in my life), we arrived to Monte Carlo Casino...

Beautiful, isn't it?

From Mónaco

From Mónaco

Monaco is glamorous...very cinematographique...don't you think?

From Mónaco

From Mónaco

From Mónaco

Hotel de Paris

From Mónaco