A WEEKEND IN FRANCE

Posted on July 2, 2014 by gwenniesworld

We went for a weekend to France, to Dunkerque to be exact, it is just past the Belgian border in the North-West of France and by the North sea.

We took the dog with us and that turned out to be quite a handicap as the world is not really dog friendly, you can not visit one museum and in a lot of places you are not welcome with a dog, not even a tiny one. So we did a lot of walking and sightseeing.

THERE WAS THIS BEAUTIFUL SHIP IN THE HARBOUR

WE WANTED TO SEE MORE OF IT SO WE WENT CLOSER TO INVESTIGATE IT

IT TURNED OUT TO BE A HISTORICAL PROTECTED MONUMENT THAT YOU COULD VISIT ON THE INSIDE, ALAS IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE WITH THE DOG BUT WE WERE IMPRESSED WITH HOW IT LOOKED ON THE OUTSIDE

IT MUST HAVE BEEN QUITE A JOB TO GET IT TO SAIL !!!! LOOK AT ALL THOSE CABLES !!!

WE THOUGHT IT WAS A REAL GEM, BUILT IN 1901 AND IT WAS CALLED DUTCHESS ANNE AND IT WAS GERMAN BUT NOW IT WAS A MUSEUM

ANOTHER VIEW ON THE HARBOUR WHERE THERE WERE LOTS OF PLEASURE BOATS FROM ALL OVER EUROPE

OLD BUT BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS

I LOVED THIS BLUE DOOR AND THE LOVELY BOXWOOD TOPIARY

WE TOOK OUR DOG FOR A WALK ON THE BEACH, IT WAS RATHER COLD AND WINDY BUT HE LOVED IT

YOU CAN SEE THERE WERE NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE VISITING

ALTHOUGH SOME WERE VERY BRAVE !!!

Thanks for stopping by ! Have fun in your garden or on your holidays !

OLD BUT BEAUTIFUL part 3

Posted on December 29, 2013 by gwenniesworld

Isn’t time flying these last days of 2013 ! We had no real Winter days yet, except for a few light night frosts, not that I am complaining !

The sun is shining today so I’ll try and take a few pictures from the garden today. But first I’ll continue with the tree’s series that I started a while back. I met some pretty amazing tree’s on my travels and as I know some of you like tree’s as much as I do I want to share my pictures with you.

THIS ONE I FOUND IN FRANCE, A CORK TREE PERHAPS ?

THIS IS A EUCALYPTUS TREE, YOU FIND THEM EVERYWHERE IN FRANCE AND NOW THEY ARE POPULAR IN BELGIUM TOO, ALAS THEY ARE NOT ALWAYS WINTERHARDY OVER HERE

ANOTHER EUCALYPTUS

THE BARK OF A PALMTREE IN MONACO

I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS TREE THE MOMENT I SAW IT IN THE JARDIN EXOTIC IN MONACO

THIS IS A CLOSE UP OF THE BARK, ISN’T IT STUNNING !!!!???

HOW ABOUT THIS ONE ? LOOKS LIKE TE PAW OF AN ELEPHANT ! ALSO TAKEN IN MONACO

THIS IS A CACTUS TREE, THE FIRST CACTUS TREE I SAW IN MY LIFE, I DIDN’T KNOW OPUNTIA’S COULD GET REAL TREE STEMS !

A HUGE JADE TREE WITH A LOVELY STEM

ANOTHER CACTUS TREE IN MONACO

The following pictures were taken in the south of France, I found these old pine tree’s quite impressive.

With this pictures I’ll end the old but beautiful tree’s series but I’ll continue to photograph them and in the future I’ll do more of the tree’s series.

I wish you all a very happy and beautiful new year with lots of fun and inspiration in whatever it is you are doing and I want to thank you all for visiting my blog and commenting on it, I really appreciate it !!!

LA DOUCE FRANCE : LAST DAY

Posted on October 19, 2013 by gwenniesworld

All too soon we had one last day to fill before we had to go back home. We looked for a zoo in the area of La Garde-Freinet where we stayed in a beautiful B&B called le Mouron Rouge, and we found one a few kilometers further, it was a little gem !

It was a small zoo and all we knew was that it was called “exotic zoo”, and it was exotic ! Most of the animals there were exotic birds but there were monkeys and kangaroo’s, goats and deer as well BUT what made it so special for me was that the planting there consisted of bamboo, cacti and succulents !!! My favorites !!! The sun was shining, there were only a few people there and we enjoyed every minute of it. We fought for the camera as my hub wanted to take a picture of all the birds !!! and I wanted a picture of all the cacti and succulents ! We definitely need another good camera !

Here are some of the pictures we took.

THESE STATUES ARE MADE OF SPECIAL WOOD BY SOME AUSTRALIAN TRIBE WHO LIVE ON A SMALL AUTRALIAN ISLAND, THEY HAD QUITE A FEW OF THEM

A BALI SPARROW, THERE ARE MORE OF THEM IN CAPTIVITY THAN THERE ARE IN THE WILD AS THEY LIVE ONLY IN BALI IN THE WILD

THERE WERE LOTS AND LOTS OF HORNBILL BIRDS

THESE LITTLE GUYS WERE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE !!!!!

THE CAGES WERE BIG AND CLEAN BUT I AM NOT A FAN OF CAGED ANIMALS ALAS NOT EVERY ONE HAS THE MONEY TO GO AND SEE ANIMALS IN THE WILD SO FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES IF THEY ARE WELL KEPT AND IN LARGE CAGES…..

I THOUGHT THIS SMALL REE HAD BEAUTIFUL FOLIAGE, A GUM TREE MAYBE , IT DIDN’T HAVE A NAME TAG

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO UNDERSTAND FRENCH :THIS WAS A FUNNY SIGN

BEAUTIFUL YELLOW BAMBOO STEMS

A BEAUTIFUL PHEASANT

LOVELY SILVER GREY FOLIAGE

BATHING IN THE SUN

AND THIS IS THE MOTHER OF SOME OF MY FUTURE OPUNTIA’S, THERE WERE A LOT OF FRUITS ON THE GROUND SO I TOOK ONE AND THE SEEDS ARE NOW DRYING AND WILL BE SOWN IN SPRING