Weekly Winners, the Normandy Bridge

For this week's Weekly Winners I took some pictures of the Normandy Bridge.
Remember, I posted a You Tube video of it, two weeks ago.
I tried to capture it from every possible angle,
we even ignored " no trespassing signs"
just to get the last series at the bottom of this post!
So here we go ...

When we came back, we had very good weather ...
But the bad weather pictures we took
on our way up turned out better,
you'll see what I mean in a minute or so.
This is the bad weather on our way up.
It was the first glimpse of the bridge we got,
as we were paying our five euro toll money.




See, this does look better with good weather.
Right?


This is how bad the weather was on our way up.
Lucky for us, it was a little bit further away,
we were not really in it!


We wanted a little bit more than just the usual pictures
of the crossing of the bridge,
and we tried to find a different angle.

We ignored a "no trespassing" sign,
and drove along this road for a while,
to get you these magnificent pictures.
(Forgive me, I'm rather proud of these!)
That dark sky really adds to the drama, I think.



This is what you get with good weather ...
Hmmm, not bad, but the next one is much much better!

And this is my ultimate "bad-weather-Normandy-Bridge" picture,
I saved the best for last! ( I think? )
I never would have imagined
bad weather pictures to come out better?!



This is my weekly Winners for this week!
Don't forget to visit the others at Lotus's blog!
I'll be doing this tomorrow,
and I'll do an update on Quilly's ABC as well.
I really haven't got much blogging time today,
we are celebrating my mother's 75th birthday,
and mother's day at the same time, so ...?
Please, please please forgive me,
I'll be visiting all of you on Monday, OK?
See you!!!

Photohunt " J ... for Jeanne d' Arc

Photohunt wants me to publish any picture today.
I joined Quilly's ABC photo meme as well,
so I'll have more than one picture here today.


This ruin is part of the prison where
Jeanne d' Arc was held captive on her way to her trial.

Vist the other Phothunt players here.



J is for Jeanne d' Arc .


It's always nice to have a historical feature
if you own a restaurant, especially in France.


We had lunch in this cute restaurant, called Jehanne d' Arc.


There was this wall in the back of the garden,
it's the other side of the prison wall!
Now if you ask me, it seems to me Jeanne d' Arc
... was held prisoner in numerous places, all over France!

But I bet our food was better than hers!
Visit the other ABC players at Quilly's blog.

ABC in pictures .... I is for Ice Cream

I is for ice cream and innocent tourists
who were being ripped off in London ...




Remember how I took a trip to London with my sisters?
My youngest sister and I were having this instant craving
for ice cream when we saw the ice cream car.
We ordered two medium ones because, you know ...
... small ones were just not big enough!
Our greediness got punished, because we had to pay FIVE pounds for them.
We were of course being ripped off as tourists,
five pounds is a lot of money for ice cream isn't it?
My sister Lena told us we'd better enjoy them,
as they must have been made out of liquid gold!
But when I turned around I saw this....

The Tower of London!

This is when I said " but of course sis,
it is a lot of money, but after all,
it IS an ice cream with a view, don't you think?
You have to pay for the view as well, don't you ?


Look?
I snapped a picture of it with the Tower behind it.
Yeah, I know I take pictures of everything, but still ...

We almost wet our pants giggling over this!
At least I got the picture!

The last two pictures were taken by my other sister Lena,
I guess she wanted some evidence of our sillyness?


I know I have told this story before.
It was in the early days of Nablopomo,
but I thought it would be a nice story for I.
I dug it out of the archives,
dusted and polished it a little re-edited it ...
here it is, the most expensieve ice cream ever!


Go over to Quilly's blog
and find out what the other players have posted!

Quilly's ABC in Pictures, an Update ...

I joined in a little later than the rest of you,
so I'm doing an update with the letters I've missed.
All of the pictures were again taken
on my recent trip to Normandy by the way!

A is for ... alley.
I saw this alley in Honfleur, the first day of our visit.

B is for .... boat .

C is for ... carroussel

D is for .... decoration.
E is for ... exelling.

Maybe a little explanation to that last picture.
We visited a cider farm, and while we were waiting
I snapped a few pictures. These colourful plaques
drew my attention. I investigated them a little closer and learned
they were vintage plaques, prizes this farm had obtained
over the years for the cider they make.

These are very old ones from the the fifties and even the thirties.
Click to enlarge this one, you'll be able to read them better!

That it for now, I'll be back later today with my "I" picture!
Please visit the others at Quilly's blog!

ABC in Pictures, H ... is for High tea, Hens and Hats!

H is for .... High tea and hats.

On one of my photostrolls through Antwerp, I came across this window.
The old fashioned display in the shop and the hats caught my eye.
Not that I'm a hat lady, not at all I'd say, it just made a pretty picture.
Just now, writing this post, I got curious, and googled on the name on the window.
I found out that the lady who designs the hats and runs the shop
also organizes high tea hat trying sessions!
Groups ( from two up to fifty people) can come to her shop, try on hats,
while enjoying a high tea! Check it out here!
I think it's a great idea for a hen's party, ( wich is an H too, incidentally!) hehehe!
Anyway, it makes a great post for H!

Visit the other ABC players here!

Thursday Thirteen, Thirteen Features of Normandy

I'm sharing thirteen features I loved about Normandy this week.
It's such a pretty country, and it has so many treasures ...


1. Sea food, I could eat sea food every day,
well, as a matter of fact ... we did!


2. Cider, a sparkling wine made from apples.


3. Calvados a brandy distilled from cider.


4. Camenbert cheese made in the old fashioned way at he farm.


5. Pont-l'Evêque, Livarot cheese or the one riped in Calvados.
Thank God for "Lait Cru" cheese, the unpasturized ones have much more flavour!

6. Green pastures,


7. with beautiful wildflowers,


8. and gorgeous cows grazing on them


9. Apple trees in blossom ...



10. Boats and beaches, the sea is never far away either.


11. Narrow alleyways and tiny streets,


12. in gorgeous towns and cities.

13. Old farmhouses and broken down sheds

Ewww!! One too many?
Counted wrong again? Oh well, it's a bonus!
13+ Some very cute restaurants and places to eat ...


Don't forget to visit the other Thirsday Thirteen players
at the homeblog of Thirsday Thirteen!

ABC in pictures, G is for ....

If you're looking for my Wordless Wednesday entry,
please scroll down to the next post!



G is for .... grocery store.

This one looks exactly like the kind of store
my grandmother took me to when I was a kid.


Visit Quylly's blog for more ABC pictures.