12 October move to Grenoble
Move to Camping 3 Pucelles. (€23,44 ***)
Today was hot and stressful as we tried to find a Peugeot dealer with time to mend the camper. Our next free appointment is in one month…
The online Peugeot booking system.
11 October Saint-Christopher’s Caves
The entrance to the 1st cave. (Saint Christopher’s Caves)
Mind your head!
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This way?
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Just produced by dripping water.
Good to come out into the sunshine.
10 October walk to the Roman bridge
Walking across the valley.
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Kim snapping the „pont romain“.
Until 1860, when the Duchy of Savoy was annexed to France, this bridge served as a border between the States of Savoy and the Kingdom of France.
Great to be in the forest again.
Friendly trees.
9 October lazy day
We lounged around most of the day and strolled around in the evening.
The river next to our campsite.
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8 October lazy day – apart from the washing
25°C and a blue sky from dawn to dusk.
7 October walk to Chapelle Béatrice de Savoie
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Lunch is ready.
The trees are nicely wrapped up although it’s quite warm today.
Nice view of the Chartreuse national park.
Blue sky all day!
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6 October drive to entre deux guiers
Nasty yellow light lit up just before we arrived at the Arc en Ciel campsite. (€17,50 ****)
A charming French mechanic in the village fixed it promptly with his automatic diagnostic box. Let’s hope it stays fixed!
5 October Walk into Dijon
The river Ouche offers a quiet route into Dijon, if you ignore Gerhild’s loud new bag.
Nice leafy head in the old town.
Posh house.
Interesting puzzle for rue Musette.
In the Palais des beaux artes (free entry).
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Why are images of baby Jesus never childlike?
So what time is it?
Time to walk back to the campsite.
4 October lazy day
The sun was shining today, so we walked beside the lake and did a bit of reading.
In the river Ouche this morning.
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Kim is reading “A dead man walking” by J. D. Kirk.
Gerhild is still reading “Gute Nacht Tokio”.
3 October drive south to Dijon
Today we leave Reims and its cathedral.
Bye, bye.
OUCH! Paid €41,90 to drive for 2 hours on the motorway today. Have reprogrammed the Sat-Nag to stop that from happening again.
Checked in to Camping Du Lac Kir (€17,34)
Now we have left the Champagne region for Burgundy, so we had to try the local wine – quite fine.
2 October Vranken Pommery domain
The grand entrance steps down to the Vranken Pommery cellars, cut out of the limestone beneath Reims. The Romans started digging pits for building materials and Madame Pommery had tunnels dug between the pits. Cold and moist, just right for storing champagne.
116 steps down, which is about 30 m underground.
Mme Pommery employed a sculptor to brighten the place up for Victorian visitors.
Who knows where these bottles will end up?
The snazzy overhead conveyor system to carry the wicker baskets loaded with bottles.
Some modern art in one of the enormous pits to entertain 21st century visitors.
Mixing the old with the new.
A heart still beating 30 metres underground.
No, not snow, feathers!
Relaxed after a cool glass of Pommery champagne.
1 October A walk from Mailly-Champagne
Today we drove across the hills where Champagne vines grow, looking down at the river Marne.
We parked next to the Salle des fêtes in Mailly-Champagne.
Here’s the walk.
The grapes have already been harvested.
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Great autumn colours.
Some fantastic work by David Lachavanne.
They used to make bricks here, so this is the Venus de Mailly.
30 September move to Épernay
After a peaceful night, we had a misty start in the forest today.
Looks a bit autumny out of the window.
Is there such a thing as a fog rainbow?
Now what is in there?
Mmmmmmm, that looks good!
Just as we were starting to relax. Gerhild complained that the kettle wasn’t working. An ultralight aircraft with 2 people on board had cut an overhead high-voltage line with a huge bang and then fell into the Marne river near our camp site (€25 ****). One of the victims was rescued by bystanders, then the fire brigade arrived really quickly with rescue divers. Relax, huh!
29 September Court Circuit – Vent des Forêts
Today we did the shortest walk from Vent des Forêts Court Circuit.
Nice parking spot in the forest.
A magic tree to start off. Table des vents.
A non walkable circuit.
Gerhild’s favourite – Ad Agio for Swings.
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Great trees in this forest.
28 September lazy day
Kim is reading “The Man Who died Twice” by Richard Osman.
Gerhild’s reading “Gute Nacht Tokio” by Atsuhiro Yoshida.
We listened to an interesting podcast featuring Ferdinand von Schirach.
27 September 3 fountains walk
This walk is part of a long term art project called Vent des Forets. Some of the works have suffered a bit over the years.
We had a good walk around the forest, it was a bit hot, but in in the shade of the trees it was nice and cool.
Nature’s art.
Picnic in a 100 year old bomb crater.
Champignons (made of barbed wire!)
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Salut pour tous . There is a video to go with this.
26 September a lazy day
Nothing special today.
Just lazing around in the shade of the trees next to the river Meuse.
25 September up the Meuse valley
Today we drove to Camping Esperance (€15 *****) in Villers-sur-Meuse.
Of course, we had a delicious picnic along the way – some baked bread with goat’s cheese and herbs.
This is our new campsite, Camping Esperance, right next to La Meuse. If you look very carefully you can see Kim and the camper.
“Tales of the Riverbank” from Kim’s childhood.
24 September more puppet festival
Got up really early for this very poor show.
Pinocchio looks a bit worried about this strange man.
Rats doing some classic songs.
Very stylish skeleton girl.
Last show Avatara.
23 September the Puppet Festival
Habite-moi in a theatre.
There’s tons of stuff going on in the street, some large
… some small.
Some on stilts.
Some waiting to be called.
Ding in a theatre.
22 September move to Charleville-Mézières
Today we left Clervaux
to go to Camping Du Mont Olympe €15,88 walking distance to centre and
the festival. (Festival website )
The Great Puppeteer clock, solemnly announcing that it’s 6 o’clock.
What’s that?
It’s a dragon!
But quite harmless really.
21 September The Family of Man
The exhibition.
Chateau Clervaux.
There is only one man in the world
and his name is All Men.
There is only one woman in the world
and her name is All Women.
There is only one child in the world
and the child’s name is All Children.
CARL SANDBURG
Romance!
Marriage.
Children.
Living with children.
School.
Shopping.
Gardening.
Celebrating.
Ageing.
The next generation.
Excellent design in the exhibition.
Couples.
Another couple.
20 September move to Clervaux in Luxembourg
Drove to Camping Clerveaux (***** €27.50) via Bernkastel-Kies and the very unsightly High Moselle Bridge which IMHO wrecks the beautiful Mosel valley . . .
Nice campsite next to the river Clerve.
Look what the “Algorithm” suggested today! Fabulous!!
19 September birthday girl
The birthday girl.
18 September Schloss Lichtenberg
Schloss Lichtenberg in the afternoon sun.
Fischbachtal and two friends.
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The great white shark wanted to be in the picture too.
M. told us about her childhood in Château Thierry, home of Jean de la Fontaine who wrote the poem “The Crow & the Fox”.
The crow and the fox by Jean de la Fontaine
At the top of a tree perched Master Crow;
In his beak he was holding a cheese.
Drawn by the smell, Master Fox spoke, below.
The words, more or less, were these:
“Hey, now, Sir Crow! Good day, good day!
How very handsome you do look, how grandly distingué!
No lie, if those songs you sing match the plumage of your wing,
You’re the phoenix of these woods, our choice.”
Hearing this, the Crow was all rapture and wonder.
To show off his handsome voice,
He opened beak wide and let go of his plunder.
The Fox snapped it up and then said, “My Good Sir,
Learn that each flatterer lives at the cost of those who heed.
This lesson is well worth the cheese, indeed.”
The Crow, ashamed and sick,
Swore, a bit late, not to fall again for that trick.
17 September washing
A great day to dry the washing.
16 September walk to Neunkirchen
Beautiful day today.
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Wedding anniversitree.
The ruins of Rodenstein Castle.
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The humans moved out and the trees moved in.
15 September day off
Kim lazed around while Gerhild visited Silva in Darmstadt.
Read a spy book by Ava Glass
14 September another visitor
A niece and her favourite aunt.
Deep in the forest.
A great place for a cuddle.
Tree stump with tourist.
A green meanie is after us!
Odenwald in the autumn.
13 September visitors
A happy reunion between a nephew and his favourite aunt.
12 September Lichtenberg Forest
The great white Odenwald Idyll shark.
A nice cool spot for a cool fellow.
This is apparently a „UNESCO assisted“ forest.
A sleeping dragon waiting for a kiss to be woken from its long slumber.
A fine forest for photography.
Our evening entertainment.
11 September move to Odenwaldidyll
Today was very hot and the pool full as we arrived. As the sun set, the swimmers melted away.
Odenwald-Idyll (**** €24 / day).
10 September Lauterbach
Today there was a Volksfest in Lauterbach, which is a town with lots of timber-framed houses.
A nice detail in the town.
Oi! Let go of my nose.
Time for these 3 to go…
9 September Altenschlirf
The boys.
Jacko.
The house.
Eine Bank im Bankenviertel.
8 September Wanderweg Hünenteich
It was a beautiful day for a walk in the forest today – Hünenteich Wanderung
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A busy spider.
A shady character.
What a chaotic spider!
A secret pool in the middle of the forest.
7 September Off to Hainich National Park
After visiting the carwash it was quite a long drive through the glorious sunshine to Campingplatz am Tor zum Hainich (***** €32) next to Hainich National Park in Thüringen.
A warm and friendly evening.
Postcards
Eines Tages haben wir ein Picknick unter einem schönen, alten Schwedischen Eichenbaum gemacht. Auf einmal hörten wir eine grummelige Stimme „Das riecht aber gut!“ Vor Schreck sind wir auf den nächstbesten Ast gesprungen. „Ich bin‘s nur“ sagte die Stimme „Erich der Elch“. „Oh, hallo Erich“ sagte Gerhild etwas nervös, „wir heißen Gerhild und Kim. Magst Du vielleicht etwas essen?“. „Danke Gerhild und Kim, ein paar Selleriestangen wären genau richtig“ sagte Erich. Er nahm zwei und kaute genussvoll. „Vielen Dank“ sagte er und lief langsam und lautlos hinein in den Wald. Aus der Ferne hörten wir ein unglaubliches Rülpsen und dann herrschte Stille.
Heute trafen wir einen großen unglücklichen Bär im Wald. „Warum bist du so traurig?“ fragte Kim. „Ich kann meine kleine Freundin nicht finden“ sagte der Bär. „Wir haben einen schönen Spaziergang gemacht. Dann wurde ich müde, ich habe mich hingesetzt und auf einmal war sie weg! Ich habe gewartet und gerufen, aber sie ist nicht gekommen. Was soll ich nur tun?“ „Aufstehen“ sagte Kim. „Was?“ fragte der Bär. „Aufstehen und dann wird‘s dir besser gehen“ sagte Gerhild. Der Bär stand auf. Es gab ein lautes „Aaaah“ und da war das Mädchen, etwas zerknirscht, aber der Bär freute sich riesig. „Da bist du ja!“. Sie umarmten sich und wir sagten tschüss.
Heute war ich nach einem Spaziergang müde und hatte mich gerade hingesetzt als zwei kleine norwegische Trolle auftauchten. „Platz machen für die Trollprinzessin!“ rief der eine. Ich wusste nicht, was ich machen sollte, die Füße hoch heben vielleicht? Ungeduldig, schnippte er mit den Fingern und die Bank wölbte sich nach oben! Die zwei schlenderten gemütlich unten durch, Gerhild lachte und ich staunte. Kurz bevor sie hinter einem Stein verschwanden, schnippte er wieder mit den Fingern und die Bank sank wieder nach unten. Mit Trollen ist wirklich nicht zu spaßen.
Seit ein paar Tagen sind wir ganz in der Nähe von einem Gletscher und heute ist das kalte Eis in der sehr warmen Sonne geschmolzen. Und auf einmal trampelte eine Mammut Familie um die Ecke! „Es ist so heiß“ sagte Papa Mammut. „Dieses wollige Fell“ klagte Mama Mammut. „Törööö“ rief Baby Mammut. „Kommt mit“ sagte Kim „ich kenne ein paar freundliche Bäume und sie spenden uns gern kühlen Schatten.“ Sie kamen zu uns unter die Bäumen und Gerhild organisierte rasch drei Eimer Eistee. Nach einem netten Plausch verschwand die Sonne hinter dem Berg und in der Kühle konnten sie sich wieder auf dem Weg machen. Aus der Ferne hörten wir „Törööö“ und dann war alles ruhig.
In den Bergen trafen wir heute einen großen Bär. Ich hatte Angst, aber der Bär war sehr freundlich. Er hieß Bobling. „Ich bin ein Eisbär“ erklärte er stolz. „Ich mag Eis. Besonders Vanilleeis, aber Waldbeereis geht auch.“ „Eis, stotterte ich, wir haben leider nur Käsebrot dabei, aber da oben habe ich blaues Eis im Gletscher gesehen.“ „Schlumpfeis“, rief der Bär, „mein Lieblingseis!“ Plötzlich drehte er sich um und lief auf allen Vieren davon. Ich setzte mich und wischte die Schweißperlen von der Stirn. „Trink eine Tasse Tee, sagte Gerhild, und dann machen wir uns auf den Heimweg.“
Der Troll hat irgendwie gehört, dass unsere Norwegenreise zu Ende geht und hat schnell eine Abschiedsfeier hergezaubert. Auf einer kleinen Insel hat er alle eingeladen, die wir hier getroffen haben. So unterschiedlich wie sie waren, haben sie sich alle gut verstanden. Die Trollprinzessin hat ein Lied angestimmt und alle haben mitgesungen. Der Eisbär hat gebrummt, die Mammut Familie hat trompetet, der Elch hat „Muh“ gesungen, und Kim „La la la“. Gerhild hat mit den Füßen gewippt und der Braunbär hat laut mitgesummt. Ein Krebs ist aufgetaucht und hat sich über den Lärm beschwert. Es war lustig! Nun fahren wir weg mit der Fähre und denken daran, wie schön es war.
22 July Nordart
The East is red by Liu Ruowang
Original Sin by Liu Ruowang
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Mr. Pinocchio by Liu Ruowang
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Quo vadis by David Černÿ
By Samuel Salcedo, Spain, Pinball Wizard?
Dejo Denzer, Germany, Shoe Character Heads I-XII
By Dejo Denzer
By Erdil Yagaroglu, Türkiye, Big Dreams
By Ayla Turan, Türkiye, FRAGILE
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XIANG Jing, Dress Up
By Gaby Fey, Germany, Save Our Souls – SOS
What a sandwich!
By Michal Jackowski, Poland, Sticky Pink
By Michal Jackowski, Poland, Empty Gold Man
By Villu Jaanisoo, Estonia/Finland, Goethe
Stopped for the night at Campingplatz Dreenkrögen.
21 July Emil Nolde‘s colours
Today we visited the Emil Nolde museum in his house (thanks Dagmar).
One of his famous mountain postcards.
The farmhouse down the road.
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Look at those colours!
The garden is pretty colourful too.
Not to mention the interior decor.
Our campsite in Rendsburg is in a nice location.
20 July Windy walk along a dyke
It was very windy this afternoon.
The sheep didn’t seem to mind.
A strange wood just below the dyke.
Sweetcorn swaying in the breeze.