Sorry for the lack of updates, been busy catching up since I got back from France on Monday night! For once I unpacked straightaway instead of leaving my suitcase open and living out of it +wardrobe for a month. But this might also be because... I'm leaving for Bangkok on Saturday! So I'll need my suitcase to be empty again haha.
My nephew Hugo and the dog, an Irish Setter called Salto. I've mentioned this once before but here it is again:
In France they like to issue state names for cats and dogs. This means that for e.g. in 2008 the alphabet of the year is S (so 2007 would have been R) (sorry I don't know what alphabet they are at now). They'll issue a whole list of suggested names starting with S for cats and dogs. This whole practice is NOT compulsory of course, but I thought it was pretty cute. So yes the alphabet for Salto's year was S. Salto is 9 years old (same as my nephew).
Anyway pictures from my dad's house in south of France. After spending a few days in Paris we took a train down (about 3 hours) to my dad's place, which is in the countryside near a city (by near I mean like an hour's drive, which is actually pathetic considering that in an hour you can cover the whole of Singapore east to west) called Avignon.
Looking at my Blackberry.
No wireless, but Hugo wants to be a dj when he grows up -_- (nooooo not even a fireman) so I was playing my Itunes for him.
Haha Hugo insisted on getting this blow-up mini pool, which my sister eventually adopted for herself and would spend the whole day soaking in it with a magazine and her Iphone.
Our neighbours. Jean-Christophe and Maellis (I think that's how it's spelt).
Dog.
So cute!
Hahaha look at Salto's face.
Visited a castle that afternoon, which totally reminded me of The Famous Five (by Enid Blyton). I used to love reading those books! I always wanted to form my own little adventure clique with my dog too.
Oh by the way, during WWII the Germans set this castle on fire and it burnt for TEN DAYS before the situation (war+fire) was under control. 10 days leh!!
Very bloody heavy. Once it tilts one way you can feel its whole weight pulling you down. But then again I can only do 3 Inclined Pull-Ups so I'm not the best gauge.
Wandered off by myself (the management of this castle was cool like that) and found this crypt or whatever it's called! The whole room was very dark (brightened by flash here) and I quite freaked out seeing the giant sarcophagus in the middle. The Famous Five were really very brave! I mean plus they wander into deserted castles in the middle of the night to foil the plans of smugglers and etc.
Anyway see the little stairs to the hole in the wall on the right? I decided to climb in. It branches off into a few tiny passages but that didn't really seem to lead anywhere. I can't imagine how terrified I would be if I was trapped inside there though. Already crouching to go in and emerging at the other end was claustrophobic enough.
Haha Hugo didn't dare come in.
Dead end behind me. Not sure if it's like that or if it was blocked up during restoration of the castle.
INSANELY OLD HORSE SADDLES. I mean they're barely even recognisable anymore, they look more like giant dead rats.
Visited an abbey after that (monks). This is my second visit there and it's too bad we came at the wrong time because during the previous visit we got to catch the monks singing hymns, which were in Latin.
Firstly, it was very impressive to see the monks filing in and taking their respective places in the pews.
Secondly, their singing was the absolutely MOST ENCHANTING AND ENTHRALLING sound I've ever heard in my life. It was just so sweet and melodious and seemed to go on and on, filling rooms and minds till nothing else seemed to matter but just letting the dulcet tones wash over you.
I think somehow it's a little lost on adults though, because while they found it captivating too, only my nephew and I really remained awestruck and rooted to the spot.
I tried finding videos on YouTube (guess it's not that popular/common a video subject) but found nothing that struck me as much as it did that day.
The monks stand in the pews on the two sides.
Bought a notebook from the store! Yes they have a store haha. It consists mostly of products made at the abbey such as soaps, biscuits, herbs etc, as well as religious books and even comics! The comics were rather amusing, because it would be something titled like Father Jean Pierre and The Apostle, with the cover being a bearded man and military tanks in the background. They also sold things like the shoes the monks wear, as well as rosaries.
Anyway I'm pretty sure this notebook has nothing to do with the abbey, but I was very impressed by the designs they had. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo, but it's not a printed cover. As in the design is 3 dimensional, where you can feel the grooves of the petals and so on.
I have always thought that paying a lot for notebooks was stupid, and priced at 14.50 Euros this definitely ranked to me as Stupid. But it was so pretty and well done though! So I bought one.
I've more pictures from France but that'll be for another post. I've so much to catch up on here! Like I haven't seen ANY of the movies out now, and I can't believe there's even a new McDonald's Shaker Fries flavour! (which seems to cause almost everyone to sneeze/cough).
In the meantime, Alaric and Darrell both still do not even have a valid passport yet and we're leaving in 3 days for Bangkok hahaha wth. Alright bye everyone!
My nephew Hugo and the dog, an Irish Setter called Salto. I've mentioned this once before but here it is again:
In France they like to issue state names for cats and dogs. This means that for e.g. in 2008 the alphabet of the year is S (so 2007 would have been R) (sorry I don't know what alphabet they are at now). They'll issue a whole list of suggested names starting with S for cats and dogs. This whole practice is NOT compulsory of course, but I thought it was pretty cute. So yes the alphabet for Salto's year was S. Salto is 9 years old (same as my nephew).
Anyway pictures from my dad's house in south of France. After spending a few days in Paris we took a train down (about 3 hours) to my dad's place, which is in the countryside near a city (by near I mean like an hour's drive, which is actually pathetic considering that in an hour you can cover the whole of Singapore east to west) called Avignon.
Looking at my Blackberry.
No wireless, but Hugo wants to be a dj when he grows up -_- (nooooo not even a fireman) so I was playing my Itunes for him.
Haha Hugo insisted on getting this blow-up mini pool, which my sister eventually adopted for herself and would spend the whole day soaking in it with a magazine and her Iphone.
Our neighbours. Jean-Christophe and Maellis (I think that's how it's spelt).
Dog.
So cute!
Hahaha look at Salto's face.
Visited a castle that afternoon, which totally reminded me of The Famous Five (by Enid Blyton). I used to love reading those books! I always wanted to form my own little adventure clique with my dog too.
Oh by the way, during WWII the Germans set this castle on fire and it burnt for TEN DAYS before the situation (war+fire) was under control. 10 days leh!!
Very bloody heavy. Once it tilts one way you can feel its whole weight pulling you down. But then again I can only do 3 Inclined Pull-Ups so I'm not the best gauge.
Wandered off by myself (the management of this castle was cool like that) and found this crypt or whatever it's called! The whole room was very dark (brightened by flash here) and I quite freaked out seeing the giant sarcophagus in the middle. The Famous Five were really very brave! I mean plus they wander into deserted castles in the middle of the night to foil the plans of smugglers and etc.
Anyway see the little stairs to the hole in the wall on the right? I decided to climb in. It branches off into a few tiny passages but that didn't really seem to lead anywhere. I can't imagine how terrified I would be if I was trapped inside there though. Already crouching to go in and emerging at the other end was claustrophobic enough.
Haha Hugo didn't dare come in.
Dead end behind me. Not sure if it's like that or if it was blocked up during restoration of the castle.
INSANELY OLD HORSE SADDLES. I mean they're barely even recognisable anymore, they look more like giant dead rats.
Visited an abbey after that (monks). This is my second visit there and it's too bad we came at the wrong time because during the previous visit we got to catch the monks singing hymns, which were in Latin.
Firstly, it was very impressive to see the monks filing in and taking their respective places in the pews.
Secondly, their singing was the absolutely MOST ENCHANTING AND ENTHRALLING sound I've ever heard in my life. It was just so sweet and melodious and seemed to go on and on, filling rooms and minds till nothing else seemed to matter but just letting the dulcet tones wash over you.
I think somehow it's a little lost on adults though, because while they found it captivating too, only my nephew and I really remained awestruck and rooted to the spot.
I tried finding videos on YouTube (guess it's not that popular/common a video subject) but found nothing that struck me as much as it did that day.
The monks stand in the pews on the two sides.
Bought a notebook from the store! Yes they have a store haha. It consists mostly of products made at the abbey such as soaps, biscuits, herbs etc, as well as religious books and even comics! The comics were rather amusing, because it would be something titled like Father Jean Pierre and The Apostle, with the cover being a bearded man and military tanks in the background. They also sold things like the shoes the monks wear, as well as rosaries.
Anyway I'm pretty sure this notebook has nothing to do with the abbey, but I was very impressed by the designs they had. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo, but it's not a printed cover. As in the design is 3 dimensional, where you can feel the grooves of the petals and so on.
I have always thought that paying a lot for notebooks was stupid, and priced at 14.50 Euros this definitely ranked to me as Stupid. But it was so pretty and well done though! So I bought one.
I've more pictures from France but that'll be for another post. I've so much to catch up on here! Like I haven't seen ANY of the movies out now, and I can't believe there's even a new McDonald's Shaker Fries flavour! (which seems to cause almost everyone to sneeze/cough).
In the meantime, Alaric and Darrell both still do not even have a valid passport yet and we're leaving in 3 days for Bangkok hahaha wth. Alright bye everyone!
nice photos! :)
ReplyDelete+ good camera didnt hurt haha
I cant do 3 inclined pull ups hahaha
ReplyDelete