Flowers in Paris

For some reason, red flowers are big in Paris this year. I suspect they are big every year, but it's the red ones I've been noticing most.

© postcards from the road

Rain

Our first rainy day happened in mid August, but I'm sure there'll be many more before we're home!

© postcards from the road

Renault

Thus far on our journey, older cars have been a rare sight. This Renault R4 proudly declares itself to be from the sixties.

© postcards from the road

Quality

Dear Mum,

We are eating plenty of fresh fruit.

And in case you missed it, we finally got around to uploading some pics of last month in Scotland to Flickr! Click here if you want to see, don't click if you don't!!


© postcards from the road

Six Reflections

Reflections of Lille viewed through the triple airlock and security grille of its Opera House.

Yesterday, we finally got around to uploading some pics of last month in Scotland to Flickr! Click here if you want to see, don't click if you don't!!


© postcards from the road

Gare de Lille Europe

For some time we couldn't tell in the mushy light whether the building over the Eurostar line was actually made of a reflective material or tiled. It's tiled.

I think.

Lille

We've finally uploaded some pics of last month in Scotland to Flickr! Click here if you want to see, don't click if you don't!!

© postcards from the road

Factory

Puttering up the river on the outskirts of Lille reminded us of a few other rivers we'd travelled along, with industry and commerce taking a logical place on the main transport artery. Of course it makes for a different sort of postcard.

Lille

© postcards from the road

Downtown Lille

It's pretty easy to find pretty bits in Lille.

© postcards from the road

Goose

They are never far away, looking for a feed usually, or providing us with a ring side seat to a ring ding battle, but so far we haven't been warned off by them.

© postcards from the road

Apologies to Geoffrey Smart

It's not as though I consciously try to copy Smart's work, it's just that occasionally the things I like to photograph closely resemble the things he likes to paint.

Seagull, somewhere in Belgium.

© postcards from the road

Art

A three storey high flower pot cunningly photographed to look like a small one.

Art at the Centre Pompidou,
Paris.


© postcards from the road

Winking Dog

The French are serious about their dogs, and their rear parcel tray decoration.


© postcards from the road

Bicycle

Bicycle for a small person.

Paris


© postcards from the road

Apartments in Lille

I really like this photo! The apartments almost straddle the Lille Europe railway line and are part of a huge complex including shops and offices. I can't make up my mind whether the coloured decoration was applied as part of the original design, or whether the building was so stark it was added as an afterthought although I suspect the former.

One or two panels are peeling now, it may not be quite so pretty in a year or two.

Lille.

© postcards from the road

Waterwheel

One of the mills at Moret sur Loing.

© postcards from the road

Swan

Just another swan gliding by to say gidday.

© postcards from the road

Silver Car

Many of the commercial barges carry their own vehicles, and mostly they seem to be quite new and devoid of any signs of being frequently lifted by crane.

At each stop, the operators must decide whether to take the car or dinghy ashore.

© postcards from the road

Industry

There is not a great deal of industry lining the canals on which we have travelled to date, but even when it exists, there's something visually fantastic if not appealing.

Moret sur Loing

© postcards from the road

Unused

A couple of boats wait forlornely for some action.

Moret sur Loing

© postcards from the road

Another Blue Car

Two days in a row, two different models, this one just as carelessly parked in front of newly mown hay.

© postcards from the road