"Still alive - I'm back". Not sure what this is about but I've seen it in many places around town. Any ideas?
Last week fellow Avignon blogger Michel and I attended a wine tasting fair at the Popes Palace conference center (Espace Jeanne Laurent) : Côtes du Rhône, Gigondas, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, do these names mean anything to you? Michel produced a very nice account of the event here - so good I felt I had nothing to add. So my only contribution (a week later) will be this outdoor shot of the conference rooms' huge glass wall and a tightly cropped detail of a wine bottle. I'm glad no-one paid me for my little reportage - they wouldn't have been impressed (Oh and BTW, "vignerons réunis" means "united winemakers"). Have a great weekend everyone.
In France, doctors and lawyers traditionally hang a brass plaque with their name on at their door. The format is invariably the same and the rule is it must be polished to a warm shine. I wonder how many young doctors or lawyers ever thought of doing things differently ? But when you're young, you need to establish your credibility and the plaque in its sacred format appears to be an indispensable sign of respectability. And so the tradition lasts. Anyhow, I'm always fascinated by the reflection opportunities these golden rectangles provide, transporting me into a realm of distorted fantasy. Let the others be serious - I'm a dreamer.
At the Lambert Collection, Avignon's contemporary art gallery, birds fly freely. You can catch a glimpse of their flight through the glass doors. (I have a question to you: The first photo is a tight crop of the second one. Was it worth showing or was the larger view enough? I like the pattern drawn by the sun on the curtain)
Collection Lambert is located next door to the Avignon art school I showed you yesterday.
L'art au pouvoir : Power to art.
Avignon Art School seen from Boulevard Raspail (entry is at the back through Rue Violette)
Today is the third day of spring, apricot and peach trees are in bloom.
In conjunction with the large demonstration that took place on Thursday, an action in favour of the homeless was organised by The children of Don Quixote. This French NGO made a breakthrough during the winter of 2006 by distributing red tents to the homeless people of Paris and organising them to camp as a group along the banks of Canal Saint Martin. They also invited ordinary citizens to come and stay in one of those tents for a night or more so they could experience life in the streets for themselves and also express their solidarity with the homeless.
En conjonction avec la manifestation de jeudi dernier, l'association Les enfants de Don Quichotte est venue planter ses célèbres tentes rouges au pied des remparts d'Avignon. Depuis son premier campement citoyen durant l'hiver 2006 le long du canal Saint Martin, cette association n'a jamais cessé de défendre activement la cause des sans-abri. Malheureusement depuis deux ans la situation ne s'est pas améliorée : les pouvoirs publics n'ont guère fait progresser les choses et la crise économique vient encore aggraver la précarité. Selon un sondage effectué en décembre 2008 pour le journal télévisé de France 2, 60% des français ont peur de se retrouver un jour SDF. Plus que jamais la cause des sans-abris et des mal-logés reste d'actualité. 
"They have the Rolex, we have the Solex" - slogan seen yesterday at the nationwide demonstration against President Sarkozy's management of the financial and economic crisis. It refers to a comment made last week by advertising tycoon Jacques Séguéla, friend of Sarkozy, who said that "if you don't have a Rolex by the age of fifty you have failed in life". I'm glad Seguela isn't holding an elected position : being governed by people who have that philosophy in life would be unbearable. This was an offensive blow to the many who will never be able to afford an expensive watch and who rather than driving a car (expensive to buy and to run) may soon have to revert to the cheap and vary basic electric bike Solex to get around. See more photos of the demonstration at Michel's. The street protest was very similar to the one I showed you on 29 January except bigger: it is estimated that 20,000 people marched in Avignon.
Answer to yesterday's quiz: several of you guessed it right, it was a reflection in a glass window of ancient make - yesterday's photo was a blow up of the bottom left square. As you can see above, two of the window panes appear to be of an old variety offering distorted vision, two in opposite diagonals have been replaced with new proper see-through plane glass. By speaking to a specialist in stained glass this morning, it appears that the technology needed to produce really plane glass was introduced around 1920, so it is reasonable to think that this window pane is older than that...
Above is the square as you would have seen it through the lens of a photographer less perverse than me, looking straight at things instead of turning her back to them seeking reflections !!!
Can you guess how this effect was obtained? No post processing, this is completely natural. Answer tomorrow with a zoom out.
A full carpet of violets: one of the hidden and delicate joys of spring.
No this isn't the Globe Trotter Festival's official poster but a vandalised shop window (Promod, rue Rappe) - I like the list of cities even though my photo is a sad extension of my earlier post about tagging. I'm sorry I have no photos at all of the 3-day festival but I was too busy with my presentation.
The vicious attack took place yesterday around 5:00 p.m. Luckily it was unsuccessful.
Our Lady, full of compassion, blessed the perpetrator, who asked for foregiveness.
Last Sunday was a most amazing day. I went for a splendid three-hour hike on the slopes of Mont Ventoux, Provence's massive mountain which culminates at 1912 metres (6,272 feet). While windy, it was a bright sunny day and I was pleased to discover tiny signs of Spring such as these delicate wild crocus flowers. But all along the snow-capped summit of the mountain lured above: can you see the white tip above my friend Louis' head up there?
That was too tempting so by mid-afternoon after the hike we drove around the mountain through vineyards and orchards (all still very bare) and then up towards the summit. Whe stopped at the Mont Serein chalet, the road hasn't been cleared any further. There's a small ski resort there and with the abundant snowfall this year skiing is still going strong. We went for a second hike there, but in the snow this time. What a change! We went from spring to winter all in one day.
Most of the shiny spots you see in the plains below are greenhouses but the glistening curve you see far away is the river Rhône near Avignon, so that gives you an idea of the distance between our town and the summit, approximately 30 kilometres as the crow flies. I showed you summer pictures of Mont Ventoux last year, see here. But for truly GORGEOUS photos of Mont Ventoux, please visit David Tatin's blog here. This is his territory and his photos are exceptional.
When I did a post a few days ago about Scenes Interieures, a shop whose facade is marred by graffiti and wild bill posting, fellow blogger Adam of Paris made the comment that "It's not like a struggling shop in a troubled area that has to deal with taggers every day". I'm afraid he's wrong. Avignon is a city that has to deal with the plight of tagging and graffiti on a daily basis. See above and below how some beautiful and ancient doors fall victim to such degradation. There you are Adam, enjoy (sigh)!
Last Saturday the Popes Palace was open to the public for free between 12:00 noon and 3:00 pm in celebration of the 700th birthday of the installation of the Catholic Popes in Avignon, an arrangement that lasted from 1309 till 1377 when the Popes' official residence returned to Rome - read more about it here. Saturday's event comprised the tasting of a "papal soup" (made from a medieval recipe I presume, quite nice actually) - see photos of that on Michel Benoit's blog and then later in the cloister the re-enactment of a medieval wedding - see below. The set used replicas of period furniture and the cast included Pope, bishop, archbishop, soldiers and nuns.
After the show, one of the actors gives an interview to catholic TV channel KTO.
Back in the fifteenth century this public square enclosed in high walls and located at the foot of the Popes Palace was Pope Urban the Fifth's orchard, hence its name of Verger Urbain V. Today the garden is merely a large esplanade covered in very fine gravel. The interesting bit is that a few weeks ago, someone arranged the gravel in lines designing huge patterns that are difficult to apprehend when you're close but must be quite striking when seen from above, just like the Nazca lines in Peru. Can you figure a stylized crested bird here, with beak, eye and wing? The other night while crossing the square with friends I met a man sweeping the gravel back into line. We walked up to him for a chat and he explained that the art work was his own, and that he enjoyed coming here to work on it at night. Although his battered clothing suggested he might be homeless, his speech revealed a good knowledge of art styles and the conversation was of high standard. I felt blessed to have met the artist and blessed to live in a city where such surprises come under foot. I went back a couple of days ago to take pictures and was delighted to find his work was well maintained. I am glad that the city council hasn't decided to have this spontaneous art removed and the gravel raked back into place.
You've got to love almond trees - in a countryside still heavily marked by the harsh nakedness of winter they are the first trees in the region to tell us that spring is on its way.
I have no idea how this waiter came to strike such an off-balance pose ? My photo isn't tilted; look at the background, it is perfectly straight. I presume it's just the speed of his course. He was indeed moving very fast.
In the second photo it's the shadow of course that drew my attention.
March 1st is Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers around the world, and our theme today is glass. You could count on me for working on reflections, couldn't you?
