Wednesday, 3 June 2015

Stepping into the past right in the heart of the village

We had our usual walk yesterday and took a route through the centre of the village. Everybody says bonjour to everybody, so when we passed this old lady standing outside her large double doors, we smiled, said bonjour and carried on walking. She called us back and we thought she needed help with something. She asked us to step in. We obliged, waiting for some request for assistance.

Nope. She wanted to show us her splendid fireplace. We looked around and found ourselves in a bar, with a counter, glasses neatly ordered behind it and the shelves stocked with bottles of booze. There were plant pots and ashtrays on the counter (smoking inside bars has been banned for a good number of years). We said we had no idea the place was a bar by looking at it from the outside. 

We remarked how cool it was inside, the building being on the shady side of a narrow road. She explained that she has been retired for many years, but in its heyday the bar was incredibly busy in the summer, as it was so cool. She told us to come to the back with her and opened some sliding doors to reveal a dining room. They had two waitresses, her husband ran the bar and the cellar because they had no fridge in those days, and she cooked.

We asked if she lived there, so she led us to a door, and behind it was a large spiral stone staircase, very much like the one in the tower. She wanted us to go upstairs, but we made some excuse and declined the invitation. Lovely Jeannine must be in her 90s and very lonely...

Then we noticed the scallop shell carving (coquille de St Jacques, Santiago in Spanish, St James in English) on the fireplace, a sign that the pilgrims were welcome there for food and rest on their way from Rocamadour to Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, Spain. The pilgrimages started centuries ago, dating back to the 12th century (1152). These days people still do it, some for religious reasons, others for the challenge. There are several routes to Compostela and the one starting in Rocamadour, passing through our village, is an important one.

A couple of weeks ago, during another walk, we noticed a young couple with backpacks. We met them later at the Café de Paris and found out they were walking the Route to Compostela. The girl was Dutch and the guy Belgian. They asked about a cheap place to stay the night and the barman suggested "La Brasserie", where TW and Irishgirl stayed when they visited us. We would have invited then to stay with us, but the guest room is full of boxes and clothes on the bed, courtesy of our Billy...

A little while later, a few local English people arrived at the café and we asked if they knew anybody who could accommodate them for the night.

One of the couples has a house they rent to visitors in the middle of the village and offered it to them at a friendly price. The following week we found out that the guy who owns the house took them some food, because the only restaurant open out of season is the Brasserie, with very steep prices for the evening menu.

If we had met the lonely old lady a few weeks earlier, we're sure she would have been delighted to welcome them with open arms!

I didn't have my camera with me, but I found some photos on the net.

The old bar/restaurant:


The Coquilles de St Jacques, the first one above the door, the others in different spots around the village.




This fireplace is almost identical to the one we saw at the bar: 


A similar staircase. Please note that the old lady's house has a tower...


The start of the journey, Rocamadour:


And the end, Santiago de Compostela (St Jacques de Compostelle)


Further reading about the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Tuesday, 2 June 2015

Stripes

I like stripes. These photos show stripes at their best!







Monday, 1 June 2015

An eye for detail, a lot of patience and immense talent



This is the text that accompanies the YouTube video about the sculpture:

It took Chinese artist Zheng Chunhui 4 years to enter the Guinness Book of Records for the world's longest wooden carving. Chunhui is a famous wood carver, and his creation, his magnum opus, is over 40 feet (12 meters) long and made from one single tree trunk.

In addition to being so long, it also stands at 3 meters tall (10 feet) and is 2.4 meters (8 feet) wide. This amazingly intricate work features three dimensional boats, buildings bridges and 550 individually carved human figures, who are carrying cargo, shopping in markets, talking to each other and going about their daily business.

The scene depicted is actually a copy of a very famous Chinese painting 'Along the River During the Qinming Festival', which was painted over 1,000 years ago during the Song Dynasty by artist Zhang Zeduan. Many consider it the Chinese 'Mona Lisa'. This painting is one of the best indications of what ancient Chinese culture was like.

The work was awarded the world record as part of Guinness World Records Day. Chunhui's carving was unveiled at the Palace Museum in Beijing, the same location as the scroll on which it is based.

The original scroll, in three sections:




Enjoy this video, which shows the artist's work in detail and gives an idea of the proportions of the whole carving:



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IMPORTANT NOTICE (Repeated in the comments)

I have a further 15 albums of colours and had originally planned to post the Colour Series once a week, taking nearly 4 months to conclude the series. Unfortunately, I'm not a patient person and I'm itching to post them more often. I have a poll on the sidebar which closes next Saturday night. Please vote and we'll see where it will take us...

The poll is under the clock, top right hand side.

Sunday, 31 May 2015

Photogenic? Yes. Popular? No!

Dandelions are not popular with everybody... Gardeners with manicured lawns would agree with me, no?










Saturday, 30 May 2015

Blue

Here's the second instalment in the "Colours" series. Blue is my least favourite colour. I like it in nature and on some objects, but I don't like light blue rooms or blue clothes. When I wear blue, I feel less assertive and lack confidence. Perhaps I see and feel it differently from others, because it seems to be the favourite colour of the majority of people!