Yellow Admiral

This butterfly provided a little burst of colour when I walked downtown this morning. I didn't know what it was at first, but with the wonders of google I found out it is a native Yellow Admiral, also found in Australia.

Kowhai

Signs of spring are becoming more abundant. These flowers are from the native kowhai tree, and I love the way that tuis are attracted to eat from them.

mid-August

A few signs of spring are appearing... there are bulbs coming up in the garden and the early ones are already flowering.

 

Thus far it has been an annoyingly wet end to winter/ start to spring. Yesterday though I managed a walk downtown without my raincoat, though it seemed as if any moment the heavens would open. 

And when I still had 2km to go on the way home the skies seemed even blacker.

But strangely enough, those skies didn't open to drop their load. The black clouds cleared, and some sunshine even came out. The unpredictability of spring- gotta love it!

Himatangi Beach

It's a month now since I got home- surely time for a walk along the beach. I love Himatangi Beach as you can walk so far, for quite a few kilometres if you feel like it. Since it is a west coast beach, it can have some quite wild moments, though today it was sunny and calm.

 There were a few others sharing the beach...

 and you could see Kapiti in the distance.

  Just a few birds were surveying the shore for shellfish-
a few gulls and a couple of pied stilts- or were they pied oystercatchers?

 And a few others were walking along the beach. You could feel the tension from the working week just drop off your shoulders and down your arms to be left behind in the sand beneath your feet.

Back home, it was time to face the reality that I needed to do the lawns, and that quite a lot of weeding is needed in the garden. It really is time I made some good resolutions about the garden and kept them!

 But meanwhile, the first of the white stellata magnolia buds have come out to be enjoyed, whether I do any gardening or not!

Summertime in Paris

Now for a jump back to summer.... At the end of all my Camino walking, I headed back to Paris at the end of June to spend a few days before my flights home.

I booked a hotel in Montmartre, quite close to the Abbesses metro station. The whole area was full of lively shops and activity and I loved being based there.

Late that afternoon one of the places I visited was Notre Dame. It was a good time to visit as it turned out: there were fewer people around, and the sun shone onto the facade, showing up all the detail clearly.

This photo is one of my favourites. This young man was busking on a bridge near Notre Dame, and I ended up listening for quite a while to the music he was making.

Next morning I started my wanders up on the hill of Montmartre. First I visited the distinctive Sacré Coeur Basilica, which seemed to be a bastion of more conservative catholicism. Around the corner from that was the much older St-Pierre church that dates back to 1147, and is still a parish church these days. This sculpture was just one part of the sculpture on a bronze door.

Down the hill again, and closer to my hotel, was the church of St Jean L'Evangeliste. It was built 1897-1904, of a very innovative design. This design was on one of the outer doors.




There were lots of interesting shops once you were down the hill away from the original 'village' area now dominated by tourist shops.

This shop was a cheese shop on Rue le Pic, and I bought several cheeses here to take to a Camino friend's home. I am not much of a cheese-eater, but even I found the array quite fascinating.

I kept on heading downhill, and it wasn't long before I stood in front of the famous Moulin Rouge.

Not far along the same street was this juxtaposition- a supermarket of a more traditional kind, alongside one for more erotic goods.

Next day I spent much of my time near the Seine. I realised I had never crossed this particular bridge, covered with padlocks that declared undying love.

And beside the Seine I got this view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

On my last day I wanted to make sure I revisited Forum des Halles and these colorful sculptures that I remembered from a previous trip. Today the sun shone and I loved the brilliance it imparted.

One of my last adventures was afternoon tea at the famous cafe of Les Deux Magots. I must admit that eating in such a cafe is usually beyond my budget limits, but I was kindly taken here by another Camino friend.... and so endeth the Paris adventure!

Spring is in the air...

Ahhhhhh spring is in the air. These two photos were taken at the Esplanade this morning. I must say, I knew the magnolia tree was flowering, but I was surprised by the fullness of blossom on the other trees.

Sunday Walk

Well, it's the third Monday of term, and the third wintry cold Monday- but at least we had sunshine on Sunday morning for a walk- added to by some blue blue winter skies.

I love the changing look of this shed with the light, and the crops in the field around it change with the seasons as well.

I take far too many photos of winter trees against the sky- but I just love the look of those bare branches, each tree so individual.

I'd just climbed up this hill that the lady with the dog is descending. It's steeper than it looks, and has quite a 'grunt' factor to it.

Back home, the sunshine was 'just right' on the cyclamens in the kitchen. This bulb was looking quite dead when I left the country mid-April, but I put it outside to experience the cold and wet- and it was clearly just what it needed to spark off new life again.

First Daffodil

First daffodil blooming on the back deck. Spring is in the air....

Paris to Burgundy- 16 April

After a few days enjoying Paris, and getting over jetlag, it was time to head across to the Burgundy region ready for the start of my walk along the Chemin de St Jacques from Cluny.

 

I'd already had a taste of the way of St James in Paris when I explored the little park around the Tour St-Jacques which was recently restored.

 I think I enjoy large train stations almost more than airports- and the Gare de Lyon didn't disappoint with its vitality and colour.

I was taking two trains to get to Burgundy, and then a French friend was picking me up for a 30 minute car ride to his small village. Laroche-Migennes was the first of my train destinations.

 It was another French place with spring in full abundance.

 I'm a fan of long station platforms as well :-)

 A few hours later I was in my friend's house, and they had a statue of St Jacques in the bedroom. He was watching over my transition from tourist to pilgrim...

 Next morning I took a walk around the village and nearby countryside. There was a good frost early on, but sunshine as well. The little rounded hills provided a wee taste of the bigger hills soon to come further south in this Burgundy (Bourgogne) region.

And there was another hint of what was to come in this little village: there was a balise on the tree as this village was also on the chemin towards Compostelle.

These were the small markings I was soon going to have to keep a close eye out for so I could find my way along the Cluny Chemin.

There'll be a blog developing over the coming weeks with more about my Cluny Chemin, but it isn't up and running yet....

St Sulpice Organ, Paris

Daniel Roth was the organist.

Sunday afternoon in Paris- 15 April

After a good lunch I was ready to walk some more in the streets of Paris: just being a tourist in a large city means you can notch up a fair few kilometres walking in a day.

There are some top class buskers in Paris, and these guys outside the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés were attracting quite a few listeners on a bustling street.

Part of this church is very old. I was told it was the oldest church in Paris, and I think it was Liliane told me that.... and there is certainly a very old chapel near the entrance to the main church, said to be originally to Saint Symphonien, martyred in 179 in Autun. These kind of dates for early Christianity really push back the boundaries so Palestine doesn't seem so far away.

Not being much of a Catholic, and having grown up in New Zealand where candles were never really part of what 'happened' in church when I grew up, I am never one for lighting candles in churches- but I always love the 'look' of the light produced.

This is the interior of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the windows and arches having rounded Romanesque characteristics.

I took a few more photos of dresses in shop windows for Leanne. I saw the price tags too, and understand why the sales I saw at the end of June in Paris were so very popular.

Everywhere as I wandered I saw more signs of rampant spring...

In the afternoon I took a more 'traditional' tourist route- first along the Seine where I saw many of the tourist boats plying their trade, even so early in the season in mid-April.

I was aiming for the Museum of the Orangerie, via the gardens around the Louvre.

Here's an impressive archway in the Tuileries Gardens, named the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. You can read more about it here.

And here's a view of the Eiffel Tower from the gardens:

And here is a bit more spring lavishness:

But my visit to the Museum of the Orangerie was not to be this day. It turned out there was a massive election rally for Sarkozy nearby- not that it did him any good in the end- and the museum was closed for the day for security reasons.