Part 6 of our holiday - A few days in Dallas with friends.

We arrived in Dallas to be met by my friend, who I have known since I was 16!  I worked for her father when I left school.  Great excitement for us both!! I have promised that no photos of her or her family would go on the web, but frankly that was the best part of our visit! At other times, she took us to as many interesting places in the city as was possible in the few days we had there.

The striking Margaret Hunt Hill bridge (named after an  heiress and philanthropist) which spans the Trinity River; I can't explain why there were no other cars in view on that June Friday afternoon! Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the world renowned Spanish architect/engineer, the bridge spans 368 metres (1206 feet) and carries six lanes of traffic between the Dallas CBD and the rapidly regenerating west city suburbs. This is the first of three planned bridges and the second one is under construction at present.   .  The total cost of this one was said to be $182 million.

After the last "empty" shot, here is some real Dallas traffic!  Loads of different lanes - I think there were 4 or 5 going our way! You can see the golden glassed twin towers of the Campbell Centre in the background. See more information below.

A closer view of one of the towers. For those of you who remember the '70s TV soap opera Dallas, this was the first Ewing Oil building used in the opening five episodes!

Dallas County Courthouse, built in 1892 of red sandstone with grey rusticated marble facing to the "first floor" (our "ground floor," but that's what it's called in the US -a bit confusing!) and similar accents around windows.  Also known as the Old Red Courthouse, it is now the Old Red Museum, housing local history exhibits. Very elaborate and obviously a demonstration of the oil wealth on which the city is based.A newer courthouse was built nearby in 1966.

Dallas Perot Museum of Nature and Science opened at the end of 2012. Ross Perot, a Texas industrialist, is famous for twice running for US President, in 1992 and 1996. Designed by  Morphosis Architects, the building was conceived as a large cube floating over a landscaped plinth.  It features a 54-foot continuous flow escalator housed within a 150-foot glass casing that extends diagonally outside the building cube. I'm sure the very modern and startling design is popular with many Dallas residents!

Formerly the Texas School Book Repository and without doubt the most infamous building in Dallas, whose sixth floor was the site from which Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated JF Kennedy  in November 1963. The top two floors house a museum featuring the life and times of arguably one of the US's greatest presidents.

Dallas Museum of Art. The fountain offered welcome wafts of cool water vapour to provide some relief from the high 30sC (90sF) temperatures.

Inside,  the spaces are large, calm and restful. The Large seated nude in bronze by the French artist Henry Matisse (1869 – 1954) caught my eye!

Outside in the sheltered garden, a bronze of Eve by another Frenchman, Auguste Rodin, (1840-1917).  

The Whole Foods Market in the northern Dallas suburbs. The city is extremely wealthy and everything for sale appears to be of the highest quality (and price!).

I don't think I've ever seen such cosseted vegetables! Seems a shame to buy something and spoil the immaculate display!

Cheese from all over the world and a display to rival anything we have here, in the country of 400 local cheeses!

Wine.  Naturally we had to pick the section with French wine - but it's not cheap. These bottles start at about $20 each! The store also has huge displays of olives, coffee beans and a fresh soup counter where you can help yourself, to 8 or so different kinds, which you ladle into insulated cups from giant metal churns! This place has everything you could think of!

The nearby North Park 50 Mall.  A very upmarket shopping mall that officially opened 2 July 1965.  They completed a $250 million expansion in 2006. You could buy a handbag for $2,500, and we were told people frequently do, after they've first visited their personal trainer for some exercise at the gym!

A spotless North Park  pedestrian mall with US sized eye-catching models.

France is not forgotten; perfumes and bathing accessories.

Amazing water features are everywhere, with live birds, turtles and all kinds of greenery - such exotic plants and flowers!

Turtle at close quarters.  The animals appear to be very happily located here and are obviously well cared for, swimming around in pristine crystal clear water. Well, that's a quick view of our stay in Dallas - vibrant and energetic, but not a city for those light of wallet!

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated  25 September 2016)  

Barcelona Part 4 and final - The Boqueria Market and Christopher Columbus column .

A visit to la Boqueria Market, alongside  La Ramblas, in Barcelona is a must!  So many colours, and so many smells  that make your mouth water!  It's a crowded place, so amongst the heaving throng, you need to keep your valuables tucked away!

Here are just a few of the stalls of which I took photos.

Fresh fruit and ice cold fruit drinks.

No shortage of fresh fish and plenty of willing buyers!

Sweets and glacé fruit. Yum!

Fresh fruit and vegetables piled high!

Cheeses, hams, salami and dry sausages. Spoilt for choice!

More sweets and glacé fruits

The children were fascinated by this man in a park making large soap bubbles.

 Christopher Columbus monument;  the scaffolding is certainly not on the scale of that at Sagrada Familia church, but the monument was being cleaned!  Good to know that, in these times of severe economic recession, Spain is looking after its national heritage! The column is 60 m (197 ft) tall and was constructed in 1888.  At the top stands a bronze statue of the man himself, supposedly pointing towards the New World!

At the base there are four staircases, each flanked on either side by lions.

The octagonal base has eight bronze panels, each of which depict important scenes in Columbus's first voyage to the Americas.  See two of them above and below. 

An interesting way of getting around Barcelona; rent an electric 'car'!! Never seen these before anywhere else, but Barcelona seems to pride itself on its  eco approach and I think it's a good initiative, as long as there are enough charging points!

This lady human statue must have had excellent balance, as she was standing motionless on the bike saddle; other than the flicker of her eyelids, there seemed to be no movement! We saw her each day we were there - what a hard way to make a living!  The only time I saw her really move was when we had a sudden shower of rain, and then she took cover very quickly.  Guess if she had not sheltered, the yellow may have ended up in a puddle at her feet!

Last but certainly not least, we could not leave Spain without eating the famous paella! Looking at it now, it does bring back the gastronomic memories!

Sorry I am still finding it difficult to find time to catch up with everyone's blogs but I promise I will do so very soon. I am struggling to keep up with all the bottling and freezing of the fruit and vegetables in the garden. How can anyone say that there is nothing to do in retirement!  I have never been so busy, and of course in summer there is so much going on here in France.

Mirepoix, department of Ariege

We stopped off here on our way back from Minerve, to discover another small town, so beautiful and steeped in history! The name Mirepoix in Occitan (Oc) the local language, is supposedly Mire Peis, which means " see the fish". 

An 18th century local lord, the Duke of Levis-Mirepoix has been described as an "incompetent individual" (!) but as an Army field-marshal and friend of King Louis XV, he  gained some fame by giving his name to the culinary concoction Mirepoix- chopped celery, onions and carrots (there are apparently endless variants - I'm not going there!), which is used as  a flavour base for many dishes like soups and sauces.

Enough of the culinary anecdotes, the delight of this fortified town of about 3,000 inhabitants derives mostly from its stunning buildings!

Our old friend (!) Simon de Montfort took the castle during the Albigensian Crusade (see last blog for more) after a siege in 1209, dispossessed the Cathar-supporting owners, and gave the town to his loyal lieutenant, Guy de Levis.

Depending on which website you consult, the original town was destroyed in  either 1279 or 1289 (town website says the latter)  after a barrage on the river Hers gave way, and the water flooded the town. Reconstruction, by Jean de Levis (son of Guy), started on the opposite bank of the river in the following year (probably 1290, then!), the streets being laid out in a medieval grid pattern. which remains unchanged to this day!

The shots above and below are of the town centre-piece, the market square or Place de Couverts, built at this time. The design of the facades allowed private habitable spaces to be extended over the public areas, providing more living space and forming sheltering arcades underneath.

These arcades  provide  shading and seating areas for the shops and businesses, including several cafes and restaurants, operating in the buildings behind. It is a delightful spot to stop for a while and have some refreshment!

Once rebuilt, the town recovered its prosperity during the 14th century, but was subjected to raids by armed bands, who sacked the town and set parts ablaze. Thus further defences, including four big stone town entrance gateways, were constructed.

These individually carved decorative gargoyles on joist ends (I saw a note somewhere to say there are 150 of them, but that sounds far too few) are fascinating! Many have been badly damaged by the elements; the most surviving are faces with a variety of facial expressions, ranging from surprise to anguish, and can be studied for some time! And see the owl too! You can just imagine those woodworkers of old sitting carving in that square!

The cathedral of Saint-Maurice de Mirepoix today. Originally built in 1298 by Jean de Levis as a church, it was enlarged over the centuries. It has a 22 metre (70 feet) wide nave, said to be the  widest in Europe  apart from Girona cathedral in Spain! Once the now-abolished seat of the Bishop of Mirepoix, the cathedral is quite rightly a listed monument.

There is also a covered wrought iron market hall adjacent to the square, built in 1885 and undoubtedly replacing, a nearby sign says, an enclosed stone and timber building which was demolished at some previous time. This hall comprises a lantern light roof standing on a wrought iron industrial style structure with 16 columns, a design popular from the 1850's. The roof profile provided enhanced lighting and ventilation beneath it.

See to the left of the above photo.  For some obscure reason I did not take a full photo of it!

 Nigel trying to count the number of gargoyles!!

Just to think these ancient oak columns and beams are still standing today - although one can see the evidence of "running repairs" carried out over the centuries!

One of the streets leading into the square.

Markets are still held each week on the large grassy island in the centre of the square.

Due to its proximity to Carcassonne airport and the budget UK airlines which fly there, the Ariege area has become very Anglicised, with café signs advertising food in English and English newspapers having become quite common. Otherwise, it's still remarkably unspoilt!!!

An amazing (I think!) panoramic view of the square and whole town can be seen HERE  and is  well worth a visit. It also shows clearly the covered market.  

Other sites worth viewing are HERE and HERE

My thanks once again go to Nigel for all his research and writings.

see my daily photo diary  HERE

http://photodiarydps.blogspot.com

and also - My Life Before Charente Updated 12/07/2013 

Villebois-Lavalette (Part one)

On Sunday, we went to the Foire des Rameaux et des cornuelles at Villebois-Lavalette, some way south-west of here, on the border with the Dordogne department. The small town clings to the side of one of  two neighbouring hills, which rise steeply from an undulating plain. It is easy to see how those people of long ago decided that these were strategic positions for defence!

The "foire" is an annual fair, with Palm Sunday celebrations - "rameaux" means palms in French)   Cornuelles are traditional large triangular biscuits, about 150mm (6 inches) to a side, with a hole in the centre, always baked and eaten at Easter time. There were long queues at the two bakeries!. The central hole was used in the past by cornuelle sellers, who transported the biscuits by threading them onto a stick! The "fair" part was pretty much the usual; countless tables of junk goods for sale, but what is rubbish to one man is useful to another!!  

We had previously booked a guided tour of the château, which was our main item of interest of the day, but that will wait for part two of this series!  We could not believe how lucky the organisers were for the weather this day; it has  been rotten for weeks, but the sun shone from a very blue sky, broken by small puffy clouds and it actually felt warm!

We do not often see pony rides offered at  local fairs, so this was something different for us. The animals came from a nearby equitation centre.

This lady artist had some very interesting art works on sale. The bee on the right was taken down and sold, seconds after I took this photo!

We could not return home without some great home-made saucisson. This stallholder wanted €10 for 3, but we found another stall that sold 4 for the same price!

I also could not resist a small packet of French nougat. Haribo is a German sweet company founded in 1920, but now apparently the world's biggest manufacturer of gummy sweets - so now you know!

We then wandered up to the newly restored covered market place (les Halles)  in the centre of the small town. It was built in 1665, paid for by the French nobleman who owned the château on the hill above. The town mayor decided to erect the stone columns in 1855 to replace the original oak ones, when the principal road through the town was widened (it's still not very wide!).

The original oak roof structure, below which.........

 the Palm Sunday service commenced.  The congregation then made their way up the steep hill to the church for the remainder of the service.

Thankfully, I had taken some  photos of the church on a previous visit, when the building was not in use!

The church of Saint-Romain. You see what I mean about the climb!

On 31 March 1864, the town benefited from a bequest in the will of the parish priest, named Vacher. The careful economies of the priest, together with the sale of his goods, realised the sum of 30,000 francs, sufficient to pay, in those days, for the enlargement and reconstruction of the church, dedicated to Saint Romain de Lavalette. His will also included the proviso that a requiem mass be celebrated in  perpetuity, on the anniversary of his death.

The church, dating from the XIIIth century, was eventually enlarged and reconstructed from 1894.

The view from the top of the church steps is quite stunning. You can see the other hill (with its own castle!) in the background.

 The side and rear of the church.

The altar inside the church.

The beautifully restored organ at the back of the church.

Some of the stained glass windows........

                                    set in exquisite stonework!

Part two of Villebois Lavalette will cover the château and some of the interesting bits of history in the town, about which our excellent tourist guide told us.

There is also a lot of information about the town HERE, but not the church.

See also - My Life Before Charente Updated 25/03/2013

and my daily photo diary  HERE

http://photodiarydps.blogspot.com