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)  

Châtellerault : town sights and its motor museum.

Châtellerault is a smallish town (about 30,000 people) in the Vienne department (part of the Poitou-Charentes region), 100 kilometres (62 miles) or so north of us. It's well situated on the river Vienne, very near to the A10 motorway linking Bordeaux and Paris. The high speed train line between these two cities also runs through here. We parked the car and the first thing we saw was this beautifully restored building, now apparently containing private apartments.

Lavish decoration, all done to a tight curve!

This stone plaque records the site of the Saint Catherine's gate, once an entrance into the town and through which passed the French heroine Joan of Arc in March 1429 during the 100 Years War. You will recall that Joan, a young lady of seventeen, was inspired by "voices" to raise a force to recapture the town of Orleans, held by the English. She successfully did this in May 1429 and went on to win a series of battles against them, including the capture of Reims, where Charles VII was crowned king of France in July 1429. In May 1430, Joan was captured and tried by the English as a heretic. They burnt her at the stake in 1431 in Rouen, but in 1920 she was raised to sainthood in recognition of her efforts and sacrifice for France.

Pont Henri IV. THE thing to see in the town, so the guidebooks say. The work was ordered by Catherine of Medici (queen of France, wife of King Henry II) in person, during quite a frenzy of such projects at the time and started in 1572 by Charles Androuet, whose brother built the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris. This one is 144 metres long and 21 metres wide, but it took a looooong time to build! Androuet's son Rene took over the supervision in the last 5 years up to completion in 1611.

This second bridge nearby, is the bridge Camille de Hogues, built in 1900 and notable for being the first reinforced concrete bridge in France! Chimneys at the motor museum (see later) in the background.

Église St-Jacques is yet another church on the pilgrim route to Saint Jacques de Compostelle in Spain, featured in other blogs! It was built in the 12th and 13th centuries, but the towers were added in the 19th century.

The beautiful roof vaulting inside.....

....and the stained glass windows.

But now to the main reason for our visit,  the car and bike museum.  These are only a very few of the photos I took, and if you are in the region, it is well worth a visit for a modest 5 euro entrance fee.  The museum is large and there are loads of things to see. It is housed in a 19 century former armaments factory, which is eye-catching in itself, but in 1970 the space was provided for the motor museum. These two beautiful and shapely brick chimneys below form part of it and can be seen from a long way off. A masterclass in brickwork!

Below is a very small selection of those which caught my eye! I've tried not to be too technical, limiting myself to the brief descriptions on the signs in front of each exhibit.

Draisiaenne - A replica of a German design of 1820, pioneered by Baron Drais. It allowed the rider to be "seated" and the front wheel to be steered. They excited great curiosity and amusement in the public who saw them on the streets of Paris and London!

Tricycle from 1889 offering more comfort, technical design advances and manoeuvrability than available with the bicycle of the time

Werner from 1903. The 2,5 hp 4 stroke engine was started by the cyclist pedalling. it could attain 35 -45 kph. Note: 100 kph is 62 miles per hour! It won at least 2 long distance races in 1901; Paris - Bordeaux and Paris - Berlin but the marque disappeared in 1906, when regulations were changed.

Panhard - Levassor. State of the art in 1890! One of the first models with a petrol engine. Similar to the car which Levassor drove non-stop in 1895 for 48 hours and 48 minutes! Brave man!

1906 Brouhot. Four cylinder engine with maximum speed of 60-80 kph. This car was rebuilt from pieces in 1969 and is the only known surviving example.

The Darmont from 1929, developed under licence from the English company Morgan, who had started with 3 wheeled cars in 1908. This French version has an 1100cc engine powering the car to a very respectable 150 kph!

Longchamp was an engineer who built chassis and bodywork for speed recordbreaking competition cars. The engines were ordered from other specialists. This car is from 1953 and doesn't look out of place today!

1939 Peugeot 402B , although the 402 model first appeared in 1935. A 2100cc engine gave it a top speed of 135 kph. Production was stopped in 1939 with the start of World War 2.

Teilhol electric car, with Paris registration, from 1972! Useful for parking where there isn't much space. Powered by batteries to maximum speed of 75 kph. Weighing 500 kg, it could be driven for 75 km before recharging was required.

The world famous English marque, a BSA, with sidecar from 1918. Only 4.5 horsepower! Birmingham Small Arms Company (hence BSA) manufactured rifles in the 19th century but later turned to motorcycles. The sidecar was relatively modern for its era; shaped metal panels on a wood frame.

Just a glimpse of the host of interesting exhibits following the evolution of  personal transport from the wooden bike to the more familiar machines of today!

Thanks to Nigel once again for all his research and writing the article to go with my photos.

See also my daily Photo Diary Here

My Life Before Charente  - New post 18/04/2015

Another walk through the fields and woodlands of Vitrac Saint Vincent.

Last Tuesday, our leisure club met in Vitrac Saint Vincent for a short walk along the banks of La Rivaillon, the small stream which runs through the village.   We walked south east along a country path, with the stream on our right, until we turned right to cross it, via an ancient narrow stone footbridge; soon thereafter we climbed uphill and turned right again, to follow a hillside contour, through oak woodland, back to Vitrac.  You can see our route below and read a bit more about Vitrac HERE.

Meeting in Vitrac next to the church.

The route we walked on  each side of the river.

The small village of Vitrac Saint Vincent. The old epicerie (grocery) on the corner has been for sale for several years, as has the little local bar, three doors up the road.  Sad, as it would be a lovely place to go and have a drink!!

La Rivaillon, now somewhat narrower here than it used to be, flowing under the road bridge on the D60.

We walked past the local junior school as we left the village.

Soon we saw this donkey, who greeted me very noisily!!

Walking on past the trees in their autumn colours... 

Our route took us back to a point very close to the stream.  The water level is quite low at the moment, but to see what it looked like in flood in 2011 see HERE

A couple of cows watched us walk by....

and these mushrooms, Gymnopus fusipes, were gathered by one of the walkers with much relish; she was telling us how delicious they are when young and fresh! We are very wary of collecting wild mushrooms, but the French seem to know just what they are doing!

Three huge oak trunks seasoning by the side of the road...

or, as you can see, it really is just a  farm track.

I was fascinated by these unusually shaped berries, but I have no idea what they are.

Thanks to both Nadege and the Fly, I now know this is Euonymus europaeus   commonly known as a spindle tree.  The berries are very toxic.  European spindle wood is very hard, and can be cut to a sharp point; it was used in the past for making wool spindles.

Crossing the river by the ancient stone footbridge.  The ground on either side was pretty wet and muddy, so I ended up with wet socks!

Golden leaves litter the woodland path on our way back to Vitrac....

and in the wood too.

Then the rain started to come down; luckily we both had waterproofs with us!

Despite the rain, it was not a  terribly cold day, so we much enjoyed a very pleasant walk in good company!

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated 16 October 2014)