Support True Democracy in Hong Kong

This is dedicated to the protest for true democracy in Hong Kong which is now approaching its peak – October 1.

聲援香港爭取民主普選 !

 

Random photos #91 – #95

These are photos I (Chris) took and posted on Facebook. The series was started in March of 2013. There is no theme – just something random and visually interesting. We gave each a title and noted where it was taken (to the extent we could remember the city).

 

random photo #91 – enter – Lausanne

 

random photo #92 – somewhere, Iceland

 

random photo #93 – busy – Lausanne

 

random photo #94 – rosy or not – São Paulo — at Rua Oscar Freire.

 

random photo #95 – “what ?!” – São Paulo — at Jardim da Luz.

 

If you are interested to see other Random Photos, click on the random tag on the left.

Château et Jardins de Villandry

This is one of the three chateaux we visited in the Loire Valley. We chose Villandry because of its famous beautiful gardens.

Villandry is unusual in that it is a Renaissance castle that was the residence of neither a king nor a courtesan, but of Jean Le Breton, Minister of Finance for François I.

He drew on his experience supervising and directing the construction at many sites, including Chateau de Chambord (one of the trio, click here to see our post).

Its construction started in 1532 around a Medieval feudal fortress. In 1754, the interior was significantly upgraded in the neoclassical style by the then-new owner – Marquis de Castellane.

The interior of Villandry is much more habitable than Chambord and Chenonceau (the other famous chateau we saw, click here to see the post).

In 1906, it was purchased by Joachim Carvallo who began restoring the castle. The Carvallo family is the current owner of the estate.

Not only the castle was restored, the gardens which had been outstanding since the beginning was also recreated and reinvented according to the Renaissance style, based on old plans, archaeological and literary clues.

As you can see, there are many gardens: a water garden, ornamental flower gardens, and vegetable gardens.

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Some of the photos looked like SimCity screenshots ?!

From the top of the turret, one can see all the formal gardens in their complex geometric shapes.

The gardens are laid out in formal patterns created with low box hedges.

At the ground level, the shapes are actually much bigger than we thought.

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In 1934, Château de Villandry was designated a Monument historique. Like all the other châteaux of the Loire Valley, it is a World Heritage Site.

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It is worthwhile visiting their web site here for their collection of photos of the seasonally-changing gardens over the past years.

 

With Villandry, we concluded our visits of the chateaux of the Loire Valley.

Château de Chenonceau

Chenonceau is the second château that we visited in the Loire Valley in June of this year. Click here to read about our visit to Château de Chambord. Like Chambord, Chenonceau is also well known and thoroughly written up – see the official website here.

The chateau presents itself and distinguish it from the many others in the area – apparently by its destiny!

Chenonceau is an exceptional site not only because of its original design, the richness of its collections, its furniture and its decorations, but also because of its destiny, since it was loved, administrated and protected by women, who were all extraordinary and who, for the most part have marked history. … The iron, but very feminine, fist in the velvet glove has always preserved Chenonceau during times of conflict and war in order to make it forever a place of peace.

 

Compared to Chambord, this is a smaller but much better decorated chateau.

 The castle was built around 1513. King Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. It went through several expansions between 1517 and 1559.

Diane’s garden

After Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow and regent Catherine de’ Medici forced Diane to exchange it for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favorite residence and added gardens.

Catherine’s garden

On Catherine’s death in 1589 the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, wife of King Henry III. At Chenonceau Louise was told of her husband’s assassination in 1589 and she fell into a state of depression, spending the remainder of her days wandering aimlessly along the château’s corridors dressed in mourning clothes amidst somber black tapestries stitched with skulls and crossbones.  (Wikipedia)

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Kitchens were constructed in the piers of the bridge.

My wild guess of this contraption is an automatic rotissserie that was powered by the flow of the river. I think the pulley is connected to something that is being dragged by the water below.

We had lunch at the chateau’s restaurant, L’Orangerie. It was almost 2’o clock and therefore we managed to get a place … at other times, reservation is a must.

It was noted that King Henry II’s insignia, which is stamped on the cutlery we used at the restaurant, contains an intertwining H (for Henry) and C (for Catherine) but there is also a D for Diana in the background. The beauty and brains of the two women, their background and competition for the king’s attention must have inspired countless hours of period TV drama. There is a good article here about the rivalry.

On the grounds of the chateau is a maze, newly reconstructed based on Catherine’s design.

Upon reaching the centre of the maze …

There is really a lot to do here beside wandering inside the castle. Check out their very helpful website here.

Château de Chambord, Loire Valley

On our trip to the Val de Loire in June, we visited three famous chateaux. According to an official tourist leaflet, we have a choice of as many as 70-plus chateau in the area. These buildings are national monuments and not the kind that has been converted into a hotel or B&B – like the one we stayed overnight. Click here to see our chateau.

Château de Chambord is probably one of the most celebrated if not the most visited chateau in the Loire Valley.  Definitely a top tourist magnet, it is also the largest chateau in the area.  The government has done a great job promoting and managing it.

As the chateau is very well known, there are tomes written about the architecture, its creators, inhabitants and rich history. And there is a very colorful website – here. So I will be very brief here.

The construction started in 1519 by Francois I. It is one of the few buildings of the Renaissance age that has survived without major modifications to its original design. It is a blend of French medieval and Italian Renaissance style.

It was not meant to be a permanent residence but an architectural jewel that the king liked to show to visiting royalties and ambassadors as a symbol of his power.

It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. The domain of Chambord is completely enclosed within a 20-mile stone wall, all 5,440 hectares of it.

That’s the equivalent of the city of Paris and the largest enclosed forest in Europe.

Nowadays, there are about 700 deers and 1000 wild boars on the grounds. As it was intended to be a hunting lodge for the king, there were many antlers on the walls.

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One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular double helix open staircase that is the centerpiece of the château.

The two helices ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by natural light at the highest point of the château.

On display are some furnishings but it is relatively sparse compared to the other chateaux (see later post). I suspect it is partly because of its size and the fact that it was abandoned from time to time in its history.

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Also on display are modern art pieces.

It functions as a gallery for contemporary artists.

We had a fun day but were exhausted by the amount of walking inside the various wings and levels of the chateau.

Come back later for photos of two more chateaux.

 

Fêtes de Genève Fireworks 2014

Every year, on a Saturday evening in mid-August, the Fêtes de Genève presents a grand fireworks display (grand feu d’artifice pyromélodique) over Lake Léman.We have heard about it every year and did not go until this year.  Reason?  We do not like crowds generally and for last two years, we saw the August 1st (Swiss National Day) fireworks in Lausanne just a weekend before.

Our friends F and A know of a special place to see the fireworks. It is a patch of lawn that slopes gently towards the lake in the commune of Cologny, a lakeside suburb of Geneva.

We brought beach towel and foldable chairs, settling down comfortably to watch first sunset and then the fireworks. A small crowd had the same idea.

We started with a chilled bottle of white from Vouvray and shrimp cocktail. It was divine.

These pictures were taken with my dad’s tripod from the 1960’s.

The event was free although it has a budget of some 500,000 plus Swiss francs, so it was reported in the papers.

Geneve at dusk

The fireworks involves about forty firing stations on the lake and about 30,000 rockets; it was about one-hour long and are accompanied by music and narration.

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The narration was in French and English – a nod to the international crowd.

That boat in the middle must have a fantastic view and being so close it also received a huge dose of smoke.

 This year’s theme was time – not surprising since the second half of the show was sponsored by Patek Philippe.

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Because there was hardly any wind, the smoke accumulated directly above the firing site and blocked half the sky. We ended up seeing only half the fireworks towards the end.

Fin

Good night.

The Magazine, London

The Magazine is a newish restaurant that is housed in an extension of the classically-proportioned Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens, central London. I(Chris) was staying in Lancaster Gate. JL came over to meet me and we wandered into the park and stopped there for an iced latte in a sunny afternoon.

The contrast between the gallery and the restaurant is beyond words.

It looked to me like a jelly fish made of space-age material and glass has landed and is hugging the 19th century brown-bricked building.

The restaurant is so named because it is “attached” to the gallery which used to be a weapons storage.

The female Iraqi architect, Zaha Hadid, is responsible for this creation which opened in 2013.

The interior suggested to me the inside of a white tent (I reckon the matt finish of the ceiling has something to do with it).

Five stiletto-shaped columns support the “roof” and channels natural light into the restaurant.

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The only fixed structure is a kitchen island and a long bar.

The bar faces what used to the exterior wall of the gallery.

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The columns are lit from its base, giving it shape and lightness, and act as a diffuser to lit the dining room in the evening. Just don’t sit too close to the spotlights.

The columns looked like chinese-style soup spoons to me.

 

We did not have a chance to eat there.  Reviews of the food have been mixed.

I also liked the polygonal-shaped tables and the logo on their door.

This place may look very dramatic at dusk. Have to come back to see it and taste the food.