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Post by lola on May 7, 2011 18:09:18 GMT
Too beautiful. Thilling, some of them, thill.
The last one reminds me a little of Maya Lin's Wavefield. Would be good to observe in different light and seasons
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2011 19:06:21 GMT
Oh, I didn't know they were renovating the tower of the ossuary of Douaumont. It wasn't covered in scaffolding when I took my nephew there.
I have the same photos as Thill of the cemetery, and maybe even a few more (I must check). The bumpy bombed terrain is everywhere in that area, in both meadows and forests. Craters, craters everywhere, 90 years later. It is a stunning sight.
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Post by thill25 on May 9, 2011 2:13:28 GMT
Oh my goodness -- I didn't expect to be blind-sided by emotion looking at photos of a groomed battlefield, but am sniffling as I write this. Somehow, the endless arched hall and the final misty shot of the lumpy terrain are even more evocative of the tragic waste of lives that took place there then are the innumerable crosses. Can you explain some of the features, please -- the tower and its berm, plus why it's covered, and what the hall is for? The hall is the interior of the ossuary. It was marked with thousands of names and cities. The ossuary houses the remains of thousand of men: I have no information about the tower. That was a zoom shot from just below the ossuary. As you can see by my pictures that the tower of the ossuary was being renovated. This seemed to be a theme on out trip. You'll see several famous locations under renovation later in my photos. It was disappointing, but I'm still happy I got to see the area. I'd love to spend more time in Verdun.
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Post by bjd on May 9, 2011 6:21:27 GMT
One way to get a good idea of the carnage of WW1 is to look at the memorial to the war dead in any village or town in France. The tiniest place will have a long list of names, often several with the same surname. On the other hand, WW2 or Indochina will have 2 or 3 names at most.
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Post by thill25 on Jun 11, 2011 18:47:21 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2011 19:01:17 GMT
Nice to see pictures of Metz at night because I am rarely there after dark these days! I know the Novotel very well although I have never stayed there -- but I do usually go to the Centre Saint Jacques shopping mall on which it sits. Flammekueche has become a "national" dish over the last 10 or 15 years -- now you can find it in any supermarket in France, either frozen or fresh. Frankly, I far prefer it to pizza. Thanks for finally getting back to this report!
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Post by thill25 on Jun 11, 2011 20:00:42 GMT
Nice to see pictures of Metz at night because I am rarely there after dark these days! I know the Novotel very well although I have never stayed there -- but I do usually go to the Centre Saint Jacques shopping mall on which it sits. Flammekueche has become a "national" dish over the last 10 or 15 years -- now you can find it in any supermarket in France, either frozen or fresh. Frankly, I far prefer it to pizza. Thanks for finally getting back to this report! Yeah, I've neglected the board because work has been beating me senseless. My eyes are so tired from looking at numbers all day the last thing I want to do is type, and edit pictures. Plus, I hate coming home and sitting in front of a PC and ignoring my wife. I guess that aspect of marriage happens after about 20 years. ;D Flammekeuche can be my national dish any day. That stuff is heavenly.
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Post by thill25 on Jun 11, 2011 20:04:03 GMT
I just noticed that Restaurant L'Heure de la Pause is pictured in the second B&W photo above....on the far left had side overlooking the water.
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Post by auntieannie on Jun 11, 2011 20:05:52 GMT
Oh, these are areas of France I have never visited. thanks for sharing with us, despite your busy life and beautiful wife. ;D
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Post by thill25 on Jun 11, 2011 21:20:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2011 22:28:19 GMT
Great photos, thill. Makes me want to explore France even more than before! I especially like the black and white shots.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 12, 2011 14:50:55 GMT
Flammekeuche can be my national dish any day. That stuff is heavenly. Can you describe what goes into a flammekeuche? It looks rather pizza-like, but I gather it's a whole 'nother thing. Great travelog, thill. Wonderful pictures. I especially like the dog-like gargoyles snapping at a passing pigeon. More, please. ;D
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Post by thill25 on Jun 12, 2011 15:21:48 GMT
Thanks guys! Much more to come....remember I'm only at day two! We were there for ten days. Kimby, This is the best explanation and recipe I could find for a flammekuech. frenchfork.blogspot.com/2009/07/tarte-flambee.htmlIt is very pizza like, but the dough is REALLY thin. Even in the pictures contained in the link above I can tell the dough is all wrong, but a worthy effort for sure. The hard part over here will be trying to match the flavor of the European bacon. I'm thinking pork belly (less smokey than breakfast bacon) might be better. Well, the bacon and trying to get the dough ridiculously thin. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2011 16:10:09 GMT
Yes, Kimby, the visual aspect is that of a pizza but the ingredients take it in a completely different direction. The dough is almost the same that one would find in a saltine cracker, but not as brittle of course, since it has 'wet stuff' on it. The sour cream and the 'lardons' are the main ingredients -- everything else is really secondary. Lardons (the word would actually translate more or less as 'bacon bits' but as you can see, it is something a bit different)
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 12, 2011 17:02:19 GMT
Interesting again Thill...the pics of the old battlefield caught me by surprise...my Great Uncle Ernest is in a graveyard in one of the Bailleul war cemetries. He was gassed during the 2nd battle of Ypres. I really must go pay my respects.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 13, 2011 16:57:47 GMT
Ohhh, Thill ~~ YES, this is so gorgeous. And ditto what Annie said about thanks/sharing/life/wife. Thank goodness you all survived that off-roading sans helmets! Also thanks for the clarification and wonderful photo of the ossuary. I adore your cathedral photos -- the details, the pigeon flying past the spouts, etc., plus it was great to see the shot showing the sheer size of it. I guess in France there are no jokes about cops and les donuts, right? The night shots are wonderful and atmospheric. And that gliding swan? I swooned! Looking forward to the next installment. This is sooo worth waiting for.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2011 17:33:18 GMT
I am always really happy when anybody goes to Metz, because it is a terribly overlooked and underappreciated city.
One of the reasons is that it was the major area for young men to do their military service for 50 years. Since the vast majority of conscripts hated military service, they HATED HATED HATED Metz just for existing. I am sure that entire generations of French families steered clear of Metz on any holiday trip, just because it contained so many unhappy memories.
Oh yes, and then there is the winter weather. It can be pretty awful.
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Post by thill25 on Jun 26, 2011 19:03:23 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Jun 26, 2011 20:38:49 GMT
Outstanding photography you have an artist's eye for composition and detail.
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Post by thill25 on Jun 26, 2011 21:00:45 GMT
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Post by thill25 on Jun 26, 2011 21:07:46 GMT
fumobici,
Thanks! I really appreciate that...
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Post by lagatta on Jun 26, 2011 21:29:19 GMT
The "lard maigre" to make lardons is easy to find here in Québec. Most Italian-style pancetta is also unsmoked bacon, that could work. There are also authentic meatless versions - not for modern vegetarians, but for the large Jewish community that has lived since medieval times on both sides of the middle Rhine - alas many were murdered by the Nazis but fortunately many of the communities still exist. kerouac, now frozen tartes flambées are easy to find in Québec supermarkets too - they are imported from eastern France. I bought one and it was suprisingly good for something frozen from a supermarket. I'd have no reason to buy a supermarket pizza as even without a wood-burning oven, I can make a better one than that at home, for far less money (it doesn't take a lot of time either, especially if you have a moment early in the day to knead the dough. Usually working at home, I do that very early in the morning). Thill, thanks for the black cat in window pic! And your photos are both striking and at turns, very funny. I'm intrigued by the very yellow stone used in many of the buildings. A friend may well be moving to Saarbrücken very close by on the German side to pursue a career in a geeky university field. This "Temple neuf" is of course a Protestant church (often "Temples" in France) and not a Reform Jewish Temple (like many in Germany, obviously most destroyed during Kristalnacht). Very Germanic architecture, not just French-Germanic borderland architecture. Googling I read why: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Neuf_de_Metz It was built during the German annexation, in the late 19th century. Fortunately the main Synagogue of Metz was not destroyed during the Nazi period, though it was damaged.
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Post by Jazz on Jun 27, 2011 0:56:20 GMT
A great thread Thill! (although I’m late in finding it…) Superb photos and I enjoy your writing style. I haven’t been to most of these places and like your sense of them. The photos of Verdun are moving, and I cannot imagine how I would feel when there. I do know that I cried at Galipoli. There is a bizarre energy of death and its' meaning that that lives on forever in these places, forcing awareness, bringing the past acutely into the present moment and denying forgefulness.
Metz looks intriguing. Thanks for taking the time to post. I often find it difficult to comment on great photos, less is more. Your black and whites are excellent.
Given that I will soon book a flight to Paris, perhaps you could give me your special hints/tips so that I, too, could have such a wonderful seat, and lets face it, the flight of pure pleasure that you enjoyed. ;D
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Post by thill25 on Jun 27, 2011 1:07:45 GMT
Thanks lagatta and jazz...
Jazz,
Book through Miami, have your flight cancelled, change airlines and I guarantee that they'll find a way to screw you over. ;D
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 27, 2011 1:31:55 GMT
So happy to see more of your excellent photography, Thill. Wonderful narrative and of course your color pictures are great. But your b&w is out of this world. You can really convey a mood, and the texture and light are so rich. Particularly love the man walking up the street (1st one, #47) and the window with the cat in it (4th from bottom #47). But then, THEN I got to the pictures of Centre Pompidou-Metz, where your skill and artistry really shine. Thanks so much for this.
A couple of questions, please ........
"Templiers" = Knights Templar?
Also, I notice you all are wearing jeans and light-weight, but long-sleeved shirts. Is that what you'd recommend as comfortable -- neither too warm, or too cool -- for that part of the world at that time of year (late March/early April)?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2011 4:59:06 GMT
Thill25 has caught to perfection the ubiquitous yellow limestone used in the architecture of Metz. This comes from just one place: Malancourt-la-Montagne in Lorraine. It's called pierre de Jaumont (stone of Jaumont > Jaumont = Jaune montagne = yellow mountain).
The winters of Metz are frigid and dreary, and the color of the stone cheers up the locals.
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Post by thill25 on Jun 27, 2011 14:39:00 GMT
So happy to see more of your excellent photography, Thill. Wonderful narrative and of course your color pictures are great. But your b&w is out of this world. You can really convey a mood, and the texture and light are so rich. Particularly love the man walking up the street (1st one, #47) and the window with the cat in it (4th from bottom #47). But then, THEN I got to the pictures of Centre Pompidou-Metz, where your skill and artistry really shine. Thanks so much for this. A couple of questions, please ........ "Templiers" = Knights Templar? Also, I notice you all are wearing jeans and light-weight, but long-sleeved shirts. Is that what you'd recommend as comfortable -- neither too warm, or too cool -- for that part of the world at that time of year (late March/early April)? Thanks again... The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a beautiful piece of architecture. I wish I could've seen it at night, but it was on the other side of the city from where we were staying. Metz deserved more than the 12 - 14 hours of site seeing that we budgeted. Knights Templar it was...cool building that was locked up which added to the mystery. I, naturally, assume that this is where the Holy Grail is located. Weather was MUCH warmer than we expected. A few days, it was in the mid 60s (warm for late March) but most days it hovered around the mid 50s. At night, as you can imagine, it cooled off into the mid-to-low 30s. Weather in that region is all over the place that time of year. It could be 65 degrees and sunny one day and 36 and raining the next. We were prepared for snow, although it didn't happen. I highly recommend a Goretex jacket. That thing was worth it's weight in gold (warm, dry, and it breathes so you don't sweat to death). Even though Florida has thinned out my blood, I was quite comfortable in the light weight long-sleeved shirts. My wife, on the other hand, stayed cold most of the trip. I wore a beanie most of the trip because (as you can see) I have no hair and it keeps my ears from freezing. When we were in Paris it was quite hot...about 80 the Saturday we arrived. I actually went to Gap and bought a t-shirt. We were too far away from the flea market for me to go buy a Baby Milo shirt. ;D
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Post by Kimby on Jul 12, 2011 17:37:23 GMT
Love the door and window series in particular. And another window cat. (We need to start a window cat thread, methinks.)
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Post by thill25 on Jul 16, 2011 16:25:50 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2011 16:32:14 GMT
Oh, did you stay in the Suite Novotel like I did? I really enjoyed it.
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