TravelswithCharie

The Shades Club are out in force here in Montmartre. It’s pure delight to sit and drink a fine red Bordeaux while contemplating on this sculpture by Jaume Plensa. Bordeaux offers many outdoor cafés for watching the world go by while enjoying their famous canelé pastry. In Nîmes, the best seat for a cuppa is right beside the Roman amphitheater that was built at the end of the first century. In Nice, orange chairs and hanging laundry provide a colorful backdrop for these outdoor cafés. In the medieval hilltop village of St. Paul de Vence, there’s always time to join friends for coffee and conversation at the outdoor terrace. “And the idea of just wondering off to a café with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.” J. K. Rowling ***** Images by TravelswithCharie

  When your visit to a tropical island is extended, you develop an island state-of-mind. You wear flip flops from morn till bedtime, your shades are comfortably resting on your head on the ready, lunch of seafood on the beach is frequent  and your hat is in the bag. But the hat has now been replaced with an umbrella as monsoon season is upon us bringing afternoon showers with it. This is my view while eating lunch. My favorite here is the grilled tanigue fish and the Hawaiian pizza. When it rains, the island is shrouded in mist.  So I go again to the Wayfarer when the forecast calls for a clear and  sunny day. The sweetest mangoes are from the island of Guimaras. And I was lucky to have received a few during the month of June when the market was flooded with  mangoes. Driving around the coastal towns is my favorite pastime. The coves of Ivisan are so picturesque. And there’s dried fish to buy along the road. Basiao Beach In Capiz, everyday is beach day!

Marc Chagall June and July have been busy months for me. Haven’t had the time to write much. There are so many travel articles that I would like to post soon. Here’s a preview of what’s to come.  Bordeaux Marc Chagall Museum in Nice Albi Toulouse Bordeaux Notre Dame de Paris Carcassonne  Albi Stay tuned! ***** Images by TravelswithCharie

“Every detail of the building, evokes wine’s soul and liquid nature: seamless roundness, intangible and sensual." Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières, architects of La Cité du Vin. La Cité du Vin (The City of Wine) is a journey through the world of wine from its earliest beginnings some 8,000 years ago to the modern period in a contemporary 3,000 m² exhibition space above the Garonne River in Bordeaux. There are 19 thematic interactive displays exploring the cultivation of wine starting with a film that takes you on a world wine tour. On the terroir table, winemakers from 10 wine regions in the world talk about the development of their vineyards.  The gallery of civilizations expounds on the topic of divine wine, medical wine, celebratory wine and sustaining wine and how these have accompanied us through the ages. These are just a few of the highlights of an afternoon full of discoveries at La Cité du Vin. My personal favorite was the buffet of the five senses where I c

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called  Kasaysayan ng Maynila  (History of Manila).  The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and

"God almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures." Francis Bacon  Jardins du Palais de la Berbie, Albi. "Bare feet on the grass comfort the spirit and connect the body to the earth all at once." Maximilian Degenerez Pont Vieux. Aude River, Carcassonne. "Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." Warren Buffett  Esplanade Charles de Gaulle, Nîmes. We need to take our children out more often to reconnect with nature. Place Wilson, Toulouse. In this medieval village, nature trails down the sides of stone houses and the scent of oranges permeate the air.  St. Paul de Vence, Provence Alpes-Maritimes. Metal goes well with a patch of green, n'est ce pas?  La Tour Eiffel, Paris. "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree." Joyce Kilmer Place des Quinconces, Bordeaux. A patch of green will do a world of good

There's more to Montmartre than the Sacr é  Coeur and Place du Tertre. Though neither should be missed on your first visit to Paris. Knowing a little bit about Montmartre beforehand prepares you for a day's exploration of this historical and lively neighborhood. The sinking house as it is called isn't really sinking. It is firmly standing just below the Sacré Coeur Basilica. Some photographer took an "illusory" photo (similar to the image I took   above) and it became a social media hit. It wasn't all that easy to take this image because I had to consider both the foreground and background so that they do not lean with the building as well. The published pictures of the sinking house are usually taken from the grassy enclosure beside the basilica because the grass provides a level field. The fence surrounding this grassy expanse was closed to the public during my visit. In this photo, the trees provide the anchor I needed to complete the illusion.