Originally uploaded by rimo523.

Sunburned and tired..but happy to be on break and at the beach.

OUT OF THE COUNTRY!

eiffel antique
Originally uploaded by rimo523.

Someone (??) informed me that no one cares about the beach, and I should write about more interesting things like going out of the country. So that's what I've done with these few posts. But let it be known: there ARE beaches in other countries and i LOVE them too!!

Les Baux

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Originally uploaded by rimo523.

This is in Les Baux: old ruins of a castle/village on top of a mountain. We drove up some curvy hills to get to this site! Ash & I are enjoying the hide-outs! We also saw a man peeing in the corner at Les Baux. Apparently, it's natural--but when nature calls--dont ignore.

Roussones

blue shutters
Originally uploaded by rimo523.

This was in a little town called Roussones..they call it the "red city" because most of the buildings are a deep red-orange from the dark red clay used to build the buildings. You can kind of get a glimpse of it with these apartments. Through Lisa, I gained an appreciation for blue shutters.

Carcassone

carc road
Originally uploaded by rimo523.

This is an old castle called Carcassone. It's now vacant and a touristy place, but if you could see the size of this bad baby, it would blow you away! I can't imagine living in something so huge!

SPARKLE!

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Originally uploaded by rimo523.

The first 10 minutes of every hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles. During the evening hours, it's lit, but in those first 10 minutes all one million of the lightbulbs start flashing at different times giving the appearance of "sparkle". (can you imagine changing those lightbulbs!? whew!)

Notre Dame

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Originally uploaded by rimo523.

This is Notre Dame. Pronounced: Notra Dahm NOT noter dayme. I was told by our excellent tour guide Anais, it was built circa 16th century. I also learned that there should have been 2 tower steeple things (i'm sure there's a word for them, i just dont know it) on top of the 2 towers. but the builders ran out of money and couldn't complete it. perhaps this is why there's ALWAYS scaffolding off to the left side--?? if you look at other cathedrals almost all of them have steeple cone things (again, i dont know what the word for them is) on top.