Category: flora & fauna
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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…
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Champignonerie at the Musée, Saumur
Continuing with our journey into the caves of Saumur … People in the area did not just live in caves, they use it to store wine and to grow mushroom. See earlier post here about the museum. The caves provide an environment of high humidity and constant temperature that is perfect for growing mushroom. Many…
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Musée de Champignon, Saumur
Continuing with our visit of the Val de Loire … People in the area did not just live in caves (see our hotel in caves here and here), they use it to store wine and to grow mushroom. Apparently, more than half of the mushrooms cultivated in France come from this area and Anjou (just…
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Butterfly Garden, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
On this Caribbean cruise, I organized my own onshore “excursions”. As the weather was not cooperating on the day we arrived at St. Thomas, the idea of snorkeling evaporated. Instead, we decided to stay close to the ship. I (Chris) went to a butterfly garden that is situated right next to the cruise ship terminal. The…
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Pampas & Gaucho, Rio Grande do Sul
While in Brazil, I had a chance to visit its southernmost state – Rio Grande do Sul. From Sao Paulo, we flew to Porto Alegre which is the capital of the state. The airport has on its walls these large-scale mosaics of life on the Pampas. They are black-and-white pictures made with thousands of colored tiles.…
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The Peristyle and the Grand Canal, Versailles
Earlier this summer, while in Paris, we spent an afternoon at Versailles. Our earlier posts on the main chateau and the Grand Trianon are here and here. There were two sights at Versailles that particularly impressed us – the peristyle at the Grand Trianon palace and the Grand Canal. A peristyle is a columned porch or…