Sparkling Diamond: Our Moulin Rouge Wedding

 

Here are a few highlights of our wedding on October 10, 2010. Beginning with the opening number 'Sparkling Diamonds' inspired by the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film "Moulin Rouge" featuring the fabulous Nina as 'Satine'. The second song is the Elton John favourite 

"Your Song" as sung by Nicole Kidman and Ewen McGregor.

Toulousse Market

Monday, November 1, 2010

We are on our way to Paris now and should arrive by midnight. In the morning we fly home to Toronto.
 Our plan had been to spend the day in Carcassonne and head out to Toulouse in the afternoon, but we'd seen all we wanted so we set out early and then spent a few hours in Toulouse.

We didn't see any major attractions, or anything really nice for that matter other than another great bike sharing program.

We did find a market on a side street that kept us busy for awhile, but with the exception of one lady who was selling homemade soap and a guy selling local honey it was all made in China crap that you will find in any city.

Toulouse Maple Leaf

Toulouse Train Station

SNCF TGF High Speed Train

Carcassonne, France. The Old City

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

We got up early and went for breakfast. It was going to be a full day of walking and I didn't want to get tired too soon so we called a taxi to take us to the old town.

Carcassonne, is famous for being the best surviving example of a medieval military city in Europe. The city was next on the hit list for the Christian Crusaders after the sacking of Beziers. 

Carcassonne, France Arrival

Saturday October 30, 2010

Today we are taking it easy because tomorrow will be a full day of walking in the old city of Carcassonne. We  took a short walk around to scout out where we want to shoot tomorrow to get the wide shots of the old city.

Lyon Layover

Our 'high speed' train turned out to be a low-speed train, but we made it to Lyon and are killing time here by wandering around the big mall near the train station and having a bite to eat.

 

Mall food is mall food everywhere and the 'service' (I use the term loosely) at this restaurant was terrible and so was the food. At least they are consistent. 

I am happy to see that Lyon has a great bike sharing program with more than 300 locations! Lyon saw a 500% increase in bicycle ridership following the unveiling of the system in 2005.

 

Later the same day...

We have arrived in Montpellier. Our hotel room is small and spartan, but it is all we need. It is late and we are just sleeping here tonight and catching a train to Beziers  in the morning.

We went for a walk to get some juice and beer. I have never seen so much dog shit on the streets of a city in all my life. There is much more to Montpellier than the few streets I saw, and I'm sure some of the attractions are nice. But my current opinion, based on what I saw is that this place is disgusting and I will not be rushing to visit again.

Just google; dog, shit and France and see what comes up!

Stockalper Castle, Brig Switzerland

Monday, October 25, 2010

Brig is a very pretty old town in the Valais region. It is a hub for tourists visiting other places in the area, but has some very nice attractions too. 

Early on today we decided to take it easy, do some shooting, but nothing too major. We have decided to stay for another night and tomorrow will do a day trip to experience a cable car  ride up the mountain and hopefully see the Aletsch Glacier. For now we are heading to the castle to take some pictures and shoot some video.

Arrival In Brig, Switzerland.

Monday, October  25, 2010.

Our first night in Brig was quiet and uneventful. We found a hotel very close to the train station that was reasonably priced and set out to find dinner. After a few minutes of browsing around the old town we quickly  realized that Brig was not going to be cheap. We settled on a pretty average looking family run pizzeria and had pizza that was really quite good. The only problem was that it was served by a young woman who, in my opinion, does not have a future in the service industry.

Wieliczka Salt Mine and Kalinka Restaurant

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is another UNESCO World Heritage Site and was first mined in the middle ages. The mine contains three thousand chambers covering over 300 KM. The highest chambers (where the tour really begins) in the mine are located at about 64 metres below ground or 378 steps down. The deepest chambers are 327 M. Fortunately, we didn't have to walk back up the stairs at the end of the tour.

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