Aix-en-Provence - Saint Flour

Het Campanile-hotel in Aix is geen George V in Parijs maar het dinerbuffet was dik in orde. En dat voor het ontbijt idem. Met een "kleine" omweg via Montpellier rijden we via de doorgaans rustige A75 naar Saint Flour in de Auvergne. "Doorgaans" omdat we er vandaag een vette vertraging van 45 minuten opliepen wegens wegwerkzaamheden. Maar je kunt niet alles hebben. Het was mooi weer maar wel "slechts" 23 graden. De route voert langs Millau (bij de Tarn), nu al bekend wegens de brug over die rivier. Reporter Jeanne heeft er nog een shotje van gemaakt.

De brug bij Millau in de A75

Ook kunnen we, letterlijk in het voorbijgaan, nog een blik werpen op het roze Viaduc de Garabit.
In Saint-Flour aangekomen blijkt daar een dag vol muziek georganiseerd te zijn. Het is er gezellig druk en op vele plaatsen wordt muziek gemaakt, tot in de kathedraal aan toe.

Muziekvoorstelling in de Saint Pierre

En ook op straat, het is niet allemaal mijn smaak maar wel gezellig. Zoals dit:

Overigens, Saint Flour kent een laag en een hoog deel. Het hoge deel is het aantrekkelijkst en daar ligt ook de kathedraal. Het is geen wonder van schoonheid maar als monument toch indrukwekkend.

Saint Pierre

Vanuit ons in het hoge deel gelegen hotel, is het lager gelegen deel van de stad te bewonderen.

De verbindingsweg tussen de twee delen, is een gemeen klimmetje van zo'n 10% over 300 meter. Het schijnt eens de finish van een Tour de France-etappe geweest te zijn.
Tijdens het diner zien we hoe de Duitsers op het nippertje van de Zweden winnen (WK voetbal).

WK-voetbal Zweden-Duitsland 1-2

Morgen door naar Tours.

Sepia Saturday - Bridges

This week's picture shows a bridge across a river that won't see many tall ships, be it with or without sail. The bridge hardly allows the passage of a rowing boat. If the man at the oars is distracted by the photographer for another ten seconds, he will surely lose his hat if not more. What really intrigues me is the body language of the lady on the bridge. The way she holds her right arm indicates either that she is giving the man a piece of her mind or that she has got a back problem. For the well being of the man I would hope it is the second option. But you may justly find this a woman unfriendly thought. In any case, this picture offers many possibilities. Nevertheless, I'll go for the obvious: bridges.

I know the two starting bridges from own experience. That almost automatically means they are not very sepia. I am not that old, you know. 
The first one is a French bridge. It is situated near Millau in the south of France, part of the A75 and it has been there since 2004. 

My wife looking up at the Viaduc de Millau

The bridge crosses the river Tarn and is almost 2.5 kilometers/1.5 miles long. The highest bridge pillar is 343 meters/1125 ft, the longest span between two pillars 342 meters/1122 ft. My wife (1.64 m/5 ft 5 in) felt like a dwarf looking up! It is a very impressive construction! Here is a 3min 15sec YouTube video worth looking at. 
The next one is a Canadian bridge. I never set foot on it but we saw it from the air when visiting friends in nearby Belleville.

Thousand Island Bridge crossing the St Lawrence near Gananoque, ON

Our friends Tim & Diana knew of a seaplane operator in Gananoque. The carrier's name was 1000 Island Airways and we flew in a De Haviland B. So we made a very nice trip over the St Lawrence River.
Well, so much for colorful bridges, let's go back to the sepia era.

Bridge over the river Kyll near Kyllburg 50 km north of Trier, Germany

During my mother's high school period many school trips were spent in the western part of Germany. This photo dates from approx 1933. It is difficult to be sure where she is in this picture. She might also have taken it. The only known name is her teacher's name. He is the man on the very right, Mr. Van Ramshorst.

Dausenau a.d. Lahn 100 km northwest of Frankfurt, Germany

During one of those school trips the above picture was taken in the small city of Dausenau in Germany. Again I assume my mother is part of this group but that is not the reason for showing this picture. It is the banner over the street showing the logo of the Nazi-party that makes this photo special. Although WW2 started in 1939, the Germans knew Hitler and his ideas long before that. The banner says:

Adolf Hitler

schaft Arbeit und Brot

Wählt Liste 2

Translated this says: "Adolf Hitler creates labour and bread, Vote list 2."

Obviously social circumstances in Germany were very poor in those days. And Hitler made use of the bleak future staring in the face of many Germans. Promises for a better future and at same time blaming a.o. Jews for the situation they were in, made excellent elections.

Usually the largest party has the lowest sequence number. In January 1933 Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and his Nazi-party the absolute number 1. In combination with my mother's age there, my conclusion is that this photo dates from 1932. Little did these boys and girls know how the banner over their heads would influence their lives in less than 10 years time...

For more ladies, rowing boats, bridges and anything else you would never have thought of, please see my fellow Sepia Saturday bloggers.

Update Apr. 7, 2014
Out of the blue I received the following email from Germany:

Good evening,

I've found this picture of Kyllburg in your blog by accident:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZ_oBkGiDJ79fHJx3XNTn0T15-5AS2EV6SZRmQGh5i6odK3pGrsmsLATcGpzo9WuMMBBnO8As-45rVhi_xVr_UKxKajvCIpE0AcZSIFL9Th-qEKpU88bm5Duc7QagdV6zNAooTx1REoQ/s1600/Brug+over+de+Kyll+bij+Kyllburg+50+km+N+van+Trier.jpg

I was born in Kyllburg in 1958, but away from home since I'm 15 year old. I am very interested in the history of my home town. (By the way: Kyllburg is, with a population of about 900 people, the smallest town in the federal state Rheinland-Pfalz. Until  World War II it was a famous spa in the Eifel, specialy for the Dutch.)

The bridge over the river Kyll with your mother on it is probably this:

https://www.google.de/maps/place/50%C2%B002'20.5%22N+6%C2%B035'06.0%22E/@50.039036,6.584998,1684m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

I have a very private request: Do you have any other pictures or other information from this trip of your mother's school form to Kyllburg in 1933 where this picture was taken? Needless to say that there are a lot of postcards from Kyllburg at the internet. But the private sight of such a trip is of course more exciting for me.

I would be very pleased to hear from you.

Best regards

Toni Nissen

Wiesbaden

Obviously I replied to Tony. Fortunately my mother's album is still in my possession and there are a few more pictures made in Kyllburg which I forwarded to Toni in the meantime. There was also this picture postcard. I was able to put a date to the bridge picture: July 23, 1932. So I was wrong by a year. 

Kyllburg pictured from up high

It is nice when the internet provides you with reactions such as the one above. Thanks, Toni!

Frankrijk (3)

18 juni Cavaillon-Lodeve

De dag begon grijs maar is inmiddels veranderd in een mooie zonnige maar wel winderige dag (25gr). En met die wind er bij is het prima uit te houden. Vanuit Cavaillon door de Camarque langs de Golfe du Lion naar Montpellier gereden. Daar weten ze met wegen verbouwen ook wel raad! Onze (nou ja, hij is van Ruud) TomTom raakte er bij tijd en wijle zeer confuus van. Rij je net met 110 over een nieuwe route national, zegt ze plots: over 50 meter rechtsaf. Omdat we niet ook in de slip wilden raken, dat maar niet gedaan. Daarna in NW-richting, naar Lodeve. Deze keer een prima kamer in htl De la Paix op de

1e etage met uitzicht op de rivier de Lergue (wie kent 'm niet), bekend om z'n heldere water. (Gisteren ook een prima kamer in Cavaillon maar dat was op de 3e en geen lift. Pffft!!)

Pandje in Lodeve

Morgen naar onze vrienden in Fleurance over de D999, de langste D-weg die ik ken. Nooit nagemeten maar 100 km redt ie wel. Als ik me goed herinner, gaat ie ook onder de befaamde brug bij Millau door. Of we in Fleurance wi-fi hebben, weet ik niet dus misschien vanaf dinsdagavond weer nieuws. Dan zijn we D.V. in Vieux-Boucau.