Category Archives: Ambles

Puits Communes (Public Wells)

One day while walking down our street, we saw this in a wall near our cottage: It’s an old unused well; we could see the pulley and bucket on a chain.There is a locked grill on the front so it … Continue reading

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La Ferté Alais Airshow

  In late August great friend Hervé, his daughter Sophia, son Ben, Ben’s friend Jurgen and I went to the La Ferté Alais airshow. A couple days ago Hervé beat me soundly (figuratively) about the head and shoulders for not … Continue reading

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Around Bois-le-Roi – Chateau Fontainebleau

We’re preparing to head off on a four-day trip to the Loire Valley, home of many beautiful chateaus; I’ll write a post about that when we return. In the meantime (and afterward) I’ll try to post some pictures and scribblings … Continue reading

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Moret-sur-Loing

When we first came to France for a long-stay vacation, we lived in the small town of Montigny-sur-Loing (“Montigny on the Loing River”). As I researched places around Montigny I came across Moret-sur-Loing, about 10 miles away, and found that … Continue reading

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Paris

This week we came to Paris for three days. Now any halfway-regular reader of this blog knows that we love Paris. We think it is the best city in the world, a qualification that may not be exactly valid because … Continue reading

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Halloween in Elmsford

We made one more trip this year – to Elmsford NY for Halloween. Craig and Annie’s neighborhood really does Halloween big: the majority of the houses are decorated, from a few pumpkins to full-yard displays of ghosts, skeletons, ghouls, laser … Continue reading

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Esgrafiado

Esgrafiado, applied to architecture, describes the technique of creating 3-d patterns on walls. We loved seeing buildings with this decoration. Segovia must have hundreds of them; we saw maybe half. Once we’d noticed them, we searched them out. Although I … Continue reading

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Segovia

The last stop on our “Greatest Hits of Spain” tour is also the place I’ve known longest in Spain, not counting Madrid: Segovia. It is also a place with which I have some emotional ties. In the late 1970s/early 1980s … Continue reading

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Úbeda

Úbeda has an unusual claim to fame: in the middle of Moorish Spain, Úbeda has what many claim to be the most beautiful Renaissance square in all Europe, and has many other Renaissance buildings scattered throughout the city. We’ve been … Continue reading

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A Night in Vejer de la Frontera and Two Days in Arcos de la Frontera

Vejer de la Frontera We headed south from Trujillo, where it was hot, to Vejer de la Frontera, where it was hotter – approaching 100°. Vejer is a “pueblo blanco” – a white town, so named because it has been … Continue reading

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