Always Something New in the Royal City (August Break 2014)

London seemed to be one gigantic construction zone - especially in the City (the financial district), but also in other parts - and often old and new are right next to each other. Above in the picture you can see the construction of new hyper-modern buildings around old St. Paul's Cathedral.

Old buildings, new buildings - this is the 21st century reality of London. It could be horrible. However, the modern architects are doing quite a fine job. I actually like the stark contrast between new and old. I find it rather inspiring.

The view from Tower Bridge to the Tower of London (founded in 1066!) and behind it, "the Gherkin" - one of my favorite modern buildings.

Or look at this - "the Shard", another favorite. It looks unfinished, but it's complete. The architect of this skyscraper is Renzo Piano - the same guy who built the Centre Pompidou in Paris (together with Richard Rogers and Gianfranco Franchini), the New York Times Building and the California Academy of Sciences. It is 87 storey and 306 meters (1,004 ft.) high and has an observation deck which we unfortunately did not visit. It is currently the tallest building in the European Union.

If you look to the bottom right corner of the next photo you can see one of the gates to the Tower of London. It does look small compared to the huge buildings in its neighborhood.

I do think that most of the modern buildings have style - they're inspiring. It's modern architecture at its best - creative, innovative, interesting. Here you can see the "Gherkin" again, hiding behind other buildings.

The view from the London Eye - quite impressive, don't you think?

This modern side of London is for Susannah Conway's prompt "Something new" for the August Break 2014.

Adornment (August Break 2014)

Before this day is over I want to offer my adornment.

Honestly, I wasn't even sure what adornment meant. Thankfully, Susannah Conway sends out emails every day of her August Break 2014 and thus I got an idea about adornment. She was talking about adorning oneself, followed by a few examples.

So, how do I adorn myself? I rarely wear make up, I put my hair up in a ponytail or messy bun, and my clothes are anything but fashionable. I love comfortable, sometimes a bit crazy clothes, color and nothing trendy.

But I have a thing for earrings. I love them. I have quite a collection, but usually I wear these ones:

The Geek gave them to me on Christmas a couple years ago. I had seen them at a holiday fair, made by an artist from San Francisco (unfortunately I lost her card). Immediately I fell for this style... and my husband saw how much I loved them. I was very happy when I found them under the Christmas tree, and I have worn them almost every day since then.

No lipstick, no eye shadow, no mascara - but these earrings are a must!

What is your favorite adornment?

Autumn Foreshadow (August Break 2014)

I had promised that I would get back to August break - after I had missed so many. Today's prompt is "shadow" - I didn't take a new photo for this, and I also don't show a picture from Europe as I did with all the other August break prompts. This photo was taken four years ago, during a leisurely drive through our wine country - I actually found this image in my "fences" folder.

My favorite season is coming up - I can't wait for the warm and golden colors of fall. Some of our trees are already starting to change color, like the Chinese Pistache. It seems early - I guess it is due to the lack of water in our third straight year of drought. The Japanese Maple in front of our house is still green, though - it usually is at its height of fierce red color in November.

Are you looking forward to autumn or are you holding on to summer?

On The Table (August Break 2014)

I apologize - this was actually yesterdays' prompt. I hope you still accept it today...

"On the table" reminds me of the beautifully set tables in the restaurants in Paris. This one in the Centre Pompidou was a rather expensive one - you pay for the location. The tables were set in the morning, and I loved the beautiful way it was done. Simple, but each table had a long red rose. This is style.

Even the tables in the street cafés that serve lunch were set at least with a napkin, silverware and glasses.

It looks so much more welcoming than just the plain table. It means - come on in, have a seat and some good food. Relax a bit, take a break. You are welcome here. Don't you just love that?

Even if you just order a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), it is served with a lot of style - Kaefer ordered one in one of the many street cafés in the Quartier Latin, and the thick, dark chocolate came in a cup with the milk in a little pot on the side. Now, this is a classic!

Other street cafés, like this one on Montmartre, drew me in with their colorful tables and chairs, and just two glasses on the table. Doesn't it make you want to stop for a glass of Kir?

Kir, by the way, was my favorite drink in Paris. I enjoyed it already when I came to Paris the first time at the age of 17, and I have loved it ever since. It is Crème de Cassis with very dry white wine (1:4) or sometimes with champagne; then it is called Kir Royal. Kir is more common, and honestly, I like it better.

I think I'll have one right now. Santé!

The Charm of Handwritten Signs (August Break 2014)

While traveling through Europe I loved the handwritten signs in front of restaurants, pubs and cafés. How fitting for today's prompt "Handwriting".

Yummy sandwiches in York - you almost feel sorry for this happy grinning pig.

We were well informed about the Wold Cup matches while exploring the Quartier Latin in Paris - at this time, France was still in the game! This was almost more important that the menu of the place! You have to set your priorities!

There are so many restaurants in the Quartier Latin, it is hard to choose from. Salad anyone?

In Hameln, Germany, we were tempted with cheese rolls or a platter of cheese plus a pot of coffee and/or a glass of wine. I could take all of this!

And finally, on the German island of Spiekeroog this café tempted us with Milchreis (milk rice) with cinnamon and sugar, alternatively with apple sauce or hot cherries or - a local specialty - with rote Grütze which is a fruit pudding made of berries like raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. It is delicious, especially if you eat it with liquid heavy cream or vanilla sauce. However, on top of Milchreis it can be pretty yummy as well.

Now, which of these culinary delights would you choose?

Drinking Tea in England (August Break 2014)

Since today's prompt is "drink" we turn to England again and the British passion for drinking tea. Tea is so good there, that this coffee drinker turned into a tea drinker. Alas, only in England.

We found this little tea shop in York while rambling along the narrow lanes in this medieval town. I liked their display of loose tea leaves in these big glass containers.

Lucky for us, they also had a pot of hot tea outside their shop where anybody could taste the tea. The glass tea pot beautifully featured the golden color of the tea, and the tea light beneath it gave extra warmth - literally.

There is an abundance of tea rooms all over Britain.

The tea, of course, is preferably taken with milk, and it tastes even better if it is accompanied by homemade scones, clotted cream and jam. Sinfully good!!!

If you are a tea drinker, how do you take your tea? Black? With milk? Sugar? Honey? Or perhaps even with Kandis as we do in the North of Germany?

Country "Fences" (August Break 2014)

"Today is..." - our prompt.

Well, today is Thursday, and in my book that means fences and linking up with Theresa's 'Good Fences'. And exactly that I am doing today.

Only, that my fences are actually not real fences. They are...

 ... walls. Same function as a fence - to either keep someone in or out. All of these fences are in the Cotswolds whose landscape is criss-crossed by walls.

It's a beautiful landscape, really, and the walls just add some extra charm.

Sometimes they separate a cemetery from the nettles outside.

Sometimes the cemetery itself is covered in weeds and the sheep are right next door - that's a pretty common picture. It's a pastoral setting, after all.

The walls are rather rough and irregular - another charming detail about them.

Evening Reflection (August Break 2014)

Today's prompt - "reflection".

We found Stanway House in the Cotswolds after we had our lovely dinner in the pub. This is a Jacobean manor house located near our farmhouse bed and breakfast that we stayed in for the night. It was around 8:30pm, but still light - I love those long summer days. The sun wasn't too low to the horizon yet (that happened after 9:30pm), but its light was already warm and golden. Given that the Cotswold stone is golden as well, this makes for a gorgeous color in the evening.

The pond reflected all these beautiful hues. A photographer's paradise, pretty much. We loved to walk around the estate which was mainly this park-like side of the house.

Behind the house there is a huge fountain which rises to over 300 ft. - you can see it in the last photo, on the left half, behind the tree. It reminded me a little bit of Old Faithful in Yellowstone when it erupts.

Threesomes (August Break 2014)

The prompt for the fifth day is - not five, but three. Well, I first didn't quite know what to do with that and I was toying with the idea of skipping this one. But when I looked casually through my pictures from Europe I found quite some threesomes. Here we go!

Rainy Edinburgh - but the red still stands out

Three sunchairs in St. James's Park in London on a brilliant summer day - it doesn't happen too often, so everybody was hanging out in the park. These sunchairs are not for free though; you can rent them hourly. St. James's Park is my favorite park in busy London.

Three lovely sheep in the beautiful English countryside. Sheep belong to Britain like tea and fish and chips.

Three Union Jacks along the Mall in London. They were already preparing for Trooping the Colour, also known as "The Queen's Birthday Parade", which took place on June 14th this year.

Three scooters in Paris - another great way to explore the city.

Three gelato cones by Amorino in Paris - they serve the ice cream shaped in the form of roses. What a lovely idea. You can see a short video about it here. 

And finally, three Adirondack chairs on the island of Spiekeroog, Germany. It's time to relax now and enjoy the summer. Please, can I have some Amorino gelato?

The Orange Spirit (August Break 2014)

Our prompt today is "orange". Beside it being my favorite color, it's also the color of the Dutch Royal Family which hails from the House of Orange. Members of the House of Orange are extremely popular in the Netherlands, and thus the color orange has come to symbolize the country, and to signify national pride.

During the World Cup the Netherlands - or as in these photos Amsterdam - was pretty much covered in orange. It is such a happy, spirited color - we had to smile every time we saw some orange banners or these footballs.

The flag of the Netherlands, however, is a horizontal tricolor of red, white, and blue.

Signs in pub windows invited for special deals (Oranje, Dutch for orange, is the nickname of the Dutch national football team)

After all the games won by Oranje: Happy Hour pay one for two

and, of course, for watching the games. 

Many boats had orange decorations while gliding through the grachten - so pretty to watch.

I personally had hoped that the Oranje team would be in the final game - Netherlands : Germany. Unfortunately this didn't happen, and Netherlands "only" got third place. To honor the Dutch spirit (and since the Dutch team had just won a game the day before) Kaefer wore orange while exploring Amsterdam.

PS: I am happy, though, that the German team won the World Cup. And a little bit proud of my country's team.