Ellen’s Journeys – Paris at Christmas

Hi Everyone,

 

Tui and I spent Xmas in Paris and it was fantastic!!!!!! I love the French!!!

Guess who we saw?? Woody Allen and his young wife, Soon-Yi!!! They stayed at the same hotel as us!! They were right in front of us on the escalators! He looked like any little old man and she looked like any typical Asian mom/lady!! She was really casually dressed. We didn’t take a photo as it was Xmas day and it would be a little bit annoying for them! (…)

We loved our hotel as it was really close to the Eiffel Tower and it overlooked the Seine River.

     

We could see the French Statue of Liberty from our room as well. Can’t believe the French gave the Americans the big one and kept the small one for themselves!!

 

Ok..I will let the pictures to do the talking! Though you may seen some of these before but I thought it would be nice to see them again in a winter setting.  The coolest thing was going on the Ferris Whell at Place de la Concorde.

 

Besides Galaries LaFayette (ie like Isetan/David Jones/Selfridges), we went shopping around Les Halles and visited a few churches. 

The Xmas Market at La Defense was Fab!!!! We also had afternoon tea at Laduree at Champs-Élysées. YUMMMMM…..Expensive but well worth it!!! I couldn’t help it but I had to take a lifestyle shot of me on the Champs-Élysées reading a French paper! Hahaha!!! I had too since I had my Louis Vuitton bag with me and I was living my superficial dream!! haha!!!

Hope you guys had a great Xmas too and may 2008 be everything that you wished for and more!!!!! Happy New Year!!!

‘elle’ 

( not ellen – i am French now!! hahahah! ) xx 

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Pls. click on the photos to have a better look at them.

Ellen’s Journeys… – Venice

Here we go: Following the first article on Ellen’s journeys, here is a nice report on her trip to Venice… Enjoy! (To have a closer look to the photos, please click!)

 

“Hi Everyone,

Venice is a really nice and beautiful city. Nothing like I have ever seen before! Loved it! It is not as ’romantic’ as most people make it out to be ( then again, I was not there with my Prince Charming! haha! ). I know some of you have special memories of Venice so I thought I would attach a few more pixs! : )

Love the islands outside Venice! Burano is really cool (…)

 

and Torcello is good for a history lesson but it is not ‘pretty’.

Those of you who have been the Cambridge, does the Bridge of Sigh look familiar to you?? : )

 

The one in Cambridge (St John’s College) is a replica of this original Bridge of Sigh.  It is called the Bridge of Sigh because prisoners walk through the bridge before they go to prison. 

We were lucky at Venice cos we stayed really near San Marco Square or Piazza San Marco.

The Palazzo Ducale/Ducale Palace (…) was really nice and the Basilica di San Marco was awesome (…) !!  I can’t believe people PAY money to buy food to FEED the pigeons in the square!!!! (…)

Ellen x”

Ellen’s Journeys… Windsor, UK

A friend of mine, Australian, who used to work in London had decided to visit other European places before heading back home to Downunder.

I have not yet met her personally, by the way, but I will try to go to London as long as she’s still there.

Anyway, since starting her travels she keeps sending me photos of the places she has seen and some comments, too – so today we agreed that these might add to my English Corner quite nicely. Especially, as she is back in London for the moment, so that really suits.

(I reward her with Christstollen in return. The question is, what will I do next spring and summer, when I hope to see some pictures of Australia but there’s no fresh Stollen to get from the bakery? I sincerely do hope she will be fond of other German products, too!)

So, thanks, Ellen – hope to get some direct comments from you, here, too! (There is a comment (“Kommentar”) function at the end of each article. And you are always welcome to correct my English! )

So, here we go – starting with some nice pics of Windsor Town and Windsor Castle, which I like a lot: (click on the photos to see them larger)

 

…and that’s her…!

As she has told me:

“Went to Windsor Castle recently and I really liked it.  (…) it is the largest occupied castle in the world.  A royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today. Didn’t see any Corgis there though!! “

So, that’s enough for now. Have to check on her Italian e-mails, next…

Ratinger Herbstspaziergang

Ein kleiner frühherbstlicher Gruß!

…und zwar vom Bauernmarkt (Sonntag, 30.09.07) in Ratingen.

 

Neandert(h)al

Das Neandert(h)al ist ja nun doch ein ziemlich bekannter Ort, und das weit über die Grenzen Mettmanns hinaus. Benannt wurde es nach dem evangelischen Kirchenprediger und –Komponisten Joachim Neander (“Lobet den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”), der dort im 17. Jahrhundert bevorzugt geistliche Versammlungen abhielt.

1856 fanden Arbeiter in einer Höhle das Skelett eines prähistorischen Menschen, den man nach seinem Fundort benannte: „Homo sapiens neanderthalensis” bzw.

„Neandert(h)aler“.

 

Äh… aber wie ist das denn jetzt eigentlich mit der richtigen Schreibweise? Das ist eine Frage, die in Bezug auf das Neandert(h)al schön längst vor Einführung der neuesten Rechtschreibreform immer wieder aufgetaucht ist. Mit „h“? Oder ohne „h“?

Im Duden steht eindeutig „Neandertal“ und „Neandertaler“ – und trotzdem findet man je nach Zusammenhang auch andere Schreibweisen. Der Grund für diese Problematik liegt in einer sehr viel älteren Rechtschreibreform, nämlich der zu Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts. Bis zu dieser Zeit wurde das Wort „Tal“ mit „Th“ geschrieben, „Thal“ also. Und in vielen Fällen wurde beim „Neanderthal“ diese historische Schreibweise beibehalten. So heißt zum Beispiel auch das im Tal angesiedelte Museum „Neanderthal Museum“ – auch wenn sich nach wie vor nicht alle in dieser Frage einig geworden sind…

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Wie auch immer… von jetzt an gibt’s hier in der Blog-Kategorie

“In und um Mettmann…

 das kleine Mettmann-Magazin”

das eine oder andere (hoffentlich) Lesenswerte über und aus unserer Region.

Konstruktive Kommentare, Themenvorschläge und die Übermittlung von Pressemitteilungen [via susas-lounge(at)gmx.de] sind natürlich gern gesehen!