Unusual Things That We See Here in France

There are always interesting things to see here in France every day . And as Pa and I travel about we are always looking for these things to photograph for you.

These papier mache figures were in the window of the local tourist office advertising a Fete that was to be held in the town that week.

When we were in Antibes yesterday these toy cars were outside a toy shop in the old town. They were advertising the shop and what was inside.
This sculpture of a Unicorn is at the front of the Oceanic Museum in Monaco. This is a sculpture by the very famous English artist Damien Hirst. He loves to shock people with his art and as you can see he has shown the muscles of the Unicorn as well. He thinks that showing the muscles will shock but I don't agree.
Then lastly there is this photo of this cute but ugly French Bulldog who was travelling past us in the car a few weeks ago. They had to stop at the lights and Pa got this great photo of the dog . He was enjoying the celebrity and the fresh air.

Street Theatre in Menton

A few weeks ago a lot of school children from France and Italy came to Menton the town near us to put on concerts and dancing in the streets.
Some of them were very cute and most of them dressed up in colorful hats and eye make-up.
The girl in this picture holding the hat was my favourite and she may have a great career on the stage as she was such a good actor.
Here she is again with some of her fiends and they are acting their parts in the play. They did all of this in the street in front of many people who were crowded around watching them.
This part of the play went on for a long time but it was interesting watching the children and how they reacted.
Here is a group of the dancers all having a cold drink or an ice-cream before they started their performance.
At the end all the students had to stay together and go back to their schools but they had a wonderful time and so did we. It was fun and colorful and different.

Horses Showing Off

Today we went to an Arabian Horse Show down in the town . The horses came from all over the mediterranean and Arabia and are a special breed of small horses that have a long neck and narrow head. It was a competition today to see which horse is the best.Ya Ya took this great picture of the winner when he raced over to the fence where she was standing. He won the Best Head section.

This black beauty was my favourite but he only came second. The owners race them around the arena really fast showing the judges how they can move their legs in a special prance. All the time that is happening there are other trainers outside the arena shaking plastic bags on long sticks which make a very loud swishing sound and it gets the horse more excited and makes it move faster.

This horse was galloping past us and flicking his tail and shaking his head all the time-trying to impress the judges. There were over fifty horses there today and they all slept in these little stalls that were specially made for the weekends event. It costs a lot of money to own these horses and they are only ever used for these competitions. They are never ridden like a normal horse and they spend most of their time being groomed to look good and lying around in hay in their stalls. What a life!.

Boats and Babies in Baskets

A few weeks ago in the big town near here there was a weekend of Speed Boat racing .

The boats had to race around buoys on the sea for a number of circuits before a winner was known.

The harbor area in the town was crowded with people on bikes and on foot who wanted to see all the noisy speed machines.

The speed boats had to be lifted by a crane onto the water and it was a tricky thing to do as the boats were very heavy and there were many people crowding around where the crane was.

There were adults, children and dogs all eager to see how they get the boats onto the water and also all the men were having a good long look at the boats and probably wishing that they could be one of the drivers speeding through the water!

There were boats of all shapes and colors and there were even small remote controlled boats that had been built by men who loved to do that sort of thing and they were all together in a tent down on another beach where they put their boats on the water and directed them with the remote controls. They had a lot of fun doing that and it was certainly less noisy than the speed boats.

After we had looked at all the different boats and watched some of them race on the sea we walked back to our car through the market . At the end of the market we saw this cut little dog -a long haired chihuahua-sitting happily in its owners shopping bag while she bought her vegetables. So cute and unlike the speed boats she didn't make a sound!

The Sea

The sea here in France where we live is called the Mediterranean sea.It is surrounded by Europe , Asia and Africa and is the world's largest inland sea.

It has many beaches that are made up of stones unlike the sandy beaches in Australia.

There are lots of mountains at the back of the beaches along the mediterranean and sometimes there are earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in some of the countries. Thankfully there are no earthquakes here in France though.

When the sun is shining which happens a lot here along the mediterranean the water is an interesting blue color and many people take photographs of it because of it's beauty.

There are over 400 species of fish that live here in the waters of the mediterranean and yesterday we went to an art show where the local people had made pottery and paintings of many of the fish that live in the sea here. Every day there are always people fishing from the beach or the harbor walls and when we go to the markets to do our food shopping the fish market is full of fascinating creatures to eat! Our favorite is Sardines. They are yummy when Pa cooks them for dinner.

Lots of people use the beach here and there is always someone swimming in the sea all year round as the waters are warmer than a lot of other places in the world. There is even a lady who lives on the beach here. She sleeps there at night on a sun lounge under a plastic sheet that she has set up . She has all she needs right there on the beach and appears happy.

When we drive along the coast road to the different towns we can always see the sea and it is a very busy place with many different types of boats going about their business.

Last week some school children performed a play here in the street about the sea and how important it is to everyone's lives here in this part if France. Many people make a living from the sea and it is very important to keep the sea healthy for the creatures that live in it but also for us .

Art in the Village and Animals in the Mountains

Yesterday Pa and I went for a long walk up a mountain for lunch and then back down again in the afternoon.

On our way up the mountain we passed through the village of Gorbio which is near to where we live here in France.

There were many interesting and fun things on people's gates in Gorbio.

One gate had a sculpture made out of bits of metal and tin. It was a sculpture of Saint George and the Dragon.

On either side of the gate the owners of the house had made a knight and a lady and the lady was made out of broken pieces of pink pottery pigs. It looked wonderful and it was in the shape of the lady.

When we got to the top of the mountain where we had lunch in the village we saw lots of cats and pretty painted pot plant holders.

Then as we were going back down the mountain through the fields we came across a lot of very happy sheep who were laying in the sun and eating the long grass near a stream. We made sheep noises and they came running to the fence to make friends with us.

Then when we got home all the doggies were so excited to see us but we were so tired after our walk all we wanted was a cold drink and to sit down.

Dogs Where I Live

Where Pa and Ya Ya are living now in France we are surrounded by lots of dogs every day.

They live here in the house with Jilly and she looks after them while their owners have gone away. Sometimes for a few days and other times for two months. They sleep in the house at night with Jilly and she has the little dogs in the bathroom ! They sleep on their doggy beds and Jilly shuts the gate so that they don't wander in the night.

Her two dogs Beau and Mia sleep in the lounge room as they are family members and have more rights than the others but when there are big dogs staying they share with Beau and Mia quite happily.

There have been some cute little dogs staying here over the past three weeks and I have put a photo on this blog so that you can see how cute they are.

They all love Pa as he pats them too much and sometimes they get jealous of each other and bark and growl . But they are mans best friend and love company and being given attention.

When their owners come to collect them we are all sad to see them go but a few of them keep coming back so we are happy when that happens.

Its much better for them to be looked after at someones home while their owners are away than being put into a Kennel without the fun of running free and playing with other dogs as they do here at Jilly's.