April 6, Astoria and Vancouver: Spring comes to Oregon and Washington

This morning I planted seven or eight more plants that I got at Freddy's last night. During the process of planting, I realized I should have checked out one of my classmates' nurseries, but we get into such ruts sometimes that when I think plants here in Astoria, I think "Fred Meyer." I'm not sure where their nursery is, but when I find it, I'll post about it. I know they care so much for their plants, it would make me happy to buy from them. I do still have the area to the left to deal with - the shaggy grass you can just see outside of the rock border. This pretty much completes the area inside the rocks. I hope they grow well this summer and turn the flowerbed into a riot of color. If not, I'll probably keep planting things, because that's what I want. My three sage plants in this bed survived the winter, and I've already seen that while the dusty gray kitchen sage seems to grow faster, it gets gray and leggy and sort of dead-looking, while the purple sage is still beautiful, if smaller. I love purple sage and would have filled the garden with it, except I'd like bright colors, too.

After fixing up the garden, I took off for Portland, where I was meeting Lee so we could go to the J.J. Cale concert at the Aladdin Theater. Since I guessed (correctly) that they wouldn't let you take photos inside, I didn't take my camera out of the car, and I have no pix of it, though someday I'd like to take some of the outside. Let me just say that J.J. Cale and his band were incredible, much better than I'd heard on his recordings, although I haven't listened to the latest live recordings. So that's how we ended the evening, but when we first arrived, we found our motel, then went across the bridge to Vancouver, Washington. Beaches is a restaurant on the river that we enjoy, and we had lunch there before chilling in the park nearby. I took the sailboat photos just above and below from Beaches. The Columbia River separates the two cities in the process of dividing Washington from Oregon. I took all of the following photos from the Washington side, and all but these two sailboat pix from "Old Apple Tree Park" near the I-5 Bridge.

It looks like a lake, but it's the Columbia River. Some days you see sailboats up here. Down our way, near the mouth of the river, that's pretty rare.

It was a beautiful day. The weekend had been the first really nice weather in a long time. It wasn't hot, but it was sort of warm. Some people were in t-shirts, and I alternated: sweatshirt/t-shirt, maybe even my jacket, depending on the shade and the breeze. It was fairly calm, and there were lots of flowering and blossoming things just getting into the Spring mood.

I like crows. I liked watching them in the trees. We put blankets on the grass and napped and watched things, and didn't do much else.

Some people were more industrious. They were chasing a ball of some kind. I was so relaxed, I don't even remember what they were playing. A path goes through the park along the riverfront.

Portland/Vancouver have a number of picturesque bridges, and this is one of them. I thought they all had interesting names, but this one seems only to be called "The I-5 Bridge," or "Interstate Bridge," and it's notable for having the only stoplight on I-5 between Canada and Mexico. The light is to warn cars that they have to stop when the lift goes up to let ships through.

Here's another shot of the bridge showing more of the park where we were relaxing. It seems this bridge, built in 1917 and subsequently enlarged, is now so outdated that bottlenecks are common. It was one-way until 1956, when they added southbound traffic. They have a plan to build a huge bridge to replace it. My first thought when I saw the artist's rendering is just how ugly it would be. It seems there are a lot more problems than that. I hate seeing beautiful old landmarks fall into the dustbin, as I've already seen in my few (eight) years in Astoria, and this one may not even accomplish anything.

Back to the park: From our spot on the grass, we could watch the trains passing. I probably should have gotten up and walked over nearer the tracks to get a good photo, but as I said, it was just a lazy day. I needed that.

Lee especially likes trains, and so I do. If he's a train freak, I'm at least a train admirer. I like taking photos of them, too. The wheels look pretty cool if you click on the photo.

And here's another engine on the back. I like that I can see it through the new growth on the trees. The colors are neat.

When we finally got up, we ambled down closer to the river. I like that this display describes some history of the Columbia. If you click on the picture, you can read it.

And here's a fishing boat of some type going upriver. It's Spring salmon season.

Here we've walked closer to the bridge, and you can see what the water's edge looks like with the park on the bluff above it.

And another shot of the I-5 bridge with one of the lifts visible. Someone posted a beautiful picture of this bridge on Panoramio.

Oct 17, Part 4 - Paris: River, bridges, Right Bank

After leaving the area of Notre Dame and the narrow streets to the north of it, we were on our way to Cafe Zimmer on the Right Bank for brunch. This is the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) from the Ile de la Cite, just before we started across Pont d'Arcole.

Crossing the Seine on the Pont d'Arcole, you get a gorgeous and romantic view in both directions. This is the Ile St-Louis. It still surprises me to see blue sky and fluffy clouds in this city! I'm so used to gray skies in Paris.

Here's the magnificent view looking the other direction toward theTribunal de Commerce and the remarkable Conciergerie on the left.

Same general view from the Right Bank. The two bridges are the Pont Notre Dame in front and the Pont au Change behind it.

The Tribunal de Commerce is on the left and the Conciergiergerie (the old palace) beyond it with the two conical towers on the far right. We weren't trying to see everything today. We'd been walking a lot, and this morning we were just ambling, enjoying the magic.

Here we are on the right bank at the end of the bridge. This is a poor photo of the Hotel de Ville, but it's magnificent and imposing from any angle.

A glance up the Rue du Renard shows us the corner of the Centre George Pompidou and some impending weather. It's funny the notions you get about places. I always thought the Pompidou was much further from the river. I must have gotten there the long way around on another trip.

Another glace into the streets of the Right Bank, but our path is along the river.

The Tour St-Jacque has captured my interest from the first time I saw it almost 40 years ago. It stands on its own in a small park, all that's left of a church dedicated to the butcher's guild. It was built between 1508 and 1522, and was one of the major starting points for the pilgramage made by so many during Medieval times to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The church sold during the Revolutin and then pulled down in 1802 due to restructuring of the streets so the Rue de Rivoli could cut through the ancient warren of buildings.

Naturally, I couldn't stop after one photo, so here are several.

The tower is now a meteorological station. Can you imagine a more beautiful one?

I just love the flamboyant Gothic. The stones have been cleaned in recent years. I think it was almost black when I first saw it. It's amazing to me to think that it's real and it's really that old.

There's a statue of Pascal here somewhere. It is said that the physicist/philosopher condicted experiments into the weight of the air first at another location, then here in 1648. Actually, I ran across a note in a book that said his experiments may not have been conducted here, but in the Tour St-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas, which still stands on the Left Bank.

I love this structure at the back of the Theatre de la Ville on Rue Adolphe Adam at the corner of Avenue Victoria. The building is by the architect Davioud. It was rented and used by Sarah Bernhardt in 1899, and her name stayed on as the name of the building until 1968. Isadora Duncan danced here in 1903, supported by her whole family, but ridiculed by many critics. The building is now a cultural center. Near the stage in what was once the Rue de la Vieille Lanterne, the troubled poet and essayist Gerard de Nerval hanged himself in 1855.

Here's Lee walking across the Place du Chatelet. We're nearly to the Cafe Zimmer now. It faces the square.

The metro sign in the Place du Chatelet is one of several old-style signs with character. Brunch, here we come!

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Oct 17, Part 10 - Paris: Quai de Montebello Batobus landing

Strange things can be seen once you descend the stairs from the street level of the Quai de Montebello to the lower paveent where you board the boats. For instance, someone has painted white footprints on the cobbles, and there are large rings in the stone that look like they might belong in a torture chamber, although I'm sure they must be used to tie up boats, not humans. Also, right about here there's a marker on the wall showing the high-water point of the flood of 1910. Right now we'd be floating away.

Here is where you buy tickets for the Batobus (boat bus). It seems odd that it's built into the riverbank, but then why not?

Now we're waiting for our boat to come in so we can take a much-anticipated scenic ride.

What a great place to wait and watch the river. This boat heads toward the Pont au Double, right next to the front of Notre Dame.

Another boat goes by. It's busy on the river.

I'm enjoying the views above the riverbanks, too.

I love this photo. I think it's worth clicking on it to see the image larger.

Here's Lee, also enjoying the view on Notre Dame and waiting for the boat near the rings in the embankment.

It looks like the boat behind me is covering the bases. The Riverside Barbeque Restaurant has a pub and music, too. And the sign is in Korean (?) as well as English.

Here comes our Batobus.

It says, "Vendome" on the placard above the entrance to the boat. I don't remember what the prices were for the ride, but I never thought of using this "bus" to get around town, I'd only thought of it as a tour. Maybe next time it would be a good way to get across town.

Here's the name for the boat landing. It's too bad vandals have messed up the sign.

Lee gets onto the Batobus. Yeah, this will be great! What a treat. . . .

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Oct 17, Part 11 - Paris: On the Batobus (Boats and Bridges on the Seine)

In the previous post, we were waiting on the Quai de Montebello at the base of the Pont au Double, which is the first of the three bridges you can see in the photo above. The second is the Petit Pont, and the third is Pont St-Michel. First we go downriver toward the Ile St-Louis.

Although this is out of focus, I loved the expression on the little girl's face. How often do we put ourselves in the place of a child and remember just how exciting it is to see a boat? Many of us like to look at boats, but for her it's a total thrill.

And for me it's a thrill to see the bridges from this perspective. They have an entirely different feel, of course. I can't describe it.

This boat has large plants on it. It it someone's home?

A long boat.

Looking back at Notre Dame against the sky.

In a hurry, or just having fun?

Leaving the Ile de la Cite behind for the moment.

Passing the Ile St-Louis. The architecture here is neither as old nor as varied as it is on the Ile de la Cite or the Left Bank, but it can be elegant.

This is the Pont de la Tournelle, connecting the Ile St-Louis to the Left Bank.

It's nice to have scale markers.

A nice pastime on the island - watching the boats go by.

The Pont de Sully crosses both parts of the river at the tail of the Ile St-Louis.

An interesting-looking cupola.

Some rare brick architecture.

Entrance to the Canal St-Martin and the Arsenal - more places I haven't explored yet.

I think we must be coming back to the Ile St-Louis and crossing over to the side of the river next to the Right Bank. I should have blogged this while I still remembered what it looked like.

Interesting curves.

I think these buildings are on the Ile de la Cite.

Moving upriver between the Ile de la Cite and the Right Bank, we're approaching Pont Louis Philippe.

It has distincting round medallions above the piers.

This is still one of my favorite sights - the towers of Henri IV's palace.

Passing under Pont Neuf, here's a different angle of a familiar location - the eastern end of the Ile de la Cite with the statue of Henri IV and the brick buildings marking the point of the Place Dauphine. There's a nice boat here, too. I'm sorry the lighting is not so good. When I brightened the image, I lost the clouds, so I used the original.

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