Biking on the Galloping Goose Trail

The Galloping Goose trail is built on an old rail line. Because of this the incline is not more than three degrees and is great for walkers, joggers or bicyclists.

 My journey started here, at an ongoing spur of the trail, in Esquimalt near the back gate of CFB Naden and VSL shipyards.

 Its quite a busy intersection and the spur intends to expand on the other side of the street...eventually. After biking down the trail in the first picture, I had to head down some streets and go through Banfield park.

 This is the exit of Banfield park onto the Galloping Goose, at the South end of the Selkirk Trestle.

 This is the view of the trail heading downtown Victoria. But I wasn't going there today.

 This is the view going across the trestle. Its good that they kept the foundations and feel of the old wooden railway bridge.

 There is some very nice art along the beginning parts of the trail. This was done under a bridge.

 There are a few learning or rest areas along the trail. This one is not bike assessable but that's perfectly fine.

 This is where it splits off. The left trail goes to Sooke and beyond to Leechtown (a ghost town). The right one goes to Sydney and the ferry terminal to Vancouver. I went right.

 This is a wooden walkway over a small lake. After this I stopped taking pictures but the path is very nice this time of year with overhanging branches and open fields.

France Overview and the Near Future

Well, that was our trip to France. It only took two months to post about our three week trip. Now I can concentrate on the little chores around the house and making/painting models.

Highlights of the trip, in order of occurrence, were:

-Rue Montorgueil
-Walking around Paris
-Snowing in Paris
-The Louvre
-The Paris restaurant La Cordionnerie
-The Amboise restaurant at Auberge de Launay
-Chateau Chenonceau
-The walled city of Dinan
-The WW2 Normandy experience
-The restaurant at Chateau d'Adrieu

I'm also going to unlock the requirement for having to have a google+ account to post comments on my entire blog. Just to see what happens and if its manageable. I'll be moderating so keep it clean.

Next for models are terrain, Cygnar Tempest Blazers, Cygnar Warcaster Constance Blaze, Warjack Gallant, another unit and UA of Precursor Knights, an entire Warmachine Mercenary Rhulic army, more Infinity (Combined Army and Haqqislam), more Malifaux (Guild and Neverborn), and more Firestorm Armada.

Stay tuned to this space.

France - Paris Again Day 2 - La Billybaude

 We wandered around at the end of a long day walking and decided to give this establishment, La Billybaude, a try. We were very satisfied with the result.

 My appetizer was marinated mackerel and this bowl was brought out for me!

 When the plate came out and I asked the waiter about the huge bowl, he explained that people served themselves what they wanted. Generally one or two fillets. I chose one of the larger ones. It was marinated in olive oil and very very good. Underneath was potatoes in a light broth.

 My wife had fois gras with a balsamic reduction and a bit of berry jelly.

 This is the wine we had.

 We both had the duck with a side of mashed potatoes.

 My wife had the berry cake.

I had the chocolate volcano type dessert.

France - Paris Again Day 2 - Streets of Paris

 We soaked up the ambiance of Paris on this, our last full day in France.

 On each side of the doors leading into Le Bon Marche are these wonderful tiled panels. Le Bon Marche has the title of being one of the world's first department stores, from 1850.

 Gustave Eiffel was consulted for parts of its structure.

 The clock tower of the Hotel de Ville has the commonly seen phrases on French public buildings, seen on the bottom of the picture, Liberte Egalite Fraternite (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood).

 It was too bad that one of our favorite Jazz bands, Pink Martini, was playing after we left. They are from Portland Oregon in the USA and are a treat to watch perform.

A photo of the outside of our hotel room.

France - Paris Again Day 2 - French Resistance in Paris Exibition

 At the Hotel de Ville, they had a free exhibition of the French Resistance in Paris

.The first section had pictures of life in Paris under the Nazi Germany regime.

This was a Jewish area after the Nazi's and Vichy French sent them away to concentration camps.

This picture is haunting to me because of the casualness of the women and the menacing look of the German officers on the left.

A secret suitcase radio.

A handbill telling those who are loyal to Charles De Gaul to sabotage, set fires and destroy the occupying forces equipment.

After the allies landed on D-Day and were advancing towards Paris, the resistance and loyal citizens organized roadblocks. I find the relaxing attitude these two have slightly amusing.

A map with Paris and the German roadblocks.

This fellow was a Chemistry professor at the Paris university making explosives for the Resistance.

Another roadblock with a defaced picture of Hitler.

Frenchmen gathering weapons. I like the smile the woman has on the left.

After some of France was liberated, Charles De Gaul encouraged a new French fighting force to be formed to assist the allies, called the FFI (French Forces of the Interior). It was an attempt to better organize the French Resistance with the Allies under one command.

This picture is of women suspected of colluding with the occupiers.

A call for people to open their homes to people returning from concentration camps. This not only included those of Jewish decent but prostitutes, homosexuals and anyone the Germans and Vichy did not like.

This Muslim hospital treated members of the French resistance. It was largely left alone because of the alliance the Germans had with the Ottoman Empire and the clever "plague" and virus outbreaks when Germans came to check things out.

Tintin magazine ran a special in 1949 on the liberation of Paris by General Leclerc, head of the 2nd Armored Division.

France - Paris Again Day 2 - Musee de L'Armee - Later French Exibits

 There is a section of the museum that encompasses the time period from the French Revolution of 1792 to the third French Republic in 1870. There is also currently a special exibit centering on Napoleon the first's reign.

 A model of the Bastille.

 This is what a typical section looks like. Uniforms of the time period, paintings of famous personages of a particular battle or era, artifacts from that era and...

 ...a large table with a particular battle played out on it. They did an excellent job of setting up the battle including reasons for it then played it out from start to finish. By this point my wife and I were war museumed out and could have spent another day here. We had not even seen the WW1 and WW2 section yet. Another time.

 In the Napoleon exibit they had the painting of "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" by Jacques-Louis David in 1800. It is a magnificent painting full of symbolism and meaning. It is no wonder the image was put on pottery and copies made.

 Lord Nelson's uniform he was wearing when shot at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The white hole in the left sholder is the wound that killed him.

 Napoleon's uniform.

 Royal jewelry worn by Marie-Louise of Austria.

In the Napoleon exhibit they also show the other side of the stories. There was this impressive picture of Agustina de Aragon. She was a woman who fought in the Spanish war of Independence against the French as a civilian and when she entered the military, rose to the rank of Captain. She was an inspiration for the Spanish to throw off the French invaders and lived to 71 years of age.

France - Paris Again Day 2 - Musee de L'armee - Weapons that Cannot Decide if they are Melee or Ranged

Sometimes a melee weapon isn't enough and you need that extra ranged oomph.

 These two maces are also gunpowder guns. They shoot from the top. The one on the left was made in 1550. The one on the right was made for French King Henry the second around 1536 to 1542.

 A falchon made in 1550 has a pistol in the hilt and the barrel in the spine of the sword.

 Made in Germany in 1580, this sword stick with a pistol is all sorts of hidden nastiness.

 Made for Nicolas de Lorraine in 1570, this triple bladed spear, with cutting blades, also has three pistols in between each spear blade. Ouch. This is steampunk well before steampunk was thought up.

Henry the fourth's sword pistol from 1600.