Every year they wear these coats , bought many years ago.
Fancy dress for the occasion.
Co-ordinated in stripes.
As promised, I have some interesting characters to show you this week. I think gardeners must be a particular breed, often rather eccentric, especially the English variety and we found several of them at the Chelsea Flower Show last year. I have Susanne to thank for most of these photos.
When planning our cruise down the Dalmatian Coast and parts of Italy, I allowed for a few days in Paris, (which I hope you have enjoyed reading about) but we had to be in England in time for the Chelsea Flower Show. I think this was my fifth visit and it was my sister’s second, but it’s always different, always a day of bliss for me and for any gardeners from anywhere in the world. Susanne and I took over a thousand photos each, so I’ll have to do this in sections, selecting a few of my favourites to share with you.
Brilliant colour was the first thing that wowed us as we entered the huge tent full of prize winning entries. Aren’t these stunning?
Tickets for Chamber music by Ravel and Saint-Saens, played by musicians from the National Opera Orchestra of Paris, were waiting for us at the Palais Garnier when we arrived a little before midday on Sunday. My son and his wife had organised this special treat for us months before, knowing how much I love classical music.
Stage inside the Palais Garnier.
Like most of the old theatres I’ve seen in Europe, this one was stunning. Red and gold everywhere; even without the music, the visit was worthwhile. The curtains were spectacular, made of what looked like
Dome above the stalls.
red velvet, masses of it, draped and flounced in theatrical fashion, almost like a separate character about to play his/her part. The dome above the front stalls told another story; decorated in bright colours with lots more gold and finished with a glistening chandelier hanging from the centre, it added to the atmophere.
This piece will be mainly photos because how else can one express the visual feast we experienced on our second day of sight-seeing in Paris?
The L’Ouvre was first on our itinerary, but trying to find the Mona Lisa, which was on my sister’s list of ‘must sees’ took ages. Standing behind such a large crowd that actually seeing the famous painting was fairly impossible, Susanne agreed with my estimation of that painting and the museum in general; it’s not worth the fuss.
Musee d’Orsay, formerly a railway station in Paris
The best Salade Nicoise
We headed for the Musee d’Orsay instead, stopping for lunch in a real French (as opposed to tourist French) eatery where I had the best Salad Nicoise that I’ve tasted anywhere.
Rodin.
Once inside the museum we feasted our eyes. This foot photo is only a small part of the male figure but I am amazed by the detail that Rodin is able to portray in every part of his sculptures.
Cezanne
We took so many photos that only a few can be shown here.
Monet’s famous water lilies
A year ago today I was in Paris with my sister, Susanne, visiting L’Orangerie which is my favourite museum in that city.
When registering for the three day Paris Pass one must line up at the first museum you visit and buy your pass there. As the queues at Musee d’Orsay and the L’Ouvre are generally very long I guessed, correctly, that we shouldn’t have to waste much time standing in line at this small gallery.
Monet’s Water Lilies – I want to step into the painting.
Having been to Musee Marmottan and Monet’s garden at Giverney on our previous visit to Paris, we had an idea of what to expect and I had visited this gallery many years before, but the spectacle is amazing, no matter how many times I see it. The oval room has a large painting on each of the four walls with benches in the middle, so that viewers can sit and admire the art (provided the space isn’t filled with other people standing in front of the scenes.) Not only are the 
paintings themselves 
stunning but the way they are arranged makes me feel that I could take one step and be in there, a nymph (excuse my imagination) rising out of the water. The closest I came was in a photo, in front of one of the paintings. People speak in hushed tones and, although most are busy taking photos, the atmosphere is respectful and visitors are considerate of their fellow admirers, 
moving to one side so that we can all capture the image we want. I took many more than I can show you here, but if you get a chance, if you’re in Paris and you want to see some Monet, especially the water lilies, make this museum your first stop.
Our introduction to Naples – entrance from the harbour
Rundown buildings near the harbour
Naples makes me think of the Mafia, crime, corruption and poverty. Although we landed at the port, naturally, we didn’t in fact, see anything of the crime element and just a few areas of lower standard
Electrical connection in the pavement; safety is not a priority
living conditions.
Haphazard parking and tiny vehicles
We also noticed that parking didn’t seem to follow any rules, (similar to our photos from Rome) and that tiny cars are all the rage.
Once we joined the orgnised city tour, our guide showed us where the bus was parked, then took us on a fast walking tour to a couple of major sites. Unlike most group tours, we had no earpieces and his English was pour and fast, so all we could do was take photos, not knowing what we were actually photographing. I hope my descriptions, taken later from various google sites, are correct.
Castel dell’Ovo
The castle, a few metres from our bus, was the most interesting site for me. I remembered from Medieval History lessons that the Normans ruled Southern Italy around the same time as their leader, William the Conqueror, landed in England and made himself king there. The round turrets here reminded me of similar structures around England. Looking it up later, I found that yes, a Norman king built the first castle here in the 12th century, on a site that had previously been home to a magnificent Roman villa in the 1st cent BC. This place later became a Royal Chamber, State Treasury and twice it was used as a prison – first an empress then a queen. It’s the sort of place that I wished we could visit, but our guide was in a hurry.
Kotor in Montenegro was to be our next destination but as we approached at about 7.30am on Saturday May 14th,
Panorama approaching Kotor
the skies were almost black in one direction and the forecast was for rain. Our ship moored away from Kotor itself, so guests were to be taken across the bay in what looked
Ferrying from ship to shore
like semi-open ferry boats. I didn’t like the look of the weather or the means of transport.
Steep mountains behind a narrow strip of land
We took our usual lot of photos from the ship, noting the incredibly steep and rocky mountains immediately behind clusters of buildings close to the shore and decided to stay on board.
Our visit to Dubrovnik was on Friday the 13th May last year. I tried not to think about the day because I am a bit suspicious about a few things; for instance, I won’t fly on a Friday 13th. Suffice to say that I didn’t have great vibes about the day, and despite not having the opportunity for a guided tour of the city, Susanne and I chose to walk around on our own rather than take an extended trip through the countryside and hopefully make it back in time to explore the city. (Which was probably a smart choice as friends who did, were delayed by traffic and road works and didn’t actually step inside Dubrovnik.)
A Turner sky as we sailed towards Dubrovnik
Looking back towards Split, early morning.
The most picturesque part of the day was as we sailed towards land at about seven that morning. The sky looked even more threatening than it had over Split, but I call these my Turners and am hoping that an artistic member of my family will create a painting from them.
Even from the ocean Dubrovnik seemed to be wealthier than the other ports we had visited. This might be because so many of the residences look fairly new. Everywhere I turned, up and down the coast, terracotta tiles and white or cream walls covered the hillsides, interspersed with trees.
Some houses came almost to the water, where moored boats presumably belonged to the property owners.
Rain and cloud envelop the bridge.
Our ship was turning, heading for the harbour opposite the glamorous homes when, through the rain, we saw a beautiful bridge, seeming to hang in space. With bad weather making further photography impossible, as well as threatening to give us colds, we retreated into our cabin for breakfast.
Breakfast. Even shared it was enormous.
By day four we learned to order just one cooked breakfast with two plates and cutlery as the kitchen staff seemed unable or unwilling to follow our requests for anything other than giant sized portions.
Our ship was moored some distance from the city so, after passing through the usual customs routine, we headed for one of the local buses which were lined up, waiting for us. A notice in our daily sheet had warned us that we’d have to buy a return ticket for about US$12, before leaving the ship. Sometimes the organisation for such simple things struck me as ridiculous. Apparently our shuttle buses were supplied by the cities at earlier ports, but for Dubrovnik, a fifteen minute ride, we had to pay extra. Ship’s crew added everything else onto our bills; why not make it simple for all and just add on that fare too?
Early morning as we approach Split
Split, our next port of call, was what I’d hoped to find on this cruise down the Dalmatian coast. Having read that the scenery was spectacular, we were up and out on our balcony again early on the morning of the 12th May. I missed the sunrise, but as we approached the city, I was
Palm trees on the waterfront reminded me of Nice
struck by its
Shapes of buildings along the quay with mountains behind.
similarity to Nice on the south coast of France. Palm trees lined a boulevard that runs along the water front, the harbour was busy with large tourist ships like ours, lining up to dock, and the local fishermen seemed to compete with leisure craft bustling about on the water which really was a stunning shade of blue.
Part of the ancient palace wall used to create today’s business and living quarters
From a distance everything looked well maintained, but this is an old port city. The famous palace, which still occupies a large area, was built towards the end of the 3rd century when the then Roman emperor, Diocletian, decided to retire from his position in Constantinople (he was very unpopular, so the smart move was to return to his homeland before someone killed him) and use Greek slaves to build his palace, including a mausoleum. (More about that later.)
A panoramic image of the sea, the sky and the city of Zadar.
After taking those amazing photos of the sunrise, (scroll down to them if you missed that post) we retreated inside the cabin for breakfast – fruit, yoghurt, eggs, bacon, sausage and tomato plus a pot of tea for Sue and a pot of coffee for me – enough for a family of four served to each of us, by our very obliging butler. By the time we finished breakfast and got dressed, our ship 
was approaching land, so we went back to our balcony to take more photos.
Zadar is now part of Croatia but in the past it belonged to Rome, to Venice and to Italy after WW1. It was heavily bombed by the Germans in 1944 and became part of Yugoslavia when Tito moved in later that year.
From our position at sea
Plenty of building activity in the new part of the city
we could see that today Zadar is a bustling modern city with lots of tall buildings and in the distance, the mountains create an interesting backdrop. I had the impression that the people of Zadar enjoy water sports in summer and skiing in winter.