Postcard from...Brier Island, Canada

Shame on me. Ten postcards done and none of them have been from my own home country yet! Well I best change that immediately eh?

Brier Island is a small island {7.5 km by 2.5 km} on the westernmost part of Nova Scotia that makes up the Digby Neck along with Long Island. It is driven by the fishing industry year-round and a seasonal tourism industry that is mainly focused on whale watching tours. In fact this photo was taken upon our return from one of those tours where we had spent the better part of the day looking for humpback whales. Unfortunately for us most of the day was much, much foggier than this photo suggests it could have been and we didn't see {but did hear} very many whales. The few we did see were amazing. They are so much bigger than you can imagine, especially when they surface by the boat and just lay there peacefully.

As Brier Island is frequently blanketed in fog it has a "lighthouse per mile" with Northern, Western, and Peter Island lighthouses all automated and operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The island has seen 57 shipwrecks with the wreck of the "Aurora" in 1908 providing the lumber for the Westport Community Hall on the island.

This tiny island, in addition to being surrounded by whales, is also home to seals, many types of coastal plants and plays host to many birds during their migration. The beaches are also great for exploring tide pools and rock hounding...just be sure to keep an eye on the incoming tide!


Photo taken August 10, 2008

Postcard from...Fredericksburg, USA

Hands down my favourite building along Main Street in Fredericksburg was the Pioneer Memorial Library. I'm a sucker for a library on any day but when it is an old stone building surrounded by big oak trees I'm really drawn to it. Unfortunately it was already closed for the evening when we found it or I would have gone in and wandered through the stacks that are located on the first floor. The second floor functions as a community hall.

The Pioneer Memorial Library is also known as the Fredericksburg Memorial Library or the Old Courthouse and is hard to miss right in the center of town on Main Street. It was designed by Alfred Giles and was built out of limestone in a Romanesque Revival style in 1882 to replace the original 1855 courthouse. In 1967 it was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and in 1971 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

When the new courthouse was built in Fredericksburg in 1939 this building served other uses until it fell into a state of disrepair and was condemned in 1963. Thankfully Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McDermott {the founders of Texas Instruments} saw to it that it was restored in 1967 as a home for the town's library.


Photo taken May 25, 2014

Postcard from...Canterbury, England

To me there is just something so pretty about vines and trees against a backdrop of stones, especially old irregular shaped stones like most of the ones in this photo so when we found these stone walls behind Canterbury Cathedral I just had to stop and take pictures from all angles.

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage site that is consistently one of the most visited towns in the United Kingdom. At the heart of the city is Canterbury Cathedral that is well known for several reasons especially as the site of Thomas Becket's murder in 1170 right in the cathedral by the followers of King Henry II. Since then the cathedral has become a place of pilgrimage for Christians all over the world. This pilgrimage is the theme for the classic The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer from the 14th century.

There is just so much history in this little town that it is definitely worth a visit and you have to leave yourself plenty of time to just stroll through the narrow little streets, have lunch in a local pub (bangers and mash...yum!), and browse the little shops.

For those of you that visit regularly I just wanted to let you know that I'll be taking a break for a few weeks. I've got some traveling coming up and will be getting ready for both of those trips in the next week or so. When I return I'll pick back up with the next part of our wonderful trip to Normandy and Ypres and after that I'll be blogging about a completely different part of the globe as we take a cruise to the Caribbean. 

Until then, happy travels and I'll be back in a few weeks!


Photo taken August 2, 2013

Postcard from...Paris, France

I can't believe it took until my fourth visit to Paris to actually make it to Montmarte to see the breathtaking Basilique du Sacré Coeur. What was I waiting for?

It's not hard to find the basilica as it sits in the 18e arrondissement atop the the butte Montmarte, which is the highest point in the city, and offers a great vantage point to look down over the whole city and take some great photos or just sit and people watch. It's also in a very vibrant part of town (though really what part of Paris doesn't feel like that?) with street artists and galleries to take in.

Construction of the Basilica started in 1876 with Paul Abadie as the lead architect. When he died in 1884, he was succeeded by Lucien Magne, who added an 83 meter (272 ft) tall clock tower. The Savoyarde clock installed here is one of the world's largest. Construction was completed in 1914 and it was consecrated in 1919 after the end of WWI.

How does Sacré-Coeur manage to stay such a beaming white colour amid the air pollution of a big city like Paris? This can be attributed to the Château-Landon stones that were used to build it. When it rains, the stones react to the water and secrete calcite, which acts like a bleacher. Ingenious!



Photo taken July 17, 2011

Postcard from...Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands with a population of more than one million and a population of bicycles that surely must equal that. My goodness there are A LOT of bicycles here! If you arrive by train at the Amsterdam Central Station look to your right when you come out on to the street. I guarantee you have never seen so many bikes in one place in your life. How anyone can find their bike in the thousands that are there is beyond me but they must as you also see people riding them everywhere too. Really with streets along canals, like in this photo, how could you not get out and about and enjoy the sights by bike?

The canal system in Amsterdam was built during the 17th century when it became the wealthiest city in the world and immigration was at its peak. This was considered the city's Golden Age. Amsterdam is now sometimes referred to as the Venice of the North because of all the wonderful canals that criss-cross their way through the city and the 1,500 bridges that cross those canals. These 17th century canals are also listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. 

Photo taken July 23, 2011

Postcard from... San Antonio, USA

Mission San José y San Miquel de Aquayo (or the San José Mission for short) is one of the five missions on the Mission Trail in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in February of 1720 when another neighboring mission became overcrowded. These Spanish missions were not churches, but really communities with the church at the heart of them. Mission San José served the Coahuiltecan Indians and began with buildings made of brush, straw, and mud. These were quickly replaced with large stone structures and a heavy outer wall was built around the main part.

As part of this mission a church was built in 1768 and it is still standing, although most of the mission was restored in the 1930's. Then in 2011 it again underwent a historically accurate renovation whereby the interior domes and walls were repainted to match the original colours and the alter backdrop was also restored.

L and I had the opportunity to visit all five of the missions on the Mission Trail this past January, and while the Alamo is certainly the most famous of them all I'd say this one was my favourite. In addition to a Visitor's Center with some exhibits and a short film about mission life that we watched, we really just strolled around enjoying the architecture and reading about some of the history.

Postcard from... Vik, Iceland

In honour of L's upcoming trip today's postcard comes from Iceland!

The little town of Vik is the southernmost town in Iceland with a population of about 300 people. Despite its small size it is an important service centre for the locals and visitors to this area along the coast.


Its black basalt sand made for the darkest beach I have ever seen and it was just so peaceful to sit and watch the waves crash against the shore last summer. In 1991, Islands Magazine, even rated it as one of the ten most beautiful beaches on Earth. The cliffs on the western end of the beach are home to many seabirds, especially puffins. Also interesting to note is that there is no landmass between this beach and Antarctica!

Vik is right beneath the Mýrdalsjökull glacier which sits atop the Katla volcano. This volcano has not erupted since 1918 (which is longer than its typical rest period) so it's thought an eruption may occur soon. If it erupts there is concern that the eruption could melt enough ice to cause a flash flood that could take out the whole town. The people of Vik practice regular evacuation drills to the town's church which is located high up on a hill right above this beach.

I think you're going to really enjoy Iceland L and hope you have a wonderful trip. And if you hear the rumblings of a volcano about to erupt when you're in Vik, please head for the church!

Photo taken August 5, 2013

Postcard from...London, England

Ahhh London. The city that has given Paris a run for its money as my favourite city. But what's not to love? London really has it all- arts, fashion, entertainment, shopping, and so much history! And I think it blends these things so well. Where else do you find a castle that's more than 1000 years old against a backdrop of modern office buildings, like the Shard, that was only finished two years ago? Personally I think together they make one of the neatest photos I have from London.

London's population has grown to over 8 million people and there are more than 300 languages spoken within its boundaries. It is also home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites {of which I have only seen two so far but might finally get to see the others this summer!}- Tower of London, historic Greenwich, Kew Gardens, and Palace of Westminster and the Abbey. There are also so many other things to see and do that is impossible to take it all in with only one visit. So looking forward to visiting again this summer and getting to show the kiddo around. I think he'll be just as taken with it as I am.

Photo taken September 8, 2012

Postcard from...Ypres, Belgium

Ypres is municipality of about 35,000 people that contains the city of Ypres and several villages in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium. Although Ypres is most commonly how it is referred to in English {even though that is actually the French name} the official name is Dutch and it is spelled Ieper.

During WWI, Ypres was the center of some intense battles between the German and Allied forces. At that time French was used for official Belgian documents and maps which is why the spelling "Ypres" is still so commonly used. During the war, British troops even nicknamed the city "Wipers" because the name was hard to pronounce in English!

Photo taken March 14, 2014

Postcard from...New York City, USA

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City was founded in 1870 by a group of American businessmen, financiers, artists and thinkers of the day who wanted to bring art education to the American people. It's the largest art museum in the United States, and one of the ten largest in the world, with its permanent collection containing more than two million works in as many square feet.

On my visit I focused on the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection and the Greek and Roman Art but there are many other collections to view such as Arms and Armor, Asian Art, Islamic Art, Egyptian Art, and American Art just to name a few.

Photo take March 16, 2013.

Postcard from...Honfleur, France

Honfleur, a town of painters and impressionism, was the perfect stop for an afternoon stroll after a morning of driving from London to France. It's well known for its picturesque cobblestone streets, timber-framed house fronts, charming little shops, and restaurants surrrounding the Vieux-Bassin {old dock}. It has preserved remnants from its rich historical past with relics of an old fortification, the Lieutenance {Lieutenancy} and the Porte de Caen {Caen Gate}, along with the Greniers à sel {salt granaries} found in narrow backstreets.

This photo comes from my second visit to this charming little town but with other things to explore and discover here I have a feeling this won't be my last visit.

Photo taken March 10, 2014.