that's My World, ABC Wednesday, G for Gouda

Gouda (population 70,828 in 2009) is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Gouda, which was granted city rights in 1272, is famous for its Gouda cheese, smoking pipes, and its 15th century city hall.
This year I went there twice to visit the Saint John's Church. In May my daughter and her family and I went to see Gouda. The first thing my daughter's Australian partner wanted to do is buy heaps of cheese in the first cheese shop we saw. I don't know how many variaties of cheese there were, but we could taste them, if we wanted. So we did!
The church is worth an other ABC post. It was also admired by my Danish visitors of last week.

In the Middle Ages, a settlement was founded at the location of the current city by the Van der Goude family, who built a fortified castle alongside the banks of the Gouwe River, from which the family and the city took its name. The area, originally marshland, developed over the course of two centuries. By 1225, a canal was linked to the Gouwe and its estuary was transformed into a harbour. Gouda's array of historic churches and other buildings makes it a very popular day trip destination


That's my World is hosted by Klaus,Sandy,Ivar,Wren,Fishing Guy & Louise - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World



With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with G.

ABC Wednesday, F for Flåm Railway, Norway

When we were in Bergen in 2005, we decided to travel to Flåm. First by an ordinary train and we had to change trains in Myrdal and wait there for the Flåm train. We were glad when it arrived for it was cold waiting in the snow.


When I think of the Flåm Railway in Norway,I think of the number 20. It took 20 years to build the railway, it has 20 tunnels and it's 20 kms long.
Travelling in this train we passed waterfalls and the Kjos Fall was especially very spectacular.We stopped there for a while to take photos. There was a woodnymph, dressed in red singing, trying to lure all the male passengers away.;)

The Flåm Railway, which passes through the beautiful, narrow Flåm valley, is regarded as a masterpiece of Norwegian engineering. Work was started in 1924, the railway was finished during the war.
The most time-consuming work was on the tunnels. These were excavated manually. Only two of the twenty tunnels, which have a total length of 6 km, were excavated using machines.
The steep mountainsides were a major challenge, the solution being to build hairpin tunnels in order to equalise the big differences in altitude on the steep mountain. The danger of avalanches and rock falls also constituted a problem. To avoid these hazardous stretches, the line crosses the river and valley three times during the journey, but it does not cross the river on bridges. Instead, the river is led through the mountain in tunnels underneath the railway line.


With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with F.

that's My World, Sail Amsterdam 2010.

Sail Amsterdam is one of the most spectacular shows I have ever seen. My husband, the children and I always went to see the tall ships. Last Thursday, 19 August I saw the arrival of tall ships from all over the world in Amsterdam on TV. The ships will stay here till 23rd August, so today they will leave.Please if you see any mistakes in the names of these ships, feel free to tell me so. In spite of the fact that I am a sailor's daughter, I don't know all those names. I just copy what the newspaper says.

 

Please click to enlarge and read the text.

That's my World is hosted by Klaus,Sandy,Ivar,Wren,Fishing Guy & Louise - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World

Bench of the Week In een English Country Garden

 
 

These benches are from the Bourton House Gardens.

Bourton House Garden has undoubted historic origins but was overgrown and neglected when it was acquired by Richard and Monique Paice in 1983. Over the following twenty five years they transformed the garden into the award-winning garden that can be seen today. In April 2010, Bourton House was sold. The new owners have decided to keep the Garden open to the public and continue its development with the active help of Head Gardener Paul Nicholls, who has worked for many years to turn vision into reality and create the wonderful garden that can be seen today.


RuneE of Visual Norway
began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. Paulie has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench.Her friend Malyss. has shown more than 600 benches on a site called "benchesonmyway".

ABC Wednesday, E for English Country Garden

One of the truly great English gardens, created in Arts and Crafts style by Major Lawrence Johnston as a series of outdoor "rooms", each with its own character, separated by hedges and walls. The garden is reknown for its rare trees and shrubs, herbaceous borders and unusual plants from across the globe. The outdoor "rooms" are planted with species that bloom at different times of the year, making Hidcote a year-round pleasure.

Major Johnson began his remarkable gardens at Hidcote in 1907, and continued expanding and improving the site over the course of the next 40 years. When he bought the manor at Hidcote with his mother, there was no garden at all on the site, just a few mature trees.


With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with E.

that's My World, The War Monument of the Dutch East Indies

 
 

The Monument of the former Dutch East Indies in the Hague is a monument to commemorate all Dutch and Indonesian civilians and soldiers, who had become victims of the Japanese occupation (1941-1945)in the former Dutch-East Indies. They perished in the concentration camps or during forced labour. The survivors honour them today!
Today we celebrate the fact that 65 years ago Japan surrendered. This meant the end of WWII. The war with Japan ended because of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing thousands of innocent women, children and men who couldn't fight in the army. For us it meant freedom, for them the end of the world. How bitter history is!!

That's my World is hosted by Klaus,Sandy,Ivar,Wren,Fishing Guy & Louise - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World

Bench of the Week In an English Garden

 

 

Please click on photos!

These benches were taken in the garden of Bourton House in Bourton on the Water.Monique and Richard Paice opened it to the public on a single Sunday in 1987 under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme. This was an exciting time; the Paices had only just begun to take on a neglected wilderness with the hope of turning it into a cared for setting. Little did they think that with the help of a great team, they would achieve what is enjoyed today.




RuneE of Visual Norway
began this informal meme on "Bench of the Week". Please visit his site for other participants. Paulie has a whole site dedicated to benches called "For the Love of Benches", which is going on for two years and every day she posts a new bench.Her friend Malyss. has shown more than 600 benches on a site called "benchesonmyway".

ABC Wednesday, D for Daphne du Maurier

Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE (13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English author and playwright.

Many of her works, which were written in Cornwall, have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1941, Jamaica Inn, and her short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now. The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Her elder sister was the writer Angela du Maurier. Her father was the actor Gerald du Maurier. Her grandfather was the writer George du Maurier.

This is the house where Daphne du Maurier lived as a girl during holidays and later as a grown-up.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with D.

The first photo shows the Frenchman's Creek. The second depics Jamaica Inn and the third one is the church of Altarnun where the evil vicar of this place lived ,from the book "Jamaica Inn".

These are a few of my books written by Daphne du Maurier. It stands to reason that, although she was not Cornish, she loved Cornwall with all her heart, and by reading her books she also made me love that beautiful part of Great Britain. My husband and I went to look for many places she mentioned in her books, especially in "Enchanting Cornwall", "Myself when young"and "Vanishing Cornwall"!

Weekend Reflections

 

 

 

 

This meme was started on 27 September 2009, by James. You can join this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go to James to tell him that you are on, or click on the logo in the sidebar.This meme is created for any type of reflection.

ABC Wednesday,C for Culture

Please click to see more details.
Greek: 1100BC,
Viking:1000AD,
Aboriginal:50,000BC,
Egyptian:2000BC

Not so long ago a friend of mine rang me up and we started a conversation about culture. Where does the culture of people start? Does it start when a group of people is going to use written language and write books? We came to the conclusion that culture starts with the prehistoric storytellers, who laid the foundations for religion, philosophy and all kind of art forms, related first to legends, religions and daily life. The Celts and the Vikings had hardly any written literature, but that doesn't mean that they had no culture. They had a highly developed way of expressing themselves in paintings, woodcarving, jewelry, music, dance...The Australian Aborigines had no written proof of their culture either, but they had their storytellers. They created images in words, and in cave drawings each with a very important message. Their rituals are incomprehensible to Europeans, unless one of their elders explains them to us. The sound of clapsticks, bullroarer and digeridoo is unknown to many Europeans and Americans.
I believe that culture also depends on the living conditions of people. People who live in deserts live in tents, they are often nomads. Their food consists of what they find in the desert.
In the arctic regions, where there are no woods, people build their houses of ice. They eat fish and seals. Their clothes are made of skins or testines of fish.

Culture is a combination of living conditions, depending on environment, intelligence,ingenuity and creativity. Survival is the main goal. Food, housing and clothing are the first necessities. Communication is becoming more and more important to fill all those needs. Sounds and gestures are not enough, therefore language comes into being and customs arise. Then when a community is getting well organized, creativity can be used to create art. Language is now also used to amuse and teach people. Music and language together are even better means to tell stories and help to remember facts and legends. Language is now written down; first in stone or clay tablets, later paper is used. Housing is now not only used for accomodation, but people like to build beautiful dwellings, and so architecture becomes a new art form. Clothes are going to be designed not only to keep one's body covered and warm, but to become more attractive and colourful.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started a new round of the fascinating meme of ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with C.