Tower in St Waast la Vallée

Nobody does not know of what time is this tower. I discovered it this afternoon, although it is about twelve kilometers from home. Near the village of St Waast La Vallée, on the road of Bettrechies. The tower is renoved by a group of young people and the roof is new and was made to protect the tower, which is a ruin and was probably higher in the past and was there to communicate with the tower of the castle of Rametz in the same village. There is a little river which is flowing at the feet of the tower. St Wasst la Vallée is in the Bavaisis near the town of Bavay from which I published already photos. If you click on the photo, you can see that there are some turtles on the roof.

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The moon by daylight in Pont-sur-Sambre

I made this photo of the moon next to the church of Pont a few days ago. The moon was in the North. The moon is a little yellow in cause of the rising sun lightning it.

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Old brewery sign in Pont-sur-Sambre

This is the old brewery sign of the ancient brewery in Pont-sur-Sambre. I already published photos of it at the beginning of my blog, but here with my new camera you can see it better. I made this photo a few days ago.

Oh! I'd almost forget something : the answer for the question with the round light is this one : it is the clock of the church of Anor by night with a Christmas light all around.

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Reflection of a house in a shop-window with stag

This strange photo is not made of two photos, it is only one and the original. This stag is a Christmas decoration in the window of a shop, and the house is on the other side of the street reflecting in the shop window. It is a shop of the street St Louis in Fourmies.

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Old mill in Pont-sur-Sambre

This old mill in Pont-sur-Sambre is on the high on the street to Vieux-Mesnil and Hargnies near the cemetery in a place named "Chicago". It is the name given to the group of a little houses all around the cemetery and farms on the maps.

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French chocolate for Christmas.

French chocolate for Christmas. Pay attention : the pralines with the red papers have cherry alcohol. So do not eat too much if you have to ride a car. I do not drink alcohol, so that I am eating the others. I made the photo at Saturday 22th. We ate the chocolate with my pupils of the Saturday afternoon in the Europa House.

I wish you a Merry Christmas.

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Moon in the morning over Pont-sur-Sambre

Riding on the street going in the high above Pont-sur-Sambre just after the church, I saw this beautiful sunrise with the moon in the middle of the sky.I stopped my car on the parking of the church to make photos of the moon. Above you can see the Christmas lights which are already extinguished at this time of the day, around 8 pm.

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Street St Louis under Christmas Lights

Street St Louis in Fourmies under Christmas lights.

Photo by me.

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Torchlights procession in Fourmies

I was making a course of german as this torchlight procession pass under the windows of the class-room so that all people were looking at it. I think it is a procession to a Christmas mass in the church St Pierre which is not far away.

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Christmas decoration in a shop window

The tradesmen compete with imagination to decorate their shop windows for Christmas and the New Year. Here this window in the pedestrian-street in the front of the railway-station of Aulnoye-Aymeries has got this beautiful Teddy Bear giving gifs for Christmas.

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Church between two willows

On this picture you can see in the right sad weather the church of Pont-sur-Sambre, and the town district of Quartes (a part of it) between two willows. You can find the same place at the beginning of the blog (February 2006 in the Archives). But it was a photo with leaves on the trees (an elder one). The photo is taken from behind the Cité Notre-Dame.

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Floods of the Sambre in Pont-sur-Sambre

Just before the freezing time came, they were some floods of the river Sambre like here, behind the Cité Notre-Dame, in Pont-sur-Sambre. You can see how the meadows were getting some water. Behind on the left you can see also the blue bridge or Pont de Quartes, the one near the church. It was no great floods, this little floods arrived often in autumn and winter. In the nineties we had one time a flood during two weeks where all three bridges of Pont-sur-Sambre and the one between Aulnoye and Berlaimont was under water, so that we had to ride to Maubeuge to get a dry bridge. And make forty kilometers.

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The vegetable and fruit shop has took its goods away from the street

It is now too cold and the vegetable and fruit shop in the shopping street in front of the railway station of Aulnoye has taken their vegetables and fruits away. A week ago there were still sold on the street. Since a few days in cause of the freeze you must go into the shop to buy some food.

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What's 'this? An UFO? The wheel of the bus?

At the morning of the 9 December we had to take the bus to go to Germany to the Christmas Market. The place where we had to take the bus is 40 km far from home, so that I went there with my car. But it was right windy and it was fallen rivers of rain, so that we came to late for the bus. Three minutes to late... We had to take the bus at 6 am and we came at 6:03 am to the place where we had to take the bus and it was no more there!

In cause of the rain and wind, I decided to wait on the sunrise to go home and while waiting in my car I took this photo when looking to the high from the window of my car... What can it be??? (The photo is a little blur.) Do not fear, it is no UFO, it is a real thing. Answer in a next post.

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Paving stones of the North Country

During a long time the North country of France had a bad reputation, the reputation to have a bad grey paving stones on the roads, hard to ride one, especially with bicycles. Now, the paving stones of the North Country is very sought, for example for the great bicycle race "Paris-Roubaix". Or for the "Tour de France" or for the "Grand-Prix de Fourmies". or the "Quatre Jours de Dunkerque", all great bicycle races across the North of France. Now, this paving stones are used also to decorate some parts of squares or of pavements.

Here this paving stones are used to decorate the square Matisse in Aulnoye-Aymeries.

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Hommage to Doineau (4) : Going to let the dogs take a walk

Here in the Doineau style : a couple are taking a walk to let their dogs take the free air. Every day life also. This scene I photographed at the side of a supermarket Super U in Aulnoye-Aymeries.

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Waiting on the train and changing three times without leaving the railway-station

At the morning of the 7-12-07 I was waiting a long time on the trein. I must say, I had at the first time a good surprise, the trein before the trein I wanted to get was always there. 10 minutes too late. I said to myself : a good surprise, I can come 20 minutes earlier because mine is only in 30 minutes. So I was sitting in the trein and thinking to leave 20 minutes earlier. Oh! But it was more than 10 minutes and then came the controller and said : "All people has leaving the trein. This trein has a breakdown. So we had to go in the underground not to get a cold. Then they said : "Go in the other trein which is just on the same quay". So we sat again in a new trein, hoping it would leave soon the railway-station. And then, the controller said to all people : "You have to leave the trein and to take the next trein on the front quay, because this trein has also a breakdown", so we went to the other trein, the one I wanted to have at first. If I had know this before, I would have stay so long in the hall of the railway-station not to get a cold. Because we must leave the trein two times on the same quay before getting one which has no breakdown. And it was no strike. I took the photo as I was leaving the second time a trein on the same quay and you can see how the people are clothed against the cold.

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Reflection in a shop window

This is the square Matisse in Aulnoye-Aymeries (not far from the railway-station and the square where the great stage of the rock festival of the Secret Nights take place). This is a reflection of the square in a shop-window.

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Again Christmas flowers, this time in Pont-sur-Sambre...

This Flowers as Christmas and New Year lights were set by the town Pont-sur-Sambre just in front of our house!

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The railway station of Aulnoye with its Christmas lights under the shine of Saturn

There are many planets in the sky in these days and you can see right now the very bright lightning of Saturn and the light of Mars. Here is the front part of the railway station of Aulnoye-Aymeries (I wrote already in the past about this very big railway crossroad which is now a normal province railway station). Right in the middle of the sky you can see Saturn in the East. It is in the morning just before the sun is rising. On a right cold day.

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A flower for Christmas and the New Year

In the Sambre-Avesnois, Christmas lighning begins at the 1st of December and are there until the beginning of January, often a little after the Feast of the Three Kings at the 6th January. So that Christmas lighting decorate towns and houses (since a few years private houses get also much Christmas lightning in the little front gardens). Here you can see the flowers decorating the main road in Sains-du-Nord.

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Russia in Fourmies

This is the window of a shop or a bank or a hairdresser in Fourmies (I do not remember exactly : it is a window in the main street St Louis). This decoration for the New Year feast is looking very russian and not french! Greetings to our friends of Moscow (there were daily photos there at a time).

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Winter sunset in Aulnoye.

The sky of December is of a light blue. Under our latitude (51° North), the sky is not always of a right blue in December. We have now the shorter days of the year. The days are becoming shorter at the evening until Santa Lucia at the 13th december, and shorter in the morning until the begining of January. It is clear from 9 am until 4 pm. Here it is 16:38 (my camera says 17:38 summer hour!) and the sun is coming down. The photo was taken on the Place Matisse in Aulnoye-Aymeries also.

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Reflection of a famous (??!!) photographer in a window.

Here I am reflecting in a shop-window of the place Matisse in Aulnoye-Aymeries. Or place de la Poste. So I named the photo "Reflection of a famous (hmm! hmm!) photographer in a window. You can see how the winter sky is pure (it is more blue than on the picture), and at my clothes how cold it is.

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The roof of the cloister of the abbey of St Michel-en-Thiérache

As I have already explained St Michel en Thiérache has a big abbey where are hold each year a great festival of ancient and baroc music and also during the whole year other cultural events. Here a view of the architecture and especially of the roof of the cloister. The abbey of St Michel en Thiérache is also in the Aisne, but not far from the Avesnois.

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Fortress church in the Aisne in Origny-en-Thiérache

This photo is taken in the neighbourhood of Avesnois in Origny-en-Thiérache. I have alrea tdy explained that the Thiérache is the big region to which the Avesnois belongs. The big Thiérache includes part of North (Avesnois), part of Aisne (Thiérache) and a little part of Belgium (Belgian Thiérache). But it is historically the same region. There were many wars here in the past and people had to refugee themselves somewhere to escape the ennemy. There were not many castles here, so that people ought to refugee themselves in churches, so that the churches have often big walls like castle towers or not bigger walls. And the bell towers have always little towers at their side with holes to shot on the ennemy.

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The winter is coming

You can see on this photo, that the beautiful time of the middle of autumn is away. All the leaves or almost all the leaves are fallen and the trees are now very sad. This view is taken from the Cité Notre-Dame in Pont-sur-Sambre unto the river Sambre itself which you can see running alongf in the middle of the picture.

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Will be updated : translations.

An new realization : foot of a signpost in Anor.

This beautiful realization out of stones of different colours is the foot of a postsign in the Center François Mitterand in Anor.

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Steeple of the ancient townhall of Aulnoye-Aymeries.

The steeple of the ancient town-hall of Aulnoye-Aymeries. View from the back. It is a town-hall from the beginning of the 20th century, as Aulnoye was a big railway town.

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The ancient feast hall of Aulnoye-Aymeries : Man looking at the posters

The old feast hall of Aulnoye-Aymeries. A man is looking at the poster on its door. This feast hall is at the side of the ancient town-hall. Hi! Hi! Now you know how to make out of a picture of the

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