The eclipse and what to do on a rainy day

Today was rather eery...mostly due to the light because it was a bit misty in the morning with an odd coloring because of  the total eclipse of the sun. I took these pictures from the car as we went to do some errands but I do not know if they really give the strange feeling we had. It was like a combination of midnight in July in Estonia and fog in San Francisco!

We did not actually see the eclipse due to cloud cover but the people in Strasbourg had clear skies and were out by crowds to see the event. We saw reports on the news of how amazing it was in the far north where it actually got dark!

Tomorrow, near St. Malo and Mont St. Michel will be the highest and lowest tides seen in many years...the TV says all the hotels are booked and people have flocked to the coast to walk out on the uncovered sand and see the huge waves. Lots of warnings too because when the tide comes back in it just gallops to the shore. Must be something to see!!

We had a rainy day on Tuesday so JC and I went to Avignon to the Utopia movie theatre to see an amazing Estonian film called Crosswinds. It was incredible. About the Soviet holocaust practiced on the Baltic countries...shipping thousands of people by cattle car for weeks at a time to Siberian labor camps...mostly women and children...most of the men were executed. A powerful film done in a very unusual way....like a series of paintings.

Anyway, when we came up out of the parking garage this is what we saw...a feast for the eyes... the Palais des papes.

The very cool movie theatre is located behind the Palais in a green courtyard... we are on the way there in this photo.

I wonder what it might be like to wear high heels here among the cobblestones of the narrow street.

One of the buildings next to the Palais has the trompe l'oeil paintings of famous actors...Avignon is home to a well known theatre festival in the summer.

On a rainy day it is also kind of interesting to just drive through some local towns. This is Velleron which is close by and has a very good local farmer's market. This is la Mairie

the cathedral celebrating Saint Eloi.

A primary school

I spotted this bright spot of color under the gray skies...made me smile. You too?

Here is a group of chickens and rooster in a yard next door to a supermarket in Veden...the rooster had his eye on me as I was taking pictures! Notice how he is holding up one leg.

When the sun came out for a while in the afternoon the bees got busy in the rosemary bushes in the garden here where Maya and JC like to sit and visit.

Bon anniversaire to Kirsten K. by the way!