And we all bursted out laughing when Mathilde said, once we suggested it was time to go back to our campsites to make dinner: Oh no! We're just about to find the intestines!
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Kite flying and Cormorant rescuing
And we all bursted out laughing when Mathilde said, once we suggested it was time to go back to our campsites to make dinner: Oh no! We're just about to find the intestines!
Saturday, April 13, 2013
The Pirates and Treasures Museum and more of St. Augustine
Given the girls' interest in everything pirates and treasures, we were delighted to find out there was a great museum bearing exactly that name in St. Augustine with raving reviews. There even was a treasure hunt in the museum!
You can see more of the museum here. The treasure collection contains some of the most amazing pirate artifacts in the world!
The interactive books and walls were such a great addition. There were interactive touch screen
panels in beautiful frames in many places, filled with visuals and historic facts about real life pirates.
Similarly, the interactive wall had a large map of all the original
pirate settlements ready for you to select any one of them. When you
touched a settlement, for example, Havana, Cuba, a life-sized video of
the museum's owner, Pat Croce, popped up and explained in fascinating
detail the significance of each settlement at its time.
When we left the museum, the girls went for ice cream with Val and JF, and JF and I went for iced decaf coffees and off to explore St. Augustine quickly. We liked what we saw, even if some of it felt a bit fake to us... A bit of a mix of Quebec City and Skagway, Alaska. We'd love to see more!
Firing the canon!
Friday, April 12, 2013
Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine
The Castillo de San Marcos is unique in North American architecture.
As the only extant 17th century military construction in the country and
the oldest masonry fortress in the United States it is a prime example
of the "bastion system" of fortification, the culmination of hundreds of
years of military defense engineering. Originating in Italy in the 15th century the particular star shaped
design of the Castillo is a result of architecture adapting to
technology.
A monument not only of stone and mortar but of human determination and endurance, the Castillo de San Marcos symbolizes the clash between cultures which ultimately resulted in our uniquely unified nation. Still resonant with the struggles of an earlier time, these original walls provide tangible evidence of America’s grim but remarkable history (all excerpts taken here).
It is also unique for the material used in its construction. The
Castillo is one of only two fortifications in the world built out of a
semi-rare form of limestone called coquina made of crushed seashells.
Given its light and porous nature, coquina would seem to be a poor choice of building material for a fort. However the Spanish had few other options; it was the only stone available on the northeast coast of La Florida. However, coquina's porosity turned out to have an unexpected benefit. Because of its conglomerate mixture coquina contains millions of microscopic air pockets making it compressible.
A cannon ball fired at more solid material, such as granite or brick would shatter the wall into flying shards, but cannon balls fired at the walls of the Castillo burrowed their way into the rock and stuck there, much like a bb would if fired into Styrofoam. So the thick coquina walls absorbed or deflected projectiles rather than yielding to them, providing a surprisingly long-lived fortress.
Spanish St. Augustine was the first of only three walled cities ever constructed in North America; the other two are (English) Charleston, South Carolina and (French) Quebec City, Canada. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Florida.
A monument not only of stone and mortar but of human determination and endurance, the Castillo de San Marcos symbolizes the clash between cultures which ultimately resulted in our uniquely unified nation. Still resonant with the struggles of an earlier time, these original walls provide tangible evidence of America’s grim but remarkable history (all excerpts taken here).
Given its light and porous nature, coquina would seem to be a poor choice of building material for a fort. However the Spanish had few other options; it was the only stone available on the northeast coast of La Florida. However, coquina's porosity turned out to have an unexpected benefit. Because of its conglomerate mixture coquina contains millions of microscopic air pockets making it compressible.
A cannon ball fired at more solid material, such as granite or brick would shatter the wall into flying shards, but cannon balls fired at the walls of the Castillo burrowed their way into the rock and stuck there, much like a bb would if fired into Styrofoam. So the thick coquina walls absorbed or deflected projectiles rather than yielding to them, providing a surprisingly long-lived fortress.
Spanish St. Augustine was the first of only three walled cities ever constructed in North America; the other two are (English) Charleston, South Carolina and (French) Quebec City, Canada. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Florida.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
9
:: They made each other gifts weeks in advance ::
:: Mara wanted to cook the crêpes by herself for everybody ::
Friday, April 5, 2013
When a travel blog goes quiet...
When a travel blog goes quiet for a little longer than usual, you can guess that one of the following is happening, the blogger:
A first soak in the Atlantic ocean for our Yukon friends. A boogie board date. Sand castles washed by the tide.
Dirty feet. Very dirty kids. Late night camping showers, two by two, and very tired kids.
Some slacklining. Lots of crab play. A giant snail.
My very first smores. Their first marshmallows. Sticky hair.
A good cry in a great friend’s car (there’s no safer place)
Hysterical laughs in a thrift store dressing room because of a very sexy dress…
A stroll with my friend on the sea shore in the dark when the rain stopped. Chai tea. Giggles and open heart. The perfect raincheck for my birthday.
A fairy garden. Egg-shaped chewing gum. Card games, knitting and movie nights.
Ice cream cones with candles for 3 little girls born on the same day who will be 9 and 4 soon.
Shared dishwashing, shared laudry washing, shared meals, shared life, shared laughs… Oh! It was so good.
- is traveling to a remote area.
- has an overload of work.
- is meeting with other traveling families or is having a great time with friends (and is too busy to blog).
- has bad Internet connexion.
- a combination of work overload and bad Internet connexion; or
- a combination of work overload and meeting with friends.
A first soak in the Atlantic ocean for our Yukon friends. A boogie board date. Sand castles washed by the tide.
Dirty feet. Very dirty kids. Late night camping showers, two by two, and very tired kids.
Some slacklining. Lots of crab play. A giant snail.
My very first smores. Their first marshmallows. Sticky hair.
A good cry in a great friend’s car (there’s no safer place)
Hysterical laughs in a thrift store dressing room because of a very sexy dress…
A stroll with my friend on the sea shore in the dark when the rain stopped. Chai tea. Giggles and open heart. The perfect raincheck for my birthday.
A fairy garden. Egg-shaped chewing gum. Card games, knitting and movie nights.
Ice cream cones with candles for 3 little girls born on the same day who will be 9 and 4 soon.
Shared dishwashing, shared laudry washing, shared meals, shared life, shared laughs… Oh! It was so good.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Les trésors d'Espagne
Les filles s'intéressent à l'histoire des trésors de pirates depuis qu'elles ont regardé les aventures de Fifi Brindacier et de son papa, le Capitaine des mers du Sud, et qu'on a regardé la série Il était une fois... les Amériques et visité certains musées relatant les voyages de Christophe Colomb. Ça a commencé au musée des enfants à San José, au Costa Rica, l'an dernier et cet intérêt a continué a grandir tout au long de notre voyage. Quand nous avons appris que 11 bateaux espagnols avaient échoué sur des récifs juste à côté d'ici en 1715 et qu'il y avait un musée qui relatait leur histoire tout près, nous n'avons fait ni une ni deux et nous les y avons amené. Il s'agit d'une histoire fascinante.
Ces bateaux retournaient en Espagne chargés de trésors accumulés depuis quelques années déjà (notamment les bijoux pour la dot de la femme du roi d'Espagne), au Mexique, en Orient, aux Indes (de l'or, de l'argent, des bijoux, de la poterie, etc.) et ils ont coulé dans un terrible ouragan le long de la côte de la Floride. Évidemment, beaucoup de gens ont péri. Les survivants n'ont récupéré que 30 % à 40 % de la précieuse cargaison des 11 bateaux. Et les trésors ont sombré dans l'oubli jusque dans les années 60, où un homme a découvert une vieille pièce d'argent sur le bord de la plage. Cet homme et des associés ont fait fortune par la suite en trouvant des milliers de pièces d'or et autres trésors ensevelis dans le sable sous la mer. Aujourd'hui, 300 ans plus tard, des plongeurs cherchent encore la côte, particulièrement après une grosse tempête, dans l'espoir de retrouver les trésors qui manquent à l'appel, notamment les 8 coffres contenant les bijoux de la reine, évalués à des centaines de millions de dollars, qui sont encore ensevelis quelque part au large...
The girls are interested in the stories of pirates' treasures since they watched the adventures of Pippi Longstocking and her father, the Captain of the South Seas, and the series Il était une fois... les Amériques and visited some museums recounting the voyages of Christopher Columbus. It started with the Children Museum in San Jose, Costa Rica, last year and continued to grow throughout our trip this year. When we found out that 11 Spanish ships were wrecked on the reefs just off the coast here in 1715 and that there was a museum which told their story close by, we went right away. It is a fascinating story.
These boats were returning to Spain loaded with treasures accumulated over several years (including jewelry for the King of Spain's wife' s dowry) in Mexico, East Indies (gold, silver, jewelry, pottery, etc..) and they sank in a terrible storm along the Florida coast. Obviously, many people perished. Survivors recovered only 30 to 40% of the precious cargo of the 11 boats. And then the treasures were forgotten until the '60s when a man discovered an old silver coin on the beach. He and some associates made a fortune later finding thousands of gold ans silver coins buried in the sand and other treasures. Today, 300 years later, divers are still searching the coast, especially after a big storm, hoping to find more of the missing treasures, namely the 8 chests containing the queen's jewelry, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, that are still buried somewhere off the coast ...
La meilleure partie de la visite était indéniablement quand nous avons regardé le film et nous avons pu voir les beaux bateaux de bois sur l'océan déchaîné et pu imaginer comment c'était de voyager à travers le monde et d'échanger des épices contre des trésors. Ensuite, nous avons vu les plongeurs qui fouillaient les eaux troubles et qui trouvaient des pièces d'or brillantes (et ils ont expliqué que rien ne pouvait pousser sur de l'or, de sorte qu'il restait brillant même après 300 ans dans l'océan), et tout à coup, Mara me regarde, les yeux ronds et brillants comme les pièces d'or du film. Elle me dit : Maman, Grand-Père va bientôt partir pour l'Espagne (nous venions de faire un Skype avec lui ce matin-là et elle avait compris qu'il prenait un bateau pour aller en Espagne et nous avions parlé du musée et des pièces d'or - à ce moment-là, j'ai compris qu'elle le voyait sur le bateau du film, échanger des grains de poivre contre des pièces d'or ou des rubis. Et elle me demande, le plus sérieusement de monde : Penses-tu qu'il va ramener des trésors comme ça?
Je me sens tellement chanceuse d'être en mesure de pouvoir partager le monde de mes filles et d'avoir un aperçu de ce monde magique qui les habite. Ce fut un moment vraiment génial! Elle a vraiment vu mon père sur ce bateau, faire la traversée de l'Atlantique vers les Açores, échanger de l'Indigo pour des crucifix en or... et toi qui pensais que tu partais en vacances, papa!
The best part of the visit, was undeniably when we were watching the movie and we could see the beautiful wooden boats on the wild ocean and imagine how it was to travel accross the world and trade spices for treasures. Then,we saw divers searching the murky waters and finding shiny gold coins (and they explained that nothing can grow on gold, so it stays shiny even after 300 years in the ocean), and Mara turned and looked at me, her eyes round and shiny like the gold coins. She said: Mama, Grand-Père (Grand-Dad) is leaving for Spain soon (we just Skyped with him that morning and she had understood that he was taking a boat to go to Spain and we had mentionned the museum and gold coins - at this point, I knew she envisioned him on that boat in the movie, trading peppercorns for gold coins or rubies). And she asked me, as serious as can be : Do you think he will bring back some treasures like that?
I feel so very blessed to share my girls' world and to have a glimpse of how magical it all looks sometimes to them. That was a really awesome moment! She really saw my dad on that ship, crossing the Atlantic to the Azores and trading Indigo for golden crucifix... and you taught you were going on a holiday, dad!
Voici une liste de *certaines* des questions que les filles nous ont posé cette semaine. (Je suis tellement contente que JF soit avec nous à temps plein! Et qu'on ait une bonne connexion Internet!) :
De quoi sont faites les étoiles?
Pourquoi la mer est-elle salée (et pourquoi la mer froide - Floride - est-elle plus salée que la mer chaude - Costa Rica?
Pourquoi y-a-t-il des marées? Pourquoi l'heure des marées change-t-elle?
(Mara, suspendue dans les airs à une corde) : est-ce que c'est comme ça qu'ils se sentent les astronautes dans la navette spatiale? (Pas facile d'expliquer le sentiment d’apesanteur - on a regardé une vidéo au Centre spatial de la NASA à Houston qui était vraiment fascinante...).Pourquoi est-ce qu'ils mettent des produits chimiques dans les cigarettes, pourquoi pas juste des feuilles de tabac? Pourquoi les gens fument-ils? Pourquoi certains fument le cigare? Pourquoi d'autres la pipe?
Here's a run down of *some* of the questions that the girls asked us this week. (I am so happy JF is with us full time! And that we have a good Internet connexion!):
What are the stars made of?
Why is the sea salted (and why is the colder sea -Florida- more salted than the warmer sea - Costa Rica)?
Why are there tides? Why do the tide schedule changes?
(Mara, suspended in the air on a rope) : is it how astronauts feel in the space shuttle? (It's not easy to explain the feeling of weightlessness - we watched a great movie at the Houston Space Centre and it was fascinating...).
Why do they put chemical products in cigarettes, why not only put tobacco leaves? Why do people smoke? Why do some people choose a cigar? Why others choose a pipe?
Ces bateaux retournaient en Espagne chargés de trésors accumulés depuis quelques années déjà (notamment les bijoux pour la dot de la femme du roi d'Espagne), au Mexique, en Orient, aux Indes (de l'or, de l'argent, des bijoux, de la poterie, etc.) et ils ont coulé dans un terrible ouragan le long de la côte de la Floride. Évidemment, beaucoup de gens ont péri. Les survivants n'ont récupéré que 30 % à 40 % de la précieuse cargaison des 11 bateaux. Et les trésors ont sombré dans l'oubli jusque dans les années 60, où un homme a découvert une vieille pièce d'argent sur le bord de la plage. Cet homme et des associés ont fait fortune par la suite en trouvant des milliers de pièces d'or et autres trésors ensevelis dans le sable sous la mer. Aujourd'hui, 300 ans plus tard, des plongeurs cherchent encore la côte, particulièrement après une grosse tempête, dans l'espoir de retrouver les trésors qui manquent à l'appel, notamment les 8 coffres contenant les bijoux de la reine, évalués à des centaines de millions de dollars, qui sont encore ensevelis quelque part au large...
The girls are interested in the stories of pirates' treasures since they watched the adventures of Pippi Longstocking and her father, the Captain of the South Seas, and the series Il était une fois... les Amériques and visited some museums recounting the voyages of Christopher Columbus. It started with the Children Museum in San Jose, Costa Rica, last year and continued to grow throughout our trip this year. When we found out that 11 Spanish ships were wrecked on the reefs just off the coast here in 1715 and that there was a museum which told their story close by, we went right away. It is a fascinating story.
These boats were returning to Spain loaded with treasures accumulated over several years (including jewelry for the King of Spain's wife' s dowry) in Mexico, East Indies (gold, silver, jewelry, pottery, etc..) and they sank in a terrible storm along the Florida coast. Obviously, many people perished. Survivors recovered only 30 to 40% of the precious cargo of the 11 boats. And then the treasures were forgotten until the '60s when a man discovered an old silver coin on the beach. He and some associates made a fortune later finding thousands of gold ans silver coins buried in the sand and other treasures. Today, 300 years later, divers are still searching the coast, especially after a big storm, hoping to find more of the missing treasures, namely the 8 chests containing the queen's jewelry, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, that are still buried somewhere off the coast ...
Je me sens tellement chanceuse d'être en mesure de pouvoir partager le monde de mes filles et d'avoir un aperçu de ce monde magique qui les habite. Ce fut un moment vraiment génial! Elle a vraiment vu mon père sur ce bateau, faire la traversée de l'Atlantique vers les Açores, échanger de l'Indigo pour des crucifix en or... et toi qui pensais que tu partais en vacances, papa!
The best part of the visit, was undeniably when we were watching the movie and we could see the beautiful wooden boats on the wild ocean and imagine how it was to travel accross the world and trade spices for treasures. Then,we saw divers searching the murky waters and finding shiny gold coins (and they explained that nothing can grow on gold, so it stays shiny even after 300 years in the ocean), and Mara turned and looked at me, her eyes round and shiny like the gold coins. She said: Mama, Grand-Père (Grand-Dad) is leaving for Spain soon (we just Skyped with him that morning and she had understood that he was taking a boat to go to Spain and we had mentionned the museum and gold coins - at this point, I knew she envisioned him on that boat in the movie, trading peppercorns for gold coins or rubies). And she asked me, as serious as can be : Do you think he will bring back some treasures like that?
I feel so very blessed to share my girls' world and to have a glimpse of how magical it all looks sometimes to them. That was a really awesome moment! She really saw my dad on that ship, crossing the Atlantic to the Azores and trading Indigo for golden crucifix... and you taught you were going on a holiday, dad!
Voici une liste de *certaines* des questions que les filles nous ont posé cette semaine. (Je suis tellement contente que JF soit avec nous à temps plein! Et qu'on ait une bonne connexion Internet!) :
De quoi sont faites les étoiles?
Pourquoi la mer est-elle salée (et pourquoi la mer froide - Floride - est-elle plus salée que la mer chaude - Costa Rica?
Pourquoi y-a-t-il des marées? Pourquoi l'heure des marées change-t-elle?
(Mara, suspendue dans les airs à une corde) : est-ce que c'est comme ça qu'ils se sentent les astronautes dans la navette spatiale? (Pas facile d'expliquer le sentiment d’apesanteur - on a regardé une vidéo au Centre spatial de la NASA à Houston qui était vraiment fascinante...).Pourquoi est-ce qu'ils mettent des produits chimiques dans les cigarettes, pourquoi pas juste des feuilles de tabac? Pourquoi les gens fument-ils? Pourquoi certains fument le cigare? Pourquoi d'autres la pipe?
Here's a run down of *some* of the questions that the girls asked us this week. (I am so happy JF is with us full time! And that we have a good Internet connexion!):
What are the stars made of?
Why is the sea salted (and why is the colder sea -Florida- more salted than the warmer sea - Costa Rica)?
Why are there tides? Why do the tide schedule changes?
(Mara, suspended in the air on a rope) : is it how astronauts feel in the space shuttle? (It's not easy to explain the feeling of weightlessness - we watched a great movie at the Houston Space Centre and it was fascinating...).
Why do they put chemical products in cigarettes, why not only put tobacco leaves? Why do people smoke? Why do some people choose a cigar? Why others choose a pipe?
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