A Walk through Biarritz

We do a lot of walking around here, which is excellent for photo taking opportunities. This neighborhood cat caught my eyes, with hers.

Our rental vacation home is situated next to some locals’ homes. How do I know they are regular residents? Well, for one, they have a wash line in front of their window, and we don’t.

A glimpse into somebody’s open dining room as we were walking by. An elderly woman doing the washing up and the table set for a small dinner. How did that merry-go-round horse get in there..?

Walking by the beach is a very social event in the evening. Water surfers returning to the pier, young people sitting on the walls, seniors on benches, and a sand sculpture (including the blue plastic for our coins) for us promenaders.

Sand Art

The Hôtel du Palais (since 1893) was made famous by its celebrity patrons, such as Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, Frank Sinatra, etc. More about the hotel and its history from Historic Hotels of the World.

Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz

… and the typical sundown photo of a camera-happy traveller.

Palais Quartier Construction in Frankfurt, Germany

On Saturday afternoon, my family and I took one of those rare trips to Frankfurt. I say rare as we tend to go downtown Frankfurt only about two or three times a year.

The most unusual site this time was seeing the Palais Quartier being worked on. It is an impressive site even while under construction – I am sure it will be a real bonus to Frankfurt once it is finished. Some facts:

17.400 qm of downtown Frankfurt asphalt will create 226.000 qm of office, retail, hotel and open space. The city will be enriched by 1390 parking spaces as well.

The name Palais Quartier derives from the original Thurn-und-Taxis-Palais (built between 1729 and 1939). During WW2, this baroque castle was almost completely demolished. Due to lack of space, reconstruction of the former castle will only have four axes instead of its original five.

This gigantic construction will finish in February 2009 and visitors will get plenty of shopping and leisure opportunities on eight floors. Europe’s longest free-floating express-escalator will take visitors to new heights (ground to fourth floor to be exact) in just 120 seconds.

This new Palais Quartier was designed by Architekturbüro KSP Engel&Zimmermann und M fuksas ARCH.

Construction is estimated to run close to a billion Euros.

Advertisement with the Palais Quartier construction in the background

Walking around the block

Something old and something new – just across the street!

Downtown Frankfurt is a busy place on a Saturday afternoon and it is well worth visiting anytime. Nevertheless, we were happy to come home with heavy feet, a light wallet and a renewed appreciation for our quiet suburban life in Oberursel.

Diese Webseite verwendet Cookies. Wenn Sie auf der Seite weitersurfen, stimmen Sie der Cookie-Nutzung zu. Mehr Informationen

Diese Webseite verwendet so genannte Cookies. Sie dienen dazu, unser Angebot nutzerfreundlicher, effektiver und sicherer zu machen. Cookies sind kleine Textdateien, die auf Ihrem Rechner abgelegt werden und die Ihr Browser speichert. Die meisten der von uns verwendeten Cookies sind so genannte "Session-Cookies". Sie werden nach Ende Ihres Besuchs automatisch gelöscht. Cookies richten auf Ihrem Rechner keinen Schaden an und enthalten keine Viren. Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf der Seite “Datenschutzerklärung”.

Close