We visited another unesco world heritage site near krakow, auschwitz. the camp is a vast complex, sited on lands annexed by the nazis after the invasion of poland. there are a number of sub-camps. poland has established a state museum in the oldest, auschwitz i. this is an old polish barracks that was used as the first component of the sinister ope

I don't mean the office, of course, where i will soon be happily bickering with belligerents about boodle. rather, i mean the wieliczka salt mine, near krakow. it's a world heritage site, and a popular tourist attraction. we had already seen the giant salinary at aigues mortes, where the salt is evaporated from mediterranean water. we thought it wo

Yes, they have garbage here. they recycle paper, pet plastic, aluminun and other metal, and glass. they also encourage backyard composting. this is a windrow composting facility that is very similar to those we use in toronto for yard waste. the windrow material here also appears to be primarily yard waste. i have not had any indication that they c

Meze, where we are living, is in the south of france. it is therefore quite feasible to utilize solar heat. the roof of our "vigneron", seen here, has, in addition to a number of skylights, a large solar panel for heating water. it has supplied all the hot water for our requirements to date, including showers, laundry, dishwasher, etc for a family

I went for a bike ride today from meze east along the n113 to bouzigues. as i was leaving meze, i ran into a convoy of super-jumbo trucks bearing the blades for wind turbines. they were coming off of the autoroute at the sete exit, and travelling west to the villeveyrac area via the n113. they were quite a sight, as each blade is probably 25 m long

Here in meze we have a two bin system. the brown bin is for garbage, which is collected twice a week. the blue bin is for recyclables, which are collected once a week. recyclables include paper, cans and certain plastics, but not glass. glass must be carried to large plastic containers that are found at strategic locations around town. periodically

The last time we visited europe, we spent a few days in prague, and it was one of our more pleasant memories. at that time, the czech republic and slovakia had recently split, but the cr was not yet a part of the eu. now it is, although they are still using czech krowns rather than the euro. (this was a real nuisance in our eastern swing, as we wou

We rented paddleboats on the vltava river, from a vendor located under the charles bridge, seen behind us here. i dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time. great as long as your legs are about the length of christian's. i was not much help, and so christian had to paddle like a fiend to keep from being rammed by those river pirates, alex and n

Not an insult! that is the way one says krakow in polish. and your little dog too... we hired an electric ecobus to haul us around the city. there are a million such polish-made golf carts on steroids available for city tours. the tour ended at the schindler factory, and we had a bit of time. the kids are here photographed on "the staircase from th

I am reminded of the 10 cc song every time i am there! paris is so...full. here is a picture taken from montmartre, from the steps of the incredibly beautiful sacre couer, looking down across the city. on the steps, along with the many vendors of trinkets, and whatever else you could wish to purchase, there is a singsong of some kind going on, and