Update: Normally this isn't a political blog

On May 11th I posted about the Egyptian Weblogger Alaa who was arrested for demonstrating peacefully in support of the independence of the judiciary in Egypt.

Today I heard through an e-mail from my brother that Alaa was released last Friday. This is great news and a good reason to remove the Free Alaa badge in my right sidebar..

Here is an update with some more background information.

Our trip to Paris (3)

Here is part two with some of our pics we took at Versailles. It will only give you a little bit of an impression. It's simply too big to give you a complete view. Anyway here are some of the pics. Other pics we took at Versailles I might post later on an online webalbum. If I do so I will post the URL to the webalbum.

This is the famous mirror hall. Unfortunately most of it was under construction due to some restoration work.
And this is the hall with paintings of famous battles on both sides. I wrote about it in my former post with the first picture of that post of Noriko and my mother in law.
These are more detailed shots of some of those battles.
And finally a few more outside pictures.Next time I'm planning to post pictures from Père Lachaise the famous cemetry.

Our trip to Paris (2)

This time some pics from Versailles
In this hall were this picture was taken there were huge paintings on both sides of famous battles. Of course only those battles that were won by the French. There is not so much glory in the ones you've lost. You can see how huge these paintings are in comparison to Noriko and my mother in law.

This one was taken at the Grand Trianon, also belonging to the grounds of Versailles

Near the Grand Trianon you find this countryside farmerhouses which were chosen by and designed for Marie Antoinette the wife of Louis XVI. Both died in 1793 under the guillotine after the French Revolution started in 1789.

These places were very photogenic as you can see.

Maybe next time I'll post some more pics from the inside of the main palace

Our trip to Paris

We got back from Paris last Thursdaynight.

Due to some PC-troubles and my internetconnection I couldn't be online long enough to post earlier.

Anyway we had a lovely time with loads of good food, expensive drinks (not loads, because expensive), nice sightseeing , activities lots of pics and some good laughs.

I'm still sorting out pictures and start posingt them a.s.a.p.

The only disappointment was on our last night. We had manage to book tickets online for an open-air opera on a gorgeous location (Jardin du Luxembourg). The whole week we had excellent weather but on our last night, 5 minutes after the opera started, the rain was pissing down in huge quantities. When it didn't stopped after about 15, 20 minutes the opera was cancelled and moved to this last night, which was of no use for us, because we were leaving last Thursday. But I managed to get our money back the morning we left.

Here are a few pics to start with. There are more to follow the next coming days. These are pics from church Madeleine at night and on the daytime.

World cup Football and upcoming trip

The worldcup football in Germany started today. Holland is also joining and all over the country a total Orange madness has come down. Many streets have been decorated with flags, banners and other orange stuff (orange is our national colour).

Some of this stuff can be seen at pics over here. The post (in Dutch) belonging to this URL was actualy about last Tuesday, 06-06-06 and made a funny connection between the "number of the beast" and the orange madness, with the shown pics as proof.

But even our local cake- and bakery shop couldn't resist this orange madness as the pics below, made into one pic by Noriko, shows.

Don't get me wrong I like to watch football every now and then, but I think that some of this orange madness is a bit too much over the top.

Saturday I'm off for a 6-day trip to Paris. I'm pretty sure I'll come back with a lot of pics, so I will make up with you for not posting much the past few weeks.