Visiting the medieval fortress of Carcassonne

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While fall has now really taken over the Netherlands and temperatures are dropping quickly (even if the sun sometimes fights back like last Sunday), I think back to August when I visited the medieval fortress in Carcassonne, also known as the Cité de Carcassonne.

Gotta fill 'r up first! :P

The nice thing about being in the South of France is that a lot of interesting things are all within an hour's drive. Just make sure you've got enough fuel! :-P

Of course, sometimes you have to get out of the car and read the road signs to ensure that you're still heading in the right direction! :P

As you can see, it was quite sunny, so I had to find the shade to actually take a pic of me without sunglasses. Otherwise I would be frowning all the time!

For the ones who didn't want to walk, you could hop on a cart and let a pair of horses pull you around. I, of course, opted for walking around.. because why not?! ;-)

The whole fortress is super impressive.. and I was not alone. Every year, millions of tourists visit this place as it's one the few preserved medieval fortresses in Europe. I felt soooo tiny!

I'm not an archer, so nobody has to be afraid of me.

Do you know what this things are called? Merlons! And from there.. I had a great view over the rest of Carcassonne. See, you learned something new today! :-P

The Cité wasn't just fortifications though.. there is a whole inner city complete with bars, bakeries, tourist shops and everything. Apparently, the medieval part still has a handful of actual inhabitants! Imagine living in a place where millions come to visit every year.. I'd go crazy!

As it was becoming noon, we decided that we had seen enough. So it was time for some resting on the bench and letting those legs catch some sun!

You shall not pass! :-P

This is the bridge that leads to the gate of the Cité. I had to wait almost 10 minutes to get this shot without any other tourists on it. I should get some kind of achievement prize for that, right? :-P

After this interesting and exhausting visit (I walked about 8 kilometres that day), I was glad to be back in the car going back to our holiday villa! I hope you didn't mind that this blog-post had so many photos!


Of course, I also made a small video of me in the Cité de Carcassonne.. so enjoy!! :-D

White dress with black strappy stripes: the case of the crashed camera

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Another week of relative inactivity, but now.. because of a positive reason. One of my students graduated and the place of the ceremony was not in the Netherlands as usual.. but in Italy! So the last couple of days, I was enjoying architecture, lots of good food and science.. all in Bologna! :)

No time for fancy dresses and heels, so I'm just posting another outfit I wore during my holidays last summer. A cute white dress with a couple of black stripes and I thought it would be nice to have those striped patterns matched with some black strappy heels.

So, this post only has three pictures.. and the reason is that the battery of my camera died while I was transferring the pictures to my computer. The camera crashed and these particular files were lost! :(

Did this ever happen to you? Next time, I will just take the memory card out of the camera and put it directly in the card reader.. much safer!

As you can see, I'm actually holding my phone in my hand for the poses, so I did not have any extra back-up shots. Perhaps I shouldn't pose that much? :-P

Back to the dress, I do love clothes with black and white patterns in them. You've already seen quite a few different versions.. and during this holiday there will be a couple more. I sincerely hope you won't get bored too much! :)

Next outfit, I will try to find some more colour than just the red colour of my nails! :-P


Yet another short video of the outfit. I will be totally honest.. I love these strappy heels, but they are not made for long walks. :-P

Cooking in the kitchen: jeans shorts and nude wedges

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It's time for the weekend, so that means throwing the work laptop in the corner and chill and cook something simple! :)

This is a shorter post, but that's because I usually don't take photos when cooking something simple as preparing a frozen fish meal in the oven. The summer is really gone, but inside the house.. one can always wear jeans shorts. :-P

What you don't see in the pictures is the actual cooking of vegetables and potatoes. Yes, I do think of all the vitamins. ;-)

Being someone who has done almost 30 years of martial arts.. I can't help but posing with kitchen tools as if they were weapons. Scared yet? :-P

And of course, while waiting for the food to be done.. it's always a good moment to have a quick taste of the wine. :)

Yes, I do miss the summer! :)

In the video, I demonstrate the very complicated procedure of putting frozen fish in the oven. :-P

A day and evening in Amsterdam

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Right,.. so I had all these plans for this past week: more editing on my photos and videos of my holiday in France, testing outfits at home for up-coming photo/video shoots, checking out all my social media feeds, checking out what's happening on all the blogs I follow.. and leaving comments as I love to do. :)

And then.. I got ill! :(

Posing on the Dam Square with the famous clothing mall "De Bijenkorf"

It wasn't really the flu.. but it was more severe than the average cold, so I stayed in bed these last few days.. while my body was in full recover-mode. Today, I feel better, so I thought I should update my blog.

And today's post is about my trip to Amsterdam where I met up with my friend Amanda from the UK. Like I write in my previous Amsterdam post, I'm not from Amsterdam.. so I also feel like a tourist. :)



Doing a bit of business in front of the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange. :-P

Whenever I do the touristy thing in Amsterdam, I dress down. I just wear jeans with a top. Some comfortable booties and a leather jacket... and I'm all set!

We just walked around while I was giving a modest guided tour to Amanda. Of course, we also sat down and had some drinks.. and that's always a good moment for a selfie. :-P

Do you recognise some of the companies on the stock ticker?

The evening before we headed out into the city of Amsterdam, Amanda and I also had a few drinks in the hotel bar. For me, it doesn't matter if it's a quick meet-and-greet or not... any excuse for a pretty dress and heels? I'll take it! ;-)

Anyway, I had a great time those two days! Meeting up with friends I've met online is always nice.

Amanda and me in front of Amsterdam Central train station

That's it for today. I'm feeling great and I will be checking out all your blogs! Thanks for your visit! :)


Just a few quick clips of me walking in Amsterdam... enjoy!