Pictures of the day [July 18]
 

Hey everybody,

I know, I'm a few days late with those pictures but I wanted to show them anyway because I found them very pretty. I was in France that day (only close to the Swiss border to stay with a friend) and I absolutely forgot what date it was so I was wondering why the video store was closed...finally we found one of those DVD machines where of course all the decent movies were already taken so we ended up with "Hollywood Homicide". Meh, it was kind of funny.

But now to the pictures:

July 14 is the French National Celebration Day. It reminds of the attack on the Bastille 1789, which is considered the start of the French Revolution. For this reason, nine British jets flew over the Champs Elysées and spayed the colors of the French Flag into the sky. The British were invited to also remind of the 100th anniversary of the "Entente cordiale", a French-British contract about the Northafrican colonies, that became an alliance against Germany 10 years later.
http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,371477,00.jpg

Fireworks illuminate the sky at the Eiffel Tower in Paris during Bastille Day celebration later that night.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...day_par101.jpg

Mia:)

oooo pretty :)

the photographers definitely knew what they were doing :up: ;)

DVD machines? :igor:

Anywho, nice pictures. :) On Canada day (July 1st), I watched fireworks over the lake until my retinas burnt out.

Yes! They kind of look like ATM machines you can access 24/7 to rent and give back movies. You need to have a membership card that you put into the machine, it reads the information and shows you the title of all the movies available on the sceen (usually blockbusters, not that much of a choice, still, there are about 50 movies in each machine), you choose one, the money is taken from your card (you can upload it in a Video store) and the DVD will come out, like a vending machine. ;)

Thanks for the comments cleanup and Zana!

Mia:)

Huh. Don't have any of those Friday-night-nerd-machines over here...

Don't worry, you're not one, Mrs. Wallace. :D

Although that is a convenient idea, but I think it would be pretty easy to knock one over and steal all the DVDs? Or at least knock it over and vandalize it.

Very beautiful pictures. Too bad I've never really seen fireworks like that in real life. *kicks the dirt*

We don't have those machines over here either (at least I haven't seen one in Switzerland yet) but I guess the opening times in France are just not convenient for the working people who might want to enjoy a movie thereafter? It sure came in handy at the national holiday where simply everything was closed :D At least I didn't have to talk to a store clek in French, my French has sure become rusty :igor:

I never thought about vandalizing one of those machines but they are not free standing but built into wall so at least you cannot flip them over. There are also security cameras just like at an ATM machine...if you's really make the effort I'd rather try it on a machine that has money in it than one that has some used Blockbuster DVDs :D

Mia:)

I really enjoyed fireworks as a kid...Annually, there's this air show/firework show downtown called Thunder Over Louisville...They have all these jets and planes do manuvers and stuff, people would do air stunts to keep people's attention throughout the afternoon until the firework show...That would come on at nighttime, where it would go on for a good straight 30 minutes-1 hour... :D

Nice pictures... :D

I thought the Swiss had their own French dialect? Isn't French the official language?

[edit]Oh, wait, that's German. :igor:

Excuse my stupidity.

There are 3 offical languages is Switzerland: German, French and Italian (to be honest, there's also a language spoken by only a few hundred people in some valley but let's not talk about that), depending on where you go and what border you are closer to. German is the most official of the official ones though since it's the most spoken overall - but if you travel half an hour by car it could be that everyone around you is speaking French or Italian.

Yes, the Swiss have their own French and German dialect but it's understandable by the other countries (although the Swiss German sounds mighty funny!). I used to live in Lausanne, going to school in Geneva which is right at the French border for 4 years. Now I'm in Zurich where everyone talks German, it's like a whole different country - amazing considering that the whole country only has about 7 million inhabitants :D

The best firework I have ever seen in person is here. It was music coordinated and simply amazing.

Mia:)

Alright, new life task: Must see fireworks as shown in previous pictures. Now, time to freshen up on that German. *chuckles* 2 years of German class in HS and all I remember is "Wie geht es Ihnen?" and "Ich liebe dich miene engel.". Sadness I tell you, sadness...

Cool pictures. :)

Well, at least those are the most useful ones... ;)

So, which dialect do you speak?

None as of now since I have lived in so many places, with many people not being native speakers, I found out that speaking "Hochdeutsch" (the written German without a dialect, for all you non German speakers out there) is the most convenient way to communicate.

Although I have to admit that when I'm talking with my family (or other fellow dialect speakers) you could clearly hear that I have lived in Berlin the first 14 years of my life. ;)

I haven't adapted the Swiss dialect and I never will, it's too stange for me, but at least I understand it perfectly now after living in Zurich for almost 10 months.

Mia:)

Disneyland had some of the best fireworks ... they would sync the explosions to music playing all through out the park and the end of the "fireworks spetacular(??)" there were 3 fireworks simultaneously launch and exploding to make the silhouette of Mickey Mouse ... really cool. Of course, Fourth of July in Las Vegas was really awesome ... especially when the fireworks were coming from everywhere.

Those DVD machines are huge here in the California (for the most part). They are placed in grocery stores, next to the lottery machines. It is rather convenient for people to rent the movie via the terminal and sometimes, they don't have late fees. What the machine does is charge the credit card once you return it. If the DVD is gone for a whole month, then the credit card is charged for the price of the DVD and if it hasn't been returned by the second month end, then they charge double and you get to keep the movie. They even franchise the machines out. We have one here that is tied to a movie store in the local mall that boasts that they have every movie known that is on DVD. We have yet to stump it though, as it still has alot of obscure movies for rent.

-Duane

Cleanup's knowledge of German:

HALLO!

Das ist gut.

Ja

Nein

Achtung

Waff lieber auch farfenpoopen mitten spitzensparken unt uder zwei yarfenfarfen.

The last one was made up, but it sounds right. Farfenpoopen is diarrhea. Yarfenfarfen is vomit, and spitzensparken is eroticism. You can fill in the rest.

I know that one, seen it at a british friend's house. I didn't really get it, though, and, being a native speaker of German, I don't really think it sounds authentic either. Anyway, obviously it sounds like German to people that don't speak it but have heard it.

Mia: At least you're not an enthusiastic speaker of Plattdeutsch. I'm not quite a fan of that one. ;) I myself speak Hochdeutsch as well.

I don't get it either :confused: What's it supposed to mean? I can't say if it would sound like German since I could pronounce it with an American, French or German accent either way, people that wouldn't know these languages would then think it's the real thing, it's all a matter of pronounciation ;)

The best non-German German was in "The Great Dictator" with Charlie Chaplin, that even decieved me for a second! :p

Mia:)

I don't know where I heard the most convincing German. I guess it was on The Rock (great movie; also has a fabulous soundtrack), where the owner of the Humvee says "Sie haben meinen Hummer gestohlen!" (you've stolen my Hummer)

Those are nice and all, but here is the real picture of the day

http://www.squatty.com/gallery/album...microsoft2.jpg

You lie. I said I made it up. ;)

To revive a dead thread...

I saw one of those DVD machines today. State College, Pennsylvaina. Seems like a perfect fit in a 24 hour mini mart on a campus that generally has 40,000 undergrads.