Heritage Days In Amish Country Pt 1

On Saturday we went to the tiny farming town

of Yoder Kansas where they were celebrating

'Heritage Days'.

This is a small rural town that has a large

Amish community

in the surrounding country side.

You can always tell an Amish

homestead by the lack 

of electrical lines

leading from the roadside

to the farm and there is 

usually a buggy or two

in sight.

You are pretty much guaranteed to

see a horse and buggy trotting

along the country roads

the closer you get to

the town.

Above is a typical sight when you drive

through Yoder.

On this day we were greeted by this

friendly fellow.

He was the traffic controller

as people came from all over to watch the

parade and catch the buggy races

and other fun events that were on that day.

Now how many towns have you been to

where the roads are scared up from

horse and buggies???

We arrived about half way through the

parade....for a small town they have a 

VERY large turnout as people enter

from all over the State and some even 

come from other States. 

Here are a few of the sights we enjoyed.

This lady was riding a huge mule!

I've always been very careful about taking

photo's of the Amish as I know many of 

them don't appreciate you photographing

their faces. 

There are two groups of Amish

in this area...one group is more

conservative than the other.

I was surprised by all the Amish who 

took part in the parade and other

activities where people 

were snapping pictures all over the place.

They didn't seem to mind at all.

Once I saw that I felt it was ok to snap away.

This little Amish girl enjoyed riding on 

grandpa's tractor in the parade.

See the tractor below?

It's MUCH larger than the photo shows.

Look at who is driving this monster!

And he was in the cab alone!

After the parade we headed over

to where the buggy races

were going to take place.

No these big guys weren't in the races!

The people were just starting to line

the road where the races were to take place.

Last year we stood over there in the sun

but this year it was 101 in the shade so we 

decided to sit under the trees on the bleachers.

See the house in the background?

It's an Amish home

and if you enlarge the photo 

you'll see a lot of the Amish gathering

to watch the races.

By the time things started you couldn't see 

the road at all!

Taking time to relax between races.

We headed home before the races 

were over but we went back later to

enjoy the music, kettle corn

and watch the fun.

This Amish couple was heading 

heading home too.

I think we're very lucky to live so close

to these friendly people.

Part 2 coming soon!

Maura :)

Ooo La La Paris 99

In my last post I shared with you scrapbook

pages that I made in 2002

of my trip to England in 1999 to see my sister 

and her family.

This post is from that same scrapbook.

While I was visiting my sister

Jan surprised me with a WONDERFUL

trip for just the two of us to

PARIS!

It was a bus tour.

I never thought I'd enjoy one but

I would HIGHLY recommend it as you 

don't have to worry about watching the road...

you can just look out the windows and start

snapping pictures of the

beautiful scenery..

We caught our bus northeast of London

just as the children were heading

to school. It was fun seeing

them dressed neatly in their

uniforms ...each school 

with it's own colors.

We drove to Dover and boarded

the ferry which was huge.

The trip took about 90 minutes

to reach Calais France.

We all loaded back on the bus

and off we went on our journey

to Paris.

My first glimpse of the 

Eiffel Tower

took my breath away.

This was like seeing the Grand Canyon...

pictures just don't do it justice.

You FEEL it...not just see it.

Our tour guide was a sweet

Englishman who looked like

David Niven.

He wore a beige trench coat...

wore a fedora...

had a thin mustache and carried 

an umbrella. He was fluent in French

and a lot of other languages.

He was SO much fun and was full of interesting

information and tidbits that we would have 

missed had we been driving ourselves.

He made sure we didn't miss a thing.

We arrived at our hotel in the afternoon

and they let us get settled in our rooms

before we all headed out walking

to a quaint little restaurant district 

near the hotel.

We could wander off where ever we 

wanted to go ...exploring shops and/or finding

places to eat for our first supper in

Paris.

Jan and I picked an Italian restaurant

of all things!

We had wine.

Later once everyone was back at the hotel

and rested the bus picked us up for a 

tour of

Paris at night!

The Eiffel Tower was all lit up 

and had the countdown to the

millennium. 

If you think the Eiffel Tower is 

beautiful during the day...

you should see it at night!

The next day we drove all around the city

seeing different areas and landmarks.

Then we were dropped off near

the Sacre Coeur.

We wandered around and I took tons 

of photo's.

We then walked the steps to the top

and wandered around to the top of

Montmartre.

This is the place where many 

of the artists of the day

hung out such as

Monet, Picasso, van Gogh

Dali.

Behind the Sacre Coeur there are many little

cafe's and restaurants with tents and heaters

and tables and chairs

so Jan and I along with tourists from

 around the world...had supper.

It was WONDERFUL!

There were waiters and waitresses with 

white aprons scurrying around with 

round trays carried by one hand.

The tables were covered with

red checkered tablecloths.

And like the old days...there

were artists with easels set up

in the narrow street and around the restaurants

and they were painting portraits of

paying tourists or scenery which

they had for sale. 

French music played in the background.

I soaked it all in.

Below my sister poses at our 

outdoor table.

I'm afraid I got my days mixed up...

the day after we arrived we

actually went on a boat ride down the 

river Seine. 

Unfortunately for me that first 

morning after arriving in Paris

I had reached over to pull a table in our room

over a bit and I put my back out! 

I mean I REALLY put my back out...

I couldn't sit or stand up straight!

It was terrible.

Anyway I worked through it and off 

we went down the river.

I'm smiling below as we boarded the boat

but believe me...I was in PAIN!

Here are a few photo's taken from the boat.

Paris has the most gorgeous bridges. 

One evening we were taken to 

a French restaurant on the Left Bank.

We were taken down into the cellar

where there were the most beautiful 

old brick walls and arches and the tables 

were all set up with red and white 

checked cloths.

Each table had 3 bottles of wine.

One red...one white and one 1/2 bottle of Rose.

The two of us nearly finished all 3 bottles!!!

Neither Jan or I drink much wine or other spirits

but hey...when you're in Paris...!!!

Another day we traveled to 

Versailles.

We started off at the Palace

which was very beautiful 

and had the most gorgeous fountains.

But by far the the village

of Versailles was my favorite

part of this day. 

Jan and I walked around the narrow 

streets and looked at all the shops.

We had lunch at an outdoor cafe

and then went to the outdoor 

market.

The colors were BEAUTIFUL and it

was wonderful hearing the French

voices calling out their wares.

In the picture above this old

gypsy lady was playing 

French songs on her 

accordion and a little girl 

started dancing.

You can see the woman's face

smiling at the little girl. 

The fruit and vegetables were

bright and colorful and everything

smelled SO good.

Jan and I stopped at  

la pattisserie

and bought some beautiful 

chocolates to take home.

See the little chocolate flower pots

in the middle picture on the left?

Those found their way to Canada. 

The picture below is my sister

in the alley of trees 

at the Palais Royal.

Our last morning in Paris was spent

at the Eiffel Tower.

This was the highlight of my trip.

We took the elevator up and my 

sister described it as being

like the 'Tower Of Babel' 

as it was packed and everyone seemed

to be speaking a different language!

If any of you have ever been on the 

Eiffel Tower 

you know what I mean when I say 

the view is spectacular.

This too is like the Grand Canyon...

you have to experience it. 

I'm afraid I lost my photo's 

of the Eiffel Tower in my move to Kansas.

Maybe one day I'll get back there again.

It was hard to leave Paris

but harder still to say goodbye 

to my Sister.

I haven't seen her since that trip in 1999.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed 

that she comes to visit this fall. 

Well...now you've seen my first 

attempts at scrapbooking way

back in 2002.

It was a lot of work but well worth it.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Maura :)