WATERLOO BATTLE RENOVATION ONE MONTH LEFT

May 26, 2015

On Wednesday 18 June the inauguration of the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo will take place. As I had visited the site several times to watch how the works would go on, I went there just one day of the opening of the new Memorial which is built under ground. And one month before the official opening of the renovated site.



There were many tourists on the unfinished site ! More than usual.



From what I observed there is still a lot of work to be accomplished to make the site look ready for the thousands of tourists who will come for this event.




The street around the site are far from being finished ! Napoleon's statue which stood under the weeping willow tree had disappeared.




There is still some demolishing and digging going on !



The proud eagle who stood in front of a beautiful old restaurant stood there rather forlorn. I have no idea which new place it will find.



The new built which replaces all the old restaurants and buildings like the Wax museum looks finished at least from outside. Compared to the past I found it ugly.



But at least I there was a cheerful soldier who was happy to pose !

It was just the day before the official inauguration of a brand new memorial on May 22.



The street along the memorial which is built under ground just besides the Lion Hill was still unfinished.



Workers tried to clean the street



It didn't look very inviting and I was glad to wear boots !



A worker cleaned the windows in front of the memorial and others put the last cobble stones.



The dust was blown away with a huge machine looking like a vacuum cleaner only instead of sucking in the dust it blow it away. I coughed my lungs out and had to clean my camera and my glasses.



The top of the memorial looked finished



The emergency exit too



And then the next day it was ready ! They probably had worked the whole night through. The VIP's arrived and I listened to the orchestra.



This is a video which shows the memorial inside.

I only hope that everything will be ready for the 18 of June !

For this occasion I will work as a volunteer in the Tourist Office of Waterloo.

You can find other posts about the renovation in my sidebar under "Waterloo"

LIGHT QUARRY OF BAUX - France

May 19, 2015

In the heart of Alpilles, near Baux en Provence,  the monumental "Carrières de Lumières" (light Quarry)  hosts extraordinary multimedia shows which are unique in the world.

New high-performance technological equipment is used for this outstanding audio visual show. Each area of the quarry invites visitors on an extraordinary audio visual journey with 70 video projectors, and 3D audio adapted to the specific characteristics of the site.

Spectators are totally immersed in the image projected onto all the surfaces of the quarry. Even the ground is completely covered, and becomes a vast carpet of images.



Before we entered the quarry to see the show, we first had a picnic !









I took these pictures just to show you the height of these enormous walls !

On the program were Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, the giants of the Renaissance. I would have preferred to see the impressionists, but this show had just finished. I wasn't disappointed at all !



The pictures projected on the floor made us all dizzy. I thought I would faint and found a wall behind me to lean against, and had to rescue my friend's husband who was also walking like a drunken sailor. It also gives you an idea how huge these pictures were compared to the size of the spectators.









And then we stood there and were literally absorbed by these paintings. I never had such a feeling in my whole life.



This video is really worthwhile to see, just to let you know how we felt.