Farnham Carnival

It was the Farnham Carnival on Saturday so I meet a friend there for lunch and an afternoon at the fair. 

The fair part was your typical fair ground. But I did win a toy from the grab a duck!

The rest of the stalls were in the meadow. And the most popular tents were the food and beer tents. There was also a stage with live music, so we chilled on the grass with a drink listening to the music for a while. (This was thankfully the part of the day not throwing it down.)

There was also a parade around the town. It definitely beat the one in Preston. No funeral cars to start. The theme was by the sea side. 

The prince and princess of the parade.

Brass band,

Not sure.

They got every one out.

Minions!

They danced the whole way! 

I am not sure.

After the carnival, there was some more music and drinks before I had to drive home (so soft drinks for me). It started to rain on the way back to the car. Which is the point at which I realised I had lost my car keys. :( Thankfully someone back at the fair had handed my keys into the lost and found. (And frankly my car is about 15 years older than all the other cars in the town!) Though I was thoroughly soaked by the time I got back to my car. Need a new water proof!

The rest of the last few weeks have been just general everyday stuff. I went for a few walks and runs in the sun and realised my walking sandals are also dead. 

I went to my first Krav Magra class which was fun. And then just work and planning holidays! :)

Blacksburg Summer Solstice Festival

This weekend Blacksburg held its summer Solstice festival, taking over a section of downtown. A friend dropped his car off at mine and we got the bus down to near the festival, walking the rest of the way. As I was leaving the house, the weather was a little overcast, so I forgot sun screen and my hat. That was a mistake. I was so hot later.
The road had been blocked off and there were lots of craft stalls to wonder around.

For the girls.

Tempted by these wine bottle wind chimes. 

art from glass bowls.

They also had a petting zoo. I was expecting much (Blacksburg is tiny but kicks the butt out of the Preston festivals so far). (I forgot to take a photo of the goats but they look terrified. I was very tempted to try to free them.)

Chameleon 

Very proud Iguana 

A huge Tortoise!

After that we headed over to the flea circus. We were both so excited.

The Alberti Flea Circus

brave fleas.

little cannon for a flea daredevil act.

Flea Circus owner

The guy was really funny and we had a great time laughing and cheering on the fleas! Though I was slightly glad when it was over as we were sitting in the sun and although it was 5.30pm, it was still really hot. So we went down to the food area and went to a wine tasting for Beliveau Estates winery (which is close by) and I had a glass of white wine (called Destiny) while Brian enjoyed the Soul Singer red. We wondered around and tried to have a look at the wing eating contest but it was very popular and we couldn't see much. So we decided to sit down and listen to the music and share a bottle of the soul singer red (which was nice but but the best I have ever had) and listen to the live music. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.
We then went and had dinner at Bordeaux, my favorite restaurant in Blacksburg, which serves cajun food. After a lovely meal and a bottle of Malbec, we walked back to mine and spend a few more hours chilling and talking. So overall a really nice day. (And I have a nice tanning going now!)

Night carnival and closing ceremony

Last week I went to the night parade with Deanna (and have finally sorted through all my photos). It was great, though the parade is the same as the carnival parade in the day, which was a little disappointing. Still I got my photo taken with some of the entertainers. (And Deanna is good with a camera so I have more than me with a pair of Madonna style boobs!) She also had a thing for the Italians guys in the tights, which was fine with me as we got a few pictures taken with them! :-) They certainty had nice ... form.

I love the abs!

Smiling Luigi and a tired Mario

Me and the Italian men in tights!

Sunday night was the closing ceremony and fireworks. I went down and sat on the beach to watch. They burnt a replica of the King at sea. Very dramatic and very creepy. The arm would not stop moving and then the head feel off! It reminded me of when the Termintor was set on fire and keeps coming after you! Still fun. :-)

The fireworks were amazing! The best ones exploded into hearts. And others were stars. That, I have never seen before. My camera was useless. I took some videos but they aren't that great so I just sat back and enjoyed. And laughed and clapped like a little kid. They lasted for about 30mins and were brilliant. Someone put a lot of time into it. They played music with a sports theme. Including "3 lions on a shirt". And who said the French hate the English?
After that I walked home, which is a hike but the trams were packed. So I decided to just walk the 50 minute walk home. It was a good end to the carnival (though my feet were killing me by the end).

Battle of the Flowers

Yesterday I took the day off and went to the Battle of the Flowers (Battaille de Fleurs) with Deanna. It was down on the Promenade Des Anglais, along the sea front. I had brought a seat ticket but decided to stand instead as you get more flowers. The carts go up and down the promenade and thrown flowers into the crowd. At the start, they are mainly these little yellow flowers called mimosas. However, once they are out of those, they start literally taking the carts apart and stripping them of their flowers. Lilys, roses, sunflowers, carnations, all sorts. I really wanted a sunflower but alas. Unfortunately some of my photos didn't come out as the sun was on the wrong side of us. (Though I got some great ones of the backs of floats!)

Throwing Mimosas at the crowd

I got one of the red lilies on the top at the end!

More lilies.

On the Eagle of Nice float.

Garlands of flowers

The back on one of the floats

Another float.

There were also dancers and carnival bands going around at the same time. And a lot of costumes similar to what I imagine you would see in Rio. (Some could really have done with more material.) Deanna and I decided there was way too much eye candy for the men and not nearly enough for us!

Dressed as flowers

Rio type "dress"

Blue bird

With drum band from South America

One of the parade queens

One of my favourite ones was the bubble machine. What is it about bubbles that makes you feel like a kid?

Bubble machine float

Lots of bubbles!

Unfortunately, we were standing next to these two young teenage boys. Now, you would think that would be a good spot. What self respecting teenage boy would jump and yell and fight to get hold of flowers? Well French ones apparently. And they had longer arms than we did.
Anyway I did manage to get some flowers. :-)

My flowers!

Corso Carnavaleque

On Sunday afternoon, we went tot he carnival parade at Massena. We got the cheap tickets, standing but got a great place. The parade comes down the road and turns in the square. We were standing in the square so the floats went around us. I was expecting barriers but there weren't any. You mingled with the floats and parade. It was amazing.
If you dressed up, you got in free. And there some great costumes.

Buzz Lightyear, cleaning up!

These guys really made a effort (and got me with silly string later!)

 It was the place to be. There were celebrates everywhere! :-)

The Royal Family showed up.

Will and Kate

Even the Pope...

...and Barrack put in an appearance

The floats were amazing! There were 20 in total, all on the theme of sport, in honour of the 2012 Olympics. 

Roi du Sport, king of sport.

Reine Du sport, queen of sport

I'll leave you to make you minds up about this one...

Shot silly string and streamers at the crowd.

I have no idea what she is doing...

Wacky races car.

On the doping scandals in sport.

Huge monkeys before the India float

Scared lots of kids. Its eyes flashed!

 And the costumes were amazing. In between the floats were dancers, musicians, and entertainers.

White dragon

In front of big bird cousin.

Dancing Daffodils

Unfortunately the head was cut off the photo!

These ladies were on the last float...

 After the carnival, we headed to a bakery for something to eat and drink, and a much needed sit down. It was a great day and I am looking forward to the other parades on Wednesday.
(I'll put more photos up on Facebook as I took hundreds!)