Atlanta Botanical Garden

On Sunday afternoon I strapped on my sandals and walked over to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which is located in the upper western corner of Piedmont Park. The park occupies a an expansive stretch of land and is divided into different gardens: a rose garden, a vegetable patch, a Japanese garden,a Southern garden, woodlands with a canopy walkway, and an enormous greenhouse with an orchid garden and a tropical garden. Come take a walk with me...

the canopy walkway in the woodlands

bright birdie

fragrant flowers

the canopy walkway from a distance

the lady of the fountain

almost translucent

almost art

almost a leopard

a patch of New Caledonia

Tarzan? Taaaaarzaaaan?!

a poisonous blue frog from Venezuela

a secret message for my love

some plants are so unearthly they put Pandora to shame

popping up

popped

frilly fountain

(aren't I the queen of alliterations today?)

Parks, skyscrapers & corn dogs

I promised a picture of my building, so here goes. Cute, isn't it? My front door is on the right.

And this is my street, in the direction of Piedmont park.

Spring is well under way here. Some of the blossoms have a wonderfully sweet smell.

Atlanta has a really curious geography. Skyscrapers and individual houses with gardens alternate as if it's nobody's business.

My neighbourhood is slightly more residential, at the intersection of Midtown & Downtown.

I love the wood-panneled houses. Exactly the kind of houses you would expect in the South.

A few blocks north up my street is Piedmont park, Atlanta's equivalent of Central Park. With yesterday's summery temperatures, the park was filled with people playing sports, picknicking and rolling around coolers on trolleys.

I exited Piedmont park on the north west side and walked back down through Midtown, with its high-rise office buildings.

Later that afternoon I was invited to a National Corn Dog Day party, which is essentially a garden party where people watch college basketball, eat corn dogs (fried hotdogs with a cornmeal crust on a stick) & tater tots (deep-fried potatoe balls) & drink beer.


Believe it or not, those corn dogs are not bad!

(In case you were wondering, yes, mine were vegetarian. W00t!)


The people around here have good taste in beer! Most people I spoke to could name several Belgian beers they liked. Made me think of home!

PS: By request, a manual on leaving a comment on a post:

1. Click on 'comments' (or 'reacties', depending on your browser) right below the title of the post.

2. Type your comment in the box.

3. The easiest option to choose for 'comment as' is 'name/URL'. Fill in your name in the pop-up screen. Ignore the URL field. Click continue.

4. Click on 'post comment'. Then click it a few more times (it almost never publishes your comment at the first try, I have no idea why). When you receive a message akin to 'your comment was published successfully', you're done.

PPS: Want to receive an e-mail every time I post on this blog? Just fill out your e-mail address on the top of the sidebar to receive e-mail notifications.

Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Hi guys,

Sorry I've been MIA for the last two weeks of my Brazil trip...

The end of the trip has been, well, agitated...

The fact that this happened didn't help much:

We were in my aunt's house in Petropolis when the torrential rain and the mudslides happened.

We are very fortunate and grateful that cleaning up the mud after the water seeped away was the worst we were confronted with. So many have lost so much more: their entire houses, or loved ones. There are no words to describe what has happened there.

Apart from the scare at the end, our trip has continued to be wonderful. Below are some pictures of the week we spent in Belo Horizonte, in the Minas Gerais province, where my uncle, aunt and three cousins live.

On the first day we took a trip to the farm of my aunt's father.

We shared a hearty Brazilian meal at the big kitchen table.

Rice and beans, and cooked maniok: typical Brazilian everyday food. The boyfriend likes.

My aunt's mother serving typical Brazilian desserts: goiabada with Minas cheese, and homemade lime ice cream.

The second day, we visited the historic city center, of which the Praça da Liberdade is the heart.

We visited the new Museum for Science and Technology.

The next day, we visited an open-air museum about 80km outside Belo Horizonte, called Inhotim. It is an enormous garden, with a large botany collection, that houses several modern art galleries.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate: the whole drive to Inhotim was sunny, but as soon as we got there, the heavenly gates opened and water poured out for the entire duration of our visit. But we are Belgians, and it takes more than a little rain to stop us.

Even the gardeners look artsy at times.

Some of the art installations even allowed participation. The hammock room with the loud Jimi Hendrickx music was our definitive favourite.

THE coolest profile picture ever taken...


... with the enormous kaleidoscope:


The earth is rusty red, as in all Minas Gerais.

The steps of this pool are meant to represent a telephone book. Arty.

The day before my cousin's wedding: grooming!

*** For all the people expecting pictures from my cousin's wedding, I must disappoint you: my camera didn't fit in my teeny tiny bag... and I'm still awaiting pictures from other sources.
Sit tight. ***

Brazil still nurtures a few old traditions, like the ambulant "scissor sharpener" (what are they called?) who has a particular whistle to alert the people of the block of his presence.

On the night before the wedding, we went out to a special bar in Belo Horizonte... o Bar do Belga! Unfortunately, ALL their Belgian beer had sold out. Logically. It's that good.

On Friday's, there's a flower market down the street from where my family lives.

On my birthday, which was last Saturday, my cousin's friend Bruno Senna took us to a belvedere high up a mountain with a stunning view of Belo Horizonte.

Bruno is an fantastic photographer by the way. Check out his photoblog here.

Here are a few pics Bruno took:

Picture by Bruno Senna.

Picture by Bruno Senna.

The view from the Belvedere is simply stunning. Here is an original idea I'm allowing Bruno to steal. ;-)

Taking a shot with his amazing equipment.

Well, and that's it for Belo Horizonte for now... I hope I can work my way through many more pictures and share some more images from our wonderful trip with you over the next few weeks. Thanks to all the people who have been following us during our voyage!