Simploring 2020 (15) Florence At Low Tide

24 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

In March 2019 I visited Florence Bay (Simploring 2019 (34) Florence Bay). When I looked for a destination for simploring at scoop.it SL Destinations on Saturday, February 8th, I came across Maddy Gynoid’s blog post about “Florence At Low Tide” – and the name rang a bell.

Florence Bay was a moderate homestead owned by Gnaaah Xeltentat and Tomaso Franizzi. It was originally designed, created and landscaped by Minnie Atlass. I learned in Maddy’s blogpost that Florence Bay was taken over by it’s designer Minnie Atlass in August 2019 and Minnie integrated it into her sims under the name “Soul2Soul Rapids”.

Florence At Low Tide is the new home of Gnaaah Xeltentat and Tomaso Franizzi. It has been designed and landscaped by Iska (sablina). I have visited quite some sims designed by Iska (sablina), my last visit to one of her creations was La Digue (Simploring 2019 (119) La Digue – an Autumn walk).

Florence At Low Tide – overview

Florence At Low Tide is a moderate homestead, a quiet, peaceful spot somewhere in the Mediterranean, I’d say somwhere in South France (although there’re no tides as far as I know). The landing point is at the shore that has been revealed by the the retreating water during tide. Boats are laying on the ground and some nice citizens have brought loungers and other seating opportunities to the shore.

Impressions of Florence At Low Tide (1) – around the landing point

Impressions of Florence At Low Tide (3) – house with backyard / Bar and event area (lower pictures)

I explored the village that really has a Mediterranean touch. A large villa with pool is close to the landing point. The houses at Florence At Low Tide are typical for the region, most of them are not furnished though. Quite close to the landing is a bar and an event area. I sat down and enjoyed the atmosphere before I walked to the lighthouse. Also on this side of FLorence At Low Tide the tide caused boats to lay on the ground. I peeked inside of a smaller hut and discovered a piano and a nice polstered lounger, hence I called it “Piano hut”

Impressions of Florence At Low Tide (4) – around the lighthouse / the “Piano hut”

Quite outstanding for a Mediterranean setting is the big mountain in the Northeast with a high waterfall. The waterfall feeds a creek that flows into the sea. There’s a balloon hovering above of the waterfall – and you can sit in its gondola and enjoy the view from up there.

Impressions of Florence At Low Tide (5) – upper left shows the mountain with the waterfall / lower left the Villa close to the landing

What I loved most is the area around a small church as it offers all what remembers me of my trips to South France in RL. Lavender, wine and sun flowers and the typical architecture of the houses. Just beautiful. I had the impression I almost could smell the lavender.

Impressions of Florence At Low Tide (6) – Memories of South France – Lavender, wine, sun flowers and the typical architecture

Florence At Low Tide is a beautiful sim, perfect for taking pictures and perfect to wind down and let your mind wander. Thank you Iska (sablina) for the design, thank you Gnaaah Xeltentat and Tomaso Franizzi for sharing your home with the public! I enjoyed my short trip to South France.

Landmark to Florence At Low Tide
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Florence/152/64/22
Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/florenceatlowtide/
Maddy Gynoid’s blog post Simtipp: “Florence At Low Tide”
http://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2020/02/simtipp-florence-at-low-tide.html

Simploring 2019 (119) La Digue – an Autumn walk

01 Dec 2019 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Tuesday, November 12th, I picked “La Digue” from scoop.it SL Destinations. There are already some reports about La Digue. Inara Pey reported about it (Visiting La Digue in Second Life) as well as Maddy Gynoid (Simtipp: La Digue). And after reading these post I had to see it myself.

La Digue – overview

La Digue is owned and created by Iska (sablina), who writes about herself “I love creating landscapes and dreaming inside“. That’s something you can sense visiting her sims. I saw already L’intangible & Field of dreams (read here) in 2017, La virevolte (read here) in 2018 and early this year I reported about my visit to Ponto Cabana (read here)

Impressions of La Digue (1) – around the landing point and around the gateway tower

La Digue is a very photogenic sim for those who love the Autumn atmosphere – I love it! It consits of several islands which are seperated by canals and mostly connected by small bridges. Off the coast are two longer islands which serve as a natural shield for the other islands, a dam or dyke or in French “La Digue”. And between these two islands and the others there’s a protected bay, a natural harbour.

Impressions of La Digue (2) – an Autumn walk

There’re several elements that define La Digue. There’s first of all the gateway tower in the center of the main island. This island is surrounded by a stone wall and it has a stony landing stage. The gateway tower is surrounded by high dry grass, admist of it an old pink limosine catches the eye. If you walk up the tower you can strike the tower’s bell.

Impressions of La Digue (3) – the cafe, the railway station, the lighthouse and the campside with an old caravan

Walking around and exploring the islands of La Digue is fun. Where ever you go you have fantastic views. The few houses are not furnished but fit perfectly into the environment. I encountered some cows, I saw a deer and a pair of foxes. In particular the brich trees glow in mayn colours.

But there’re more outstanding elements and motifs. I want to mention the railway station without railroad tracks. It is raining at this spot of the sim. Quite outstanding is also the long road with powerlines, a great background for taking pictures.

Impressions of La Digue (4) – time for a short rest and the long road with the power lines

The 2 landing stages with the many small boats are another element defining La Digue. Besides being another great motif for pictures they do offer the oppotunity to sit alone or as a couple. The only furnished house is kind of a bar or cafe on the larger dyke island. There’re some tables and chairs to sit and watch. I found some more cosy places but for sure not all.

What made me smile is the way cows are transported at La Digue – with ships. I saw at least two boats with cows as passengers.

Impressions of La Digue (5) – in the light of the Autumn sun

For my pictures I used the preset windlight. But at the end of my simploring tour I switched on the sun to see this lovely place lightend by the Autumn sun. That gave very different pictures, almost too beautiful.
I really enjoyed my Autumn walk exploring La Digue. Thank you Iska (sablina) for creating this corner of Second Life and for sharing it with the public.

Landmark to La Digue
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sparrow%20Springs/115/133/22
Inara Pey’s blogpost “Visiting La Digue in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2019/11/10/visiting-la-digue-in-second-life/
Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: La Digue”
http://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2019/11/simtipp-la-digue.html

Simploring 2019 (1) Ponto Cabana

03 Jan 2019 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Christmas I selected Ponto Cabana from scoop.it SL Destinations. Ponto Cabana is owned and created by Iska (sablina) and this name did ring a bell. I visited La Virevolte in December 2017 and wrote a blogpost, that was published January 5th, 2018 – read here. And really, Ponto Cabana is built where La Virevolte was.

Ponto Cabana – overviews

Ponto Cabana is a moderate homestead. It consists of three islands, the two bigger islands are connected by a bridge. It’s a winter wonderland fantasy village and offers a lot of great views for visitors. The landing is on the frozen sea and I first walked on foot to the smallest island that has just room enough for one house. The view from there to the other two islands is just great. I also liked the ice bear family walking over the frozen sea to the North pole.

Impressions of Ponto Cabana (1)

The two bigger islands both offer a lot to explore. One island is covered with quite some buildings along one road and one unused railroad track. It is snowing there. The buildings are all furnished more or less, I just had a look into some of them. There are a lot of animals, mainly birds and squirrels. The little town looks very peaceful.

Impressions of Ponto Cabana (2)

The other island offers a long promenade along the frozen shore and a park, layed out on terraces, mainly covered with snow. On the highest terrace are two houses and their front garden is decorated nicely for the season. Again you’ll see a lot of animals there, in and outside. One of the houses is inhabited by chicken, squirrels and suricate – cute!

Impressions of Ponto Cabana (3)

Ponto Cabana is embedded into a very fitting sim sourrounding. Thus the views you get for taking pictures are just picturesque. Iska once again lures us into a wonderful snowy winterworld. Thank you for creating and sharing your world, Iska!

Landmark to Ponto Cabana
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lemon%20Beach/70/105/22

Simploring 2018 (2) La virevolte

05 Jan 2018 4 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

December 29th, 2017, I went simploring in the afternoon. Once again I followed a post from Inara Pey’s Living in a modemworld blog “A photogenic twirl in Second Life“.  La virevolte is French and means turn or twist, hence the title of Inara’s post. And La virevolte is really picturesque but natural, it offers great opportunites for taking pictures.

La virevolte – overview

La virevolte is owned and created by Iska (sablina). There’s no landmark description. I looked up Iska’s profile which is quite empty except of one sentence “I love creating landscapes and dreaming inside“. For me these few words describe La virevolte perfectly. You can enjoy lovely views and you can dream and wind down there.

Impressions of La virevolte (1)

La virevolte is an island perfectly melted in a sim surround of high Mountains. The island itself has a flat part with no snow – it looks as if the wind has blown away the snow from this part of the island – and some higher rocky parts. There are a few houses spreaded on the island, also a few ruins. In the center a small natural fjord ends in a small pond. La virevolte looks really natural and I couldn’t get enough from the different views. Although it seems that there’s not much activity you can find some Christmas illuminations here and there and even around the ruins.

Impressions of La vivrevolte (2)

Impressions of La vivrevolte (3)

During my visit, Jenny came inworld and joined me there. She was not dressed for the cold. We tried some ot the places to cuddle and enjoyed the peace together. I think my pictures do show some of La virevolte‘s beauty. If you like winterly sims, don’t miss this sim and visit it before spring arrives. Well, it might be lovely in sping as well and another reason for me to return then.

Thank you Iska for sharing your dream with the public. I enjoyed my visit very much!

Landmark to La virevolte
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lemon%20Beach/128/128/28
Inara Pey’s blog entry “A photogenic twirl in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2017/12/23/a-photogenic-twirl-in-second-life/

Simploring 2017 (12) L’intangible & Field of dreams

22 Feb 2017 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

Sundays are my simploring days. Last Sunday, February 19th, I went exploring L’intangible. I came across it by following the blog of Nix Bubbles (nixi12345), Places in Secondlife with a tiny pinch of Fashion.

Feb 19th: L'intangible (in the foreground - South) & Field of dreams (in the background - North)

Feb 19th: L’intangible (in the foreground – South) & Field of dreams (in the background – North)

L’intangible & Field of dreams are two connected adjacent homestead sims, just lovely and rural. It could be somewhere in the Mediterranean, maybe in France as there are vineyards, sunflower fields and fruit trees. There’s a lot of nature and some scattered buildings. I landed at L’intangible, the southern homestead. There’s not much to see, just a farm, a house, some agricultural machines. In the Southwest is a lighthouse and from it’s top you can look not just over L’intangible but also to Fields of dreams in the north. In the Southeast is a big rock and you can walk up to it’s top for another overview. At the foot of the rock is an old abandonned house. Overall you could get a bit melancholic at L’intangible.20170219-lintangible_016Field of dreams is also dominated by agriculture. The description of Field of dreams sums it up nicely: The human work is an eternal new beginning…drought, autumn rain, the ground draining away by the runoff. It is because of these climatic and physical factors that human built this landscape to be able to create spaces suitable for crops. These gardens terraces in the broken rock, cleared of stones are named “bancels”, they punctuate the landscape from the bottom of the valleys to peaks with meadows, fruit orchards and vegetable garden.”20170219-lintangible_017

Field of dreams has some little satellite islands, one in the West and three in the North. In the middle of Field of dreams is a bigger house which looks as if the farmers could gather a bit of wealth here. I can’t describe why, but Field of dreams didn’t make me as melancholic as L’intangible did.
Both sims are built with love for the detail and you can see that they were build from one person, Iska (sablina), who writes about herself: “I love creating landscapes and dreaming inside”. A really nice work. I enjoyed my visit. The only thing I missed were a few more spots to sit and dream.

Feb 19th: At the northern end of Field of dreams

Feb 19th: At the northern end of Field of dreams

Landmark to L’intangible
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Reve/108/210/25