A long weekend in Portugal

One of the places that I've never been during our time in Europe was Lisbon, so when Mum and Dad said they were travelling through Portugal during their European sojourn, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to visit. I flew over bright and early on Saturday and met them at their hotel (booked for free with my credit card points - score!) before we all headed off via the metro to explore the town.

It's a lovely, grand city with beautiful streets and squares. We tried lots of delicious pastries and checked out the shops. Dad bought a really nice pair of leather dress shoes and Mum kept up her hunt for a new handbag (more on that later). I got treated to a new pair of sneakers which was very generous! We walked up to the castle overlooking the central city via the cathedral, then down lots of steps through the Alfama district where dozens of little eateries were being set up with music and brightly coloured streamers everywhere. We found a little bar that I'd read about and Mum and Dad had a shot of ginja each and I had a lemonade that was true lemonade - literally lemon water that was sour as anything but very refreshing in the heat. After a black seafood paella for Mum and I and pasta for Dad it was back to the hotel for a well-earned sleep.

The next morning we found a great café down the road for breakfast that really took Mum's fancy and which served yoghurt, fruit and all sorts of pastries, as well as fabulous fresh orange juice. Then it was off to Sintra. After some very windy and narrow roads we found a park and arrived at the Quinta da Regaleira, an elaborate palace and garden complex. There were caves and grottoes, towers and even a 27m well in the gardens, and the house was equally twirly and decorative. Definitely recommended.

In the grounds of the Quinta da Regaleira

We had lunch in the main village area on a terrace then drove to Agrada Beach which was absolutely gorgeous. Huge, pounding surf and a triangle of golden sand between the cliffs. I was the only one of the three of us who swam but I'm not sure you could really even call it that as the waves were so big it was all I could do to keep upright as they rolled in (and in fact didn't succeed - got completely bowled over at one point and got sand everywhere!). I had really wanted a swim so I'm so pleased we managed to get out that way. Drove back to Lisbon with the help of Martha (the name allocated to the car's gps), then finished the day with some tapas at a little place by the Campo Pequeno bull ring.

On Agrada beach

So happy to be at the beach!

Day three saw us driving to Porto after another breakfast at our favourite local café. We hit rain on the way but the roads were clear and it only took about three hours. It seemed to take more time to actually find the hotel's parking building in Porto once we arrived among the windy streets! But the sun had blazed its way through the clouds by the time we arrived and so it was up the Torre dos Clerigos for a great view over the city. Dad, being not so keen on heights, wasn't a massive fan but climbed the whole way up which was pretty impressive! We had a coffee at the Majestic Café to recover then hit the shops. Mum found a really lovely Spanish handbag to contemplate buying and Dad and I loved the shop with all sorts of brightly coloured socks for only €1 each - barganza.

After a false start at an average restaurant for dinner we found our way to one I'd read about called Traça which was absolutely delicious. We shared a six person table with a guy from Quebec (who very generously said that my French was "impeccable") and a couple from the Chilterns in England who were all really friendly and chatty. The food was excellent - I had a whole octopus tentacle which was as tender as butter and Mum had a rosé port cocktail with tonic and mint that was fabulous. I would definitely go back if ever I was in Porto again.

Our last day saw us walk over the top level of the Luiz I bridge (designed by Gustav Eiffel) to the Gaia side of the river which made Dad's legs go all wobbly but I got some great photos of Mum with the view behind. To recover we headed down to the port houses and choose to do a tour at Offley. The guide was very slick and we tried three different ports - a white, a ruby and a reserve tawny. Sadly I could only really sip them and appreciate the aroma but both Mum and Dad liked them (white and reserve tawny the most respectively). Then it was back out into the drizzle for lunch. Dad tried a francesinha and Mum enjoyed the local sardines. I also picked up a box of custard tarts as a present for Adrian (which sadly are a bit smushed in my bag on the plane as I write this but I'm sure they still taste delicious).

We then trekked over to the other side of town for the best gelato in Porto at Gelataria Sincelo (supposedly). I had port and ové mole (egg custard) and Dad had passion fruit and mandarin. They were pretty good I have to say! After that it was out into the rain and back to the shops where Mum bought her lovely bag and a pair of sandals, Dad got a leather belt to go with his new shoes, and I got a pair of earrings that I've decided are my graduation present from Adrian ;) Such extravagance! But you only live once right...

It was really nice to be able to share somewhere I'd been with Mum and Dad (Porto) but also to explore somewhere new together too. The four days went far too quickly - I don't want to go back to work tomorrow! Let's hope there are lots more European jaunts in my future.

A Swedish wedding

Continuing my tradition of jumping all over the place in time, I'm going to interrupt the India travel story to give you some photos of our long weekend in Västerås and Stockholm. We were there for my friend Stina's wedding and it continued the tradition of beautiful weather and wonderful hospitality that have been the hallmarks of every trip I've ever taken to Sweden.

We helped them set up the venue (a beautiful barn) and then enjoyed all the festivities - despite everything being in Swedish! The food and wine was excellent, we loved the fact that the DJ played a ridiculous amount of ABBA, and it was so much fun being in the sauna and (wood-fired!) hot tub at 3am with the sky being nearly as light as the middle of the day. 

Stockholm was great as well and this time we finally made it to the Vasa Museum which was really interesting and well worth a visit. We also had the most delicious lunch at Nybrogatan 38 which is a little restaurant in the upmarket Östermalm area of Stockholm. We arrived late (the Vasa Museum had held us captive for much longer than anticipated) and even though they were operating a reduced menu it was still really good and great value. Just check out the size of my salad:

Thank you so much to Stina, her family and friends for making it such a great visit. We promise we'll come back and take you up on the offer of cross-country skiing!

The rest of the photos are online here.

Canal knowledge

Back in August we spent a wonderful long weekend in the Netherlands.  Neither of us had been before and we took the opportunity to go with our friends Bastiaan and Pip who've spent a lot of time there and who could make sure we only saw the best bits!

Maybe slightly too big?

We caught the Eurostar over, which meant we could explore Amsterdam for a few days, then on the way back down to catch our connection in Brussels to London, we could also visit Delft and Leiden.

Captivated by the canals

The weather was absolutely superb and it was so lovely to just cruise around looking at all the canals and doing the cliched 'soaking up the atmosphere'!  I particularly enjoyed kayaking around the canals in Leiden and spending an afternoon in Vondelpark people watching.  It was an incredibly relaxing weekend - and a perfect example of the beauty of living in London and having Europe right on your doorstep!

Check out the rest of the photos...

Venice and Verona

"Ooooh...what a pretty canal!" 

"Take a photo of that canal, it's lovely."

"Ah, sitting beside a canal, drinking spritz and eating aperitivo.  I could do this for the rest of my life!"

And now you have an insight into the main gist of our conversation the entire time we were in Venice!  It was one of the few European cities that was on our list that we had yet to cross off.  Knowing the exorbitant prices, we'd booked months and months ago, so had been looking forward to it for absolute yonks.  And it didn't disappoint!

Arriving late on Thursday night we managed to work out how to get on the Number 1 vaporetto down the Grand Canal to our B&B, then got back on (loved that the tickets were time delimited, not per ride) and went all the way down to Piazza San Marco to see it without the crowds and an obligatory first gelato - who cares that it was nearly midnight!

While in Venice we made sure to do lots of the main sights, including the Doge's Palace, St Mark's Basilica, the Campanile, as well as a quick trip out to Murano to see some glass blowing and to check out the lagoon.  The weather was lovely - hot enough to get a tan and wear some shorts, but not too hot that we completely melted after the cold of London!  I loved just wandering around, checking out the food (I'd done a fair bit of research, which meant we ended up eating at some delicious places, such as La Zucca, which was recommended by two different sets of people, and was an absolutely delicious treat for lunch on our last day) and just enjoying feeling the sun on our faces in the most incredible surroundings.  Another really good foodie thing we did was go to the Rialto fish market at midday on the Saturday where one particular restaurant serves up the dish of the day, plus a glass of wine for only 8 euro.  The day we were there it was a plate of lightly fried fish and other seafood - luckily both Adrian and I have come around to fish because otherwise it wouldn't have been so pleasant!

I loved the whole concept of aperitivo hour as well which, despite some early confusion about what exactly 'happy hour' means (drinks become more, rather than less expensive!), became one of our favourite things to do.  The quality and quantity of the nibbles varied dramatically between different places, but Aperol spritz has now firmly lodged itself as one of my favourite drinks.  We also went out on the Friday night we were in Venice, heading to Campo Santa Margharita which seemed to be where most of the action was, then stumbling across a pop up bar on the way home which was lots of fun.

We also added in two nights in Verona, where, luckily, we lucked in to the fact it was the first Sunday of the month, so all the sights which normally would have cost anywhere between 6-10 euros to go into, were only 1 euro!  Excellent.  This included Juliet's House, the arena (while we were there a school choir came in and sang which was really cool - we'll have to go back for an opera one time) as well as some other museums and the like.  We also walked up behind the castle to get a good view out over the city and could actually look down and see a local wedding which was interesting.

And then, of course, it was again all about the food!  Adrian finally had a horse steak, after wanting one for years, and I had a donkey ragu which was surprisingly good.  The gelato was fabulous in Verona, with my favourite flavour being 'pollen' (a bit random!) and the aperitivo was delicious.  We walked all over town, getting to know the main city area inside out.  We stayed with a super friendly Italian guy at his B&B called B&B Casa Nuvola and it was obvious he'd learned his English in Ireland as there were Guinness posters everywhere and he had the funniest Irish/Italian accent.  

All in all, I loved Venice - it was such a beautiful city and I could have happily wandered there for days.  The sights weren't as breathtaking as Rome, but the city was by far and away one of the most magic places I've ever visited.  

Check out the rest of the photos here!

Having a riot

On a whim at the end of last year, a group of us decided to take advantage of the cheap fares to Ireland, and booked a long weekend in Cork.  I've been wanting to go to Ireland for ages, so it was definitely something exciting to look forward to.

We headed off bright and early on Friday morning and arrived in Cork keen for a look around.  Our first stop was down in the middle of town for a quick snack at the English Market, which was filled with all sorts of delicious food and has been going since 1788 which is pretty impressive!  I tried a 'chester cake' which was extremely rich, and is basically a cake within pastry, covered in icing...  It was one to share!

After a quick scoot around Cork we drove to Blarney Castle to check out the famous Blarney Stone, say hello to some horses, check out a poison garden and generally marvel over the technicolour of the green, green grass.  It was a nice surprise just how interesting the whole grounds were - if you go don't just head straight to the castle!

Tamara and I saying hello to the horses at Blarney Castle

Getting the gift of the gab!

From Blarney it was down to Cobh (pronounced Cove) which is on the coast and was where the Titanic stopped in on her ill-fated journey.  After checking out the cathedral high up on the hill and the edge of the harbour, it was time for a late lunch.  And this is where the incredibly friendly and accommodating locals came in for the first time - the pub didn't have food, but the cafe didn't have Guinness, so you can just bring your food down to the pub!  Excellent.  There were some old guys having a sing-a-long as well which contributed to a very Irish-sounding meal accompaniment!

Lunch in Cobh

Cobh harbour

From Cobh it was back to Cork to check in to our grand old hotel high up on the hill, then a quick walk down to town for dinner at the delicious Market Lane.  I have to say, I wasn't expecting much from the food in Ireland, but I was very gladly mistaken - everything was delicious!  

After a (very) hearty breakfast the next morning (who knew that you could get white and black pudding), it was off to St Anne's Shandon to try out hand at some campanology.  What's that you say?  Well, at this particular church you can actually ring the bells in their tower and they even provide music to try out.  While I definitely feel very sorry for their neighbours as uneven peals of 'Jingle Bells' roll out across the city all day, it was so much fun!  We got some pretty good tunes out and absolutely loved the friendly lady at the entrance who regaled us with some very entertaining stories.

Very cool concrete art near to St Anne's Shandon

View over Cork from St Anne's Shandon

After St Anne's it was off to Kinsale.  This is another picturesque coastal town just down the road from Cork, but sadly seemed to be mostly closed until Easter - don't they know there are still a few tourists in winter!  But the pub was open so we could watch some football and have some more Guinness - it's all about priorities.

From Kinsale we drove west to Kenmare where we stayed with Edel in her amazingly retro house - it was so perfectly preserved!  Apparently Kenmare's a popular haunt with the oldies, and Edel said it was so lovely to have young folk in the house - I didn't want to disappoint her by saying we were all over 30...  Kenmare's a very pretty town with loads of pubs and restaurants.  We tried hot whiskey which is a delicious concoction of whiskey, hot water, lemon and cloves, and then had a feast at one of their restaurants - steaks the size of two fists put together!  

The next morning it was off for a drive around the Beara Peninsula, which was absolutely gorgeous.  I was really taken aback how different County Cork was from County Kerry - the former is really green, quite pastoral, whereas County Kerry is all rugged mountains and exposed rocks.  It was so nice to get out and see the sea all around and smell the fresh air - it was a definite change from London that's for sure!  

Beautiful scenery on the Beara Peninsula

Me on the Beara Peninsula

Loved the scenery

And then it was all too quickly back to the airport and back to the big smoke.  I was so pleasantly surprised by Ireland - I guess it reminded me of home a lot - it was a lovely restorative break and I would say well worth the trip. 

More photos here...

Prancing about in Prague

Back in July we spent four days in the Czech Republic with our friends Bas and Pip.  It was originally supposed to be the weekend he proposed but we crashed the party - whoops!  Fortunately he found another time to do it!

We spent two days in a very wet Prague, then another two days in Cesky Krumlov which is further south and near the Austrian and German borders.  I had huge expectations of Prague - everyone had said how amazing it was, and I'm sure if it was the first city of its type you had visited it would be incredible, but I think having already been to other European capitals (especially Budapest) it wasn't that special to me.  I'm such a world weary traveller!  But I think that's the thing - the first cathedral you see is amazing; the 10th, not so much.

But it was very interesting to see it finally and lots of fun to travel with our friends.  We saw all the big sights, like St Vitus' Cathedral, the castle, Jewish quarter and the astronomical clock.  We spent a fair bit of time stopping for food and drinks as well - got to fuel all this touristing somehow!  One slightly different thing we did do was go to the Museum of Decorative Arts which had so much stuff, ranging from suits of armour and a room full of clocks, to all these old posters and fantastic clothes.  I would definitely recommend including it on an itinerary for Prague.

After Prague, Adrian and I continued down to Cesky Krumlov which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and famous for its pretty setting and river rafting.  Unfortunately it wasn't so hot while we were there, and we were a little rushed for time (we got the kayak back with minutes to spare!), but overall I really enjoyed it there. Here's a quick video of some other people rafting taken from up by the castle:

They had the same basic highlights (castle, old town etc.), but other neat things included extremely cheap ice-creams, a fantastic tower and a very cool mirror maze which amused us no end.  Garnets are hugely popular in the Czech Republic and in Cesky Krumlov, after much looking around at the incredible variety of pretty things on offer, Adrian very generously bought me a beautiful little pair of earrings - how spoiled am I...

Click here to look at the rest of the photos.

The rain in Spain falls mainly in Andalucia

Having essentially fallen asleep due to the sheer necessity of not wanting to throw up anymore (this is a lovely way to start a post isn't it...), I awoke as we finally arrived in the twisty, turny streets of Ronda.  Pip had been wanting to come here for years, and we were all hoping it would live up to expectations!

Having ensconsed ourselves in our hotel, we went out exploring all the incredible vistas that Ronda is known for.  It's perched high up in the hills with a series of fantastic bridges over a deep ravine, and despite the mist and blustery winds, we managed to get a great sense of the town.  Sadly my stomach wasn't up to eating much, but we tried our first tapas and everyone got stuck into the ham that had been sadly missing in Morocco!

From Ronda we drove down the coast to Cadiz which is on the south-western coast.  It had a wonderfully eerie cathedral and we walked all around the coastline and out onto the piers to see the waves throthing about.  The boys went out for 'one drink' and we saw them about 3am - and finally someone else felt as bad as I had been feeling!

And then it was the turn of Seville.  We did lots of walking around, seeing the cathedral, the Plaza de Espana, the bullfighting ring, and on the last day, the 'Feria de Abril'.  This is essentially a week-long excuse for the people of Seville to dress up in flamenco outfits and spend all night partying and dancing!  Families have their own tents which they've kept for generations, and there are also big groups of people with tents (and the public tents for the plebian likes of us).  There was also a big fun-fair, where of course we managed to try out a few rides - just for quality control purposes obviously.

It was quite an odd experience to be there when it was so wet (the torrents of rain in Seville were unbelievable), and then also personally not to be able to eat anything was a bit of shame (particularly when the others were eating giant skewers of seafood and meat, and all this delicious tapas and sangria), but in the end the enforced starvation killed off the bug which was such a relief.  Since Kazakhstan I seem to have the dodgiest tummy - no more boasting about having an iron stomach that's for sure!

Anyway, here are the photos of Spain - see if you can count some where it's not raining!

Fancy a port? Don't mind if I do...

To take advantage of a work meeting of Amelia's which was (every so conveniently) arranged for a Monday morning (now how on earth did that happen to get organised like that I wonder...), we spent the weekend soaking up the sun (and a lot of port) in Porto.

Now, it may have been the sheer delight in seeing sun again, or all the wonderful food and drink, but Porto would definitely have to be up there in my favourite weekend holiday destination list.  It was cheap, interesting, and not so taxing on the 'must-see' list that you didn't feel bad spending most of your time debating the relative merits of white or tawny port...  We did see some interesting things however, like climbing up the Torre de Clerigos to get a great view over the city, heading out to the beach to the Atlantic Ocean (I think I've got my geography right there), and stumbling across a bird market with every kind of parrot or canary you could think of.

The port houses in and of themselves are really interesting too - I learnt heaps of stuff about how port is made (essentially wine + brandy = port) and we tried to think that we could tell the difference between the aged and straight in the bottle stuff, but in hindsight who knows what we were talking about!  It was great that they're all so close together along the river and you really get a sense of how different some of them are in their approach to things (depsite most of the industry being owned by a few companies with several different labels).

The city itself is really interesting in terms of its buildings and layout.  There's the labyrinthine old town on the banks of the river, replete with red tiled roofs and blue tiled walls and which is basically crumbling away, then across the river is the Villa Nova de Gaia - essentially the 'new town'.  It was only joined to the old town by the Luiz I bridge, designed by a student of Gustave Eiffel.  Then back on the same side as the old town you've got Foz which is a beach area out the west of the city, then the newer areas further north.  We had an unlimited travel card which we definitely made use of during our three days there!

We managed to bring three bottles of port home with us - one white, one normal tawny, and one 10 year old tawny.  I'm now on the hunt for port glasses from the op shops so we can drink it in style!

Check out the rest of the photos here.

Brumal Budapest!

When we found out that both of our offices were closing down over the Christmas period, there was a mad scramble to the internet to see what cheap, last-minute deal we could get for a quick holiday between Christmas and NYE.  Of the places we had down on our respective ‘want-to-visit’ lists and which had good deals on offer, Budapest came out tops!  (Or ‘top-best’ as our guide in Turkey a few years back would always say).

So early on Boxing Day it was off to the airport for a quick hop on Malev Hungarian Airlines (no cheap airline for us my friend!) over to freeeeeeeeeeeeeezing (there aren’t enough e’s in the world to explain to you the coldness) Budapest.  But luckily, as we were living it up in style, our hotel room was nice and warm (although not cosy – we got the wheelchair friendly room so it was massive!) and we were well rugged up against the cold wearing an interesting and fashionable selection of thermals, gloves, scarves, jackets and hats.

We spent the first day exploring the Buda side of the river, including the usual suspects of the castle, St Mattias church, the Fisherman’s Bastion and Gellert Hill.  It was all covered in snow and any refuge indoors we could find was most welcome, but the walk up Gellert Hill was nice and warming as well so a good choice of activity to round off the day.  We also got into the local culinary scene by trying some paprika flavoured chips!  Dinner was at the Christmas market in the middle of town on the Pest side.  We got a fried potato pancake kind of thing smothered in sour cream (Hungarian cuisine is most definitely not calorie-conscious) and a kürtös kalács which is a kind of twisted Hungarian doughnut.  Delicious!  The Christmas market was smaller than the ones we had seen in Munich, but it was nice to be able to catch them for a few days after Christmas anyway.

Day two was spent looking at things on the Pest side, including the Synagogue, food market, Parliament, and Heroes’ Square.  The highlight though was definitely the baths – we went to the Szechenyi baths which were the big ones at the top of the hill (painted yellow).  It was dark while we were there, and snowing, so with the heat coming up off the 38 degree water it made it all foggy and very cool.  Such a strange feeling to have the snow coming down while you were heated from the bottom!  They had three outdoor pools, then lots of indoor ones – and we tried them all!  The saunas were a bit too hot for me to stay in for too long, but the whirly jet pool outside which propelled you around in a circle was ridiculously fun.

I should mention here the joy of our hotel breakfast.  It was a buffet in the Hungarian style – so lots of eggs, meat, bread etc. Basically perfect lunch food!  There was a small sign asking not to take things for lunch, but it was ignored by almost everyone there.  We tried to be subtle about it, but some families had almost chain-gang style lunch making going on with piles of ham and cheese rolls ending up at the end of each table!  It was great though to have some boiled eggs and rolls to get us through the day between our massive breakfast and dinners...

Day three we went out into the Budapest ‘burbs to Memento Park.  It’s basically a big patch of land where they put all the statues from the Communist era together.  Because they were mostly intended to be seen from a fair distance, having them right on the ground looks crazy!  The scale is all skewy.  It was a bit of an adventure getting the trams and buses out there and thank goodness I knew about how long it should take because it felt like we were seeing the entire suburban landscape on the way!  Unfortunately again, it was freeeeeezing so while they had a really interesting film on (an original ‘how-to’ guide for communist spies), it was far too cold to sit there watching it for long.  We also saw the cathedral that day before heading to an all you can eat and drink restaurant for dinner.  While this wouldn’t normally be top of our list of places to eat, it was actually really good – lots of Hungarian things like goulash and the quality was pretty good.  The red wine servings were rather enormous though which led to a bit of a headache the next day...

Our last day was spent visiting the cathedral and some other random bits of pieces around the city like a great sculpture made up of little shoes along the banks of the Danube.  It was kind of a shame it was so freezing that we couldn’t stroll around the city at a leisurely pace, but at the same time the snow was very pretty and it was always a great excuse to pop into a coffee shop for a piece of cake to warm up!

The photos are here – enjoy!

Marvellous Munich

A whole big group of us descended on Munich early in December to check out the Christmas markets, beer halls and other delights Germany has to offer.  It was heaps of fun going with a big group, and remarkably easy to corral everyone over the city.

Adrian and I went earlier than the others and spent a day out at Daschau which was absolutely heartbreaking.  Not something you want to see but something you feel you should.  The others turned up later on Friday night and then the next day was spent sightseeing, marketing, drinking lots of mulled wine and beer and generally having a blast!  Sunday was a bit more low-key, but still involved lots of food and beer (an inescapable past-time it seems in Munich...).

Check out the photos here!

Photos from Winchester and Berlin

I've been terribly slack putting these photos up... Enjoy!

Winchester: click here

Berlin: click here

Beautiful Berlin

As part of my friend Alice’s fabulous round-the-world trip, she and I decided to spend a weekend in Berlin. I’d never been to Germany before and everyone has always said that Berlin is wonderful, so it seemed like a perfect place to visit!

The day we left (Friday) was completely harried, but we managed to get to the airport on time (just!) and sneak our two pieces of carry-on luggage past the amazingly officious EasyJet check-in guy. The whole evening felt like an absolute mish but we managed to get to the hostel eventually, where we collapsed into an over-tired stupor...

The next day the awesomeness of our hostel revealed itself – the EastSeven hostel in Berlin is pretty much the cleanest, biggest roomed, most comfortable, fanciest kitchen, nicest people hostel I’ve ever come across. Highly recommended! But, as much as I loved the hostel, that’s not where I intended us to spend the entire weekend! Our first trip was pretty important – out for breakfast! We had the traditional breakfast of bread, cheese and cold meats – the first meat I’d had in a month and it was funny, I hadn’t really missed it at all! It was so lovely and sunny (albeit cold) that it felt so luxurious and relaxing to just sit outside and have breakfast. After that we did a bit of exploring towards the town centre – finding a Birkenstock shop on the way (how fabulous, and how German!) – before heading back to our hostel for our walking tour. There were about half a dozen of us who were picked up by Theo, our Australian guide, and then we picked up another dozen and a half at the next few hostels we passed.

The tour started on Museum Island (home to a lot of museums so quite aptly named), before heading around the main sites of the city – Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Reischtag and Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, and Bebelplatz among others. The most moving thing for me was the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny – a sculpture of a woman cradling her adult son in the middle of this empty room. It’s open to the sky so when it rains, snows etc. it falls on her as well. I just thought it was so haunting.

Theo was a great guide – giving us all sorts of stories and tips as we went along. After the tour, Alice and I went back to the hostel and got flashed up before heading out to dinner and drinks and employing nearly every tip Theo passed on! First we had a traditional German dinner (Alice with Berlin meatballs and me with butter spatzle and veal – talk about an intense way to break a month of vegetarianism!) and a couple of glasses of the local beer. After that it was off to a couple of other places for some sweet German riesling at a place called Alta Europe and then a cocktail in a bar called Pony. It was quite funny that while we were there and Alice was drinking a White Russian, she was also getting chatted up by a white Russian guy...ironic.

The next day we had a fantastic long sleep in and then mustered the energy to head north to explore a bit more of our neighbourhood (Prenzlauer Berg). First we had croissants and coffee sitting outside in the sun – a much warmer day thank goodness! – and then went and explored the Mauer market. That’s a big flea market north of town and was absolutely amazing! So many people selling so much stuff – I got a scarf and a pair of shoes for 3 euro each, and we had the most delicious spinach and cheese filled pancake thing filled with hummus and lettuce...mmm... There were heaps of people just milling about, either sitting in the sun and eating and drinking, or getting on with the serious business of shopping! Once we’d had our fill it was down to the Kaiserallee (our local main street) to have a plate of Lebanese food, then back to the hostel and back on the plane! Alice stayed on for a few more days – actually going inside places and visiting West Berlin as well – and I definitely think I only gave Berlin a very cursory glance and absolutely need to go back.

It was so laid back and chilled out – it seemed to be all about sitting and eating and drinking – and the city itself was quite beautiful. We caught it at a really good time too, with all the beautiful Autumn leaves set against the pretty apartment buildings with their balconies chock full of hanging baskets and other plants. Once I see other bits of Germany I will be definitely booking my next trip back to Berlin!

Wien!

May weekend mini-break #2 was organised courtesy of the lovely Katy and her new husband Dave, who are currently living the life of luxury in Vienna (those diplomats have it good I tell you - sure, they might have to work hard, but look at the amazing places they get to live!).

We got el cheapo airfares courtesy of Aer Lingus (flying an Irish airline from England to Austria, globalisation in action) and arrived in Vienna on Saturday afternoon. We started with an orientation walk around the city – Vienna is gorgeous! So many parks (apparently the most for any European capital??) and incredible buildings, it was all a bit overwhelming. So after that (admittedly moderate) piece of exercise it was time for dinner, and what a dinner we had... If I didn’t know it yet, the lesson was quickly learned: Vienna is all about the food. Adrian stuck with the traditional Wien Schnitzel (I found it difficult to remember to say ‘v’ for ‘w’ the whole time, even though ‘ween schnitzel’ doesn’t really have the best ring to it really does it), and I got the käsekreiner (sausages stuffed with cheese...mmm...). Dave beat us all though by getting the half metre of ribs and polishing them off in a flash – they did look so delicious I can’t blame him! But we weren’t done there; next it was off to have the biggest icecream sundaes I’ve ever seen in the middle of town sitting out under the stars. Absolute gluttony!

Sunday was another gorgeous day and we made the most of it by visiting the Belvedere Palace near Katy and Dave’s apartment and seeing the gardens and an Alfons Mucha exhibition, and then heading out to Schönbrunn which is Vienna’s version of Versailles. It is massive! We took in a strudel making demonstration (they soak the dough in oil for 30 minutes...no wonder it tastes so delicious!), ran around the maze, checked out the interior, and walked up the hill to the Gloriette and a beautiful view over the city.

Adrian reckoned that he could top my floor piano performances from Malmo and New York with his own rendition. Check it out and see what you think!

Sunday night was topped off by a visit to the Wiener (Vienna) Prater, a giant fairground with fantastic rides. We went on one called the ‘Admiral’ which pulled you up so fast you left your heart on the ground and then once at the top, suspended you there for a couple of seconds (which felt like an eternity!) and then plummeted you down leaving your stomach at the top – and after this happening three times in a row you had no idea where you were or how you were ever going to put your insides back together again! In a word: brilliant.

Monday was our last day and after heading back for another look at some of the buildings (the town hall, parliament etc.) we headed out to Kunst Haus Wien (Vienna Art House) which was built by Hundertwasser – better known to NZers as the designer of the green koru flag and the Kawakawa public loos! It was fascinating, his art is all about organic forms, and there was so much information explaining his intentions, it was great. Watching a 1990 TVNZ ‘Living Treasures’ video there was hilarious too, almost as if NZ didn’t really know what to make of this internationally renowned artist living in its midst.

There was so much we didn’t see – the opera house, or anything to do with music at all really which was a bit of a sacrilege, the main art galleries, or any of the city outside the very centre. It is definitely on the re-visit list. Thanks again so much to Katy and Dave for having us, we had a brilliant time! The rest of the photos are here.

Oxford takes on Paris

One of the most alluring parts of the structure of each of the four MSc courses in the Geography department is the annual field trip. Barcelona, Brussels and Amsterdam were on offer for the other courses, but I think we got the best choice of the lot - Paris!

After having lunch with a newly arrived Alexandra fresh off the plane, we all met up at the train station to get the Eurostar across to Paris. I'd never caught the train before, always going for the ferry because of the price differential, and becasue I was worried about ruining myself with the luxury of the train compared to the budget train/ferry/bus combo! It was pretty incredible, you only spend about 15 minutes in the actual tunnel itself, and then, hey presto, you're in France! Coming from an island it's definitely always a bit of a thrill to be able to go 'overseas' so easily...


On the work side of things we had a visit to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a study of how nature/culture is represented in Parisian parks, a presentation on some research on Paris's transport policies, and then a presentation of our work on knowledge controversies at Sciences Po (one of Paris's universities). I was also lucky enough to schedule one of the interviews for my research while I was there and, as a result, to be invited out to a gathering of ex-pat Kiwis on the Pont des Artes to celebrate ANZAC day! (The guy I was interviewing was a NZer) It was great fun and made me incredibly jealous of all these people doing wonderful things in such a beautiful place.

On the fun side of things we hung out on the steps of Sacre Coeur watching the amazing fire poi guy, went to the flea market at St Ouen, had dinner at a great Brazilian restaurant in Belleville, took loads of photos of all the lovely Paris icons, and other such frivolity. Every time I go to Paris I want to live there more and more...one of these days!!


Enjoy the rest of the photos!

Eastern and Northern France (and don't forget Luxembourg!)

It's the final countdown...da da da dum...dum de dum de dum...

That's right, it was the last week of our trip. As I'd said, we had some more days left on our Eurail pass and so it was off to a region of France that neither of us had properly visited - the East. We based ourselves in Metz, which is the capital of the Lorraine region, and had a hostel with a kitchen - it's the simple things I tell you. Metz is home to the best stained glass in Europe - the cathedral St Etienne is literally filled with incredible glass art, from the Gothic and Renaissance periods, right up to some fantastic windows done in the 1960s by Marc Chagall. They also had a lot of pieces in museums in the region where you could look at them really up close and see all sorts of detail that you wouldn't otherwise know was there (like the expression on this guy's face).

We also spent a day in Strasbourg making use of the wonderful French institution whereby most museums are free on the 1st Sunday in every month. I for one was well over museum hopping by this stage, but our last two in Strasbourg - the Museum of Notre Dame with lots of sculptures and other pieces from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, didn't let the side down and were a good way to finish. Strasbourg felt really different from the rest of France, the German influence was everywhere, and we made the most of being so close by tucking into some delicious gingerbread...mmm...

Day trip #2 out of Metz was to a whole other country - Luxembourg. We succumbed to the lures of the city card yet again and went on a three hour walking tour with Henriette who was the town gossip and, as well as showing us the main sights like the Golden Lady (below) and the cathedral, told us all sorts of stuff that I'm sure wasn't on the official programme! Luxembourg used to be one of the most fortified cities in Europe until they dismantled nearly 90% of the fortifications to ensure peace. The remaining 10% that remain are mostly open to the public so we had all sorts of fun wandering around underground trying not to take a wrong turn! The city also had the most incredible patisseries that I have ever seen - must be something about the melting pot of European influences, but I wanted to eat everything in sight - pity the budget wasn't in harmony with the stomach...

Last day trip, #3, was out to Verdun to visit some of the WWI battlefields and memorials. We hired mountain bikes in Metz and braved near vertical hills to look around at everything (ok, they weren't vertical, but they felt like it!). It was really nice to get out in the countryside and see something a bit different.

Our final stop was in Lille for two days so I could show Adrian my other home town. It did as it always does and rained nearly non-stop, but we still managed to see the citadel, go to the zoo, look at some markets and, as no trip to the north would be complete without a trip to Flunch, eat so much food that we were nearly ill. I never thought there would be a limit to how many frites Adrian could eat. Turns out I was wrong...

The rest of the photos are here.