Travel 2018 – Monaco, Day 3

Sunday, February 18th 2018 – Monaco After some pretty questionable weather we woke on Sunday to blue skies, bright sunshine and just the sort of weather we’d be hoping for. After another very pleasant breakfast we took the lift to the top floor of the hotel and set off towards the Casino, getting side-tracked by…

Travel 2017 – Kingston-upon-Hull, Pocklington

Friday, 25th/Sunday, 27th May 2017 – Kingston-upon-Hull (Hull), Pocklington As some of you may know, Hull – or more properly Kingston-upon-Hull – was 2017 UK City of Culture, with the result that there was much activity around the city, and beyond, to publicise it, and for that matter to share some of the art that…

Travel 2016 – Berlin, Day 3

Sunday, December 4th 2016 – Berlin By this stage we’d pretty much hit the point of not making plans though we did start the day vaguely aiming at Museum Island because our Berlin Card included it, and they are always listed as among the top sights in the city. We set off via the U2…

Travel 2016 – Berlin, Day 2

Saturday, December 3rd 2016 – Berlin We had a plan – or at least we thought we did! After a brief, brutal but ultimately succesful fight with the coffee machine in the hotel room, we took a leisurely breakfast in the Interconinental Club before stepping out into a crisp, cold but above all clear winter’s…

Travel 2016 – Berlin, Day 1

Friday, December 2nd 2016 – Berlin, Day 1 We set off at a slightly silly hour from our friend’s house in south London to get to City airport for the 08:20 to Berlin Tegel, and although it only takes around 27 minutes at that time of day there began one of the themes of the…

Travel/Food 2016 – Beverley, East Yorkshire

Saturday, 29th October 2016 – Beverley, East Yorkshire, UK We urgently needed to scoot up to Hull to check on my late parents’ house as we’ve just put it on the market, and so we decided to make a bit of a weekend of it and stay two nights in Beverley, which for those who…

Food 2016 – Rooftop Restaurant, Stratford-upon-Avon

Thursday, 25th August, 2016 – Ro On the back of a visit to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon to see Anthony Sher in King Lear (the second Lear of three in 2016 for us with Michael Pennington’s take at the Royal and Derngate Theatre already behind us and Glenda Jackson’s stage comeback still to…

Travel 2016 – Porvoo, Day 16

Day 16 – Wednesday, 20th July (Porvoo) Moose count = Are you trying to be funny?! The day began with breakfast on the terrace at Haikko Manor itself in the Romanov Dining Room – and very good it was too with all sorts of choice and lots of lactose and gluten free options, so much…

Travel 2016 – Imatra, Hameenlinna, Akaa, Haikko, Day 15

Day 15 – Tuesday 19th July (Imatra, Hameenlinna, Akaa, Haikko) Moose count = what do you think? Zero! That’s how many! We were back in the realm of the slightly surreal again this time, but first we needed to check out of the hotel after getting our own breakfast sorted. For the third time I Iet…

Travel 2016 – Lappeenranta, Day 14

Day 14 – Monday 18th July (Lappeenranta) Moose count = still not a one! We got up in a spirit of adventure ready to see if the hotel breakfasts were any better than their dreadful dinners. They weren’t. With an hour still to run most things had run out (there was no fruit left apart…