The children have been in school now for almost 3 weeks. So far the school experience is very much different than in Canada. Here are some of our observations: Only one glue stick is needed for the entire school year – finally! Our supply list was about €40.00. No copy paper, no Kleenex and no […]
Somehow after almost a 2 hour walk we did not get a picture of all the stuff we collected.
On house is surrounded by two parks, one large and one small. The larger park has water canals, with beavers, ducks and other fowl. Being sunny and dry we set out to take out some of the stale bread from the house and feed the ducks on our walk to the park to collect some […]
Never underestimate the power of creativity, imagination, determination and a pair of worn tights with a hole on the big toe. Evelina is in a creative mood today and with a pair of scissors she made a ‘creation’ which she proudly modelled for us. Evidentially proving that there is a way to put on tights […]
Close to the underground movie theatres is the public library. Today, on the way back from the Altstadtfest, we circled around the library to get signed up. The service is free, you are allowed to keep stuff for 4 weeks and if you are late the penalty is € 0.10/week for each late item. There is […]
Another weekend and another festival. We have two festivals going at the moment, this one and Volks Festival. Just another excuse to get out, eat, drink and wonder around.
Nuremberg’s only remaining large late Renaissance merchant’s house shows a brief history of Nuremberg. It’s modern and sleek and newly opened. The building is still undergoing a major renovation on the outside but the inside is ready to explore. One of the best exhibits here and the starting point of the tour is a […]
After a great dinner we headed home for cakes, coffee and presents. This was a great birthday and while we could not have everyone we would like to have here it was still a happy day for Boris.
Big day. Boris is turning 14 today and his wish was to spend time with friends and family at L’Osteria. I think everyone was only too happy to oblige. We still love the pizza and the atmosphere there, and so does everyone we take there. A great place with amazing food.
Our cousins that came and went are back from their holidays to Poland and Austria and are here with us on a quick 4 day stopover before they go back to Canada. The weather is not cooperating much, it’s raining a fair bit but we are making the most of it. After all there are […]
The drive is very slow. It seems everyone in Italy is sticking to using two lanes at the same time. Austria is all under construction so most of the drive through Austria was at 100 km/h – shame. We stopped for a quick dinner in Austria in Tyrol then set off on our way. Finally, […]
It is hard to show in pictures what makes Tuscany so beautiful – you simply have to see it and experience it and take it all in day by day. We certainly can’t wait to get back here for our next trip. We were in a bit of a shock when we got back to […]
We are leaving Italy today to go home. What better way to start your morning than with a good breakfast. While we were having our omelettes the children opted for hot chocolate and some pastries. We never imagined that hot chocolate is actually hot melted chocolate whipped with hot milk. It’s more of a meal […]
It is true – we are those people that photograph our food before we dig into it. But not all of the time. We only do this when it is absolutely exceptional. We found this little place, on the side street in San Gimignano. It turns out, La Mangiatoia, was featured in Bon Appetite magazine as […]
Another favourite of ours from last year was Siena. Siena is famous for a lot of things. The two main ones that impressed us the most are the Piazza del Campo, and the Siena Cathedral. One famous for its annual horse race, and the other for it beautiful black and white marble architecture. There is also a great […]
Getting off the beaten path can be so rewarding. We found this place on one of the side streets in San Gimignano. La Biscondola, has great service and even better food. Off the menu, we tried the goose liver pate and the bruschetta as appetizers, wild boar ragout with white Tuscan beans in wine, truffle mushroom […]
We are back to Italy to our favourite city we visited last year. San Gimignano know as the Town of Fine Towers had, at one point 72 towers in the city built by the rivalling families. San Gimignano has a number of fine restaurants and a gelato place which won the best gelato in the […]
Its morning and we had a good long rest. We are now venturing out to see what this place looks like in the daylight. 2 minutes later we fall in love. We sit down by the pool and start planning our next trip here. This place is perfect, it’s in the middle of nowhere, it’s […]
As planned we arrived just outside San Gimignano around 8:00 pm about 10 min drive from our hotel. We put in the GPS coordinates in and drove off into the darkness looking for our place for the night. Soon the road turned to gravel, and then the gravel turned into big sharp rocks. 14 km […]
We are off to Tuscany. We were hoping to make a quick stop in Monaco but because of the late start and a long drive we are heading straight for our hotel just outside Sam Gimignano – our favourite and the most beautiful city we saw in Italy last year.
Just as we thought that the Roman aqueduct was the be all end all sight we were going to see on this trip, we were soon proved wrong. Quarries of Light is an extraordinary site. It was once a bauxite quarry in the bowels of the awe-inspiring landscapes of the “Valley of Hell” that inspired Dante, […]
We got home really late but still had a bit of time to snap some night pictures of our pad for the night.
Perhaps one of the most awe inspiring and jaw dropping structures we have seen to date is this ancient Roman aqueduct bridge in Vers-Pont-du-Gard near Remoulins. Built in the 1st century AD, the Pont du Gard is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and is the best preserved. Standing almost 49m high and spanning […]
Perhaps equally as stunning but much more less opulent are the city defence walls with its 7 gates and 36 defence towers as well as the Pont Saint-Bénezet bridge of which only 4 sections remain. Numerous palaces, churches, a theatre, the city hall, many old stone houses, and narrow streets that connect them all is what […]
Today we are exploring Avignon – the city of Popes. While not as large as Lyon, Avignon has a different more medieval charm. Actually it looks more like an Italian city than French but this could be due to a huge Roman influence on its development. First on the agenda was the stunning Papal Palace […]
In the next village, Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, about 6km away is a little bistro which is set up in the old olive oil press shop. This place was suggested to us by the couple who run the chateau. They did say that this is not a gastronomic restaurant but a bistro not knowing what this really means […]
Perched on the top of the hill in the small village of Sauveterre is a quaint little Chateau that is going to be our home for the next couple of days as we explore Avignon and the surrounding countryside. The Chateau was originally built in 1610 and then occupied by the first mayor of Avignon […]
The island in the middle of Lyon is interesting. The tip of the island where the two rivers confluence is a place of modern architecture that is simply as breathtaking as any of the old 1000 year old cathedral we have seen.
No French town would be complete without the Sunday flea market. Since stores are closed on Sundays, people flock to these things to find their treasures. This flea market happens to be the second biggest flea market in France. While 80% of what we saw was junk, and 20% were little treasures, we managed to […]
We are on the way to Avignon today. We did a quick stop at the Docks in Lyon and now are heading south. Incidentally we are taking the same roads as we did on our trip last year.
Another great find in Lyon is the ancient Roman amphitheare – or rather its ruins. In its glory days this place used to seat about 11,000 spectators now the shows hosted here sit about 4500 people. Despite its age, the world wars and time which has taken its toll on the buildings, this place still […]
It seems every large French city has its own rendition of Norte-Dame. The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is perched on the Fourvière Hill in Lyon, it seems that no matter where you are in Lyon you can see it towering over the city. Being on time budget we took the funiculars to the top […]
We are exploring Lyon, the second largest city in France after Paris. The city is equally as busy and beautiful and charming as Paris. From Roman times to modern times there is bit of of something for everyone here. We managed to see both rivers, and a few churches, the opera house, the Roman ruins, […]
We have arrived in Lyon just a bit past four. The drive was not very enjoyable, that is to say it was not as fast as I thought it ought to be, but we are here. We checked in and decided to take the rest of the day off and relax before we set out […]
We are off for a little holiday today. We are off to France for now then we will see
We are back to Bamberg for a closer look. This time we are taking our time to explore this city properly. We were here in the early spring but did not have a lot of time to really enjoy this great little city. Today we changed all that.
With the whole family here we do a lot of walking around, not just to get ice cream either. We keep going around and finding new things to explore and look at.
There are now 11 people in this house! It seems like that is a lot but we still have sleeping and sitting room available.
It’s been a while since we visited our favorite pizza place. It’s still as good as it was the first time we were here!
Dokumentationszentrum in Nuremberg is a museum which houses a permanent exhibition called Fascination and Terror. The exhibition traces the history of National Socialism, Nazi Germany and the rallies held in Nuremberg which was considered to be “the most German of all German cities” by Hitler and his supporters.
This is where the famous Nuremberg Trials took place in 1945 after World War II ended. The Courtroom 600 is still used today as a functioning courtroom. This room was remodelled for the trials and after they were finished it was restored to its original form. Upstairs, from the court room is a very simple […]
We are really trying to get through the museums in Nuremberg. Today the Train Museum, right around the corner from the house.
We finished the tour of Munich in the old town. After some sight seeing and a nice dinner we left for Nuremberg at 9:30 on the train.
This is the best way to see the Olympic Park and the city with the least amount of walking.
Next to the Olympic Park is the BWM world and the BMW Museum. The nicest car here was the M6 Grand Coupe.
Olympic Park sights.
We are off to Munich for a day trip on the train. The Bavaria pass which is €26 allows our family to travel anywhere in Bavaria on the public transportation for a whole day. Deal of a century.
We are back at the happiest place in Germany – at least according to Boris and Evelina.
To any self proclaimed petrol head Top Gear is the greatest show on earth when it comes to cars. On the weekends they ask their readers to show them what they have done with their cars. I submitted an entry through Twitter and – ours made it to the pages of TopGear.com as one of […]
We are still exploring this great little city
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