The world pauses as the whistle blows – the game between Germany and Argentina is on. We are all glued to the TV cheering for Germany of course, our home away from home. Boris even decorated our home a bit to get into the spirit of things! GO Germany GO!!
For a small city, Wurzburg like a lot of other small cities in Europe we have visited, has a lot of offer. It is a vibrant city with great history, amazing sites and friendly and hospitable people. We spent two great days here and if we could we would be back again in a heartbeat.
It is summer! No matter where we go there is a bachelor or bachelorette party. Evelina got to participate in one when we were in Wurzburg today. The premise of these parties is as follows. The bride or groom to be is the object of constant ridicule in public as his entourage is getting drunk. He […]
No visit to an old European city would be complete without an obligatory visit to a church or two. We visited a lot of churches on our last excursion here but there are some which we did not get to. Particularly the church at the Merienberg Fortress, the Cathedral Cloisters which were closed last time […]
We are back at the Wurzburg Residence for a stroll around the gardens. When we were here last time a lot of flowers were being planed or just coming out of the ground. Today all flowers are in full bloom as are trees and shrubs and just about everything else that grows. There were a […]
We are back to Wurzburg. There are a few things we did not get to see on our first visit here and since the city is so beautiful, the weather is great and we have time before our holidays we drove out for a second look. Marienberg Fortress is a prominent landmark on the Main […]
Finally after two days of rain the sun is out and it is instantly humid and hot. We are out for a lazy stroll around the city, a bit of shopping, a bit of sitting around and doing nothing and a bit of beer to cool off. We are going to miss this city, in […]
It is still raining a bit which is not a big deal because there are still a number of museums which we are planning to visit. Today we are setting off to visit the Museum of Industrial Culture. The museum is not very huge and it has a bit of everything in it, none of which is in […]
I think today is the coldest day of the summer. It is about 14C and it has been raining steadily for the last 9 hours. Our family from Warsaw is here visiting us again. Because of the rain and the cold we are keeping our entertainment to the indoors. On the agenda, once again, is […]
Today is our last day at Ai Casoni and in Italy on this trip. We started off with a lovely breakfast at the agriturismo and on the way out we got a case of Prosecco to enjoy at home then off we went to a shopping outlet just outside Treviso. After a bit of shopping a nice […]
After an exhausting day in Venice we are back at Ai Casoni Agriturismo. Today we are going to try and eat like the locals do – a proper 3 course Italian dinner. Right at the start we passed on the small antipasti as we had it before and know full well that it is anything […]
As tourists, we are usually very conscious of our surroundings. There are places in Europe where you see the pick pocket warnings – mostly in larger cities around the main tourists sites. Getting robbed is not something anyone wants to experience, getting robbed willingly is a different story all together. This brings me up to Caffe […]
One of the things we did not get to do last time we were here was to see the inside of St. Mark’s Basilica. The Basilica is famous for it’s 8000 m2 of gold tiled ceilings. This time around the lineups were very short so we went for it, it only took about 15 min for us […]
We are back to Venice for a second look. There are a lot of things we did not have the time to see the first time around so we are back for more. This time we are doing it a bit differently. We wanted to drive out to Venice park the car and take the […]
We are back at Ai Casoni Agriturusmo in Italy for the weekend. We are going to sit back and relax and do a bit of shopping. We enjoyed our last stay here so we thought we would go for round two!
We are going to Ai Casoni which is the same Agriturismo we stayed at when Anna’s parents were here. It is a lovely little place with amazing food, hosts and atmosphere. Last time we were here we came from Ljubljana- today we drove right from Nuremberg. As we planned our way down, part of the […]
After an exhausting weekend we are going home. It is a beautiful Sunday with some sun and a lot of big fluffy clouds in the sky which makes this a perfect drive. This was a busy weekend and we are glad to have come out here to see Metz. This is a great city to […]
The Centre Pompidou-Metz is a museum of modern and contemporary arts in Metz. It is a branch of Pompidou arts centre of Paris, and features semi-permanent and temporary exhibitions from the large collection of the French National Museum of Modern Art, the largest European collection of 20th and 21st century arts. The museum is the […]
We stumbled upon this little place in the morning as we were exploring the area around our hotel. It looked good, the menu looked enticing and it was just secluded enough and suficciently away from the main street to be worth a consideration for dinner. This is not an easy thing to do because Metz is not a […]
It is now 7:30 pm and this concludes our exploration of Metz for today. We have seen most of the historic city, we have been shopping twice, we have been to the hotel to relax twice and we sat down for a small coffee break, some crapes and a drink. Metz is very small, about […]
The Arsenal Concert Hall is a cultural venue dedicated specially to Classical and Erudite musics and located near the Esplanade garden in Metz. The Arsenal is home to the French National Orchestra of Lorraine and almost 200 events are spread over the season period between September and June. The Arsenal has gained wide recognition as […]
It is believed the Temple Chapel in Metz, rare in Lorraine for it octagonal design, was built about 1180 with additional reconstruction work in 1220, and the surrounding Templar structures destroyed following the dissolution of the order following the Friday 13th arrest of Templars by the agents of King Phillip IV in 1307. The small […]
This building was originally built in 380 AD as a gymnasium for a Roman spa complex. In the 7th century, the structure was converted into a church, becoming the chapel of a Benedictine nunnery. A new nave was constructed in the 11th century with further interior renovations. In the 16th century, the building became a […]
The Esplanade is a giant park in the heart of Metz. It is bordered by the courthouse, the Arsenal, the Templar chapel and the Basilica of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains and it overlooks the valley of the Mosellle. This garden mainly consists of linden and chestnut trees with a large fountain in the centre and a lot of flowers. The World […]
The Germans’ Gate from the 13th century is one of the last medieval bridge castles found in France. As a historic Garrison town, Metz has been heavily influenced by military architecture throughout its history. From ancient history to the present, the city has been successively fortified and modified to accommodate the troops stationed there. Defensive walls from classical antiquity […]
The Church of St. Eucaire, was built in the fifth century, it was extensively damaged during the French Revolution. It is dedicated to the Bishop of Trier Eucharius. The church is currently undergoing a massive renovation. Its claim to fame are the relics of St. Blaise who at one point saved a boy who was […]
A short walk from the Cathedral at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers is the New Protestant Temple. After German annexation, Metz became a showcase city of Wilhelmine empire. The architectural eclecticism is reflected by the appearance of many buildings in the Romanesque Revival style, Central Post Office, the New Temple or a […]
There are a lot of churches here, some old, some newer, some very large and some small. All great in their own right, all steeped in history. Metz Cathedral is no different. Saint-Étienne de Metz (French for “Saint-Stephen of Metz”), also known as Metz Cathedral, is a historic Roman Catholic cathedral in Metz, capital of Lorraine, […]
The Church of St. Martin is one of the oldest Catholic parish church of Metz. The church has been rebuilt and remodelled a number of times over the course of the history. Its construction dates from the late twelfth century or early thirteenth century. The massive pillars, and the overall arrangement of them is reminiscent of […]
A few steps away from the hotel on a quiet little street behind some government buildings is Le Dauphine. A small bistro where we had dinner. Long story short, if you are in Metz looking for a single portion of steak tartar that is well spiced and large enough to feed a small village this […]
We have arrived – in fabulous Metz. Metz has a rich 3,000-year-history, having variously been a Celtic oppidum, an important Gallo-Roman city, the Merovingian capital of the Austrasia kingdom, the birthplace of the Carolingian dynasty, a cradle of the Gregorian chant, and one of the oldest republics of the common era in Europe. The city has […]
We are setting off to Metz, France for the weekend. Metz is a very old and beautiful city with a lot of history. This time we are staying right in the centre of the old town – should be a lot of fun.
While in Rome, our busy schedule did not allow us to meet with Papa Francesco! However, not long after the visit to the Vatican we noticed that one of our blog posts was checked out and favoured by – Cardinal Giuseppe, the right hand man of Papa Francesco himself! Turns out Cardinal Giuseppe is quite […]
Updated travel map. We have added a few new wonderful places mainly in Italy and of course Berlin, but there is still a lot more to see – a lot more and we can’t wait to explore it. Google Maps
Today is a big game – Germany vs. Ghana. We have set up a soirée with Kasia and Volker to watch the game in German at their house. We started off with a nice dinner and some wine then more vine and some desserts. Everyone has World Cup fever and we are not different. It was […]
We are back in town from our trip across Italy. Today we are getting out to see Kasia and Volker. Kasia is so involved in the metro project in Warsaw that we almost never get to see her. We have a bit more luck with Volker who works only a short walk away from us. […]
It is hard to capture the beauty of this road from a moving car. The views are simply breathtaking and spectacular, and I think for this reason alone we prefer to drive to these destinations. Tuscany is gorgeous, with its golden hills and winding roads, cypresses and vineyards and villas and towns perched on the top of […]
We are actually not stopping here to extend our holiday. We simply stopped here on the way home because we wanted to get back to one of our favourite restaurants – Quertze. We were too late for lunch and too early for dinner so we had a lunch by the lake, a little stroll by […]
The only thing better than seeing these two beauties parked by the lake was seeing 3 of these, in classic Ferrari red racing down the Italian Autostrada and then there is the noise – lots and lots of glorious noise from three fire breathing Ferraris. WOW!
We are saying farewell to Agriturismo Villanova. We had great time here, we had great rest, amazing breakfasts and met some great people from Wurzburg of all places – what a small world! Everyone’s favourite pet here is Giro, in Italian Geeeero, you really got to stretch that ‘E’. After Chateau de Varenne, I think this is […]
We are back to Monterosso which is one stop from Levano. We decided to stop here for the good gelato, all gelato here is good but we just like this one the most, and a nice stroll down the beach. Since Monterosso has a huge beach that is easily accessible, about 50 m from the train […]
Like all the other villages this one too has its own little church. The church, which was built in 1338, has a Gothic facade with a nice rose window, and a Baroque-style interior. On the facade, there is a bas-relief representing the martyrdom of San Lorenzo. On the XIVth-century triptych, you can see San Lorenzo […]
There is at least one church in each of the five villages, they are all very small as land is at premium. The church of San Giovanni Battista was built in 1340 but in 1820 the facade was rebuilt in a Neo-Gothic style. The Gothic doors, the wooden crucifix and the organ from 1851 are […]
We interrupt this Cinque Terre expedition for a brief moment to have a bit of fun. The kids did not even have gelato or cappuccino yet. Imagine that!
Riomaggiore is the first village in Cinque Terre when travelling north from La Spezia. The village, dating back to early thirteenth century, is known for its historic character and its wine, produced by the town’s vineyards. Riomaggiore is in the Riviera di Levante region and has shoreline on the Mediterranean’s Gulf of Genoa, with a small beach and […]
This morning we are setting off on a ferry from Levanto to Riomaggiore. which is the fifth village in Cinque Terre National Park from where we are staying. The sun is out, there is a gentle breeze and the 70 min cruise from Levanto to Riomaggiore should be great. The ferry stops in 4 of the […]
We had a busy day yesterday and today is not going to be any easier. After an early breakfast we are grabbing a nice and quiet cappuccino on our patio before we set out on a boat cruise to Riomaggiore which is the last village of the Cinque Terre National Park. We are going to […]
There are 47 restaurants in Levanto, we found this one – La Picea, on the outskirts of the old town – and it just happens to be THE number one rated restaurant in the city. This place is mostly for takeouts but there are some tables and chairs for people like us. It is all […]
Levanto is a small town on the fringes of Cinque Terre and it is where we are staying at Villanova Agriturismo. Levanto has a great beach and it is only about a 5 min train ride to Monterosso which is the first town in the Cinque Terre National Park going from North to South. Like […]
We are exploring the Cinque Terre park. Going from village to village on the train. This is the third village on the way and after climbing what seems like a 1000 stairs to get here we are taking a well deserved break.
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