This morning at 8:00 am sharp Lotta, Astrid and me set off for a lazy walk to the next village to pick up the cars we left at the Loe Fuchs Winery last night. The sun was out the river almost sill, truly a beautiful morning.
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Schloss Petry
After a long day out, a well deserved dinner. We sat down for a dinner at the Castle Hotel Petry where we are staying to have a nice and relaxing dinner. Good food, good company – good time.
Leo Fuchs Winery
We sat down with the owner and the wine maker of Leo Fuchs for a bit of a chat and a bit of fine wine. All wines we sampled today were white. There was one Chardonnay, one Sauvignon Blanc and the rest of them were a bewildering variety of Rieslings. These are not the Rieslings we remember drinking back […]
Gelato Break
Between the two wineries we had a quick stop in Cochem a small town along the Mosel to get some gelato. One of the most interesting flavours being served here was basil lemon gelato. It was so good and refreshing! We might need to stop by here and have it again.
Vineyard Tour
This morning after breakfast we met up with Astrid and Klaus and their friends Lotta and Daniella. On the agenda for todday was a walk though the vineyards from Eller to Bremm which are nested along the Mosel River. These two small villages are separated by about 2.3km from where we parked to where we sat […]
Treis Karden
The drive here was simply put – hell. Traffic, construction, delays, rain, you name it we had it. It took us well over an hour longer than it was supposed to take. However, when we got off the highway we were rewarded with sunshine, beautiful vistas and an amazing road. This then made the effort […]
Road Trip – Treis Karden
We are setting off on a little road trip north west of Nuremberg for a little trip through the German countryside. We are going to meet up with a couple we met in Italy at Agriturismo Villanova. They invited us here to show us one of their favourite spots in Europe.
Bob and Margaret
Our family is departing today. This is the fourth time we see Anna’s cousin on this trip. Because we were always tricked into speaking Polish with them, we decided to give them all an English names and just spoke English to them this time around, for the most part anyway. Today they are setting off to […]
Orangery and Garden
The Residenz Ansbach has a massive garden and an Orangery which today serve as a backdrop for concerts and music festivals. A garden was first mentioned in the 16th century in the herbal accounts of Leonhart Fuchs. Between 1723 and 1750, it was designed as a Baroque garden. Severely damaged during World War II, it […]
St. Johannis
The church St. Johannis (St. John) in Ansbach in Middle Franconia is a Lutheran parish church and a concert venue of the Bachwoche Ansbach. The parish was first mentioned in documents in 1139. It was given by the Bishop of Würzburg to St. Gumbertus. Construction began in the second decade of the 15th century. The church […]
St. Gumbertus
The church St. Gumbertus is one of the central city churches of Ansbach, together with the neighboring St. Johannis. Located in the old town of Ansbach, St. Gumbertus, now a Lutheran church, was originally the church of a monastery that was founded by St. Gumbert around 750. Today it serves as a venue for concerts and […]
Ansbach
Today we set off to Ansbach which is about 40km from Nuremberg. Ansbach is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia with about 45,000 people living in the city. The city started off in the 8th century as a Benedictine monastery, it later became the seat of the Hohenzollern family in 1331. Later […]
Alfa Romeo
We bought our car last year July 19th. It has now been a year since we owned it. We don’t drive the car in the city, sometimes we don’t drive it for a week, sometimes we drive it once a week just to the store. Most of the travel we do is when we take […]
Celebration
Truth be told we did not have a lot of time to celebrate Germany’s win of the FIFA World Cup. We finished watching the game, we grabbed out suitcases and went downstairs to catch the cab to the airport. The city has gone absolutely mad. I am glad we were going to the airport and […]
Antalya at Night
Tonight we set out to see the Old Antalya at night. At night Antalya comes alive. It seems that as the temperature drops down to a more manageable and cool 28C at 10:00 pm everyone comes out to enjoy the city. The shops in the old town are open until 11;30 pm, all cafes and restaurants […]
More Beach Time
The sea is quite calm today so we all got out for a swim to the huge floaties that are set up off the pier and the beach for all hotel guests to play. The beach is private so only people from the resort can go there and for those lazy enough to walk the […]
Exploring Antalya
Antalya, after Paris and London, is the third most visited city in the world by international arrivals. When you are out and about or even at our hotel you can hear just about every language being spoken. There are people here from everywhere, each corner of the world seems to be well represented. Antalya which is located […]
Old Antalya
Old Antalya called Kaleiçi: the historical center of the city is the equivalent of the old town in a European city. There is a number of very old and famous landmarks that we got to see other than the Mosques. Some of the old monuments include the ancient City Walls, Hıdırlık Tower, Hadrian’s Gate (also […]
Saturday Bazar
No visit to Antalya would be complete without a visit to a traditional bazar which is where a lot of people come to shop for everything from fruits and vegetables and spices to clothing, purses, glasses, dishes and just about everything else you can imagine. There is a lot of yelling and haggling. Just about everything you […]
Mosques in Antalya
There are a lot of Mosques in Antalya. The ones in the Old Antalya, Kaleiçi, are old and quite famous. There are mosques and churches which date back to 2 A.D. One of them is the Kesik Minare (Broken Minaret) standing in the streets of Kaleiçi. Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque) with a 38 meter minaret, originally decorated […]
Hadrian’s Gate
First stop on our tour of Antalya’s old city is the Hadrian’s Gate. The gate was built in the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who visited Antalya in the year 130. It has three arched gates and used to be a two story structure. According to the legend, Sultan Belkis, the Queen of Sheba, is said […]
Sand Castles
After a rather disappointing dinner at the Ottoman restaurant, mainly because of bad service, we set off once again for a bit of a stroll across the beach. Not only to take in the great views but also to enjoy a bit of the summer breeze coming off the Mediterranean, perfect for cooling off after a […]
The Pier
Another part of the complex where we are staying in Antalya is a huge beach with 2000 loungers, beds, and cabanas. The best part of the beach though is the pier. The pier itself is on two levels with lots of loungers and a bar that serves refreshments from dusk to dawn. It is always […]
Fish For Dinner
Today for dinner, instead of doing the usual buffet, we are going to the seafood restaurant on the beach. There are two restaurants there which we have access to, one is a seafood place and the other one is an Ottoman Restaurant with a traditional Turkish food, which we are set to try tomorrow. There […]
One Thousand Ways
There appears to be about one thousand ways to get into the pool and the kids are determined to try them all. From jumping and diving to aerial acrobatics to slides and splashes. We get up and get out to eat, we sit by the pool, we get out to eat, we sit by the […]
A Day Full of Nothing
We spent the entire day doing nothing. Other than eating way too much and lazying around the pool. Essentially the kids spent 8 hours in the pool almost without breaks. We did not manage to get up for breakfast which ended at 10:30 so we had lunch at 1:30 instead. After dinner we went across […]
Checked in
The only downside of coming early is the waiting to check it. After sitting around and looking at the world go by for what seemed like forever we have finally checked in. The room is exactly as expected if not better. We have a great 2 bedroom suite with a large living room and a […]
Antalya – We Arrived
No trip of ours is without its little adventures. We arrived in Antalya just around 7 am as scheduled. With nothing to declare we walked out of the airport in no time into sweltering heat of 28C. We were informed that our shuttle will take us to the hotel as per our reservation. We boarded […]
Almost Ready
We have boarded and waiting to take off and get there. Flying out in the middle if the night maximizes vacation time.
Holiday Time
We are setting off to Antalya for a week long holiday. After a long year in school we are off to seek a bit of sunshine in an all inclusive resort where we plan on doing absolutely nothing at all, other than eating, drinking, sleeping and lazying by the pool.
Around Wurzburg
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.
Meanwhile in Wurzburg
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 […]
Churches – Quick Look
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 […]
Wurzburg Gardens
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 […]
Marienberg Fortress Wurzburg
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 […]
The Sun is Out
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 […]
Retail Theraphy
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 […]
Ai Casoni Dinner
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 […]
Getting Robbed
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 […]
Venice on Foot
Our arrival in Venice took a bit of time this morning but our departure was a lot more organized. We had a great time here and we are so glad that we came here for a second look. After the Basilica and the Bell Tower we slowly started heading back to the car, visiting 100 […]
The Bell Tower
Another item on our agenda today was the bell tower of St. Mark’s Basilica which is one of Venice’s most recognizable landmarks. The current tower is an early 20th century reconstruction of the original tower which completely collapsed in 1902. The tower took 10 years to rebuilt and it is an exact replica of the […]
The Gold at St. Mark’s
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 […]
Back to Venice
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 […]
Ai Casoni Part Two
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!
The Slow Race
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 […]
Back To Nuremberg
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
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 […]
Au Detour
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 […]
Metz is Wonderful
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
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 […]
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