European Christmas extravaganza!

It's time to say goodbye. London was very busy and also possibly the coldest place so far. But I kept busy browsing in the gigantic bookshops that London does so well! I only wish I could carry more books home with me. Current tally is 18. I'm going to need every one of the collective 120kgs that Emirates so generously allows us! But it hasn't all been books - sometimes I did things with the family too. Such as go to see Les Miserables and Hamilton (they liked those) or look at sights such as Buckingham Palace and Big Ben (they couldn't care less about those). Tip for those planning to travel to London - they are phasing out cash. If you don't have a card to pay with, shops, sights and many food places don't want to know you. Bookshops, so far, are happy to take my cash, which naturally forced me to spend it there rather than leave it unspent. I mean, pounds just go off if you don't spend them, everybody knows that. And of course, the jewel in our crown, the...

And apparently, my time is now. It looks like being a soggy end to the trip. We had rain in Nuremberg, rain in Strasbourg and now rain in Paris. I'm still on the fence about the snow situation. I would have liked some picturesque snow, but I can't say I'm sorry that we missed icy temperatures, slippery cobblestones and possible transport disruptions! And really, ten days of travelling in December without any rain is pretty good going. So I shall count my blessings. I'm sorry not to have photos of Strasbourg all lit up as it is a very pretty city, but the Paris market was Shades Of Vienna in that you joined the vast hordes doing a slow zombie shuffle around and heaven help you if you tried to step out of the flow of people!  Now I know what you are thinking. "Stop talking about the weather and detail which delicious European delicacies you have been enjoying", and it's true that we are now in Paris, home of lights, love, and the best cuisine in the world! I...

One of the fun bits of travel is seeiñg not only the real-life places I've read so much about - hallo, Rothenburg, you Disney dream of a village! - but also those places that I only know through fiction. Room With A View for Florence, of course, Murder On The Orient Express when we took an overnight train. And I'm surprised how closely my itinerary resembles that of Katy Carr (What Katy Did Next). London, Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice were on both our lists. I wonder how much of that came from my subconscious when I was planning? Though I have yet to be proposed to in a gondola... But the most fun so far was re-enacting the chase scene from Borrower Of The Night (the first Vicky Bliss novel by Elizabeth Peters). Vicky also has adventures in Munich and Rome (my subconscious again!), but in Rothenburg she is chased around the medieval walls at midnight by the villain. And I got to run around those same walls! OK, it was 9am. And I did not so much run as tread cautiously, on ac...

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that we have been travelling for nearly a week without much mention of my raison d'etre, the Christmas Market.  And why? Because things have gone slightly sideways on the CM front. I had fairly low expectations of the Italian markets as I don't think they are the tradition there that they are elsewhere. We visited one in Rome. We skipped Florence because I was so footsore after the walk up to take sunset photos that not even the lure of a Christmas market could make me take another step. In Venice, we arrived at the piazza to find ... tumbleweeds. It was picturesque. It was Italian. And it was empty. Crushed, we retreated to a nearby trattoria and tried to work out what had happened. I concluded that somehow a previous market, probably 2023, had been mistagged as 2024 (and on several websites, because as a trained librarian, I would never rely on a single source for any information), but the upshot was, no market. This, naturally, resulted...

Picturesque and lovely, Venice is likely to account for a vast number of my holiday photos. How can I resist it? When it was serving up perfect photo opportunities from the moment we arrived at Piazza San Marco and a pigeon flew over and landed on Greg's hand! He looked at it. It looked at him. Then it stayed calmly still for my photos. It would probably still be there if Greg had not cried out "look, I'm a Disney princess!", startling me, the pigeon, and a handful of passing tourists. The pigeon flew away and who can blame it? 2024 has been a year with a number of milestone events, none of which we could celebrate in any monetary way because I was saving every penny for this trip. But I'm making up for it now!  Big birthday? Buy a gorgeous scarf from the Fortuny shop, based on the work of 1920s designer Mariano Fortuny. It is utterly gorgeous and when I wear it, so am I! 30th wedding anniversary? Gondola ride! I would say "romantic gondola ride", but it...

Well, we had a view of the hotel next door! But it didn't really matter, because Greg refused to re-enact scenes from the movie with me. So there are no photos of us sitting in the window of the Room with a View and no photos of him catching me as I faint artistically in a picturesque Italian piazza. On my next visit to Florence, I shall invite George Emerson to accompany me instead. HE would catch me when I swooned! Florence had lovely weather,, like Rome, and like Rome I did too much walking. We went up to the Piazzale Michelangelo for the best views of the sunset, an idea shared by roughly three thousand people, many of whom moved around freely, spoiling my photos! The walk was mostly uphill and my feet are not happy.  The next day, some of us went to the Uffizi museum, and enjoyed it very much. Others of us lazed around and then bought some gorgeous stationery and took photos of the morning sun on the Ponte Vecchio. Then it was Gelato time and since I was unable to choose betwe...

So it turns out my itinerary might be slightly ambitious. I have scheduled no downtime for blogging! But I'll update when I can. Rome turned on some beautiful weather for us. Blue skies, warm sun - my coat was basically an annoying thing I carried around with me. This was not what I was led to expect of Europe In Winter! We had a lovely time wandering around. Went to the Vatican museums, which were enormous and overwhelming. I'm sure there were bits we never got to. But we had a rendezvous to meet on the Spanish Steps at 4pm, like something out of a spy novel! Rome has lots of buildings lit up with Christmas lights and I took many photos.  They also have many buildings covered in scaffolding. I did not take so many photos of them! We visited the Pantheon for a glimpse of Ancient Rome. Amazing to think some of it has survived to this day.   Christmas market number one: Piazza Navona, where I rode on a carousel horsie with a cavalier disregard for my age. I cannot say I was...

 Oh happy day!  A 17 hour flight followed by a 7 hour flight.  But it will all be worth it in the end.  The family will greet us - not to mention our NZ-lolly-laden-bags - with joy.  They will fight over the last scorched almond or toffee pop, while I switch from Emirates' luggage allowance (generous) to Easyjet's luggage allowance (stingy).  Yes, I am one of those travellers who prides herself on taking the smallest possible bag.  Also, I'm trying to be kind to my husband, who has terrible memories of our first European soujourn, during which he had his 75l pack on his back, my 65l pack on his front and his daypack in one hand.  I had my daypack only and was whining about how heavy it was... I once read about a woman who travelled with her passport in one pocket and her toothbrush in the other; and while I couldn't quite manage this myself, it's definitely something to aspire to.  If, possibly, not something to enjoy sitting next to on publi...