Ross took this fine photo of the Brandenburg Gate using HDR
A romantic weekend break in Berlin. Sounds wonderful, but it gets off to a bad start. Ross and I are all set to arrive simultaneously from London and Basel and meet just in time for pre-dinner drinks in our boutique hotel, i31, in the Mitte area. Continue reading
Chocolate-box-pretty Colmar
Now in Basel for the weekend, long-arranged as Ross was in the US last week. I thought it would be fun to join him here, as our mountain apartment is being lent out. In fact the weather is lovely and we spend most of Saturday looking at new cars, difficult in German, as understanding the complicated specs of vehicles these days is challenging in any language, let alone a foreign one!
Reposting this from my Healthy Living with Cancer blog….all part of the journey
This is always a difficult time of year for me. Firstly, 7 December is our daughter Louise’s birthday. She would have been 27 last week, but instead she is forever a glorious 21 – young and beautiful. We celebrated her life with some close friends at the Bench last week and later in the Steele’s where we held her wake.
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This gallery contains 8 photos
The Dome of the Rock from the Mount of Olives
The three days in Tel Aviv fly and I have to move on to Jerusalem. I choose the train, cheap and scenic. Like all Unwins I am horribly early and mooch around waiting. When it comes to board, I am not surprised that no one lifts a finger to help me, despite my limp and large unwieldy case, stuffed with Christmas cake, shortbread and gifts for cousin Helen. The scenery on the trip is pretty, in an arid sort of way, fertile fields, recently tilled, orange groves and vineyards bordered by magenta bougainvillea, giving way to a steep ascent thorugh rugged hills, larches and conifers before levelling out on the Jerusalem plateau. I have arrived! Continue reading
Prague Castle from Charles Bridge
Today, 25th October, my father would have been 93 and here I am in Prague, retracing his childhood haunts. I have asked a genealogist, Julius Muller, who has helped me trace my Prague relatives before, to accompany me on my trip today. In the research I am doing for the book on my Jewish family history, I came across the addresses where my grandfather lived as a student, as a young lawyer and then banker, and finally as a diplomat and family man when he returned to Prague after five years in Berlin. Continue reading
The houses in the cathedral square
I was prepared to be underwhelmed by Basel, having lived in Geneva for three years. There’s nothing wrong with Geneva, it’s pretty enough, and we had lots of lovely friends, but it is just a bit grey in all senses of the word – culture and architecture. So I am pleasantly surprised by how pretty Basel is, and absolutely stuffed with excellent art galleries.
The noses…
I never thought I would say this, but I’ve started drinking Chardonnay. It’s taken the Australians almost 40 years to explode the myth that all New World chardonnays are undrinkable, looking and tasting like pee, over-oaked and over here (ie in England). Of course we all drink French Chardonnays without batting an eyelid – who’s going to say no to a lovely glass of Meursault or perfectly chilled, crisp Chablis?
Looking towards our rooms at Cape Lodge
Swimming with a whale shark – you get an idea of how huge they are! 5m…
‘Humpies! Fins on’. We are aboard the 40ft fishing boat Live Ningaloo on a mission to swim with humpback whales. We are surrounded by pods of them on their annual migration from Antarctica up the west coast of Australia to breed and give birth in warmer waters before returning south for the Antarctic summer and their feeding grounds. Extraordinarily they do not need feed on their migration. Continue reading
Enjoying Singapore’s national dish – Chilli crab
Here I am sitting among boxes as I wait for the packers to remove our final belongings as we prepare to leave Singapore. It’s been an experience, mostly wonderful. We came here as refugees – from the emotions surrounding the loss of our daughter Louise and the wish to mourn in a private and fulfilling way, by adventuring and ringing the changes. The deep sense of grieving never goes away and, as I have said many times, time is NOT a healer; but it is possible to fill your mind and your heart with happy experiences that take the raw edge off that insistent nagging realisation that every day you wake up is another without her. Continue reading
Me chilling above the reef (photo Janusz Draminski)
Eleven days ago we set off for Bali to kick off another bucket list adventure: a trip to dive with manta rays and see the Komodo dragons, aboard the luxurious vessel, Dewi Nusantara (we sailed round Raja Ampat on the Dewi 18 months ago and loved it so much we vowed to return!) Continue reading
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