Stockholm syndrome

October 2017 

While Rach was back in New Zealand, I decided to go to Stockholm for a long weekend solo trip.

Amalfi in August

August 2017 

To finish off the summer, we spent our August bank holiday weekend on the Amalfi Coast in Italy.

We landed in Napoli late on the Friday night, only with time to get to our hotel and off to sleep. The next morning we took a busy little train to Sorrento, then a busy bus that wound along the tiny, windy roads to Amalfi, then a final bus up the hill to our accommodation.

Basking Sharks Ahoy!

August 2017 

I'm delighted to introduce a guest post from award-winning photographer Tony Burt. Aka, Dad! 

In July, Dad came over with Ian Sherwood and took me on the most incredible adventure to Scotland in search of the fascinating and prehistoric-looking basking shark. And haggis. What followed was 11 days of thick, Scottish accents, freezing water, hairy coos and amazing basking shark action that I'll never forget. But I'll let Dad tell you the story...

We sat perched on the side of Shane`s nine meter `Cearban` staring in awe at the meter high dorsal fin closing in on the boat. On the skipper's command we slipped as quietly as possible into the 13 degree water and tried to keep as still as possible. Out of the plankton-filled gloom and heading straight towards us came this enormous swimming mouth. Big enough to slide into and not touch the sides. I could now buy the t-shirt.
   
Our destination, Scotland's Hebrides and the three billion year old Island of Coll. Once the haunt of Vikings for five hundred years, but now 200 hardy Scots, fifty different ways to prepare haggis, lots of seals, a few `hairy coos` plus Shane and Nicky Wasik of `Basking Sharks Scotland`. Ian Sherwood and I had met up with my daughter Rachel in London and headed up to Glasgow. From here we grabbed the three hour train journey through Scottish highlands to the picturesque fishing village of Oban, had a wee look in the Oban whisky distillery then caught the ferry out to Coll.

Vienna waits for you

June 2017 

Mike has always had an appreciation for classical music and although I've only dabbled in it, I knew that the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was one of the best. We managed to get tickets a few months out, in their home-town in June.

I would describe Vienna as a grand old dame; magnificent, gorgeous and dignified. We had a hotel booked about 15 minutes walk from the centre of town which was cheap and lovely. Our first port of call was dinner and our friendly receptionist booked a table for us at one of the best schnitzel restaurants in town. It was to be the first of my wiener schnitzel experiences and I was not disappointed. In fact, I made sure to have schnitzel every day. This seemed to be a fantastic idea at the time, but it had dire consequences later!

After dinner and a round of local wine in a wine cellar we made a beeline for the Konzerthaus for the performance. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1842 and proudly owns many ancient instruments. To become a member you must first demonstrate your capability for a minimum of three years' performing for the ballet and opera. The evenings repertoire was Brahms Symphony Number 4 - one of Mike's favourites.  The performance was outstanding.

The Vienna Konzerthaus

Saturday we wandered through the city with the plan to visit one of the ornate cafes for breakfast. We hit Cafe Demel to sample some Esterházy Torte. Buttercream spiced with cognac, sandwiched between five layers of almond meringue, iced with a fondant glaze and decorated with a chocolate striped pattern. Next up was Cafe Central; a popular haunt of Freud, Trotsky and even Hitler himself. We felt we were in good company. I couldn't go past the Viennese delicacy, Apple Strudel, while Mike had an egg or something equally mundane.

We couldn't visit Vienna without having a Viennese sausage - a Riesen Hot Dog. I opted for a Käsekreiner and Mike, a Currywurst.



A walking tour is our usual agenda, but on this trip Mike found a cycling tour. Vienna seems to be made for cycling. Over the next two and a half hours we visited the teeniest urban vineyard and the impressive Hundertwasserhaus apartment. I've peed in the toilet in Kawakawa :-D

Urban vineyard

Hundertwasserhaus 

Vienna is a city of music, where classical music was written and performed by Mozart, Strauss and Schubert to name a few of the greats. Tickets to the famous operas often sell out months in advance and can go for 150 Euro. But, if you queue up about an hour in advance, you can buy standing tickets for 3 Euro instead! We did just that at the Operngasse, the State Opera House to see Rigaletto, an opera by Verdi.

Operngasse

The highlight of the
Opera was certainly hearing "La Done e Mobile" live, although you may be more familiar hearing it re-purposed as The Tile Depot advert back home in NZ. It wasn't entirely Mike's thing, but for 3 Euro I don't think you can go wrong. It was, of course, time for more schnitzel.

Sunday was a day for cake and we were yet to try the famous Sacher Torte. Another Viennese culinary speciality, it's a dense chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam on top, coated in dark chocolate icing.

Famous Sacher Torte

After a wander around the Palace gardens I was well over-due some more wiener schnitzel.

Auf Wiedersehen, Vienna!

Austria: no kangaroos.

Le plus beaux villages de Provence

The most beautiful villages of Provence 

May 2017 

We've wanted to visit Provence for a while, so took a long weekend to explore the Provencal countryside. 

We left our booking a little late, and that weekend happened to be a public holiday in France (Ascension Day) so our accommodation options were limited, as were our hire car pick up locations. So we ended up staying in a minimalist, dingy and quite run down apartment hotel right near the airport on our arrival - not ideal but at least we got to watch the entertaining French tv show Le Zap! The next morning was a 45 minute taxi to our hire car location on the other side of the city. Not quite ideal, then again we couldn't really complain - we were spending time in the warm Provencal sunshine on holiday! 

Saturday - Les Alpilles 

We decided to stay away from major cities as much as possible so I navigated us along the smaller roads while Rach drove us towards the hinterlands. 

We headed north along small roads, stopping for our first croissant breakfast (a mandatory start to every day on holiday in France) in a small sleepy village of Cadolive. We kept going north and the countryside began to open up, stopping for cafe au lait on the main street of Le Puy Saint Reparade late in the morning. 

Our first destination was Le Baux, a small village dramatically perched on the side of a hill/cliff in the Alpilles (the little Alps). After some issues with the parking meter - this was very busy village - we walked up to the top to explore. It was by far the busiest village we encountered on the trip, with small cobbled streets and great views across the valley. We had our first proper Provencal meal - I had vegetables and cod with aioli sauce, while Rach had goats cheese on toast with salad. All washed down with a carafe of wine - though as Rach was driving, I had to shoulder the burden of most of the red wine. 

Le Baux

We continued on to a nearby village to quickly check out Le Moulin de Daudet - a windmill made famous by the writer who moved into it in the 1860s. He wrote a series of famous short stories of Provencal life while living there, which I read just before our trip to get a better idea of the place. We had a quick drink in the local village (Fonvieille) afterwards.

We'd booked our accomodation at a nearby village and drove there. When we arrived, the owner very apologetically told us there had been a problem with the booking with her limited English. My rudimentary French was enough to understand that Booking.com had problems with its booking system, and she very kindly let us stay and have a drink of water while we talked with Booking.com on the phone. They eventually arranged another place for us to stay, which turned out to be just as good, if not better. 

Mas Guiraud

It was called Mas Guiraud - a big old farmhouse (called a "mas" in French) converted into accommodation with a pool, nearby huge fields of grapes. After a quick dip in the pool we drove off to get some dinner. We ate a delicious dinner in a tiny village called Argilliers - I had duck breast with goats cheese and honey, while Rach had beef and morelle sauce. The restaurant was built into the side of the village church! 

Argilliers

Rach just saw someone else's food coming out of the kitchen.

Sunday - towards the Luberon

We started with a hearty breakfast in our Mas of croissants, coffee, juice and bread then set off the next morning. 

En route we decided to take a slight detour to drive through the small cities of Tarascon and Beaucaire, perched on either side of the Rhone River. They were both very picturesque, with tiny streets that were clearly designed before cars - several times we squeezed through streets with a few centimetres to spare on either side of the car. 

Then it was off to L'Isle sur La Sorgue - a town on an island in the middle of the Sorgue River. There was a big market there that day, so we parked up a little outside the town to walk in. As we left the car, a middle aged French couple walked past us, the man looking a around a little confused. The woman walking in front of him sighed and said in a very loud but defeated tone of voice "on est perdu!" Or in English "We're lost!".

L'Isle sur La Sorgue 

The town was packed. It was very pretty, surrounded by the river on all sides. Its old streets were lively, full of people and market stalls. We managed to dip our feet in the water, which despite its looks was surprisingly ice-cold and actually left your feet in pain after a few minutes of submersion. 

Lunch was a delicious glass of wine each at a Marchand de Vins (wine merchant), along with a selection of cheeses and charcuterie. And we bought a nice chopping board while there which we brought back to London with us. 

We continued on to the Luberon, a national park area full of picturesque little villages. And it did not disappoint. 

Gordes

First was Gordes, which dramatically spread out and down a steep hillside. We decided to explore Gordes properly the next day, but how about that for a nice photo stop! We had a quick look at the nearby Abbaye de Senanque, famous for its bright lavender fields - but unfortunately we were a few weeks too early and it was just green. 

Lavender!

From there we drove through the pretty countryside filled with cherry trees, olive trees and vineyards. I even managed to steal a few cherries, reminiscent of our last trip to the French countryside last year!



Then to Rousillon, our accommodation for the night. The woman at the reception could speak only a few words of English so my limited French skills came in surprisingly handy. After a bit of lounging by the pool and reading, we went to explore the village properly. 

The village of Rousillon itself is 50 shades of red, due to the ochre mining nearby. The main buildings are near the top of the hill, clustered around a pretty, old fashioned square. The road wends further up the hill, towards a church looking out off the cliff. Just like with Portofino, the early evening (around 6pm onwards) are the best times to explore the big tourist draws of small villages - all of the day tripping tourists and coaches are gone for the day.

Rousillon

In French, the sign reads: Please respect this 169 year old vine! Do not pick the grapes. 

We had a delicious dinner at Le Grappe de Raisin, an unpretentious but top quality restaurant. I had a Provencal platter with outstanding tapenade and roasted guinea fowl, while Rach had fillet mignon of pork. All finished with a creme brulee which somehow we didn't have to pay for.

Delicious meal at Le Grappe de Raisin

We sat out by the pool with a bottle of wine, enjoying the warm evening air and the clear night skies.

Monday - the Luberon day two

Croissants from the local boulangerie again kicked off the day and we drove south. We looked in at the markets in Lauris which were tiny and quiet, then had a quick coffee across the road in the cafe before making our slow way back to the north. 

A stop in the village of Loumarin, another picturesque medieval village - but this time not perched on the side of a hill! The village felt small but lively in parts. We had a panini to eat, pestered by dog Cachet, a terrifyingly squash-faced French bulldog belonging to the cafe owners.

Loumarin

Onwards to Bonnieux, a village this time perched on a hill. We had a beer and pizza with stunning views over Provence countryside after wandering down then up then around the village. 

Bonnieux

Lacoste from afar

Onwards to Lacoste - probably the emptiest village of the lot we saw, and possibly the most beautiful to walk around. The village was made infamous by the Marquis de Sade who got up to all sorts of depravities in his castle overlooking the village in the 1770s. 

Walking through Lacoste

After a return to the hotel for an afternoon by the pool again, we went onwards to Gordes - this time to properly walk around it. The village was probably the most touristy of all apart from Les Baux but was quiet in the early evening (see Rousillon above) and full of tiny winding alleyways and streets. We had a quite average dinner before heading back to Rousillon for a cheeky dessert and wine back at Le Grappe de Raisin.   

Gordes, redux

Rousillon by night

Tuesday - Pont du Gard and exit 

We had only had half a day so made the most of it with an early start. After a quick croissant stop we set of for the Pont du Gard. This is a massive, 49m high Roman aqueduct built around 2000 years ago. It's the biggest remaining aqueduct and one of the most well-preserved. It was part of a 50km system designed to carry water to the city of Nimes, built to amazing precision - the bridge itself was designed to descend only 2.5cm along a length of 245m to allow the water to flow. The whole water system descends only 12.5m over a distance of 50km, which is pretty astounding when you consider the technology they had.

Then it was back to the car and we motored back to Marseille. 

Merci beaucoup pour une excellent sejour, Provence! Nous reviendrons!