Posted on

Day 1 in Prague

Here I am returned to my hotel after another one of those walk, walk, walk days and just when I thought I’d seen the most beautiful cities in the world along comes Prague. It has to take the cake in terms of beautiful cities. Amazing really…not much more I can say. Except how those of you who have been here must have loved it and the one of you yet to come will love it…and I’m talking about a culture of beer. Did you know that per head of population (including babies) the Czech’s consume 1.7 Litres of beer a day!! Bit of a shame for a wine drinker but fear not I manage. Fortunately Gluwein is abundant!!

My hotel is fantastic and in a great position but it is too HOT…I’m going to have to ask them if the heat can be turned down before I expire.

So my day today! A very full day. I headed off to get myself sorted out. I wanted to work out if I could get to Cesky Krumlov first and foremost. So, the only way was with a day tour and I decided to do that and have booked it for Friday. My next dilemma is whether to do another excursion to Kutna Hora which includes the Sediec Ossuary which is recommended by Rose. Do I have the time to spare I ask myself. There is so much to do! Anyway back to my day. I then wandered into the Old Square and I see a free walking tour which I decide to join. 3.5 hrs later I had marched all over the city (old and new) which was fantastic because it gives you a sense of the place. After the walk I retraced my steps in the Jewish quarter and went to some synagogues and the Jewish cemetery. This is very much dedicated to the horrors of WWII for the Czech Jews. It was very moving and gave a really good sense of the history of the Czech Jewish Community. That was it, I’d had it by then so wandered back over the Charles Bridge to get back at 5pm. A bit of a rest and then out to forage because my bar/restaurant here is already full.

I’m so glad I’m here in January. It is still full of tourists and walking back over the Charles Bridge I was struck by how busy it was with tourists from everywhere. I can only imagine the chaos of August. It would probably drive you nutty. The other thing to report is that the weather is just heaven. The sun shone brightly all day and I was hot in my coat. Positively perfect!!

Prague was a good decision I think!!

Posted on

From London to Prague

firstly to let you all know that I am safely ensconced in the truly amazing city of Prague.

Got myself organised this morning. Out for one last London cappuccino. Got the big bag down the stairs by sliding the mother fucker on its side. All good so far. Car arrived, a bit late but no worries.

But it was a most hysterical ride!! Firstly the car was dubious enough to have me hoping it would make it, secondly he didn’t stop talking all the way there about how god had made England so wonderful. He asked me what time my flight was then revealed when we were nearly there that he asked that question because if I had plenty of time he took his time, relaxed and made sure we got to know each other!!! He was really sweet and it was actually funny. I tipped him!!

Then there was the Easyjet flight. That is officially a tough gig. I have a handbag that weighs 10 ton with all my electronic stuff in it. I have a specific technique where I balance handbag one side and carry on case on other side. They really stuffed me because they wouldn’t let me take my handbag AND my carry on so I had to put the handbag in my carry on case then I had to lug it up and down stairs and on to the plane. nearly killed me. One more flight left until I get on the big flight to home!!!

On the Czech side I was very smoothly picked up at the airport by a lovely man in a limo affair and brought straight to my hotel. Great hotel right under the Charles Bridge. Downstairs is a fabulous restaurant, very traditionally Czech and very popular. I only got a berth because some depressed girl drowning her sorrows with steins agreed to share with me. The only wine they sell by the glass is white so I had to buy a bottle of red which I was able to bring up to my room!!! Not a bad system really!

After a nice meal (carp) I walked across the Charles Bridge and was able to truly gasp at this amazingly beautiful city. i think I made a good choice. Now I must get some sleep. A very big day and tomorrow I get my bearings.

Posted on

Birthday weekend and sadly last day in London

Bags packed, everything in but god knows if I’ll pass the weight test…always my anxiety. So sad do I feel when I have to say goodbye to family and launch forth once again. It is always the way and I know it won’t take long to get on with it but it always happens and I’ll miss Ham and Ariane hugely until I see them again. A chat with Rosa this morning helped put me back on track. I then pottered about and then went out for my morning coffee. My other sadness at the moment is that I have an awful feeling that this could be my last time in London with H&A leaving this year. I love the city and hate the thought of not seeing her again! But off to Prague I will head and I’m sure that very soon I’ll be back in exploring mode.

Now for the birthday weekend. Last blog ended with the amazing meal on Friday night that was definitely a highlight. Saturday morning after a massive English Breakfast we set off to explore the coastal towns. First to Margate where we went to the Turner Contemporary Art Gallery which had a very interesting exhibition that had been the British Exhibition at the 2013 Art Biennale in Venice. It was very interesting. we then drove around the town of Margate which is very pretty but not conducive to too much walking with the wind howling ferociously. They are in the very early stages of restoring the old fun park Dreamland. It will be amazing if they achieve their goal of bringing it all back to life circa 1960 but it seems to be a massive task.

Then on to Ramsgate…again we mainly drove around as time was short and we wanted to go to Dover Castle which we thought closed at 4pm. We found a nice cosy pub for lunch in Ramsgate and had Beef and Stilton Pie (could you be more English??) and Fish and Chips!! That was nice…Hammy particularly loves to try all the different beers he can. Then off we went to Dover Castle only to be exceedingly disappointed to find it closed. It looked good from the outside!!! We walked along the cliff top to get a good look at the White Cliffs…that was nice, then back to the hotel for down time before dinner at the pub. I went and sat in the bar for a while soaking it all up and was joined by H&A before dinner. Dinner was nice and it was good to just be able to trundle up to our rooms after the meal. The pub was nice but guess who got the disabled room…with a but disabled sign over the door and a ‘wet’ area for showering i.e. bristling with rails, a shower chair, and a massive ‘wet’ area….all of this when you are feeling sensitive on your birthday anyway. I wasn’t amused but it gave Hammy a laugh!!

Sunday…another massive breakfast and a late start. This time we headed off to enjoy some English country villages and take in Leeds Castle where there was also a Falconry display. We had lunch booked for 2pm but put the booking back to 2.30 in an attempt to fit everything in. We found a very pretty little village called Lenham that had a lovely little sunday market in the main square. It was very enjoyable pottering around there and buying food for Sunday night’s tea. Then we set off for Leed’s Castle but already the time looked very much as if it was running out. When we got to the castle there was a big debate whether to pay to go in because it was very expensive. But we did in the end but it was quite a walk from the entrance to the castle itself and another walk to where the Falconry display was so we had to ditch lunch at that point. Anyway, the castle was really brilliant and we loved walking around it. The Falconry display was a bit weak but interesting for me.

So then we headed home. I had the inspiration to buy some takeaway salad from Ottolenghi for tea with our Pheasant and white wine pie and our Ham and Turkey Pie bought at Lenham. So we came home and had a nice tea before bed. Last night on the blow up mattress I’d grown to know and love…not to mention my spritely moves to get out of bed!!

Nest missive will hopefully come from Prague.

Posted on

Of last days in London and another birthday

So yesterday was the day before I was another year older. I spent the day wandering around London and absorbing my last days in the city. I went to the Tate Modern to see the Photography of Conflict exhibition. I’ve so loved the galleries over the last few days and really love just getting myself around the city not knowing when I’ll get back. Then last night we went to Ottolenghi for dinner and I wasn’t disappointed the second time around. It really does do amazing food. The flavours are just extraordinary. It was a most gorgeous meal.

Then it was birthday day. What do I think about other birthday? Scary I think. It is all going too quickly. But overwhelmed by the birthday messages, the good wishes. So many…I’m a Facebook convert as well as email. It was great to be with Ham and Ariane, to speak to Rosa and Ang first thing.

Ham was amazing.He took the day off and we had a really fantastic day. Ham made a perfect Eggs Benedict for brekky. How good was that! Then we went of for a cruisy day in cool town. First we went to Liberty’s for a wander around. Ham was really doing his best, to the extent that he wandered around Liberty’s with me!! Then we joined the coolest set in town in Soho at the coolest coffee shop for cappuccino followed by a reverential viewing of the house where Karl MARX lived and then to the coolest pub (The French Pub) for a couple of prosecco’s before lunch. Then we moved on to the coolest lunch place in Soho (Ducksoup) and had a very cool lunch of small yummy dishes.

After lunch it was back on the Tube, pick up the hire car, pick up Ariane and head off to Kent. Shocking Friday night traffic out of town, booked into our seaside hotel…The Marine Hotel, then off to our dinner destination, a Michelin Star Country pub (name to follow tomorrow). It was truly AMAZINGLY good. We had the set degustation menu and couldn’t have been happier. We all just loved every single dish. Truly fantastic from go to whoa. Home, its midnight, the birthday is over for another year and the rest of the weekend still to enjoy.

Posted on

Return to London Town

It’s been a few days. I’ll start with our last day in Dubrovnik.

It was another glorious and sunny day and we had decided to go up the mountain behind Dubrovnik on the cable car. All good, off we went and up we went. Very pretty view from up there looking down on the old town. But the wind was picking up in a most determined way and from up there it was howling fiercely. We had some lunch up on the rooftop which was lovely but then we got the call that the cable car was going to descend one last time and then cease operation for the day. Not good news for me who is very trepid when it comes to heights at the best of times. I did float the idea of getting a taxi down but I think H&A thought I was joking!!! Anyway it was fine, we got down safely. We wandered for the last time through the old town and had a ‘not very satisfying’ last Negroni. But the town was closing up before our eyes. Nowhere left to even eat so we retreated to home base…the gorgeous Hilton. We decided to eat there that night…really the only viable option and even they had closed their main dining room. So we lived it up…cocktails in the bar. Then a meal which was lovely and really quite reasonably prices.

So next day was flight to London day. We were so relieved that the wind had died down because we had heard that planes can’t land at Dubrovnik in the wind. We didn’t think this would be a problem…at least not until we got to the airport. Planes ahead of us were being diverted to Split and the passengers had to get a bus to Split to get their flights. We waited and waited. Our flight was delayed due to strong winds, they didn’t know whether it would be able to land to take us. This went on and on. Rumours abounded and we just had to wait getting half hourly bulletins. More than 3 hrs later our plane landed to the cheers of the slightly mad English people waiting to board her. I’ve been whinging constantly about Russian Tourists among others but honestly the eccentric/ bordering on quite mad English tourists on this chaotic flight of ours take the cake. It was like being in a Monty Python film.

Long story short after an enormous day we arrived home safely, got takeaway and went to bed!!

So back in London again. I do love London, there is no doubt about that and this time it is tinged with the sad realisation that without Ham and Az here who knows when or even if I will return so I take it all in rather sadly this time.

Yesterday I went to the Saatchi Gallery at Ariane’s suggestion and just LOVED the exhibition that was on there. It was East meets West PopArt and it really did blow me away, amazing, loved it. I then walked along King’s Road to Chelsea…so trendy, cooler than cool really and where you’d want to buy a house if you had zillions.

Last night we went to an Ethiopian restaurant with Wana and Mikey who have just returned from Australia. That was nice. They cam back to H&A’s for drinks after and as it was Christmas Tree pick up night we dismantled the Christmas tree and threw it downstairs out the window…that was a bit of a to do!!

Today I went to Tate Britain to see the Late Turner Exhibition which I also loved. Spent hours and got home after dark (not that that is hard i.e. 4.30pm). So one more day doing my own thing tomorrow, then Friday Hammy has taken the day off to spend with me which I am very excited about, then we are going down to Kent for the weekend for my birthday treat. That is exciting. And squashed in there is a meal at Ottolenghi tomorrow night. Then it’s all over Red Rover and I head to Prague on Monday.

More later. Bye for now

Posted on

Dubrovnik

Another day in this lovely city. Day started well with a chat to Ang followed by a leisurely Hilton breakfast to ensure we get as much value for money as possible. Then it was off to walk the wall. That was really great. I felt as if I got my exercise for the first time in ages. The sun shone, the temperature rose to about (i’m told) 14. I discarded the coat and just loved the walk. Lots of steps involved to get the old legs going again. Beautiful views over city and sea. Time to stop and lap up a bit of warmth…just perfect.

Light lunch, wander back to Hilton luxury. Get a decent cup of coffee and then downtime before figuring out what to do for dinner.

Very relaxed day all in all. What else to say??

Posted on

Ushering in 2015 in Montenegro and Dubrovnik

So yes, the restaurant we dined in for the night before NYE was special. It is obviously the best restaurant in Budva. Before the night was out they had offered us a table for NYE which was great.

So…NYE dawned as the 30th had ended. The wind howled all night, fiercely!! It was absolutely freezing. I went out in the morning and wandered around Budva for a while. Then I met Ham and Az and we went for lunch at the first place we’d booked for NYE. That was nice although only moderately good food. So after a leisurely meal we braved the elements once again only to find that the wind had stopped. It was fabulous…suddenly it was cold but fine so we did a bit more wandering before going back to the apartment to start drinking!! Our host gave us half a bottle of Rakja (or something like that) …i.e. a fierce local spirit and we had bought Prosecco and red wine. We sat about until it was time to go to dinner. We had a lovely meal and then hit the main square where it was ‘all happening’….it was full of people, a loud band and lots of good will. Only problem was that I mislaid Hammy and Ariane. I had a fine time, got lots of kisses from random strangers but I really upset Ham. No doubt he’ll fill you in on his senile old mother who makes life difficult!!!

Next day, hangover (Hammy) not withstanding we headed off to Lake Skadar. This was an adventure we were all looking forward to, staying in an Eco Resort no less. We headed odd to the Lake and had a drive around it…it really is gorgeous and so very pretty. Then off to the resort…fortunately we decided to get there early because we arrived to find it totally shut down. They not only took our booking but also sent reminders!! There we were in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to stay. Bugger!!
So we took a deep breath and headed for Dubrovnik directly. We had a booking at the Hilton for 3 nights and they had a room for us for the 4th night. This was my luxury treat for the end of our holiday that grew from 2 nights, to 3 nights, then 4 nights…but it is gorgeous, in a perfect position and definitely luxury. Amazing breakfast!!!

I’ve been out this morning exploring Dubrovnik while Ham returned the car. Now we’re off to forage for food.