Costsaver tours

The courtyard of the Doge's Palace, Venice

As part of the European Cavalcade Costsaver tour’s free time in Venice we partook of the Doge’s Palace. This place is so grand that this one post is only going to tell you about the courtyard. Huh? Yep. Tis true. Just the courtyard. OK. If you don’t know, the Doge’s Palace is at the heart of Venice, next to San Marco. The Doge’s Palace, just like so many older buildings

The paths through Venice: September 2015

And so the saga continues, albeit well behind schedule! This is how I summarised on Facebook our first full day in Venice: “If possible we are even more tired. Another early start to see glass blowing (Rhiannon enjoyed this ? ) and then entry into San Marco basilica where

Apologies... and into Venice

Hi all, Firstly an apology for my neglect in recent weeks, especially the past fortnight or so. With my final date due to redundancy rapidly approaching (Friday 29 January) I find myself focusing on setting myself up for the future.

Fair Verona

OK – long post today. I am way behind in processing my European photographs. Well, I do have around 6,000! But today I worked on it. If you follow me on Twitter (not that I post much) you will see that I am also tired from having swum a kilometre yesterday. I am really not up to that. So today I carry on with the adventure of a lifetime, my

Innsbruck in Austria

…so we avoided the strange man in the Charlie Chaplin outfit and the squeaky voice… Oops. I’ve started the story midway. Must be because I am tired, confused

The Wilten Basilica, Innsbruck, Austria and the Bon Alpina Hotel

Today’s post is brief and back to telling you all about my amazing holiday 🙂 The coach sped us away from Lichtenstein and towards Innsbruck in Austria. My trusty Google map below shows where Innsbruck is. The countryside along the way was a spectacular panorama of mountains and trees. I must admit that I often found it difficult taking high quality photos while the coach was on the move. The

Lichtenstein is not what Frankenstein does with his tongue!

OK – stupid title for a travel post. But let’s face it, Lichtenstein is a tiny and boring place. At least it is on a Trafalgar Costsaver tour. Close your eyes so we can do a mental re-enactment with you as the protagonist. Hang on, can’t do that. You won’t be able to read my wonderfully evocative words with your eyes shut. So you are just going to have to

Loving Lake Lucerne (plus a great little shop in Picton)

Hi all, Today’s post is two stories. The first is set today, during a little drive to a New South Wales’ town called Picton where I found a marvellous little “collectables” shop. Then back to Switzerland in September. Armour Collectables in Picton Obviously the name of this shop got my attention straight away. Two things that I love: armour and collectables. Alas I saw no armour in it. This said,

Ascending Mount Stanserhorn

About two centuries before Christ was born people settled the Nidwalden valley. I’m guessing that they were Celts, the so-called Helvetians, based upon vague memories of some of my university studies done in the 1980s. One such place they settled became known as Stans, and I am guessing that from this settlement the mountain known as Stanserhorn got its name. Our tour guide got us out and into the coach