Category: rtw13

..But California was just as amazing as Oregon. The sand dunes made way for craggy cliffs with beaches in between, and where the highway leaves the coast, towering redwood forests which are seemingly impenetrable in size. Then comes wine country, with swathes of grapes sitting between patches of the forested areas. Continue reading “Coastal California”

Chastised by our hosts in Quebec for not trying Poutine whilst we were there, I vowed to try some in Vancouver. More on that later, but first to West Vancouver where we were staying in the last of our family visits. West Vancouver seems to be a bit lefty/alternative with whole foods stores, plenty of green-left newspapers available for free and a laid back attitude. It’s also handy to downtown, as well as the ferry terminal to Bowen Island, one of the many islands in the archipelago of in the greater Vancouver area. Continue reading “Pacific North West: Vancouver and Oregon”

I have to admit to being surprised at how pervasive the French language is in Quebec. I was prepared, at the very least, for it to be bilingual, but was astounded to see that all the advertising, road signs, and assumptions from those you were speaking to were that French would be understood. Continue reading “Quebec Province, Canada”

Back to Lausanne for a few days before ending the European leg! A couple of days of good weather were forecast so we took bikes out through the vineyards in the hills above Lac Leman. The vineyards are on the UNESCO World Heritage list: they were established from around the 11th century by monks who carved out terraces into the steep hillside and developed the winemaking industry which has been there since. Continue reading “Switzerland II”

Next to Stockholm, where we have more friends (an expat Aussie who married a Swedish guy). We went to their place to watch the Eurovision final and looked from their flat to the apartments across the road to see all the TVs we could see tuned to the same channel. After winning last year, all the Swedes seemed to be hoping for a repeat. It wasn’t to be but it least it will stay in Scandinavia with neighbouring Denmark taking the prize.

Continue reading “Stockholm”

Our base for Eurovision! We went to see the second semi-final judges scoring/dress rehearsal, which was on in the middle of the week before Saturday’s final. We went with a friend of Rachs who studied together with her more than 10 years ago and lives in Malmo. We saw the televised version the following night: same performers again this time with the public getting to vote.  Here’s a link to a gallery of images from the arena: https://gregja.ckson.id.au//eurovision/

Continue reading “Malmo”

More family, where the son of our Liege hosts (and my second cousin) lives. We arrived to find we were invited to accompany him to his friend’s exhibition opening in a fringe space called ‘Pianocktail’. It is named after an object imagined by Boris Vian in his novel “L’ecume des Jours”. There are only three known in the world, one of which was there in this space. Continue reading “Brussels and Amsterdam”

From Paris we took the train to Liege, for a few days with my great aunt and uncle on the other side of the family. Again a bit of a repeat of the trip from a couple of years ago: arriving in the fantastic Guillemins station designed by Calatrava and then travelling to the Liege suburbs on the edge of the forest where they live. Continue reading “Liege”

A return to Paris for me, where we stayed in my great aunt’s (slightly small) apartment in the 5th Arrondisment. It’s in a great location with 3x weekly markets in the square around the corner, a boulangerie and boucherie on the next street and a metro station nearby, and let us live lice locals again.

Continue reading “Paris”