Category Archives: Travel
A celebration of cows
Celebration Collective noun (1) A group of brightly-coloured cows, esp. in Normandy, France; said to be inspired by the Bounty of Bears in Berlin.
Paris: Picasso pleases but there were problems in paradise
Last September, Maggie and I made our fourth, and probably last, visit to Paris. We had booked to stay in our favourite hotel in Le Marais district for four nights, sandwiched between our river cruise and our visit to First World … Continue reading
Into the closet: folio 4
A few weeks ago, we updated our ‘loo view’, replacing images from our visit to Spain in 2011 with a selection of photos from the three days we spent in Burgundy in May 2014. Although we enjoyed several bottles of the … Continue reading
Capital cooking: eating out, in and around Canberra
Maggie and I enjoy visiting Canberra but, to use that well-worn phrase, we wouldn’t want to live there. Like some other cities built from scratch in the 20th century to house national governments and their agencies, it has a reputation … Continue reading
Visit to Canberra: a symphony in five monuments (day 2)
On our second full day in Canberra, Maggie and I visited three more national monuments. National Portrait Gallery We first visited the National Portrait Gallery in 2013, soon after it it moved into a purpose-built facility. The gallery houses a … Continue reading
Visit to Canberra: a symphony in five monuments (day 1)
Maggie and I recently spent a few days in the region of Canberra, the capital of Australia. The next couple of posts will cover our visits to five national monuments, followed by some of the excellent food we ate in … Continue reading
Visit to WW1 battlefields: day 1, part 2
The final item on the itinerary for the first day of our tour was an extended visit to the small city of Ypres. Ypres was briefly captured by German forces in the first months of the war, but they were … Continue reading
Visit to WW1 battlefields: day 1, part 1
(I have found it quite challenging to prepare this first post about the sites we visited on our tour of First World War battlefields. Largely, this is because I knew only the most basic details of the war beforehand. Unfortunately, … Continue reading
Visit to WW1 battlefields: introduction
During our recent travels in Europe, Maggie and I went on a four-day guided tour of the First World War battlefields in the west of Belgium and the north-west of France. In Flanders and the Somme, some of the bloodiest and … Continue reading
Cruising up the Rhine, part 4: trips ashore (days 6 and 7)
Day 6 (morning): Our ship berthed close to the German town of Kehl, on the opposite side of the Rhine to the French city of Strasbourg. The latter is best known these days as the seat of the European Parliament, which … Continue reading
Rick and Maggie's food and travel adventures 