Given that it is almost the end of Summer and I have not added a post for two months - and we have been in several countries in that time - I thought it best to provide a quick update and maybe add some photos by way of saving on the typing! The girls finished school on the 23rd of June for the Summer and we left Germany on the 24th June heading to the Amalfi Coast for just a few days to meet up with our good friends Maree, James, Ollie and Oscar and Brett and Barbara. We stayed in the best village, Praiano, in the best little hotel - Hotel Margharita. Simple, yet with the most amazing views of the Amalfi possible. Three star prices with five star views - and Pizza! From the Amalfi we headed to Naples (not much to say except that there are clearly no taxes being paid by the infamous residents as all the dollars are being spent on fancy boats etc). After a brief stay in Naples (s'posed to be three days and turned it to one night) I headed to Rome with the girls whilst C...
Happy New Year to all our family and friends. Or as the Germans would call it - Silvester. Hmm, I will know what that means by next new years I promise. So far I can assume it means - buy masses of fireworks and let them off in the streets from midnight en masse, then at exactly 1am STOP what you are doing, drink a glass of champagne and then go home. Do not pick up the empty cases and do not let off any more fireworks - at least that is what I saw from my window. Backtracking a bit though we took the girls into Berlin to Legoland and to see an OV (original version - english speaking movie) at the Sony Centre a few days ago. Loved Lego land and can't wait to take my nephews there - even the grown up ones! Sony Centre is built on the site of the 'no mans land' between east and west so is quite new and is surrounded by monuments to The Wall. It is 60 hectares and is quite amazing to have such a large area available for construction in the centre of a large c...
Lisbon definitely falls into the shabby but chic category. There is a real sense of dynamism here which seems to be a combination of entrepreneurial spirit, to start up costs and supportive government policies It should not have come as surprise to us that three days wasn’t enough time in Lisbon. Both Lisbon and Porto have been Monocle’s poster children for urban gentrification and progressive local government. This was combined the features of a one of Europe’s oldest but now faded trading empires: a beautiful port with a hilly shoreline; elaborate and still solid buildings constructed with the wealth of derived from international trade routes to South America, Africa and India; and finally a mix of ethnic groups that came to call Lisbon home. Lisbon is built on seven hills above a pretty harbour and this was a great opportunity for Kate and I to train for Corsica. The narrow streets were...