Wednesday 31 July 2013

Photo of the Week - Oh la la!


While my sister and I were wandering around Stockholm, we walked passed the town hall ( I think) and looked inside and thought it looked lovely. So we decided to explore the huge courtyard and the sea, as it was situated right on the front.

Imagine our surprise we saw not only one couple getting married, maybe around 6 couples tying the knot. Then I noticed this lady showing her garter to her new husband who was taking the photo, and I also took a photo! She did look really lovely! This was certainly unexpected to see, but really nice.

Monday 29 July 2013

Calvin Harris in Stockholm!





The first weekend in July was spent in Stockholm and the main reason for the trip was to see Calvin Harris live. It really was a amazing time, we saw two djs in the beginning called Heyman & Müller, then next was Burns and finally out came Calvin. The whole show was just brilliant with the lights, lasers and special effects like smoke and other stuff.

The venue was also very interesting, at the Ericsson Globe Arena, which is the currently the largest hemispherical building in the world, it is shaped like a white ball and took 2.5 years to build.

If you ever get a chance to see him live, then I would recommend it totally. Next I will see Robbie Williams in Zurich, looking forward to that!

Monday 22 July 2013

Flowers!!










Last weekend Alessio and I had a day trip to the Ticino, we went by train to Airolo, then a bus to Piotta, where we got a cable car to take us to Lake Ritom.

It was a lovely day, in fact too hot, we walked the 25mins to the lake. On the way we saw lots of wonderful looking flowers and there were also lots of butterflies. I have no idea what kind of flowers they are, maybe someone knows the names.

I will post about the trip another time and apparently we went on the steepest cable car in Europe, according to the brochure.

Sunday 21 July 2013

A Weekend in France!















Three weekends ago Alessio and I drove to see my friend Alison in Alsace, France. It is about a 2 hour trip from Zurich, we usually go once every year to visit. Alessio loves to be there as he gets to see lots of animals! Alison has horses, cats and dogs, this year Alessio was put to work sweeping the stables, giving the horses food and brushing them, he loved it.

Saturday we went for a walk, Alessio and Lana got to sit on the Oscar the pony and they both loved it. It was funny to see and hear them together as Alessio speaks no French and Lana understands English but prefers not to speak it.

On the Sunday we took a morning trip to Altkirch to visit the market there and we parked near to a monument for French soldiers that died in both WWI and WWII, I think.

In the afternoon I watched the foal running around, jumping and having fun in the grounds. His mother was just happy to munch on the grass, it was lovely to see.

Alessio had a great time, thanks to Alison!

Sunday 14 July 2013

Photo of the Week - Eye Testing!


Back to Art Basel for the photo of the week and this picture, it caught my eye and yes I can read it! No idea who did it though, the whole of Art Basel had painting, sculptures and other stuff that I am sure you may well think what the heck is it doing here or another favorite I could do better. Anyhow it was still very interesting!

Friday 12 July 2013

Boat Trip to Inchcolm Abbey













Lovely seal

Our boat Forth Bell

View from South Queensferry


While we were in Scotland during the spring holidays we did a day trip to Inchcolm Abbey with my father and two nephews, Liam and Jamie.

We drove to South Queensferry, where we left the car and walked to the boat landing, we went on the Forth Belle to Inchcolm Island which included a 1.5hours stopover. This is more than enough to see the remains of the abbey and enjoy the wildlife, but you have to bring a packed lunch along.

Over the Firth of Forth there is the road and railway bridges, you get to see both very closely and learn lots of information about them. During the construction of the railway bridge started in 1883 and took 7 years to complete, cost the life of 98 men and needed 58,000 tonnes of metal.

Inchcolm Abbey is a medieval abbey founded in the 12th century. During both WWI and WWII is was fortified with guns and bunkers, as near is the naval base of Rosyth.

Along with these attractions is the amazing wildlife which I already did a post about, we saw lots of lovely creatures.

Afterwards we stopped for coffee and scones before we drove back to Broughty Ferry, this a a great day trip to enjoy.


Wednesday 10 July 2013

Stockholm Words!















Last weekend I was in Stockholm with some friends, it was a great weekend and we had lovely weather. We did lots of walking and enjoyed ourselves looking at everything. We saw lots of lovely design shops as you would expect to see in Sweden, and I fancied it all!

On the walk back to our hostel went via the shore and saw lots of lovely boats. So many people out and about, we sat and people watched too. I will be back in Sweden in August but only for a day to see Mälmo as we are staying for a week in Copenhagen and we will do a day trip. Looking forward to that!