Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis

One of the many highlights of our trip to the Outer Hebrides in the summer was visiting the famous Callanish Standing Stones. Situated on the west coast of the Lewis these amazing standing stones are 5000 years old and predate Stonehenge in England by 2000 years! They were erected in the late Neolithic era.

The standing stones are in a cross shape, but with a giant circle near the top of the cross. The stones are made from Lewisian Gneiss, which is one of the oldest rocks in Britain. Historians and scientists are not able to say exactly what they mean, the most probable reason is an ancient type of astronomical observatory.

Just thinking about how these huge stones were transported here and erected is completely mind boggling. There are other Callanish standing stone sites nearby but we just visited the main one which has a visitor centre with an exhibition. Here is a wonderful photo essay about the region, which may make you want to visit this area!

There is another standing stone site called Stenness Stones in Orkney and definitely would love to visit them.

Talking about Scotland, Alessio and I are off tomorrow for the Christmas holidays and looking forward to it!

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Weekend In Helsinki!

Hannah, Veera, Riikka, Me

Way back in June I went to Helsinki with two friends Hannah and Riikka, we had a fab, fun time! The weather was not on our side that weekend and it was quite cold to be honest, so much so that Hannah and Riikka even bought hats (reindeer ones). The first evening we met up with a friend of Riikka`s called Veera and we all went for a Finnish meal.

The rest of the weekend we wondered around the city looking at the sights, a little bit of shopping and plenty of drinking! We also visited the island of Suomenlinna one afternoon. I already posted about it ages ago but you can have a recap here!

We also took the bus to visited the small town of Porvoo which was really lovely place and not too far from Helsinki. Here is that post!

On our final evening we went to a bar with a fantastic view of the city and we also were rewarded with a great sunset.

Have a good week!

365 Photo Challenge Days 339 to 350

Day 339: Tuesday 12th September - Not sure where this is now!

Day 340: Wednesday 13th Sept - Yellow week in my class

Day 341: Thursday 14th Sept - Goodbye meal with my parents

Day 342: Friday 15th Sept - Made by my father

Day 343: Saturday 16th Sept - Dinner time!

Day 344: Sunday 17th Sept - Junker Farm visit

Day 345: Monday 18th Sept - Gourds as deco

Day 346: Tuesday 19th Sept - Interesting book!

Day 347: Wednesday 20th Sept - Green week in my class

Day 348: Thursday 21st Sept - New flower planted!

Day 349: Friday 22nd Sept - Sleeping beauty!

Day 350: Saturday 23rd Sept - Evening meal out with the ladies

So this is the penultimate post for the 365 photo challenge and thank God I say and probably you too!! Since then I have only taken pics when I was away in October and I am glad to have a rest from taking photos to be honest.

The snow came at the weekend and Alessio had fun on Sunday morning playing in the garden with some friends. I made a baileys tiramisu on Sunday with help from Alessio to take to a friend`s home for afternoon eating! I must say it was quite tasty!

There is not much happening during this week, which I am quite happy about. Last week we saw the musical Wicked and we both really enjoyed it very much. I would recommend it!

Geneva Giant Marionettes Parade

At the beginning of October Alessio and I along with my friend Arlene visited Geneva to see the Giant marionettes parade. I had never heard of this before and only read about it online and thought it would be interesting to visit. Lucky for us we were able to get tickets for only 45 francs, as it would have been quite costly to go to Geneva.

Once we arrived we wondered around the city as the second half of the parade did not begin until around 4pm. Once it started there was lots of music and loud sounds it took ages for the giant puppets to get to our place. There was only two giant puppets, one was a 8m 83yrs old grandmother and the other her 6m tall grand-daughter. Both were really huge and were transported on a huge bed, for most of the time.

On the whole event it was something interesting to see once but would not go to see again, but it is always nice to see Geneva though and it was a nice day too.

This weekend we will go to see the movie Justice League and then visit the Christmas market at Bellevue for some dinner. Alessio has to have his favorite food which is a Luma burger and of course hot orange punch!

Have a great weekend!