January Reading List

In January I read 8 books and they were:

Glass Sword book 2 by Victoria Averyard

King`s Cage book 3 by Victoria Averyard

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

Death in Mesopotomia by Agatha Christie

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

With Your Crooked Heart by Helen Dunmore

Cobra by Deon Meyer

I enjoyed most of them, I did not really like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas though, it was quite weird and strange. I really liked the Red Queen series by Victoria Averyard and the second and third books were both good. The final book comes out this year. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah was really interesting, all about his life growing up in South Africa and becoming famous. Set in South Africa too was Cobra by Deon Meyer and really good.

Feb is now practically over and I read 11 books,  more about them another time, but here are some links to check out:

I did not read the first book Rebel Girls, but I would like to check both out.

Books which will come sometime this year and definitely want to read some!

This is an interesting read about Daphne du Maurier!


Have a good mid week!

Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Last summer Alessio and I, along with my parents spent one week in the Outer Hebrides. For around 3 days we stayed in Stornoway, which is the largest town in the Outer Hebrides with around 8,000 inhabitants.

We visited Lews Castle, where we explored the new Museum am Eilean and it tells the history of the islands and we saw the famous Lewis Chessman.

We wondered around the shop and some of the buildings are colourful like in Tobermory, but not as nice! We spent most of our days visiting other sites on the island like Callanish Stones, Dun Carloway, Gearrannan Blackhouse and Butt of Lewis.

On Saturday I visited with Alessio my friend Katrina and her lovely little baby Ellie along with Hannah. On Sunday, my in-laws,  Luca and Andrea with their kids Valerio and Mattia came for brunch.

Have a lovely week!

A Weekend in Barcelona!

The end of January Alessio and I went to Barcelona for a long weekend. It was a lovely weekend and we did lots of cool things.

I met up with a friend Elena whom I had not seen for over 20 years, we met here in Zurich when we were both au pairs. We met at Plaza Catalunya at the Cafe Zurich, it was great to catch up and we visited Poble Espanyol, which I already posted.

On Sunday Alessio and I visited Park Güell, which I will post at a later date. We also walked around the port area too for a bit and stopped for some food and drink.

The Sunday evening we went to Camp Nou to see FC Barcelona play D Alaves, this was our second time here and it was just as good. It was very busy and thankfully FC Barcelona won 2 - 1, although it was touch and go. Also it was great that Lionel Messi scored a wonderful free kick to basically win the game!

So our weekend came to an end and we both definitely want to go again to see them play!

Have a great weekend!

A Day in Fribourg, Switzerland

Berne Bridge

Zaehringen Bridge

Back in September with my parents we visited Fribourg, this Kanton is bilingual French and German. This was my first proper visit and it is a lovely city to see. We took the train there which was nice and easy to do. There are lots of great views looking down at the old city, which is called Basse-ville. And of course looking up from the old city too!

The city has the river Sarine running through it and apparently people living on the river`s west bank speak French and people living on the east speak German. This I did not know! The old part is lovely, it has lots of very interesting old buildings and it is there we had our lunch. We went on a Monday, there is a chance a few restaurants and shops maybe closed.

There are numerous bridges criss-crossing the river and once you have finished visiting the old part right by the river there is a funicular to take you back up if you are feeling tired or lazy! There are also many fountains, churches, the cathedral and many museums ( just not on mondays) to visit.

My parents are coming again in April so I forward to visiting some more places in Switzerland with them.

Well that is it for now, Alessio has only two more days of school and then he is off for two weeks. Tomorrow he is going skiing with his class, lucky him!!

December Reading List

In December I read 10 books and the last 6 I did while on holiday in Scotland and mainly I read so fast so I would not have to take them all back to Zurich.

The Riviera Express by TP Fielden, the first in a new series postwar set in Devon, with a Miss Judy Dimont who is the sleuth/reporter. It is a little like an Agatha Christie in a way and quite enjoyable. I did like the cover and that is what attracted me to the book!

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness, I got this book through a book subscription club I decided to sign up for and while I probably would not have chosen this myself it was quite an interesting book.

Christmas Under s Cranberry Sky by Holly Martin, this was a real easy read and you just know how it will finish.

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch, I am really enjoying this series set in the magical/supernatural world with PC Peter Grant. This is the third novel in the series.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, set during WW11 in London and Malta. I like novels set during the second world war and this was very good.

Snakehead by Peter May, another in the China series but this time set in USA, it is a good series.

Absolution by Caro Ramsay, this was my first novel by the Scottish writer and it spans over 20years and it was very gripping.

Winter by Christopher Nicholson, this novel was not my favorite and I sometimes found it hard to enjoy.

In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear, I do like her books and I like her as a character too. She is always busy working for herself or for the state.

Murderabilia by Craig Robertson, this is the 6th book in the Narey and Winter series. I have only read one beforehand and now this, both I enjoyed.

So for 2017 I read 87 books and my challenge was for 70 so I did well on that. My personal reading challenge which was to read a new author for each letter of the alphabet also went well but did not get all the letters. I think the letters Y, X  and one more I did not get.

This year I set my Goodreads challenge at 75 books and have not bothered with any other reading challenges.

How did you all get on with reading last year?

Poble Espanyol, Barcelona

During our weekend in Barcelona we visited Poble Espanyol, is an open air architectural museum. It shows buildings, streets and squares of many different areas in Spain. There are plenty of shops, places to eat, some museums and great views of Barcelona.

It was not that busy which was actually very nice as one can only imagine how busy it will be in the spring and summer. Quite a lot of the shops and restaurants were closed but that did not bother us at all. There was still enough to see and do, we saw a man making glass ornaments and a video of all the important fiestas in Spain.

It is situated in Montjuic and you can reach by either getting the metro to Plaza Espana and then it is a good 15 min walk or there are buses 12, 23 and 150 which will drop you nearer. It cost 14 euro for adults and 7 euro for kids. We did not buy online, but it is a bit cheaper and in the busier times hopefully saves you queuing.

Have a great weekend!