Fifty Shades of Brightness!

There is definitely a lots of colourful flowers around as you would expect to see in Spring. Here is a selection I have seen:

the first 7 photos were all taken in my village, Kilchberg
then next two were when we visited Säntis mountain, on a short walk we did,
the next one just outside Walenstadt, when we visited St George Chapel and finally the last two planted in our garden.


Hope you all have a great start to the week!

April Reading List

During the month of April I got through 9 books, (sorry about the blurry last photo) and here they are in no particular order:

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, this is the first in a trilogy set in Russia. I will definitely be reading the second one!

The Angel`s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafron, this is set in Barcelona and also to do with books and writers. I very much enjoyed it!

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, this is set in the Caribbean and tells the story of the first Mrs Rochester.

Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller, I liked how the past in this book was written through letters written from a wife to her husband.

Coffin Road by Peter May, a stand alone book set in the Outer Hebrides, but it does have a character from his Lewis trilogy.

The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness, the second book in this trilogy, loving this series very much.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, definitely an interesting read!

Circling The Sun by Paula McClean, the life of Beryl Markham.

The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye by David Lagercrantz, continuing the story of Lisbeth Salander. I think this is the second in this series written by David Lagercrantz and the death of Stieg Larsons.


Hope you had a great reading month too!


I have actually got some books mixed up with May and missed some April books out completely.

I actually read Wide Sargasso Sea and The Angel`s Game in May.

I the four books I missed were Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney, The Woman in the Window by A J Finn, A Spy by Nature by Charles Cummings and Entry Island by Peter May

So in the end I read 10 books, what a muddle!

St George Chapel, Berchis, Walenstadt

During the Spring holidays while my parents were visiting we did a trip to Walenstadt. We visited the parents of my sister in law and had a very delicious dinner, but beforehand we went on a short trip.

We went to visit an ancient chapel called St George which rest on top of St Georgeberg (funnily enough). We had to walk up to the chapel which was a rather steep walk but thankfully a short walk. We were rewarded with some lovely views of the Sargans region although it was cloudy and overcast it was still worthwhile.

The actual chapel which is know locally as "Sant Jöüri" is the oldest chapel in the Sargans region and has twin naves which is apparently very rare. It is usually kept locked but luckily we were able to get the keys for a look inside, and it was definitely worth it!

Inside the chapel were a few pews and fantastic paintings/drwaings on the walls, it is said to have some kind of energy force in the chapel. There is a small hole where you could put your head and it is said it would take away your headache! The hole does look a bit small for any head to be honest unless a child!

Anyway it was a lovely visit to this chapel which we did not known about and more than likely never would have visited it otherwise.

The last of the long weekends is here so best to make the most of it! Alessio has a football match and then a friend is visiting from Munich, Janet and her daughter. They will come for dinner on Saturday evening. On Monday we will go to Schaffhausen and Alessio will stay with his grandmother as he has Tuesday free as well! Lucky boy!!

Have a great weekend!

Parc Güell, Barcelona

Back in January, Alessio and I went to Barcelona for a long weekend and on the Sunday we visited Parc Güell. Parc Güell was designed by the famous Catalan architect Antoni Guadi and built from 1900 to 1914. He was commissioned to design the park by his friend and patron Eusebi Güell.

The place was really busy and would have been better if we had bought tickets beforehand and also it is a timed entry so if you miss you don`t get in anymore!

The park, buildings and statues are all very amazing to see and there are fantastic views of Barcelona from the main terrace. There are quite a few different ways to enter and we probably took the steep one!

In 1984, UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site, under "Works of Antoni Guadi", Barcelona is full of his work and they include the Sagrada Familia, Casa Vicens, Casa Batlllo, Casa Milà, Casa Calvet and Palau Güell.

I would really love to visit Casa Batllo and hopefully will do if I go again next year!

Hope you are all having a great long weekend!

March Reading List

For March I decided to read just women writers as 8th March was International Women`s Day. I read 14 books which is lots for me!

There were my favorites this month:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

The Dry by Jane Harper

The other books were:

The Taint of Midas by Anne Zouroudi

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Among The Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

Blood Sisters by Jane Corry

Emerald City by Jennifer Egan

Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood

The Diver`s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

Her Perfect Life by Sam Hepburn


Here are some links:

If you like books and libraries this may be of interest!

I still have to read one of her books!

New books to read!


Have a good rest of the week!

Bucharest, Romania Part 1

For the Easter break I went to Bucharest with my friend Arlene, driving is not for the faint hearted and our taxi ride from the airport was quite an experience!

I did not know much about Bucharest before we were there, I did read lots of blogs about the city and of people who had visited the city so that helped me a bit. I guess most of them mention that the city is not the prettiest of cities! And to be honest it turned out to be true, lots of rundown buildings and not much colour!

Little by little we managed to find some areas that looked cool with bar, cafes and interesting shops. The Romanian people were always were nice and helpful when we got a bit lost or when we spoke in shops and restaurants. By the end of our trip we decided to call Bucharest edgy and gritty which we thought was quite positive!

My parents are here visiting at the moment and on Sunday we had a lovely day visiting Säntis mountain and the next few days will be quite busy too!

Hope everyone had a lovely 1st of May day!