A Visit to 3 Towns on the Rhein

In September along with my parents we went on a day trip to visit three towns on the river Rhein. First off we stopped in Rheinfelden, it was a lovely place and we walked around and stopped at a cool cafe for refreshments. We crossed the bridge in the town and stepped foot in Germany for a few minutes. This small town was a lovely surprise to see, whenever I drove to Basel and was always keen to stop and visit. Now I finally have.

Afterwards we drove on and we stopped in Bad Säckingen,(which is in Germany) I parked on the Swiss side and we walked across another bridge to but this time we stayed a bit longer. This town was also lovely and the best part (for me) was the magnificent church. We walked around the town and by the river and then returned to the car.

Our final stop was Laufenberg, again a lovely place, lots of nice buildings to look at and we stopped for a snack. It was getting a bit in the day and we decided to head back home.

All in all a great day and we saw three new places.

This weekend we Alessio and I did a bill double at the cinema, we saw Aquaman on Saturday and today we saw Mary Poppins Returns. Both were really good. Both times we ate at the Christmas market, trying out different food.

Merry Christmas

October Reading List

I am seem to be doing the monthly reading posts backwards, anyway I read 12 books in October and I enjoyed them all.

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith, the 3rd book in the Cormoran Strike series and I really am liking it. In fact I just finished the 4th book this week.

Transcription by Kate Atkinson, this is set of several decades and has to do with spies.

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, this is the 3rd book in this fantastic series and the 4th and final book is out now too.

Beautiful Lies by Peter Swanson

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas, this is a series with 7 books and the final one just came out. Actually I read all the books on kindle. I have forgotten to add this to my tally.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah L Maas

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

The Betrayal by Kate Furnival, set during WW11

Circe by Madeleine Millar, this was my favourite book of the year until I read My Brilliant Friend

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan, this was the first book I have read of hers. I went to her book reading in Zurich.

Tinman by Sarah Winman

To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz


So actually my tally for October was 15, it was the first time I have read on a kindle and I think that is how I went through the series so fast.

Happy Reading

Larnach Castle, Otago Peninsula ,New Zealand

The time has passed quite quickly this December and now it is only 7 days to Christmas, we have not done much in regard to Christmas fun this year. We visited the Christmas market at Bellevue a few times, there is such yummy things to eat there.

Again going back to the summer and our trip to New Zealand, while we were in Dunedin we went on a tour of Larnach Castle, situated in the Otago peninsula. It is the only castle in New Zealand, built in 1871 by prominent entrepreneur and politician William Larnach for his wife Eliza.

Our tour guide was very good and he told us lots of information about the Larnach family which included some scandal. It is a lovely castle and the now owners try to fill the rooms with furniture from the era.

We climbed up one of the turrets and we were rewarded with lovely views of the peninsula, we had time for a quick coffee in the cafe before we headed back to Dunedin.

For the first time I will be going away for Christmas to much warmer places, I will be heading to Kuala Lumpur, Bali and Singapore with a friend. It will be an experience indeed to say the least.


Wishing you all a lovely week

A Visit to Hobbiton!

Visiting Hobbiton was probably the highlight of the whole trip for me, at least. I had bought the tickets online before we came to New Zealand so the only thing I had to do was arrange transport to the film set. We had been in Auckland beforehand, so I thought changing to Hamilton for a few days would make it easier to visit and cheaper.

We got public transport to Matamata and there we waited for the Hobbiton bus to pick up everyone going to the set. The driver told us lots of information about the owners of the farm where the film set is located and how Peter Jackson found the place and the secrecy during the filming. I found it all very interesting to know.

We had a guided tour and she also told us lots of information about the film set too. It was just amazing and at times you just expected a hobbit to walk out. We were able to go into some of the houses and check them out. Nearing the end of the tour we were taken to the Green Dragon Inn where all the hobbits went for a drink or two in the film. There we could have a drink as part of the entrance fee, plus if you are feeling a bit peckish a bite to eat as well.

I would highly recommend visiting especially if you are a Lord of The Rings/Hobbit fan. We had a two hour tour which was enough to get a feel for the place and the atmosphere. There are many websites to choose from, I got the tickets from www.getyourguide.com and have bought other tickets from this site too and quite like it.

Wishing you all a good start to the week