Photos from Zurich Jan to April 2021

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. The weather was mostly nice and warm, except for today, which was cold and windy. 

As you can see from the title of this post these are random photos from my jaunts into the city over these last months. The last three photos are from the 1st April and a visit to Belvoir Park with the kids. It had been a while since I was in this park.  It will be even more nicer when more flowers are in bloom.

Wishing a good start to the week

Lerwick and Scalloway, Shetland Islands

 

In the summer holidays, Alessio and I managed to get to Scotland for two weeks and we did a mini trip to the Shetland Islands.

We took an overnight ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick, which takes around 12.5 hours. Due to Covid 19 the ferry was not as busy as normal. Once we arrived, we drove off and found a nice cafe to have breakfast. Then we headed to our apartment to settle in and have a rest, as we didn't´t sleep so well on the ferry. The seas were quite rough and I had a terrible bout of sea-sickness.

The apartment was near the centre and it was very nice too. The couple who owned it were, gave us some touristic suggestions for the island. Eating options were few and far between but we ate dinner twice in the Lerwick Hotel and the food was really fantastic and we also found the cafe Fjara also very good.

Lerwick is the biggest town in the islands, it had some lovely shops and we all bought a number of local produce. If you are a fan of the TV show called Shetland, which is based the books by Ann Cleeves (she also writes the Vera books too). Then you will be interested in the last photo which the outside of Jimmy Perez's house. He is the main detective in the show played by Douglas Henshall, if you haven't seen the show or read the books I would recommend both.

Scalloway is another small place we visited, we visited the castle ruins and a had wee wonder around but as it was Sunday nothing was opened. It was a fleeting visit as there was not too much to see. Scalloway photos start from the colourful houses until the penultimate photo.

I am pleased that I was able to visit the Shetland islands and can add it to a growing list of Scottish islands I have seen.

I will be having one week off again next week and will be staying in Switzerland and doing a few trips with Alessio.

Enjoy the rest of the week

Bletchley Park, UK

Hope you all had a great Easter! As you can imagine Alessio and I spent it eating, walking, cycling(him), reading(me), xbox(him) and watching TV.

The beginning of March I went to London for a long weekend. The last trip before most places/countries went into a shutdown. It was a present from myself and my sister, Elena for our mothers' 70th birthday which was the end of December.

One of the places my mother and to be honest me, have always wanted to visit was Bletchely Park. For those who don't know what Bletchley Park was it was where all the allied code-breaking took place during WWII. There have been numerous films about the place, such as Enigma and The Imitation Game which are both very good.

There is a lot to take in so you need the whole day, not far from London about 50miles and then  a short walk from the train station. First there is an short film to explain the place, then an exhibition too. It is a bit cheaper to buy the tickets online.

Then you leave the main building and head into the complex. There are many huts where lots of different aspects of the code-breaking went on. Quite frankly I was rather lost on how it was all done, as maths it NOT my subject.  It shows how the men and women were able to decipher the codes from the Enigma machines and Tunny machines. It is said that the work done at Bletchley  Park shortened the war by up to 2 years.

The men and women who worked at Bletchley signed the Official Secrets Act and even long after the war they could not tell their families what they did during the work.

It is well worth a visit if you are interested in WWII and history in general. The gift shop had lots of interesting stuff to buy. I bought a book(of course) about the men and women who worked here. It was very interesting!

Have a great week!

Casa Vicens, Barcelona

Hello everyone, hope you are all somehow coping with these circumstances we are in at the moment. Now that I am at home for a while, I decided to get back in the blogging world, we will see how long it lasts.

Back in early December I went to Barcelona and one of the places I visited was Casa Vicens, this place is just beautiful. Built by Antoni Gaudi, between 1883 and 1885 as a summer home for the Vicens family. It is his first masterpiece, it is simple astounding. The colourful tiles, stained glass windows, doors, and walls are beautiful. It also has  a small cafe too. I would recommend a visit to Casa Vicens if you ever go to Barcelona.

As I mentioned above, I am on two weeks holiday. Alessio and I were supposed to be flying to Miami and then going on a cruise. But it looks like we should get it all refunded at some point in time.

To pass the time it looks like I will be reading, watching TV, going for walks by the lake and not much else.

Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter