A Walk Around Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a great city, while we were in Scotland over the Christmas holidays we spent a day there along with my father walking around and visiting Edinburgh Castle.

It had been ages since I last visited the castle, so once in the castle grounds we wondered around the and in some of the rooms. The queue to see the crown jewels was really long that we decided not to go, we did see and hear the firing of the canon at 1pm which Alessio really enjoyed. As expected it was very busy and somewhat hard to find a spot to see the it happen, but we managed! We also had our lunch here too.

After we left we walked down the Royal Mile, it is such an amazing street filled with many historic buildings. We stopped at a cafe for afternoon refreshments, we continued walking until the end at Holyrood Palace. Then we decided to head back to the bus station, so we walked through Carlton Hill cemetery. Towards the Dugald Stewart Monument and the Nelson Monument, it is an area I don`t know so well, but certainly great for views.

So another day spent in Edinburgh over, I think the next time I come here will try to visit the zoo. I think Alessio would like that (and me too).


Links from around the world:

Lucky folk in the UK seeing the Northern Lights
Charles Dickens rude reply to a fan!
Starbucks in Italy, will it survive!

Arc de Triomphe

Recently Alessio and myself visited Paris for a long weekend, the main reason for a wedding which took place on the Sunday. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and made our way to our hotel, which is located very near to the Arc de Triomphe.

As this was the first time for Alessio I tried to plan things that would interest him and of course me. For me this trip would be the fifth one to Paris so I also wanted to see and do things that were new for me.

In the evening after wondering around the city we ended our first day with a visit to the Arc de Triomphe. I have seen this monument probably on each visit but had never been to the top. Since I wanted to avoid the queues of the Eiffel Tower I decided this was an excellent alternative. There was a small queue but this moved quite quickly and soon we were ready to climb.

Sadly there was not a lift so climbing the many, many steps was the only way up! To be quite honest I was completely unfit for this endeavour, and as my son lovely said to a friend when we had returned "my mum nearly died climbing to the top". Well I wasn`t quite dead but my legs were like jelly by the time I reached the top and eventually my breathing returned to normal!

The views are the reward and we were extremely happy with what we saw and most of the iconic sights can be seen from the top. Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Solider from WW1, interred on Armistice Day 1920.

The Arc de Triomphe is situated on the Place de Charles de Gaulle, to reach it you must take the underpass. Alessio got in for free and for me it was 9.50 euro, not too bad, certainly well worth a visit (even with the climb).

Another Walk from the Zoo to Forch

Viewing tower Lorenchopf

Tree tunnel

Strong man!

World War I Monument

Yours Truly!

Back in January Alessio and I did this walk from Zurich zoo to Forch, it is 11.5km and takes about 3 hours. As you can see from the photos the day started out rather overcast but by the afternoon it was lovely and sunny.

Nearly a hour into the walk we came to the viewing tower, we did not climb it but you would get some good views. We stopped at a very nice restaurant which was very busy as the day had become lovely, but cannot remember the name. Then we carried on with nice views of the countryside, seeing some horse riders too. Eventually we made our way to the town of Forch but before you reach it you come to a monument. It is dedicated to the Zurich men who fought in WW1, which is 18m high.

So all that was left to do was to find the train station and hop on a train back to Zurich! Hopefully soon we will get another walk in!

Eiffel Tower

Visiting the Eiffel Tower is a must as far as I am concerned when in Paris, it is my favorite monument. Every time I visit Paris, this was the 4th time I always go and see it, I never tire of seeing this lovely site. This time around I got to see it at night, which may be the first time for me! It was a very cold evening and I would have liked to hung around more but really it was freezing cold. Once every hour is sparkled amazing blue lights.

The Eiffel Tower is 320m high and is the tallest structure in Paris, it was erected in 1889 for the
World Fair and is named after the french engineer, Gustave Eiffel. There is a lift which takes you up to the highest level, but if you feeling fit you can walk up to the second level, around 660 steps.

It was the tallest structure in the world when it was completed in 1889, then the Chrsyler Building got that title.