Photo of the Week - Cute Post Office

When we saw this Post Office in Kyoto we both thought it was so cute! Hope everyone is having a good week, already Thursday tomorrow! That means for me only one more working day!

Horgen Waterfall

Around the end of June we did a trip to a waterfall close to the town of Horgen with the kids from my work. It was quite a trek to get there, going up and down and over narrow bridges, but we made it there all safe and sound!

The waterfall was really lovely and it was in the shade, the kids were really excited to get into their swimwear and go into the water. It was fun to hear their screaming as they entered the water at first, but once in they splashed and played around.

We lit a fire and had our usual of pasta and sauce with veggies. Hardly anyone came by so we had the place to ourselves! We all had a great day and I enjoyed seeing something new for a change!

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

While my sister Elena and I were in Madrid in May we visited the Real Madrid football stadium Santiago Bernabeu.

Saturday morning we made our way to the stadium, once there we finally found where to get tickets and made our way to the tour start. As you can imagine it was quite busy, to start the tour which is without a guide you go to the top and work your way downwards.

So at first you see the whole stadium which is quite awesome, from up top you can only imagine what it would be like to be there when it is full of spectators. We were able to sit in the seats and then inside you can see lots of memorabilia, the trophies they have won, old footballs, kits, books, shoes and much, much more.

You then walk around other areas, but the changing rooms were not opened to the public as if I remember correctly they were playing that evening.

There is a huge store to buy lots of Real Madrid stuff which we did not do, in fact we did visit a sport shop and my sister and I bought our kids a FC Barcelona t-shirt.

My whole family are in fact Barcelona supporters and hope to one day visit their stadium and even see them play! But it certainly was a great experience to see the Bernabeu stadium!

Photo of the Week - Lanterns Galore!

Photo of the Week comes from Kyoto, Japan! I have not posted much about our stay in Kyoto, but suffice to say it was amazing! Here are some lovely lanterns from Kyoto to keep you all going until I get round to posting.

A Long Weekend in Paris!

Chopin Grave

The last weekend of May, Alessio and I visited Paris, for me it was my fifth time, for Alessio it was his first. The main reason was because we were invited to the wedding of Heidi and Lamine, so I planned numerous activities that would be of interest to Alessio.

We arrived on Saturday around lunchtime and we headed straight for our hotel which was very near to the Arc de Triomphe which I already posted about. I thought Alessio would really like to visit Musée de l´Armée which is situated at Les Invalides, this is the national military museum of France. He liked seeing the exhibition on guns, tanks, weapons, different types of uniforms and war, we also saw the tomb of Napoleon I.

Afterwards we headed to see the Eiffel Tower, no trip to Paris is complete without seeing it (although you can see it from afar in many places) it is one of my favorite sights.  We did more wondering around the beautiful streets and found somewhere to eat.

The next day was rainy but we headed to an area which was new to me too, situated on the left bank of the river Seine is the Parc André Citroen. One of the highlights is a tethered helium balloon which you can go in and rises 300m and you see some of the Parisian sights. Sadly due to the weather we could not go in the balloon so we just walked around the park which was full of people jogging.

That evening was the wedding which I do not have so good photos to show you all! We had a good time and saw some friends which I do not see regularly.

Finally on the Monday our last day we only really had the morning to do some exploring, so we visited the Pere Lachaise Cemetery which I had wanted to visit for some time.  This cemetery has quite a lot of famous people buried here such as Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Chopin, and Jim Morrison which I wanted to see. Unfortunately I wondered up and down the row where he is buried but could not see it. Alessio had a great time climbing over the graves and jumping around, in fact he was so pleased to be here he shouted out "Mummy thank you for bringing me here"!

So our long weekend in Paris was over we headed to the Gare de Lyon for our train back to Zurich. If travelling to Paris from Zurich the train is much better than the plane as you are right in the centre of Paris on arrival!

Mercado San Miguel

During our trip to Madrid, my sister and I visited the Mercado San Miguel which is located quite near the Plaza Major. It is nice building and inside are many different stalls where you can eat and drink. A small area to sit down and eat but mainly you stand to eat or drink. We decided to have a drink (surprise surprise I hear you say), as it was around 5pm it was not so busy. We stopped at one of the many bars and decided to have sangria with prosecco!

It was really delicious, so we had another! I can recommend that combination which we hope to have again when we are both in Portugal next week!

It really is worth a visit and I am sure you will be tempted to have some refreshments!

Photo of the Week - Pink Sky!

This lovely pink sunset was taken in June, from the same viewpoint of the last photo of the week! I love to see sunsets and sunrises too!