Blackness Castle

Alessio and I were in Scotland in April and we did a day trip with my parents to Blackness Castle near to Edinburgh, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. It is part of Historic Scotland which my parents have a membership and not so far for a day trip from Dundee.

This very impressive castle was built in 15th century by the Crichton family, one of Scotland`s most powerful families. It has wonderful views of the Forth rail and road bridges and not to mention the shore lines in both directions.

The castle is often called " the ship that never sailed" due to the fact that it`s fortifications look like the shape of a ship. We climbed up the towers and walked along the wall and there is lots of information which lets you know what each room was and how it was used. Very near is the village of Blackness where you could get a bit to eat, as there is nothing at the castle itself.

June Reading List

Half of the year has gone by already, it is hard to believe! So time to put up the reading list for June, but first things first I only read 4 books in this photo. I took the photo early in June, as one of these books was a library book and needed to return it. I thought I would get through them all but the top one I just was not interested enough to carry on reading. The second one could not get into it at all!

The No.1 Ladies`Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith is the first in his series about Mma Precious Ramotswe and her agency set in Gaborone, Botswana. She solves lots of different problems for the citizens of Gaborone and further a field. This book is also for my reading challenge which is reading a crime novel set in different countries.

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, Ray Lovell is a PI hired to find a missing women called Rose Janko who has been missing for 7 years. Since she was the wife of travelling Gypsy, it can be hard to get information as they are a close knit community, but Ray is half Romany and is chosen more than likely for that reason to investigate. It was okay but I nothing special.

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo, another in the series about the Norwegian detective Harry Hole. He is brought back from Hong Kong to help in finding a killer. I really like Harry, he always have lots of problems to do with himself along with trying to solve the crime.

A Delicate Truth by John le Carré, is more spy stuff of the king of spy thrillers. It starts in Gibraltar where a counter-terror operation codename WILDLIFE goes wrong and only a few people in the Government know about it namely a foreign office minister and a private defense contractor. Toby Bell the private secretary of the minister has been kept out of this secret, but he somehow finds out what went wrong and along with some more people, they have to decide if they need let the world know about this operation. I enjoyed it a lot.

Züri Fest 2016

Every 3 years the Züri Fäscht is held which is basically a huge 3 day street party, lots of places to eat, drink, hear music and lots of fun fairs. I did not really see that much of it this year, I only went out on the Saturday and it was raining during the afternoon but it then brightened up in the early evening.

It was quite fascinated with the machine (sorry can`t think of another word to use) in the first 2 photos. Once a upon a time I would have loved to go on it, but now not so sure at all! The screams I heard just from it going up was enough to put me off! Then it drops without the people knowing very fast and stops suddenly at the bottom (thankfully). I watched it for a while andmoved on to watch a helicopter display which was quite cool to see.

The highlight of the evenings was firework displays and on Saturday there were 2 shows, I didn`t see them but from what I saw on facebook it looked really cool.

As I said earlier this event is held every 3 years, in 2013 I missed it completely as I was in Stockholm and in 2010 I only managed to go on a Friday evening as I was also away this time in Rome! So maybe in 2019 I will see more of the Züri fäscht!

Kinderzoo in Rapperswil

Nutria

Capybara

Meerkats

Last week with the kids from my work we all went to the Kinderzoo in Rapperswil on a very hot day! Everyone with kids or who works with kids in this area will have been here at least once or twice. I have been quite a few times but realized that this was the first time in 2 years since I was last here and it has changed a bit.

The elephant area is bigger and there is a walkway starting at the giraffe area going up and leads to a restaurant. The famous sea lion show is still on 3 times a day, plus the whale play area and the pirate ship too and a horse drawn carriage going around the whole zoo. There are plenty of opportunities to ride on some of the animals such as the elephant, camels and ponies.

The last time I was here there were still rhinceros to see, but now there are some magnificent cheetahs to watch. Luckily they were prowling around their area, one came right up to the glass and sat there looking at the people. What a fantastic animal! I was glad to see them.

It was a great day, the kids liked playing in the different play areas as is to be expected!


Other animal stuff:

The capybara that escaped from a zoo in Toronto has been recaptured!

We all remember last year when tragically Cecil the lion was killed by an American dentist, now his grandcubs have a chance we hope to survive without this vile trophy hunting!

I like stories like these!

Garden Fest at the Museum Rietberg

I have been meaning to write a post since Friday but with the news of the result of the EU referendum, I has really upset me. I have been watching the news all weekend and reading as much as possible about it all online.

I did manage to do something during the weekend though, on Sunday I went with Alessio and his friend Alessia to the Garden/Summer Fest at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich.

It was busy on Sunday and the weather held to make it a lovely day there. There was lots to do and see, lots of musical entertainment, food stalls and lots for the kids to keep busy.

Unthough both Alessio and his friend were happy just to climb a tree and eat of course, they also managed to find someone with a football too.

The museum has a really great exhibition which I saw a few weeks ago called Gardens of the World - The Search for Paradise. I really enjoyed this exhibition seeing how the idea of gardens came about, gardens from different parts of the world, famous gardens and much more. So if you live in Zurich it is well worth a visit!

This weekend is the Zuri Fest, this big party happens once every 3 years and lots of people come and there is fireworks on both Friday and Saturday night!