St Peter`s Island, Lake Biel

pavilion

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Former Monastery

One of our day trips with my parents was to St Peter`s Island which is technically a peninsula situated on Lake Biel.

I drove to Biel and we managed to get a boat just after 1pm, it is only 50min ride to our stop. We walked to the former monastery which is now a hotel and restaurant. It does still look very impressive and if you want to visit the chamber of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it is possible but we did not.

Afterwards we wandered up to see a 18th century Pavillion, there is not much to see and we went back down again. Before we caught the boat back we stopped for a snack and for some wine made from the estate and it was very nice.

There are number of walks to do and it is possible to walk the whole peninsula to the town of Erlach. There is also a canal which connects lakes Biel and Neuchatel and it is possible to catch a boat, which does sound like an interesting trip to do.

Happy Weekend

A Long Weekend in Riga, Latvia Part 2

Very interesting bar!

So a quick trip back to Riga to finish off our travels to this city and one off the things you would notice about this city is that it is very colourful. It also has lots of amazing buildings and architecture too. You can also check out the photos from my first post about Riga on the blog. 

We went to a cafe/bar called Black Magic, which was a tip from my Latvian friend Kat. It was very nice and I tried the drink Black Balsam which is from Latvia. It is very nice with prosecco but for me on its own not my cup of tea! I would definitely recommend a visit for sure!

This week has been filled with Alessio`s birthday, his birthday was on 3rd Sept and we had a small celebration that evening. Today was his party, which was a joint one with his friend Josiah. They decided to go to Alpamare. I had not been for over 15 years and could not remember much about the place. The boys had a super time, we had delicious carrot cake bake by Amy, Josiah`s mum and of course they got presents. So that it is over for another year!!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

A Few Days In Brussels

At the end of our October holiday last year we spent a few days in Brussels, this was the first time I had visited the city since I lived there for 3 months as an au pair when I was 18 or 19 years old.

We arrived by train from Brugge, dropped our stuff at the hotel and started to explore, We went straight to the city centre, on the way we visited the Cathedral. The Grand Place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, construction began in the 15th century.The square holds the Town Hall, King`s House or Bread House (which is the Museum of the city of Brussels) and many other guild buildings. It is of course full of tourists and very busy.

The Belgium Comic Strip Center is worth a visit if you are into comics or have children and it was near to our hotel. I am not sure what the name of the area where our hotel was in but there were many restaurants and bars which was handy in the evening.

On our last day in Brussels, Alessio and I wondered around the city. There was no plan as to where to go but we did see some very interesting architecture (not sure Alessio was into that). We ended up in park where we stayed for a while before we headed to the airport.

The weekend is very nearly upon us and this one will be busy, my parents are arriving for their normal September holiday. I am going to a wedding on Saturday and no doubt on Sunday we will go on a day trip somewhere! Not to mention that Alessio will be 12 years old on Monday! Good God it is hard to believe!

Happy Weekend!

Sky Tower Auckland, New Zealand

Once we had arrived and checked into our hotel in Auckland, we were both starting to get tired but we still needed to stay awake a bit longer. Our hotel was very, very near to the Sky Tower, so what better way to spend some time, than going up the tower after our weary two day trip!

The Sky Tower is an observation and telecommunication tower which is 328m, so we headed to the ticket desk and bought our tickets. We went up the lift, which only takes 40 seconds to get the main observation level at 186m. There is another observation level at 220m.

You get a 360 degrees views of the city and some of the observation levels have glass floor, which can be a little bit scary! It has two restaurants and a cafe, which is where we stopped off at for some refreshments. Some more info about the tower you can find here!

We managed to walk around the shopping area near to our hotel after our visit to the tower. We looked for a place for dinner and found a nice burger place. Sadly poor Alessio fall asleep after he finished his dinner, so we returned to the hotel. It was only 5pm but he was really very tired as he did not sleep at all on the second flight. Which meant we were both awake by 4am the next morning!!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

June Reading List

My reading posts seemed to have been dropped a bit so there is a lot to catch up on and this photo has nothing to do with the books I read in June. This is just part of my TBR list and since I did not take any photos of the books from June they photo will have to do!

I read 10 books and here they are:

The Resistance Man by Martin Walker - 3 star

Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker - 3 star

Last Voyage of Valentina by Santa Montefiore - 3 star

Scythe by Neil Shusterman - 5 star

Thunderhead by Neil Shusterman - 5 star

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness - 4 star

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - 4 star

Bonfire by Krysten Ritter

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney - 4 stars

The Woman in the Window by A J Finn - 3 stars


So as you can see I really enjoyed Scythe and Thunderhead, these are the first two books in a trilogy. I very much look forward to the last one.

Monsters of Men is the last in another trilogy which I also really liked.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is the first in a trilogy, already read the second in July, now to wait for the third.


Here are some links to check out!

Oh I do miss Obama!

Here is the shortlist for Not The Booker Prize, and they sound all very interesting!

Here are books recommended by writers!