November Reading List

I am a bit behind with my books for the year, in November I read 7 books and most were enjoyable. Here they are in no particular order:

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, I loved this book and had already read one of her other books and can`t wait to read more of them!

The Last Night by Cesca Major, this was an interesting book but not my favorite of that month.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, this is the book I really enjoyed and it is the first in a trilogy and I am reading the final book at the moment.

Disclaimer by Renee Knight, a bit of a strange one is this one, someone has written a book based on a secret Catherine Ravenscroft kept for 20 years. She tries to find out who wrote the book!

If You Were Me by Sheila Flanagan, I liked this book, set in Sevilla and the UK Carlotta O`Keefe is engaged and by accident she bumps into her first boyfriend. They spend some time together and then she starts to think if she should marry her boyfriend at all.

The House on Carnaval Street by Deborah Rodriguez, this is a real story, Debbie flees Afghanistan and eventually ends up in Mexico and starts a beauty business.

The Marriage Bureau For Richard People by Farahad Zuma, this was for my reading challenge so this was for the letter Z. It was an enjoyable story, very engaging.

Happy Reading!

Holiday Recap 2017

Barcelona

Reykjavik

Dubrovnik

Kotor, Montenegro

Milan

Paris

Helsinki

Scotland

Brussels

Rotterdam

Dunfermline, Scotland

2017 was a busy year for me and Alessio, we visited lots of places including two new countries Iceland and Montenegro.

January - Barcelona, Spain

February - Iceland

April - Croatia and Montenegro

May -   Milan and Paris

June - Helsinki, Finland

August - Scotland

October - Belgium and The Netherlands

December - Scotland


This year the big holiday will be to New Zealand in the summer, which I am looking forward too!

Happy holiday planning!

Christmas Holiday in Scotland

Aberdour Castle

Dunfermline Abbey

St.Andrews

Dundee

Broughty Ferry Decorations

Afternoon Tea

Scottish Breakfast

The Christmas holidays are finished for me at least and was back to work this week, albeit only one day! Alessio and I had a lovely time in Scotland and were kept busy each day, always something to occupy us.

We went to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi with my sister and her kids, this seems to be a Christmas Eve tradition and we all really enjoyed the movie.

We did lots of eating and drinking which is to be expected, first at my sister`s home on Christmas Day and then on New Year`s Day at my parents.

In between we had two birthdays to celebrate, first up was my birthday (29th Dec) and we visited the Kingsbarns Distillery and Visitor Centre. We went on a gin tour and I got to sample a few gins, this has become my favorite tipple now. It was an interesting tour and would recommend it. Both my father and myself bought a bottle each. In the evening we went to a Tapas restaurant for dinner with my sister and her family.

The next day was my mother`s birthday and we went to the Double Tree by Hilton Dundee for afternoon time with my sister Elena and her youngest son Jamie. It was nice and we left feeling very full indeed!

In between I was busy buying bits and bobs and Alessio used up his sports voucher buying Barcelona kit. We also visited some family members which I like to do as I don`t see them that much. Alessio also decided to do some embroidery like my father does and the last picture is all his own work! Well done Alessio!

We had a one day trip on a cold but sunny day, we visited 3 places Aberdour Castle, Culross and Dunfermline Abbey. I will post more about that day at a later date!

Hogmany evening was spent with my sister and family getting a little bit drunk! Which I sorely suffered the next day!

There is also another birthday around this time my nephew Jamie turned 13 on 3rd January. Happy Birthday Jamie!

I hope you all had a wonder Christmas and New Year! Wishing you all a fantastic 2018!

Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis

One of the many highlights of our trip to the Outer Hebrides in the summer was visiting the famous Callanish Standing Stones. Situated on the west coast of the Lewis these amazing standing stones are 5000 years old and predate Stonehenge in England by 2000 years! They were erected in the late Neolithic era.

The standing stones are in a cross shape, but with a giant circle near the top of the cross. The stones are made from Lewisian Gneiss, which is one of the oldest rocks in Britain. Historians and scientists are not able to say exactly what they mean, the most probable reason is an ancient type of astronomical observatory.

Just thinking about how these huge stones were transported here and erected is completely mind boggling. There are other Callanish standing stone sites nearby but we just visited the main one which has a visitor centre with an exhibition. Here is a wonderful photo essay about the region, which may make you want to visit this area!

There is another standing stone site called Stenness Stones in Orkney and definitely would love to visit them.

Talking about Scotland, Alessio and I are off tomorrow for the Christmas holidays and looking forward to it!

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Weekend In Helsinki!

Hannah, Veera, Riikka, Me

Way back in June I went to Helsinki with two friends Hannah and Riikka, we had a fab, fun time! The weather was not on our side that weekend and it was quite cold to be honest, so much so that Hannah and Riikka even bought hats (reindeer ones). The first evening we met up with a friend of Riikka`s called Veera and we all went for a Finnish meal.

The rest of the weekend we wondered around the city looking at the sights, a little bit of shopping and plenty of drinking! We also visited the island of Suomenlinna one afternoon. I already posted about it ages ago but you can have a recap here!

We also took the bus to visited the small town of Porvoo which was really lovely place and not too far from Helsinki. Here is that post!

On our final evening we went to a bar with a fantastic view of the city and we also were rewarded with a great sunset.

Have a good week!