A bit of this and a bit of that... a blog of sorts @fortesomniare66 - Tumblr Blog

Homeward bound

24-26 January 2017 Getting home was a long but necessary affair. With a change in weather and a three-hour drive to Frankfurt, we started off at 9am, as our driver, B, had to return to Detmold the same day, preferably in daylight. We were in full agreement with this. It’s very pretty. Also cold and not ideal driving conditions. But very pretty. We arrived at Frankfurt Airport Terminal one…

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Berlin continued

23 January 2017 Day 2 On Sunday afternoon, the forecast for Monday was 20% cloud and 10% chance of precipitation. We woke to heavy, grey skies and subsequently snow — which Katie thought was the best thing ever. I thought it was pretty good too, though, admittedly, I don’t have to live with it year in, year out. After a very satisfying breakfast (I highly recommend the Hotel Gat Point Charlie…

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The story continues...

The story continues…

We’re back home and unpacked though not entirely settled back in. I’m taking things slowly as jetlag and sleep-debt have caught up with me; completing the blog has now made it to the top of the list. When I last wrote, I left you in Detmold 22 January 2017 BERLIN Being all “planned-out” in the week before our departure from Perth, I had left the planning of our last five days in Germany in the…

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Detmold

21 January 2017 Today we stayed closer to home, exploring Detmold and its surroundings. Our accommodation and the surrounding forest She loves the cold, wet, white stuff The Hermannsdenkmal Monument, located southwest of Detmold. You can read more about the Hermannsdenkmal here. The next place we visited was Externsteine. The history of this sandstone formation as a place of pilgrimage is…

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Detmold

21 January 2017 Today we stayed closer to home, in and around Detmold. Our accommodation and views of the surrounding forest Up Hermannsdenkmal – she loves the cold, wet, white stuff. You can read more about Hermannsdenkmal here.

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Hamburg

20 January 2017 The drive to Hamburg takes nearly 2.5 hours. Many, many thanks to Angelika for driving us there and back today and for organising our time to allow us to experience as much of Hamburg as possible. We started with a two-hour guided walking tour, took a break for lunch, then joined a harbour cruise. It was unfortunate the weather decided it wasn’t going to co-operate fully with…

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Cologne to Detmold

On Thursday, we left Cologne to travel to Detmold with our friend Angelika. My phone didn’t like being away from the larger city and there have been connectivity issues. As a result, I was unable to blog. (My laptop wasn’t interested in connecting to a wifi signal either.) Today, Sunday 22 January, we are in Berlin, where my phone is behaving and I can connect the laptop. What will follow is…

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Cologne to Detmold

On Thursday, we left Cologne to travel to Detmold with our friend Angelika. My phone didn’t like being away from the larger city and there have been connectivity issues. As a result, I was unable to blog. (My laptop wasn’t interested in connecting to a wifi signal either.) Today, Sunday 22 January, we are in Berlin, where my phone is behaving and I can connect the laptop. What will follow is…

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Sweet and fuzzy (with a few scales)

18 January 2017 Another day in Cologne and more clear blue sky! Our 24-hour Hop-on Hop-off Bus ticket allowed us to ride around to the Schokoladenmuseum (Chocolate Museum) and sitting in a different place allowed me to capture some sights I hadn’t managed the previous day. Top left: Hotel-im-Wasserturm. Built 140 years ago, what was once water storage/supply tower is now an exclusive hotel.…

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Köln - Das große Bild

Köln – Das große Bild

17 January 2017 Today was a day to take in Köln in broad sweeps. A cathedral tour, a city bus tour, and a walk through the Altstadt. The morning was clear and cold, possibly the coldest we’ve encountered so far. According to the weather app I’ve been using, it was -6°C but felt like -9°C. No argument here. Even Katie said her face was numb – a first! Thank goodness for layers of clothing.…

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To Germany by way of Belgium and Thalys

16 January 2017 Time for us to bid farewell to Paris and travel on. Next city, Cologne. Reversing the Metro trip we took on our arrival in Paris, we made our way to Gare du Nord to catch our Thalys train to Germany, travelling through Belgium. The Metro journey didn’t seem as far today as it had on Friday, and there seemed to be fewer stairs – or perhaps were simply used to the blessed things…

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Sunday in Paris

15 January 2017 Our plans for today started out with us walking down to the Trocadero Metro station and I’m so glad we did. We caught the sunrise at the Eiffel Tower and it was beautiful (especially once we angled ourselves so that Tour Montparnasse was hidden behind Tour Eiffel). Nine stops and once change later, we found ourselves in the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping mall filled…

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Dodging the weather

14 January 2017 The forecast wasn’t promising – a reasonable morning with the afternoon bringing a 60% chance of precipitation, with that precipitation being sleet – so we tweaked our plans a little and aimed to get the ‘outside’ sightseeing done as early as possible. It was a matter of one Metro stop to bring us to the Arc de Triomphe just after sunrise and before the tourist coaches started…

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Under the Channel

13 January 2017 Another day, another country, another stamp in the passports. Because I was aware of how early we had to be up to make our train this morning, I slept fitfully last night – as you do. Despite that, everything went to plan and we boarded our 7.01am Eurostar with ease. Did you know it’s bloody hard to get a decent photo when you’re zipping along at over 250kph? And we barely…

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From Ohsnafordia to Londinium

12 January 2017 Today our little travelling party dwindled down to three again – myself, the kidlet, and the giraffe – as we sadly left Ohsnafordia (as Oxford was called in Saxon times) and made our way back to the great city of Londinium. Madi was headed back over the pond to the rebellious colony. Smiles hide sad hearts. Not the giraffe’s though; he wears his on his sleeve, gentle soul that…

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11 January 2017 Martin from Absolute Touring picked us up at our hotels and whisked us west out of Oxford. With the sun still creeping its way upwards, we stopped at Bibury with Arlington, dubbed “the most beautiful village in England’ by 19th-century artist and poet Willliam Morris. It is certainly picturesque, particularly Arlington Row, a terrace of gabled and Cotswold-slated cottages now…

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Henges, Ditches, and Sp

10 January 2017 Out of Oxford again today, though this time I kept myself firmly in the passenger seat. Absolute Touring run small group tours out of Oxford. They run a series of tours daily during the high season and on demand in winter. Being winter, we essentially had a private tour of Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Avebury. We started early, leaving Oxford at 8am in order to be at Stonehenge for…

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A bit of this and a bit of that... a blog of sorts