I have been lucky enough to go on a few exciting trips in my time and have always believed in embracing all that a culture and society has to offer from the gimmicky to the downright fun! As a culture vulture I naturally gravitate towards cities but that is not to say that I cannot be found sometimes sunning myself on some sun-kissed shores.
As with some of the other sections on the site I have tried to simplify locating these posts for you, dear reader, to enjoy without the painful task of trying to navigate through the very convoluted Blogger archiving system.
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Travel - Beer, Banter and Brussels!
When I told a friend of mine that I was going out of the country for the first time in 2 years, I am sure they expected me to say something like Bora Bora, Barbados or Bondi Beach - somewhere exotic to contrast the chilly winter that we are currently experiencing. When I duly informed him that I was going to Brussels, I was met with a guffaw, which I now realise was grossly unfair as it turns out that the Belgic capital is an extremely vibrant and lively place!...
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Passport to Rio - Fun in the South American Sun
or two weeks I have been absent from your computer screen. I was selfishly basking under the Rio sun and put the blog as far from my mind as possible. I attempted to write some marvellous, verbose piece of bloggery but the lure of the Caipirinha and Stephen King’s ‘Cujo’ proved just to great! But now I am back and determined to make up for my holiday by telling you all about it. For the purposes of maintaining interest, I have rolled a number of events into one day as otherwise the next 10 posts will be about my time there. This is the first of three posts about my trip, which I hope will give you an informed if rather schizophrenic and jumbled picture of Rio de Janeiro...
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I can go for that... a tale of The Alsace
I must first declare that I have had, for many years, a desire to go to The Alsace. Ever since seeing the marvellous Keith Floyd making a programme in the region in his landmark cookery programme ‘Floyd on France’ I became intrigued by the picture book quality of the medieval architecture and the rolling vineyards nestling on the foothills of the Vosge Mountains and the banks of the Rhine. In recent years I had also developed a taste for the region's delicious white wines, what little arrive on our shores, and had been waiting for a perfect time and travelling companion to accompany me to this land brimming with a rich history and choc-full of fine gastronomic experiences...
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Let’s go Dutch
To most people, Amsterdam conjures up images of illicit sex and relaxed drug laws, a city full of pervy tourists and reefer drenched teenagers with goatee beards and natty dreads. Whilst there is certainly a bit of this sort of thing - testified the clientele of the city’s many coffee shops and prostitutes pressing themselves up against the windows of the infamous red-light district - it is a huge generalisation of a city which I found on the most part to be very civilised and tasteful...
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