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Summer 2018
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  • Susan Lee

Summer 2018

An open-ended adventure by Susan Read more
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  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee

    Day 15 Orpington

    July 14, 2018 in England ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We decided to get ourselves brunch from a supermarket rather than stay for breakfast, so that we could have a last picnic and buy some French wine. Before we left I had to go for a last swim in the glorious morning sunshine. In the carpark was a Belgian car with the numberplate NO:C:O2 and it was filling up with Electricity ( supplied in the hotel car park. We then off in the direction of Calais looking out for supermarkets. We found a huge Leclerc and headed off to find food then looked for the wine only to find a notice saying that alcohol would not be on sale again until Monday morning! We could only assume that this was because today is Bastille Day. We carried on and found a lovely place to picnic and then back to the Eurotunnel, and then back to Orpington.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
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    Day 14 Matougues

    July 13, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Sadly leaving this beautiful hotel where all the rooms were allegedly named after German gods ours was Auerhahn. The key fobs were cute miniature wooden trees. The other cute thing that pleased my little mind were wooden pegs with the room name on to clip to your robe/towel so they didn’t get muddled. Still onward towards France. On the way we drove through miles of beautiful woodland through the Black Forest. We stopped and went for a walk by a dam, and through part of the Black Forest. It was an amazing place as I have never seen such large areas of forest. We pressed on to matougues and stopped at our next hotel, where you can see our accommodation behind the swimming pool. This was just a normal outdoor pool but still got to cool off after a long drive and walk. We had booked our evening meal here in advance as a last treat before going home. We chose the set menu of seasonal regional produce, which included a cheese course with a whole trolly of cheeses to chose from. I did make a pig of myself and chose 5! As it was a Champaign producing area we felt obliged to have some with the meal.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee

    Day 13 Seewald

    July 12, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We were woke early this morning by building works nearby, handily it was an early last departure from this hotel of 10 am, but we were up and away well before. Our drive to Seewald took us through Dachau where there is a memorial to concentration camp victims. It then went alongside the mountains ( on our left) almost until we got to the Black Forest. The hotel was perfect for me very friendly people, large room with balcony and a basket with swimming towels robes and sandals. On the grounds was a swimming pool/lake with a sauna beside it. Sun loungers and chairs. Spent a lovely afternoon and early evening exploring and swimming. I the evening there was a BBQ with cold soup followed by your choice of food to be BBQ’d (I had fish and John meats, with salads and breads. Then for dessert, John was full but I had ginger and sweet potato tart with walnut ice cream. Delicious.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
    Our Hotel swimming pool1

    Day 12 Siegsdorf

    July 11, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We started off from Italy this morning sad to go. John decided to take the non motorway route through Austria to Germany. The Scenery was absolutely magnificent. We stopped for lunch at a delightful hotel beside a lake in the Austrian mountains. They served a complementary amuse bouche ( I’m not sure what they called it) followed by a dish of potato gnocchi with spinach & Brie topped with a salad of herbs. We then shared a Raspberry desert and coffee served by the lake. While we ate lunch a guest at the hotel caught a fish I couldn’t identify about 2 foot long and called the chef out to kill it and gut it, which he did out of sight. Then took it back to the kitchen presumably to cook. We started out again only to find traffic lights on red with people sitting outside their cars! We looked past them and saw that there was a timer with 12 minutes to go. An information board stated that the lights were green between 30 past the hour and 45 past the hour ( I assume the other way had the hour until 15 minutes past). When we went on the road we could see why. It was tiny. It wriggled so much that it just looked like a block on the sat bag. The views were breathtaking but we weren’t allowed to stop or slow down to take photos. Also on the way and heard the cow bells and also a couple of cows with them round their necks. It was just how I imagine Austria! We arrived at our accommodation, just inside Germany, later than we had hoped so I didn’t get chance to use their outdoor swimming pool (a lake with steps). The Hotel is very spacious with balcony and mountain views this time. Beds have the individual duvets on a double bed we first saw in Latvia, and balcony doors and windows have the strange hinges I fist saw in the last hotel in Italy where you turn the handle one way and it opens as a usual door and turn it the other and it drops back to let air in at the top. In Italy I thought I had broken the door until I realised. See little things...... We then had a walk and a picnic dinner and then back to the accommodation to watch England play football. All I can say is that after the game John played Eric Idle’s ‘Always look on the bright side of life’!Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
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    Day 11 day 7 at lake Garda

    July 10, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Our last day here. We are driving to Germany tomorrow so a quiet day around the lake and local town. We almost hired a speedboat for an hour, and had decided to pay the extortionate cost but they wanted a cash deposit of €250 and we don’t carry that sort of cash around. We went swimming instead which was much better for us! We had a lovely lunch of Spaghetti with Clams and Mussels washed down by A glass of Bardolino, the local wine . The vineyards started over the road from our hotel.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee

    Day 10 day 6 at lake garda

    July 9, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    A very lazy day today swimming and chilling, then in the evening went back to Sirmione. It was beautiful I the evening with the walks in the park subtly lit. After exploring the peninsular fully we returned to the castle at 11pm. We sat on the moat wall to eat the largest ice cream and lolly I have ever seen anywhere! We went back to the hotel very tired.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
    3Juliet's balcony?3

    Day 9 Day 5 at lake Garda

    July 8, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we drove to Verona and decided to park in the central underground parking despite the rather exorbitant prices. We bought a map of the city and as it is fairly small we chose to walk round and see the sights. Handily the map marked the main attractions by number making a rather convenient walk to follow. We started off at the colosseum and went on from there stopping for lunch of pasta wine and ice cream before carrying on the walk. There were several interesting buildings, churches, bridges, statues and similar but the most commercialised by far was a balcony which they alleged was the very one that Juliet came out on ! You can only imagine the souvenirs available around the area. For a fee you could actually stand on the balcony. We didn’t. I was surprised to see in the main square, apart from a police presence there were army officers with guns! It was however a great day and we came back late and exhausted but pleased with an interesting day.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
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    Day 8 Day 4 at Lake Garda

    July 7, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We had decided to spend the day in the mountains of the national park, starting off at a place called Perri on a very wriggling road towards Fosse. We drove and then walked in the National Park. The stunning scenery is not really captured on the photographs. We had a picnic lunch and came back just in time for the to watch England win their match against Sweden.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
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    Day 7 Day 3 at lake Garda

    July 6, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Both to breakfast on the beautiful terrace, then off to relax in the gardens and the beach at Bain del Sirene. Beautiful views but rather a steep walk down to the beach area. Explored, swam and picnicked until late afternoon when we drove into the mountains along some lovely wriggly roads, then back to the hotel to change for dinner. We decided to walk to a local restaurant and on the way an Italian woman stopped her car and asked us where was good to eat! She persisted even when we explained we were English visitors and she ended up at the restaurant we went too! The restaurant was not exactly geared up for English visitors but with the help of google translate we made ourselves understood. I had mushroom tagliatelle, Rabbit with Polenta then amoretti semi Freddo and John had bean and pasta soup, steak with green peppercorns and lemon sorbet. We both had coffee and they put a bottle of grappe on the table to help yourself. Oh and I forgot to mention that they had the football showing!Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
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    Day 6 Day 2 at Lake Garder

    July 5, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We had a lay in and then breakfast on the veranda overlooking Lake Garda. It is further from the lake than we imagined but the scenery is magnificent. Mountains on 3 sides and the lake on the 4th. We went to Bardolino to see the weekly market. All I bought was a sun hat but was tempted by more. After lunch we hired sun beds (shaded by trees) and swam in the lake. There were lots of lizards around and also ducks. I made the mistake of feeding 2 ducks and tried to get on the lounger to get more food! We stayed there until 6pm when we went to explore Sirmione ( a large peninsular going several kilometres into the lake) on the way we stopped off to get bread and cheese from a Lidl and were tempted by a case of local wine to bring back. Sirmione was much more interesting than we had thought with a castle, lighthouse and unusual shops. All we bought was an ice lolly from the largest selection I have ever seen. They were also huge lolly’s so we shared a purple one! It was delicious. Back in the accommodation rather later than planned we were delighted to find we had hot water! Then a few hands of cards with the backdrop of thunder and lightening again! Is this a regular show every evening?Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee

    Day 5 lake Garda

    July 4, 2018 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After a lovely breakfast at the hotel this morning we set off from Solln near Munich and set off for Italy via Austria, remembering to pick up a vignette for the motorway en route. We stayed on the motorway through the 3 countries as this was the longest drive of the holiday. The scenery was still spectacular. We arrived in searing heat, and were told the water heating had gone wrong and wouldn’t be fixed until tomorrow, so did we want to find another hotel! We decided to risk it and were given drinks and snacks while the owner took our passports to sort out the paperwork and our room keys. The owner was slightly eccentric and we did wonder if we would see our passports again! The daughter actually brought the passports back and showed us to our room. We explored the area and bought a take away Pizza which we ate with wine on our balcony. We started to play cards and then were treated to a display of lightening in the distance against the dark night sky.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
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    Day 4 Munich

    July 4, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We got up early (for us) and breakfasted on unusual but tasty food. This was served by a lady in Bavarian dress! We walked to the station armed by the hotel reception with a Map and instructions on the over and underground. We already had our all day travel card and once a Solln station validated it and hoped on the first train to Munich. The journey took about 20 minutes and with no firm plans we splashed out Ona tour bus. We were going to do the full circuit first but at 11.50 we were at a stop where an automaton in the spire of a church was going to start moving at 12. This only happens twice a day so we hopped off and watched the mechanical story. I went up the tower by lift waving to John who remained on the ground. We looked round the market nearby and Hopped on the bus to continue the tour. We decided to visit the English garden where we had a light lunch. After more exploring we hopped back on the bus to the largest beer garden in the world (probably). It certainly was large. Finding that the tail end of the afternoon match was being shown on large screens all around we decided to stay and have an evening meal there before watching the England match! The atmosphere was quite friendly for most of the game with a big cheer when England scored but there was an even bigger cheer when Columbia scored. We stayed to the bitter end although it may have taken years off John’s life. In the end John was thrilled to win on penalties. We had to go swiftly in order to get our train homeRead more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
    Herrons engraved in the concrete of a house wall
    Breakfast in the sunshineHotel HeiglMain coursesWaitresses in national dressDesserts

    Day 3 Munich

    July 2, 2018 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    We started out from Strasbourg for Munich before 9 as that was when the parking charges started (it was free on Sundays). We stopped on the way to eat coffee an croissants in the sunshine. Meandered through Germany to the outskirts of Munich to Hotel Heigl where we are staying for 2 nights. A really lovely room, huge with settee etc and lovely balcony with table and chairs overlooking the garden. After a short rest we set out to explore the surrounding area where we saw a depiction of herons etched in the concrete on a house wall. We checked out the best way to get to the Centre of Munich tomorrow ( it is about 10 kilometres away). We found the local railway and timetable and bought tickets to be validated upon travel. For our evening meal we settled on a restaurant with outside ding bordering our hotel. The restaurant only had menu’s in German but we used google translate to check what we were letting ourselves in for! The waitresses all wore traditional Bavarian dress, which would have seemed very touristy if it had not been for the fact that everyone else in the busy garden appeared to be German! I had Schweinebraten (pork with dumplings and pickled white cabbage) followed by Rohrnudle ( a Bavarian hot pudding crossing bread and cake with plums in the centre and a sauce, highly recommended by the waitress) John had Zwiebelrostbrat (a Bavarian steak) and creme brûlée. It was all absolutely delicious. Then about five steps back to our hotel to rest before what we expect to be a busy day tomorrow.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
    A real tank!
    Petit FranceCourt of Human rightsLe Parlement EuropeenCathederal

    Day 2 Strasbourg

    July 1, 2018 in France ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    We left Reims and started off along non payage roads towards Strasbourg. The scenery was absolutely stunning ( sadly no pictures) and we stopped for a picnic lunch in a scenic picnic spot only to find an old American tank preserved for posterity! Once in Strasbourg we had the studio flat accommodation again. Slightly more basic than yesterday’s but still good and again in easy walking distance of the town centre. After the short walk to the city I paddled in water by some fountains, then we explored on foot and looked at the cathedral, several churches, interesting shops and buildings. We wandered around Petit France, where the houses overhang the water, more like Venice to my mind than France! Next was a boat trip around the city mainly on the river ill and partly on a canal where we went through 2 locks. From The boat we saw Petit France from the water and also, the Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament among other things.Read more

  • Susan LeeSummer 2018Susan Lee
    A metre of beer
    Mexican tapas and cocktails

    Day 1 Reims

    June 30, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Started off for the Eurotunnel to start our 2 week trip in Europe (doesn’t really compare to 5 years but ....) Made good time and got an earlier shuttle than the one booked. Decided to meander towards Reims and bought French bread and cheese in a supermarket, then found a lovely park to eat it in. Went on a motorway for the last leg of the journey. Parking was booked at the accommodation but the spaces were made for small cars, so it was a bit of a squeeze! Accommodation very good and only a short walk to Reims centre, where there was a party atmosphere following France’s football win. Sitting outside watching the evening game John wished he wasn’t driving when he saw the fun metre of beer dispensers. We then moved to a Mexican restaurant which was also showing the football! We then walked around the town. A great start to the holidayRead more

    Trip start
    June 30, 2018
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