Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Thursday

Monschau - A to Z of Places I have Visited


I am writing about some places I have visited in alphabetical order.

So far we have got through 12 letters of the alphabet so nearly halfway through the series.





From August 2004 to December 2010 we lived in Belgium and because of that we have had extra opportunities to visit places we would not have heard of before or particularly thought of visiting previously.  Like The Durbuy Maze etc.

One of these places was the small town of Monshau in Germany.






Belgium and Germany share a border and just across that border from Belgium into Germany took us to that lovely picturesque location.


By Karte: NordNordWest, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de,
CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35392837



It was a lovely day for a Fred and I to take a trip to show my sister and brother-in-law (yes the one who is the subject of a previous blog post 10 Gift Ideas for Your Brother-in-law )  another place while they were on one of their annual visits to us.

We also had our son Jonathan with us and as he spoke German he definitely was not going to be left out for two reasons.  Firstly he loves to visit any new place especially anywhere that may have some old buildings and secondly I knew from experience that when visiting large towns & cities in European countries there will not be too many language problems as many of the people will speak a decent amount of English but in the smaller tons and villages there can be communication problems.


We arrived on that sunny morning and as we parked our car our first view of the town was gorgeous.





A beautiful house in a picturesque setting of a small bridge and stream - just like you might see on a jigsaw box.

While stopping here to take some photos we ended up with a very different photo of a visitor to my arm.

I tried to look it up in google later and it seems to be some form of beetle but isn't is so small & colourful.  I did not mind having this beetle walking up my arm.





Walking on into the town we spied a fun type of transport and of course we couldn't resist taking the little train ride around the town and the surrounding area which involved up and down the hilly location.  This ended up being a good move because we were able to walk around the higher area without having to walk up the hill or down the hill because of this perfect means of transport.





We took this photo of the two hubbies in front of our transport because all men love trains but in fact all 5 of us had a fun time on our train ride.


As I said Jonathan loves old buildings and we certainly had some of them to visit on this day trip.




Up the hill was the Castle of the Dukes of Julich and we enjoyed exploring around it with it's beautiful archway and so much still intact.   The walls around the castle are clearly seen from the town sitting well below it.


After spending quite some time here we took the train down again to the town to do some more sightseeing.


Something I love to see is a clock tower and I loved this view I had through the trees of a very clear to read clock.





Then I scanned on up and saw the Swan at the top and thought how pretty this was






This turned out to the be the top of the Reformed Church in Monschau.




the clock face here was blue and there was another clock at the market square which had a white face  but I must have forgotten to take a photo of it.



We had a look around inside the church and then Fred took a photo of the rest of us at the entrance.




There is a very ornate bridge leading across from the front of the church to the opposite street, just another thing to make this a very memorable town.



It was such a bright, sunny day that we stayed outside most of the time so did not go in to investigate the museum that was beside the Reformed church.  It was called the Foundation Scheibler Museum and is highly recommended as one of the places to visit in Monschau.


We are often more interested in finding somewhere to have a good coffee and sit and people watch in beautiful surroundings which is what we did here with plenty of places to choose from for our cuppa in the centre of the town.


There are also lots of old, pretty wooden houses along the riverbank in Monschau.  See how they hang out over the edge of the river because they are built right to the edge




and some even sit out precariously over the edge which makes me wonder about the architecture of these houses.

This white and black one to the left in the picture below really caught my attention because it seemed to have just been thrown together with it's walls ready to fall over because they were missing their support.  Plus the fact that most of it was not straight - one of the more unusual houses I have ever seen.  

I think it is so noticeable because it is close to the other white one which is so straight and upright.





I thought we would end now with a picture which encompasses the style of this village




the different types of buildings the lovely clock tower, the museum, the wooded hillside and the view of the castle walls.

I would definitely recommend a visit to this quaint town especially on a sunny day like we had.









If you missed any of the previous places in this series just click on the Titles below:

A for Alicante
B for Bratislava
C for Calpe
D for Durbuy
E for Ennis
F for Florida
G for Gran Canaria
H for HongKong
I for Islandmagee
J for Jersey
K for Killyleagh
L for Leeds





Leeds - A to Z of Places I Have Visited


I am writing about some places I have visited in alphabetical order.
Still wondering what I will do for the more unusual letters like Q and X etc. but maybe I will have a brilliant idea later.






Leeds is a large city in England, UK.





I never really thought of this as a place I would be going to for a holiday because I would much prefer to go abroad or to places that were not so big and maybe somewhere I would have always heard of and wondered what it was like but this was not the case with Leeds.


By Harkey Lodger based on Jhamez84 at en.wikipedia
Own work based on map by Jhamez84 at en.wikipedia, Public Domain, Link


We ended up having a great connection with this busy city because in 2010 our oldest son left Belgium where we had been living for 6 years and headed off to be a pastor in Leeds.

Now Jonathan was not so daunted by the city because he had been dealing with driving through Brussels regularly but he still was not interested in living in the city nor could he afford it.

He got a small one bed appartment in a little village on the outskirts of Leeds and so that is how we came to visit Leeds.

We made several trips over to Leeds both from Belgium and then later from NI to which we had since moved.





A City Weekend Break in Leeds would be nice with lots to see round the city with the variety of architecture as shown above with the modern building in the foreground which is the new shopping centre and the older Civic centre building in the background.

Another older building is the Old Post Office in Leeds City Square shown below.



By Tim Green from Bradford - General Post Office, City Square, Leeds (former), CC BY 2.0, Link


In my opinion modern buildings are great if they are useful and practical and still have an interesting look about them but I'd much prefer they were eye-catching for their architectual beauty and not just to be "different".





Also for it's museums.

Above is Leeds city Museum which still stands impressively in the city with a lovely casual feel set back from the roadway and traffic by a wide footpath.







Of course we must not forget the shops to spend your money in and abundance of places to choose to eat in with a great variety of flavours from all over the world.

Here again you see the old and the new when it comes to eateries.


I have to note here that every time we have visited there have been new restaurants that Jonathan has discovered so of course he takes us to test them out.





Leeds is so large that even though we have visited several times I am never sure which street I am going to turn into next but then that might have something to do with the extensive one-way system for the traffic.

We have always been thankful that Jonathan knows where he is going as he drives us along.


Interesting Architecture and Good Food in this Yorkshire City.


My husband and I do know the way to his apartment though and you would think you were in a different world altogether when you arrive there.  It is just beside the canal and there is a nature reserve area where he can walk around and find a seat to sit and read in the quiet of the countryside.

The nicest photo we have of his apartment building was taken during the snow in January 2013 - his is the top one one the far right and there is the countryside beside it.





A few of the times we have visited Jonathan has taken us to the surrounding villages for breakfast or lunch and they are lovely with all their Yorkshire stone houses.

We have also had a trip into the close by city of Bradford to sample some of the food there.

Although I said at the start about a weekend city break in Leeds it would also be worth the time to spend a little longer to explore some of the beauty of the countryside nearby in the Yorkshire Vales.







Jonathan has recently left Leeds to live and work in West Malvern a four hour journey south of Leeds into the Malvern Hills so we have a new location to visit and get to know.




If you missed any of the previous places in this series just click on the Titles below:

A for Alicante
B for Bratislava
C for Calpe
D for Durbuy
E for Ennis
F for Florida
G for Gran Canaria
H for HongKong
I for Islandmagee
J is for Jersey
K is for Killyleagh




Monday

A to Z of Places I Have Never Seen Yet! - Coffee & Conversation



I have been doing a travel series entitled  A to Z of Places I have visited and then I thought 

"What about the places I would like to visit that I haven't had the chance to go to yet?".


This of course meant I needed to make a coffee and sit and think.







So here is my list of 


A to Z of Places I Have Never Seen Yet.


Asturias in Northern Spain
(my husband worked there several times when the kids were young and I never got to go see it)

Baku in Azerbaijan  
(my husband has been there and says it is beautiful)

Copenhagen in Denmark  
(my husband worked here for a while in latter part of his career and again he never took me to see it)

Dundee in Scotland
(I have seen very little of Scotland and that needs to change)

Edinburgh in Scotland
(There is a castle there and our family like to visit castles)

Florence in Italy
(It just sounds like it would be lovely)

Granada in Spain
(I have always heard about it and now our oldest son has been there and sings it's praises too)

Helsinki in Finland  
(I have always been intrigued by this name)

Iceland  
(I have always wanted to go there and then our son did and our daughter wrote a novel about travelling there)

Johannesburg in South Africa
(I would love to see the expansive regions of South Africa)

Kenya 
(We have a friend who came from Kenya so I would like to see where she came from)

Liechtenstein  
(my oldest son has always wanted to go there so I'm copying him and we are both jealous because our son-in-law got to go there this year)

Here is a map to show where Liechtenstein is - just in case someone thought I had made it up.
It is bordered by Switzerland and Austria.


By Elevatorrailfan - This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this:  Location European nation states.svg., CC BY-SA 4.0, Link


Malawi
(my oldest son spent three months there so I would like to see it too)

Nashville in the US
(OK it's not because of the TV programme of the same name even though I loved it)
UPDATE - My husband and I attended the Getty's Sing19 Conference there in 2019 and got to go to the Grand Ole Oprey too)

Oslo in Norway
(Would love to see Fjords and be in a very cold place that is meant to be very cold)

Piza in Italy
(Well I need to see this leaning tower)

Qatar 
(I don't really really really want to go there although my husband has been and liked it but I can't think of anywhere else for Q)

Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland
(not far from home but I can't remember ever having gone there and the wildlife is suppose to be great)

Sri Lanka
(No idea why I want to see it but it sounds like a lovely name)








Torquay
(I am an Agatha Christie fan)

US Virgin Islands  
(Who wouldn't want to go to the Caribbean?)

Victoria Falls in Africa  
(I love Waterfalls and I have been to Niagara Falls so it would be great to get to see the other major waterfall in the world too)

Westport in Ireland
(I hear it is a popular holiday location in Ireland)

Xanadu?
(Please don't tell me it doesn't exist.  😍)

Yet
(All those other places not seen yet that start with any letter because I haven't got any idea for Y.  😍)

New Zealand 
(We have been to Australia now I'd like to see it's neighbour to the south)



Have you seen these places yet?


PLUS 

Can I add in an object?

Bridge in Paris made of tubing and 3 trampolines.







Saturday

A Pop Up Bridge - Xtra Special Day


One of the best things about having moved to live in the eastern half of Northern Ireland is the proximity to the Mourne Mountains. 

As we drive south along the A1 towards Banbridge  I laugh when my husband Fred says "Look at that view".  I don't even have to look because I know he is referring to the beautiful outline of the Mountains of Mourne.





Occasionally he doesn't make this remark but replaces it with "The clouds are spoiling the view of the Mournes today" in a very disappointed tone.

We often say it would be lovely to take a picture of that view but in a car on the dual carriageway that is not possible.

When our son Jonathan comes to visit we quite often find ourselves heading off for an afternoon to somewhere around or within this mountain range and that was exactly what we did when he was here a few weeks ago.

We had our granddaughter's birthday party on the Tuesday afternoon at 3pm but we still had the morning free so off we drove ready to get some good pictures (we hoped) of the latest point of interest in our Wee Country.


Yes we were off to see a Pop Up Bridge.


I'm calling it that because I keep hearing about Pop up shops, cafes and whatever and this bridge could be said to just have popped up because it literally just appeared suddenly.

The bridge is in the middle of a reservoir at Spelga Dam in the heart of the Mourne Mountains.




Normally no-one can see the bridge because the reservoir water level is high so the bridge is always under the water.

This summer has been so dry (even though Northern Ireland is known for it's rain) and without the usual rainfall the level of the water in the reservoir fell noticeably.   This picture below shows the different water level marks on the side of the dam and it is very obvious that the water level this month was much much lower than normal.





So for the first time in our lifetime this stone bridge (normally hidden by the height of water) was clearly seen




and it was possible to walk across it into the centre of the water in the reservoir.

From the car park where my husband Fred took the panoramic picture above the bridge can hardly be seen in the distance and the people walking along it were hard to distinguish but many people had been coming day after to see this spectacle and walk where there was normally water and no path.

We took quite a few pictures from the car park and then drove on round to find somewhere closer to the bridge.

We found a road down to a pathway to the reservoir and left the car there with many others to start the walk to the bridge.




This pathway was not part of the bridge.

This was the start of the bridge, the rough ground after the smoother pathway.




As you can see from the cyclist the bridge was at a lower level than the pathway and he was having a hard job to get his bike back up again.


Once on the bridge we could see the poor condition of the ground we were walking on but then it had been under water for many many years.




There were lots of people there that day to walk the bridge and they kept passing us
because we stopped to take so many pictures trying to get a good angle on the arch of the bridge.


After many stops we arrived at the arch of the bridge and of course stopped again to take more photos.

As quite often happens we took some of each other taking photos of each other - if you get what I mean.



Some little videos were grabbed as well, like the one showing exactly what happened after this last picture had been taken.


Then there was a very strange sight, Fred had gone on ahead more quickly than Jonathan & I so that he could do something different, something you normally don't do on a bridge




he greeted us from his seat on part of the broken pathway under a tree!

We took more pics here at this spot and then continued along the pathway for quite a distance until we got to the end of it.


Not only did we walk across it as far as was possible but I did what many people know I like to do - I had a little paddle (just don't tell anyone I had my bare foot in the reservoir water).













Thursday

Killyleagh - A to Z of Places I Have Visited


I am writing about some places I have visited in alphabetical order.
Still wondering what I will do for the more unusual letters like Q and X etc. but maybe I will have a brilliant idea later.





Our daughter got engaged in March 2016 and decided that the wedding would be in August that same year because that was when she and Stephen could get back to Northern Ireland from their work in South Korea.  Obviously this did not allow us much time to get everything organised and because she was so far away most of the organising fell to Fred and I.

Finding a venue for the reception was one of the first things we needed to do so Linda made a list of 20 places by looking at recommendations online and we visited most of them, took pictures and face timed her while we were there if possible.

One of the places she had on the list was in the village of Killyleagh which we had never been to before.  It is about an hour away from our home in Banbridge towards Strangford Lough and north of Downpatrick.  From what we could see on the website it could well have suited her needs, so we rang them and made an appointment to go see the venue and talk to the owners.

The first thing we saw as we entered the village was a long high stone wall and we decided there must be a large house and grounds behind it but of course our main intent was to follow the directions we had and find the venue.

The village was really rather busy with many cars driving through the main streets and it was hard to find somewhere to park.

The street where the venue was located was on a slope and so was the street behind the venue and these two streets were the main streets in the village.

At the top of these two streets was where that high stone wall was and looking up from the venue we could see that there was a lovely big gate and turret type features to either side of it.





Unfortunately to the left of the picture there is the village library and car parking spaces which spoilt the view somewhat.  Add to that the fact that it was a very dull day when we were visiting but maybe we will get back sometime in much better brighter weather.


I got a bit closer to take another shot




Still cars in the picture but now we can see that there is the hint of a building inside the walls.


So of course I need to get a closer look but when I go up to the open gateway there is a sign saying that the public can go into the gateway but are asked not to further enter the grounds.

So a picture was taken from just outside the gateway.




which clearly showed the large house within.

Another one taken a step inside the gateway




and a third taken from about halfway through the gateway.






Killyleagh has a few other interesting places to see like some churches and Mary's Style.

These can all be found on the Killyleagh Heritage Trail
A brochure for this including a map with the Trail walk clearly indicated and showing the locations of all interesting places in the town can be got at the tourist information Office very close to the Castle.






However because Killyleagh is not a big town going round the Heritage Trail is not too long a walk and we would have been tempted to do it except for the fact that is was not a great looking day.

So we then headed out to the harbour area to have a little walk but it started to rain and photos were just not good there.

This one from Wikipedia does show the more quiet atmosphere in this part of Killyleagh.


Killyleagh harbour and St John's church

By Albert Bridge, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12331672


The local people who ran the venue told us that the Castle is still lived in by the present generation of the family who had always owned it and is not open to the public.

However they said the family were very good about allowing wedding pictures to be taken there.

They were of course trying to entice us to have the wedding reception there.


Want to see a castle that is still lived in?



Here's another picture from Wikipedia that shows how impressive the castle is from higher up and from an angle further to the right.  Even so again much of the buildings on the main streets are obstructing part of the view.


Killyleagh Castle seen from Church Hill

By Albert Bridge, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12974085


The village is lovely and if you are ever in the area and like to see castles then it is definitely one to see and remember it is very unusual for one to be lived in as the normal family home.


In the end the venue we had gone to see was not suitable for the wedding reception as it was not wheelchair friendly although the B&B associated with it did have a lift for people staying there.






If you missed any of the previous places in this series just click on the Titles below:

A for Alicante
B for Bratislava
C for Calpe
D for Durbuy
E for Ennis
F for Florida
G for Gran Canaria
H for HongKong
I for Islandmagee
J is for Jersey