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Day 22: Amsterdam
My full day in Amsterdam, and where I realise that I didn’t really have my act together planning this bit. After possibly not enough sleep, I made an earlyish start for the Rijksmuseum. I figured I could wander down the street my hotel is on and there must be somewhere I could get breakfast, as this also worked for getting the direct tram to the museum. As described yesterday, I really don;t know which establishments actually serve food or coffee in this city, which was made abundantly clear when I headed towards a large stand on the corner, to find that it sold all manner of chicken, from eggs by…
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Day 21: Edinburgh, Amsterdam
Apologies dear reader, I’m checking in late for this one, for reasons that will be explained. Kicked off my last morning in Edinburgh doing some final shopping, picking up bits and pieces, and figured I should go for one last full Scottish breakfast before heading to the continent. Found a nearby place called the Ginger Coo Cafe, sadly, but they did provide a decent amount of food. Then it was pack the last few bits and head for the airport tram. I retired my toiletries case in Edinburgh. It has served me well since at least 2009, maybe even 2005, but was quite large and I’m travelling with just essentials…
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Day 20: Edinburgh
Last full day in Edinburgh, so spent almost 17,000 steps making the most of it. First stop of the day was the tram down to Haymarket, basically the closest laundromat. They apparently do pick up laundry from my hotel, which reception failed to advise me late night when I asked them where the nearest laundromat was, and they also do free delivery to my hotel so at least I could arrange that. But they only take cash, which had me wandering down the road, first to the post office, but my card wasn’t compatible, and then to a cashpoint a bit further down. I did manage to get a set…
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Day 17: Fort William
The day started with our lovely bnb host attempting to smother us with food; with a big breakfast of muesli, a rack of toast, and a cooked breakfast. Oh, and some fruit and yogurt. Stomach was sufficiently bolstered for a big day ahead. We took a wander through Fort William as many of the shops were now open. It’s about a middle sized town, big enough to have at least two whisky shops, a bookshop, a chemist, a couple of cafes, several restaurants, and some other assorted stores. I popped into one of the whisky shops, as it had a number of independent bottlings in the window, and inside were…
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Day 14: Islay (and Jura)
That’s better, back to my usual readership of maybe 3 people, nothing like a good bit of drinking to thin the hits. Today’s entry might even get me down to 1. We kicked off with a trip on the ferry to Jura, well first with M, P & G trying to kill me by suggesting we walk the 20 or so minutes to Port Askaig. Now there are 20 minute walks, I do these all the time with the dog back home, but 20 minutes in Islay involves no more than 50 metres of straight track, and if it’s straight it’s also likely to be a 10 degree incline or…
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Day 12: Oban, Islay (Kiells)
In which driving is done, a ferry is caught, whisky is drunk, purchases are made; also introducing Margaret the supergrass. Following a fairly decent breakfast at the Oyster Inn, we headed south, first to fill up with fuel and then to get cash, as, according to guides to Feis Ile, it isn’t unknown for electronic banking to fail, and ATMs to run out of money around this time. Then south we went. Time was on our side, so we had the opportunity to stop for a coffee in Tarbert, a little town by the sea (tarbert/tarbet translates as isthmus, so there are several scattered throughout Scotland). First was a coffee…
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Day 10: Portree
The morning kicked off with my first full Scottish breakfast of the trip, basically all the good stuff: black pudding, bacon, potato bread, flat sausage, beans, egg, mushrooms, half a tomato, and toast. Happily, no white pudding to be seen, it’s been a while since I last tried this, but having had it several times, the best I could describe it is “meh”. P has been poking me to have some, so I’ve said I will if he does (he’s a vegetarian). Anyway, the breakfast was good, even if the cafe had a weird Spanish name and hints of Spanish food on the menu (we’re quite a way away from…
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Day 3: Frankfurt
The final actual day in Frankfurt, and I’ve done a lot of walking the last couple of days, so I took things a bit slower. I had planned to take in a couple of museums, the Senckenberg Natural History Museum and the Stadt Museum, but I stuffed up on the research as the Stadt is closed on Mondays. Fortunately the Senckenberg wasn’t, so I went and checked out the dinosaurs and other wonderful attractions. I had one of those moments, coming out of the U-bahn station, where I wasn’t sure if I’d emerged in the right place or was heading in the right direction. Fortunately, after 20 or so metres…
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Day 2: Frankfurt
Welcome to the next installment of possibly the world’s least read and least informed travel blog. Today was the day that some may have been waiting for: the day when the 4 year old yells at me in German. Today I was able to spend a few hours with L’s cousin S, and S’s 4 year old Tochter A. Last time we were here, we met one of L’s other cousins, K, who was 3 and had a huge personality, an didn’t understand why I didn’t speak much German. So she spoke at me slower, and louder, and when that didn’t work, most of the time just yelled “Nein! Nein!”…
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Vietnam the third: day 17, Singapore
It’s kinda weird to be back in a place where people speak English, signs are in English, cars drive on the left all the time, intersections are controlled, people queue in an orderly fashion, yet at the same time looks and feels foreign. Singapore, somewhere I’m yet to spend enough time in to gain anything but a surface understanding of: organised yet still South East Asian; both incredibly multicultural with multiple significant minority populations, yet to a degree lacking integration with each population having their own little enclave, and it seems that the upper-echelons are confined to a single group; a somewhat progressive country yet also quite conservative. The contradictions…
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Vietnam the third: day 16, Hoi An – Singapore
Was a little sad to say goodbye to Vietnam: for all the heat, chaos, hawking, and haggling, it’s now elevated to a home away from home, a place where there is much good food, friendly people, and a general good time to be had. It’s also proof that a country can bounce back from being screwed over by the US and make something for itself (now if only the US could do the same). The Vietnamese seem to generally be a proud people, who can both hold onto traditions and also adapt with the times — many of the businesses we shopped at also have strong online presences, and will…
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Vietnam the third: day 15, Hoi An
As our last full day in Vietnam draws to a close, I’m sipping freshly squeezed sugarcane juice, nibbling on a banana pancake, and throwing words at the screen in a bid to entertain my reader. Our day kicked off with a cooking class at Goian Homestay/Restaurant/Cooking School/Evil Villain Lair for all I know, with the incredibly friendly Vinh. She dragged us around the local market, pointing out all manner of fruit and herbs, we were familiar with many, but there were some that we hadn’t encountered before, including one that tasted quite fishy (I’ve got a feeling I had some of this with some banh xeo earlier in the week,…
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Vietnam the third: day 14, Hoi An
Still in Hoi An, today was even slower paced than previous. We did pretty much all of our final fittings, and picked up orders today. I now have a new pair of shoes, and many new shirts. Our extra batch of custom gifts, ordered at 25% lower than the lowest price, came through, strangely enough (or not really strangely at all, in the way things work around here). We dropped off and later picked up a load of laundry: the laundry woman had previously also hit us up to try to get us to shop at a specific place, which we didn’t, so there was a brief moment when we…
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Vietnam the third: day 12, Hoi An
Today certainly had marked similarities to the last couple of days: shopping, eating, sweating. A chunk of the day we spent outside was doing various fittings. Trying on shirts and pants and jackets and shoes and dresses (L for the last two). All of our clothes are looking pretty good, some are even finished. I had one of those moments when I had an idea, an interesting customised pressie for a few folks back home, so I presented this to one of the shops. They thought they could do it, but at a bit of expense (I mean we like the folks these will be for, just not that much!).…
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Vietnam the third: day 10, Hoi An
For the right price, I’m not sure there isn’t anything that Hoi An can’t make. Clothes like business and casual shirts? Sure. Leather shoes and bags? Not a problem. Jewellery? We got that. Possibly the world’s best sandwiches? Come back tomorrow and I’ll probably have a post then. A house? Hoi An can probably make that too, possibly with an extra charge if we need two scooters to transport it. Make this paragraph’s first sentence with all the multiple negatives make sense? They can probably make that too. Our first stop this morning was a regular haunt, Yaly Couture. We’ve been getting clothes made here since our first tour in…
