Ratings explained: JAC- Just another church 1* - worth a look 2* - Good Times 3* - Unmissable + - emphasis on the rating Having been to Paris three times before we haven't budgeted too much of our France trip 2010 in Paris; just 3 full days. We had a decent hotel in a reasonable location and metro'd and walked our way around as you do 'When in Paris'. First sight was the art of the Musee D'Orsay 2*. We left the D'Orsay after only a few hours a little disappointed as we'd looked forward to it for years and it had less than we'd thought; partially due to some renovations closing some wings and all the Monet stuff being out on loan. Within the D'Orsay Nick suffered immediate disappoint seeing the 'No Photo' rule ... read more

Ratings explained: JAC- Just another church 1* - worth a look 2* - Good Times 3* - Unmissable + - emphasis on the rating Let me start our coverage of the North Western areas of France we visited by talking about Roundabouts on the road. The French do a pretty darn good job decorating them, as we drove throughout France we saw many cool roundabouts; many have fountains in them others have sculpture, it's often a nice touch that adds just a little extra to the charm of the traveling in France. We started our arrival into the 'North West' area of France in Dinan, a pretty town perched on a hill over a beautiful river valley. As it was evening we decided on dinner out at the fine Dinan 'Terrace Cafe' which had a ... read more

Ratings explained: 'Bad times' - self explanatory 'Don't bother' - self explanatory 1* - worth a look 2* - Good Times 3* - Unmissable + - emphasis on the rating We spent a month in France so I need to break up my blog into sections. Ideally I want no more than 4-5 entries to cover the areas of France we went to; this section broadly covers the 'South' and 'South West' . As we flew into Nice the Cote 'd Azure from above looked beautiful (particularly Nice and Monaco); a wonderful stretch of coastline. In Nice we walked the pretty streets of the city and were immediately charmed by the buildings, boulevards, and nice fountains then hopped on the bus toward Monaco to the village of Eze. The bus journey toward Eze was reminiscent ... read more

Ratings explained: 'Bad times' - self explanatory 'Don't bother' - self explanatory 1* - worth a look 2* - Good Times 3* - Unmissable + - emphasis on the rating In my last travel blog I said travelling to Moscow was a mistake and indeed it was. Moscow you see was suffering it's worse heatwave since records began with temperatures averaging 36C per day, and as high as 38C on bad days. The heatwave was hitting a lot of Russia around Moscow too and had led to over 400 forest fires. Moscow is very unfamiliar with this kind of heat and generally the accommodation and attractions aren't setup to cater for keeping cool; only for staying warm! The severe fires led to a lot of smoke and so for 90% of the time we were in ... read more

Ratings explained: 'Bad times' - self explanatory 'Don't bother' - self explanatory 1* - worth a look 2* - Good Times 3* - Unmissable + - emphasis on the rating I expect people to filter the rating through their own travel desires so if you know you hate museums you can downgrade a 3* museum to a 'Don't Bother'. Our first impressions wandering the streets of Stockholm were of a pretty, healthy, prosperous place. We walked amongst parks with people playing after-work football, saw pretty pastel coloured buildings with architecture that reminded us a little bit of Paris, and had a lovely sunset to welcome us. We were surprised to find the English availability a little limited in Stockholm; I'd assumed the Swedes with their reputation for a great education system all spoke English but we ... read more