Sue de Neef

This needs to be the quickest blog ever, as I have a date to go and see 'Sister Act' at the London Palladium on the West End tonight. I am typing away in an internet cafe while I have time before the show. This was a treat from Ron - sweet man that he is! We have had a wow of a time travelling down from Scotland. After our short time in Ireland we caught a flight from Belfast over to Edinburgh. The flight took only thirty minutes - the delays took well over an hour, but we finally arrived late in the evening. We didn't have any accommodation booked, so while we waited for our flight, we hopped on the internet at the airport and found ourselves a fancy hotel on one of the last ... read more

Hi from lovely Barcelona, Spain where we have been since yesterday evening. We spent a couple of days in Bordeaux which didn´t turn out to be one of our favourite destinations. We had thought we were going somewhere special but to be honest, the whole city looked like it could do with a good bath with its´buildings covered in pollution. France is very dog friendly, but the friendship gets pushed when dogs rule the city as it does there. Dogs are allowed everywhere, including on public transport and in restaurants and their droppings are all over the place. You have to look down as you walk because you are constantly dodging the stuff. There were also lots of smokers there and as you are dodging the doggy droppings you are also weaving in between the smokers ... read more

I have one word for this town - delightful! We arrived in Bayeux, Normandy on Thursday after our stay in Paris. As usual this train trip was efficient and comfortable and very reasonably priced. After a reasonably short walk we found our guesthouse, El Castro which was almost too good to be true. As it turned out, it was indeed true and this stunning house was ours to share, even it it was only for two nights. It is hard to pick the age of the house and since the owner only spoke French it was hard to ask her any questions. Nonetheless she was a very gracious host and she ran a fabulous business. You'll get an idea of its' beauty in todays photos. Bayeux, in Normandy is quite an historical town, having survived the ... read more

Hi Folks from the beautiful city of Paris. We have just arrived here yesterday after spending three memorable nights in Holland. Ron treated us to a first class trip from Salzburg to Amsterdam on an overnight train. We had to change trains in Munich (so now we claim to have also been there) and then we then hopped into our sleeper cabin with ensuite bathroom. Very luxurious and very small, but it was a nice way to travel. We arrived in Amsterdam Friday morning after a reasonable night's sleep (helped along with Uncle Corry's special travel lollies) and set about to taking in the sights of the city. It was a pretty ordinary kind of day, raining pretty much the whole time we were there and rather cold. We managed to find ourselves around the city ... read more

Well we are here in Venice and having a great time. Ron made an early call and claimed Venice as his favourite place so far - within about half an hour of arriving. He hasn't changed his mind yet so he must be right. I think it was the sight of the water and boats as soon as we walked out of the train station. He loves his water and boats (and maps), so here he gets all three at once. We have spent the last couple of days walking and walking around Venice taking in the sights. It is nice not to have to dodge the traffic and maniac drivers, but instead here you have to dodge the dog doo doos because there are a lot of dogs and not much grass, so it has ... read more