Happy Christmas - 2015

So another year is ending - and we will finish with a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

We wish you a wombling merry Christmas 

and a happy new year.

Especially Brian, Sharon and family. 

Thanks for the card.

We shun the £2 chocolate orange.

We will wait for the £1 chocolate orange to come back into season.

University days - the happiest time of your life?

Warming up for the planned departure of child 2 to a university far, far away - we made it to our third University open day. This time we went to St Andrews. It is a quiet town in Fife when child 1 is not staying there.

I also popped in to the chapel to see that it was still there.  I played here in the school windband many years ago. I remember that the floor has gratings with the heating pipes underneath, and these gratings have holes big enough for a music stand leg to slip down.

 I know the embarassment of losing the entire concert's bassoon music across the floor.

It looks the same now as it did then.

 

In remembrance

When at school, I once took part in the remembrance service at St Andrews war memorial. It was a freezing morning, and I was playing the snare drum. No gloves! 

This year, we went to the short ceremony in Bannockburn, where the wreath-laying was in the pouring rain.

 

The sights and smells of Cologne

Every year, the education system in Scotland stops for a brief week (two for the fifers) so that teachers can jet off to warm and sunny destinations. 

We like being the exceptions - if it means that we can take the luxury caravan back to Germany for a few days.

I am unsure what the cow was doing.  

 

Mr and Mrs Mozart were shopping.

 Earlier we had spotted them handing out chocolates to sell the overnight rail trip to Vienna. I spat mine out - it had hidden marzipan poison in it.

Swinging in the trains

Trains run on tracks. Have done for years. That's how it works.  Everyone knows this - except in Wuppertal.

There, the train runs under the tracks, and swings as it scoots along over the river.

I will update this page when I can find my camera pictures.

We are sailing (please don't call this a cruise)

The romance of the seas was sadly lacking as we travelled from Newcastle to Holland.  Our cheap cabin was lower than the freight traffic, and hotter than a swedish sauna. The aim was to shortcut the route to Tonisforst in Germany - rather than heading to Hull and crossing to Rotterdam, why not save 150 miles and cross locally.  

Next time, I'm going to Hull!  

The generation gap

The second child is considering a future in the world of academia, and to further this goal we travelled to Scotland's capital in an attempt to compare the magnificent university of Edinburgh with the last one we visited, up in the frozen north-east.  Still, I am not biased.

We stopped for coffee in the former "Nelson Mandela" dome. I wonder what happened to him? And where did these tables come from?

And then we suffered a couple of lectures in the George Square Theatre, where I used to enjoy accounts lectures at 9am, three days a week.   

Once finished, we had a quiet lunch in a world buffet. I now cannot see my toes.

By yon bonny banks of Oban

 Down by the sea. Early one morning.

 Chocolaty delights - Not for me - I rarely touch the stuff

You shall have a fishy on the little dishy, when the vote comes in.

 Dining al fresco. Nothing beats a bacon breakfast outside the caravan. Al Fresco liked it too.

Macro focus still working

And finally, we think this is the best chippy for miles around. 

Heave-ho! no more.

Just spending some of our hard-earned cash on a little luxury - or is is an essential for us?

Quite a dull picture - but it does show that I need to get some extra pipe to move the waste water outlet away from the mover.

A family day out.

My family dont like getting into the pictures, so when we nipped out to visit the Kelpies, they stayed away from the camera, but the results weren't too bad.

 

The luxury caravan

After selling our 10 year old caravan to a dutch friend (no there is no time to go into this bit now...) We have now collected our replacement "grown up" luxury caravan from our dealers in Germany.  We are hoping for a few more years of adventures.

Still hitched up - only 1 hour old!

Our first meal in the caravan. Weirdly delicious.

Fine dining and spinning around

Cafe culture - we have promised that we will be good tourists - and will do the right things. Make sure we stop for coffees, eat ice-creams, follow tour guides, hold selfie-sticks (or not) and enjoy the world.

 So that was lunch

 Art Deco comfort

 Then on to the Prater park and I'm go glad we went on the wheel.

 We didn't go for the dinner option, although it did look like a lot of fun. The higly zoomed photos are not getting published, but the meal looked great.

Another day in paradise

Just loving the city break part of the holiday: Here are some of the places we wondered around:

 

Not really my thing but I liked the rest of the museum.

 

Touristing in Vienna - palaces and other places

 Bloomin' tourists get in the way of all my photos

 Same palace - but from the back

From behind a fountain

 The real Hunderwasser haus

This is just the poster - not the reality.

Tourist rage

 Please can you scroll right...

Rear window

 The view from the bathroom in our B&B near Klaus in Austria.

 Sometimes it helps to do a bit of zooming

And with a child in tow (one of our own), we arrive in Vienna.