Christmas Traditions Around the World

It may not be a Sunday for a Sunday still, but nevertheless, it is Holiday decorations! Whilst touring New Zealand, I was invited to Diane's house in Wellington, which, I have to say, was like walking into a Department's store, albeit without price tags. She LOVES Christmas decorating and had no less than 15 trees in her house. It was beautifully done, and tasteful, but bordered just a tad on the obsessive! But what a nice obsession! Dianne collects a gold coin donation from those who visit and the money raised is solely for charity. So it's all for a good cause.

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Christmas – Around the World

Merry Christmas from Something to Ponder About - Here are a few snippets of Christmas past spent in various parts of the World. The spirit remains strong and the family connections, despite whatever corner of our globe we live in. May your Christmas be Merry and Bright! Glædelig jul - Christmas in Denmark God jul…

Invisible Murder – Book Review

With the topic of refugees and terrorism very much in the news, this novel by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis, is written for our time and makes for illuminating reading.   Two impoverished Roma boys are scavenging for something to sell in the ruins of an abandoned Soviet military hospital. Purportedly to improve the lives…

Zurich – Travel Odyssey in Switzerland

Crossing the Swiss border and heading for Zürich where my sightseeing included the imposing Grossmünster, elegant Fraumünster, and winding alleys of the old town alongside the river Limmat.  After visiting so many Christmas markets in Germany and Austria, Zurich's 'Christkindlmarkt' touted as the biggest indoor Christmas extravaganza in Europe, at the main railway station, was…

Part 3 EuroScandi Odyssey – Landing in Frankfurt

Frankfurt airport is huge and extremely difficult to orientate oneself unless you go directly out to an exit. On passing through Passport control, we were asked about our itinerary. I must say that the customs/police were very kind and friendly, as was our taxi driver (who was however, hell bent on breaking the sound barrier, getting us to our hotel) in Offenbach, a satellite town of Frankfurt. He was from Pakistan, ( aren't most taxi drivers?) and he told us how he had a near fatal car accident when he first started driving... eeek! Something he tells his customers to reassure them......

To our delight, our room at Sheraton Offenbach was made available for us straight away, at 7.15 am, which was either by good fortune, or because we were part of a large tour group that was commencing the next day. After settling in, we toddled out to find what Offenbach had on offer....excuse the pun/Dad joke.

What we found was a small Christmas market, focused on food, in the "main" (again excuses for the pun/Dad joke), a wonderful Cafe at the Rathaus, where hot chocolate would be served to you for a paltry $1.20 Euro ( but who am I to complain?) and a medium sized indoor shopping centre with some wonderful clothes shops. Heidi and I spent most of the day there buying jumpers and t-shirts, jewellery. We loved it and found many bargains and some nice new winter gear.

Travel Odyssey – Sightseeing in Lucerne, Switzerland

EXCURSION to MT PILATUS

The top of the World... From Mt Pilatus, Lucerne, Switzerland. From there, one can see the Bernese Oberland, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland...fabulous. And this is was our destination this morning by Cable car and Gondola. Once upon a time, citizens thought it would bring bad luck to climb Mt Pilatus, but now, millions of tourists visit every year, without any disastrous consequences. In winter, one might see snow at this altitude, but not this year.... no snow to be seen. Nevertheless, the views are still spectacular in weather such as this: it was sunny, mild but not cold!! Ordinarily, the mountain is covered with fog in the morning, but not so today! The vistas were ours, to be seen.