The Garden of Happiness

  One day I was out shopping at the mall in downtown Budapest at West End City Centre Mall…   It’s a huge five-level mall!   Not without its charms…   A bit disgruntled that I could not find a single thing I particularly wanted to buy, I was equally… Continue reading

La Dune Du Pilat

  We decided to take a day trip out to the Cote D’Argent on the West coast of France, to a place I had read few people know about – Arcachon Bay, known for it’s sand dunes, and huge waves.   The Bordeaux area we drove through was full of… Continue reading

Our Favourite Bastille Town in S. France

  Our third visit to a Bastille town was to Sarlat-la-Caneda, a Bastille village dating back to the 9th Century, North of Toulouse, in the Dordogne region.   With Romanesque and Renaissance architectural buildings looming high overhead, it is a maze of narrow lanes, picturesque alleys and shady squares… The streets… Continue reading

French Villages, French Art, Forests & Farms

  Provence is full of quaint French villages and towns, and gorgeous landscapes. If you’re wandering around Southern France, do just that – wander.   Wander… meander…. stray… stroll… sit on a bench…. stop for lunch… have a coffee… get lost… this is the best part of travelling in France.  … Continue reading

A Powerful Voice

How many times have we said we don’t like something, only to find that an authentic first-hand experience of that very thing astonishes you, and you come away with a complete change of mind… and so it happened with us in Budapest.   First of all, Budapest is an extravagant… Continue reading

Pay To Pee

  God Forbid if you have to go to the bathroom in Italy train stations.   First of all, they are scarce and hard to find. There is usually only one bathroom, and these train stations are huge! Train stations are the size of malls, with many shops and restaurants,… Continue reading

Amsterdam: Chocolate, Bicycles and Canals

  Our plane left Canada late because they had to put air in the tires. Hmph, I chuckled to myself, ‘I thought we were flying, not driving’. As long as we were leaving the frigid cold of a Canadian winter, either mode would be excellent.   On our way to… Continue reading

La Citee Medievale de Carcassonne

The drive to Carcassonne was beautiful…   We loved the little towns perched on hilltops…     Then, as you come around a corner of the highway, you might think you are seeing a mirage, an illusion, but there in the distance on a hill, is an astonishingly huge citadel!… Continue reading

Our Favourite Place In Europe

  What a surprise! This country’s lush green countryside was as beautiful as Southern France!   It was very clean and tidy, with beautiful highways and modern conveniences everywhere. Very warm helpful people too, with a great sense of humour.   This country is relaxing, easy, friendly, and has fewer tourists than France,… Continue reading

Kicked Off The Train in Milan

  Managing the trains in Europe is not so easy as one might expect. Nice to Venice through Milan was $120C, changing trains three times with only 10-12 minutes each time to change trains.   Now when you have to find a new train, on a new platform, usually requiring you… Continue reading

10 Top Travel Secrets For Europe

  If you would like to travel cheaper, save money and have fewer travel issues, these tips for Europe will help: 1. Forget super-expensive Western Europe (England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy). It’s hard to enjoy travel when you are aghast at the costs of everything. 2. Focus on cheaper Central… Continue reading