Adventures with languages
I wasn’t prepared for the beauty of the Kaiserliche Schatzkammer, or Imperial Treasury, in Vienna. It’s stunning! After our visit I bought a guidebook in the Treasury shop: Masterpieces of the Imperial Secular Treasury, Vienna (ed. Sabina Haag) and revisited the items in my head. I regretted not having hired an audio guide for an…
My top three films for adults and kids to watch together Our family favourite is: Le Petit Nicolas (2012, certificate PG, 89 mins), based on the first book in a very funny series written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé. I think of Nicolas as a sort of French precursor to the Wimpy…
What do you “see” in your mind when you’re engrossed in a story? It’s amazing how black marks on paper can transport you to another world. I love reading and getting immersed in a story, and I think I build a hazy picture in my head of what the people and places look like, but…
When I’m sight-seeing I need regular stops to cool down/warm up, sit down and refuel. There’s no shortage of cafes in Vienna, and the most famous one is a large coffee house: Café Central on the ...
As you can see from the photo below, we couldn’t very well miss this baroque church, on the Karlsplatz not far from our hotel. The green dome of the beautiful Karlskirche, or St Charles Church is a ...
This post is for when you’re in London, you feel peckish and you miss German or Austrian food. I’ve been looking at places where you can buy foods which might be hard to find anywhere else in the ...
I’d been reading an amazing story about two Epsom-based painter/decorators, Joe Moruzzi and Brendon Parry, who set up a second business selling….. custom-made cheesecakes. Joe started off making ...
I’m a Ford Cortina, rescued from the scrap heap many times. My heyday was the 1960s and ‘70s, and my speciality was Family Holidays. Seatbelts were not considered necessary; you just crammed several children and a dog onto the backseat and set off. There were no child safety locks; you just banged the doors hard….
A dog by any other name….? My daughter’s been longing for a dog for years. When she was about 5 she chose a book in a shop in Germany with the title “Ich will einen Hund”, by Helga Bansch. “Ich will auch einen Hund”, she said. It’s a great story about a girl who pleads…
