Oh the places I've been: Europe

The whole of Europe (or at least the bits I've been to) obviously offers a lot more scope than my list of French highlights, so inevitably I'm probably going to miss out all kinds of cool places I've visited. But here's a few of, if not la crème de la crème, at least the most memorable right now (in no particular order):

Rodina Mat, Kiev, Ukraine

How often do you get the opportunity to climb 91 metres up a giant Ukrainian woman and pop out a porthole, your legs straddling a void beneath you, with only a tiny safety harness clipped on to a wire around your waist? And then get rewarded with uninterrupted 360° views of a major city? Well, that's what you get at the Rodina Mat (which can be translated as "Mother Homeland) in Kiev, where I was in August 2011. 

I haven't been following the current events in Kiev especially closely, but of course I'm saddened at the violence and hopeful that there will soon be positive results for the country. I remember when planning my trip (I spent almost two weeks there alone, including 4 overnight train trips), my guidebook was full of doom and gloom about how "intrepid" it was to go there as an independent traveller, let alone as a woman travelling alone. Luckily I wasn't put off, and I really never felt unsafe there (as I recounted in the linked post, even the tramps were polite when I accidentally wandered into their hut looking for water). While Kiev wasn't quite the ancient Slavic wonderland I'd enthusiastically imagined, I enjoyed my time in Ukraine and one day I'd love to go back to see places like the Crimea, Chernihiv (which I tried and failed to get to from Kiev) and maybe even Chernobyl. I hope things settle down & Kiev is open to tourists again soon.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

The Sagrada Familia, the unfinished Gaudi cathedral in Barcelona, is one of those places that actually does live up to all the hype. From the façades covered with a mind-boggling array of symbolic carvings, to the inside, which is like a fantastical stone enchanted forest, it's like nothing I've ever seen anywhere else. 

Sedlec Ossuary, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

I'll admit to a slight fascination for the macabre: I love a good cemetery, so a good ossuary? Even better. The Sedlec Ossuary, in Kutna Hora, not far from Prague, is decorated with the bones of around 40,000 medieval plague victims, arranged in intricate designs such as the coat of arms above and even a chandelier. I spent two and a half months living in Prague in 2006, so I got to know the city very well. Highlights included the Spanish Synagogue, St. Nicholas' Church and the terraced gardens below Prague Castle, but the ossuary has got to take the biscuit for the sheer unusualness of it all. 

Kunsthistorischesmuseum, Vienna, Austria

I visited Vienna as a side trip from Prague in October 2006, and generally really loved the way the formal, monumental beauty of the imperial capital contrasted with Prague's crooked, understated charm. I had a great time at the Schoenbrunn Palace, but as I'm a museum-lover, I'll nominate the Kunsthistorischesmusum as my Vienna must-see. I managed to spend 5 hours in there soaking up a great collection of Old Masters. I think I had more stamina for museums back in the day!

Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

From Prague, I moved to Moscow, where I lived for 2 months. I saw lots of great things in Russia, from the Kremlin, Lenin's tomb, the Tretyakov in Moscow to Tsarskoe Selo in St. Petersburg. Regrets: not going inside St. Basil's (stupid) and not going to the Russian Museum in St. P or Peterhof Palace (the "Russian Versailles") near St. Petersburg, although that was more of a calculated decision, as I wanted to see it in summer with the fountains going, and I was there in mid-winter. 

I can't say I approve of the current climate in Russia - when I lived there, it was during Putin's first stint as President, and even then we were duly warned about racism, xenophobia and homophobia, and I'm sure it's only got worse. I would still like to go back and see more of Russia one day, though. I studied Russian for two years at university and always wish I could brush up my woeful command of the language, and I've studied quite a bit of the history and culture. It really is fascinating, and while one can - and should - absolutely oppose a lot of the current policies and attitudes, even a cursory knowledge of the country's turbulent past goes a long way to explaining some of why Russia is like it is. 

Anyway, as I said, I love a museum, and the Hermitage, which I visited in January 2007, is one of the best, in one of, if not *the* most beautiful city I've ever been to. It's bloody massive, and overwhelming, and would still be gorgeous and amazing even if it were empty, but it is of course packed with priceless works of art. Definitely one for the bucket list.

Chora Church, Istanbul, Turkey

This is probably one of my all-time favourite places, and somewhere I enthusiastically recommend anytime anyone mentions Turkey in my presence. It's a beautiful 11th C church filled with spectacular 14th C mosaics and frescoes, and because it's a bit off the beaten track, if you're lucky you won't have to share it with too many other visitors, especially if you go in winter, as I did back in 2008). My photos don't do it the justice it deserves, just wonderful.

Cinque Terre, Italy

Okay, everyone raves about the Cinque Terre, which I visited in September 2009, but with good reason. These five towns on the Ligurian coast are linked by walking trails which range from very easy to moderately strenuous (and also by train and boat, if you get tired). It's a real treat to walk for a couple of hours and then stop for a foccacia or a gelato and a bit of a sunbathe or a wander around a charming little Italian town. What could be better than that?

Brancacci Chapel, Florence, Italy

I studied Art History in my last year of high school, and amongst other things, we covered Masaccio's Life of Saint Peter fresco cycle in the Brancacci Chapel and Piero della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross in Arezzo (known to me respectively for exam purposes as Marlon Brando - Masaccio Brancacci - and PA system - Piero Arezzo). I haven't been to see PA system yet, but Marlon Brando was definitely on my list when I visited Florence. You only get 15 minutes inside the chapel to see it, but it's well worth it if you ever get the chance.

San Clemente Church, Rome, Italy

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I found it a bit hard to get online while travelling around Italy on my way to Nice in September 2009, so some of my blog posts are rather rushed and I don't seem to have put any photos up of San Clemente, unfortunately. Still, while I saw a lot of fabulous sights in Rome, such as the Vatican, San Clemente has always stood out for me. It's a 12th century church on top of a 4th century church on top of an ancient Temple of Mithras and a Roman villa. Descending through the layers, you really feel the weight of history, which is increased by the dark and silent, mysterious atmosphere of the lower levels, permeated by the sound of running water echoing through the darkness.

Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy

I posted like a million billion photos of St. Mark's after my trip there in October 2010, because it is amazing. Do make sure you go when they turn the lights on (between 11.30 and 12.30, at least when I went), it makes such a difference to all the glimmering gold mosaics. It bears a lot of similarities to the Byzantine churches I saw in Istanbul, unsurprisingly since it was a Byzantine territory and retained strong trading links to that part of the world. It's worth paying to check out the treasury and to go upstairs as well. 

York, England

As a Lancashire lass (by descent), I feel bad nominating York as one of my favourite UK places, but it is really pretty and just stuffed with history. I've been twice, once around Christmas 2004 I think, and once in January 2012. Highlights include the Shambles, a narrow medieval street with original buildings, the city walls, the ruined St. Mary's Abbey, the Minster and the museum. 

Driving in Norway

Impossible to name just one place - Norway is amazing, and I'd love to go back and see more of the fjords and Bergen. The absolute highlight was our drive between Sunndalsora and Trollstigen, in August 2012. It's so beautiful that I took most of those amazing photos out the window of a moving car, including the one above. Sure, there's luck and a ton jettisoned due to inconvenient trees getting in the way, but it's so stunning you basically just can't fail to capture some gorgeous images.

Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy

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As with the Brancacci, you only get a short amount of time inside to savour the beautiful frescoes (this time, courtesy of Giotto). I was lucky enough to get a double stint and to briefly have the place to myself, thanks to winter travelling. The frescoes may look a little crude in the photos - it's worth remembering that Giotto (and Masaccio) are rather early Renaissance figures (Giotto died almost a century before Masaccio, but Masaccio died about a century before Raphael and about 135 years before Michaelangelo), so you can't really expect that same sort of smooth photo-realism of Raphael, or the exaggerated mannerism of Michaelangelo. Anyway, they are a real treat to behold. 

Capri, Italy

I'm not really sure if I would say Capri was my favourite place I visited in the Sorrento area, but it sticks in my mind as the most beautiful, thus earning it its place on the list. The view of the Faraglioni rocks from the Krupp path and the gardens above was just breathtaking. Well worth a sweaty walk back up in high-20s weather! And I must say, the lemon granita my Dad had waiting for me at the top was all the tastier because I earned it! By the way, it definitely seems I could have a post just on the delights of Italy.

So, looking back, I've definitely been to some awesome places, and there's soooo many more still to visit! What are your favourites?

Snapshots from York

The rest of my time in York was spent in much the same way - a little bit of idle sightseeing combined with a lot of time in the pub. Very pleasant! I had to get up at 4.45 on Saturday morning, which luckily wasn't as painful as it might have been, since I hadn't been sleeping well and had been waking up early anyway. Everything went smoothly getting my two trains and plane, and I had packed so impressively light coming over that I managed to take back an extra two books, four cans of cider, a bottle of bitters for a friend, two cheddar cheeses, two packets of bacon, chocolate and the cardi I bought, and still be under the weight limit! Hurrah! I had time for a nap before having some birthday drinks for a friend of mine - I would otherwise probably have taken it easy after getting up so early, but couldn't really say no on someone's birthday!

New dress I got in the sales at Christmas


We had some birthday gin - this is special miner's gin from Wallonia (French-speaking Belgium), drunk out of cute little shot glasses with a handle! You're meant to sip it rather than shoot it, which to be honest is a little bit much for my tastes, however it did seem quite smooth and not so bitter by gin standards. I'll still have my next one with lime though, thanks!


York Minster




The memorial to the Boer War echoes the form of the Minster towers


The side of the Minster, with a Roman column in the foreground


The ruins of St Mary's Abbey, destroyed under Henry VIII


A shrine to St Margaret of Clitheroe, who lived in this house (white one) and was a Catholic martyr at the time of the Reformation.


Who thought this was a good name?


I can only assume the sausage-loving slebs work it off afterwards at Flabelos


Micklegate Bar. Confusingly, 'gate' means street, and 'bar' means gate (mickle means great). This was the traditional ceremonial entrance of monarchs to the city, and also a place where traitors' heads were displayed, including Hotspur's of Shakespearian fame!


Me on my walk around the walls. New coat!




On Friday morning, I went on a free 2-hour walking tour of the city. There was only one other couple on the tour, which was good. One of the advantages of travelling in winter! The weather was definitely colder and damper than the previous days, however the rain mostly stayed away until the afternoon, luckily. I was fretting the whole way round because even though it was a free tour by the society of voluntary guides (or something like that), I was expecting to give the guide a tip. Which would be fine, except for the small problem that I only had about a pound in cash on me. I was running slightly late getting there, and couldn't find an ATM, so I was hoping I might see one on the tour and just dash off for a sec, but no such luck. So when the tour came to an end, I was standing there cringing wondering whether to give him the pound or ask him where an ATM was, but to my surprise he just said "well, that's the end of the tour" and we all said thank you and then the next second he had disappeared! So it really was a free tour! Here's some of the things we saw:


The house where King Charles I spent his last night of freedom during the Civil War before fleeing and being captured by the Scots


A pretty half-timbered house. The guide told us that in the Middle Ages the daub (I think the white bit's the daub, yes?) would have been painted multicoloured - the black and white aesthetic is apparently a Victorian thing


The walls up to the parapet are Roman, and the rest are medieval. The red line of bricks is a characteristic Roman technique for making sure the wall's level. He also explained that the properly-preserved parts of the medieval walls had very narrow parapets, precisely to prevent those swashbuckling scenes you see in the movies where, if someone does manage to scale the walls, they suddenly have room to leap over and fight the defenders.


The smallest window in York, on King's Manor. Apparently formerly a window for a loo. He was great for pointing out these little things you would otherwise miss - some others included little owls and cats on many buildings, brackets which are used to periodically survey whether or not houses might be sinking or otherwise falling apart, and posts or boulders on the sides of houses to stop carriages coming through too close to the overhanging medieval upper stories and hitting them. He kept telling us, "In York, you have to keep looking up", which of course is completely foreign to someone living in France, where the mantra is, "You have to keep looking down, or you'll step in dog poo any minute now".


The doorway to King's Manor, with Charles I's coat of arms above it. He stayed here for several weeks.


Monk Bar. Legend has it the statues on the top will come alive and throw stones down on any attackers, but he pointed out that they don't have a great track record when it comes to actually pitching in.


An old church filled with unusual box pews, where half the congregation would be sitting with their backs to the altar and the priest.



The Holy Trinity church, which interestingly enough was once controlled by the Abbey of Marmoutier, which is just across the Loire from Tours, had a great exhibition on life in a medieval monastery. My favourite part was the illustrations from a bestiary produced by the monks:

Greetings from sunny (no, really) York!

I know I had only been back in France (and at work) for a couple of weeks, but I have already taken a trip back to the north of England on Business of Mystery (I call it that, a la Chief Wiggum, so you won't be curious as to what I'm doing up here).

I travelled up on Tuesday - my flight wasn't until 2.10, so I had plenty of time in the morning to pack and clean the flat. Plenty of time, that is, until I nudged the cardboard box graveyard that occupies the entire east wing (I like to call it a wing to make it sound more like a stately house and less like an irregularly-shaped one-bedroom attic apartment) of my flat. And then HORROR! Behind the cardboard box graveyard, there is a happy little colony of mould. And not just a little spot or two of mould. This is an aggressive colony of green (complemented with the occasional spot of bright pink - wtf) mould growing over the ENTIRE WALL behind the cardboard box graveyard. You may ask how I missed an entire wall's worth of mould - I do clean, honestly. Just not behind the cardboard box graveyard, the centrepiece of which is the IKEA box that my fold-out couch came in. So yeah, when you have a box that's as big as a whole couch, you're talking serious wall-coverage here. I also think it's of relatively recent vintage, based on the fact that I haven't seen it before, it's been rather damp in the apartment of late (fostered by the constantly-filled racks of drying clothes I leave about the place) and the fact that - THANK GOD - *most* of the mould came off quite easily. Luckily, turns out that painted wallpaper can be scrubbed clean with relative ease. However, there remained about 10% stainage on the wall, especially those weird bright-pink spots, which need to be dealt with when I get back. I'm hoping either to find some sort of super product or to discover that an extra bit of elbow grease will do the trick. Because otherwise, feckballs. Don't tell the landlord, but Bob has already been doing his best to ruin the wallpaper with his sharp little claws, I don't need an entire mould colony jazzing up the place. Unless maybe I can sell it as a modern art installation? What do you think my chances are?

Anyway, enough wittering about Crisis Mould. I set out for the airport in good time, but still managed to miss the bus due to the fact that I was where the bus was supposed to be, and then it just drove right past without stopping. I talked to the woman in the bus place and she suggested this might have been because there was someone else in the appointed bus parking spot, but there was NOT. So I had to take a taxi to the airport, which luckily wasn't too traumatic, since the airport is nice and close and it costs 15 euros, as opposed to 5 for the bus. Plus I had a nice chat with the taxi driver and got to feel all smug about my French chatting abilities (some days I got it, some days I so definitely do not - the latter we shall call "workdays"). Everything after that - flight to Stansted, then train to York - went smoothly, and I even got to catch an earlier train.

Since then, I haven't actually been up to much other than my Errand of Mystery. I went shopping all yesterday morning, trawling in and out of pretty much every establishment York has to offer, but I think the cream of the sales has definitely been snatched up, happily for my wallet. I did get a nice gold shrug/cardi from Oasis - although I would prefer to call it "sparkly beige" rather than gold, seeing as it is a very nice subtle colour and I'm not a fan of a blingy gold look. Today I went to the Minster (cathedral) and found out that, since my last visit in late 2004, they have installed cash desks and you have to pay to go in. I felt a bit of a philistine for not paying, but I have been already after all. Instead, I had a Belgian hot chocolate (mmm) and had a walk around part of the medieval town walls. It was a lovely sunny day, perfect for a stroll.

I'm currently blogging from the pub - definitely a fan of the English pub, coming as it does with proper English cider (mmmm) and, in this case, free wifi, although chat is also a welcome option (other than with the guy who was talking very loudly on his cellphone about "pleading Not Guilty" to something or other). Not too sure what I'll get up to tomorrow - my last full day, before having to catch the train to the airport at 6 am on Saturday, boooooo - there is a free walking tour that I quite fancy, although I decided to only bring boots in order to save on luggage space/weight (Ryanair!) and consequently, my feet are not super happy with me, so I don't know how a 2-hour walking tour will go down.