Sunday, September 1, 2013

Catching up...

Soooo... how long has it been? And I don't mean since my post reminding you about World Ocean's Day... Nope! I haven't written anything about travelling since FEBRUARY!!! *shock* 

Not only have I abandoned on a Greek island (although you're probably not complaining about that, there are worse places to be abandoned...), I never got started on the New Year's Eve trip to Granada!

"El Patio de los Leones" in the Alhambra
Cousins having fun

And since then there have been a few more trips! *gulp*

A quick overview might be in order...


In February I had a weekend escapade to Santander (north of Spain) for a friend's wedding. It was wonderful getting the whole crazy "Belgian" gang back together and resulted in an even crazier night of wedding celebrations involving probably too much alcohol...  Fortunately I got my sightseeing done the day before the wedding! I wandered around Santander's coast on a gorgeous sunny winter's day (which had my arm hurting after 4h of walking around with my coat hanging on my arm!)...

Walking around Santander's Cabo Menor with the Cabo Mayor in the background

And I even got to do some geocaching! (1 find, 1 DNF and 1 virtual cache, not bad for one day!)

Geocaching was the perfect excuse to make it all the way to the lighthouse!


Then in April another wedding provided me with the perfect excuse for a weekend getaway. This time to England! But the wedding wasn't my real motive for the trip, it was getting the chance to meet almost-relatives that I either hadn't seen in several years or never met! ("almost" because one is my Aunt's -as in my Uncle's wife- sister and the other is my "cousin's cousin" a.k.a. her daughter, so no genetic relation, but we feel as if we were cousins for real!)  They were in England (near Bath) for a close friend's wedding and invited me to join them for the weekend in the windmill cottage they were renting (awesome!) 

Non-cousins ;o)
I was also able to attend the wedding which was held in part in a fabulous old manor house - Montacute House, host to some scenes from the movie Sense and Sensibility - and church and involved getting really dressed up and had all the ladies wearing hats or fascinators... FUN!!!

Montacute House
Ready for a fancy wedding!
Parish Church of St Catherine, for the religious service

Extra bonus: a quick visit to the ruins Glastonbury Abbey! Possible legendary site of Avalon where the monks "mysteriously" discovered King Arthur's and Guenevere's graves in the Middle Ages! I was sooo excited! :D



And then since I had several hours of free time before my flight out of Bristol, I got to wander around the city a bit admiring several of its gorgeous churches and parks! I need to go back for a decent visit, thought it was a lovely and lively city!

over the water in Bristol
Gothic Cathedral Church (built between 12th-15th centuries)
statue of Queen Victoria


 
Finally, in the end of June I had a quick escapade to Nancy (north-east France, flew in to Belgium then caught a bus south) for a friend's surprise 40th birthday party. 

 
Lots of fun to be had, and even got to enjoy one of the only 3 beers I drink! :p


Nothing since then, and nothing on the horizon... so hopefully I'll be able to find the time to catch up on some of these posts! :p


In the meantime, I can heartily recommend some exotic reading if you'd like! My sister is currently travelling around south-east Asia for 3 months as she moves from New Zealand to New Mexico, and although she's an infrequent blogger (is too busy living it all to write about it most of the time), her posts are well worth it if you'd like to hear some fun tales and see some absolutely stunning photography of that breathtakingly beautiful part of the world! Includes lots of reptiles *shudder*, ruined temples, nature, crafts and scuba diving (to come)! Check her out at Pouncing in Puddles!

4 comments:

  1. Good to hear from you again Cris. I thought you had given up on the blogging. Pity I missed you in Bristol, I was there last weekend.

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    1. I'm happy to be back! And for the record: I'll NEVER give up on blogging!!! :D

      You were in Bristol last weekend?! I'll have to read your post about it, I'm sure you've written one! Yours is one of the blogs I really want to catch up on! I thought it was a lovely city, and was surprised to discover I have direct flights from Alicante on both Ryanair and EasyJet! So I forsee a weekend getaway at some point in the future... ;o)

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  2. You got lots of great photos here - love the one of you for the fancy wedding. Why is your sister moving to New Mexico?

    I'm so jealous of your ability to go from country to country like we go from state to state. Must be fun!

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    1. When you stop and consider that most of continental Europe adds up to a surface roughly equivalent to the U.S.... our ability to go country-hopping is a lot less impressive! Plus the damn low-cost airlines we love to hate are the ones that really make it possible. That and the occasional long weekend... ;o)

      My sister and her fiancé (!!!) finished their contracts in New Zealand last June and have been job hunting for a while (they've both got PhDs). He got a 3 year position in a research centre in Santa Fé so that's why. She'll continue the job hunt for something in that area once they get installed.

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