Monthly Archives: November 2012

A visual feast at Borough Market

After seeing this outdoor food market on TV several times, I just had to pay a visit on this last trip. Borough Market was not as grandiose as it was on TV (the downside of airing old travel shows). There … Continue reading

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The Christmas season has come to Edinburgh

Apparently Hogmanay isn’t enough to get folks excited in the Athens of the North, Edinburgh is celebrating all through December with an ice rink, kids’ events, light shows, caroling and all sorts of fun stuff. Wish I could be there. … Continue reading

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London Tube closures for weekend of 1-2 December 2012

My apologies for skipping last weekend. I managed to stay off the computer for the entire Thanksgiving holiday weekend. No mall or big box store shopping either but I don’t do much of that at any time of year. This … Continue reading

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Deli and pubs with new life near Oxford

From Oxford Mail. Two pubs that have been closed for a while are finally open for business again under new owners. One is near Woodstock, the other near Chipping Norton. Cheers! There’s also a restau in Abingdon who has opened … Continue reading

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Virgin Atlantic awarded short haul slots from Heathrow

I got an email from Virgin Atlantic about this. Here is a link to the news as reported in the London Telegraph. Yahoo! (I love Virgin).

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Getting the word and the product out for Greek olive oil

From Deutsche Welle. Greek olive oil is some of the best, but producers need a way to get the stuff onto the global market as the terrific oil that it is. Currently, Greek olive oil is mixed with Italian to … Continue reading

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Fundraising for Milan’s Duomo

From France 24. Milan’s Duomo needs 25 million euros for cleaning. Budget cuts won’t begin to cover the costs, so they’ve come up with an interesting idea – adopt a gargoyle! The price to adopt one gargoyle is 100,000 euros, … Continue reading

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non-EU airlines dropped from EU carbon emissions rules

From Deutsche Welle. The EU is letting non-EU airlines off the hook for carbon emissions regulations, at least for the time being. I suppose that’s nice because it will be one less reason to boost the prices on plane tickets. … Continue reading

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Nutella crisis in France

From France 24. A proposed tax on one of Nutella’s main ingredients could cause a price increase. Quel horreur! This is the French equivalent to a price increase on Oreos or Coca Cola here, I think.

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Rick Steves on how and why he travels

From Rick’s Facebook page, an interview with Seattle Business. His opinions on travel and the business of travel are deeper than mine even if his travel habits are similar to many of mine – simultaneous creation.

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Rugby news – France beats Australia

From France 24. Sounds amazing to me, but there it is. France gave the Aussies an absolute thrashing for the first time in 7 years.

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Ten UK cooking classes – who woulda thought it?

From the London Independent. Britain is not the first or second place on most lists of European destinations with great cooking classes. These classes sound interesting enough, though, that I’d seriously consider building a future trip to include at least … Continue reading

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London Tube closures for weekend of 17-18 November 2012

This weekend’s Tube closures in London will mean big headaches all over. All of the Northern Line from Charing X north, the Central line (Sunday only) west from North Acton and large sections of several other lines all weekend. Disruptions … Continue reading

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Sheep at work at Blenheim Palace

From Oxford Mail. Blenheim Palace’s sheep are now producing wool for a green scheme, in addition to their lambs. And here I was thinking all they did was keep the grass down to save on landscaping costs!

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Rotterdam to Antwerp – high speed train only

From DutchNews. A heads-up if you are planning a trip soon which includes taking the train between Rotterdam and Antwerp – the only train beginning on 9 December will be the (expensive) high-speed Fyra train.  Budget accordingly.

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A great gastro-pub in Oxford

From Oxford Mail. Oxford Blue, a gastro-pub in East Oxford that’s getting a whole lotta buzz.

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Euro notes to be replaced with new ones

From Deutsche Welle. New euro notes will go into circulation starting in 2013. The new notes are designed to combat the rise in counterfeiting. As an amusing observation – the bill shown in the article is a 600 euro note … Continue reading

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London Tube closures for weekend of 10-11 November 2012

This weekend’s Tube closures in London are similar to last weekend’s – pretty light. Paddington is closed for Circle and Hammersmith/City, the northern reaches of a few other lines are shut and London Overground between Islington and W Croydon. Disruptions … Continue reading

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Shoes on a wire in Ljubljana

In case padlocks on a bridge might already be feeling old, a wire strung across the end of a side street near the river has become home to pairs of shoes. Mostly sneakers, tied together by their laces and flung … Continue reading

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Bridges, padlocks and love

Pedestrian bridges in cities around the world are acquiring spontaneous decorations from lovers – padlocks. This global custom is popping up in all sorts of places. While the first city where it cropped up may be an open question (Paris claims … Continue reading

Posted in All Suzanne's travels, Austria travel, Balkan Europe travel, General magpie travel, Slovenia travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Christmas is coming to Covent Garden London

See? The holiday season can start early when Thanksgiving Day is not part of the calendar. Guy Fawkes day is November 5, then it’s off to the races! Covent Garden has lots of activities planned, including live reindeer on the … Continue reading

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Neum and Počitelj, two small Bosnian towns

I flew to Dubrovnik, Croatia the day before the packaged tour I signed up for began. My express goal was to visit Mostar in Bosnia. There are day trips by bus from Dubrovnik most days. When you look at a … Continue reading

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New easyJet routes from the UK

For those who don’t know, easyJet is a cheapo carrier that flies from the UK to lots of destinations in continental Europe. The planes are small, the seats don’t recline, the food and drink is not free and there are … Continue reading

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London Tube closures for weekend of 3-4 November 2012

This weekend’s Tube closures in London are some of the least disruptive I’ve seen. Mostly station closures and a few partial line closures that begin beyond the Circle Line area.

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