Header photo – Zurich riverside/ Border photo – street cobblestones, Prague
“Travel teaches toleration.” – Benjamin Disraeli
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Category Archives: All Suzanne’s travels
An introduction to Dutch Jenever
An all-too-rare blogpost; a gift to my followers for the holidays- a story of alcohol! I am not much of a hard liquor drinker. I prefer my daily glass of wine (usually white these days) or a nice hoppy British … Continue reading
Balloons in Plainville CT
I have only ever been ‘up close and personal’ with hot-air balloons once that I can recall. That was a serendipitous visit to Leeds Castle in England in 1990. I was driving to London after visiting the then-uncompleted Chunnel site … Continue reading
Another eclectic trek around Europe – Part One
The older I get, the harder it is to put together a trip to Europe when there is no big-deal (to me) event which self-selects a range of dates as a starting point. A couple of years ago, I was … Continue reading
Falkirk, Scotland beyond the Kelpies
As I described in a (very) old post, I went to Falkirk specifically to see Andy Scott’s Kelpies sculptures and perhaps some of his other works which can be found in a variety of locations around the town. In the … Continue reading
New TV location tours from Tours International for 2018
Tours International has new TV location tours for next year. These are the folks Dad and I traveled with back in 2002 (the Normandy beaches) and who gave Dad, by his own estimation, the best trip ever! The link to … Continue reading
London’s Roman amphitheatre
OK. This Roman ruin has very little left of it compared to the smaller-than-Colosseum structures in Arles, France or Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Those at least are complete; this one would require almost complete reconstruction and the removal of the entire Guildhall … Continue reading
London Fire 1666
The Museum of London has a terrific exhibition commemorating the Great Fire of 1666 on its 350th anniversary. I took loads of photos but they didn’t do the show justice. The story needs more than just a couple of photos … Continue reading
Finding Santons in Metz
If you’re a fan of Peter Mayle and his wonderful stories about Provence life and culture then you may be familiar with santons. The word means “little saints” and refers to handmade clay figures dressed in old style traditional dress … Continue reading
New tours from Tours International for 2017
Take a look at the new tour offerings from Tours International – the folks Dad and I traveled with back in 2002 (the Normandy beaches) and who gave Dad, by his own admission, the best trip ever! I keep the … Continue reading
Posted in All Suzanne's travels, General magpie travel
Tagged Downton Tour, Luther tour, Tours International
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St Norbert beer truck – photo
OK. I’m gonna try something new. My desire to blog has been pretty much non-existent for more than a year. Not what I envisioned when I started the thing and no real excuses to offer by way of explanation. Sooo… … Continue reading
A day trip to Mostar
I’ve been working on this post on and off for a couple of years and could have sworn that I’d posted it already. Oops! I also confess that it’s longer than more recent posts; in any event, here it is. … Continue reading
Tours International for 2016
Even though I have this tour company on my Hot Link list in the right-hand column, check out a few of their newest tours for 2016. Shakespeare Tour in April – one of 6 literary tours on offer Downton Abbey … Continue reading
Posted in All Suzanne's travels, England, Europe's gardens, European museums, General magpie travel, London travel, UK news
Tagged Downton Tour, England gardens, England history, England TV and film tours, Richard III tour, Shakespeare tours, Sherlock tour, Tours International, Wolf Hall tour
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Spinning on Milan’s bull
So… here’s the deal… In the center of Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, a gorgeous 19th (!) century high-ceilinged open-air covered shopping mall opposite the Duomo, there’s a mosaic of a prancing bull. According to popular myth, you should place your … Continue reading
Visiting Richard III in Leicester
If you are an Anglophile and/or history buff (both of which I am) and you haven’t read The King’s Grave, by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones, put it on your reading list. Ever since Richard III – or what was left … Continue reading
Strahov Monastery libraries
Taking baby steps to get back into blogging… Fans of BBC Musketeers should recognize these places. In that series, these two rooms play parts of King Louis’s palace. In reality, both are libraries or ‘halls’ at Strahov Monastery in Prague, … Continue reading
Posted in All Suzanne's travel essays, All Suzanne's travels, Czech Republic, Eastern Europe, European art, European museums, Prague travel
Tagged Musketeers at Strahov, Musketeers in Prague, Philosophical Hall Strahov, Prague art, Prague churches, Prague travel, Strahov Monastery, Theological Hall Strahov
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The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Tattoo – a corruption of a Dutch phrase commanding a pub to close for the night so the soldiers can be sent back to barracks. The word also was used to allude to military music practice and now refers to elaborate … Continue reading
A charming evening in Radovljica, Slovenia
In the spirit of hoping to please some of you who are bored rigid with the steady diet of nothing but London Tube closures, I finally completed this post from a couple of years ago to keep you interested until … Continue reading
Schlepping around Europe October 2015
Sorry, Folks! Once again, I was too cheap to replace my crummy tablet with something more useful so I’m having to rely on hotel wi-fi, which is sometimes excellent (last week in Zurich… gotta love that Swiss precision and efficiency!) … Continue reading
Foyles spiffy new London bookshop
I went looking for a book that Waterstone’s didn’t have on my last trip to London. Traipsed up Charing X Rd to Foyles – the first time I’d been there since 1990 with Mom. The old location had a giant … Continue reading
Posted in All Suzanne's travels, England, London travel, UK
Tagged Foyles bookshop, London bookshops, Waterstone's books
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Neolithic Orkney 1 – the Ness of Brodgar and Maeshowe
Blognote – In the interest of shorter blog posts to cater to ever-diminishing attention spans (not least of which is my own!), here is the first of several posts about the Neolithic sites on Orkney. With all the known settlements … Continue reading
A labor of love in wartime – The Italian Chapel, Orkney
Orkney is known for its Neolithic monuments and settlements, but the islands also have their fair share of WWII history and associated sights. One of these is the Italian Chapel on the tiny island of Lambholm in the southeast corner of … Continue reading
Greyfriars Bobby – a grave and a pub
This is another popular attraction in Edinburgh that took me 20-plus years to track down. The red granite headstone marking Bobby’s grave has only been here since 1981 which explains why it looks almost new. Various pictures I found online … Continue reading
A Robert Louis Stevenson tribute
Just about the only benefit of my staying in the Corstorphine area on Edinburgh’s outskirts was this statue across the street from the house and a few steps from the Western Corner bus stop. (The only other worthwhile attraction in … Continue reading
Rooms and their views – summer 2014
While I try to sort out all the fotos and stories from my summer trip, I figured I’d post something slightly out of the ordinary from my usual stuff… these are the views from some of the rooms I called … Continue reading
A wee dram and a tour of Highland Park, Orkney
Several years ago, I got a very useful introduction to single malt Scotch from the landlord at the Ensign Ewart pub, just down the hill from Edinburgh Castle. One of the malts I tried – and liked a lot – … Continue reading
Three and a half nights of London theatre – Part 2
So now we come to the whole reason why I crossed the pond in the first place… I was more than ready for Wolf Hall when Monday night rolled around, probably one of the most anticipated nights of theatre I’ve … Continue reading
Three and a half nights of London theatre – Part 1
London is my favorite place on the planet, not least because it’s where I can OD on theater. This time, I had to book way in advance to be sure of tickets to the two plays the RSC has mounted adapting … Continue reading
A sea of poppies at the Tower of London
My most recent trip was filled with a wide variety of experiences and locales. It will take a while to sort through the photos, journal notes and other hasty scribbles to make sense and produce some decent posts, especially since … Continue reading
Magpie update – August / September 2014
In many ways, summer is possibly my least favorite season. Sure, there is no snow to shovel and late sunsets mean more time to be out and about. But, especially in terms of travel, summer is when I’m most likely … Continue reading
Posted in All Suzanne's travel essays, All Suzanne's travels, Archaeology in Europe, England, Europe food & wine, European festivals, European music, Germany travel, London travel
Tagged Berlin travel, Broch of Gurness, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Tattoo, Falkirk Scotland, Gatwick Yotel, Hilary Mantel, Kelpies, London arts, London theatre, National Theatre London, Orkney Islands, PBS, Scotland culture, Scotland travel, Skara Brae, summer travel, Yotel
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SuzanneTheTravelMagpie 