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My Top 5s – Favourites, Essentials, Meals, Just Odd, Annoyances and Dogs!

As we were leaving Edinburgh I started to think about my Top 5s

My Favourites

Edinburgh– all of it was fabulous. Architecture and soft colors even made my awful photography look good. We went to our daughter’s favourite bar, The Dome and weren’t disappointed. The Castle was all it is cracked up to be and the views from Arthur’s Seat glorious.

The weather was fantastic with blue skies and warm days- isn’t that how Scotland is for everyone?

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Heising Restaurant, Berlin – a true experience. Don’t know quite what I expected, but it wasn’t devoted service from the husband and wife owners in a 1920s themed French restaurant. This is one not to be missed. Ranked number one on Trip Advisor in Berlin and I couldn’t disagree.

Heising Restaurant - Berlin

Heising Restaurant – Berlin

The British Museum – my favourite attraction in London. This was our second visit and still we have barely scraped the surface. It’s free and the best museum I have been to apart from the Smithsonian in Washington.

Entrance to London's best sight

Entrance to London’s best sight

Changing the Guard not in London but Prague! A made up ceremony with made up uniforms! Such a laugh. Definitely one not to miss.

Changing the Guard - Prague

Changing the Guard – Prague

Hollmann Beletage, Vienna we stayed at some lovely hotels but this was my pick. Funky rooms, lovely garden to have an afternoon snack and quite stunning breakfasts. Kathy would disagree having Das Stue as her favourite. Both were Tablet Hotels and great choices.

Afternoon Snack - Vienna - my favourite hotel

Afternoon Snack – Vienna – my favourite hotel

Ok there are 6

Aperol Spritz – this quickly became our drink of choice. Cold and refreshing, the perfect drink on a hot afternoon of which there were many. Favourites were at Das Stue sitting in their outside bar overlooking Berlin Zoo and The Dome Edinburgh. This was a signature for our trip.

Our signature drink

Our signature drink

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More Berlin

Having covered so many sights on our first day we decided on a leisurely next couple of days.

This was certainly helped by morning visits to the gym and watching the previous days highlights of the Tour de France as well as quite surprisingly finding that Foxtel Go worked on my iPad and iPhone.

Late breakfasts in the Wintergarten Coffee Shop, a new leader in the best coffee stakes, were also part of our leisurely starts to the day.

Whilst walking through Berlin we had become fascinated with the painted fibre glass bears that were spread throughout the city.

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Have I really bought my last CD?

I never thought I would reach a stage where I would contemplate not buying
a Record or CD again, but Spotify and Pandora, both subscription music services might make it so.

My first record was Abbey Road and my last was The Proclaimers, Sunshine on Leith! I don’t recall what my first CD was but my most recent was Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball in the lead up to his amazing Australian Tour.

I’ve watched record shops turn into CD shops and then seen the number of stores dwindle. The iconic Adelaide music store, The Muses was my favourite until it closed.

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Holiday Planning

I love planning travel it extends the enjoyment so much more.

With a relatively short time away, just over three weeks in July, we have settled on a highlights tour! We are landing in Munich via Dubai, and then onto Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Edinburgh, London and Paris before returning home.

Having settled the itinerary it was a matter of sifting through the hotel sites and recommendations to identify places to stay.

Using a combination of

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Planning our trip to Europe

I love planning holidays as it adds to the excitement and anticipation.

Sorting out the airfares, planning the places to visit, reading hotel reviews, buying travel books, finding places where we might eat, sights to see, buying new luggage and so on!

We decided a couple of weeks ago that we would take three to four weeks in late June through July and go somewhere. It’s peak season in Europe and not really our preferred time for travel, but it’s also University semester break and the quietest time at work in my year.

Where should we go?

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