Here we are in Bologna, renowned for its food. The Italian classics we all know and probably have in our cupboards at home, Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar and prosciutto, hail from the region of Emilia-Romagna of which Bologna is the capital. The most famous Bologna dish is probably spaghetti Bolognese, which has the local Mayor … Continue reading Bologna basics
I spent two and a half weeks visiting family in Berlin. I was staying in a pension in Weissensee, which was a borough in East Berlin and is now part of the larger borough of Pankow. Fun fact – it is the location and title of a popular German soap opera set in the 1980s, … Continue reading Hello and goodbye to Berlin
I leave this town on Thursday and I thought I would share a few thoughts before I go. Top of mind is how summer happens outside. Almost every weekend we have been here there has been some kind of three-day summer event Thursday to Saturday. When we arrived there was a music festival that that … Continue reading Parting thoughts and Preiselbeeren
We decided to take a short break away while we are staying in Austria. A number of factors came together resulting in our stay at Gasthof Botenwirt in Faistenau. As some of you will know I have my mother’s 1956 diary of her European travels and I am interested in revisiting places where she and … Continue reading The Salzkammergut
The Friday evening before we travelled to Nottingham for the weekend, we thought we would take a stroll along the Danube, which we call the Donau in Austria. We arranged to meet at the Nibelungenbrücke and discovered the streets closed to traffic and filled with people due to the annual Pflasterspektakel ,which translates as pavement … Continue reading Pflasterspektakel und Schnitzel
We discover a market. Südbahnhofmarkt. It’s a bit of a walk from our apartment. I can’t quite tell which days it operates and it might be every day, which will be excellent. It sells fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, baked goods, flowers. All of the things I might want to buy. I will need … Continue reading Südbahnhofmarkt
We are settling into life in Linz. For context, Linz is a city in Upper Austria, straddling the Danube River midway between Salzburg and Vienna. Our apartment is in the Innere Stadt district which is pretty much the city centre. It’s about fifteen minutes walk from the main square. From the kitchen window we look … Continue reading Early days
Wandering along Ul. Grodzka on our first day in Kraków looking for something light for lunch, we came upon Enoteka Pergamin. It was 34 degrees and the heavy meals we saw on other menus did not appeal. This restaurant had many different options including light tasting boards and so we entered. My heart was won … Continue reading Enoteka Pergamin
We spent a week in Kraków in Poland en route to Austria. I have never been to Poland before and had absolutely no idea what to expect from the food. We arrived late in the evening and went straight to sleep so my first meal in Poland was breakfast, or śniadanie. Always a challenge. Breakfast … Continue reading Śniadanie and kolacja
Our first stop out of Wellington was Narita, Japan. We were staying at a hotel close to the airport at Narita solely for the purpose of breaking our journey and getting a good night’s sleep before the second leg. It was dinner time when we checked in and our hotel did not do dinner, so … Continue reading Revisiting Japan
Around the Table 