Afternoon Mugs
It's been a month or two since I posted anything. There's nothing sinister there, I've just been busy on holidays or working.
The first holiday was a cruise around the Adriatic for a week. If you take the hellhole of Naples airport out of the week, then it was just lovely. Cruising gets a bad rap , with visions of tea dances, tuxes and blue-rinses. In fast, there's no doubt it appeals to the older, perhaps over 35s demographic, it is very different if you go on TUI and their Marella ships. They are all inclusive and they cater right across the board for all ages and backgrounds. If you want ton wear tuxes and evening ball gowns then you can. Likewise if you prefer shorts and casual shirts, then this is fine. In one week we saw Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia, both of which were stunning, we visited a sleepy place called Ancona onItaly's east coast which I loved. We visited Venice...but I found that rather too crowded. I enjoy the obligatory gondola ride, and even the 15€ half pint of beer in St Marks Square. But the constant top walking speed of shuffling ground me down and I was ready to go back to the ship at 16:00.Overall thought he cruise ws great and the Tuk-tuk tour of Dubrovnik stands as a highlight along with the close sail by of Stromboli in the evening, red and orange lighting the sky from it's summit.
We've booked next year for the Aegean this time.
Next was a week in the new Money Pit (see posts passim) to prepare it for the Siblu renters. This means basically ridding the mobile of the good stuff and putting the vanilla inventory back in place. But it was lovely warm week and a great chance to just relax, read and recharge batteries. I didn't get a single hangover and that in itself was a joy.
Then 10 days ago, I went with some friends and some strangers on a WW1 battlefields tour. This was eye opening at times. We visited The Somme battlefields and memorials on day 1, and then days 2,3 and 4 were all about Flanders with us being based in Ypres. My biggest surprise was just how beautiful Ypres is...for some reason I'd imagined Guildford-lite but instead got a beautiful picture postcard town. The Menin Gate is a sight to behold (as were Thiepval and Vimy Ridge) and the last post is one of those 'bucket list' moments I didn't know existed until experiencing it.
More to follow I expect, but the biggest non-war related discovery for me was........the fact that German beer, as good as it is, is NOT the best I've tasted. No, this honour now firmly belongs with Belgium and after a careful investigation of several bars this result now seems permanent!
Later Mugs, GJ
