Freiburg, Wednesday 14th May

We got up earlier and there was more choice at breakfast - a seemingly important consideration when staying in a hotel where breakfast is free and a bigger deal than at home! 

We had a day planned at Weil am Rhein, visiting the Vitra campus home to Vitra furniture and the history of design gurus Ray and Charles Eames.  The sideboard in Southwold is made by Vitra and designed by Eames - though disappointingly there wasn't at example in the museum.

Vitra helter skelter

We managed to buy our tickets from a machine at the station in Freiburg and got out at Weil am Rhein and eventually located a very discreet sign pointing to the Vitra Campus.   There was a long walk in the sunshine and plenty of notices direction you to parts of the campus, but none that were very helpful to us. We found a cafe (and had a cold drink), and a Piet Odoulf garden and smart loos, but the first design museum building we found was holding an exhibition about Nike trainers which was not what we were looking for.   We understood that there was a collection of Vitra furniture to see and the helpful woman at the desk directed us back to the start of the campus.  We wandered back past the helter skelter (not tempting!) and found another cafe that we had pretty much ignored at the start.  Now ready for lunch we enjoyed poached eggs on sourdough toast with iron crusts and very good iced latte.   At last we were ready for the furniture but it turned out to be a vast warehouse of shelves, a bit like the reserve collection at the Sainsbury Centre, but firmly behind glass with just a couple of places where you could peep through!   We has to content ourselves with a small exhibition of 'science fiction' related furniture and some chairs and a quick look round an expensive shop!   Altogether a slightly disappointing day, but there were certainly some very interesting buildings on the campus.  Another long hot walk back to the station at Weil am Rhein and then the train to Freiburg. 

In the evening we ate at The Kartoffel Haus where everything contained potato!  It was OK, but only just! 

Evidence of two long walks! 

The Vitra Museum and cafe

Freiburg, Tuesday 13th May

Peter outside the art museum. Our first coffee stop

Today was a day full of museums and walking.  Freiburg is busy but not frantic.  The streets of the old town have virtually no traffic, other than bikes and trams and most of the tourists are German.  There is a very laid back atmosphere.  We were late to breakfast - 10.00am!  Then we visited the Tourist Office across the square from the hotel and collected a small map. We has coffee on the terrance outside the Modern Art museum,  a small but very interesting museum with an extraordinary exhibition of puppets. Lunch was white asparagus and potatoes beside a stream, then on to the Augustinier museum (early Christian art), not much to our liking but the roof structure on the 3rd Floor was beautiful.  Then we walked to find a restaurant for the evening.  A quick visit to the Cathedral where we lit a candie for Rupert (a thing he like to do in cherches in France when he was little) and then we stopped for lemon tea and cheese cake before a visit to the natural history museum.  Pity we has no small grandchildren with us as the museum was exceptional.   All the museums today were free and  virtually empty! More guards than visitors.

Poster for the puppet exhibition

Our lunch stop

We at at a restaurant on Konvictstrasse called Lichtblick and had a good meal - good service and surroundings, a healthy buzz.  I has foie gras followed by rabbit and wild mushroom risotto.  Peter had a small salad and then swordfish.  We both finished with apple strudel and ice cream. We asked for de-caf coffee but were not sure we got it as we both has trouble sleeping! 

Lunch

Outside our bedroom window men digging up the road began work at 7.30.  The bells rang the hours, the quarter, the half and the three quarters throughout the night! 

My dinner - rabbit and risotto

Small water courses

The streets of Freiburg have small canals or water courses running through them.  Sometimes there are metal 'crossing' places, otherwise people just step over them.  Small children paddle or pull along little sailing boats.  Occasionally there are decorations! 

Freiburg, Germany: Monday 12th May 2025

The journey from Norwich to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Basle and then Basle to Freiburg was a little fraught!  The flight to Amsterdam was delayed and we has a very short time to get to the next flight which was, seemingly, miles away!  We hustled through the airport and were relieved to find the Basle flight delayed. Idly looking at our boarding passes for this flight we realised that we were seated far apart, so we went to the desk and lo and behold, there were new passes in our names waiting for us - and in business class.  We ate the superior lunch in favour of the tuna sandwiches we has brought from home.  At Basle, our luggage failed to appear and there was the laborious task of working our way through the questions on a machine to register the fact.  We caught the bus to Freiburg and signed in at the Hotel am Rathaus. The room was fine, with a splendid bathroom.  We later realised that the bed was incredibly high and it was an effort to climb onto it and the shower tray was very slippery.  Two minor complaints!  We had already booked a restaurant , Grosser Meyerhof, and it turned out to be a busy, laid back traditional restaurant with good honest food and an excellent waitress.   Our luggage had arrived by the time we got back to the hotel - thank goodness! 

Nice, France 9th March to 17th March 2025

We'd been to Nice several years ago, but decided to go again to see if it was somewhere we might go on a regular basis to escape the winter, Peter having been complaining about being cold!  We have friends who have been on several occasions for one or two months at a time and are very enthusiastic about Nice.  

We had an Airbnb in a quiet part of the town, very handy for the excellent transport - buses, trams and trains - and close to the old town.  It looked good at first, until we realised how many things needed fixing and how uncomfortable the seating was!   I didn't have a decent night's sleep the whole time we were there.  And it rained for some part of every day.  It didn't stop us going out and about but it cut down on strolling about in the evening - we made quick dashes to restaurants leaping over puddles. 

We did a lot of 'art'.  The Chagal Museum and The Matisse Museum.  We took the train to Cannes and went to the Bonnard Museum.  We took a bus to Villefrance and visited the Ephrussi-Rothchild house with a very interesting garden and an elegant dining room where we had lunch.  Also in Villefrance we found the 'underground' road. 

We had some good meals and the sun came out on the last day and we were able to amble along the Boulevard des Anglais. 

We decided that we wouldn't be 'wintering' in Nice.  There wasn't' quite enough to do once we had ticked off the museums and we didn't feel particularly 'at home' there.  

The underground road at Villefrance

Old town, Nice

The view from the dining room at the Ephrussi-Rothchild House

Lunch

Octopus

Gardens at the E-R house

Garden at the E-R house

The port, Nice

Sweetbreads 

Around Tewkesbury

Today we spent our time in Tewkesbury.  First a visit to the John Moore Countryside Museum housed in one of a row of Tudor houses.  We walked around and up two flights of very steep stairs and looked at the flora and fauna of the area and the life of John Moore, a naturalist and writer.   Then we were taken by the volunteer a few doors up to see a restored Tudor home which also doubled as a shop.

Tudor hallway

Smoke goes straight up!

Serious reader of information

Steep stairs! 

Then we explored a 'secret' garden nearby before going into the Abbey tea room for coffee before looking at the Abbey and its great Norman pillars.  There were only three of the misericords on view, and one of them was rather odd!  

Misericord, Tewkesbury Abbey

We had lunch back at the flat and then set off for the only other museum, just up the road in another fine building.  Again the museum was run by volunteers and rather quirky.  There was a great model of a fair ground with moving parts and upstairs several tableau depicting the last battle of the Wars of the Roses which took place in Tewkesbury.  I spotted a grammatical error/spelling mistake in one of the information panels and I'm ashamed to say I couldn't stop myself pointing it out.  They seemed grateful!! 

We ate at the Abbot's Table in the evening.  Peter's rib eye steak was good and my duck breast was passable!   

Tewkesbury

A day out from Tewkesbury today.  After breakfast we collected the car from the now less flooded car park and headed south to Dyrham Park, another National Trust stately pile.   The house is set in a valley and the car park is at the top of the hill and a winding path takes you down through woodland past rushing streams.  A small group of deer were seen running in the distance.  

The house is in the baroque style and was the home of William Blathwayt, a courtier to William and Mary and a man who made a lot of money as the king's accountant, collecting money from the colonies.  Slavery contributed to his wealth, a fact openly acknowledged in the house.  The interior was lovely and very interesting as were the grounds and gardens.  There were a least three 'films' projected on to walls telling the story of William and the house and excellent information is all the rooms.   

Dyrham Park

Tranquil view across a lake

As usual we started with coffee and later had lunch.  Fortunately, they run a shuttle bus back up the steep hill to the car park.  

On the way back we stopped at Gloucester services and fast charged the car to 100% while we had a cup of tea and a bun! 

Italian restaurant tonight - much better than the first Italian restaurant.  Not a lot of choice in Tewkesbury! 

Tewkesbury and the joys of travel by electric car!! 21st October 2024

Charlecote House

We set off from Norwich at 9.00 on Monday 21st October for 4 nights in the Fish Loft in Tewkesbury - with a fully charged car.   When we reached a loo/coffee stop at Cambridge services, we plugged in for a quick top up.  We stopped for lunch at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire, a magnificent house.  Charlecote car park had a whole row of chargers, so we plugged in again!! 

Peter was impressed with the inside of the house (only the downstairs rooms open) but I found it a bit heavy and dark.  Still a great history to the house with the family still in residence and having come over with William the Conqueror! 

Then on to Tewkesbury only to find the car park near the flat, for which the owner had a permit lined up for us, was flooded!  Peter eventually located another car park and despite a message in the car that we had a permit for a flooded car park, we returned to find a Penalty Notice!  Paul the very helpful owner of the apartment, sorted that out for us.  Earlier we had visited the Tourist information place and had leaflets for walks round the ancient buildings and alley ways.  We spent some time locating a roll of sellotape of just the right width for a return parcel that Peter had with him and chased a non-existent kerb side charger and eventually ended up for coffee in the oldest pub in Gloucestershire.  Then we searched the various maps for a charger to top up the car before going off on Wednesday to another National Trust property. We headed for one which was further outside Tewkesbury that anticipated only to find we could not make it work.  On to the next charger which was in a pub car park.  We plugged in and went inside for some food - very mediocre!  We spotted a bus stop outside the pub and left the car and came back to the flat and collapsed!   A recce told us that the car park near the flat was just about accessible now and so we boarded a bus back to the pub and collected the car.  We managed to get the car into the car park without going through deep water and then did one of the walks round Tewkesbury that we had collected the previous day.  Saw some very interesting buildings and alleys. 

A restored 1400 house

Large windows for stocking weavers

A view of the Abbey

The old Baptist Chapel and burying ground

We couldn't go into the Abbey because they were doing a ticketed Son et Lumiere event so we went and bought some crisps and a bottle of wine with which to wash down the evening news! 

And then to an Indian restaurant for some of the tastiest curry we've had in a long time.