Round 2- to Vancouver Island

So after a kayak on Moraine Lake, and a walk up to the top to take a few last pictures, we loaded up the car and headed off as we had a long drive (over 400km) to Kelowna. Annoyingly, as I have mentioned before, this was Saturday, and on that very Saturday, the inurural Canadian parkrun was starting, IN KELOWNA!!! But there was no way we were starting our drive at 3am to make it there on time. We stopped early on in our journey to pick up some bits for lunch (we got a nice picnic of hummus, ready sliced peppers, crackers and apples) but we didn’t pass any proper looking rest stops, so we ended up powering through, arriving in the afternoon.

Kelowna is on a large lake and seemed the place that a lot of people had headed to on holiday- loads of trucks towing boats, and there were large parks where you could hire bikes and do some walking. In the end we spent a bit of time walking around near our hotel, going to a shopping mall, walking along by the lake (a lovely path from close to the town centre all along past beaches and marinas), in the old town, and we even came across a lovely Japanese garden.

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Now I know about the parkrun, we can plan our next trip to make it work!

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The Japanese garden

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A cool bear sculpture by the water. It was fairly overcast here, but it was very hot indeed.

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Some of my favourite Canadian shops were visited (plus Roots- not sure where the bag was for that)

We only stayed there for two nights, so on our final morning I was awake early so headed to the gym in the hotel for a run- I was conscious that we had an even longer car journey so I wanted to get moving for a bit that day. I had it all to myself at the start, and listened to a Marathon Talk podcast while I was running (I save them for running so I had a bit of a backlog).

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I even managed a mid-run photo, although I realised afterwards that I could have just pretended by holding a running pose…

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Anyway, the 500+km journey to Whistler loomed, so we didn’t hang about after breakfast.

Again, we didn’t really find anywhere to stop properly. We have been on a few US road trips and their roads seem to have frequent rest areas with benches and toilet blocks, but I think over this side of Canada it’s more sparsely populated. In the end we stopped on a pullout for a bit of a stretch, before the final few hours.

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We had the evening and next morning in Whistler- we have been there before (last time we got the cable car into the mountains and did some lovely walks up there), and this time just enjoyed wandering around the village.

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I was still loving the Olympic spirit! Because of the time difference we had seen a lot of it (although if a Canadian athlete was doing something in another sport, they would cut away).

Then we drove to the ferry port north of Vancouver (Horseshoe Bay) and got the ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

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When we arrived we knew we had (another) drive to our hotel, so we wandered around the town for a bit, and found a place that made smoothies and vegan food- we both went for the hummus wrap (some sort of dehydrated wrap- they gave us water to have with it too as apparently we needed to) which was filled with lovely fresh veggies, although very hard to eat!

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Of course we also had to have a nanaimo bar- when in Rome eh?

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On the drive to our hotel, we both saw something dark run across the grass in the middle of the freeway- initially we both thought it was a dog but when we got closer we realised it was a bear! Crazy!

One of the things we both really wanted to do was go whale watching, so we had booked a trip from Telegraph Cove.

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It was the tiniest place- winter population =4!

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As I am sure you can imagine I took many photos- I wanted to look at them properly, and not on my phone screen, so I tried to point my phone in the general direction and then press the button whenever I saw anything.

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They put up a special “whale watching” flag whenever we saw whales, to warn other boats.

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Killer whale/ orca

We were so lucky- we ended up seeing several pods of killer whales (some ate mammals, others ate fish), two humpback whales, porpoises, seals, sealions and dolphins!

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Humpback whale

The next day we were heading to the other side of the island, so that will wait for another post.

Have you ever seen whales?  The shop had t-shirts that said “I’ve seen Blackfish in the wild”- I have been to Seaworld a few times and then after seeing that film I have had a lot of guilt. Although to be fair the wildlife expert on our boat told us that they were seen as the enemy as they ate fish, so there used to be a machine gun (yes- you read that correctly) mounted at one inlet and people would just shoot the whales. When they were first captured and put in aquariums, they realised how intelligent and also how endangered they were, so the conservation work started there. Although those parks played their part, they should be in the wild now.

Round one: Canadian Rockies

So I am back from a wonderful holiday. Of course I took rather a lot of photos, and as we did a lot of moving about (I think the most we had was 3 nights in the same place) there is a lot of recapping, so I will do a few posts on it.

Because our flight was from Gatwick, which is basically in Brighton, and we didn’t fancy the two hour drive in rush hour, we got the train the night before and stayed in the Premier Inn, which meant we had a nice relaxing start the next day. The flight was long, (10 hours I think) – we flew with West Jet who are a sort of low (lower) cost airline- no food on board, no entertainment (although you could get an app and then watch things that way)- but that suited us- we bought some snacks with us and a nice sandwich in Pret, and I had downloaded a few things from i-player to my tablet which helped pass the time.

We landed in Calgary just after lunch time there, and headed to an outlet mall for a bit of shopping (and a London fog latte for me, oh how I love them) before driving to Drumheller. We had seen this place on The Amazing Race Canada (I love this show- a bit like a travel show crossed with the Crystal Maze)- it’s a canyon where loads and loads of dinosaur fossils were discovered, and there is a museum as well as trails through the badlands. Due to jet lag, we were at the museum before it even opened!

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The scenery was very interesting, and we took part in a guided hike around the badlands as well as visiting the museum.

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T-Rex called “Black Beauty”- the real skull was too heavy to be held in place.

It was set up really well, with a pathway to follow, lots of information about the fossils, and you could even look through a glass partition and see people working on the fossils.

We had a fairly long drive to Banff so after stopping to look at some hoodoos (rock formations) we headed off. We saw plenty of wildlife on this drive including deer and elk, and early evening arrived in Banff.

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Our room had lovely views of the mountains, and after relaxing for a bit we headed into the town, which I think is the most scenic high street in the world.

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The road lines up perfectly with the mountain. It is such a good town to stay in- it has that sort of apres ski vibe with shops, cafes and restaurants open in the evening.

During our days in Banff we walked around a nearby lake, hiked up to some waterfalls and took the gondola up the mountain for panoramic views.

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We saw a beaver in the water at this lake- we were not quick enough to take a photo though.

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From the top of the mountain

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Driving back after visiting one of the waterfalls, we noticed a lot of cars pulled over (wildlife jam) and were very excited to see a bear! A little later it wandered across the road. Some people were getting very close and it did a bit of a charge to scare them off- I think people forget that they are wild animals. We had seen bears in Glacier park in the US, but never in Canada (and 7 years ago we visited Banff and Jasper and spent all of our journeys peering out of the car in hope of spotting one).

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Mmmm London fog.

We had some lovely food too- we found a nice veggie place called Nourish which made very tasty nachos (covered in everything from cheese to blueberries), and a burger bar (Eddie’s) which had a menu, but also a create your own, where I had a veggie burger with peanut butter, pickles and blueberry chutney. Sounds weird but it was delicious.

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Of course we found a bakery too (Wild Flour bakery)- we had been hiking all morning and did’t get into town until around 3pm- we shared carrot cake and it was so tempting to eat it while we were waiting for our sandwiches to be made! We planned to go back for breakfast as the almond croissants and cinnamon rolls looked so good, but when we got there they had none- how disappointing!

After a few days in Banff, we headed a hour or so north to Lake Louise. Again, we had visited here before, and last time tried to make the hike to the Lake Agnes tea house. The hotel were very helpful in providing a map, and we realised that last time we had headed off in the wrong direction completely.

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This time the hike was a success! It’s just under 3k from the hotel to the tea house, but at times it is fairly steep, lots of switchbacks, and of course at a high elevation too, so it was hard work. We had been warned that the tea house was cash only (no electricity, they boil the water over a fire, although someone did ask if they had wi-fi…)- the people who work there stay for about 4 nights before hiking back down.

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Anywhere with this long a tea list is good for me!  We then walked around the lake, and then attempted to climb up to another look out, but the switchbacks were very steep, the ground was covered in loose stones, and I could see the lake below me (I am not keen on being on a steep slope like that) so we gave up after getting most of the way there. I had to clamber down some of it sitting down as it was just so steep.

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From the far side of the lake looking across to the tea house.

After hiking back down we were pretty shattered, in a good way (we had walked about 6 or 7 miles and pretty much none of it was flat), and so enjoyed dinner with views of Lake Louise.

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The next morning Andy had booked a surprise for us- a sunrise canoe on Lake Louise. We had to be ready at the boat house for 6am- early indeed! They gave us a hot drink and a bag with some breakfast food, but I have no idea how people either drink or eat whilst paddling and not dropping the oar into the water.

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I was very nervous about falling in (the water is so very cold) but after a bit I got used to it. The scenery was amazing, and it was so peaceful to be there in the middle of the water. I even braved a few photos, carefully balancing the oar on my lap. The reflections of the sun coming up were just amazing to see.

We were only there for one night, so after that we drove up the Icefields Parkway, stopping at Peyto lake (amazing, shaped like a wolf) and the Athabasca glacier, before getting to Jasper in the afternoon.

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Peyto Lake

IMG_20160816_142220383_HDR-PANO The glacier

Our first stop in Jasper was the Bear’s Paw bakery, which we loved last time we went. It did not disappoint!

Driving up to our lodge we saw an elk, and two bears! Andy joked that I should run down to the village in the morning to get our breakfast, but with all that wildlife close by I declined! Lucky I didn’t because the next morning we saw a bear by the side of the road, happily eating berries and seemingly oblivious to our car.

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An elk

Around Jasper there were more amazing lakes and views to be seen. Some of the hikes only allowed groups of four or more, due to bear activities, so we had to stick to the more populated paths.

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Lake Annette- a lovely path (5k I think?) lead around the entire lake with beautiful views at every turn.

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Medicine Lake (it looked very different from last time as there had been a forest fire so a lot of the trees were gone, or black).

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Maligne Lake- you can do a cruise here for one of the most famous photos of the Rockies (Spirit Island) but as we did that last time we stayed on the shore this time.

On the way to Maligne lake we saw two moose by the side of the road!

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We hiked along the trail at Mount Edith Cavell to see a lake filled with icebergs.

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On our way back from seeing the Athabasca falls, there was another wildlife jam. At first we could not work out what it was, but then we saw it was a bear up a tree!

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One afternoon we had a walk around trails close to Jasper town- this totem pole is in the town centre.

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On our last day we shared one of the Bear’s Paw’s legendary sticky buns- so good, and bought a pb&j to have as lunch on our journey. We then drove back down the Icefields Parkway, stopping by another stunning lake for lunch.

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We were staying at Moraine Lake, which is very close by to Lake Louise. Our hotel stay included a canoe hire, but it was a bit windy in the evening and they weren’t letting people go out, so we walked around the lake instead.

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The next morning the weather was perfect so we spent about 45 minutes on the lake, before checking out.

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After those 10 days we were leaving the Rockies behind us, but as we bought a National Parks pass that is valid until August 2018, I have a feeling we may well be going back…

Have you ever been to Canada? Would you be tempted? What sort of activities do you like to do on holiday?

South Africa part 2- safari time!

So ( basically a month ago now) after our few days in Cape Town (where I didn’t get to a parkun because our plane landed on Saturday morning after they all ended) we had a 2 hour flight to Jo’burg, and then a 4 hour transfer to our safari place. Yes, four hours. We had chosen the safari as it looked amazing and also was malaria free, which due to the last minute nature of our trip suited us. But mainly because it looked amazing. We could have flown to Botswana as it was close to the border, but changing between countries didn’t seem that easy. So it was either get in a tiny and very expensive plane, get drive, or drive ourselves (we are glad we didn’t choose the final option in the end as I think we would have been horrendously lost).

Anyway, the drive was interesting- the outskirts of Jo’burg seemed like a big US city, with huge motorways and service stations. But soon we were driving on little roads through small villages, past townships and farms, and the more “traditional” African landscape. I loved seeing the painted buildings- we saw a school with numbers and the alphabet painted brightly all over the building. The last hour of the journey was on a very bumpy unpaved road (this was warned about when we booked it)- the drive was not slowing down and I think my Garmin thought I was running as it was jiggling us about so much!

The reserve we were staying in had bookings only, and when we were waiting at the entrance hut for them to check our booking, a giraffe walked across the road in front of us! It was all so exciting! We were still nearly an hour from the lodge. We arrived there just before 4pm, and they told us we could make the safari if we wanted to. Of course we wanted to!

Rhinos on our first day. I loved seeing them- they were so gentle and peaceful. Our guide told us that all other animals were reported over the radio, but because of poachers they never disclosed the rhinos. It was heartbreaking. They also told the guests how many of the other animals that were there, but even the guides would not be allowed to know how many rhinos were in the park. 

We were to have the same driver and tracker for our stay, so they asked us about what we would like to see. Around sunset they found somewhere to stop (which felt a bit weird at first- getting out of the vehicle after seeing all of these animals) and we had drinks and nibbles, and then continued in the dark, with our tracker shining a torch back and forth (very hypnotic). It was then back for dinner at the lodge, which that night was a sort of BBQ around a fire pit (loads of salads and veggie options).

Our lodge- the balcony did have a small fence around it but it looked right out into the bush and we saw so many animals from here.

We were there from Tuesday evening to Saturday morning, and each day went like this:

6am wake up call. Head up to the main lodge (in the dark you had to be accompanied by security guards as they were cautious about the wild animals)- there was tea, coffee and  rusks (looked like biscotti) if you wanted. Then we got into the open sided jeep things.

It was so cold, so for the morning ones they provided hot water bottles, blankets, and these huge ponchos with fleecy linings- I had it all!

6.30am – Head off and look for animals. The guide was amazing (she was a zoologist) and had so many facts about the animals. It was mainly us and a family of four, so we had a lot of space in there, and no-one crowding to see the animals. She was so respectful of the animals too- she would stay a long way back and would turn off the engine if we were close. Sometimes with the elephants she would show us certain behaviours that meant they didn’t want to be disturbed, so she would back away or leave them.

Sometime after sunrise the safari would stop (the park had special designated drinks areas- nice and wide and open so we would not be surprised by a leopard)- in the morning I went for hot chocolate, but there was coffee and tea too. Plus freshly made muffins (a different one each day- banana, lemon poppyseed, apple cinnamon, chocolate chip..).

One of our morning stops- there were some caves nearby so we walked there (with our guide)- she found that hyenas had been sleeping in the caves overnight!

Then we would climb back on and see more animals before getting back to the lodge.

The landscape was not what I expected- it was far more tree-covered- I was expecting vast plains, but it was much more varied. We saw baboons here- this was an old waterfall and what looks like rock was actually solidified algae.

9.30am approx- Arrive back (welcomed with hot towels)- we could either shower first, or go straight to breakfast. There was a buffet with all the cold breakfast items imaginable (cereal, pastries, toast, fresh fruit platters, yoghurts, even cheese and meats), plus a menu, although they would also cook anything- I had French toast one day which was lovely. On a couple of days I stuck to the cold things, and then on another day had French toast again, even though it wasn’t on the menu, they offered it all.

You had a view of the watering hole from the veranda where breakfast was served and so every day we saw different animals there- zebra, kudu with their amazing twisty horns, warthog, wildebeest…. pretty special indeed. They have artificial watering holes as the reserve is on old farmland and so they needed to create places, although there were some natural ones on the reserve, as well as a river.

10.30-3.00 ish- This was time to chill in our room. On a couple of days I went for a short run on the treadmill, as there was an open air gym (no running in the bush was allowed).

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5K was enough for me as it was so hot. I wore my parkrun 50 t-shirt so I felt like I was sort of running one in SA! On another day I went for a neck, back and shoulder massage in the spa (the exchange rate is very good so it was very reasonable indeed)- this was amazing but I put “medium” pressure, and goodness knows what firm would have been like!

There was lunch from 12-2pm, but we didn’t bother as we were always full from breakfast. We spent time reading on the veranda, or listening to podcasts. It was brilliant because you would look up and see animals wandering past. One day a huge herd of elephants went by, including a baby so tiny it was almost hidden under the stomach of another one.

One day we saw loads of giraffes and I ended up watching them for an hour. They were so funny- they would walk, then freeze, then very slowly much on the leaves, and then a few minutes later take a few more steps.

I loved seeing the warthogs too- they put up their tail as they go to leave, and that indicates “follow me”- they trot along in a very comical way. I could have just sat there and watched the animals go by for the whole time, even without the drives.

3.00pm- Afternoon tea was served on the veranda- this was basically iced tea, some savoury canapes and then some sort of freshly baked cake- again often we were not that hungry but most days I had something small.

3.30pm – The afternoon safari set off. This started off nice and warm, but you needed to bring jumpers and coats because it soon got very cold with the air rushing past, especially once the sun went down.

We saw lots of lions on these drives! Here are some lions eating a buffalo- the bone crunching sounds were graphic! They had special “locks” so that only a limited number of cars could be at each sighting- so they would not disturb the animals. Our driver would move the car to a few different positions so we could get different views. She told us that if a lion came up to the car, they would see the vehicle as one item so as long as we sat still we would be OK.

One evening was my absolute favourite- we saw two female lions, two older cubs, and three tiny cubs. The male lion was also there but hard to see as he was behind a termite mound. Honestly it was amazing how well camouflaged they were- they are huge but once they like down even if you know they are there they can be hard to spot. The cubs were so playful with each other, it was just amazing.

The tracking was amazing to watch- the driver and tracker would be peering at the floor for prints- on one of our stops they pointed out various ones to us- we could identify the big cat prints because of the dents in the bottom. We also saw rhino ones- bigger than dinner plates! Our guide knew so much about the birds too- we saw a lot of hornbills (so I constantly had that line from Lion King; “Kings don’t need advice from little hornbills for a start” going around my head), plenty of very pretty birds (I did write them all down) and an eagle.

Sometime around sunset we would find a place to stop, and here we would have sundown drinks. They asked before they left if we wanted anything, so they had freshly made iced tea for me, beer for Andy- some people had cocktails. They also got a little camping stove and cooked kebabs- veggie ones for me, and then they would cook meat ones. There were also snacks like pretzels, raisins and that jerky thing.

We saw many beautiful sunsets. Then we would climb back up and the tracker, sat on the front, would hook up a huge spotlight and gently sweep it left to right, right to left as we drove, looking for eyes reflecting. They had a policy that they would not shine it on animals that should not be out at night as it could confuse them, so if they saw animals like that they would switch off the beam and drive past.

Our first lion sighting was our second evening- this male lion was known to be very calm around vehicles and had been seen near to our camp. At first we found him walking along the road (they prefer to as it’s easier than going through the thorny bushes) but later we saw him again as we were heading back to the lodge.

7.30pm (approx)- We would arrive back (again welcomed with hot towels) and then shown to dinner- sometimes it was around the fire pit, others up on the balcony. One night we were the only guests there, so they set it up for us in our room which was amazing.

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They even lit us a fire as it was a bit chilly. The chef would always come and speak to us, and the food was just fantastic. There was always a starter, soup, main and dessert- nothing too large, and so full of fresh vegetables and fruits. Plus the vegetarian option was not a different version of the meat course, it was something totally different. On the day we had dinner in our room we had aubergine carpacio to begin (three slices of seasoned crispy aubergine with some lovely vegetables), then carrot and potato soup, a traditional African dish of baked spiced lentils with some fresh salsa on the side, and then sticky toffee pudding.

When we sat in the main part of the lodge you could see the watering hole as it was lit with a sort of faint orange light- a couple of evenings we saw a rhino there, and one night a hyena!

Then we would have to try and stay awake for a bit and let dinner go down before going to sleep as it would be starting all again in the morning.

We didn’t manage to see a leopard, so we have been told we need to go back as that is the last of the big five (we managed to see lions, elephants, rhinos and buffalo all in one evening once!).  It was totally amazing, and I am so glad that we managed to get there and juggle it around our house move. We managed a safari drive on the morning before leaving for our (four hour….) transfer, and I don’t think I could ever get bored of them. There were some guys who left a day early because in their words, “once you’ve seen one elephant, you’ve seen them all”- what??? We saw so many- we saw some younger ones play fighting- they pushed over small trees as a show of their strength- it was fascinating. Also those guys wanted to see lions but didn’t manage it- I am not sure why they didn’t stay to try and see a lion.

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When our guide found out I was a teacher, she offered to make a cast of a lion footprint using plaster of Paris, so on one of our drink stops we walked along a bit until we found one, and then went back later to collect it. They packaged it up and I am glad to say it survived the flight home.

Andy got some amazing photos with his zoom lens, so now we have the tricky decisions of which pictures to print!

Would you ever consider a safari? 

Cape Town!

So we had a bit of a stressful week- moving house on a Tuesday is not the easiest of days, needing work things right up to the last minute, and the day after. It was made a bit more stressful because on Friday night after work we were flying to Cape Town! It was a bit of a last minute trip, as Andy needed to go there to meet some colleagues. As our move was meant to be the 12th of May, and he was able to combine the trip with some leave (if he wanted to, so I could join him), we booked it for half term (only at the end of April I think- very last minute for us!). Then our move was moved back one week (20th), and then again to the following Tuesday. We could not have moved much later! It meant we packed as much of our holiday suitcases before we moved, so we were not frantically trying to find things in boxes. Although my little tube of germoline went missing, and at Heathrow my bag was not accepted in the x-ray machine as there was something there. Turns out the tube was right in the bottom of my rucksack- no idea when I put it there!

Anyway, the flight was really good – it was 12 hours overnight but we had the exit rows which meant lots of leg room. It didn’t take off until 10pm, and after a busy week we were both shattered and went to sleep straight away. It is only one hour time difference which really helped- no jet lag!

After a quick change in our B&B, we were off to Table Mountain. You could hike, but it looked steep and we didn’t have that long, so we got the cable car. We had a long walk around at the top, admiring the views.

After heading back down we were being picked up by Andy’s boss, who was taking us (along with other people from his company) out to dinner at a vineyard. We arrived just as the sun was setting- it was stunning.

On Sunday morning we had booked a tour because I really wanted to see the penguins, having never seen them in the wild before. The tour went to a few places along the coast, including the Cape of Good Hope. The coastline was beautiful and dramatic- a bit like Big Sur in California.

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Before finally getting to Boulder’s Beach and the penguins!

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I could have watched them for hours- I love how they waddle along. Our tour then took us back to Cape Town, where after a little rest we headed out for some dinner. I did wonder about veggie options as they do seem to love their meat, but we found a nice burger bar that had a few homemade veggie patties, and lots of salad options too. We shared guacamole for starter which was freshly made and mashed at our table in front of us.

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We shared this brownie for dessert- it was very good!

On Monday Andy was popping in to work so I went on the Big Red Bus tour. It is a hop on hop off bus, and one route was a loop around the bottom of Table Mountain, along the coast and to the waterfront.

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I got off at one of the beautiful beaches, but I got a bit accosted by people trying to sell me their artwork (which was impressive, but I wasn’t going to buy any of it)- it reminded me a bit of Turkey as the people were a bit more pushy than I am used to. I rode the bus the rest of the way, looking for where we should get off later when Andy joined me.

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I had a lovely wander around the V&A waterfront, and a very good lunch.

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Veggie and hummus sandwich, and rooibos tea of course! I then headed back, as Andy was on his way back from meeting people at work (they had been out for lunch) and so we did the bus tour again, this time getting off at a later beach and walking along as the sun was setting.

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The next morning we were up early to catch a flight to Jo’burg, but I will save that for another post…

A festive weekend in Strasbourg

So for the last few years we have spent a weekend visiting a European Christmas market. Years ago we went to Copenhagen, (although that was just for the festive shops and Tivoli gardens), and since then have been to Bruges, Cologne and Brussels, and last year Vienna. The Germanic ones are the best by far, but going by Eurostar (which we did for Bruges and Cologne) is far better. When we were looking this year, Strasbourg in France came up as being voted the best Christmas market, and it looked such a pretty place too.

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This huge Disney soft toy tree is at the train station. While we were stood there a man walked past, reached over the fence and pulled one of the toys, and the whole tree rippled (they must be attached to a cone shaped structure)- not sure what he was thinking would happen…

So on Friday night we got to the last train out to Paris, stayed in a hotel by the station, and on Saturday morning got the train to Strasbourg. Train travel is so relaxing- we brought some lunch with us, listened to podcasts, chatted and enjoyed the view.

We arrived at around 1pm, and our hotel room was ready so after leaving our bags we headed out.

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This huge tree was in the centre of a square and smelled amazing! Like you were in the middle of a pine forest.

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There were so many beautiful buildings- like something from a fairy tale. There were lots of markets (maybe 8?) scattered about the centre of the town, all within easy walking distance, so we just wandered.

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There was a huge cathedral with a market in front- this was really similar to the centre of Cologne. We stopped for a drink here- I had some gorgeous hot apple juice with 7 spices and honey (I like going to France because I can actually understand a lot of the signs!) and Andy had a Gluwein (which is half the point of going I think!).

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As well as plenty of Christmas markets, there was a lovely river so we had a walk along that for a bit as the sun was going down.

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We had a bit of a rest in the hotel before heading back out to enjoy the markets in the evening before they closed.

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Everywhere looked so pretty in the dark.

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We walked back to the same markets from earlier. This time I had a hot chocolate to warm up (it’s got to be done).

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The next morning our train wasn’t until lunch time, so we had a walk around the town, had a breakfast of almond croissant+ hot chocolate, before getting the train back to Paris.

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We got the underground into the centre (after buying tickets, it turned out that the trains were free for that day) and then walked along the river, to the Louvre, then along to the Champs Elysée to the Christmas market there, although that was a bit of a nightmare and more like how I imagine Winter Wonderland to be- a lot of tat, a lot of fairground rides, and not really that festive. It was really busy, but there were police everywhere (not surprising) and most shops were searching bags, so one of us would wait outside with our rucksacks while the other went in. We bought some sandwiches for the train, and then headed back to check in for the Eurostar home.

2015-11-28 20.20.37We bought a gingerbread to share- I have no idea how they make them so tasty as they are like a cross between cake and biscuit.

It was such a lovely weekend- travelling by train is so much less stressful than by plane, and the markets were so festive, it was a great place to visit. I even managed to buy a few gifts so have finally begun my Christmas shopping (and nothing on Black Friday either!).

Are you starting to feel festive now? Are you a fan of Christmas markets?