Back to miserable weather!!

3 weeks of warm sunny weather in Spain and we have returned to cold wet gloomy days. Today I can even see snow on the hills. And I managed to come back with a nasty little cold and sore throat, luckily on it's way now but i felt quite poorly last week. Having only just recovered from the New Year bug it seemed a bit unfair to pick something else up.
We thoroughly enjoyed our mini adventure, 3100 kms in 3 weeks, and we got as far as Grenada, which had been our aim. Before I write up some of the places we visited here is a list of the books I managed to read[on my kindle]:
Anita Shreve: A change in altitude and Resistance
Diane Chamberlain: The bay at midnight
Rose Tremain: Trespass
Sadie Jones: Small wars
Sohie Hannah: The truth tellers lies
Jodi Picoult: Second Glance
and a real book David Mitchell: The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet. You can't beat the feel of a real book, it has a lovely cover too.

I particularly enjoyed the last two, very different books but I do like to feel as if I'm learning something new when I read. Second Glance mixes ghosts with Abenaki Indians and the Vermont Eugenics progamme of the 1930's, rather difficult to follow at times with the interwoven stories and characters, but worth the effort. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is set in Japan at the turn of the 18th century and is centred on the Dutch East Indies Company trading base on a tiny man made island in the bay of Nagasaki. Beautifully written and a wealth of fascinating facts about Japan at that time plus a good story.

Must go away more often with no internet, television or other distractions from reading good books.
Next post will be about Spain, lots of photos, and Tapas, such a civilised way of eating.

Cruising in a campervan round Spain.

Well not all the way round! We are hiring a campervan for three weeks starting tonight, something we have never done before and may never do again. The aim is to get as far as Grenada following the east coast on the quiet roads stopping where and when we feel like it. Nothing is pre-planned except we hope to be in Valencia for this weekend [for my birthday] and for a fiesta which lasts all weekend and should be very exciting.
If we can find wifi places then I will try and post some photos on the way, if not it will be when we get home just before Easter.
I am really looking forward to seeing the Alhambra and many other places all along the coast. Hopefully it will not be too busy at this time of year but still it should be pleasantly warm, and I may even get a swim when we get far enough south.
Anyway off we go on our mini adventure.

Whatever happenned to January?

And half of February for that matter!!!
I had such good intentions to restart my blog on my 4th blogversary but since Boxing day I have been laid low by a nasty cold virus that turned into chronic sinusitis followed by bronchitis. I haven't been sleeping which has left me exhausted. I haven't been able to run, a terrible thing for someone totally addicted to running, or cycle, or do much at all really. Even reading has been hard work!!!!
I have just had my third session of acupuncture and yet more homeopathic remedies, but for once they really have been struggling to overcome the nasty virus still clinging on. I am hoping that with more sleep I shall have more strength to fight back.
To add to all this we have had about 8ins of snow and freezing temperatures for the past week or so with no sign of a thaw yet. And I thought we lived in the south of France not the frozen north!
Anyway enough of this moaning I am determined to banish the virus and get my life back to normal [whatever normal is]. So as of today I will be back visiting blogs and posting atleast once a week. I just hope that you haven't forgotten me, sob, sob, and will still visit me from time to time.
I am planning an overhaul of my blog as it seems to be set in a time warp, a bit like me really, but I shall see what I can do. So by for now and see you soon.

I still love Italy

Some more photos this time of around Lake Garda and quite a few of Verona, another amazing Italian city. The first of the Verona photos is of Juliet's balcony, mmmm!!!! Absolutely hoards of tourists in the courtyard beneath the balcony many leaving 'love tokens' stuck to the walls and love letters in a souvenir shop dedicated to the star crossed lovers. All very tacky and really rather sad. But the rest of Verona was fabulous so much to see but only one day, so would love to go back. Lake Garda was fascinating, lots of villages dotted round the shore all accessible by boat, all full of character, and each quite different. Quite touristy but generally not over the top. And we had fabulous weather which always helps!

Next stop the Alps.

I love Italy

Just a selection of some of the photos I took in Venice. I was surprised by my reaction, I thought I would be amazed by St. Mark's square but I found it soulless, atleast when compared to Sienna. Many of the buildings were under wraps for restoration but it wasn't even that. It didn't help that we couldn't get into Saint Marks because of the queue winding for miles round the Doge's Palace. But it just lacked something. However the Grand Canal and all the minor canals were mind blowing. What a feat of human ingenuity? It resembled a busy motorway with boats zipping around in every direction and at speed. Oh but it must be a hard place to live, everything bought in by boat then trollied[by hand] to home or business. No wonder the numbers of permanent residents is dwindling, and of course putting up with the thousands of tourists who arrive every day must be very wearing.

I was further amazed by the size of the Cruise ships that were docked. More like floating tower blocks. We stayed for two nights on the Lido which meant we didn't have to leave our car in a public carpark. This was an excellent choice as the Lido is much more relaxed and less claustrophobic than Venice itself, and the vaporetto across to Venice gives a panoramic view of the city.

My one regret was that I had just read Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers [see a later review] and had wanted to visit the Church of the Angel Raphael. We found it [after a long trek] just after midday and it was closed til mid afternoon. We did not have the time to return, but maybe that will be for another trip. I would like to go back and explore further. Preferably earlier or later in the year when the weather would be cooler and with maybe a few less tourists. However I am delighted to have had the chance of a brief visit.

From Venice we drove to Lake Garda to spend a week with friends from England, photos from the Lake in my next post.

Venice or bust!!

Just to say that we are off to Italy tomorrow for a holiday. First stop Varazze [near Genoa] then on to Venice for a couple of nights then to Lake Garda to meet up with friends for a week of R&R. Yippee. Then a leisurely drive home over the Alps. See you when I get back.

September already!!!!

Rubbish blogger me? Well yes but there seem to have been a few of us out there this summer. I have no excuses, I haven't been doing much of anything, except soaking up the sun's rays when they have deigned to appear. It's been a rubbish summer, for here anyway, it's all relative isn't it? I've been to the beach a few times, I love swimming in the sea, just wish it was a bit closer, but hey musn't moan. I have been doing a bit of work on the second draft of wip one but there is still a way to go. I have been reading a lot, on my Kindle and real books, so I haven't wasted the whole summer. I have looked in on other bloggers[atleast the ones who have blogged] but I haven't left comments much, so now I am going to try to be a better blogger.
If I have any followers left please call in from time to time and I will try to find something interesting to say. That may be a tall order but I'll give it a go.

To start the ball rolling a book recommendation: A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot
This is a French author that I have recently been introduced to and I enjoyed [if that is the right word] this novel. Apparently it was a runaway bestseller in France when it came out in 1991. The theme is the fate of five wounded French soldiers, who in January 1917, were forced into no-man's land by their own side, with their hands bound, and left to die in the cross-fire. The story of this barbaric punishment is slowly uncovered more than two years later by the paralyzed fiance of one of the soldiers. Mathilde Donnay wants to know the truth about what happened and why. And whether her fiance could still be alive. An unusual look at the barbarity of war and also the acts of compassion that such degradation can bring out in people.
This is a book that I shall read again as the story is complicated with intertwined characters, who all deserve more time to get to know them. His writing is quite beautiful in places. A book to savour. I shall try more of his work.
It's good to be back, leave a comment if there is anyone out there!!!