Home House Hooray!

Home House is beautiful - even the toilet was impressive. My behavior was pretty impressive too!

Slow Travel

When Niki and I headed out for the first leg of our Gap Year travels, we were hoping to experience that unique sense of exploration that can only really occur with slow travel.  Here we are, in our 5th week in Europe, and we are learning about London in the most wonderful way.   The photos below are from an area of South West London called Mortlake.  It's a beautiful place, but with limited time you would never see it.   Slow travel allows you to meet people and experience their local places.  We are fortunate.  Smile. 

Can you believe this is taken in London on the Thames?

A lovely path along the river.

Cool courtyard cafe.

Vine covered trellis in the entry.

Seriously.... is this really London?  Feels like Spain or Mexico or Italy.

 

Street Food

Shoreditch has everything.  Truly.  Last night, we hung out in a Lebanese street food tent.  Amazing vibe, cool people, fun music, great drinks.....

Yalla Yalla - The street food tent on Shoreditch High Street.

Amazing vibe.  Colorful lights, low tables, diverse crowd, old airstream trailers....

Lebanese sangria, complete with slices of extremely hot red chillies.  Spicy!

And why not throw in some fireworks.  After all, it is a Saturday night in May.

Hooka selection.

Love the signage!

Ok.... this place was gritty, rough around the edges.  Is that an old fence in the corner?  Yup.

The Lake District and Scotland

While Tammie was in Zurich, I visited Scotland with my sister. On our drive up we stopped at the Lake District and stayed in a Youth Hostel, which I was most taken with. Bunk beds and bare bones. It was bloody freezing (I wore long sleeves and a hat to bed), but I loved every minute of it.

Our jail cell - they turned the heating off at 10pm

In bed after a fabulous walk and healthy meal, reading JM Coetzee - bliss

                       
Then it was on to Scotland where it was even colder.  Plenty rain, sleet, hail and a bit of snow - ah, the Scottish summer.
The reason we went to Scotland was to scatter my father's ashes. We joined my step mother's ashes with my father's and made a circle on the shore of Loch Rannoch - their favorite place.

 

Circle of love

Spring is sprung and lambs are everywhere

The countryside is just lovely 

We hiked to a waterfall 

and the smallest whiskey distillery: Edradour

A glorious 3 hour walk 

On the drive home we stopped at the Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Temple and meditated inside - wonderful

We ended our trip with a night in Dufton and a brisk walk in the morning on the Penine way - a 268 mile walk through fairy tale like surroundings.

European Travel. Smile.

The train trip on my last night in Switzerland.  Wine, some paper cups, and olives bought at the grocery store.  Sensible.

My kind of place!

So, I stayed at this hotel in Luzern called The Hotel.  It was designed by the French architect, Jean Nouvel.  Each room has blown up clips from amazing films on either the wall or the ceiling.  The film makers represented include Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Stephen Frears, Luis Bunuel, and a number of others that I'm unfamiliar with.  Based on the section of film makers that I do know, I'm certainly going to research the others.  In addition to being a fabulously designed building, it's setting in Luzern is breathtaking.

My room, with a scene from Pedro Almodovar's Matador.

Now that's my kind of minibar!

Breathtaking view from the balcony.

It's a bit hard to capture, but hopefully you can get a sense for the ceiling art.

Beautiful poppies.

I don't really know what to say.  Luzern is just beautiful.

More beauty.

And more.

This picture falls into the "it's a small world" category.  I didn't know who Jean Nouvel was until I stayed at The Hotel.  Then, I realized that he designed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London's Hype Park in 2010.  I was there and absolutely loved it.  Talented guy.

Cool design...

Just stayed at this cool hotel called the Greulich.  Great design, done with a sense of humor.

Unexpected roommate.  Babette's cousin and the black sheep of the family.  Bhhaaaa.

Birch forest planted in the courtyard of the building.  Stunning.

The roof over the corridor leading to the rooms.  Two overlapping structures, open to the sky but structured to keep the weather out.