28 May

A friend of mine was going to go with me to Edinburgh for Easter, but when I went to hospital, he delayed his flight. Then suddenly he couldn't go on the dates he had re-arranged to. Since I was still off work, I bought the ticket off him and flew off for a few days in Edinburgh.

I visited the castle which was quite interestinsg.

But more interesting was the national museum where I took these photos:

Gold filets 12th and 13th century

Lovely eh?

I got to enjoy some great scottish food while I was there... a haggis roll for breakfast for example. I also got to try these very special snacks:

Pickled onion flavoured corn snacks. And yes, they really did taste like pickled onions.

By the way... I am on skype nowadays, so if you want to chat to me, just join up and do a search for me.

24 May

My friend Vicki flew all the way to Switzerland to check that I am really alive and well. I think she can happily report that I am definitely both... or at least the first and heading rapidly towards the second.

We took the opportunity of her visit to try and get as much health and relaxation in as possible. This meant exploring various spas around the place, starting with Geneva's own Bain de Cressy. With a certificate from my doctor, entry is only 13chf!

Then we hit the road for a ten day heavy duty relaxation holiday. Unlike Vicki I didn't keep a meticulous diary of where we went and what we saw, so I shall relate to you as best I can from the photos I took.

Day 1: North. Day trip to check out the waters at Evian. Yes we can both say that we have swum in Evian water. Still, as spas go it was reasonably ordinary. Ok decor, although maybe a little dated. Expensive to get into (20 euros?), and although we did enjoy the mini aquagym class, there were no cool jets to play around like there are at Cressy. It was pouring with rain, so we did feel that floating about in warm water gazing out at the rain was a good way to spend a day. To get in to the pool, we had to have swimming caps, and Vicki caught me on film (so to speak) showing off my cap.

Day 2: For me it was a day of doctor's visits, and for Vicki a chance to wander Geneva and buy yodelling marmots. (Don't ask) Vicki also took a really super photo of the lake and swiss flag.

Day 3: Drive up to Lavey les Bains, and a rather fab spa. We wallowed around in the water, moving from jacuzzi to pool to whirlpool. The water was lovely, and the view fantastic. There were all sorts of other spaces too, hammam, sauna, ice room and even colour therapy! Excellent value too at only 22chf per person. We stayed the night in a B&B, which was also very lovely. Sadly at this point my camera decided to die, so I didn't get much in the way of photos around there.

Day 4: South: Heading towards Aix les Bains we successfully got lost trying to find our accommodation; a gorgeous room in a 16th century mansion. Hosts were lovely, dinner down the road was also lovely: an amazing raclette. My appetite wasn't up to eating much of it, but I surely enjoyed what I did eat!

Day 5: West... Before arriving in Lyon, we visited the Chateau Miolans. We had lunch in Chambery, then headed to Lyon.

Finding our supposedly central hotel was a trial, but eventually we got there; a reasonably ok hotel in Villeurbanne. The receptionist said that there wasn't any buses, but we discovered as soon as we walked out the door of the hotel, there was a bus stop only metres away. We ate at a local kebab place (although I had chicken and couscous) and crashed out. The next day we hit the ground and dove in to Lyon life. We visited the textile museum, museum of decorative arts (should have been called the museum of the 18th century life).

Day 6: Autun: arriving at Autun we discovered that our hotel booking (for which I had paid a deposit!) was not valid and we had nowhere to stay. We ended up staying in a renovated Ursulan nunnery... very elegant restaurant, and lovely parks.

Day 7: Beaune. Drove to Beaune and visited the hospice, but the real excitement for the day was seeing menhirs! How cool is that! As we drove from Autun to Beaune on the back roads, we saw a sign saying simply "Menhirs" and pointing off to the left. Of course we simply had to take the road, and see for ourselves. Check out this very "Obelix" photo of me carrying a menhir.

Day 8: Dijon: Our initial experience with the hotel was not positive: an unmade room with a full ash tray. But we asked for another room and were given a different one, which was much better. The hotel was, however, well located for wandering Dijon.

Day 9: am. While Vicki wandered Dijon, I found Marks and Spencers and bought myself a pretty little summer top. In the afternoon we hit the road on the way to Estavyer le Lac. We got distracted en route by Saline les Bains - a spa with natural hot salt springs. Great fun!

Day 10: Day trip up Basel direction, to go to Augusta Raurica. I got some better photographs of the treasure hoard there. Its the sort of hoard that makes you dream. Dreams of digging to plant a tree, to find a wooden box, and layered among the straw this:

We returned via Yverdon where we had a lovely swim at the spa.

Day 11: In the morning we headed to Avenches, where Vicki wandered the museum. Afterwards we hit the road and drove to Gruyeres. I hadn't been there before, and it really is a lovely town. The chateau is lovely, but in the entry has the strange thing: a Giger Cafe and Museum.

As an extra bonus, in the castle they had three 15th century Burgundian copes:

10 May

I had the most wonderful swim, one week after my stitches came out. My friend Rai and I went to the local spa and lay around floating in the warm water for hours. Lovely jets of hot water swirling around us, what more can a girl want? Ok, so champagne isn't on the menu yet, but still, it was a joyous afternoon.