When I went to Switzerland the other day, it was at least a month between booking flights to Geneva and making any decisions whatsoever about where I was going and what I was doing when I landed. I’d lived in Switzerland so I’d covered a lot of the country, albeit in brief day trips. My … More Stay at the Swiss Chocolate Hotel Lausanne with me
Ever since about mid-2019, I’ve had a series on this blog called Before It Burns Down, dedicated to cathedrals, and especially the massive, magnificent, medieval Gothic and Norman varieties, because it turns out that just because they’re looking towards their thousandth birthdays doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll still be there waiting for me to get round … More Before It Burns Down: Lausanne Cathedral
Since it’s a trend in 2026, I’m going along with this whole “analogue” thing but it’s just film photos under a new name, and if you haven’t been around here before, I have an entire tag for the photos I’ve been taking on 35mm film over the last nearly seven years, so this isn’t new. … More Switzerland in analogue
There, start with the spoiler! As a language student living in Switzerland twenty years ago, I made a flying visit to Chateau de Chillon, where I visited the Gothic dungeons underneath the castle and saw where the original tortured poet, Lord Byron, was imprisoned, chained to a pillar and left to rot (if you read … More Lord Byron was never a prisoner at Chateau de Chillon
When you think of Switzerland, you think of chocolate and cheese and skiing. Well, I don’t ski and I covered the cheese in the post-snowshoeing fondue I had in the last post which means it must be time for the chocolate! And it is! Long story short, I took the train out to Switzerland’s oldest … More I did a chocolate workshop at a Swiss chocolate factory
As I flew over to Switzerland on Friday, it felt like I was the only person not wearing my skiing outfit and carrying a helmet. I don’t ski. I snowboard a little – badly and nervously and rarely, if ever, getting off my heel edge (and not for nearly thirteen years, so putting it in … More Snowshoeing in the dark above Lake Geneva
And after the usual end of year/beginning of year blogs, I’m back on the last trip of last year, my weekend at Parc Asterix. If I didn’t mention it in my post about their Gallic Christmas event, part – most – of the reason I went was that I saw one too many people on … More Why doesn’t anyone go to Parc Asterix?
Welcome to the least festive of festive blogs ever posted on Christmas Eve! This is the tale of my trip last weekend to Parc Asterix for their Noël Gaulois, Gallic Christmas, event. If you’re not familiar with Parc Asterix, it’s a theme park north of Paris dedicated to beloved long-running French comic album character Asterix … More Gallic Christmas at Parc Asterix
One of my own personal Christmas traditions is to go ice skating. Usually it’s at Bournemouth but last year I tried (and failed; the blades weren’t sharp enough) in Reykjavik and this year I finally had the opportunity to have the iconic Christmas experience of skating at Somerset House in the heart of London, or … More Ice skating at Somerset House: iconic London Christmas experiences
This is an exciting Christmas activity that I saw Sandy Breitmeier, aka sandymakessense, do a month or two ago and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to give it a go. It’s a lampworking workshop, where you use a blowtorch to melt and twist glass to make a Christmas tree ornament. I … More Lampworking: making a Christmas tree using a blowtorch
I Am A Polar Bear 