Category Archives: Travel

On the Border

Posted on August 31, 2018 by davidsprott

You can drive to one of the most historically significant memorials in Europe in under an hour from where we are staying in Eastern Austria. And yet most of us will be unfamiliar with the name – Sopron, a small … Continue reading →

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Return to the Wienerwalt

Posted on August 18, 2018 by davidsprott

The drive from Lake Simssee to the Vienna Woods is quite short, about four hours. We make a good stop at a Landzeit service area for lunch. The quality is superb, and we reflect on the sorry state of particularly … Continue reading →

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Holidaying with the Germans et al

Posted on August 18, 2018 by davidsprott

Leaving the Toggenburg we take the most amazing highway from the Voralberg to Innsbruck which is deep in a valley between high mountains and much of the road is through tunnels with short glimpses of the high points between. From … Continue reading →

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Flowers in the Lower Swiss Alps

Posted on August 2, 2018 by davidsprott

Down the years we walked in the Swiss, French, Italian, Austrian and German Alps, and always admired the alpine flowers. Magnificent colours in frequently exquisite plants. But we have never experienced such a profusion of species as we found on … Continue reading →

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Walking in the Lower Swiss Alps 2

Posted on July 30, 2018 by davidsprott

Continuing on, we have walked pretty much every day we have been here in the Toggenburg Valley. Even on rest days we will have done an easy walk. For example, today we did 13 kms in 4 hours in the … Continue reading →

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Birds Have the Last Word

Posted on July 30, 2018 by davidsprott

I mentioned we have several birds of prey on the Toggenburg property; buzzards of some sort seemingly nesting in the tall mature trees in front of the old house. The activity in the early morning and evening is considerable and … Continue reading →

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Hiking in the Lower Swiss Alps

Posted on July 21, 2018 by davidsprott

We are now in eastern Switzerland. From Lake Constance and Bregenz we drove due south west for about 90 minutes to the Toggenburg – a steep sided valley some 30 kms east of Zurich. This is the mid-level Alps; peaks … Continue reading →

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Beautiful Bregenz in Festival Mood

Posted on July 13, 2018 by davidsprott

  We arrived in Bregenz last night. Found the SeeCamping site right on the shore of Lake Constance/Bodensee and pitched. It’s a great site, huge but not crowded. The facilities are brilliant, typical Austrian/German. Visitors are as usual a mix … Continue reading →

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EU Parliament Delivering Government for Grownups by Grownups.

Posted on July 9, 2018 by davidsprott

Thursday 5th July 2018: As the midday voting session approached, the parliamentary chamber – known as the hemisphere, rapidly filled up. First up was the voting for the third reading of the controversial report on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. … Continue reading →

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Strictly Strasbourg

Posted on July 9, 2018 by davidsprott

  Like all cities Strasbourg has a unique identity formed by its geography and history. In this case, the geography is a major factor – with the River Rhine alongside sometimes providing the boundary between France and Germany and sometimes … Continue reading →

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