Budapest is a city of two halves; so much so that it was once two cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the River Danube. Although now united as one, each has its own characteristics. Buda is hilly, with historic buildings, panoramic views, and winding streets.
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While May has been green this year, we haven’t always had spring-like weather; quite the contrary! Some days have felt as chilly as a mild day in winter, while towards the end of the month we had a heatwave that would have felt fairly extreme even in August, with temperatures topping 34 degrees Celsius, breaking – no, smashing – all records.
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Hull has had something of a poor reputation in England in recent years, but that seems to be changing. A city voted the ‘worst place to live in the UK’ in 2005 became the country’s City of Culture in 2017 and last year its city centre was named one of the coolest places to live by the Sunday Times. From worst to coolest; that’s quite a turnaround!
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While significant parts of Hull were bombed during WWII, and many lives tragically lost, its Old Town survived and has been well preserved. The historic buildings and cobbled streets make it an ideal stand-in for Victorian or Georgian London. These streets have been transformed many times by film and TV studios for productions including The Crown, Victoria and Blitz.
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These simple, practical vehicles are ubiquitous in Sri Lanka, as they are in many other countries in the world. While tourists tend to refer to them as tuk-tuks, to the locals they are usually known as three-wheelers or simply three-wheels.
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We have had plenty of sunny days this past April; however quite often the warm sun was tempered by a fresh wind. But we have also had some almost summer-like days; indeed, on one day quite early in the month the temperature reached 26 degrees in London and that IS summer weather.
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For many years the northern region of Sri Lanka was the stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, usually abbreviated to LTTE and better known as the Tamil Tigers. But when the civil war hostilities ceased in 2009 visiting the region again became a possibility. It’s a long drive north, but well worth it to see a different side of this island.
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The Regents Canal links the Grand Union Canal in Paddington with the Thames in east London, via the Limehouse Basin. It is 8.6 miles (13.8 kilometres) long and like most canals has a towpath. These towpaths were originally used by horses to pull barges but today are popular places for walking, jogging and cycling (where wide enough).
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In the past there were two options. Carry a camera if you were actively out taking photos or leave it at home and risk missing a serendipitous shot. These days we don’t have to choose. We can leave our heavy camera gear at home and still grab those unexpected moments with our phones.
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Our main reason for visiting Cologne last December was football, to watch Newcastle United play Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. And of course there were Christmas markets to enjoy. But we also wanted to see something of the city. The morning after the match was lovely and sunny, with a chilly wind but some warmth in the sun, so we set out on a walk by the river Rhine.
