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.
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As we start a new year of Monday Walks I want to look back to one taken right at the end of last year, on New Years Eve. We were staying in Newcastle over the new year holidays with bright if chilly weather, perfect for a walk by the sea. So we took the Metro to Cullercoats and set off on the short but always lovely stroll to Tynemouth.
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While Florence is a city of big-hitter sights (the Duomo, the Uffizi, the Accademia), it is also a city of winding streets and picturesque piazzas. A city of hidden gems, street art and welcoming bars and cafés. A city of churches, of monuments and markets. In short, it is Italy.
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We had spent two days in rather unsettled weather exploring the various sights of Florence, sights I will come back to in future posts. But when the sun appeared on our third day in the city it was time to see it from a different perspective, the far side of the River Arno.
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Vincent Van Gogh spent the last few months of his life in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise just outside Paris. In that short time, he completed over 70 paintings, many of them of scenes in the village and surrounding fields. Today the village styles itself ‘Village d’Artistes’ and is a popular day trip from the capital.
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In the first half of the 19th century a Parisian wanting a good night out might well have headed to the village of Bercy. Ideally positioned on the banks of the Seine, this village had become the centre of the Paris wine trade and a major European market for wines and spirits.
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On the final day of our expedition cruise we enjoyed enjoy a final walk on Spitsbergen and, as on every day of this trip, some special wildlife sightings. Our last full day on board started well, with a sighting of a large pod of beluga whales off the port bow.
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When you only have one day to explore a city, being ‘small enough to be easily understood’ is a real plus point. And one day was all we had, on this occasion at least. But we really took to Helsinki, so maybe in the future we’ll come back for a more in-depth look.
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Overnight the Ocean Explorer had left the smaller islands of Edgeøya and Barentsøya and returned to the main one in the archipelago, Spitsbergen. We rounded its southern tip to moor in the fjord of Hornsund. The landscapes were particularly stunning but for me our arrival here was tinged with a little sadness as it felt as if we were on the home strait back to Longyearbyen.
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Today the weather played a trick on us and pretended that it was still summer. The sun shone and the temperature climbed into the low 20s. Where better to take a walk than in one of our favourite London parks? Well, maybe in two parks!
