When visiting San Francisco for the first time (as we did recently), there are certain sights that just need to be on your San Francisco bucket list: Golden Gate Bridge, Cable Cars, the sea lions at Pier 39 and obviously Alcatraz Island. I mean how could you not visit Alcatraz when in San Francisco? But the big question is, is Alcatraz actually worth a visit? Or would you be better off just booking a bay ferry tour?
London might lack the impressive skyline of New York or Singapore. But even though London’s buildings aren’t as high, they certainly aren’t less impressive. In the last ten to fifteen years, there has been a huge number of new additions to the London skyline with buildings like 30 St. Mary Axe (the Gherkin), the Shard, the Walkie Talkie, to name just a few. This paired with the iconic and historic London landmarks, like Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral and the London Eye make it a unique scenery to explore. So, if you are wondering where you could find the best view of London for free, you’ve come to the right place.
It goes without saying that two hours is nowhere near enough to explore the Old City of Jerusalem. You can barely scratch the surface of this wonderful place. But if two hours is all you’ve got, you’d better make the most of it. Come with me on a photographic tour of Old Jerusalem in two hours.
During our third and final work trip to Israel last October Jerusalem was finally on the agenda. We’d been looking forward to a visit to Jerusalem from the start. But at the same time, we obviously feared that we’d go for our meetings and not actually get to see anything of Jerusalem. After all, we were here for work first and foremost.
Visiting Philadelphia had been on our radar for a while. Before we decided on a road trip through New England two years ago, the original plan was to visit New York, Philadelphia and Washington. But the road trip eventually won the game. So during our last trip to New York City we decided to venture out a little and finally take a day trip to Philadelphia from New York. After all, it is only 1.5 hours on the train. Easy peasy.
There is a direct Amtrak train from Penn Station to Philadelphia 30th Street Station. To get the best price, we booked our train tickets to Philadelphia a few weeks in advance and committed to fixed trains rather than flexible tickets. Which meant we only paid $156 return for the two of us. Out of curiosity we checked the ticket prices the morning of our trip and it would have cost us a whopping $330 if we’d bought the tickets on the day. That is double the price for the exact same trains! So good thing we were prepared (for once).
When you think of New York City as a concrete jungle, you are only partly right. Yes, New York is home to some of the biggest and best skyscrapers and it is built on a fairly tight grid. But it is also full of greenery.
The best known is probably Central Park, which is a world in itself. So if you are heading to New York, make sure you don’t miss it. And to get you going, check my 10 recommendations of what to do in Central Park (and the one to give a miss).
But Central Park isn’t the only green on offer. Far from it.
Head to the West and you will find the ‘High Line Park’, an elevated linear park that spans from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District all the way up to the 30th Street.
For me a big part of any New York City trip is shopping. I love to shop. And I can go on for hours (ask my family, they all had to suffer endless shopping trips with me over the years… and lived to tell the tale). Whilst there are loads of shopping opportunities in London, New York City is a totally different ball game. So find out more about my best shopping places in New York.
After I’ve shared with you all the beautiful Christmas lights in Vienna, I thought it was only fair to also show some of London’s Christmas lights.
If you are heading to London for your Christmas shopping, take the time to pause, look up and enjoy the lights around you (well if you do so anywhere near the shopping streets, ensure you also stay alert, otherwise you might be trampled down by the stampede of Christmas shoppers).
Truth to be told, before this year I never considered Tel Aviv a holiday destination. But I have been fortunate enough to visit Tel Aviv not just once, but three times this year, a whole week each time. Yes these were work trips, so sightseeing was limited, but nevertheless we managed to squeeze some in. Allowing me to share with you my Top 5 things to do and see in Tel Aviv.
With less than half a million inhabitants, Tel Aviv isn’t huge, in fact it is only number 2 in Israel, after Jerusalem. And with barely a hundred years of history under its belt, it isn’t ancient either (losing hands down to Jerusalem with over 6000 years). But Tel Aviv is a very vibrant city and an up and coming party location and sure worth a visit.
With my last work trip over, I can’t wait to come back one day. I’d love to get a chance to actually show Mr T Tel Aviv and beyond.
Enough of the introduction. Here are my Top 5 things to do and see in Tel Aviv:
Visiting New York without visiting Central Park? Unthinkable. I mean you only need to look at a map of Manhattan or check the subway map and there it is: A big green blob slap bang in the middle.
So next time you visit New York, make sure you set aside enough time to explore Central Park properly. Because there are loads of things to do, despite the obvious ‘Going for a walk’.
For me having Afternoon Tea is a quintessentially British thing to do. And something I do like to indulge in every now and then.
But how about fusing the traditional Afternoon Tea with the German tradition of coffee and cake at 4pm? Well why not… merging British and German has worked well for me all my life (it basically is the story of my life, being half British and half German).
I’ve been meaning to go and try out the German Gymnasium for quite some time now, but somehow never quite gotten round to it. So when a friend recently visited London, it was a good enough excuse for us to have a girly catch up over tea and cake and finally give that Afternoon Tea experience a try.
