Artists, musicians and writers have long been attracted to the villages that cluster along the Seine and its tributary, the Loing, downstream from Paris around Fontainebleau. With their ancient houses made of warm beige stones clustered around shady squares overlooked by a church tower, these picturesque villages have managed to maintain much of their charm… once you’ve got past the hideous modern housing developments that ruin their outskirts!
If you’re looking for a maritime weekend escapade from Paris with some art, architecture and good food thrown in for good measure and not more than an hour and a quarter train ride away then Rouen is where you should head.“But wait a minute,” I hear you say, “Rouen is not by the sea so how can it be a maritime escapade?” And you’re right of course, Rouen is not a coastal town. But the sharp cries of seagulls will quickly remind you that it is a maritime one thanks to its position along the Seine which, although 80kms from the sea, is still tidal and wide and deep enough to allow big ships to anchor.
Although Aberdeen is Scotland's third largest city (230,000 inhabitants), capital of the European offshore oil industry, a university town, and used to be one of the richest cities in the United Kingdom, it is ignored by many visitors to Scotland. But I can assure you that it’s well worth a detour to visit Granite City, thus named by its inhabitants because most of its buildings are built with this quartz-rich rock which sparkles in the sun. So if you’re planing a short visit to Aberdeen between 19th-22nd July 2025 for the Tall Ships Race which returns to Aberdeen after a 28-year break, or because you’re going to be playing golf on one of the innumerable golf courses in Aberdeenshire, then read on...
And that’s how we found ourselves towards the end of May in Muscat, possibly the only foreign tourists there because it’s the month which is as hot as June and July but has less rainfall. Inland it was 47°C, in Muscat it was a bit cooler at about 44°C. This obviously affected what we could do as we had to keep out of the heat in the middle of the day. We were also in the city on a Friday when absolutely everything is shut, some places all day and others only in the morning. “You must really love Oman to come here in May,” laughed our taxi-driver… an Omani because unlike in neighbouring United Arab Emirates or Qatar where taxi-drivers are all foreigners, in Oman it’s a job reserved for the locals…
This year, 2022, marks the 70th anniversary of the disappearance of Tignes. “But wait a minute! Tignes is a world-famous ski resort,” you may retort. Yes, but before it was a ski resort, it was a village in a different valley and its tragic story remains a painful collective memory in the Tarentaise region of Savoie, France.
In March the Eiffel Tower is going to grow six metres rising to 333 metres from ground to top of antenna from its current 324. This will be thanks to its new antenna which will be put into place by helicopter sometime in March. So if you see the numbers 330 on the Eiffel Tower in the next few weeks, that’s what they are referring to!
