You are supposed to visit Giverny in the spring- the wisteria and waterlilies are at their best then. But given the chance to visit in July I jumped at it.
Claude Monet settled there in 1883 with his wife and eight children and lived there until his death in 1926.
From the centre of Vienna Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is a 75 minute boat ride along the Danube.
Perfect for a day trip.
Uzipis (meaning the other side of the river) is a small Bohemian area next to the Vilnia river.
Vilnius is quite a small city so we soon got our bearings and found the sights.
The truly great panoramic view from our hotel room didn’t quite make up for the old black knickers I found when I opened the curtains further to see everything.
A walk along Kiev’s main street Khreschatyk is not very long but it is eventful, there are expensive shops, gardens, street performers, and stalls. I saw some toilet paper with Putin’s face on it among the Soviet memorabilia – a good souvenir!
Kiev is a great city to walk in with its wide tree lined roads but it is a big city so the public transport is very useful. We found the buses quite difficult because we couldn’t decide exactly where we were but the Metro was easy.
A planned cruise down the Dnieper from Kiev to the Black Sea was was cancelled when Russia annexed the Crimea in 2014 so we took the chance to spend a few days in Kiev as soon as we could. Continue reading
