As I mentioned in the Tattoo post, we went to Edinburgh for our 2nd wedding anniversary.  What an amazing place.  As I’ve said before, we didn’t get off to a great start, and my mystery tummy pains didn’t help, but despite this I can’t think of anywhere I would rather have been for the weekend.

I can’t believe how much there is to see and do in Edinburgh, especially with the festival in full flow.  We watched the hilarious chicken man from Canada strutting his stuff on the Royal Mile and there were many others to watch as you walked along.  The whisky centre near the castle was a learning experience, and I made a new friend as I couldn’t drink my tasting sample due to my poorly tummy so gave it to an American visitor.  A quick visit to the centre’s scotch shop also scored me bonus daddy’s girl points!  As you may have gathered from my previous post, the tattoo was amazing and the following day we took a trip up to the castle for a look around.  What a view!  The ramparts give you wonderful views of the new city all the way out the the Fourth bridge and beyond.  For all you glitter struck girlies they also have the Scottish crown jewels on display.   My favourite part of the castle was the beautiful little Chapel of St Margaret - perhaps it was something to do with all of the purple that was in there?  All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend the weekend and we shall definitely be going back!

As our 2nd wedding anniversary approached, we decided to organise something to mark the occasion.  We have both said for years that we want to visit Edinburgh so we thought this was the prime opportunity.  However, for some reason, we couldn’t find a hotel with vacancies.  As my dear hubby looked into it he found that the tattoo was on so hotel rooms were like gold dust.  After some dedicated searching online, hubby dear found a package for 2 nights at the Edinburgh Marriott with a pair of tattoo tickets and we were on our way. 

It didn’t start well.  I came down with a bad tummy on the day before we were due to drive up, which lasted all weekend and is still bothering me now despite a couple of visits to the docs.  The drive up was 4 hours longer than it needed to be due to a lorry spilling its load of cooking oil all over the motorway.  We finally arrived at the hotel just before midnight and got ourselves sorted out and off to bed, only to be woken by a fire alarm at 3.30am where we had to stand out in the car park for half an hour.

Morning dawned, and things felt a bit better after a big Scottish breakfast - only wish I could have eaten it without the stomach cramps!  We spent the day wondering around Edinburgh, visiting the whisky centre (scored bonus points with my dad!) and watching the live fringe shows along the Royal Mile. 

And now for the tattoo.  What a brilliant show.  The massed pipers looked and sounded great.  The New Zealand band were fantastic and had us in stitches as they sent their tuba players flouncing around the arena to the sounds of the sugar plum fairy, before they all downed instruments to treat us to a haka.  As for the Top Secret Drum Core from Switzerland, I think the secrets out about how brilliant you are.  The tattoo was one of the items on my list of things to do before I die and I’m so glad I did it - especially as I know how green with envy my parents are!  We shall all have to go together another year as I don’t think this is the last time I’ll see it!

Final Croatia installment.

So the second half of our day trip to Slovenia took us to Lipica, birthplace of the Lipizzana horse, famous for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.  As we arrived, a huge thunderstorm broke out leaving us running for the indoor arena where we were treated to a dressage and driving show by the most talented of the white horses.  As a pony mad teenager I always longed to see these horses in action, and here I was.  Whilst it was a poignant moment for me, I could see that it was all a bit lost on my poor hubby who prefers his horse power to run on wheels.  Fortunately, the rain calmed down a little after the show which allowed us to take a tour of the stud and learn more about the horses.  My favourite part would have to be all of the cute little foals running around in the fields.  I think my husbands favourite part of the trip was getting back to the hotel in time for dinner!

Another chapter for the Croatia trip.

One of the day trips we booked took us across the border into Slovenia to Postonja Caves.  For all you budding geologists this place is a must.  A little train takes you on a 10 minute blast underground through jaw dropping caverns, some of which are bigger than a couple of cathedrals.  You then hop off the train and walk to your preferred  language meeting point for a 45 minute tour on foot through the caverns. 

This tour is not for the faint hearted as it goes up and down some pretty steep, wet concrete pavements, and small bridges take you across great chasms as you walk through the stunning caverns.  It is all beautifully lit to get the most out of the calcite creations,  and they remind you of this by unexpectedly switching out the lights for a moment so you can experience the absolute darkness.  At the end of the tour the little train blasts you back up to the surface where we enjoyed a slap up 3 course lunch in a snazzy little restaurant, before boarding our luxury bus for the trip on to Lipica to see the horses.

So, as I mentioned in my Croatia posting, there was a harbour in Porec that did day trips to Venice.  Too good an opportunity to miss!  8am found our little family unit aboard a large high speed boat called the Princess of Dubrovnik.  2 hours later and we reached the Venetian lagoon.  It then took approximately an hour to cruise through the lagoon before we docked, went through passport control and organised ourselves into groups with guides too take us to St Mark’s square. 

Unfortunately, our guide must have been ex-SAS as we were route marched at top speed through the narrow, cramped and crowded streets, all of which was a little uncomfortable in the 30+ degree heat - I don’t want to know what the humidity levels were!  However, we eventually reached the square.  What a place.  It was full of people, pigeons, music and was just awe inspiring.  Here we met with Edna Everidge’s Italian cousin, who was a vision in red and spoke good English as she walked us around the square giving us the full tour before taking us to a glass factory.  After this we were left to our own devices for a few hours as we wondered the streets and visited the Rialto bridge market.  What an amazing place.  We have got to go back for a long weekend and do more exploration.  Its great just wandering up and down all of the little streets as you don’t really get lost, and there are so many interesting little shops and drinking holes.  There is also a Ferrari merchandising outlet with a replica F1 car in the window.  Plenty of ways to spend your Euros with a cash machine on every corner to help you on your way - as my darling hubby discovered.

When we got tired of our wonderings, we tootled back to the square to  await the organised trip on the water taxis along the Grand Canal back to our ship.  If you enjoy people watching, then the steps in St Mark’s square are the place for you.  We were fortunate enough to see a wedding whilst we waited.  After this we caught our water taxi for a  cruise down the Grand Canal before going home.  This was fantastic as there are so many beautiful buildings along the canal.  It also looked a lot safer than taking a gondola!  We were dropped off right next to our ride home - which my sore feet were very grateful for - and just under 3 hours later we were back in Porec.  We were sunburnt, tired and  footsore, but if you gave us the chance we would all do it again.  A truly amazing place to visit if you should ever get the chance - just take your sun cream and sharpen your elbows!

Apologies to anyone out there who gives a damn about this site for my lack of posts recently, but to use one of my darling husbands favourite phrases, “I couldn’t be arsed”. Also, what many people fail to realise is that I don’t have a life so I haven’t got much to blog about. However, since some of you (mum/hubby) have pestered me about my recent lack of ramblings, I thought I should make the effort. In addition to this, I also have a couple of things worth a mention.  So lets start with Croatia. 

Some people thought it was a strange choice for a family holiday destination, but hats off once again to my mother-in-law for finding a top class cheap week away!  Just under 2 hours on a plane and we were there - unlike the 6 hour endurance test we had to pass to get to Luxor.  The airport looked like something from James Bond cold war theme backdrop, but our bags arrived at the terminal almost as quickly as we did so we were quickly on our way for the 45 minute drive to Porec.  Well worth the time as the landscape is beautiful and the Thompson rep knew her stuff so the time passed quickly.

We now enter the time warp.  Anyone who had a bad acid trip in the late sixties/early seventies should steer clear of the hotels as when you wake up on your first morning you will think you’re having flashbacks and who knows were that could end up.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really complaining.  The buses used were always smack bang up to date and better than anything I’ve had to use in the UK.  The hotel was clean and the staff were outstanding.  The dining room was modern and the food was good every night.  However, most of the decor and styling harked back to the seventies both inside and out.  You could see where they had already modernised, but as a result, you could see all too plainly what needed changing.

With regard to the town itself, well you decide.  Lots of romanesque streets full of pavement cafes,  jewellery shops and Itallian style ice cream parlours, and a bustling harbour with boat trips across to Venice.  All of this was a 20 minute walk or 5 minute miniature train ride away.

 
So the flight over was short and the airport processed us quickly, the Thompson rep was enthusiastic and took good care of us, the hotel was clean and comfortable and all of the people we came across where freindly and spoke good English, the town was beautiful, the trips to Venice and Slovenia where once in a lifetime experiences and I even got a slight tan.  So everything was cushty?  Well not quite.  You know I can’t help myself when it comes to grumbling so here goes.  Birmingham airport baggage control is an absolute sack of crap.  Perhaps we were spoilt by the staff in Croatia but from landing to leaving Birmingham airport took us almost 2 hours.  Suitcases that have travelled unscathed to Egypt, Prague and Germany eventually came out on the conveyor belt with locks broken and material damaged.  So thank you Birmingham airport for managing to be the crappy welcome home after a truly wonderful holiday.