Travel Stuff
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Italian Adventure Part 3 – My name is Lucca
Pisa is a great base from which to explore the rest of Tuscany and neighbouring Liguria. Over the coming days, I aim to make the most of the excellent local and regional transport links to visit at many places as I can. Lucca is just 30 minutes from Pisa by train, and there are services…
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Italian Adventure Part 2 – Pisa by night
In the middle of the afternoon, many Italian bars and restaurants close up. In the heat of July it’s easy to understand why; nobody can really enjoy themselves in temperatures of 32 Celsius. For the weary tourist, it’s also a good time to get some rest. I’m woken from my snooze in the early evening…
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Italian Adventure Part 1 – Pisa by day
I rarely travel in the middle of the summer, mainly to avoid the crowds. But no matter how much I try to pretend that I’m an intrepid explorer, diverging from the norm, practicalities of life this year mean taking a break in July. Yeah, with all those horrible tourists. In fact, this trip is a…
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Baltics and Scandinavia – Part 11
Osnabruk’s main station was busy with the morning rush hour. A large group of schoolchildren had gathered with their teachers, noisily preparing for their journey. I just hoped they wouldn’t be heading for Amsterdam. In what was becoming now typical German style, the Deutsche Bahn intercity service was twenty minutes late arriving, making the possibility…
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Baltics and Scandinavia – Part 10
Copenhagen had been a great choice and I was pleased I had opted to spend two nights there instead of one. My orignal pan had been to move on to the German city of Osnabruk, and it turned out to be the right decision. Although I usually enjoy travelling First Class, there are some exceptions.…
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Baltics and Scandinavia – Part 9
“But your ass – it’s so dirty. How are you gonna even sit down?!” The woman, who may have been Swedish but more like was Danish, had a point. The morning had started early, wth heavy rain in Gothenburg. I’d already heard the four words that strike fear into any traveller : “rail replacement bus…
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Baltics and Scandinavia – Part 8
It’s a Saturday morning, and an historic day. On this day fifty years ago, ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. As I had seen in Stockholm, the group is right recognised as one of Sweden’s greatest exports. So it seemed appropriate to be travelling today to the city that hosted the following year’s…
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Baltics and Scandinavia – Part 7
Bergen had provided a feast of delights in just 24 hours, and it felt like a city worth sticking around for. However, I needed to head East in order to start heading South and back towards home. The train journey to Oslo takes nearly seven hours. Usually, that would be an opportunity to rest, and…
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Baltics and Scandinavia – Part 6
Stockholm’s central station is a vast complex, combining international, national and suburban trains with the city’s Metro. And, if arriving here for the first time, it’s worth noting there ae many different entrances and exits. All point towards the Centralum, but each can leave you in an timely different place. The striking main hall provides…
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Baltics and Scandinavia – Part 5
It’s Easter Day in Tallinn, and my hotel sensibly extends its breakfast hours until 11am. The restaurant is packed with visitors, including some very hungover young men and a couple of families with unruly children. I like to think of myself as a traveller, but an upmarket hotel on a holiday weekend just makes me…
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