Brick Lane

Brick Lane is always busy at the weekend. The upper end has some funky clothes and design stores, through the middle are stalls selling all sorts of tat, off to the side is the Up Market, which has some great art, clothes and food stalls, the lower part is full of Bengali and Indian restaurants. The Ethopian meal from the Up market I had was great.

East London

This is the Geffrye museum, it show cases the changes in domestic interiors from around 1600. It is well laid out and has lovely grounds.

After visiting here I went to the Flowers East gallery which has great wide angle photos including some of the aftermath of the New Orleans flooding

Epping Forest

I went out withthe Rambling club on Sunday. Epping forest was pretty with a mix of wild areas, ponds, and fields we also walked through the City cementry.

Hampstead Heath

I spent Saturday at Hampstead Heath. There is a good view from Parliament hill, lots of wild areas, ponds (male, female, mixed and some for the birds), Kenwood house and numerous paths.

Chelsea Physic Garden

The Chelsea Phyic Garden was founded in 1673 to provide training for Apothecaries. It is a hidden garden in London. Beyond the garden walls are a series of beds grouped according to origin, medical properties, type and the various gardeners' collections.

Great Weather

This weekend we had two lovely sunny days with temperatures in the mid twenties. On Saturday after buying sandals I went to St James's Park. The daffodils are now almost over but the tulips are out and very beautiful. I then caught up with Esther in Greenwich and went to a BBQ with her.

Brno

Brno is the second largest city in Czech Republic. There wasn't a lot happening there on Easter Monday, I wandered up to the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, and had an icecream. I flew back to London from there as it was much cheaper than flying out of Prague. Internal transport in Czech Republic is very cheap and the bus was comfortable and even had a waiter, free newspapers and hot drinks.

Prague

From Cesky Krumlov I took a bus to Prague. I had booked into the Czech Inn which was very modern, clean and funky.

After checking in I went down to Charles bridge which is lined with statues. There were people selling jewellery and paintings on the bridge and street performers. There were lots of souvenir shops selling wooden toys, crystal, amber and garnet jewellery on the streets on either side of the bridge.

The following day I went and saw the "Fred and Ginger" building or Dancing House a very untraditional building, I then wandered along the river, went to a modern art gallery and then explored the Old Town, its beautiful buildings and the Jewish quarter. I took a boat trip which was somewhat disappointing as it only went a very short distance up and down the river and then turned around several times. I then went up to Prague castle and then walked back down and across Charles Bridge.

Cesky Krumlov

From Innsbruck I went to Linz for the night, I was trying to get rid of the flu, so didn't go anywhere in Linz. The following day I caught a mini van across the border to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. Going across the border there was quite a clear change, as we crossed the border we went onto a single un marked road with stalls selling garden gnomes. Cesky Krumlov is a world heritage listed town with a castle in the middle of it. Living in the castle moat are two bears. Within the rooms of the castle are the skins of previous bears that have lived in the moat. There have been bears kept there since 1707. The whole town is very picturesque with terracotta roofs and a river flowing through it. In the evening I had a nice meal of whole trout at "Two Marys".

Innsbruck

I headed to Innsbruck last Tuesday for a few days catch up with Arun, Petra and Luca and Petra's niece Nora. It was great to see them and see Luca walking.

Innsbruck was very pretty especially in the old town. There was still quite a bit of snow on the surrounding mountains though these were hidden in cloud much of the time. I stayed at a great little bed and breakfast, www.nepomuks.at that was run by the cafe below which ensured a very fresh and filling breakfast.

We visited the circle painting, Hofkirche where larger than life bronze figures stand guard over the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I, St Jacob's cathedral and Swarovski World a museum of crystal displays, wandered the old town and saw the Golden roof and the Easter market.