A Visit to the Windy City, Part 2: Eating Our Way Across Chicago

Noelle takes us on a food tour of Chicago City. I’ve put on two pounds just by reading her post. There is some wonderful mouth-watering foods on offer. Come and take a look…maybe just before your next meal.

SaylingAway

Since retiring, my husband and I have been eating more lightly. Traveling with my daughter and son-in-law reminded us of what it was like when we were young and could eat without the subsequent explosion on our scale. Chicago has so many good restaurants, a visitor could eat at a different one – a good one – every day for ten years!

Giordano’s pizza

We began our gustatory adventure our first night, at my favorite pizza place in the whole world, Giordano’s. The fact it was about 5 min from our hotel meant I thought about returning before we left. Their stuffed pizza is sheer heaven, and I had my usual stuffed super veggie choice — mushrooms, green peppers, onions, broccoli, black olives, artichokes and spinach. We got a large and did half and half, with the guys getting the meat and more meat stuffing.

The next morning we hit…

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Where Are You Going?

Take a trip to The Maldives with Juli and discover a part of the world which says “hello” in an entirely different way to how we know it.

Juli Townsend's Transition to Home

Paradise island sunrise

After much encouragement, I took the plunge and left Australia for the first time since my return eighteen months ago. My husband was giving a series of workshops at a college on the island of Male, the capital of The Maldives, and knowing what the island was like, I really wasn’t interested in joining him. However, images of clear turquoise tropical waters, and a free weekend on the Paradise Island resort eventually won me over and I agreed to go.

Island in the sun

Where the ocean meets the coral reef.

The resort lived up to, and beyond expectations. Tourism was a late comer to The Maldives, and as a result, they’ve done it well. There are no high-rise beach front properties, and only the uninhabited islands were developed, which ensured existing island villages were not destroyed in the process.

Paradise Island

The view from our beach hut

After one…

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Spectacular Weipa Sunset and a Rare Bird Sighting

Join Maria, on her trip to North Queensland, Australia. Can you spot any crocodiles?

My summer begins and the garden is decked out in colour.

Come and join Sally, as she gives us a tour of her garden in Spain.

Soi 81, Bangkok

Join Jill, as she gives us a bird-eye account of the life of people on Soi 81, in Bangkok City.

Jill's Scene

When I look out my window on to my street in my home town, more often than not, it’s empty of traffic and people. And now, as I’m typing, apart from the tap of my fingers on the keyboard, the only sounds are bird song, Tui mainly, and the quiet rustle of the trees in the southerly breeze.  Often I can hear the sea, and sometimes our neighbour’s lawnmower. But not today – it was raining earlier.

In Bangkok there’s always traffic, always noise. You get that in a city of 14,000,000. Love it or hate it, Bangkok teams with life. My very favourite place is Soi 81 on Sukhumvit Road. It’s near the On Nut BTS – the Sky Train. It’s a perfectly average, ordinary street. And now, after three, no, make that four visits in three years, it feels like home.

We favour a particular Guest House. They…

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Amanda Does Turkey: An Idiot’s Guide to Holiday Survival

Join Amanda on her hilarious trip to Turkey.
What could possibly go wrong?

A walk in Södermalm, Stockholm

Södermalm in early spring

Last weekend we had some excellent weather in Sweden and we went for a trip to our capital. We love to visit Södermalm, a part of the town which is very special and well worth a visit. I wrote a post about Södermalm in the autumn 2014, with some photos from that season, see it here.
Parts of Södermalm is like a small town in the countryside, with small, old wooden houses. There are also some crowded streets like Götgatan and Hornsgatan with restaurants, coffee places and shops. There is a very special atmosphere in this part of Stockholm and I love it:) If you are thinking about visit Södermalm, here is some information: visit Stockholm.

First we walked among the small wooden houses, that have been here for many years… Idyllic, small gardens inside the fences.

Houses on the hill

An idyllic view

Small path

Another small backyard

Södermalm is built on some hills, there are a lot of walking up and down, which is nice and also offers wonderful views over the town.

View from a hill

Walking up and down…

I will finish this post with some colorful details:

Some flowers in the street

Time to propose?

In the huge market hall

Food, glorious Laos food

Check out this wonderful post by Jill, about food and meals in Laos. Wonderfully written, and some great photography of the mouth-water delights she encountered.

Jill's Scene

There’s a small, unassuming restaurant along Kounxoau Road in Luang Prabang that’s my favourite place to eat in Laos. We discovered it one cold, wet evening after a day out and about in the rain. John had been biking. Ben and I’d been less adventorous, some might say soft by comparison. We sheltered in the Guest House until the rain eased to showers before venturing out, even so coats and brollies were required.

Rain on the Mekong

We all wanted something warming and homely for dinner that night and this small family run restaurant met the bill. Sadly, I don’t know it’s name. There was no sign. That large white sign to the right in the photo is for real-estate. I hope this restaurant isn’t for sale because for us it represents everything good about Lao food.

My favourite restaurant in Luang Prabang and all of Laos

The service here…

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Pak Beng gets a second chance

Join Jill on the start of a nightmare bus journey which soon gets forgotten about when she arrives at one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

Jill's Scene

Pak Beng, a small town on the banks of the Mekong, in Northern Western Laos, did not make a good first impression. We traveled there from Luang Namtha, via Oudamxay, to catch the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. It marked the beginning of our return home.

In the back of the tuk tuk, on our way from the bus station to our guest house, I looked across at John. His face was still very pale. What on earth are we doing here, I wondered to myself.

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Kite flying for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

Come take a walk with Peggy and her family while they fly Kites along the beaches of North East England.

Oak Trees Studio

Lets Go Fly A Kite is our theme for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week. We have had lots of family fun with kite flying over the years. I remember when our younger children were still quite small, we made a homemade kite from upcycled plastic sheeting – it was almost as big as the youngest child. This kite lasted several years but then our youngest decided he wanted to make the really old fashioned kind of kite – from broadsheet newspapers, sticky tape, garden canes and string. When it was completed, this one flew well and provided hours of fun on windy days.

We generally go kite flying in our local park, close by to where we live, but on our Summer visits to the seaside at South Shields, we often see a different type of kite flying – kite surfers enjoying their energetic sport. Our seaside sport tends…

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