Holidays

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Skid-in! Ice Palace, Jungfraujoch

Jungfraujoch, one of my favourite places in Switzerland was exhilarating to say the least. While  there I visited the Ice Palace, which was super cool…literally too!

The Eispalast or Ice Palace is a terrific experience. After you enter in, the smile on your face gets frozen in time & while you try to oooh & aaah at the novelty of the experience &  ice sculptures around you…be careful. You really have to watch your step else you may just slip,  fall  &  find yourself ski-dding all the way down the icy corridors…nothing like a free ski sans the skis 🙂 Don’t go soooo fast that you frip on srippery glound.

Unsolicited advice – make sure your shoes are able to walk you across ice without slipping.  For the extra care needed to walk on this surface, I wouldn’t encourage elderly folks to try it. 

 

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Are you a Souveniristic Tourist? Take the test to find out.

                                                                 

Take this quick test to assess just how much of a  souvenir freak you are & if there is any hope left to become normal.

1. Do you collect  magnets of every hill & dale you visit in each country? Yes/No  

 2. Do you collect souvenir spoons as a keepsake of countries you visit?  Yes/No

 3. Do you buy postcards to send friends & family but…like it way too much & keep it for yourself ?  Yes/No

 4. Do you collect foreign coins & postage stamps from every place &  have a neat pile up you know not where to  keep?  Yes/No

 5. Do you bring back a slice of sunshine via a photograph, or a bottle of  sand, or collect shells & pebbles that have that amazzzzing shade you won’t find elsewhere?  Yes/No

 6. Have other people seen your ailment & started bringing back magnets & spoons as gifts for you from their travels?  Yes/No

7. As you flip through books do you discover old tram, train, subway, concert tickets from Godknowswhere that serve as bookmarks? Yes/No

8. Do you preserve museum flyers, local maps as a token of sentiment? Yes/No  

9. Do you have a pile up of mementos of every shape, colour & imagination? Yes/No         

             

10. Do you write blog posts about souvenirs? Yes/No                                                       

 

 

 

Score
Upto 3 Yes  –  You are a happily balanced tourist
Upto 6 Yes  –  You are a tourist tugging away from the rope of normalcy that is trying to detain you
Upto 8 Yes  –  You are a tourist who has broken free from the rope. In  other words you are on the border of souveniritis
All 10 Yes    –  You are a tourist with a case of extreme souveniritis-outta-balancia. Get well soon!

     

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Happy Black Birds of the Alps

They were sweet black birds with yellow beaks against a sheer  snowy white backdrop. I was seeing these birds for the first time & they were close in appearance to crows, but for their beaks. Found them interesting, as they calmly beheld tourists in the midst of the biting cold. And they had no problem being photographed either.    

A bit of Google search indicates they are officially the  Alpine Chough & are also known as the Yellow-Billed Chough.

Presenting the Happy Choughs of Jungfraujoch…

 

 

 

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Isle Rügen

Rügen is Germany’s largest island located in the Baltic Sea.

Placid & picturesque with cobbled roads, the azure sea, chalky cliffs & brilliant scenery…

Rügen & Stralsund, which is not too far away make for a most memorable visit. Photos are from both places –

Sunlight on the Church at 9PM…