Wandering the World

When we went to Denmark, we’d both had a day off before the flight so we could visit The Globe theatre for a tour and afternoon tea. Tomorrow we’d be flying to Cyprus for another race, but today we had plans again. During the pandemic I saw many recommendations for watching Taskmaster as a very funny game show. I watched nine seasons of it in a short space of time, and since then have watched eve …

November 13, 2024

At the start of our Super Halfs journey, we set off for Copenhagen to do the first in this six race series that spans Europe. It was a chance for us both to explore a city neither of us had been to before, and to also visit the home of LEGO. Unexpectedly between booking this one, and traveling, we'd had a short holiday to Vienna first so already had a taste of what it'd be like to go on a sightseeing holiday together. This trip felt like it'd be a little more adventurous, and would have considerably more running and sightseeing as we'd be travelling between two cities for this trip, with the potential for a third.

September 3, 2024 to September 22, 2024 | 11 posts

“And I’ll dance with you in Vienna, I’ll be wearing a river’s disguise. The hyacinth wild on my shoulder my mouth on the dew of your thighs. And I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook, with the photographs there and the moss. And I’ll yield to the flood of your beauty, my cheap violin, and my cross.” – Leonard Cohen, musician Vienna, the capital of Austria, and once the heart of the so-called Holy Roman Empire. Its history dates back to at least 500 BC, and was named Vindobona by the Romans in the first century CE. Fast-forward a thousand years, and more settlers later, this area of the Eastern March had become Austria. It was the home of the Babenburg dynasty, and then the Habsburg emperors. "This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." - Voltaire It has been the capital of the Austrian empire, then the Austro-Hungarian empire, and during the second world war lost that status as it was absorbed into Nazi Germany. It wasn't until after the war that Vienna regained its status, as the capital of the Republic of Austria. It was however, similar to Berlin, split into four and occupied by the UK, the US, France, and the Soviet Union. The difference with Vienna was that it wasn't divided by walls, and the central area (Innere Stadt) alternated control from month to month. Eventually it was agreed all four powers would leave Austria, and they would agree to remain neutral and not part of NATO. Today, Austria is part of the European Union, and the United Nations, but remains separate from NATO. It being part of the EU, and them having adopted the Euro would make it easier for visiting and reusing currency. It was to be my second city along the Danube in consecutive years, and the first time me and Carmen would visit an International city together that neither of us had been to previously.

July 2, 2024 to July 23, 2024 | 7 posts

My first trip to Cyprus had been for a half marathon race that never took place. It'd been postponed until 2022, but due to timings I decided to defer until the 2023 event as it'd work better that way for me, and it was still unclear what would happen with the pandemic. So once again I was going back, and would not just see the familiar sights of Limassol, but would see the unfamiliar sights of Leftkosia and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus - the occupied part of the country on the other side of the UN green line border.

February 28, 2023 to March 20, 2023 | 7 posts

“In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” -- Orson Welles In 2009 as part of a short trip around Europe, I'd visited Italy and had seen the likes of Naples, Pompeii, Rome, and Venice. Thirteen years later I was now returning, this time with my sister in tow, to see some of the places I'd not seen. My sister's last overseas trip had been Croatia and Slovenia where she'd seen a lot of Venetian influence, now she'd get to see a more modern view of Italy. What had started off as an idea for seeing Milan soon expanded into a week long trip around the Lombardy and Tuscany regions of Italy.

August 30, 2022 to September 24, 2022 | 10 posts

This country split into two by conflict is one which my trip would also be divided into two due to the pandemic. For my first part of the trip I would be there sightseeing as 2021 approaches it's end, and would be returning there at the start of 2022 for the race that has now been postponed three times. Sightseeing would no be straight forward though. Some places are temporarily closed, and most tours that I attempted to book were cancelled, including one into North Cyprus. It also didn't help that a major storm was on it's way in, just in time for my arrival… If you'd like to see more photographs from this trip, they're available to view on Flickr.

November 16, 2021 to December 11, 2021 | 10 posts