Catching Some Summer Rays!

The Roman Amphitheatre Verona It is widely acknowledged that 'a change is as good as a rest'. Which about sums up the kind of holiday we go for here in the Johnson house. Judith and I are incapable of sitting on a beach in brilliant sunshine for more time than it takes to dry-off after a swim, get the shorts and t-shirts back on and toddle off to do something else. We tend to choose places for our holidays within easy reach of at least one cultural centre. Last year in Lake Garda we explored Verona thoroughly, as well as many of the interesting places along the lakeside like Riva Del Garda, which have either a museum or an historic site to visit.

They say travel broadens the mind - pretty often the holiday food is so good it can broaden the waistband too! But you do learn some useful things - I now know where to find the best take-away pizza in Verona! In fact I plan to write a short story some time about this particular pizza business: the honest diligent husband who was always hot, busy cooking and serving; while his wife, immaculately turned-out and looking like she'd just had a massage and manicure only appeared when the shop was full. This woman had developed a highly efficient way of accounting, because she never rounded a price down but always up to the next 50 cents. Although we came away from her shop after a week of pizzas a couple of pounds heavier and a few Euros lighter she did give me a lovely idea for a story - so, fair exchange I reckon! Us in Austria (how do they always know we're British?) This Summer we went back to the Tyrol, Austria, to a little village called Soll. We'd had a really lovely time there a couple of years back. The hotel we stayed at last time has since changed hands so this visit we took accommodation at the Tyrol (Tyrol Am Wilder Kaiser if you want its full name). Josef and the rest of the family team who run the hotel really looked after us well. Our room was spacious and comfortable and like everywhere in Austria it was kept extremely clean. If you like walking in beautiful mountains, swimming in mountain lakes and riding on cable-cars to your heart's delight (like we do) then I'd highly recommend both Soll and the Hotel Tyrol. The Heldenorgel, Kufstein We meant to go to Innsbruck (we've been before but had always felt we had unfinished business with the city having visited last time on a Monday when the art gallery was shut! And we hoped to see lots of other stuff too!) but this year we were enjoying the wonderful mountain walks and sunshine too much and ran out of time to get there. However, we did go to Kufstein on our one rainy day to see the Heldenorgel being played. The organ is set at the base of an old fortress and has been played twice daily (midday and 6pm) in memory of Ausrtria's war dead since 1931. It is an incredible piece of machinery with the organ pipes at the top of the tower (most easily reached via the funicular railway!). The four main villages of the Wilder Kaiser region, Soll, Schefau, Elmau and Going go out of their way to make their Summer visitors welcome. Many visitors return time and time again and all the Gondola/ cable-car half-stations have great playgrounds for entertaining children. They allow the children to create their own world without imposing too much that's been thought up by adults. Our son would have loved it there I know had we discovered it when he was a child. Incidentally, I didn't see one screaming child or irrate parent during the whole two weeks.

Yes, they always know. But how? So a change, a rest, lots of fresh air, lots of walking up and down mountains (phew!), great food, great hotel, great village and lots of nice Austrians, Germans and British people.

Now I'm back at home again and it's down to some serious writing. Lovely jubbly!