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Christmas lights between the jigs and the reels

1st December 20241st December 2024 funtime65

It may not have the bells and whistles of an Oxford Street or Rockefeller Center but North Berwick’s Christmas lights between the jigs and reels are a festive delight.

Our sleepy little town on the east coast of Scotland suddenly burst into sound this weekend for the illuminations.

With community groups and singers getting the party going with Christmas songs.

And the pipers belting out a rendition of Jingle Bells.

As they marched down the main street, or the Olden Mile as I like to call it.

It turns out that we were a day early as today is the official National Christmas Lights Day.

No us neither but it harks back to a pal of Thomas Alva Edison’s. who it’s safe to say knew his lights, in the late 1800s.

Let there be light

Twas Edward H. Johnson who handwired his lights together.

To get round the safety issues of flamed candles.

It helped too that Edward H had a supporter in the most important man in the land, US President Grover Cleveland.

Who you’ll remember we, and the rest of the world, got talking about as the last prez to win non-consecutive terms.

Now we dare say that The Donald will be putting on quite the light show at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida.

Maybe inspired by his native New York where ‘He’ has kept his patch even outside his own term.

This year’s blond: With ‘The Donald’ in New York

And you can also go full New Yoiker and skate on the Rockefeller ice rink.

As your Bandanaman and Daddy’s Little Girl did.

Get your skates on

Escaping the labours of sifting and lifting through stuff in your attic and garage for Crimbo lights, trees and decorations has become a thing.

So take note when you are away on a mid-winter city trip for what Christmas festivities they have in store.

As we did on our romantic weekend in Amsterdam, staying at George and Amal’s favourite Dutch hotel, the Dylan, where else?

And learned how they make a benefit of their canals to light up the city.

While if you’re really lucky it might ice up for skating.

Now wherever you are in the world from Edinburgh to Sydney, Dublin to Rio.

Enjoy the Christmas lights between the jigs and the reels.

Asia, Caribbean, Countries, Deals, Europe

Are the world’s best hotels the world’s best for you?

19th September 202419th September 2024 funtime65

Congrats Capella Bangkok, voted best place to stay, which triggers a question are the world’s best hotels the world’s best for you?

Now, I’m usually content with a three-rolls bed, a power shower and a hearty breakfast.

But I can be won over by bells and whistles too and a killer view.

Ah, Capella

All of which Thailand’s jewel, the Capella, has in spades in its 101 suites and villas.

Described as an award-winning new-age sanctuary perched along the meandering bends of the Chao Phraya River.

With a two-night reservation at the Best Available Rate in any room category to receive a complimentary third night.

So what other special features separates the Capella Bangkok from the rest?

The Capella helpfully offers daily breakfast for two guests, a bottle of house Champagne and daily sunrise yoga by the river.

Daily complimentary non-alcoholic mini-bar.

And here’s the real kicker… complimentary pressing of up to five pieces of clothing per stay!

All for TBH 75,300, or 1,712 of your Earth pounds.

Sandals in the swim

Now no vista can be replicated but those special features can and we’ve enjoyed them around the world at other hotels.

And dare we say… better.

So, let’s start with sunrise in Sandals Barbados.

Where you can be greeted with your very own Bim bird who will perch on your hot tub as you soak.

With glass of Champagne in hand from your complimentary daily bottle.

Other drinks are available obviously from your complimentary alcohol maxi-bar.

Now should you struggle to get through that bottle by yourself you can always share with your pals down in the pool.

Or have cocktails in the island pool bar before swimming up to your room.

And if you’ve forgotten anything your personal butler will have seen to it for you.

Your inner Robinson Crusoe

Thumbs-up: Porridge and Janelle at Castara Retreats in Tobago

Now should you think someone of your standing shouldn’t be asked to share your pool then Kuramathi in the Maldives obliges.

With your own secluded pool outside your bedroom with views of the Indian Ocean obviously.

While if you’re looking for something even more exotic and authentic why not go for what we’ll call the Robinson Crusoe upgrade.

Sleep in your very own hammock on the balcony at ‘Porridge’ and Janelle’s Castara Retreats in Tobago.

And for a morning stretch allow your yoga specialist to lead you through some gentle moves.

Porridge in the morning: With Janelle and ‘Porridge’

All of which goes to show that luxury can be just around the corner which is, in fact, the Tobagonian pledge,

Your hotel, your stay

And if it looks like they don’t have a hotel near you on the World’s 50 Best Hotels here.

There could well be an alternative, just as good, or better, on your doorstep or a quick flight away.

Which is why we would never dream of staying anywhere else than George and Amal’s favourite stop-off, the Dylan in Amsterdam.

Yes, we can have passed down a list but are the world’s best hotels the world’s best for you?

And so as we see that the Gleneagles in Perthshire, Scotland makes the list.

We prefer to recommend Andy Murray’s more intimate and welcoming pad, the time capsule Cromlix House, near by, in Stirlingshire.

Game, set and match to us.

Countries

30 years with the Travel and Strife

17th September 202417th September 2024 funtime65

You Pearler… 30 years with the Travel and Strife and time to look back and forward.

Our journey, in truth, started four years earlier in Herself’s Homestead, the Royal County of Berkshire.

With our first pitstop a city which for that reason, and its own, will always be magical to us, Amsterdam.

Off the beaten track

Can I be trusted on a bike? In Amsterdam

Twenty-five years spanned our visits to the pride of the Netherlands and we ditched the ubiquitous bikes along the way.

We had taken the road less travelled on our first trip, going to Edam on its half day.

And then taking the wrong fork on the road back to Amsterdam.

We took a different tack when we were invited out to the Dylan.

And so it was canal boats and the luxury of the hotel George and Amal frequent in theirs, and now our, visits to Holland.

Wear slip-on shoes

We all form attachments to those countries and cities we first go to as children and couples.

And Portugal holds a special place too in our hearts despite another cycling mishap in the Algarve.

But one we got to put right in Portugal Centro years later under the guidance of our own Special One Jose Madomis.

Malta would follow when in an unguarded moment I bent down at dinner to tie up my shoelace and she screamed ‘Yes’.

The Scot in me, I went back years later on my own to see if I could redeem on the bottle of Champagne we didn’t finish…

And so Corfu followed for our honeymoon when the handsome Greek waiter was most attentive to our table.

And my bride was blushing when it transpired he was eyeing me up.

On our Travails

We made the most of those intimate moments then, knowing holidays would never be the same when Him and Her came along.

And waited until we could take off again together, to the Soll slopes in Austria.

That road trip around Portugal Centro.

To George and Amal’s gaffe in Amsterdam.

And up the fjords of Norway and around the Rieperbahn of Hamburg.

Still stumbling along the way and trying to get back on track.

And all the time still following Her lead.

Even when that meant us getting on the bus to Berlin instead of Keil.

The Mother of all Dragons

Or turning up in Monaghan a weekend early and turning that Irish Midlands town upside down.

There have been travails aplenty and pleasures like poppy seeds in Rome and Venice and travels to come.

With an anniversary Loveholidays trip to Dubrovnik to come next month with my very own Mother of Dragons.

Just another marker in 30 years with the Travel and Strife.

Bring on the next 30.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Europe

Give activists the Van Gogh brush-off

16th October 20221st November 2022 funtime65

Is nothing sacred, and shouldn’t all who want to construct rather than destruct give activists the Van Gogh brush-off?

Just how Vincent would have reacted to the two climate activists who threw a tin of soup at his oil painting Sunflowers in London is anybody’s guess.

But we suspect that the fiery redhead would have gone mental at the fundamentalists and rightly so.

Thankfully for all, the painting is protected by a shield of glass.

Cultural vandalism

The right fun with flowers: Sunflowers all around

But such is his brilliance that if you get up close and personal to his paintings you can see…

Just how thick oils were which he feverishly applied to his paintings.

My first reaction to the cultural vandalism of their attack was a Van Goghian rage at these activists’ abuse of a civilian’s right to protest.

And how their selective destruction of our art would not have been out of place in the fascist Third Reich or Mussolini’s Italy.

Not that these philistines deserve an answer but Vincent Van Gogh had a love and insight for nature that few of us can reach.

And far fewer still can express.

Some painting notes

Flower power: Vin’s all about the flowers

And here the good people of the National Gallery lend us their expertise with some artistic notes.

The sunflower is mine’, Van Gogh is once said to have declared, and it does speak to him (both metaphorically and perhaps in his delirium).

The different stages in the sunflower’s life cycle shown here, from young bud through to maturity and eventual decay, follow in the vanitas tradition of Dutch seventeenth-century flower paintings (who knew?)

And that emphasises the transient nature of human actions.

The sunflowers were perhaps also intended to be a symbol of friendship and a celebration of the beauty and vitality of nature.

And he had five of them on display across the world.

Although lucky chap that he was Paul Gauguin got to see them all after Vincent had painted them for him for his arrival in his house at Arles.

At your attendance

In the picture: And it’s Rembrandt in Amsterdam

Spare a thought and a minute here too for the staff at the National Gallery in London who care for the exhibits better than their own children.

Because these stunts push us further down the road to bulky guards at our art galleries rather than helpful attendants.

And should that come then the essence, the karma of the spaces, the floors and rooms of an art gallery will be compromised.

The best place to appreciate Van Gogh’s art is at his museum in Amsterdam.

And hang with the Bedroom at Arles, The Potato Eaters The Self-Portrait with Grey Fedora, Irises and Wheatfield with a reaper.

There are many great art cities but Amsterdam allows you to be part of the picture as you can see with another Dutch art great Rembrandt and his living Night Watch.

And the best way to get around is at with the IAmsterdam card… and the best place to stay the Dylan Hotel, where George and Amal go.

Play to the gallery

We didn’t see that: No, not in the picture but in one of The Scary One’s pics

A print of which has hung in our spare room across a bunch of houses we have lived in in Britain and Ireland.

Where there have been clumsy removals and teens’ house parties.

But while there have been damages and breakages we have always treated our art and our prints.

Which we all should in our own homes and in our art galleries.

While we give the activists the Van Gogh brush-off.

America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Music

30 years of saltwater welling in my eyes

9th August 20219th August 2021 funtime65

We are on UN’s red code to Save the World and 30 years of saltwater welling in my eyes since I first heard Julian Lennon’s song, Rainy Days and Songdays now hails those singers who’ve been addressing the crisis for years.

When will there be?

Harvest for the World (Isley Brothers): Gather every man, gather every woman, Celebrate your life, give thanks for your children, gather everyone, gather altogether, overlookin’ none, hopin’ life gets better for the world.

The sonorous tones of Cincinnati, Ohio’s finest, carry on them a wonderfully stripped-back message we can all take on board.

My own focus on Cincinnati has been honed since sending one of my writers there back in the day.

I’d plan out the travel pieces they came back with early in the week for the weekend publication and was relaxing in the Dylan Hotel, Amsterdam (as you do) having mapped out the early draft.

When said writer texted me in a panic saying I’d misspelt Cincinnati and that this was jeopardising his contacts with them.

Despite it, of course, being an early draft and me being back in the office two days later. Hey ho, between us we gave the Cincinnatians what they wanted a justifiable celebration of their city.

Don’t it always seem to go?

Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell): And the Canadian chanteuse always caught the zeitgeist with her uniquely on-point lyrics.

‘They took all the trees and put ’em in a tree museum and charged the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em’ refers to the Foster Botanical Garden in downtown Honolulu.

Encroaching tourism is as big, if not bigger, threat than when Joni and the other hippies were trailing a blaze. Go and see it before they ruin it.

Welling in my eye

Saltwater (Julian Lennon): It’s 30 years since John’s boy released this song, a classic in its own right.

And when I hear about the hole in the sky saltwater wells in my eyes.

And alas it’s getting bigger Julian.

The right Cash

Don’t Go Near The Water (Johnny Cash): The King of Country was a lifelong advocate for ecology and the American landscape.

And you can learn more about his passion for Nature at his museum in Nashville.

Johnny. of course, was a man of the land, Arkansas in his case, and he would turn in his grave…

Bob’s the job

The Sun Is Shining (Bob Marley): Marley, of course, loved the land so much he tried to smoke it all.

But joking aside his Rasta songs were inspired by a union with Nature.

Chicago‘s The Rock and Roll Playhouse knew it and held an Earth Day celebration concert featuring tunes by the great master of reggae two years ago.

To the rescue… here I am.

If only… because 30 years of saltwater welling in my eyes something has to be done.

Countries, Culture, Deals, Europe, UK

Holiday Snaps – Amsterdam attics and grand hotels

14th October 202014th October 2020 funtime65

I really should try harder, or even try at all, to get back to church.

That would mean me filling out a form on the net which is as nothing compared with the Mass Rocks of Ireland, the nooks of England and the attic of a canal town house in Amsterdam.

Our forebears whether they were Catholic, Protestant. Muslim or Jew, or any other belief would go to greater lengths than we do now to practise their faith.

We all know about how Anne Frank and her family and friends lived in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

And it is truly humbling to hear the words from her diary spoken as you walk through the confines of their attic retreat.

That truly does put our own lockdowns into perspective.

As does the Ons’ Lieve Here op Solder.

The Ons’ Lieve Where?

That’s the Lord of the Attic Museum the ‘Our Dear Lord in the Attic’ built in 1663 when Catholics lost their right to worship in their own way.

You’ll have a lot more room, and comfort. in George and Amal’s favourite Dutch billet, The Dylan Amsterdam.the Keizersgracht, one of the city’s most famous canals in the stylish Nine Streets shopping district.

Where, of course, their peerless personal service, will ensure you know everywhere to go in Amsterdam, from brown cafe to Sunday chapel.

Doubles start from €223 per night including breakfast.

Fit for yer man, the President

A sign of the times that the most bombed hotel in the world was now hosting the most important couple in the world of the times, the Clintons.

The Europa Hotel also entertained another stellar group, the Republic of Ireland’s finest journalists, to see a Van Morrison and Joey DeFrancesco jazz cabaret.

The Europa is undergoing an extensive refurb of its bedrooms to be completed by March.

Of course, the staff can’t be improved on, and they’re always there to clean up after you… when you leave your room like a bomb-site, as I do.

All llamas great and small

If like me you’ve been enchanted by the new version of All Creatures Great and Small on the telly you’ll be warning to seek out the Yorkshire Dales in England.

For those who don’t know the story it’s the real life tale of how a Scots vet won over the suspicious people of ‘God’s Own County’.

Let me remind you of a particularly humorous incident sees James Herriott lose his watch up a cow’s bum.

But they’re certainly there now. The Nidderdale Llamas experience offers treks through the farm in the company of llamas and alpacas.

The best stay is at the nearby Grantley Hall.

Where you can get pampered at the Three Graces Spa and get restorative treatments from Ila and Natura Bisse.

Dip in their 18-metre indoor swimming pool, indoor to outdoor hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room and snow room (me, neither).

You’ll also have six drinking and dining outlets.

Rates start from £385 per room per night, including breakfast.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Cruising, Europe, Ireland

What a picture – my award-winning photographer wife

20th August 202020th August 2020 funtime65

Every picture tells a story and this is ours.

World Photograph Day yesterday saw me trawling through my Travel memories with my award-winning photographer wife.

Sarah Frost as she was when she won two UK Royal Photography Awards.

And still is under her working name, before taking on my mantle.

Now The Scary One, as I affectionately and rather fearfully refer to her, has not been able to attend all my trips around the world.

A deserved reputation

Mostly because of the stipulations but sometimes I imagine because of reputation.

But when she has she has brought a colour to the trips.

Around Ireland…

In our own garden county of Co. Wicklow, in Dublin, the iconic Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel at a famous Dublin 4 institution, and a haven too in Temple Bar, and in the heart of the Midlands in the border county of Monaghan.

And up north from where us Murtys hail and London and England where the Frosts hail.

2a6b943f-436b-4e6f-8e30-6b5e90b1ef9d — That way, Sweden

While she also caught the fun of skiing in Austria, wining and dining in Portugal Centro, cruising in the Norwegian fjords with stop-offs in Copenhagen and then a city trip in Hamburg.

And also at George’s and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel, her photographs have always enhanced the experience.

Though there was a time on board the MSC Preziosa when it was particularly slippy because of the Norwegian rain.

Photo album

And she looked as if she might fall overboard. I very nearly caught her too!

So opening up the album here are my Frostie’s Favourites and some of her creativity has even rubbed off on me. See if you can spot which are hers and which are mine?

The fjords

fullsizeoutput_1a8b 2 — Which one’s the troll?

And She was up every morning bright and early to capture Norway’s waterfalls, inlets and try to spot trolls.

There was one still sleeping off the previous night’s wine, in our MSC Preziosa cabin room.

Bitesize Hamburg

And when She wasn’t putting her feet up in the beach bar in tbe Rieperbahn she was snapping life around the port.

Amsterdam by George

hdr — Can I be trusted on a bike? In Amsterdam

And sometimes we make a rod for our own back because after staying at the Dylan Amsterdam where George and Amal stay then everywhere else is a disappointment.

Heart and Soll

I fell for you Heart and Soll as Cole Porter sang. And while I was falling down the slopes She was getting the ski boots off and capturing the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser.

The power of Powerscourt

317d92ca-de04-49f8-aa9a-87eb5caac93b — Towering talent… one of mine

And the two things that She loves more than anything in life and neither of them are me are in Wicklow that’s gardening and shopping.

Powerscourt has them both... and don’t my credit cards know it?

And lastly here we are the picture of happiness as taken by our Portuguese guide, photography fan and pal Jose.

Culture, Europe, Food & Wine

Edam good cycle in Holland

7th July 20207th July 2020 funtime65

Men left, women always right as the old sign says… except, of course, when left means going back on yourself to Edam and right means returning to Amsterdam.

It was the one and only time I signalled correctly which is probably why SHE ignored me.

And we cycled around for another 10km in the twilight before returning to the crossroads.

By the time we got back and had our crepes and Amstel beers I was feeling it.

The top table: The Dylan Amsterdam

And I was cramped up the next day.

And did I say that we had only got the wrong day to go out to Edam as it was their half day?

Still we did manage to get a cheeseboard, garlic Edam cheese and one of those slicers with a delft pattern before they closed their shutters.

Slice of the action: Edam www.holland.com

The cheese might have got a bot smelly in my backpack on the ride home too but I wasn’t telling my parents for whom it was a souvenir.

All of which reminisces have been prompted by an itinerary suggestion from the now reopened Dylan Amsterdam… www.dylanamsterdam.com.

Where I took the by now Mrs M nearly 30 years after our first visit to Amsterdam.

Another power couple

Safe to say we were moving in far different circles and hotels in 1999 than now with the Dylan being George and Amal’s Dutch hotel of choice… George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel.

One of the distinguishing features of the Dylan (and there are many) is the fabulous concierge service.

And here it’s almost as if they can read our minds.

Because among their alternative excursions is the Kroller Muller Museum which houses the world’s second largest collections of Van Goghs.

Blooming marvellous: The Dylan Amsterdam

And they are tempting us with a cycle around the Hoge Veluwe National Park afterwards.

When I’ll be sure to be giving the directions.

Like all great cities Amsterdam just leaves you wanting to come back for more www.iamsterdam.com and Pictures of Amsterdam.

Not least to get round the plethora of funky museums. And yes, of course, there is a cheese museum… http://www.cheesemuseumamsterdam.com/.

Check out the Dylan Amsterdam for best rates and conditions and be assured that your concierge will take great care of you.

My little flower: At the Tulip Museum

And help you with directions although some of us need them more than others.

We flew with the national airline carrier www.klm.com and would recommend them highly.

America, Cruising, Culture, Europe, Ireland

Gay you love me – five top gay wedding destinations

22nd May 202022nd May 2020 funtime65

It may only have been for show at the Graceland Chapel, Las Vegas https://www.gracelandchapel.com www.lvcva.com but Peter and Martin would have made a lovely couple.

As would Cami from Utah and myself who made sweet music on the dance floor of Harrah’s off the Strip https://www.caesars.com/harrahs-las-vegas and Strip… the light fantastic.

All of which came back to me today with the fifth anniversary of Ireland becoming the first country in the world to pass a referendum to legalise gay marriage.

So to celebrate the glorious day, here are five great destinations, Ireland included, to tie the knot.

The Power of love

The Power behind the throne… my little flower

Powerscourt Estate, Avoca,Co.Wicklow, Ireland (https://powerscourt.com and https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dubak-powerscourt-hotel-autograph-collection/?scid=bb1a189a-fec3-4d19-a255-54ba596febe2): And my old stomping ground of Co. Wicklow, Ireland’s Garden County.

A plush ballroom where celebs including Chris De Burgh’s daughter, the former Miss World Rosanna Davison, got married to slot machine heir Wesley Quirke.

The gardens and estate are a favourite location for movie producers but the biggest star of all is Powerscourt’s redoubtable matriarch Sarah Slazenger.

See Flowerscourt and www.visitwicklow.ie.

Say it with flowers in Amsterdam

They’re everyone’s favourite celebrity couple so seeing that Celeb-catching belongs to the Gays.

Then where better to stay for your honeymoon than George and Amal’s Amsterdam hideaway.

The Dylan Amsterdam looks out over the Keizersgracht canal https://www.dylanamsterdam.com and George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel.

They’ll put flowers in your bedroom, tulips of course and more on this king of flower in Pictures of Amsterdam.

And you’ll have a concierge to look after your every need and plan itineraries for you while there is also the invaluable city card http://www.iamsterdam.com.

As well, as of course, caviar in the Vinkeles restaurant. Well, it is your honeymoon.

Greek gods

Where all the men look like Zeus and I could easily have been turned.

If you want the Athens experience then you’ll want to take in the Athens Riviera http://www.athensattica.com where all the Beautiful People hang out.

While the Greek islands have always drawn us there.

With some even forgetting to go back like Dutch walking tour leader Frank and his partner who have settled down in Kythera.

And who can blame them? See http://www.visitkythera.com, https://www.pyrgoshouse.com/attraction/walk-with-frank/ and My Greek odyssey.

Let’s go cruising

Norwegian would: With the Scary One on the fjords

Well, we had to didn’t we? Now cruises come in all shapes and sizes so there will be one to suit every one of you… 101 in our case.

And here’s one that comes highly recommended by Herself and Myself where we spent an anniversary http://www.msccruises.co.uk The call of the fjords.

Of course they can marry you on these cruises too which I found out on my first cruise Smooth sailing around the Western Med… no, not me.

If you want to go more upmarket still the gamechanger Celebrity Edge https://www.celebritycruises.com/gb/cruise-ships/celebrity-edge I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out To Here will sail you around the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

With the best entertainment, a floating tender and Eden!

Brag about Prague

We’re only here for the beer: At the Strahov Monastic Brewery

Yes, you can walk by the Seine or go down the Grand Canal in Venice.

But maybe you’re more party people and want to kick back.

Then there are few better places than Prague… https://www.prague.eu/en.

There is a real frisson about the Czech capital and you can’t help but feel infused by it.

As I was when I passed by a Stag party wearing T-shirts emblazoned with ‘I turned Philip Schofield’.

Have your nuptials in the Castle area and stay at the Golden Key Hotel https://goldenkey.astenhotels.com/en.

Where you’ll be enchanted by the wooden ceilings and dainty downstairs sauna.

And imbibe the best beer in the world at the Strahov Monastic Brewery https://www.klasterni-pivovar.cz.