We had a lovely couple of days in Bologna, a city that has a lot to offer and yet is easy to get around on foot. There is the usual astonishing amount of churches, and Bologna is famous for it's towers of which only few remain. There is also an impressive amount of shops, many still wonderfully decorated from Christmas, and of course Bologna is well known for it's food like mortadella sausage or pasta bologenese ("al ragu" in Italian)
05.01.2024
We didn't spend much time in museums in Bologna, but we did go up Torre dell'Orologio (Clock Tower), which is found on Piazza Maggiore right in the middle of town, next to the huge Basilica di San Petronio church. The views are amazing and the famous twin towers (Garisenda and Asinelli), the highest of which is 97m, were closed for renovation, so we couldn't go up there
05.01.2024
One of the things we definitely want to see in Bologna was Santuario Madonna di San Luca, a church built between 1723 and 1757, that sits on a hill 210meters above the city. It's connected to the city by some of Bologna's 38km archways (the most anywhere in the world), which are included in the Unesco World Heritage Site list. The actual assent from Arco Del Meloncello is 2,0km covered by 666 archways, and is quite popular with both locals and turists
28.10.2023
Bibi postponed her 60th birthday celebration a year, rented a holiday home in Denmark, and invited the whole family to come spend the week with us.
We drove from Italy, with two overnight stops each way, to give us that extra freedom, so were away almost two weeks.
The weather is always questionable this time of year, and the week ended with a "100-year storm", but we had a good time anyway. The grandchildren certainly enjoyed the indoor pool and the grownups played lots of boardgames. We also got to spend the last evenings with our friends Helle & Lars, who lives nearby in Randers
10.07.2023
Our trip to Provence in search of lavenders in bloom was much more successful this year. We found many beautiful fields, some stretching out as far as the eye could see. What you don't get from the pictures are the wonderful scent and the amazing humming of of thousands of bees, that adds to the whole experience. We did exactly 800km with an overnight stop in Montbrun-les-Bains, taking the Boxster past 87.000km total
17.08.2022
Johns and Susanne were kind enough to make a detour on their way back from Lake Garda and come and visit us in Costarainera. It was their first visit and it was fun to hear the comments from someone who's never been here before. Johns also helped me finish the fence I had started to keep the wild boars out of our garden. Might not sound like a creditable problem, but there are loads of wild boars in Italy and they are very destructive to our new plants
29.07.2022
After talking about it for years we finally did our road trip to the Czech Republic with our friends Helle and Lars. We drove the Porsche Boxter from Costarainera and they drove their Mercedes SLK from Denmark. Lars had planned a route that took us around looking at historic cities, hiking and visiting the Urquell brewery.
- Cesky Krumlov
- Plzen
- Karlovy Vary
- Pec pod Snezkou
We had a fantastic holiday. It was great spending time with Helle and Lars. The Czech Repblic is beautiful, welcomming and very affordable. And we we did 3.200km in the Boxster - more than the three previous years combined!
06.06.2022
It's been 10 years since we were last in Cassis and last time we drove all the way from Coventry. We specifically wanted to visit the extraordinarily beautiful Parco nazionale delle Calanques. We went on a 1.5h lovely boat cruise on Thursday and had a great hike on Friday. We took the Boxster, intending to do a bit of a shake-down before the roadtrip to the Czech Republic in July
27.07.2021
Last weekend we finally had an opportunity to go to Provence and see the lavenders in bloom, something we had been wanting to do for a couple of years. With an overnight stop in the quant little town of Apt we did 725km in the Boxster on winding country roads through the wonderful landscape and saw plenty of lavenders although they had started harvesting them. We also spotted some sunflower fields in bloom on the way back
28.06.2021
Friday afternoon we drove from Brescia to Sirmione. Here we wanted to see the Castello di Sirmione and Grotte di Catullo, which is actually a roman villa most likely owned by a Venetian family, but incorrectly assumed to be a series of caves and attributed to an ancient poet, when discovered. The castle is remarkable well conserved, the villa much less so as is was abandoned and much material recycled elsewhere presumably after an earthquake
28.06.2021
Brescia is another Italian hidden gem. The old town is relatively small but there is lots to see. In about a day we walked most of it and visited two of the main attractions: Castello di Brescia and Tempio Capitolino & Teatro Romano. The large imposing castle was amazingly well preserved and it was fun to see another Roman theatre, but the highlight was definitely the very unique roman bronze statue (very few survive)
25.10.2020
We decided to spend our Fall Break in Denmark visiting family and friends, most of whom we hadn't seen for far too long. We drove by car (with an overnight stop) to avoid air travel and to give us that extra freedom. It was wonderful reconnecting with everyone, catching up on what's new... and the weather was surprisingly pleasant with not a drop of rain all week. The pictures are from our visit with Helle & Lars, sailing on Randers Fjord and walking Skandinavisk Dyrepark
19.05.2019
Ken had a conference in London on 15th May, so we made a weekend out of it and left on the Saturday before. The weather was beautiful and we really needed to relax, so we walked around most of time with no specific plan. We did of course stop frequently at pubs, and made time for some of our favourite food: Mexican, curry and fish and chips. We also caught two movies, one of them in the biggest IMAX screen in the UK
27.10.2018
After four years of living in Torino, we finally found an occasion to visit the Egyptian Museum. Most of the collection was bought with the specific purpose of establishing a world class museum in Tornio. Following the modernisation in 2016 it's now certainly a very enjoyable and informative experience, with an excellent audio guide taking you through the ages of Egyptian History in about 1.5 hour
31.07.2018
We're not the greatest opera-lovers in the world, but when you're in the 2,000 year old Arena di Verona on one of the hottest summer nights so far watching Verdi's Nabucco, it really is quite special. Even more so because we were underneath the open sky, with a beautiful view to the almost-full Moon and red-star Mars. The rest of Verona is definitely worth a visit a well, from Castel San Pietro in the north with wonderful views of the city and the Castelvecchio in the east
09.04.2018
Easter in Rome is always a wonderful experience and although we did have 1-1.5 day of rain the weather was mostly nice and sunny. As always, we visited a few old favorites (Villa Adriana, Santa Maria Maggiore etc.) but also made time for something we hadn't seen before: Palazzo Doria Pamphij, Palazzo Colonna, Ostia Antica and (long) day-trip by bus to Pompeii
25.02.2018
Our grandson was officially baptised Aksel Skovdal Rosander at a lovely ceremony in Sofie's hometown of Kerteminde last weekend. At our house we are making preparations for the fence to the front of the property to go up in March. The planning approval took 5 months! Meanwhile I'm getting ready to close the awkward little corridor into the utility with a rustic bookcase made from re-cycled wood. Towards the utility will be an open IKEA cupboard for storage
03.01.2018
We had a lovely Xmas with my parents in Barløse, where we also met Nicolaj, Sofie and our grandson Aksel. Later we drove to Randers to spend New Years with Lars & Helle, who decided that we should go to their summerhouse near Lokken in Northern Jutland. The weather wasn't too accommodating, so we spend most days indoors
30.06.2016
Five warm nights, five cosy towns, five beautiful beaches ... that pretty much sums up our motorcycle trip to Sardinia. The island came highly recommended from our Italian friends and we certainly weren't disappointed. There are some brilliant costal roads
(SP105 come to mind) to enjoy on the motorcycle, more beaches than anyone could ever need, and wonderful little towns all around to enjoy the food and the warm summer nights.
08.06.2016
We like roman monuments, and in Provence there are lots to enjoy. In Arles you have the Arena, in Orange a semi-circular theatre and a triumphal arch, in Nimes another Arena plus the well-preserved temple Maison Carree, and in between you find the amazing aqueduct Pont du Gard. We took the motorbike and had a really nice trip there and back avoiding motorways as much as practical.
26.04.2016
Mantova is often overlooked by visitors, which really isn't fair as it a lovely place. Rich in history and full of interesting places to visit, with a lovely location with lakes on three sides (it used to be an island) it really should be in everyone's Top5 Places to Visit in Italy. The weather wasn't perfect, so we took the opportunity to see most of the palaces, churches, theatres and towers.
16.04.2016
Torino was Italy's first capital and the royal family used to live at Veneria Reale, which is a beautiful palace similar in style to Versailles in Paris with extensive gardens and ponds. It really is an impressive site and we spend a full 5 hours admiring the houses, exhibitions - which include everything from jewellery to the most expensive boat and horse carriage of its time - and the gardens.
16.04.2016
It was lovely to have Birgit visiting us, and we had a great couple of days together. Fortunately the weather was much better this time, and we could get out and enjoy the sun. I think the absolute highlight for all of us was the visit to Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) Skywalk. The views from the platform at 3.466 meters altitude, almost on the top of the Alps, are just to die for - well worth the 40 euro each for a retur, and highly recommended
29.03.2016
Waking up to the sound of gondolas right outside your bedroom window - this can only be Venice, and our rented ground floor apartment, literally was on the edge of a busy canal. We spend most of our time walking around, looking at the canals and crossing some of the 409 bridges in Venice. We did go on a tour of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) and Basilica San Marco (Saint Mark's Cathedral), and took the vaporetto (waterbus) out to the island of Murano where all the glass works are.
09.01.2016
A week in Sicily is not nearly enough, so we focused on the Western part, as we were based in Castellammare del Golfo. Highlights of the week include the 2.500 year old temples in Selinunte, Segesta and Agrigento and walking the natural parks of Zingaro and Stagnone. This time of year there were hardly any tourists, but then again the weather wasn't perfect and a lot of places were closed.
29.12.2015
We thought this would be a good time of year to avoid the crowds at Genoa Aquarium, and although there were still lots of people - and children - it seemed a good plan. The aquarium is well worth a visit, and we spend a good 2.5hour looking at all the wonderful exhibits. One of the main attractions is a dolphin pool that one can see from above and through massive underwater windows, that really is rather special and you can spend hours looking at the dolphins play.
10.12.2015
It was nice to visit Rome this time of year. We made an effort to see something new: Mercati di Traiano (Trojan's Market), Terme di Caracalla (Caracalla's Baths) and Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museums), but of course there are old favourites that you just have to see again: Fontana di Trevi (newly restored), Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Fontana Le Tartarughe (Turtle Fountain) ... the list goes on.
28.11.2015
The international motorcycle show in Milano seemed like a good excuse for an extended weekend trip. Friday we saw Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie. We had an excellent dinner at Boccondivino ... except they leave the bottles on the table, and we both had far too much to drink. Saturday we were at the motorcycle show, and Sunday we visited the Duomo di Milano and the museum, which is actually much more interesting than the church.
07.11.2015
Today we visited one of Torino's many castles. Torino was Italy's first capital so the King used to live here. Stupinigi was his hunting castle, which is evidently clear from its highly ornate interior dominated but hunting scenes and prey. The park on the contrary is quite boring with long straight roads, but since the weather was warm (20C) and sunny we still went for a 10km walk before our picnic among the squirrels.
01.11.2015
Rune (Bibi's brother) turned 50years old on 30th October and he and Bibi's mother Alma decided to come to Torino to celebrate. We went out for dinner on Friday, and Saturday was spend looking around Torino. Sunday we went to Sacra di San Michele, an old church and monastery overlooking Torino on one side and Val de Susa on the other. On the way back we stopped at Castello di Rivoli for lunch. The weather was a little hazy but the views were still spectacular
24.10.2015
Parco Mandria is part of the Venaria Reale estate (Torino's verison of Versaille). Unfortunately most of the paths are closed to the public, allegedly because of risk of falling trees! The accessible paths are long and straight and rather boring, but we still found a 14km walk in the nice autumn weather. We were lucky enough to see several herons (one white), a fox, traces of wild boar and two adorable swamp rats
24.10.2015
In a beautiful setting in Valle D'Aosta lies the small village of Introd, which gives its name to the Introd Animal Park. The park consists exclusively of animal found natively in northern Italy. Birigit wanted to see some mountains, so it was the perfect outing for a Saturday afternoon. This time of year there were very few visitors and we got really close to most of the animals ... most amazingly a fox sleeping in the last ray of sun.
29.09.2015
The only reason we went to Rimini was for the MotoGP, but it turned out to be an interesting old town, with beautiful old buildings and cosy open squares. Best was the Surgeon's House named after it's last occupant. The ruins are outside in a glass building, but the artefacts found are in the nearby museum. The MotoGP race was a bizarre affair, with very light rain upsetting everyone, to the extent that Bradley Smith and Scott Reading (who fell off early in the race!) ended on the podium.
23.08.2015
Our two week summer holiday was spend in Portovenere, and what a location. We were at the beautiful beaches almost all day, everyday - in fact we didn't move the car until it was time to go home. The only thing we did was go sailing up Cinque Terre and visit the Castello Doria which was beautiful and even more so on 17th August for Madonna Bianca.
14.07.2015
We have had some weeks of hot weather in Turin (+30C), but fortunately the beach is not far away. Bibi and I went to San Remo for a weekend at the posh Hotel de Paris, because we got a gift certificate from our bank (they are very nice people). Later we went with Mikkel, Natasha to Varazze, which is a lovely place to snorkel as the beach is all rocks and no sand, so the water is exceptionally clear and there are lots of fish
07.06.2015
We have been looking forward to the MotoGP at Mugello, and the race was just as good - and the organisation just as chaotic - as we had expected. The day before the race we stayed at a lovely country house in Toscana, and the two day following we were in Firenze, which was beautiful, and full of tourists, which we aren't used to in Torino.
07.06.2015
Our friends Kinga & Witek and daughter Karolina visited us last month. They had a couple of relaxing days with Bibi in Torino (Witek's pictures).
On Saturday we went to a posh car show at Lake Como, to see some very expensive cars and lovely motorcycles - including Orlando Bloom's custom BMW. Sunday Kinga & Witek continued their holiday on the Ligurian coast.
18.04.2015
Karen-Margrethe was more fortunate with the weather, and we drove down to Finale Ligurie, which is another small town on the Med coast. The rest of the week, Bibi & Karen-Margrethe spend talking and sightseeing in Torino. The same week, Pam our neighbour from South Avenue, was in Torino with her son Martin and daughter-in-law Olga, and we all went out for dinner
18.04.2015
Birgit (Ken's mum) was our first visitor in Torino. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't the best during the week, but we had a lovely time anyway. We drove down to Diano Marina on the Med coast, where Birgit & Buller met over 50 years ago, and to Verona on a weekend trip, where we of course visited the arena, but also had one of the best meal we have had yet I Italy at restaurant Antica Torretta
08.03.2015
High in the hills overlooking Torino is Basilica di Superga, a popular sightseeing destination. Everyone told us about the wonderful views, so of course we had to go and see for ourselves. It was a bit hazy on the day, but the views over Torino and the Alps in the background was spectacular. The church is quite small but highly decorated, and on the back is a memorial for the Torino football team, who died in a plane crash on the mountain in 1949
01.03.2015
It's almost spring here I Italy, and today the weather forecast said 14deg and sun, so we decided to check if it's really only 1:45 to the Mediterranean Sea. We drove to Varazza in the expected time and had a lovely day at the seaside. It was almost as being on holiday, and we will definitely be back. Hopefully, summer will soon come so we can sit on the beach and swim in the wonderful blue Med
******************************************** MOVE TO ITALY ********************************************************
26.10.2014
We have been to Paris - for the third year in a row - and stayed in a very centrally located apartment with views over Centre Pompidou. The weather was amazing (24deg) and we had a wonderful weekend visiting the Paris Motor Show, taking long walks and of course having delicious dinners at restaurants selected from Tripadvisor. Sunday night was this years surprise (for Bibi) with a dinner-cruise along the Seinen, what an experience
28.09.2014
The weather forecast said 20deg and sun (in late September!) so we decided for a trip to Tropical Birdland near Leicester. Last time we were there, in March 2013, it started to snow! Tropical Birdland is full of pretty parrots in aviaries, but the main attraction is the large area near the exist where the parrots are out in the open. They sell different kind of bird-food at the entrance and the aviaries are marked so you can see what the birds prefer - but you'll soon find out for yourself! The birds are very approachable, so much so in fact that some of them - like the parrot on Ken's shoulder - are difficult to get rid of. But you have to be careful as they steal earrings, glasses, buttons and anything else that isn't 100% securely fastened ... but they are so much fun
15.09.2014
We've been to the Jurassic Coast for Bibi's birthday, and stayed at Dorset House in Lyme Regis. Friday night I'd made reservations at Millside Restaurant and - as a surprise for Bibi - ordered a delicious lobster, caught in the bay that same morning by the landlords brother! Saturday we went to Beer to see the white cliffs (Cretaceous, 140mill years old). In the afternoon we drove to Charmouth to see the black mud cliffs (Jurassic, 200 mill years old), where the odds of finding fossils should be the best. In the evening we had dinner at the amusing Turles Wine Bar. Sunday we went for a 15km hike in the nature reserve Otterton Ledge up to Ladram Bay, to see some more cliffs (Triassic, 250 mill years old), and back along the river with a lunch stop at the super cosy Otterton Mill
08.09.2014
Drag racing must be one of the worlds most specialized/nerdy sports, but it's fun to watch. The noise is unbelievable, the ground shakes and it stinks of burnt rubber and unburnt nitro-methane, which in some case even makes you eyes water! But there is something deeply fascinating about a +8.000hp racer doing 0-60 in under 0.1sec and a 1/4mile (402m) in under 4.5sec with a terminal speed over 250mph (400km/h). A Sunday at Santa Pod Raceway passes quickly when the sun is out
04.09.2014
We had a lovely summer holiday in the car to our rented apartment in Ospedaletti, Liguria on the Italian Mediterranean cost, 14-25 August. As always, we went by the Eurotunnel and had a couple of stopovers in France both out and back. We spend most of our time in Ospedaletti on the beach or on our terrace, but also sampled a couple of the local seafood restaurants, which were all really good
02.08.2014 
The weather was nice and we had a wonderful weekend in Kingston upon Hull, to see the Bempton Cliffs and The Deep. We arrived in Hull on Friday afternoon, and had dinner at restaurant two Rivers in The Deep with view of two of the enormous aquariums - a very special occasion. And yes, they served fish for starters. Saturday we went out to Bempton Cliffs to see the bird sanctuary, first on foot and later by boat. We finally spotted the famous and cute puffins along with plenty of outer sea birds. Notice the difference in the bay before and after the tide came in. Saturday night we were at the quite posh 1884 Dock Street restaurant and had a super delicious chateaubriand as our main course. Sunday we did a nice 12km hike around Flamborough Head, with the sea on our left, before we headed home
24.07.2014 
One of my colleagues, David Marshall, moved positions this week. He's going to Jaguar Heritage to build continuation cars starting with the Jaguar E-type Lightweight. Dave has all the right qualifications, as he's a skilled engineer and have build a Jaguar D-type replica with his dad. Dave also holds a plane certificate and our secretary Shiv had been bugging him to take her flying. Dave got a four-seater from the club, and that meant there was room for me to. So, for the second time in just one week I was out flying this Wednesday! We had a nice 40min round-trip around Coventry, more or less the same route Bibi and I flew in 2012: Warwick - Wellesbourne - Gaydon - Draycote Waters and back
23.07.2014 
Monday night we at Stratford Racecourse for a hot-air balloon flight with Wickers World. It was a gorgeous warm summers night with excellent visibility and a mild breeze (4m/s), which in 1:20 brought us 12miles (20km) due south. We were very fortunate: this was our first booking but some of the other passenger had had 13 cancellations due to weather before they got to fly! The balloon went up to just over 3.000ft (900m) and although I'm not very good with heights normally I have no issues in a balloon. After one aborted landing - when couple of cows and a bull appeared in the selected field - we landed perfectly in a grass field and everyone helped pack up the balloon before we were taken back to Stratford
02.07.2014 
Goodwood Festival of Speed was extremely enjoyable again this year. We picked Lars & Helle up from Stanstead Airport Friday morning, and had a wonderful weekend in the sun (despite the weather forecast). Friday was dedicated to shopping and sightseeing in Portsmouth, Saturday we went around to see all the cars, and Sunday we sat at the best curves on the track and watched the action. Perhaps there wasn't so much new to see this year, but the we enjoyed ourselves and it didn't seem so crowdy as previous years
02.07.2014 
We've been to Rome, one of our favourite cities, for a week. It started out with thunder showers, some of them so intense that the wheels on the cars were half submerged, but from Wednesday on the weather cleared. We revisited many of our favourite spots, but also a few things we hadn’t seen: Basilica of San Paolo ("Paul's Church" Rome's 2nd largest church) og Le Domus Romane (ruin of a beautiful Roman house - found under Palazzo Valentini) and Villa Ardrianne (Haridan's Villa)
23.04.2014 
We had a lovely time in Denmark over Easter visiting family and friends. Thank you to all of you for your hospitality! Mostly for the benefit of our English friends I have uploaded a few pictures from the west coast of Denmark, where the sand, sea, dunes and sky is absolutely spectacular and where some of our friends are lucky enough to have holiday homes. If you ever get the chance to go to Denmark, this is the place to go
31.03.2014 
Because of Ken's bad back, we haven't been out hiking since January. But now he's a little better and this weekend we went to Lud's Church just north of Leek in the western Peak District. Lud's Church, which allegedly was used as a church by early Christians in the 15th century - hence the name - is a beautiful rock canyon over 100meters in length and 18meter deep. Our 11kmm roundtrip was very varied and we had 4 good hours out
17.02.2014 
This weekend we were in Brecon Beacons National Park, South Wales. Saturday we did an 8km hike around Ystradfellte to see the four large waterfalls: Sgwd yr Eira (Waterfall of the Snow), where you can walk behind (we didn't), Sgwd y Pannwr (Fullers Falls), Sgwd Isaf Clun-Gwyn (Lower Waterfall of the White Meadow) and Sgwd Clun-Gwyn (Waterfall of the White Meadow). All the waterfalls were incredibly impressive and powerful as it rained the week before. Sunday the weather was much improved, with sun and 10deg, so we went up Mynydd Pen-y-Fal (Sugarloaf Mountain) to enjoy the view over south-west Breacon Beacon from 596m. Fortunately, you can park at 347m so we "only" had to walk halfway, which was more than enough. Adding a trip through the forest at the foot of the mountain, we did 9km before heading home
Sgwd yr Eira video (17Mb)
Sgwd y Pannwr video (29Mb)
Sgwd Clun-Gwyn video (21Mb)
18.01.2014 
In the last couple of months we have been really good at getting out hiking over the weekends. It seems we have accumulated all the hiking-gear, and for Xmas I got a lovely back-pack and a handheld GPS. Last weekend we were at Wrekin for a 9 mile hike, and the fist 1 mile is uphill to 1335 feet.
Happy New Year - As more and more users acess the web on iPads or tablets, I will switch to a new picture gallery tool next year. Here is a little taster from Earlswood Water.