An average traveller

I am not one of those people that complains I have not travelled as far and as wide as I would have liked, in actual fact, these days, I quite like being a bit of a home bird! But today I received an e mail from a friend which had attached a powerpoint presentation of a holocaust memorial on the banks of the River Danube, and I was reminded of a visit to Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic many years ago. This memory got me to thinking about the places I have had the fortune of visiting over the years, and although I have enjoyed several foreign jaunts, the list of my trips isn't that long!
During the morning coop cleaning, I day dreamed about knackering boozy ski holidays in Switzerland and Austria, sunshine breaks in Spain,Turkey,Malta and Greece and a civilized city jaunt to Paris (when Chris got pissed off with me and finished our relationship!)
I remembered with affection "nun counting" with Nuala in Dublin and Galway and the excitement of watching a small whale in Puget sound Just off the city of Seattle and I got to wondering what my top 5 favourite places would be if I had to make a choice.....
so here goes.....

My first choice would be a bit of an obscure one. Kutná Hora is one of the sleepiest and deserted historic towns I have ever seen. I visited it for a day when a friend and I had a city break in Prague, and I remember being quite overwhelmed by the slight sense of menace I felt as we explored the town's empty streets and squares, I cannot quite remember just why the place seemed so deserted, but I do remember feeling as though I was actually an extra on a huge film set......I was reminded of the that 60's tv series...The Prisoner.
The highlight of the trip was a visit to the "flying spires" of the Church of St. Barbara (below)....the whole cathedral was silent and empty when we entered.....it was a very surreal experience and quite a moving one as I think we then had a chance to process the previous day's emotional journey of visiting the Theresienstadt concentration camp, which was a terribly harrowing and humbling experience

New York will always be my favourite place on this earth. I have enjoyed the big apple now on 10 occasions and it always retains its excitement and vibrancy. I think I would quite happily live in Manhattan if we didn't have the menagerie
I know travelling to Derbyshire, isn't exactly jetting off to San Fransisco, but Chatsworth House comes a very close second to New York in my most favourite places to go. An amble around the ancient house, beautifully crafted gardens and world famous farm shop was a weekly treat from my busy manager days in nearby Sheffield, and over my 16 years in Yorkshire, chatsworth became a constant in my life. I miss it dreadfully.

Pittsburgh was the first place in the US that I ever visited. Through pure cheek and just a little chutzpah, I managed to arrange my month long elective placement from the 6 month Spinal Injury course I was on in Southport in the Pennsylvanian city!. Now this pissed off my fellow students who all worked on a local intensive care, but I didn't care!!

I had a cracking time experiencing this small, friendly and totally interesting city.My final fav place to go is of course the posh, laid back and sunshine town of Sitges just south of Barcelona, Spain. For years Chris and I have eaten delicious sea food, on the wide Promenade, washed it down with copious amounts of Rose wine and still had room for the odd whiskey cake or two. It is here that we have spent many hours relaxing, reading and people watching in the sun.....bliss