Rain! Rain! Rain!

It's raining in Europe. Try these places for something different.

1. London: The bridge with a view
Tower Bridge is across the river from the Tower of London and has a fantastic view up, down and across the river. It might break in two if you are lucky or an aeroplane could flie through it (see it on Strollon)

2. Paris: Dream of sex
The Erotic Museum in Paris is right next to the Moulins Rouge in Montmartre and the start of the Strollon walk.

3. Amsterdam: Look for your specs
If you can not find them then go and look at the Spectacle Museum in Amsterdam. If you can not see it then press the bottom button. Fascinating for the myopic.

4. Prague: Play with Barbie:
In Prague there are not many out-of-the-ordinary museums but I am told that the Toy Museum is the second largest in the world with crowds of Barbies in all their glory. Give it a go.

5. Venice: Goggle at Guggenheim
In Venice you have seen every Saint that you every want to meet. The rain fills the canals and the clouds darken the windows. Just go to the lightness of Peggy Guggenheim’s museum for wonderment and light.

Well this is a short list. I will come back to more if the rain keeps tumbling down.

Good luck. Keep dry.

Trying to keep dry in Venice

Exactly a week ago I left Istanbul to return home to London. It was a sad moment as I had just enjoyed one of my most entertaining weekends away for some time. From being serenaded by my enormous, hirsute masseur in the Turkish Baths to standing in the middle of the cavernous Haggia Sophia as the afternoon sunlight angled through the slatted windows spilling out onto the floor below, there was something for every mood and occasion. 

Unlike in Venice. For as I was wandering through the grounds of Topkapi Palace in 20 degrees celcius I had a couple of friends who were spending their weekend away on the first floor of their Hotel, huddling around the radiator. I though that they were painting a rather over imaginative picture of their weekend as I received their texts until I got back to the office on Tuesday morning - until I found this email from our guide in Venice:

"Hi all,

Thought you might like to see these images of Venice during one of the worst floods since records began.

I had a very interesting morning trying to find a route that didn't have water above knee level, but was stumped, so had to go to a dentist's surgery and ask if I could take off my tights, then waded through knee-high murky and freezing canal water to get to work.

I then washed, dried  off and put my immaculate tights and some boots other than wellies on! However, the water continued to rise, reaching thigh-high levels, meaning that I was trapped at work

(without electricity or heating for a couple of hours). 
The local boat company workers were also on strike yesterday, meaning that the city was completely paralyzed and isolated.  
The good news is that nobody was seriously hurt or killed; the bad news is that  lots of people had their homes and businesses ruined by the salty lagoon water. Life went back to semi-normal in our lovely city today.  

Hope you enjoy the images! 

Best Jo"

It's clear that not every city is perfect for exploring all of the time, least of all by foot. It's why we believe our Hotspots are so good.We developed them for the citystroller to use both before and during your his/her stay. If they'd at least taken our 60 Minute City when them my friends would have left with a vague sense of what normally goes on outside. But who knows, maybe Italian television was particularly good last weekend.

Venice flood photos will be uploaded on the website shortly. Might even be able to sneak one or two of them onto the blog. 

...in the meantime, StrollOn.