Places To Go

• Stay at Cinderbury %EXT%, a recreated Iron Age village -
• The Ice Hotel %EXT% or it's Canadian Twin %EXT%
• Visit this amazing hotel %EXT% and stay in the Caveman Room %EXT% or the Bridal Falls Room %EXT% or the Daisy Mae Room or even the Golf Room. I might draw the line at the Floral Fantasy Room though!
• The Wren's Nest - DONE - see Blog March 2003
• Visit Italy %EXT% for the yearly truffle festivals in places like Alba, San Miniato or Acqualagna. These occur in October or November - http://italianfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa140797.htm
• RoystonCave %EXT% - Full of strange carvings
• Mary King's close, a medieval street under the Royal Mile in Edinburgh - DONE - see Blog August 2005
• The West Midlands Police Museum %EXT%

See the world by train...

I'd like to do more travelling by train - you get to see so much more than when you fly! The Man in Seat 61 has a great guide to USA by Rail %EXT% concentrating on the long distance services. He flags up the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco as particularly scenic, as well as the routes from New York to Niagara Falls and Canada. Some of the trains have special sightseeing cars, with big windows and seats angled to give the best view. Another thing to add to my list of things I'd like to do.

Paul Willis writes about his trip to Japan by train %EXT%. It's a 13 day journey, but I'd be tempted to stop off on the way a little more than he did. The question is: what is the CO2 output compared to flying? It's got to be less surely.

Switzerland has a good train system and some stunning scenery. The train across Lake Zurich and up towards looks good and there's plenty of other scenic routes %EXT%. The Switzerland Travel Centre %EXT% has pricing for tickets and passes in pounds.Many of these passes also take you on Post-Buses and railway company owned boats, so you can, for example, get a stunning view of the mountains on the boat between Interlaken and Thun.

There is a wide variety of rail passes available, some for the whole of Europe, and some which cover adjacent countries %EXT% e.g. Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Croatia and Italy.

In December 2006 I did the journeys from Birmingham to Munich to Berlin and back by train. The food and views on the train from Munchen to Berlin were fantastic! And the trip from Berlin to Birmingham was super fast - I took the night train at about 9pm, and was in my own kitchen in Birmingham by noon!

Places to Eat

I'd like to visit the many Sushi places I've had recommended.

• Simpsons - Michelin starred restaurant in Birmingham - DONE - see Blog December 2005
• Eat at The Fat Duck at Bray %EXT% - the tasting menu at \xA3125 + selected wines at \xA390 sounds good to me

Films To See

John F recommends (his words below):

• Stariewicsz (Polish pioneer who animated dead insects and lots more too)
• Jan Svankmejer (Czech surrealist from 60s onwards...clay and real objects come to life and even the music is wonderful...shame he only seems to do live action now)
• Yuri Norstein (Russian and with oils/ink to create slowly evolving fairy tales - creator of once voted Best Animation ever...The Tale of Tales...I think it was called but I love The Hedgehog and The Fog the best)
• early animated films by David Lynch and Walerian Borowczyk

Other Recommendations:

• Rabbit Proof Fence

Things I've never got round to seeing:

• Three Colours (Blue, White, Red)
• 2001 - never seen it in the cinema