A Weekend in Cologne

Cologne was a city I never imagined returning to. I first went for a short city break to the Cologne Christmas markets one December which I really enjoyed, but thought I’d seen the city. More recently, I’ve been on a summer city break to Cologne and had a completely different, but just as enjoyable experience. There are certain sites which will be enjoyable regardless of the time of year, but this guide will also focus on the two different seasons as they have a completely different atmosphere.

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Aix-en-Provence

You’ll probably see that there is a common thread in my posts about the South of France… each of the places I have blogged about so far (Toulon and Nice) I’d like to return to, and Aix-en-Provence is no exception. We headed to Aix as soon as we arrived at Marseille airport so were slightly tired, definitely acclimatising to the heat and I was trying to get my brain in gear to speak French, but despite these less than ideal conditions I really enjoyed our brief time in Aix for several reasons.

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24 hours in Nice

24 hours isn’t a particularly long time to stay anywhere, let alone a city that you’ve wanted to visit for a significant amount of time. In a way I’m quite pleased I didn’t do too much research before we arrived as it meant that we chose to do things as they came and took the time to enjoy it rather than marching our way through a list of pre-planned activity. That said, there is clearly plenty more which can be done than we fitted into our 24 hours so hopefully another trip to Nice will be on the cards for the future…

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Exploring Toulon

When you talk about visiting the South of France most people will instantly think of the glamorous French Riviera, or the Provençal countryside filled with lavender fields or vineyards. Despite being described as the sunniest city in France by some of the people we met, the city of Toulon is unlikely to be anyone’s first guess of where you might be headed. A port city which was largely destroyed during the Second World War due to its large naval base, Toulon isn’t as pretty or as famous as the towns and cities further down the coast. However the sea is just as blue and the area is still interesting to explore – and with fewer tourists doing so!

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A Weekend in Copenhagen

Copenhagen has always been somewhere I’ve wanted to go, and I’m not sure why as it wasn’t somewhere I knew much about. I can only blame my obsession with the Hans Christian Andersen film when I was younger… Anyway, James and I were looking for somewhere for a long weekend break and realised that we both had friends living in Copenhagen so it was the perfect time to go.

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