Travel

Tiger’s Nest – the highlight of our trip to Bhutan

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During our recent trip to Bhutan with the fabulous people from Bhutan Norter, who sponsored us, we did what every visitor to this country does: we visited Paro Taktsang (Paro is the name of this local district, district town, valley, and main river; tak means tiger, tsang means lair in Dzongkha). More commonly known in the West as Tiger’s Nest, it is Bhutan’s unchallenged top cultural icon. Much more importantly, it is an ancient sacred Buddhist site and has been an important place of pilgrimage for more than 1,000 years, long before the first temple was built. Guru Rinpoche The holy site is dedicated to Guru Padmasambhava (“He who came into being in a lotus”), who lived and meditated here in the thirteen caves about 1,250 years ago. This former Brahmin royal from India built the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet and then fled to Bhutan (on a flying tigress […]

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Food

Emperor Franz Joseph’s favourite Schmankerl: Kaiserschmarrn – Our Keto-friendly Recipe

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One of the greatest joys of going on a skiing holiday to Austria is all the lovely food: Germknoedel, strudel, schnitzel, Tafelspitz, Landtmann Cake, Käsekrainer, and… most importantly: Kaiserschmarrn, or Emperor’s Mess. During our last such trip in mid-February, earlier this year, I must have enjoyed this dish on at least four occasions, even though we were only in the country for a long weekend. Locals often label it as a main, but let’s be honest, it’s really more of a dessert or something you have between meals. It’s not just me, right? The dish takes its name from Austrian emperor (“Kaiser”) Franz Joseph I, who was as fond of this shredded pancake as I am. Princess-aficionados probably know the man better as Sisi’s husband.     Franz Josef was a popular emperor who ruled peacefully for nearly half a century, while everyone else was at war with each other. […]

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Fun

The UK’s Highest Mountains – Did you know that Ben Nevis is only ranking #23?

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During our last trip before Covid struck, the Barbarians visited two countries that are not short of tall peaks, Nepal and Bhutan, and somehow we got talking about the pleasant rolling hills of the British Isles; it seems a common fact that Ben Nevis is the UK’s highest mountain. There is no doubt that it is indeed the tallest peak on the UK main territory, the highest mountain on the British Isles. However, the former British Empire still owns a large number of overseas territories, which are not part of the UK, but under UK sovereignty, owned by the UK: they are UK territory. When you take into account those territories, Ben Nevis is not looking so tall anymore. I was really surprised when I was not able to find any lists of the UK’s highest mountains anywhere on the internet. I found some mentions of the tallest mountain, even […]

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Travel

Two days in Nepal – Kathmandu, Bhaktapur & Nagarkot

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On our recent trip to Bhutan we extended our stopover in Kathmandu to three nights and two full days on the first leg of our trip. Neither of us had been to Nepal before and this former Himalayan kingdom which turned into a republic in 2008 had been on our bucket list from day one. Our stay and schedule were organised by the brilliant people from Bhutan Norter, who had also sponsored our 6-day tour in Bhutan (we paid full price for Nepal, though, USD 650 for the two of us, incl. 3 & 4-star accommodation, breakfast, all admission fees, and guide & driver, who stayed overnight while in Nagarkot). The pictures below are strictly in sequence but in order to spread them out evenly over the blog post, there are instances where the photos are placed in sections that cover different topics: You will find pictures of Bhaktapur’s Durbar […]

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Food

Breakfast at the Buttery, Brockenhurst

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On one of our recent stays in the New Forest, our bed & breakfast did not offer proper breakfast, just muesli and yogurt, so we ventured into nearby Brockenhurst to the Buttery, a cheap and cheerful English café in the very centre of town, and one of the few places around that serve breakfast from 9am on weekends. After short deliberation we decided to order 2x Full English for me (£6.85 each, all those recent outdoor activities stirred my appetite enormously), scrambled eggs with fried mushrooms for Ms B (£4.95), two large cappuccinos (£3.00 each), orange juice (£2.60 each) and two sparkling waters (£2.50 each). The waiter arrived quickly to pick up the order, but told us that the waiting time might be significant. We asked what significant meant and he said roughly 15 to 20 minutes. We agreed to stay. After 25 minutes our dishes finally arrived (the coffee […]

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