The Winter Palace, Sofitel. Luxor

We spent 4 days in Luxor in January. Peter had spent the weekend there at a conference and I decided to join him for the weekend. We last visited Luxor in 2008 and as you'd expect not a lot has changed other than the alarming decline in the economy after the revolution in 2010.

We visited the temples and the Valley of the Kings as we'd done previously. On this trip our hotel was central to the main part of the city so we explored a bit further on foot, rather than whizzing past places in a taxi.

Struggling to find anywhere that served a decent cup of coffee we decided to visit the Winter Palace to try our luck there. We will definitely be staying their on our next trip, it was splendid. I think the reason we hadn't looked at this hotel is because it's not on the Nile and a Nile view is something to behold when you look across in the early mornings and see the balloon flights and can sit on the banks in the evening enjoying a drink watching the sunset.

The Winter Palace was built in 1886 and now owned by Sofitel part of the Accor group. It is where Howard Carter stood on the steps to announce the find of Tutankhamen's Tomb to the world.

Since then many other famous celebrities and heads of states have visited, including Agatha Christie who wrote 'Death on the Nile' while she was a guest there in 1937. But sadly the hotel from the front does not hold the appeal of luxury travel as it would've done in it's glory days.

The red carpet was out, but has seen better days and the paint was flaking on the outside of the building. The reception hall hadn't been modernised and that was lovely to see how it would've been back in the day.

However all the flaws were forgiven the second we stepped out onto the terrace. The gardens were spectacular and it took me a while to see the additional accommodation buildings, with balconies and an amazing outdoor pool and restaurant area.

View from the terrace

Looking back

New accommodation and pool, viewed from the restaurant.

The garden was full of trees, cacti and succulents.

Living in Dubai, I miss seeing trees everywhere, although there are palm trees and native trees in the UAE, they are not as tall and as spectacular as the trees here in Luxor.

The tress and plants were labelled to help with identification, which country they were brought in from and the date they were planted.

The gardens were empty and we sat in blissful silence drinking our coffee, which was OK and then enjoyed a stroll around the gardens, in addition to the trees there was a small aviary and lenity of places one could sit and just in quiet for a while.

A walk around Munich

I'm in love with Munich, I may have mentioned this is earlier posts, but it truly is a gorgeous city and cheap and easy to get to from Luton airport. I spent 5 days there in the summer with friends and had 2 days on my own to explore the city and I think I covered almost every square inch and went inside almost every public building, museum, coffee shop, tourist office and souvenir shop. I started and ended my journey on foot at Marienplatz.

The toy museum. Having been to the one in Hamburg a few years ago, I was slightly disappointed with what was on display here, but for only a few Euro's it didn't break the bank and I met a nice couple inside who told me about St Peter's tower, which I throughly enjoyed visiting.

The transport system was clearly sign posted, easy to use, assuming you know how to use public transport and reasonably priced. I don't speak a word of German and I managed rather well.

Check out the may poles. Not something I'd associate with Germany, it made me think about the 2012 Olympic Games when the South African friend I was staying with in Germany asked what the opening ceremony was all about and I explained I'd not danced round or seen a May Pole since I was 7.

With all the walking and the lovely hot weather, I couldn't find a single reason why I shouldn't sit down every now and then and have a beer or two.

All the streets were easy to navigate and despite wandering off the beaten track quite a few times as I spotted something shiny to explore in a shop, I managed to get back on track every time.

The decoration of the buildings and the signage is simply stunning.

I did quite a bit of shopping in Munich, a leather handbag, new Birkenstocks as I wore my feet out with all the walking I did and of course plenty of souvenirs.

I did purchase an outfit for my niece, it was pricey, but worth it.

Apart from the bars, coffee shops and restaurants, there was plenty of seating for people just to plonk themselves down on and sit for a while.

I visited many places in Munich, learnt a lot, which I seem to have forgotten for the moment but I do remember Juliet and her shiny boob. The statue was a gift from Munich's sister city, Verona and it is said to be good luck to rub her right boob. 

And back to the beginning.