Ben
@benjyhere
First and foremost, biodiversity: Frogs; Snakes; Bees but the wild kinds; Birds but not a birder. Occasional politics, of the woke, pro-Join #EU kind. Si j'avais le choix, je serais à Toulouse. SW London. Crepuscular.
But next, it's off to Split on the sleeper... although the train after to Bucharest and Kyiv also quite enticing. 10/
Including the first of several meetings with the Danube we will be making on our trip...9/
Much better, for content and value, is the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, where you get to see the car in which Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were killed and an excellent exhibition on WW1 from an Austrian perspective. 6/
The Schönbrunn is a must-see but tbh you get most of the experience (inc 80% of the view from the Gloriette) for free by wandering the parkland. If you want to see the room where JFK and Kruschev met (👈) you'll need to cough up the extortionate entry fee though...5/
Central Vienna is everything you wanted it to be, visually appealing and full of hearty meals, cake and chocolate. 3/
We're coming to the end of our #TrainsNotPlanes journey around Austria, Hungary and the former Yugoslavia so here are a few highlights and thoughts for anyone thinking of doing the same... @seatsixtyone.bsky.social 🧵 1/
These are indeed important moments in the day. We are temporarily blessed with a lake, here in northern Serbia... have to admit i slightly missed the dawn though.
Just a random telegraph pole in a small Serbian town. Coming soon to a village near you. #WhiteStork @kneppwilding.bsky.social
Hoping everyone caught up in and helping to fight the fires raging at Ryvoan in the #Cairngorms stay safe. This is the climate emergency in action. BBC News - Firefighters battle through the night as wildfire burns across Cairngorms National Park www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Does anyone know what this flower is? I don't think it's yellow ox eye as has been suggested and the leaves look too big for Georgian fleabane?... absolutely covered in bumbles and butterflies... @rosybeeplants.bsky.social
Dubrovnik Summer Festival kicks off tomorrow and tonight's curtain-raiser is Alpine and Common swifts with a backing of Carmina Burana. @levparikian.bsky.social
Despite not appearing on Google Maps schedules or even the website of the ferry company itself, the arrival of the Puntamika into Hvar Town brings a sense of relief and adventure. Onwards to Dubrovnik... #TrainsNotPlanes #SometimesFerries #Croatia
💯 I'm currently in Croatia where they have perfectly good municipal street lighting but a local artist decided that no, what that arch needs is a lamp shaped like a fish. And it's lovely.
Collecting our bags from the excellent Wilde Fleischmarkt Hotel - who doesn't want a hotel with a sound and light show of an evening - and back to Hbf for our sleeper train to... #TrainsNotPlanes
We went to the excellent Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Military History) where you can see the uniform (with bullet hole) and car in which Franz- Ferdinand and Sophie were shot in Sarajevo (we'll be there soon) plus fab galleries on WWI from an Austrian perspective. And... #TrainsNotPlanes
and Schönbrunn. While on day 2,... (Schönbrunn top tip: you get most of the view from the Gloriette for free and don't miss a great deal by not going inside the palace if you want to save an absolute fortune) #TrainsNotPlanes
But ÖBB has other ideas, with our sleeper to Vienna now leaving from Aachen instead. Deutsche Bahn left to pick up the pieces as we race across the border. Heavy bags mean sightseeing options limited but I became obsessed w/ this building next to Hbf @richardmortimer.bsky.social #TrainsNotPlanes
On the way, we decide it's our civic duty to show the children the parliament in which they will be represented again one day. #RejoinEU #TrainsNotPlanes
Our family 'Interrail' is go, with Eurostar from London to Brussels. An earlier than expected departure means we had a few more hours to kill in the Belgian capital than expected... #TrainsNotPlanes @seatsixtyone.bsky.social
This week I got to sleep in the midst of a near 500-year-old #swift colony and it was sheer magic. Best alarm clock ever. @rspb.bsky.social
