For our autumn break we decided to give Sophie a treat. To stimulate her for her work with the extra English lessons at school we decided to go for a week to England. As a 'slow' start we went to Rye at the South coast, just an hour off the ferry. I remembered Rye from my teenage days been sent to nearby Hastings to improve my English. It hasn't changed much, its still a little cozy town with a whole bunch of little artistic shops and - for English learning people most important - friendly, slow speaking people.

With the Little Saltcote Bed & Breakfast run by the Martin family we found a nice place to stay. Their Fairlight room did match all our ideas of a nice, clean, sunny and not too expensive place to rest.

Next to shopping in Rye we went to see Hastings, offering a wide range of tourist attractions that belong to a typical English place at the coast. Bingo and Arcade games, a pier, a nice promenade and of course the beach. And than there are more specific attractions, such as the ruins of the castle or the Smugglers Adventure in the caves of the West Hill. Looking for a more quite spot take England's steepest funicular built more than 100 years ago up the East Hill. Above the cliffs you have a marvelous view over the Old Town and across the Channel. And the green meadows invite you for a picnic!

We than went to London, just to make sure that all the sights mentioned in the text books become real for our children. I'll skip writing about sights of London, but want to point out that we were disappointed by the Science Museum, even though it is free as many museums. Many of the demonstrations did not work. We did enjoy the Victoria and Albert Museum, in particular the special exhibition about British Fashion in the Sixties. Notice that visiting the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition requires tickets - and if you buy them on the same day be prepared that your entrance time is some hours later.

What reminds to say is where we stayed. Looking for a clean, good located budget accommodation we found the Rhodes Hotel just a block away from Paddington station with its excellent bus and underground connections. Owners Maria and Chris Cias are very helpful and friendly, and the family room did meet our expectations, even though we had to climb three fairly steep staircases.

This summer vacation we went to a farm in Bavaria close to the Austrian and Czech border. It has been not our first time that we do a "Urlaub auf dem Bauernhof". This year's destination: Landhaus Altweck. Staying in apartment number 5 we had a very comfortable and clean place to explore the surroundings of the "Bayrischer Wald" with Passau as nearest bigger city at a 30 minutes distance (by car).