We Do Adventure

We were in Zagreb, Croatia, on Thursday and Friday, celebrating our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Wandering through Trg bana Jelačića – the city's central square in a similar way to what Trafalgar Square is to London – when we spied a seasonal sign. Perched above a mobile phone ad encouraging us to “Embrace life” and a white goods' ad claiming its products are “The smart choice for 280 million users worldwide” was a digital billboard of Jesus*. “Happy Easter” it said. “The Lord Jesus Christ, Victor over death and Satan”. It was the contrast between style of the artwork, admittedly not to my taste, and the uncompromising statement that made me snap this photo. I thought for all its reputation as a edgy cultural capital I couldn't see this message playing well in London. But then I checked online and discovered Trafalgar Square hosted a full-scale Passion play this year. Somehow that discovery was more reassuring than finding any number of unnecessary chocolate eggs! ...

2012 has been a great year for British sport, most notably at the London Olympics. We were in London for the New Year celebrations the year it was awarded the games and by some happy symmetry we are getting the chance to see this year out on the banks of the Thames tonight. But our thoughts are already turned to Sarajevo and its Olympic mountains, where we'll be spending this coming weekend. Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1984, a games most famous in the UK for Torvil and Dean's contribution. But for us it is another potential piece of symmetry that has captured our imagination. Earlier this month the European Olympic Committees announced that Sarajevo will host the European Youth Olympic Festival in winter 2017. It's been a great year for British Sport; we look forward to some great years ahead for winter sport in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Last weekend the Pope was in Zagreb. We were there the couple of days before he arrived. The to events had no connection, except that we were as aware of his impending arrival as he was unaware of our impending departure. However, the point of this post is to put Zagreb on the map if you haven't heard of it before. We would hope the capital of Croatia has crossed your consciousness before now but should it have evaded your radar that's about to be corrected. We've only started to explore Zagreb since our move to Jajce; it's now about a four hour drive away, which is makes it a reasonable proposition for a weekend break. Where as every city we've visited in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a east meets west feel to its architecture, Zagreb is definitely a western city. It has charm and, though we can't claim to have visited any of them yet, it also seems to have a healthy collection of museums and art galleries. It also has recently landed a regular Easyjet service fro...

Before you ask, no, of course Jajce doesn't have a real Hard Rock Cafe. Unlike Mostar, it doesn't even have a place pretending to be one. As someone who has visited Hard Rock Cafes in London, New York and LA – yes, the original one is in London – I know it takes more than a few guitars and a Jimi Hendrix poster on the walls to qualify as rock'n'roll's finest eatery. Nevertheless I share the photo because it makes me smile. Who wouldn't want a bright orange (fake) Hard Rock T-shirt was a birthday present! That not the real reason though. As we head into the week that should see our first public rock'n'roll performance in our new town I thought is was a great way to get back in the live music mood. Moving has meant we've gone a few months without practising altogether. We're either in for a pleasant surprise or a horrible shock when we crank it up for rehearsals over the next couple of days!

It’s funny how some things can be so familiar to some yet so foreign to others. We were dropping a friend and co-worker home today after a morning of workshops when they started shouting and pointing: look at that weird German car! We looked, immediately realising someone was in need of a little education. Objectively, yes, it is a weird car but is not a weirdness that should be blamed on the Germans. That they can be blamed for all the Mercedes, Audis and BMWs that clutter Mostar’s streets says more about their ability to churn out desirable status symbols rather than weirdness on wheels. The idiosyncrasy on show here was the proud preserve of the Black Cab, the taxi that is, or certainly used to be, ubiquitous in the frantic ferrying of busy people about Britain’s capital. Why this one came to be parked somewhere up a back street in Bosnia and Herzegovina is anybody’s guess. But running British licence plates and sporting a still-valid-for-another-month tax disc we have to assume tha...

The three L’s are the watchword for purchasing property but what about selecting a cinema? Those who follow all my digital output closely might have seen me talk recently about living six months in a city with no cinema. In the last week we were staying in Dubrovnik - one of Croatia’s leading coastal destinations. It’s a city steeped in history and, rain or shine, it never fails to be beautiful. The Old Town houses numerous museums and art galleries. However, these we overlooked upon the discovery of the cinema nestled as the end of the Stradun. Sure it wasn’t the size of those in London’s Leicester Square, perhaps it doesn’t impress like a night on Hollywood Boulevard – and, yes, the seats were hard, the screen small and the sound a little dodgy – but how many times can you say you’ve been to the cinema and walked out to be greeted by a view like this? We have – twice!