this is ... my favourite travel memory

Ah, what a great topic this week. It was a great excuse to go back through all of our holiday snaps and I was pleasantly surprised to realise that one of our best overseas trips was also one of the easiest and cheapest. New Zealand was abound with fun things to do and spectacular scenery but the undoubted highlight of the trip was our day spent on the Franz Josef glacier.


The view from partway up the glacier. Can you see the tiny people on the half day trek? And the river of melted glacier water going out to the sea?

Yes, the steps really were as steep as they look. We had ice picks on our shoes but it was still pretty scary, especially coming down.

Sliding down a wormhole - a naturally occurring tunnel in the ice. It was cold and wet but so much fun!

A kea. These parrots are notoriously cheeky. Our guide warned us that they like to steal lunches and told us about a bird that once stole one of his party's lunch out of their bag then came back later to drop the empty container on their head.

Still on the topic of travel, we are planning a trip to Europe with Asian stopovers in August. I've found lots of crafty things to see in London but wonder if you can advise on any particularly good shops or lesser-known museums in any of the other cities we will visit: Shanghai (I know there's a shoe museum there but frustratingly can't find an address!), Barcelona, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Singapore.