Eden au Lac

Advantages: Still maintains a lot of its original character
Disadvantages: very busy and chaotic traffic

...at the Mua Roi Nuoc theatre at the northeast corner of Hoan Kiem Lake - a true delight. This website explains more of the history and details about the water puppet tradition. http://www.angelfire.com/co/hongnam/waterpuppet.html As part of our tour we were also treated to a lovely lunch at the Au Lac restaurant - An old French building with stunning food beautifully presented. http://www.vietnamtourism.com.vn/restaurant/AuLacRestaurant The food in Vietnam is very special and we tried a lot. Thuy recommended the Wild lotus restaurant one evening which was very luxurious, beautiful surroundings and excellent meal. Again this site tells you more detail http://vietnamesegod.blogspot.com/2005/07/all-new-and-great.html The traffic in Hanoi does take a little getting used to - looks like total chaos with bicycles, motorbikes and cars weaving... Read review

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Advantages: wonderful scenery
Disadvantages: touristy in places and not cheap to buy drinks

..., but there was really very little between them on this train (NB this 1st class pass is now included as standard). Anyone that travels regularly by train in Britain will know what the train sounds like when moving in and out of a big station – screeching and scraping sounds galore. This was nothing like that – we were out of the station before we even noticed we were moving! That just about sums up the trains, so I’ll skip to our arrival at Thun. This is in central Switzerland on the other end of the Thunersee (a lake) from Interlaken. It was just a short boat ride (10 minutes) from there to our lakeside hotel in Hilterfingen. The hotel was called the Bellevue au Lac. We were given a room on the 4th floor with a balcony overlooking the lake – fantastic view! The food here was excellent – 4 course meals every night and a good continental... Read review

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Advantages: Off the beaten track; good extensive pistes, when the weather's good
Disadvantages: Suffering from under-investment in the services on the slopes

...mistake La Grolle for just a your run-of-the-mill typical French bar but in fact it is somewhat more than that. If you wander up Rue des Grandes Alpes from the roundabout, past the church on your left and the Tourist Office on the right you will get to a small shopping mall (Galerie Eden) on the left and right on the front between the two entrances is La Grolle. We stopped there for a beer when out shopping on our arrival on the Saturday and noticed a menu that suggested that they might be worth a more prolonged visit. We booked for that evening. We decided to try one of their fondues, this one with Morrell mushrooms as the main subject of the dish. However, we started with a shared plate of various cold meats and this made an excellent entrée. With desserts and bottle of Jongieux Pinot Noire the total came to 66 Euros (£44) for the two of us... Read review

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