Dear All

Slightly odd for the time of year now we're looking forward to summer, but
we're thinking of surprising my Mum who turns 70 this year and taking her
away before and over Xmas to a European city that has a good chance of
seeing some snow.

Any recommendations? We weren't thinking of ski resorts, more a larger city?

Cheers
Richard

In article ,
Richard Dixon writes:
Slightly odd for the time of year now we're looking forward to summer, but
we're thinking of surprising my Mum who turns 70 this year and taking her
away before and over Xmas to a European city that has a good chance of
seeing some snow.

Any recommendations? We weren't thinking of ski resorts, more a larger city?

Moscow? Helsinki? St Petersburg? One of the higher Swiss or Austrian
cities?
--
John Hall

"Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes."
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 10:42:33 +0100, John Hall
wrote:

In article ,
Richard Dixon writes:
Slightly odd for the time of year now we're looking forward to summer, but
we're thinking of surprising my Mum who turns 70 this year and taking her
away before and over Xmas to a European city that has a good chance of
seeing some snow.

Any recommendations? We weren't thinking of ski resorts, more a larger city?

Moscow? Helsinki? St Petersburg? One of the higher Swiss or Austrian
cities?

Finland is expensive, so are Austria and Switzerland.

I would go for Switzerland nevertheless - even if there is no snow at
lower levels it is very easy to pop on a rack railway or cable car and
see loads of the stuff (even in summer) - besides which, the scenery
is stunning and the country, apparently, is dry-cleaned and vacuumed
every night (though the grafitti seems more difficult to remove).

JPG

JPG wrote:

I would go for Switzerland nevertheless - even if there is no snow at
lower levels it is very easy to pop on a rack railway or cable car and
see loads of the stuff (even in summer) - besides which, the scenery
is stunning and the country, apparently, is dry-cleaned and vacuumed
every night (though the grafitti seems more difficult to remove).

Better still, go to Bergen in Norway - lovely city (which probably won't
see snow at Christmas), but the Hardangervidda mountain plateau is but a
short train ride away through some absolutely stunning scenery. Bergen
has a funicular railway and a cable car to take you into the mountains.
Even better would be to go half-way to the small but pretty town of Voss
where you'd be more likely to see snow.

Jonathan

JPG wrote in message ...
: Richard Dixon writes:
:Slightly odd for the time of year now we're looking forward to summer,
but
:we're thinking of surprising my Mum who turns 70 this year and taking her
:away before and over Xmas to a European city that has a good chance of
:seeing some snow.
:
:Any recommendations? We weren't thinking of ski resorts, more a larger
city?
:
:Moscow? Helsinki? St Petersburg? One of the higher Swiss or Austrian
:cities?
:
:Finland is expensive, so are Austria and Switzerland.

Helsinki and other northern cities are of course also very dark in
December - short days and long nights. I would follow JPG's suggestion and
go to Switzerland.

Colin Youngs
Brussels

Yn erthygl , sgrifennodd
Colin Youngs :
Helsinki and other northern cities are of course also very dark in
December - short days and long nights. I would follow JPG's suggestion and
go to Switzerland.

The big cities aren't a good bet for snow though as far as I remember from
when I lived there. Basel, Geneve, Zurich are too low. There aren't any
really big places up in the alps. Perhaps you could try Interlaken or
(very expensive) St. Moritz? Having said that Luzern was nice and snowy
when we went on 27th December this winter, and that's pretty big. You
may be lucky, and snow certainly won't be far away.

Adrian

--
Adrian Shaw ais@
Adran Cyfrifiadureg, Prifysgol Cymru, aber.
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru ac.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ais uk