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It’s only 15 minutes away from the Dutch capital by train, but Haarlem feels a million miles from Amsterdam, and perhaps provides a more typical glimpse of the Netherlands than trailing around the well-worn tourist trail of Van Gogh, coffee shops and red lights. An attractive city of cobbled streets, gabled houses and canals, Haarlem is, as the Dutch would say, a gezellig sort of place – cosy, convivial, and full of intriguing nooks and corners. I’ve been coming here for years, and it seems odd that Haarlem is not better known, at least to UK visitors.

This winter there’s the added draw of an exhibition devoted to the works of a local boy, the 17th-century painter Frans Hals, and his better-known contemporary Rembrandt in the city’s Frans Hals Museum (until 28 February 2027). No one really knows whether these two titans of the Dutch Golden Age of the 16th and 17th centuries ever met, but seeing their work hung together like this is powerful and compelling. The museum used to be the Oudemannenhuis (Old Men’s House), a retirement and care home where Hals lived out his final penniless years.

The Hals-Rembrandt exhibition is perfectly in tune with Haarlem itself, in both its (relatively small) size and the historical insights it provides into the Golden Age. There are commissioned portraits of 17th-century merchant bigwigs, all beards, black gowns and ruffs, so-called tronies (portraits of ordinary people, including Hals’ informal paintings of fisherfolk, and Rembrandt’s sensitive, affecting study of his young son Titus) and both artists’ remarkable group portraits. A final room shows Rembrandt’s dynamic De Staalmeesters (The Wardens of the Amsterdam Clothmakers’ Guild) from the Rijksmuseum, alongside Hals’ depiction of the trustees of the Oudemannenhuis itself.

Like many of the works in the rest of the museum, the faces in these paintings stare powerfully out at us from the 17th-century gloom. Above all, don’t miss Hals’ stirring and evocative Haarlem civil guard portraits of local militias, and a couple of 17th-century depictions of the city showing streets virtually indistinguishable from those you can explore today.

Start exploring with a stroll to Peuzelaarsteeg, a nondescript street in itself, but where Hals is said to have had a studio, though there’s nothing here now apart from a graffitied image of one of his paintings. Afterwards, take a peek into the former home of the Cloveniers, the citizen militia or schutterij that Hals painted, on nearby Gasthuisstraat. Look for the two crossed muskets above the gate (part of it is now a municipal library). Walk from there through the pretty, ivy-draped streets of the Vijfhoek neighbourhood to the Proveniershuis, where an otherwise ordinary door opens on to perhaps the grandest of Haarlem’s many hidden courtyards – once the base of another schutterij. A crossbow over one of the doors gives it away.

Hals was buried in the city’s magnificent Grote Kerk (Big Church). It’s like stepping into a 17th-century Dutch painting of a church interior: a vast, unadorned gothic space focused on a magnificent baroque organ at the western end: one of the largest in the world, and said to have been played by Handel and Mozart.

The Grote Kerk is on the attractive Grote Markt (Big Square), flanked by cafes and restaurants, and the perfect point from which to launch yourself into Haarlem’s web of streets. Two minutes away is the Corrie Ten Boomhuis, where a family of Dutch Christians hid Jews and resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation – an alternative to Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House without the queues. Among several other museums worth seeing is Teylers Museum down by the river, a treasure chest of fossils, crystals, scientific instruments and late 19th-century Dutch paintings. It claims to be the country’s oldest museum, and its galleried, wood-panelled interior is alone worth the admission price.

Perhaps the best thing to do is just amble and get lost: many of Haarlem’s historic streets look similar, with secret doors into sheltered courtyards or hofjes, and the streets are refreshingly free of global chains. There’s an excellent market on Grote Markt on Saturdays, and any number of stylish indie stores to browse in nearby, whether you’re looking for vintage clothes (Yenvi) or new ones (Stitch), chocolates at Pierre or Dutch liquorice at Dropje van Haarlem.

Cyclists vastly outnumber cars in this city. Rent a bike (try Green Bikes by the train station) and head out to the Zuid Kennemerland national park, west of the city centre, a protected area of dunes, forests and lakes that gives way to the glorious sandy beaches of the North Sea coast.

There’s no shortage of choice for great places to eat and drink. For breakfast or lunch, La Maru on Koningstraat is a great bakery, or try the sandwiches, salads and flammkuchen (sort of Dutch pizzas), at Meneer Frans in the historic centre. Alternatively, enjoy a pickled herring at the fish stall on Grote Markt.

Another Haarlem pleasure is to stop off for a pils at one of its many cosy bars. Lively In den Uiver on Riviervismarkt – a typically Dutch “brown cafe”, housed in a former fish shop – offers a choice of 35 gins and 35 speciality beers. Or the Jopenkerk brewery tap, in a former church, is a five-minute walk from the Grote Markt. For dinner, there can be no more bizarre place than DeDakkas, in a greenhouse-like structure on the top of a multistorey car park near the river. It serves a sustainable, locally sourced menu, with superb views.

There are plenty of places on Grote Markt to watch the world go by. Among the best is historic Grand Café Brinkmann. Or walk five minutes down Koningstraat to Botermarkt, on the edge of the Vijfhoek quarter, where Café De Roemer is one of a number of bar-restaurants with a covered terrace.

Finally, there can be no better place to wake up in Haarlem than in one of the corner dual-aspect room at the 17-room ML hotel (doubles from about €119 room-only), right by the Grote Kerk, which has two good restaurants and a sleek bar. Across the road, the Amrâth Grand Hotel Frans Hals is a large, slightly cheaper alternative, while the Staats Hotel, on a quiet street two minutes from the station, offers cool, spacious and contemporary boutique rooms from €165 room-only, and also has its own bar and restaurant.

The trip was provided by Netherlands Board of Tourism. Martin Dunford is one of the founders of the Rough Guides travel guide series and wrote the first editions of the Rough Guide to the Netherlands

NAMED Europe’s best city 2026 by Travel + Leisure earlier this year, Florence’s easy-to-traverse streets make it an ideal weekend away.

You can find world-famous art and fantastic pizza just steps from each other. Here’s why a trip to the beautiful Italian city should be on everyone’s bucket list…

WHY SHOULD I GO?

Florence is now a bit easier to visit, with easyJet expanding its city break package destinations.

Two-hour flights, cheap package holidays and weather that is still warmer than the UK’s are just some of the many reasons it’s great.

STREETS MADE FOR WALKING?

Forget taxis and trains — Florence is insanely walkable, with its top attractions and restaurants all within spitting distance of each other.

Perfect if you love a mooch without having to work out how to use a foreign public transport system.

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ANYTHING FOR BUCKET LIST?

The city is known for its Renaissance art, so most people head straight to the Uffizi Gallery to see Botticelli’s most famous painting, The Birth Of Venus.

But I’d recommend heading over the river to Palazzo Pitti instead. Owned by the Medici family back in the 1500s, the palace was said to have inspired Versailles in France.

Now it is home to five separate museums, with 500 paintings across 28 ornately decorated halls.

The highlight is Italy’s largest Museum of Costume and Fashion, featuring pieces from Chanel, Dior and Schiaparelli. Speaking of fashion, make sure you don’t leave without a leather souvenir, as Florentine leather is world-famous.

There are more market stalls and shops than you can shake a stick at, so you’ll be spoilt for choice for bags, belts and even more leather pieces.

WHERE SHOULD I EAT?

The city is known for its Renaissance art, so most people head straight to the Uffizi Gallery to see Botticelli’s most famous painting, The Birth Of Venus.

But I’d recommend heading over the river to Palazzo Pitti instead. Owned by the Medici family back in the 1500s, the palace was said to have inspired Versailles in France.

Now it is home to five separate museums, with 500 paintings across 28 ornately decorated halls.

The highlight is Italy’s largest Museum of Costume and Fashion, featuring pieces from Chanel, Dior and Schiaparelli. Speaking of fashion, make sure you don’t leave without a leather souvenir, as Florentine leather is world-famous.

There are more market stalls and shops than you can shake a stick at, so you’ll be spoilt for choice for bags, belts and even more leather pieces.

I FANCY A DRINK

Florence is hardly short of wine bars, but my favourite is Oratio, in a tiny library dedicated to wine books where wines are organised into regions of Italy.

Service is friendly, the menu is affordable, and you can pick up a book or two if you want to learn more about what you are drinking.

There are also Florence’s famous wine windows — 300 portals in the city’s stonework which were used to serve wine and food to people during the plague without risking physical contact.

Glasses of wine are still passed through the windows, and a popular one is part of the restaurant Babae, where you can even keep the plastic souvenir wine glass.

WHERE SHOULD I STAY?

There’s no better stay than at the 4H Palazzo Monnalisa, a city-centre hotel, but in a quiet street.

The building dates from the 14th century but recently completed a two-year renovation, so rooms are modern and cosy yet arty and chic — think terracotta tiles and textured mural wallpaper showcasing famous Italian skylines.

The rooms surround a private garden courtyard, making it feel worlds away from the busy city.

Breakfast is small but enough to line your stomach for the day, in the form of fresh pastries and fruit, or a hot menu offering dishes such as eggs benedict.

The restaurant is here too, with the bar on the other side to grab a wine to take to the outdoor patio.

The hotel almost feels like a museum in itself, from the painted wooden ceilings to its time-worn stone steps.

VICKY Pattison left jaws on the floor as she showed off her stunning figure in a monochrome bikini this weekend.

The 38-year-old looked sensational in snaps she shared from a romantic spa break with her husband Ercan Ramadan.

Vicky and Ercan kicked back and relaxed at Serenity Spa, just outside of Newcastle.

In true Vicky style, she soaked up the rays of the autumn sun as she posed up perched on the edge of the spa hot tub.

Bare-faced Vicky looked gorgeous in the purple patterned two-piece, which accentuated her toned physique.

The brunette beauty told fans she’s on a mission to convince Ercan to one day move back to her home city of Newcastle.

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She wrote in the caption of her post on Instagram: “Newcastle Diaries… I’ve been down in London for about 12 years now.. and whereas I love this little life we’ve created here, the friends I’ve made, my wonderful job, Erc’s lush family… 

“I miss my home town so much! I don’t know if it’s because we’re trying to grow our family..

“And the thought of not having my mam and sister close by as a first time mam is daunting or if it’s just because I’m genuinely a bit homesick.”

“We filmed escape to the country in the summer… (no spoilers I promise.. but it was fab! And it’s out at Christmas!!) anyway, since then I’ve been on a mission to make Ercan fall in love with the north east,” continued Vicky.

“So last weekend I tried to show him so much of our gorgeous region… spent a day at @serenityspa.seahamhall.

” A day eating everything in sight at @stacknewcastle and generally just showed him that there’s so much more to my wonderful little pocket of the country than @greggs_official (not that I don’t LOVE a pasty mind).

“Operation make Ercan fall in love with the toon is a go.”

This comes after Vicky admitted to feeling “lost” without a baby at 38.

Vicky, who rose to fame after appearing on Geordie Shore,  revealed that she didn’t think she’d be this age “without a baby or a family.”

Speaking on the BBC’s Sort Your Life Out Unpacked podcast, Vicky confessed: “It’s just the way the cookie crumbles and how life sometimes like presents you with different things and different opportunities and stuff.

“And I’ve never really felt ready until now.

“It’s wild but like something just clicks, and the minute you feel ready it’s like you need a baby straight away.” 

From the time I met a guy playing a violin near Pershing Square in 2005, and followed him to the Skid Row slab of pavement where he spent his nights, I’ve listened closely to what mayors promised to do about homelessness in Los Angeles.

All of them were going to fix the problem.

Antonio Villaraigosa.

Eric Garcetti.

Karen Bass.

None of them came close.

Each of those mayors invested vast sums of money and manpower and each of them made inroads. To be fair, they collectively helped thousands of people turn their lives around. But the problem is not finite, the waves keep coming, and more than 40,000 people are currently homeless in the city.

That’s one of the primary reasons Mayor-elect Nithya Raman will get a chance to do what her predecessors could not. In the most recent year of accounting, homelessness increased slightly in the city but declined significantly in Raman’s council district.

So Bass is out, and Raman is in after a contentious campaign in which Raman attacked the Bass strategy (which she helped implement) as too costly and ineffective.

“Here’s my promise,” Raman said in a video on her campaign website. “When I’m mayor, we’ll cut tents and encampments in half by the Olympics, and bring everyone in tents and encampments indoors by the end of my first term.”

Really?

Bear with me, because I’m about to explain why I have some hope that Raman might do a better job on homelessness than her predecessors. But I cringe when I hear such grandiose proclamations.

Why?

In 2006, I attended a Skid Row news conference where a gaggle of politicians including Villaraigosa touted a 10-year plan to end homelessness in L.A. County.

In 2013, Garcetti vowed to end chronic homeless, and in 2018, he said: “We can cut this problem in half in five years. And in 10 years … we can end life on the street.”

In 2023, Bass told a CNN audience that by the end of her term as mayor: “My goal would be, really, to end street homelessness. … There’ll still be people in shelters and interim housing, but to at least not have people dying on our streets.”

Have you noticed how these kinds of amped-up promises have played out?

I don’t mean to discourage lofty goals, but we’ve been let down time after time, feeding cynicism. We’re just looking for significant progress, not a miracle.

The hard truth is that homelessness is the result of a raft of problems beyond any mayor’s full control. It begins with an economy built for stark disparity, with the crippling cost of housing, and with untreated mental illness and drug addiction. A mayor can’t magically clear the decks without help from federal, state and county allies, and from strong partnerships on the City Council.

But none of that excuses the paltry returns on big investments. Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program moved about 6,000 people into motels and other forms of interim housing as of this past spring at a cost of $300 million, and 41% of them had returned to homelessness by the end of May.

Raman wants to mothball that program and use short-term rental vouchers she claims will be far less expensive and more effective. She wants to open doors for City Controller Kenneth Mejia to audit every dollar spent on homelessness. She says she’ll demand a full accounting of county services, use Medi-Cal funds for more street medicine teams, invest in shared housing and case management.

“City Hall has put together a patchwork of programs, agencies, and dollars that were never required to prove they work together, or work at all,” Raman says on her homelessness strategy page. “No agency or program has been required to demonstrate results. No department or office has been put in charge of monitoring the spending.”

Putting a plan on paper is one thing. Pushing it through the teeth of the City Hall grinder without the wholesale shredding of good intentions is a tougher trick. And it remains to be seen whether Raman can wrangle the support of council members who shunned her and unanimously endorsed Bass.

But Raman has a few things going for her, including a penchant for defying expectations. She blitzed two incumbents, first to win a council seat and then to bounce Bass. Then there’s her urban planning education and her work as one of the co-founders of the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. That gave her a street-level study of the challenge as well as the disjointed government response, and she then led the City Council’s homelessness committee.

“I think that situational awareness” will serve her well, said Louis Abramson, a Hollywood resident and Rand researcher who serves as chair of the SELAH board. “She’ll be able to argue from a perspective of expertise.”

Abramson is also hoping Raman will be able to deliver more affordable housing.

“She’s … proven to be uniquely tolerant of the political risks of being a YIMBY, of making Los Angeles a place that can fit everybody who wants to live here,” Abramson said.

At SELAH, and in Raman’s council district, building meaningful relationships with clients has been a central mission. That’s not always fast or easy. Some people are ready to reach for a helping hand; others are severely damaged in multiple ways, and it takes time.

I learned long ago that recovery is not linear. Sometimes it’s one step forward and two steps back. And as one social worker suggested to me, we’re so preoccupied with getting people in the front door, we barely notice when they slip out the back door.

Reversing homelessness does not end with a temporary address. Long-term case management is critical, and so is a sense of purpose and belonging. The formerly homeless people I recently met at Chrysalis, all of them working now, and all of them housed, were a testament to this idea.

I’d love to see Raman find more ways to turn able-bodied homeless people into a workforce that can help address the city’s many needs. I’d love to see her encourage more people to contribute by volunteering for organizations like SELAH, or for faith-based groups and non-profits.

Nathaniel Ayers works on music in his nursing home quarters, inspired by fellow Cleveland native Halle Berry.

(Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Times)

In the case of my friend Nathaniel, the musician, it took me, his friends in the L.A. Phil and various outreach workers a year to convince him to move indoors 21 years ago. He is in a nursing home now, where he listens to music for hours every day and has kept a gallery of photos on his wall, including Beethoven, Bach, and another person with a “B” last name.

Actress Halle Berry.

“She’s beautiful,” Nathaniel said one day when we were going over a list of famous people from Cleveland, his hometown, and he decided that Berry deserved a prominent place on his wall of fame.

My relationship with Nathaniel, Abramson said, “is not an ancillary thing. It is THEE thing. I have come to believe that the human relationship is the necessary pre-condition to this working out.”

True enough, we are too predisposed to think of the ongoing human catastrophe in purely statistical terms. But there’s more truth in people’s stories than in their status, and more community buy-in when we recognize ourselves in each other.

For the 40,000 Nathaniels of Los Angeles, and nearly 4 million of their neighbors, here’s hoping the next mayor of Los Angeles can make a difference.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Data centres face protests across Europe due to the massive amounts of computing power and water they use.

Protesters in the Netherlands have broken into a construction site for a new Microsoft data centre in Amsterdam, the latest action in a growing movement sweeping Europe.

Several hundred activists occupied the site in the Sloterdijk district on Friday, responding to a call for a two-day protest across Europe against data centres, which handle the large processing workloads associated with artificial intelligence (AI). Demonstrators clashed with police as some climbed a crane and set off flares.

Nathan Timmer, of the protest group Geef Tegengas – which translates as Push Back – told local broadcaster AT5 that demonstrators were occupying the site in an effort to stop construction.

“We don’t want it to be built. Nobody needs it,” Timmer said. “The only thing this will be used for is AI slop. AI warfare, data surveillance and committing genocide. We don’t want that.”

Pro-Palestinian activists also joined the demonstrations in the Dutch capital. By late afternoon police were escorting activists off the construction site, though some remained, local media reported.

Dutch police said they detained 150-200 people suspected of trespassing during the protest.

Microsoft said it was aware of the Amsterdam demonstration.

“We understand that people feel strongly about the project, and we respect their right to express those views peacefully,” a spokesperson said. “However, we do not condone any actions that are unlawful or that put people’s safety at risk.”

Data centres face resistance around the world due to the massive amounts of computing power and water they use. Activists argue that the boom in facilities serving cloud computing and AI is moving faster than public consultation and environmental oversight.

Dozens of civil society and grassroots groups have said they will join the “Stop Dirty Data Centres” events on Friday and Saturday in 15 European countries, including Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, organisers said.

In Germany, a dozen protesters gathered in front of a data centre on the outskirts of Berlin on Friday.

“We want to put a stop to this blind construction of data centres around Germany, regardless of any environmental concerns,” said protest spokeswoman Caro Weber. “This is really, really dangerous for our future.”

About 100 people also protested against data centres in front of the Polish parliament, representing communities around Warsaw where new centres are planned.

In Italy, the fast-growing data centre industry is facing an equally rapid rise in grassroots opposition, particularly in the northern Lombardy region, the country’s main hub for digital infrastructure.

Some cities take on that extra sparkle in winter offering a warm welcome as temperatures drop and nights draw in. We want to know your favourite city in Europe to visit at this time of year and what makes it special. Perhaps it’s somewhere with an atmospheric old town and plentiful cosy cafes. Maybe you discovered somewhere with particularly fabulous shopping that merits a pre-Christmas trip, or perhaps you found a city that impressed with its fun winter activities, from ice skating to snowy walks.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

Keep your tip to about 100 words

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words we will be judging for the competition.

We’re sorry, but for legal reasons you must be a UK resident to enter this competition.

The competition closes on Monday 9 November at 10am GMT

Have a look at our past winners and other tips

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Looking over the edge of the snow-smoothed canyon down to dark rushing water, we thought we saw a moose or a reindeer, but it could have been a rock. The light was fading fast so it was hard to tell. It was time to turn back; we didn’t want to get lost in the wood, or fall into the river. By the time we’d retraced our steps to Abisko, the blue world had turned to black and dust-like snowflakes whirled around the little village. Back in our hotel room after our expedition, I looked at my phone – it was only 2pm!

Travelling to the Arctic Circle in winter had always been a dream, but when I realised the sun wouldn’t get above the horizon on my holiday, it made me twitchy. I usually pack my limited annual leave as tightly as I pack my working life. I was already using up three days’ holiday travelling by train from London to Abisko. How would I make the most of my time there with barely any daylight?

My partner and I chose to stop in this small village in Swedish Lapland almost by chance, when we researched the most northerly stops on the train line between Stockholm and Narvik. Abisko looked on the map like a tiny enclave surrounded by lakes and mountains. Reading more about it, we found that it was home to the Abisko blue hole – a unique microclimate where the geography creates frequent clear skies, making it one of the most reliable places on Earth to see the aurora borealis.

After a blur of cities and sleeper trains, we arrived at Abisko Ostra, a tiny station comprising just one low platform and a glass shelter over the exit door, at 11am. We jumped down from the high step of the carriage into soft, deep snow, our feet creating the only imprints on the length of the walkway. White mist hung all around us, and the couple of buildings we could see were fading into the sky. Apart from the icy train tracks cutting a sharp black detail, everything in the landscape appeared icing soft.

We walked along an empty road that curved up to the Abisko Mountain Lodge, one of a handful of accommodation options we had found online. Our room wasn’t quite ready, so we spent a while in the hotel’s warm, firelit bar watching people change into their outdoor gear then disappear into the cold. Knowing that darkness would soon set in, I was itching to get outside as well – while we could still see our surroundings.

By the time we were salopetted up, thick clouds had made the white world grey, but it was still everything my Christmas-film-loving inner child had imagined. The path we followed was lined with low lights glowing yellow against the white landscape, guiding us among houses with bright windows illuminating the dusk. We followed our phone map towards a viewpoint by a river. It was only half an hour’s walk, but in the deep snow it seemed much longer, and felt like walking through a thick white cloud.

We had expected to spend the day exploring. Instead, we’d somehow finished our outing before the afternoon had properly begun. Feeling the luxury of time stretching out, we made tea in our room and read for a while, but we still had plenty of time before dinner, so we went for a few rounds in the sauna.

In the restaurant later, we heard an excited murmur among the diners. The aurora! We rushed out, wearing the clothes we’d been eating dinner in, and watched the green glow, our feet growing more and more numb. But the night was still young, so we got back into our cold-weather gear and walked up a path to higher ground where a family were making snow angels while watching nature’s light show. Their enthusiasm added to our excitement, and we found ourselves not wanting to look away from the dancing sky in case it got better or brighter. Our initial walk to the canyon felt like days ago but we’d only arrived 12 hours earlier.

The next day, after a long and leisurely breakfast of pickled herring, gherkins and lots of delicious rye bread, we hiked a few hours along the bank of Lake Torneträsk. The snow on the path was compact enough for us to explore in our hiking boots, but we saw a few adventurous groups snowshoeing through the wilderness. We followed a narrow path through bare silver birches weighed down with bulbous drifts, until we found a picnic spot near a frozen waterfall, where we enjoyed some provisions we’d squirreled away from the generous breakfast.

I did a double-take as I looked back at the way we had come. The sunrise-like colour seemed to be glowing in exactly the same way as when we’d set off, hours before. Unable to tell if it was morning or afternoon, I felt my sense of time opening up. The sun remained below the horizon, but its colourful glow hung in the sky for hours. The pinks and oranges slowly brightened, lingered, then imperceptibly began to fade. The ideas of dawn, midday and evening began to fade, too.

From the waterfall, we walked up to a high viewpoint and ate flapjacks as we watched the hidden sun cast a last ray of deep orange towards the horizon. We warmed up with hot chocolate in the Abisko Turiststation hotel, drying snow-damp clothes on a radiator before heading back into the cold. The stars were out by then – in the mid-afternoon. We took the long path back to the village and headed through the misty gloom towards the red neon sign and strip-light interior of the supermarket to stock up on snacks for the next day’s train journey.

The supermarket was designed for people likely to get snowed in, with lots of produce for sale in bulk, but we found delicious jars of pickled herring, cloudberry jam and more of the region’s dense rye bread to tide us over, along with a squeezy tube of cheese spread from the surprisingly varied range that covered almost a whole aisle. Back at our hotel, we had another sauna, then dinner, before a beer in the cosy hotel bar. Then we headed outside again. It had been dark for hours, but it was still only early evening.

We were due to take a cable car up to Abisko Sky Station, a mountain viewpoint 900 metres (nearly 3,000ft) above sea level, but high winds meant the 20-minute cable car journey was too dangerous, so our evening’s plans changed shape. Our guide took us to an outcrop above Lake Torneträsk, where we got another spectacular show of the aurora, complete with shooting stars, courtesy of the Geminids. I have no idea how long we stood there, admiring the sky. I’d stopped trying to fit the holiday into my idea of what should be done when.

Later, we warmed up with reindeer soup in a building shaped like a traditional Sámi lávvu, a conical structure with a central fire for warmth and light. Our guide told us some of the myths and legends surrounding the aurora: that the lights were ancestors dancing, or a fox spirit running through the sky with snow attached to its tail. He also showed us the best forecasting apps to use, like the Aurora Buddy and My Aurora, and what all the bars on the various graphs meant. The northern lights lit the darkest part of our walk home.

I came to Abisko worrying that darkness would take something away from my trip, but instead it removed the boundaries that normally suggest what I should be doing when. When the distinction between night and day dissolved, there unexpectedly seemed to be more holiday in front of me. It felt like a surprisingly liberating way to travel.

FORMER Coronation Street actress Georgia May Foote looked stunning as she playfully posed in a green bikini.

The star has been enjoying a getaway in Dubai and wowed her followers by opting for the colourful two-piece.

Georgia, 35, showed off her killer curves and had a white sarong to cover up whilst taking a stroll on her holiday.

She added to her post: “Swipe for a happy happy girl.”

Her brunette locks fell in front of her face as she left her followers wowing with the jaw-dropping snaps.

Georgia’s trip away comes just weeks after she went public with her new boyfriend following her sudden marriage split last year.

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The star split from her husband Kris Evans last year but she has now moved on for good.

Georgia has been romancing a top record producer who has worked with the likes of Aitch and Central Cee.

Taras Slusarenko, who goes by LiTek online, was unveiled by The Sun after he swept Georgia off her feet.

Taras, who is originally from Russia, lives just outside of Manchester and around 30 minutes from where Georgia resides.

Talking of the new romance, a source revealed to The Sun: “Georgia met Taras earlier this year at a running club and they’ve been smitten ever since.

“He has brought the smile back on her face and they’re in a bubble together.”

A LEGENDARY 70s rock band have cancelled all their 2027 tour dates in their first breaking form performing in 50 years.

Cheap Trick formed in Illinois in 1973, with current members being Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson.

In a statement shared to Instagram, the band addressed their decision to take some time off.

They wrote: “Many thanks to everyone who has expressed concern for us.

“To clear things up, we’ve decided to take some time off after decades of touring because we need a break.

“Not for health reasons.

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“We’ll play our November shows and then take our first break in 50 years.

“Thank you for all your support!”

One fan commented: “The hardest working band in rock!”

Another said: “Take your well deserved break from touring & enjoy some free time for yourselves. You are forever MY Band.”

A third wrote: “Get some great rest. Its all good.

“Hope you have a wonderful break. Take care.”

A fourth shared: “Enjoy your well deserved break and time with your families.

“Looking forward to future shows!”

Throughout Cheap Trick’s history, they have released 21 studio albums, eight live albums and 20 compilation albums.

The rock group also have four extended plays, and 66 singles to their name.

One minute I’m cycling through an expansive dusty pink stretch of heathland with sloping sand dunes in the distant horizon, the next I’m winding through a fragrant Scots pine forest as sunlight filters through the branches of red-barked trees to make a kaleidoscope of white shapes on the trail floor ahead.

I’m in Hoge Veluwe National Park, a 5,400 hectare (13,000 acre) nature reserve in Gelderland, about an hour and a half from Amsterdam. It’s crisscrossed by 25 miles (40km) of cycling paths, and around 2,000 free-to-use white bikes are available for visitors to explore the ever-changing scenery.

I’ve been flitting back and forth to the Netherlands for years and have lost count of the times friends there have raved about the park and the wider Veluwe region, a forest-rich ridge of hills and diverse landscapes, stretching 37 miles, north to south. Finally I’ve come to see for myself and explore on foot and on two wheels over a few days – adding in a dash of culture at some of its historic towns and museums too.

My trip starts at Natuurcentrum De Ginkel, a charming nature and visitor centre near Ede outside Arnhem. Here I meet nature guide Hanna Pol who takes me into the forest. “Veluwe is very biodiverse,” says Pol quietly as we walk past verdant oak, pine and birch. Trees with autumnal tawny-coloured leaves line one side of the path and wildflowers, with pops of bright yellow sunflowers and vivid red poppies, the other. Pol reels off some of the wildlife here: roe deer, five types of woodpecker, beavers, wild boar and wolves. As we crunch through a carpet of fallen leaves, we spy a small brown frog on a log, a woodpecker dancing around a tree, and the outline of two rust-red deers in the distance.

We make our way to the wildlife observation area, an enclosed building with curved windows and a theatre-style set of wooden chairs. “The deer pass this way every night to eat,” says Pol. “Once we saw a really big fight break out.” She’s seen wolves too – they returned to the country in 2015 after about 150 years and it’s a controversial topic, with farmers worried about their livestock. We don’t see the elusive creatures, just a solitary bright white buzzard perching on a tree. On the shelves behind us, an assortment of skeletal remains includes antlers, skulls, the teeth of a wild boar and the foot of a deer.

That night I stay in a stylish and sleek cabin with floor-to-ceiling views of the forest at Buitenplaats Petersburg on the edge of the park. It’s a peaceful haven of lodges with fairy lights strung around the woods and an enchanting Italian restaurant, Il Lupo, with an outdoor terrace.

Besides its unspoilt natural wonders, Veluwe has plenty of other attractions. I visit Paleis Het Loo, a 17th-century royal palace in Apeldoorn, once the summer residence and hunting lodge of William of Orange III and his wife Princess Mary II Stuart. It’s an impressive building with ornate rooms, a staircase with the second biggest mural in the Netherlands, formal symmetrical gardens and an underground museum which tells the story of the Dutch royal family.

Hotel de Echoput, a family-run modern hotel nearby, surrounded by the forest, is my home for the night. Its Grand Bistro Echo is a treat, with a menu that focuses on local ingredients – I enjoy fried mushrooms with a creamy Dordogne sauce and a vegan cheesecake with basil and white chocolate.

The next morning, after a brisk walk in the woods with barely a soul around, I visit the historic Hanseactic city of Harderwijk, on the shores of Wolderwijd lake. I wander the narrow cobblestone streets, medieval city walls and Old Town Hall with guide Marianne van Limbeek. “Harderwijk means hiding place for shepherds,” she tells me. We bump into Hendrik Kaper, a local street organist wearing a flat cap who treats us to a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody on his portable wooden organ.

But it’s in Hoge Veluwe national park that I find the greatest sense of serenity – though one day a small adder with a dark zigzag stripe stops me in my tracks. Come outside peak times, as I have, and you might have some of the trails to yourself.

Within the park lies Kröller-Müller Museum, a revered national art museum and sculpture garden founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller, who along with her husband, shipping magnate Anton Kröller, bought vast amounts of land in Veluwe (their private estate was later donated to the state). My timing is great as all 88 of its Vincent van Gogh paintings are on show together for the first time since 1984 (until 3 January).

The sculpture park is one of the largest in Europe, and I stroll around the surrounding open grass and into the forest and stumble across various artworks (there are about 200 pieces dotted around). A short cycle away is Jachthuis Sint Hubertus, the former country residence of the Kröller-Müller family with a watchtower more than 30m tall (apparently Helene loved afternoon tea at such lofty heights) surrounded by a lake with a very athletic bunch of jumping carp.

I stop at Restaurant De Hoge Veluwe at Park Paviljoen for an early pasta dinner on the terrace before the sky turns a moody grey and rain looks imminent. Fortunately it’s only a 15-minute cycle to Otterlo, a pretty village with clusters of fairy lights and bunting decorating red brick houses and Vakantieoord Het Lorkenbos, a charming holiday park surrounded by trees. My bungalow is cute and, feeling as if I’m in a twinkling winter wonderland, I light a candle and look up the Dutch word for cosy. It’s gezellig – a perfect description of how I feel after my nourishing break in this wild and restorative part of the Netherlands.

The trip was arranged by Visit Veluwe. Entrance to Hoge Veluwe national park €13.85 per adult. Cabins at Buitenplaats Petersburg from €110. Camping at Het Lorkenbos from €23 a night, bungalows from €320 for two nights. Double rooms at De Echoput from €169. Omio provided train travel: Eurostar runs from London to Amsterdam

MATTHEW Perry’s five surviving Friends co-stars will not appear in a new Netflix documentary about the late actor, with the filmmaker behind the series confirming they were approached.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer are all absent from The One About Matthew Perry, which arrives on Netflix on October 27.

The three-part series drops one day before the third anniversary of the star’s death.

Director Mary Robertson has now addressed their absence, saying the cast remain deeply affected by the loss of their longtime friend and co-star.

“We know the Friends cast loves Matthew and is grieving Matthew,” Robertson told The New York Times.

“We did approach them about participation. They decided not to participate.”

CONSTANT STRUGGLE

Matthew Perry’s close bond with sister & how she dealt with death of star

SISTER’S PAIN

Matthew Perry’s sister holds back tears as she breaks silence on his death

Robertson also told Page Six there were no hard feelings towards the stars, or Perry’s family members who declined to participate.

“I think everyone grieves in their own way. And I understand why someone might feel that this isn’t the moment to talk,” Robertson told the outlet.

A source also previously told Page Six that the stars did not want to publicly revisit their grief over Perry’s death, with Aniston said to have found the prospect particularly difficult.

“She isn’t going to sit down and start crying on camera. She doesn’t want to relive it and have it be so public,” the insider said.

Further reports suggested that feeling extended across the group rather than there being any objection to the documentary itself.

“It’s still too raw,” an insider told New Idea, which reported that Aniston and Kudrow were still struggling to discuss Perry without becoming emotional.

The source claimed LeBlanc and Schwimmer were also uncomfortable with appearing and said the stars wanted to honor Perry privately, on their own terms and in their own time.

However, the stars have all paid tribute to Matthew since his death and some have spoken about him in interviews.

Aniston told Vanity Fair of losing Perry, “As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better. I’m glad he’s out of that pain.”

Cox also wrote in an Instagram tribute after his death, “I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” adding, “He was funny and he was kind.”

While none of Perry’s five main co-stars appear in the documentary, his younger sister Mia Perry Bowick does take part and speaks about her brother on camera for the first time.

Bowick offers several intimate insights into Perry’s relationships, his addiction troubles and his time on Friends, including how much the storyline between his character Chandler Bing and Courteney Cox’s Monica Geller meant to him.

She says her brother had sometimes felt that Schwimmer and Aniston’s Ross and Rachel received more of the spotlight on the beloved show.

Bowick says Perry was therefore thrilled when Chandler’s relationship with Monica developed, giving his character a major emotional storyline of his own to get his teeth into.

“He was not just silly Chandler anymore,” Bowick says in the documentary.

She explains that the romance allowed Perry to move beyond Chandler’s familiar comedy and demonstrate a more tender, romantic and vulnerable side of his acting.

Bowick says the family also understood how much Perry himself longed for the kind of love and family life that Chandler eventually found with Monica.

But her most poignant recollection of the Friends cast comes as she describes seeing them together at Perry’s private funeral.

Bowick says in the documentary that it was a small affair attended by family and close friends and that the five Friends stars entered together.

“I hadn’t seen them in easily 20 years,” Bowick recalls.

She says Aniston was the first of the group to approach her, giving her a huge hug, before the other cast members embraced her.

Bowick then watched as they all walked towards Perry’s casket holding hands and stood around their former co-star crying together.

Bowick also recalls an unexpected moment of laughter during the funeral as Perry was being moved into a mausoleum.

She says she suddenly felt as though her brother was standing behind her shoulder and could imagine him making a joke.

The thought caused her to start laughing during one of the most painful moments of the service, and she says it was the first time since his death that she had strongly felt her brother’s presence.

Robertson told Page Six that Bowick’s account of the funeral was both “wrenching and harrowing”, but said the unexpected laughter was also true to Perry’s personality.

The documentary also features Perry’s close friends and former NBC executive Warren Littlefield who recalled being in the room when Perry auditioned for Chandler.

Perry was found unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023. He was 54.

His death was ruled accidental, with the acute effects of ketamine listed as the primary cause and drowning among the contributing factors.

Prague, Czech Republic – Youssef Moursi, a 25-year-old Egyptian university student and activist in Prague, has spent the last six months in pre-trial detention, accused of an arson attack in March against a Czech weapons factory with alleged ties to Israel.

Moursi is one of 11 people being charged with “terrorism” for the attack and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The case has echoes of legal battles in the United Kingdom, where Palestine Action activists have been sentenced under terrorism laws, and Germany, where five people accused of targeting a site linked to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons maker, are on trial.

Moursi, a humanities student at Charles University, said in a statement to Al Jazeera that “a group of armed and masked policemen smashed down [my] front door”, two days after the alleged attack, in which he denies any involvement.

He spent the first three months of his detention in solitary confinement, according to his lawyer. Today, he is allowed one hour outside his cell and 20 minutes on the phone a day, with visits from friends and family every two weeks.

“[There] is the psychological front being waged against us, where [the police] deliberately try to break us by putting some of us in solitary confinement for months, denying us visits, blocking correspondence, or spreading fear,” Moursi said. “Putting people in custody and prolonging it time and time again without direct evidence, mainly based on a mix of inclinations, activism, racism, and an attempted blurring of freedom of speech, is unacceptable.”

Moursi and his lawyer, Pavel Cizinsky, believe he has been targeted because of his involvement in pro-Palestine activism in Prague.

Cizinsky said part of the evidence police have against Moursi is that on the day after the fire, he posted advice for pro-Palestinian activists on social media, should they be approached by officers. Cizinsky called this “ridiculous.”

“If you put into Google what to do when interviewed by the police, the first advice is wait for your lawyer. But if you say it as a pro-Palestinian activist, if you write it to your friends, then it’s reason against you that you are guilty,” Cizinsky said.

At the beginning of the investigation, Cizinsky said he faced pressure from the authorities not to take the case. As a result, he was not present during the initial interrogation and house raid on Moursi’s flat.

“It is clear that there is extraordinary attention to this investigation by the police, and really great resources dedicated to this case,” Cizinsky said. “But the fact that he is already five months in prison is surely a breach of law.”

Under Czech law, individuals held in pre-trial detention who have not been convicted must have their detention reviewed by a court every three months. Moursi’s detention has so far been reviewed twice, with the court deciding each time that he must stay in prison.

His detention will be reviewed again in early December, and the trial is expected to start within a year.

The fire broke out in the early hours of March 20 at LPP Holding, a Czech weapons factory in Pardubice, about 120km (75 miles) east of Prague.

No one was injured but police said the building was destroyed, with damage estimates reaching hundreds of millions of crowns, or at least four million euros.

A previously unknown pro-Palestinian group called The Earthquake Faction claimed responsibility and posted videos of the fire, saying it targeted LPP Holding for its cooperation with Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons company.

In 2023, LPP Holding and Elbit Systems announced a partnership to build drones in the Czech Republic. But on the day of the fire, an LPP Holding spokesperson told Czech media the collaboration never happened.

In the weeks following the attack, police launched a manhunt and arrested several foreign nationals including Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Polish and American citizens. Of the 10 other individuals accused, three are under house arrest in Poland and seven remain behind bars in the Czech Republic.

Over the past two years, Elbit Systems has become a primary target for pro-Palestine activists across Europe.

In June, a UK court convicted four imprisoned Palestine Action members of criminal damage with a “terrorist connection” after a raid on an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol. In September last year, police in Poland arrested protesters at an arms fair for throwing red liquid over an Elbit Systems stand. This week, an elderly man in Germany was arrested after protesting against the Israeli weapons giant.

In Prague, the atmosphere for pro-Palestinian activists has grown increasingly tense.

A collective called Prague 4 Palestine Youth stopped organising demonstrations and charity events after police investigations into dozens of its members in the months following the arson attack.

Rue, a 25-year-old Czech activist who requested anonymity, said that friends of those detained in the arson case and fellow activists are being subjected to interrogations, house raids, and indefinite confiscations of their devices as the investigation continues.

Nine days after the fire, Rue said, “[The police] interrogated us, and then they took us back to [our] apartment where they did a search of the house. They kept us awake for more than 24 hours. I was having panic attacks for a week straight after it happened.”

After the interrogation and house search, Rue was told they were being treated as a witness to the arson attack. The police confiscated their phone and computer, which have not been returned.

Rue believes they were investigated because of their friendship with suspects in the arson case. They have visited two in prison; one is in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, Rue said.

“When it comes to the end of the visit, the tears come,” Rue added. “You’re free to go anywhere and do anything, and they go back to being in those four walls.”

The individuals detained in the Czech Republic could remain in prison for up to four years without being convicted, according to their lawyers.

Police confirmed they have arrested and charged suspects of several different nationalities and remanded them in custody.

“Given the gravity of the case and the ongoing investigation into terrorism-related offences, the supervising public prosecutor’s office has assumed exclusive authority to release information,” the police said.

Cindy Crawford and family paid homage to her son, Presley Gerber, in their first public statements since his death at 27.

The supermodel and actor shared a smiling black-and-white portrait of Gerber along with a heartfelt message, writing, “We are beyond heartbroken to lose our beloved son and brother. We feel so blessed to have had Presley in our lives for 27 years.”

She continues, “He is a sweet, beautiful soul who loved and is loved, now and forever. We are so proud of how he showed up in the world, with kindness and vulnerability. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and support from so many who know and love our family and even strangers who feel our pain. Til we meet again our sweet boy. We love you forever, Mom, Dad and Kaia.”

Crawford concluded the post by thanking photographer Sebastián Faena for taking the image of Gerber, who appears to have angel wings.

Gerber, the brother of model Kaia Gerber and only son of Crawford and her husband, Rande Gerber, died Sept. 20 at a luxury rehab center called Resolutions Living in Santa Monica.

Kaia Gerber shared her own Instagram tribute honoring her late brother. In it, she shared a video of the two of them as children, with the caption “i love you the bluest, to the moon and back and back again, forever big brother.” The post also included a photo of the siblings as children on the beach.

In a lengthier essay included with the photo and video, she addressed the emptiness she’d felt in the weeks since her brother’s death.

“I am learning how to love you when I cannot see you. How to tell you something without picking up my phone to call you. How to be your sister in a world that I can’t reach for you in,” she wrote, adding, “I don’t know how to do that yet.”

Presley, who had been candid about his struggles with addiction and mental health during public appearances on his social media account, entered the Resolutions Living home on Sept. 19. The following morning, he was found dead of what police said was a drug overdose.

As of Sunday, the Santa Monica Police Department was still investigating the source of the drugs Gerber had taken.

An autopsy was performed, but the cause and manner of death have been deferred, “which means additional testing and/or studies were requested in order to make a determination,” according to a Sept. 21 statement from the Los Angeles County medical examiner. It could take a few months for a cause of death to be determined, the statement continued.

His death has sparked questions about how he could overdose on drugs inside the Resolutions Living home. The L.A. Times reported that the facility operates in a regulatory gray area and is not authorized to provide medical care.

The California Department of Health Services is investigating whether Resolutions Living was providing any services that would require a state license after receiving a complaint about the sober living home in September, according to department spokesperson Anthony Cava.

This charming seaside village is just as beautiful in autumn as it is in summer

Summer may be behind us, but that’s no reason to abandon a trip to the seaside. While taking a dip in the sea might not be on the cards, the British coast still has a great deal to offer.

There’s one spot in particular that locals affectionately call ‘God’s pocket’, owing to its mild microclimate that brings warmer, sunnier weather than the surrounding towns. And even if it’s simply too chilly for a swim, this gorgeous location boasts a bustling high street brimming with independent shops, cafés and pubs.

That magical place is East Wittering, tucked away along the shores of the Manhood Peninsula in West Sussex.

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While it draws the crowds during summer, it’s equally as charming during the cooler months. Take a stroll along the pebbled beach and, at low tide, wander out across the exposed stretches of soft golden sand.

After soaking up the ocean views and breathing in the fresh sea air, head into town for a spot of exploring. Kick off your morning with a coffee from Ground, just a stone’s throw from the beach on Shore Street, before making your way to The Boulevard for a proper sit-down breakfast.

With a full stomach, you can throw yourself into some serious retail therapy. One of East Wittering’s greatest draws is its remarkable array of independent shops.

From vintage clothing and fashion at Let’s Go Back, to locally handcrafted art and jewellery at The Artisan Shoppe, there truly is something to suit every taste.

For those who love the great outdoors, there’s Wittering Surf Shop, while art enthusiasts can head to V. A Design Studios.

The latter is operated by local artist Victoria and stocks everything from large-scale paintings to hand-drawn cards.

Naturally, no weekend browse would be complete without a swift pint before heading home – and East Wittering has plenty of those too.

The Shore Inn is a firm favourite, tucked right beside the main beach entrance. It’s bustling, dog friendly and boasts outdoor seating if you fancy soaking up some of the early autumn sunshine.

There’s also regularly live music to enjoy while you sip on your drink.

Slightly further afield in West Wittering (roughly a 10 minute drive away) sits The Lamb Inn – an 18th century country pub brimming with character and featuring a gorgeous beer garden.