Ladymuck needs ideas for weekend break by herself

[LadyMuck]

I've just realised that MN has suggested/influenced every holiday that I've taken in the last 6 years. So having been uninspired by Lastminute.com I'm wondering why I didn't ask here first! Dh and the dcs are visiting his folks in Feb, leaving me with car, passport and proximity to Gatwick Airport.

I like spas, but not essential. I like good food and wine, but I guess that I'll probably want room service - done the dining alone when travelling on business and it isn't fun. I love cathedrals and castles. In terms of city breaks I've done Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome, Venicee, Edinburgh, Dublin and Lille all fairly recently. Haven't been to Spain? Am looking at WWW's recent thread and getting vaguely inspired by some of the suggestions so might stay in UK.

Any ideas? Just to complicate things if I find the right thing I might persuade a girlfriend to come along.

lucky you!!! barcelona is great - galleries, history, great bars, great shops etc etc - range of hotels - take your pick!

Second vote for Barca, we went at the end of Feb last year, it was warm enough to walk around in jeans and t-shirts. The have a fab tourist bus that takes you on 3 different routes around the city, allowing you to get on and off as you please which makes it safer if you are by yourself.

We stayed at the 1891 or 1898 hotel which is right on Las Ramblas. It had fantastic reasonably priced room service, a roof top terrace, underground pool and Spa. Very plush without being stuffy.

Ladymcuk, I had a lovely time but hotel was too noisy. What do you want mainly? What's your vision for the weekend? Pottering around churches and bookshops or lazing in a sofa reading or being massaged or what? Tell me and I'll think.

Barcelona is the most amazing and surprising city.

If not there, how about:

Prague (amazing)
Budapest (ditto)
Warsaw (if you've never been, you'd be surprised)
Berlin
Florence

Oh and Lisbon. Don't forget Lisbon - that's fab. Also Porto - fabby fabby fab.

Lady will you please go and advise someone else about Eurodisney? Convo active now.

The other thought I had was totally off the wall

Rather than a walking around a city break, how about an active weekend?

Like learning to sculpt, or paint, or yoga?

Just realised that I hadn't replied. An invitation landed on my desk for a school reunion for all those who went to my university, so I've ground to a halt whilst checking up on my contemporaries. The college does have a decent wine cellar even if the food will be institutional.

Barcelona sounds fab. In terms of UK, I've done a few breaks in Central London and wouldn't be keen on that by myself. So town/City within 2 hours of London (I'm south) with cathedral/old places and yes a bookshop! Hotel with confortable rooms and decent room service. If the dinner is on then somewhere near Oxford.