FAMILY TIME

Well, it is quite strange to think we are back in ‘Old Blighty’. A short run under the channel and up we pop where we can understand all the signs and speak to anyone we want to as they can now understand English. The channel crossing is so quick and easy and we’re so glad we didn’t have to make the crossing by ferry.   First we drive an hour and half to Cousin John and Jenny, so very excited to see them. The drive way is ready to accommodate Vincent and at 9.30 we park him for a well-earned rest.

John and Jenny are ready for us and we chat madly for a couple of hours whilst enjoying a superb late evening snack of homemade quiches whilst sitting in the back garden enjoying the lovely view over the summer flowers. We hear of John and Jenny’s trip to Canada, amazing, and hope we can get there ourselves.

How good it is to be home, cause that it is how it feels in this lovely house. We all decide it is time for bed excited to be sleeping apart with a toilet and a shower nearby, such luxury.

During our couple of days here we are well advised by John and Jenny to purchase The National Trust Membership, the best thing we have ever done, you will hear why later. Off to Chartwell, the home of Winston Churchill, we went for a splendid day. There is so much to learn in this historical house and lots to see too. Did you know Winston Churchill loved painting, me neither, and he had his very own studio in which he completed many works? He also built a beautiful cubby house (Wendy House for the British) for his daughter in the huge vegetable garden.

Our time with John and Jenny comes to an end and we set off to Maggy and Graham’s and luckily catch up with Matt and Kelly too before they return to London. A perfect summer day enjoying their spectacular garden, once again trying to catch up on each other’s lives. None of us can believe it is six months since our European adventures began.

We spend a week getting ourselves back to normal. This involved washing and repacking everything, sorting out what we could leave behind for our UK travels and trying to finalize our USA plans, or at least starting the plan. How wonderful it is to feel so comfortable and relaxed and share our memories with our special family.

We all started the first day with a run/walk to the village hall, we can now exercise and shower, yay. Maggy cooks us lovely meals as always, she’s a great cook, and we enjoy the television coverage of the Commonwealth games, though this does seem to be a bit one sided… England, England, England! We don’t mind as we now consider ourselves English as well as Aussies so can bask in the glory of a very successful games for the England team, congratulations to all the competitors in this wonderful friendly games.

We spend some time with our special Aunty Babs and laugh at how much she is like her sister, speaking of whom we are able to call a couple of times to let her know we are back safely. We miss her so much and being with Babs is just so lovely as we feel closer. We also learn that Babs is a bread and tomato sauce lover too, I knew that we got this taste from someone in the family! Chloe also drops in for a visit, so lucky to catch up with everyone.

A bit of a mishap with Monty dog eating something he shouldn’t, you don’t want to know what, had us in a panic for a while. It’s lucky he has a very strong stomach considering what he insist on putting in it! We’re also lucky to have Kelly on board for emergency advice to put our minds at rest!

Next we are off to London, with Vincent, and again welcomed into Matt and Kelly’s gorgeous flat. We feel so at home here and quickly settle in to a wonderful week. Kelly is on holidays with us and has set up our first adventure, a trip to London Zoo, but this is no ordinary trip as she has CONNECTIONS. Her good friend Tegan is a zookeeper who just happens to be Aussie as well. We are so spoilt it is hard to believe.

First we find ourselves sitting down with the Meercats. These extraordinary little creatures are just hilarious. We all take handfuls of live grubs, all wiggling around and very attractive to the little fluffy beings we have invaded. They jump up onto our laps to take these tasty morsels. The smiles and laughs on our faces were priceless as we get to stroke and feed these little characters. But that’s not all you get.

Next we move on to the Lemur enclosure, your kidding right, in we go. Now these are the most gorgeous, soft and gentle, curious and persistent and positively spectacular little fluffy beings I have ever met. This feeding experience is far less hectic. Tegan advises us to keep the food, sweet potato cubes, within our fists. To our delight the Lemur sits up on our laps and slowly coaxes our fingers open to get to the tasty treat. This is an experience I find hard to describe other than it was amazing. Their little fingers are so soft and a little sticky and gentle and to sit and stroke them was out of this world.

But that is not all you get. Yes there is more believe it or not. We stroll on through the zoo picking branches of leaves that are particularly nice to Giraffes. That’s our next stop, we stand inside the barrier of the overhead bridge and two Giraffes come to us, we are staring straight into their big beautiful eyes feeding them carrots and then their leaf treats. By now the three off us are just about gah gah with the whole experience. We cannot thank Kelly and Tegan enough for the most amazing day of up close encounters with such gorgeous animals. Needless to say we are the envy of all the other zoo visitors who watched us, some asking us how we got to do this and how much it cost. We realize we are the luckiest people in London and will always treasure this experience.

Our London adventures do not stop there, the following day it is off to Buckingham Palace, for an inside look this time, taking in the special display of the Royal Childhoon exhibition. Kelly and the three of us all enjoy the displays of childhood memories and memorabilia of the Royals and Mikayla manages to stay upright this visit.

We then meet with Chloe for a picnic in the park and spend more time catching up with her. We spend the rest of our days here just doing what the locals do, spending precious time with family and enjoying the summer sunshine. A walk along The Thames, picnics is the parks and even a couple of city farm visits.

Our time in London is also productive as Matt guides us to make our final decisions about the US and our tickets, car hire, insurance and visa requirements are all booked and paid for. The adventure will begins mid September.

Sadly it is time to move on again and Vincent is on the road again but this time we have to fit four girls in, eeeek.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album ENGLAND IN JULY.

BRUGES, YPRES AND FROMELLES – OUR TIME IN EUROPE COMES TO AN END

We were so excited to get to Bruges to see the famous Madonna and Child by Michelangelo. So, this was our first stop on a day in Belgium’s capital. The Madonna and Child is housed in the Church of Our Lady, undergoing restorations while we were there in July. After buying our tickets we entered the side section where the Madonna and Child are front and center of the altar.

A little smaller than anticipated, this piece is exquisite and even though we have seen about as many Madonna and Child pieces as we have churches we spent at least half an hour admiring this one just as we did David in Florence. We finished with a quick look around the rest of the church before stepping back out onto the street with yet another thing crossed off our list!

Bruges’ canals are as beautiful as Ghent’s and we enjoying wandering along, taking many pictures and generally soaking up the atmosphere. We also walked through the Begijnhof, a beautiful, silent (unless a group of tourists turn up and ignore the signs) place.

An almost round trip took us to the Holy Savior Cathedral with more lovely stained glass and artworks. Much of the cathedral was hidden under scaffolding and we wondered why they would be doing so much restoration during peak tourist time.

It was then time to go to go to our second favourite place of the day, Chocco Story, and chocolate museum where we learnt all about the history of cocoa beans, all the way back to the Aztecs, and chocolate. Did you know that cocoa was originally used like coffee as a hot drink, basically hot chocolate came before chocolate? A museum that smells like chocolate and gives you a free sample at the end is always a winner. Unfortunately Mum and Mikayla weren’t interested in doing the nearby hot chip museum so next stop was the main Markt square.

The Markt was packed with people so we popped into the post office to send a couple of post cards back to Australia. Never again, super expensive it cost us about $15 to send two postcards, extortionate. Post from France not Belgium!

We finished our day in Bruges with a visit to the smaller market square where the Basilica of the Holy Blood is. A small doorway off the square takes you into a tiny church with two even smaller chapels. Here you can see a phial that reputedly contains Christ’s blood brought back from the Crusades.

We got to Ypres with plenty of time to park Vincent in the free parking for the night and catch the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8pm. This is held every single night at 8pm, a full last post ceremony, an amazing tribute to fallen soldiers. Standing amongst the huge crowd gathered to remember we got to be part of another very moving experience. Lest We Forget.

After the ceremony we walked around the Menin Gate Memorial and back to Vincent along the ramparts. The next day we spent the morning walking further along the ramparts where there are also Australian and New Zealand War Memorials and in the Commonwealth War Cemetery here before making our way through town to cathedral and the In Flanders Fields Museum.

This museum takes you through the events of World War I with information about the lead up, different battles during the war, artifacts and personal accounts. So worth doing and just like the American Omaha Beach Visitors Center did for World War II, gave us a lesson in the history of World War I.

One more time exiting town through the Menin Gate and we were on our way to Tyne Cot British Memorial and Cemetery. Here we were able to search the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site and found out where our Nan’s first husband and our Granddad’s brother were buried during World War II, though not at this beautiful memorial.

Our very last day in Europe was spent in Fromelles at the Australian Memorial Park, war memorial and cemetery, situated at opposite sides of the battle lines from the Battle of Fromelles and puts into perspective the short distance that was between the two lines. The Memorial even includes the real German bunkers left in original position. We also met a lovely Australian couple here and spent a while chatting, it’s always nice to meet fellow Aussies and they are just wonderful.

The day flying by we soon found ourselves back on the train and crossing under the channel back to England.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the albums BACK TO FRANCE and BELGIUM.

WORLD WAR MEMORIALS FRANCE AND INTO BELGIUM

A walk through the main square of Arras, alive with the bargain market, took us to the tourist bureau where we had a choice of doing a touring through the tunnels under the city, learning about the histories of the town or a tour through the quarry tunnels used during both World Wars.

We chose the quarry, in keeping with the World War theme during our last week in Europe, and found ourselves heading to Wellington Quarry and Battle of Arras Memorial. Here we got our hard, very heavy, hats on and descended yet again into the earth. The tour lasted about 75 minutes, along boardwalks through the tunnels created by soldiers from New Zealand from the remains of the quarry. 24000 soldiers from Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain lived down here in the lead up to The Battle of Arras when approximately 4000 of those lives were lost each day in the following two months.

The tour is punctuated with video footage and personal stories making the story hit closer to home. You can also see genuine artifacts found in the tunnels. We also had a laugh here when we walked outside to find another Vincent, who we named Vincent’s brother, parked next to our Vincent. A quick comparison and we were off back into the center of Arras, this time able to see the town squares without market stalls, to climb the Belfry tower of the town hall.

It seemed to be a very popular day for weddings because we saw at least three wedding parties waiting to go up the tower for photos and one couple up there while we were. We always love seeing weddings; especially the bride and her dress so were quite excited. We also learned the tooting the car horn when you see a wedding seems to be a tradition in France because every car that drove past did their fair share.

From the top of the Belfry we got a beautiful view out over the city and surrounds. It was interesting to us how different the houses look when viewed from above. From ground level the streets are lined with flat fronted houses giving the impression that they are all rectangular prism in structure when in fact you see from above that they are anything but and all squished together into any space possible, no matter how dramatic the angles become.

We finished the day at Vimy Ridge Canadian War Memorial where we walked through some trenches and spent some time admiring the amazing monument to the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives during World War One and a celebration of Canada’s biggest military victory. This area is just beautiful and the memorial very touching.

Having to move right along we ended driving all the way to Ghent and camping next to a park in a very nice neighborhood before driving into town to start our time here the next day.

With no map of Ghent in our guidebook we had no idea how to find anything so first thing was a stop at the first thing that looked like they might have information, a monastery. Armed with a map we soon found what we came for, the cathedral that was much like many others, and the design museum.

The Design Museum was brilliant, showcasing furniture through the ages; rooms were all set up featuring antique interior design and furniture to the ultra modern. They also had an exhibition running, all about the pollution in the ocean and how this is collected to make useful products. We would love to buy a few sea chairs at some point.

We followed this with a walk along the canals, stopping in quite a few little independent art galleries and shops and found some stuff that we could definitely find places for in our home and future homes.

Yet again the day was finished with a drive to our next destination, Bruges the home of Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child.

Photos can be found on our Facebook Page in the albums BACK TO FRANCE and BELGIUM.

PARIS TAKE TWO

Another day, and what would be our last for this trip, of exploring Paris on foot. Starting with visits to the Church of St-Sulpice and the Church of St-Germain Des Pres, both old churches that are in disrepair though there seems to be some restoration work going on. It seems The Notre Dame gets all the attention but these churches are worth a look too, especially if you read The Da Vinci Code first!

Moving on from here our walking took us through some yet unseen parts of town, to another large church whose name I can’t recall, past some modern street sculptures and water features and to the bazaar Center Pompidou, built with it’s insides outside. Touting the best view in Paris we can only assume they mean the art inside because what could be better than the Eiffel Tower? All a bit sick of art (gasp) we decided to give the inside a miss and took off again in search of somewhere nice to have a very late lunch.

We ended up finding a fantastic little crepe restaurant on Rue Jean du Bellay, Ile St-Louis, and had a scrumptious three course meal finished with delicious crepes, salted caramel for Mum, apple and cinnamon for Mikayla and chocolate and banana for me, yum! We would definitely recommend this place. We hadn’t anticipated desert and had planned to go to Bathillion for ice cream so we stuck to it, until we got there. Bathillion is famous for having 70 flavours of delicious ice cream, they lie, there were only ten, of the most boring, flavours on offer, very disappointing so we gave it a miss. We didn’t need it anyway!

A brisk walk back to Vincent in the rain, this time with our rain coats, and we decided it was time to move on. We were so proud of Mum as she navigated the traffic towards and along the Champs Elysees and around for one last look at the Arch de Triomphe, until next time.

From here we got stuck in a traffic jam for about three hours and spent the time discussing how annoying it is when people stare at us in Vincent like he has one way glass and we can’t see them and how everyone would get so much farther much quicker if the drivers weren’t so selfish. We were in a dark, gloomy place at that point in time!

When we eventually got out onto the open road we were much happier, as was Vincent’s gear box, and we ended up finding a cute little camping spot next to a play ground near Giverny, our next destination.

In the morning it was straight to Monet’s Garden where I went crazy with flower photos. So much variety of beautiful blooms it took me ten times longer to get around the garden than Mum and Mikayla who had to wait for me before entering the water garden via the underpass.

The immortalized water garden is just as beautiful as you would expect and we visited at the end of the optimal time of year. Row boats sit amongst lilies and willows at the edge of the pond and the quaint bridges are picture perfect, funny that!

Monet’s house is also brilliant and just as exciting as the gardens. My favourite part was Monet’s office/living room where he painted in the later years of his life and where the walls are literally covered with paintings on canvas. I loved the kitchen as well. You can also see Monet’s collection of work by other artists and the view from the second story is pretty special.

The town of Giverny is gorgeous too, with it’s cute little homes and sweet gardens, we would have liked to have spent more time relaxing here but alas it was time to move on. If you’re looking for a photogenic town this one makes the cut.

The next day was spent driving again, broken by a stop at Beauvais Cathedral that we spotted from the main road from miles off, it’s that tall. This cathedral is extraordinary in that the roof is so high, pretty much the height of the spire. Inside the ceilings are just as high, which makes room for double the stained glass windows and a tremendous effect. Unfortunately it seems the architect was a little too ambitious as parts of the floors as sinking and scaffolding holds up parts of the ceiling. There is also a grand astronomical clock here, one of the best and most detailed we’ve seen, so we definitely put Beauvais Cathedral on the must see list.

After a log drive we ended up camping near Arras ready to get stuck into what would be a week or so of World War I and II history again as we moved along through France and Belgium.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album PARIS (for photos of our previous visit) and BACK TO FRANCE (for this visit).

BACK TO FRANCE – REIMS AND INTO PARIS

N.B. As you may have noticed we are very behind on our posts. Too much traveling, not enough writing! The post we’re writing now are a progression through our last weeks in Europe though we are currently touring around England. Hopefully we will be up to date very soon but in the meantime our posts are flashbacks and we’ll let you know when we’re back to our current travel.

In Vincent some days are just driving days and lucky for us there’s usually something interesting to see along the way. The view is always changing and when it’s average we console ourselves that this is a means to an end. Though we didn’t have to this time as we were driving through the very pretty champagne region of France.

We love France for so many reasons, the food, baguettes, crepes, pate, the cute little towns that you drive through frequently, Paris, chateaus, and most of all the people, some of whom we’re lucky enough to call friends. We also love that Mikayla and I get free entry into most “tourist attractions” because we are citizens of the EU, lucky, and France is one of the only countries that do this.

We arrived in Reims in the early afternoon and went straight for the Cathedral here, the Cathedrale Notre Dame, the venue for Royal coronations when they were still being performed and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s been heavily restored since it was bombed during World War I. It’s very similar to the Notre Dame in Paris that I would recommend seeing instead.

We also spent some time at the museum next door where we learnt a bit more about the Royal coronations, got to see some crown jewels (not nearly as extravagant as expected), and had a giggle at the very feminine poses of the French Kings through the ages. Next was the Basilique St-Remi, another UNESCO World Heritage Site with an accompanying museum that contains an ancient relic collection to rival The Vatican.

The next day, on the way into Paris, we stopped at an English War Memorial and cemetery. These are always moving places and we were set to visit a lot more to come.

During our first visit to Paris earlier this year, new to wild camping, we stayed in a camping ground on the outskirts of the city. This time we went for it, driving straight into the city center, along The Seine and by the Eiffel tower before finding a suitable spot to park Vincent next to Cimetiere du Montparnasse, near the famous Le Catacombes. Quiet though pretty busy pedestrian wise we thought he’d be safe here to leave during the day and stay in at night, thankfully we were right!

Our first day in Paris we walked through Cimetiere du Montparnasse and attempted to see Le Catacombes but when we saw the line, stretching around the block, we decided we would try again another time. So, it was on to Paris’ Pantheon where we walked straight in with no queue to explore the expansive artworks on the inner walls and the sculptures surrounding them. The crypt here is also very interesting as it houses the tombs of famous historical figures, a few being Voltaire, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie, among many others.

Usually extremely lucky with weather (I can say this because I am writing overlooking the Sound of Raasey from the Isle of Skye, Scotland and there isn’t a cloud in the perfect blue sky), we saw more rain visiting Paris in summer than we did in winter. Stuck with no raincoats we left the Pantheon, running between the shop fronts until the rain subsided.

Into the Jardin Du Luxembourg, deserted and drenched, we made our way through towards the Rodin Museum pausing briefly to admire the Palais Du Luxembourg. The garden is more like a big park with water features and large expanses of grass to picnic and play on. We would have spent more time here had we not been afraid of getting rained on again.

We arrived at the Rodin Museum and had to wait in our first line of the day. Though we didn’t wait very long we decided that visiting the sites in Paris is much better in Winter when there are no lines.

We started in the lovely gardens while the rain was holding off and were greeted with The (famous) Thinker, contemplating away, before moving on to see more sculptures like The Kiss, Balzac and The Burghers of Calais. Inside the museum shows a collection of finished works as well as drafts of the famous sculptures in various sizes and materials. As you walk around you notice that the subjects in the sculptures are tortured beings, reason being they are all included in “miniature” on Rodin’s Gates of Hell. After visiting the Rodin Museum we loved spotting the sculptures out on the streets around Paris too.

To finish the day we walked to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, seriously considering going up again, before realizing we probably wouldn’t see that much through the fog anyway. Strolling back in the direction of Vincent through the Parc de Champ de Mars we couldn’t help but stop and look back frequently, Paris and The Eiffel Tower really are special parts of the world.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album PARIS (for photos of our previous visit) and BACK TO FRANCE (for this visit).

ADVENTURE IN THE SWISS ALPS

The drive from Lucerne to Interlaken was absolutely stunning, the surrounding mountains descending into the tremendous lakes whose waters are such a bright turquoise blue that their colour almost clashes with the entirely green surrounds. It just make you want to jump in immerse yourself in the crystal clear water although the temperature usually prevents us from doing so.

The visitor’s center was our first port of call in Interlaken with train, walk and attraction information needed. We were advised by the lovely lady here that the weather forecast for the next day was not good so we decided to postpone the Jungfraujoch train ride another day.

Afterwards we had just enough time to catch the last entry of the day to Trummelbach Falls where the falls are actually inside the mountain. An elevator takes you up to the top of the cascades and you work your way down to ground level through an indescribable wonderland of caves. It’s so loud inside that communication is by looks and gestures and there’s so much water rushing through that a raincoat is essential.

We woke outside Trummelbach Falls the next morning to see that the clouds were indeed very low and the day was going to be rainy. Glad we had taken the advice of the Lady at the tourist information center we set to reading through all our pamphlets to find something to do for the day.

Reading through we came across some information on skydiving. The one that caught our eye was a flight over the Jungfrau and Monch before dropping in front of The Eiger, amazing. We spent the whole day going around to all the different skydiving and adventure companies trying to find this particular one to no avail as none of them did a drop in front of The Eiger.

We also ran into a few problems preventing us from any skydiving at all; the weather was stopping jumps that day and we were going on the train the day after and we couldn’t all go at the same time which would have defeated the purpose of doing it together. Hopefully we’ll find somewhere to skydive later on in the trip because it’s definitely still on the list!

Having decided to catch the early morning train from Grindelwald up the Jungfraujoch we camped nearby and arose very early, not common for us in holiday mode, to catch the first, and cheapest, train of the day. Up we went through the inside of the mountain most of the way to 3454 meters above sea level, the highest train station in the world. On the way up the train stops at lookout points where you have time to jump off the train to have a look and jump back on again, beautiful. Looking out over natural untouched snow is one of my favourite views.

We got to the top and discovered that as well as a train station there is a complex of things to see and do. First stop for us was up to The Sphinx viewing platform, at 3571 meters above sea level, where we looked out over Jungfrau and Monch before heading down to walk out across Altesch Glacier and a little higher up the mountain to Monchsjochhutte at 3650 meters above sea level.

We soon realized we were not quite prepared and were starting to feel the effects. Having woken early we hadn’t felt like eating breakfast so at about 11am the only thing we had eaten so far was a banana. We devoured our fruit snacks out (a nectarine and another banana each) half way up to Monchsjochhutte. Feeling slightly better we continued to make our way skyward but Mum soon felt very ill so Mikayla and I went on to see the view from the top.

Altitude sickness affected, Mum decided to give the ice palace a miss while Mikayla and I skimmed through before getting back to the station to begin our descent. It took a little while longer but I started to feel sick on the way down too so we were all glad to be heading towards sea level.

We departed the train at Kleine Scheidegg and had lunch at a restaurant here, which made us feel a lot better, before starting the 2 hour walk down from here along the bottom of The Eiger. We would stop frequently to look up at The North Face and out across the mountains, stunning. I took so many photos to bore everyone with back home.

As we were heading down Mikayla and I realized our faces were starting to go very pink. It just shows how much the sun reflects off the snow and unfortunately one of the perils of being allergic to sun cream is that a hat and sunglasses just doesn’t do the trick when it’s a perfect blue sky above.

Exhausted and resembling a mix between a lobster and a panda we caught the train from a nearby station back to Grindelwald and went straight for Interlaken to a spot to camp the night, that we’d scoped out on our first day here, right on the lake. Then straight into the freezing cold water to try to alleviate the sunburn a little, I’m sure we sizzled and steamed as we entered the water.

In the morning I woke and felt like my face was swollen and still so hot, so it was back in the water for me before we left Interlaken, beginning a driving day towards France. Driving past lovely lakes and hills the views were gorgeous but our favourite part of the journey was the drive between Beil/Bienne and Porrentruy in Switzerland.

We always say things happen in threes and along the way we saw three events. First we stopped for lunch at a polo match, commentary in English, where Mum got her horse fix. Next drive past all the teen girls lining up for the One Direction concert in Bern. We thought it was very funny picking out the poor unfortunately Dads that had been roped into taking their daughters and her friends. They looked like that rather be sticking knives in their eyes than be there to see 1D! Last we saw what we assume was the set up for the Tour de France, with balustrades being placed along the mountainous roads, wish we could have waited around to watch!

It was back into France for us though and we were on our way to Paris again via Reims.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album SWITZERLAND

FLYING THROUGH THE BLACK FOREST, ZURICH AND LUCERNE

As you may have noticed we are very behind on our posts. Too much travelling, not enough writing! The post we’re writing now are a progression through our last weeks in Europe though we are currently touring around England. Hopefully we will be up to date very soon but in the meantime our posts are flashbacks and we’ll let you know when we’re back to our current travel.

Our drive through The Black Forest began at Baden-Baden where we stopped briefly at the visitor’s center to get some information on the area. Everyone’s heard of the Black Forest and we were excited to see it though we didn’t know much about what there was to see and the best route to take throughout.

We settled on the main tourist route, even though we usually try to avoid the very touristy areas, as this was the most scenic route, hence its popularity. Arriving in the late afternoon we were on a mission to find a camping spot and relax in the forest.

Most of the next day was spent driving through, enjoying the view. Very different to what we expected as the trees are quite far off the road and it’s only when you venture into the trees that you realize why it’s called The Black Forest, the dense foliage cuts off the light.

We came across Triberg home of Germany’s highest waterfalls at 160 meters. Walking along the Gutach plunge next to the seven cascades you can easily imagine a fairytale taking place here. There’s just something about water whether it’s ocean, river, lake or waterfalls that makes everything instantly prettier.

We wouldn’t say that The Black Forest was our favourite place but it does have some truly beautiful parts. Time to move on though and we were on our way to Konstanz, next to the huge Lake Konstanz on the border between Germany and Switzerland and the gateway to some of the most spectacular scenery we’d yet seen.

First stop was Zurich and as usual we went straight for the old town center where we saw the three main churches Saint Peter’s Church, Grossmunster and Church of Our Lady. The internal structure of these churches is unique in that there is an extra chapel behind the altar and usually this is where the stairs to the crypts are located. Very different to what we have seen and another reason we keep visiting almost every one we see.

We decided Zurich feels a lot like Perth, especially when you’re standing looking over the wide expanse of Lake Zurich with the swans gliding across the surface. A beautiful city where we would have liked to have been able to spend more time.

We are only brushing the surface of most of the cities we visit and obviously each one has so much more to offer than we see. We pick the major attractions that interest us but we have come to think of this trip as reconnaissance for future travel as there really is so much to see. We thought a year would be a long time to travel, and though it is time flies by and you can’t see everything. We also believe that getting to know the feel of a place and meeting new people is just as important, if not more so, as seeing ancient artifacts in a museum.

After Zurich we found a great parking spot just off the road next to Lake Zug where we discovered our own little beach private from the road. Taking the opportunity to have a swim, although it was freezing, and get clean.

We drove into Lucerne the next day and immediately came across the main attraction here the famous Chapel Bridge. Introducing what we call tourist central; a place that is recommended by all the guidebooks as a must see therefore drawing a million tourists and in effect wiping out the charm and beauty of said place. Nevertheless we did stop to bustle with the throngs of people on and around the pretty bridge and returned to Vincent as soon as we could, exhausted and ready to move on and up to the mountains to tackle as much as we could of The Swiss Alps.

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album SWITZERLAND

MADRID

Arriving in Madrid about 3pm we find ourselves a parking spot very close to Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the home ground of Real Madrid. Our excitement builds as we walk around the general area stopping in to Starbucks for a drink and rest then to our amazement walk back out into a thunderstorm. It is not supposed to rain on this special day and luckily it all dried up in time for game preparations.

We joined the throng of people in the closed streets waiting for the approach of the players. A quick glimpse of the bus carrying the hero’s is all you get but still part of the atmosphere. Eventually we are allowed into the ground and find our seats, perfect. They are in the second tier, southeast corner, and perfect distance with a fantastic aspect on the game even though they are not in the center.

The seats start to fill and by game time the ground is electric. The die hard cheer squad set up behind the goal in front of us and begin the drumming and singing that does not cease until the end of the game, save for a well earned break at half time. They must all lose their voices for a week.

Along with the constant blowing of horns by nearly every child there, one of whom sat in front of us, there is never a quiet moment. It is fabulous to just be amongst it. It was a one sided game with Real winning 4-0. Great goals and lots of near misses and an atmosphere everyone should experience.

We followed up the game experience with a tour of the stadium the following morning another fabulous experience. We spent ages in the “Best Club Ever Room”. Real Madrid was awarded the title of “Best Team of the Century” for achieving the most wins of any club. The trophies are extraordinary, the archives of old footage, the old boots, balls and strips, all out of this world. We visited the change rooms, the Presidential Box (disappointing), the Press Room, the player’s bench and the pitch entering through the players tunnel, all fantastic and the perfect way to end our Real Madrid experience.

The day had only just begun as we started to explore Madrid taking in a couple of exhibitions at the Caixa Forum, one a Pixar tribute with models and sketches that eventuated into the amazing movies from these animation experts. So much fun! Another a photographic display of black and white photos from the South Americas, Indonesia, Africa and Russia showing people and sights of such beauty.

We spent an hour in the Museo del Prado where we saw more paintings by Goya, Velaquez, El Greco, Rembrandt, Titian, and Van Dyck, not long enough but closing time was on us. Then strolled through the Parque del Buen Retiro and into the Crystal Palace (Palicio del Cristal). It was lovely to share this space with the locals, reading in rocking chairs. A perfect end to the weekend that left us shattered, but exhilarated.

Monday morning and we set off to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). WOW. We thought we had seen amazing Palaces along the way, Versailles for example, but this was out of the ballpark. Beyond magnificent! The decoration was exquisite and truly something that can’t be missed. It’s such a shame they are stingy and won’t let you take photos here, a fact that was killing Georgia the whole time here!

As I turned and caught the eye of a fellow tourist we exclaimed to each other “Amazing”. This was the beginning of yet another friendship. This American couple from Washington became instant friends as we shared the wonder of the Palace. We had not talked enough so moved on to lunch and then we were generously invited to return to their apartment overlooking the Plaza Mayor, what a perfect spot to stay! We sat and talked of numerous things taking in all the advice they could give us. They have travelled and lived all over the world and have a wealth of knowledge. They lived and travelled in Australia for six months part of which was an outback tour for 26 days. I think that because they had experienced our outback by camping they knew what we needed during our present travels. We were treated to the use of their spare bathroom! A shower like no other that we came out of looking so different and feeling fantastic. We are so grateful to our new friends Kathy and Dick for this opportunity. Again we have exchanged details and will be seeing them in Washington where hometown knowledge will surely benefit us.

As you can tell we have taken in so much in the last weeks, seen so much and met amazing people that will be in our lives forever. Once again we are pinching ourselves, what an adventure!

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album MADRID

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Sitting at breakfast when Mikayla suddenly holds her face and winces…

Caroline and Georgia: “Whats wrong?”

Mikayla: “I bit my cheek yesterday and the pains just coming through!”

…

I’ve heard of slow release pain killers but not slow release pain!

OUR TIME IN ARTIGUES

We were so excited to finally get to Artigue to see Max and Agathe again. With Agathe visiting a friend, Max met us at his family home in the mountains. Mum had visited and met Max’s parents Colette and Didier and his sister Zoe a couple of years previously and Mikayla and I couldn’t wait to meet them too. We also met Max’s brother Arthur. They are all just wonderful and so welcoming. Unfortunately we couldn’t meet Agathe’s family this trip.

We were lucky enough to stay in Colette’s brothers home for our 9 days here, luxury having a bathroom, especially our own shower, toilette and washing machine! We love warm running water. Artigues felt like home to us not only because we were with lovely people but also because of the water. As my friends could tell you I’m very fussy about my drinking water. I don’t usually drink tap water as I’ve grown up on rainwater. I call tap water city and water and it’s like drinking from a pool, disgusting! Anyway, Artigues water comes straight from the mountain so tastes like rainwater and I love it!

We spent pretty much every lunchtime and dinnertime, unless we were out for the day, having a family meal and catching up on each other’s lives. Having not seen each other for so long there was a lot to catch up on. Colette is a good cooker too! We say this because when Mum’s sister was little someone said something about Nan’s cooking that she obviously didn’t like. She put her hands on her hips and scowling said, “my Mummy is a good cooker!” So now we say, “*insert amazing cook here* is a good cooker!”

We got to spend quite a bit of time with Zoe too as she was on school holidays. It was great getting to know her, especially for Mikayla as they are the same age, and having her there to show us around and translate for us! She taught me a few new French phrases and I promised her I’ll have learned more by the time we visit again in July.

On our second afternoon Zoe took us to see their donkeys who are so beautiful. Unfortunately I had to keep my distance, as I’m allergic to them, but could have given them big cuddles they’re so friendly, and there’s even a baby to cuddle! Mum, Mikayla and Zoe fed them and while we were there it started to snow, not enough to create a cover on the ground but snow nonetheless!

We also watched some of the Winter Olympics in Sochi with Zoe, satisfying our sport cravings for another small while! With a few major netball events happening in Australia at the moment (first ANZ Championships games and National Championships next week) we are missing it all even more. This year will be the first year that I won’t go on an interstate netball tour, as a player or official, in eight years.

A visit to the markets with Didier showed us that we need to seek them out and shop at markets more often because the produce is better than most supermarkets. We have been shopping at Lidl, the cheapest supermarket, all of our food but we will now only be buying most if it there.

The mountains are the perfect place for walking and we did a few walks. The first was a three-hour walk in the surrounds of Artigues giving us a beautiful view, looking down on Lourdes, Tarbes and Artigues. From the top of one hill we could see Vincent, a tiny white spec in the distance. Colette and Didier took us to one of their favourite places for a walk and luge (sledding). Our first time this trip with snow on the ground. It was so pretty looking up through the trees to the mountains with a stream flowing by.

Pic Du Midi was the next thing on our list, especially since the mountains were turning on the perfect weather for us! Mum, Mikayla, Zoe and I made the journey upwards as close to La Mongie as we could get in Vincent. We think he did really well to get up as far as he did considering he has trouble with a slight rise, let alone steep mountain passes! We only had to stop and start again in first about 5 times, not bad really!

Up the cable car from La Mongie we went to reach the peak and words can’t describe the view from up here! It was incredible to be looking down on the mountains. We watched skiers zooming down the slopes but they looked like tiny little ants we were so high. Pic du Midi is an observatory and also hosts a restaurant and museum (all in French, lucky we had Zoe with us) as well as outside tables on chairs, for those of us who bought a packed lunch, and deck chairs to enjoy the glorious sun.

When we’d had our fill of the view from the top back down to La Mongie we went for some frites (hot chips) and a hot chocolate. Not that we needed warming up because it was a struggle to keep from getting sunburned, the weather really was perfect that day!

An amazing day was topped off with some sport, a perfect day. Every Monday night Didier plays social handball at the local recreation center and kindly took us along to join in. Although we’d never played before we were able to put some of our netball and basketball skills to use. So much fun and thanks for letting us join in guys. Sport we actually got to be involved in!

The next day we had another day of walking in the snow and luge at Pont d’Espange. When Mum visited Max and Agathe last year she did a long walk to the lake here but we weren’t able to do the same as it was all closed off because of snow, we’ll have to tackle that one in June/July I think. After our walk and luge session we went into Cauterets to the hot pools recommended by Max. Like a normal pool but about 50 times better. Warm pools both inside and out where you can lay looking up at the snow on the mountains, so relaxing. We also spent time in the sauna and our favourite the hammam, humid and hot, finished by tipping a bucket of freezing cold water over yourself, crazy, but at least you can always get warm again if you choose!

All relaxed and warm we dashed home to get ready for dinner. Max and Agathe picked us up to take us to a restaurant near the top of a mountain, previously a cattle shed it has been converted into a cosy little restaurant offering a nine course meal. There are smaller options of 5 or 7 courses but we had made sure we were hungry and wanted to try everything, as it’s all local produce. Everything was so delicious and we’re glad we heeded the tip to not finish every plate as by the third course we were getting pretty full already, and course five was worth saving yourself for, the potatoes were to die for! Course nine, dessert, came out with a happy birthday to me, an early birthday celebration since I don’t get a real birthday this year (great to be born on the 29^th of February).

As we were driving up the mountain to the restaurant it had started to snow and by the time we had finished eating, about two and a half hours later, the snow was about 20 cm thick, covering everything. We thought we’d seen snowfall but already but that was nothing compared to this. I love the way the snow sits on top of everything it touches even tree branches, fences and gate, it just so stunning. We had a snowball fight to the car; the snow was so soft and fluffy and didn’t feel wet at all, very cold though. A very memorable birthday!

Though we’re not religious, you can’t visit Lourdes without visiting La Grotte. Another beautiful church and crypt, with lots of gold, especially in the mosaics that make up most of the scenes around the walls. Not so busy during winter because this is not pilgrimage time but there were still plenty of people buying candles for prayer, buying bottles to fill with holy water and running their hands over the rock wall of La Grotte.

The next night day we had some time with Agathe and Max who took us to Mum’s new favourite store Decathlon! We then had a delicious dinner with them and spent the night chatting. We were so sad to say goodbye to them but we know we’ll be seeing them again soon! We also said goodbye to everyone the next day. The whole family ware so welcoming and nice. We were very sad to leave and want to say thank you so much to you all for having us. We can’t wait to see you again!

We are now in Spain but more on that later, this was a very long post!

Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album Artigues and Surrounds

 

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FRENCH PEOPLE ARE LOVELY

After being bogged the night before we thought we’d had enough drama, or at least enough drama to last 24 hours! Alas we were wrong. We had slept peacefully overnight, regaining our strength from pushing and stressing, and I had heard mum get out of the van. She had got up to wash our boots, covered in mud just like Vincents tyres, so that we could keep the inside clean.

I heard a car drive into the car park and park quite close to us. This seems to happen often, we will be in a deserted car park and someone else will drive in a park next to us, weird. Anyway, the next thing I knew Mum was getting into the van whilst whispering, “if you hear a gunshot outside don’t panic, there’s a man with a gun outside.” Oh yeah, that won’t make us panic! We then decided it was probably time to move on and sort ourselves out somewhere down the road because during this time another car drove up and two more men with shot guns got out.

Now, the thing with Vincent is he needs a little time to warm up before starting the engine. Usually not a problem and doesn’t feel like a long time but when you won’t to get away from somewhere quickly it feels like ages!

Luckily for us all was ok because before Vincent was ready to get going the men had walked away and over the hill. Obviously just out for hunting, we decided it must be safe to stay, as they were unlikely to shoot towards their own cars, and went through our usual morning ritual. They came back after about an hour and we didn’t hear a gunshot at all during this time, maybe it was too rainy for them.

Since it was a very rainy day we didn’t feel like getting out of the car very often throughout the day. Our aim was to get to Omaha Beach and see all the WWII memorials, museums and history along the way. A bit too ambitious as we only made it to Luc-sur-Mer although I’m so glad we did stop here, but more on that later.

We drove through Le Havre, which was like a rabbit warren, and drove into a peacefully protest. A slight detour and then unfortunately we went onto a toll road. We’re trying to avoid tolls for the trip and this just reinforced why, it cost us $10.50 to get over the Siene River. But at least we got a great view of the start of the river that runs, through France, all the way to Paris.

We stopped in Trouville-sur-Mer for lunch on the marina. This has been my favourite place to look at so far, even though we only drove through and stopped briefly for lunch. I love the architecture and style of the houses and the views that go with them are stunning!

We got to Luc-sur-Mer with some daylight to spare and parked in a dedicated motorhome camp spot, then went for a walk along the beach. I decided to return to Vincent before Mum and Mikayla to get some writing done but didn’t have long before Mum and Mikayla also returned saying they had met someone who had offered to give us water. A hot commodity when you don’t know where you will be able to get it next and supplies are running low.

But forget the water, the great friends we made are way more important! Renaud and Brigitte invited us into their home and started filling our many water bottles for us. They also introduced us to their daughter Alice, who is one year older than Mikayla at seventeen, and invited us to stay for dinner.

We chatted to Alice about France and Australia while Brigitte and Renaud prepared dinner. We also chatted about our dogs, showing Alice pictures of our Dallas while having cuddles with their three babies, as well as our sports. We had to do a lot of explaining about netball!

It was really nice to speak English too. Renaud, Brigitte and Alice could all understand us and spoke English really well! A million times better than our French and we asked them to teach us some things. We got on so well right from the start and found out we have a lot in common. We love the same movies and TV shows, especially Game of Thrones and The Hobbit, and similar music.

Dinner was amazing, they made us a three course meal with salmon pasta, cheese board and salad and to finish a tarte de pomme (apple tart), so delicious! We felt so welcome and feel like they are old friends even though we have only just met. We were sad to go but will definitely keep in touch with them and hopefully they will come and stay with us in Perth one day!

Photo can be found on our Facebook page in the album France- The Somme, Siene-Marina and Normandie

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AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH BRITISH

We have found some more differences between Australian English and British English. So we’ve updated our lists!

Foods! A few times I’ve had to ask questions about what certain things are on menus when dining out. Or when food shopping with family! So here is what we’ve learned so far, Australian term first then British term.

Eggplant = Aubergine

Chips = Crisps

Butternut Pumpkin = Butternut Squash

Zucchini = Courgette

Capsicum – Pepper

Our previous post (with updates) on Australian and British word differences is below for those who missed it the first time around!

We have had some very funny moments during our time over here in England. Most of them to do with words that have very different meanings to us in Australia compared to the British. So, we’ve started compiling a list of all the new words we’ve learned so far and keep adding to it as we go as I’m sure we will come across a few more faux pas moments eventually!

So here goes words with both the Australian and British meanings:

Pants = trousers in Australia and undies in England*

Thongs = flip flops in Australia and G-strings in England**

Doona = doona in Australia and duvet in England***

Spunk = good looking man in Australia, England I think you can work it out!

Toot = bottom in Australia and stuff left lying around in England****

Joggers = runners/running shoes in Australia and running/exercise trousers in England*****

Vest = singlet in Australia and vest in England

Lounge room = Lounge room in Australia and Lounge in England

Lane way = Lane way in Australia and lane in England

Road way = road in Australia and road way in England

Punter = gambler in Australia and economy class in England

Do you have any words and/or phrases that we could add to our list?

*Many times we have said things to the tune of “My pants are falling down.” “I’ve worn the same pair of pants three times this week.” “I need more pants.” “May I wear your pants today?” etc. Substitute the word pants for undies and it become very funny for our English family and very weird for any strangers that happen to be passing by at the moment we say it! We also have a whole new appreciation for Miranda (Hart) and all her pant related humour!

**Again, mentioned a few times (despite the lack of thong wearing weather) quite the same reaction to pants!

***When compiling our list of things needed for Vincent we frequently discussed purchasing a doona. This went on for a while, as did some confused looks from the family, before someone finally asked “What’s a doona?”

****The other night Maggy said “right, before bed everyone needs to put their toot up stairs.”

*****Mikayla said “My joggers are a little wet but I’ll be able to wear them still”, Maggy and Graham thought she was going to wear wet trousers!

MAKE YOUR LIFE SPECTACULAR

Over our five weeks of travel so far we have received so much reinforcement that now is the right time to travel for us. When we meet new people they are so interested in what we’re doing and how. A hard answer to give. We’ve taken 2014 off school and work and plan to travel for this time throughout Europe and America. Hopefully back to Australia via Africa and India around January 2015.

At the moment we are in England with family and will be here for about another 2 weeks before heading over to France in our camper van Vincent, who you can read about here and here. After that our only plan is to head south through France, to warmer climates (hopefully), to Spain then move along through Europe seeing what we see (and we want to see as much as we possibly can). I think the beauty of having our own little home on wheels is that if we like a place we will be able to stay and if we don’t we’ll be able to move on. We’re going to see where the wind takes us!

We’ve also been compiling a list of places to visit from the recommendations of friends, new friends we’ve met along the way and family. I can’t wait to see everyone’s favourite places in the world. We are always open to recommendations and travel tips, especially those specific to certain places. What to do, eat and see and equally as important, what not to do, eat and see! By the end we will be able to give our own recommendations, and will do so as we go along through this blog.

Another joy of traveling is the people you meet along the way. We have already met so many lovely people, all so different with interesting stories to tell. People like Dave and Lauren who have just done what we hope to achieve and who, like me, have worked out young that now is the best time to do what you love. What better time is there than the present? And that there is always a way! Life is for living and by living we mean enjoying and filling it! I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to travel, and even luckier to be able to do it with with my Mum and sister. Finally our dreams are coming true!

Yesterday we had a relaxing movie day. The first movie we watched was “Jack”; Robin Williams plays a child with an accelerated aging disorder that means when he is 10 years old he has the appearance of a 40 year old. His body ages rapidly, shortening has life, even though his mind ages normally. At the end, during his valedictorian speech at his high school graduation, he says “make your life spectacular”, I think a very good mantra to live by because life is short anyway.

So where are your favourite places to visit in Europe?

What are your best travel tips?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Over the last few days we have been so lucky to have the opportunity to meet some more lovely people. Maggy and Graham really do have lovely friends and live in a wonderful community, not that we didn’t expect that! We had a Christmas celebration with Graham’s cousin Gill and her family Alan, Louise and James. We felt so welcome and loved every minute. We’ll hopefully visit them again in the summer!

Everyone embraces the Christmas spirit and we have tagged along to a few mulled wine and mince pie events and met lots of wonderful and interesting people. Thank you to everyone who has welcomed us into their homes.

What has really stood out to us is how interested people are in our adventures. At the moment our next stop is France around mid January, heading south towards the equator to try to get warmer. will continue around the south of Europe and then circle around to the north. Will update as we go because we don’t really have a set plan. Just to drive and see where we end up. If we like a place we may stay and if we don’t we’ll move on. We have been taking in everyone’s travel recommendations and favourite places to visit. All suggestions are very welcome and we are taking any advice we can! Make sure you leave a comment if you have any suggestions!

We’ve also been playing a few games over Christmas. Banagrams, a game where everyone gets 15 letter tiles and needs to make words scrabble style, basically the first to use all their tiles wins. Very fun and very competitive. Linkee, where the quiz master reads out 4 questions from a card. The answers are written down and there will be a link between all the answers. The first to call out linkee and answer with the correct link wins the card and the first group to spell LINKEE with their cards wins. Also very competitive, it must run in the family! We also have a Christmas jigsaw on the go, although I haven’t been much help, Chloe’s been doing most of the work.

We would love to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS where ever you are in the world! May your day be filled with joy, laughter, family, friends and feasts. Stay safe! Sending love from Caroline, Georgia and Mikayla xoxo

This is where we’ll be spending Christmas!

VINCENT ON THE MOVE

A very exciting day began with an early start at Matt and Kelly’s getting ourselves packed up to travel to Leatherhead to meet Vincent, Dave and Lauren.  It was also an exciting day for the flat as new windows were to be fitted, another major job in the renovation.  The cats were on edge as the workmen began to make a lot of sawing and hammering noises that sounded like they were knocking out more than a couple of windows.  We left about 11.30 and managed a fairly smooth run on the trains to arrive at our destination just before 1.

Soon after Vincent came along to pick us up.  We had a final run down on him, hope we remember it all, and sorted out the business side of things and then went off to lunch. Dave had done a service on him and got him in tip top order for our first trip in him. We had another great couple of hours with Dave and Lauren over a delicious meal at The Plough. It was then time to drop them back to their accommodation and make our way back to Maggy and Grahams.  It was a perfect photo moment, our first and Dave and Laurens last time with Vincent.  I am sure our new friends were very sad to see him go but with darkness falling we had to venture out into the big wide world.  More hugs all round, I think Dave would have hugged Vincent if he had arms long enough.

So started a rather long journey across to the other side of London.  We managed to get easily to the first petrol station to give Vincent a little drink and then with only one little detour and one stalling of the engine across two lanes and an awful lot of beeping I presume was directed at me, sorry Vince, we  headed on to the M25. Within a few short moments it was down to a crawl, 1st gear most of the time for about an hour and then we managed to get a clear run giving Vincent his head to take us safely along the route home.  Georgia is an excellent navigator, thank goodness, so we arrived without further incident, very pleased to see the welcoming Christmas lights at The Bells.  Our journey had been made rather more interesting by constant rain, our first in our time here so can’t complain.  Maggy and Graham had a quick look in the dark and wet and were suitably impressed by out new addition to the family.  In the next week or so we will sort him all out and work out what we need to make him our new home.

It is with some pride that we can add that he is considered a “Classic Vehicle”.  Mikayla has always wanted to own a Classic and now we do.  It is really great to have a man in the family, hasn’t happened for quite a while now.  We will treat him well and hopefully he will look after us on our travels.

AIRPORT.

Over the next year or so we will use this space to update you of our travels. Will write a bit more about our preparation for this trip soon but for now we thought we’d get something on here.

Our last hour and a half in Perth was spent with our best friends. Ellen and Shauna came to see me off and I just felt neutral, the excitement of going away was cancelled out by the sadness at leaving my best friends for just over a year. Mikayla spent the time with Zeena, Rory and Sheridan and Mum spent the time with Marilyn and Michelle. We were so sad to say goodbye when the time finally came and there were lots of tears. When we went through the departure gate we realised there was a bit more to do than just get on the plane so forms were filled out, hand luggage was scanned and toilet trips were made in a mad rush before making it onto the plane on time.

During our flights from Perth to London we gained a few funny stories to tell. We flew from Perth to Denpasar (Bali), Bali to KL, then KL to Heathrow London. When getting off the plane in Bali we thought we were organised with all our hand luggage (3 large hand luggage, 1 backpack, and 2 handbags). Half way up into the airport we realised that we had left our coats in the overhead compartments on the plane so Mum had to rush back to retrieve them! She wasn’t allowed back on the plane so the flight attendants had to go and find them, when giving them to Mum gave her a look that said “why on earth do you need coats in Bali??” It was boiling! So humid and we had to pick up our luggage and drag it through the airport to check it in with a different airline. Tip: when transiting through Denpasar airport (if you ever have the need) make sure you have enough cash to pay visa and airport taxes.

Short flight to KL and then we started the 13 hours to London. This flight was on a Boeing A380 and actually quite comfortable. Even thought the flight left at 11:50pm we were quite hungry and waiting for food before trying to sleep. About an hour into the flight we decided they must not be providing food until breakfast time so we took our sleeping pills. Literally just as we swallowed our sleeping pill they started serving food. I went into panic mode and had to be reassured by mum that they wouldn’t work straight away and we would be able to eat. Eating was uneventful until Mum started talking gibberish… She’d finished eating the main, savory, part of her meal and salad and was starting on her extras. She turned to me and said something I couldn’t quite understand, after asking her to repeat a couple of times I gave up and though she must be falling asleep. But, she continued to try to eat sitting hunched over and eyes pretty much closed. We had a small sachet of creamed cheese (about the size of a butter sachet) and she picked it up and examined it as you would something small in the light, opened it and then started dipping her fork in it, swirling it around her salad bowl (that was empty), then eating it. She did this a few times and then just as the flight attendant was about to collect the trays she picked up her scrunched up piece of foil that had covered her meal, looked at it then stuck it in her mouth to eat it. When I noticed she was sucking on the foil I had to pull it out of her hands with a “no Mum” and she turned to look at me as if to say “why not?” All the while I watched laughing, and then told mum the story when we all woke up about 5 hours later, very funny!

After arriving in London we changed into our thermals and warmest clothes to brave the freezing cold weather! Our cousins Matt and Kelly met us at the airport and it was then time to brave the tube…