Monday 26th Jan 2006
wow time has sure flown since our last update - we are now in singapore and last night did the amazing night Safari at singapore Zoo. Today we leave for perth and then Brisbane by Midnight tonight!! Yay - looking forward to catching up with everyone, home and back to normality!!
the last few weeks have been like a whirlwind - after Mark and Tanya's we spent an amazing time witn some great friends in the Netherlands, Rowena and Wilhelm and children, the next day with annaleise skating on a frozen lake in the middle of a forestl which started melting under our skates!! then to an open air museum and then onto Germany. Out week in the UK was quick, picking up as hire car and then driving from Aberdeen, Scotland back to London over 5 days - caught up with great friends and rellies we haven't seen for 15+ Years. Must go plane leaves shortly - will update in more details and lots of photos!!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Thursday 8th to Sat 10th Jan 2009.
Saturday 10th Jan 2009
Another beautiful sunny crystal clear day in the Netherlands. Mark and Tanya cooked us bacon and eggs for breakfast – absolutely delicious and the first we have had since we have left oz, so much enjoyed by all. We then went off and visited a quaint little town on the sea shore known as Vollendam, while Mark stayed home and studied for his MBA, and Tanya
went shopping to replace the cupboards laid bare as a result of the Loechel invasion. Well, what a treat was found at Vollendam – the harbour was frozen solid and soon the boys were out racing around the boats, alongside skaters and other parents with kids on toboggans – the town itself was a real picture, all built well below the sea level. Tonight we went out for dinner at ‘Bazar’ a delightful Turkish style restaurant, with great food at great prices – the kids even enjoyed it – tomorrow we leave Mark and Tanya and head south to Zurich to hand back the van on Friday 16th, then we fly to Aberdeen, pick up a 7 seater Tarago 
type vehicle, and travel back to London, then fly home on the Friday 23rd, arriving Monday 26th!! Wow its gone so quick…yet it seems like ages since we left.
Friday 9th Jan 2009
Today dawned crystal clear and sunny – the fact the sun doesn’t appear until around 9 and disappears at 4:30 still means a very short day. So at the crack of 11am the Loechel family trundle off from Mark and Tanya’s apartment and amidst squabbling over who has the heaviest backpack a
nd the fact that someone’s hungry or needs to go to the toilet after just having done all that we eventually meandered our way through the markets, caught a magnificent canal ride tour and saw Amsterdam from a different level as the boat crackled it’s way through half frozen canals. We then caught the tram to the Central station, and the train to the Van and out to Zaanz Schaans, an open air museum of working windmills, clog making factory and cheese making demonstrations. Then headed back for a relaxed dinner of delicious pasta and mince (the boys favourite) at home with Mark and Tanya.
Thursday 6th Jan 2009
Mark took the day off today and gave us a guided tour of Amsterdam, careful to keep us away from the more infamous areas of town - we seem to have 3 children with antenaes for all that is not quite the best of Amsterdam. The day was cold and quite foggy most of the day, with the sun coming out only late afternoon, the boys went ice skating, while we had coffee – saw lots of interesting buildings, copious numbers of bikes, and lots of rubbish!! Tonight Tanya had cooked a magnificent spread of Roast Chicken, Roast spuds – wow what a treat for our holiday!! Stayed up late chatting and catching up.
Another beautiful sunny crystal clear day in the Netherlands. Mark and Tanya cooked us bacon and eggs for breakfast – absolutely delicious and the first we have had since we have left oz, so much enjoyed by all. We then went off and visited a quaint little town on the sea shore known as Vollendam, while Mark stayed home and studied for his MBA, and Tanya
went shopping to replace the cupboards laid bare as a result of the Loechel invasion. Well, what a treat was found at Vollendam – the harbour was frozen solid and soon the boys were out racing around the boats, alongside skaters and other parents with kids on toboggans – the town itself was a real picture, all built well below the sea level. Tonight we went out for dinner at ‘Bazar’ a delightful Turkish style restaurant, with great food at great prices – the kids even enjoyed it – tomorrow we leave Mark and Tanya and head south to Zurich to hand back the van on Friday 16th, then we fly to Aberdeen, pick up a 7 seater Tarago 
type vehicle, and travel back to London, then fly home on the Friday 23rd, arriving Monday 26th!! Wow its gone so quick…yet it seems like ages since we left.Friday 9th Jan 2009
Today dawned crystal clear and sunny – the fact the sun doesn’t appear until around 9 and disappears at 4:30 still means a very short day. So at the crack of 11am the Loechel family trundle off from Mark and Tanya’s apartment and amidst squabbling over who has the heaviest backpack a
nd the fact that someone’s hungry or needs to go to the toilet after just having done all that we eventually meandered our way through the markets, caught a magnificent canal ride tour and saw Amsterdam from a different level as the boat crackled it’s way through half frozen canals. We then caught the tram to the Central station, and the train to the Van and out to Zaanz Schaans, an open air museum of working windmills, clog making factory and cheese making demonstrations. Then headed back for a relaxed dinner of delicious pasta and mince (the boys favourite) at home with Mark and Tanya.
Thursday 6th Jan 2009Mark took the day off today and gave us a guided tour of Amsterdam, careful to keep us away from the more infamous areas of town - we seem to have 3 children with antenaes for all that is not quite the best of Amsterdam. The day was cold and quite foggy most of the day, with the sun coming out only late afternoon, the boys went ice skating, while we had coffee – saw lots of interesting buildings, copious numbers of bikes, and lots of rubbish!! Tonight Tanya had cooked a magnificent spread of Roast Chicken, Roast spuds – wow what a treat for our holiday!! Stayed up late chatting and catching up.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wednesday 7th Jan 2009
Travelled nearly all day, checked out the Zeeland, Delta plan - the massive hydraulic loch system the dutch have developed to counter the storms and king tide effects on their land that is below sea level (most of it!!). Had arvo T with a lovely older couple, Rouen and Marie who we had met 15 years ago, then into Amsterdam, met up with Mark and Tanya Gresswell where we are staying at the moment. Learnt all about steep, long stairs in dutch homes...
Tuesday 6th January 2009
Well our ‘quaint spot’ turned out to be a lovely car park between two roads where the traffic started at 5:30am with the weekly rubbish removal, then the snow plough clearing the roads and by about 7am Lea and I were up and ready to move on – so we did – off to the supermarket, had brekky and the on the road to Waterloo in Belgium where we had a lovely afternoon – the sky had cleared, it was crystal blue and snow everywhere again. “we retraced the battle between napoleon, wellington and blucher, went to the old farm houses where the French set up there observation posts – boys very fascinated re-enacting the battle with glee…! Travelled on to The Nederlands and parked in a nice
marina overnight.
Well our ‘quaint spot’ turned out to be a lovely car park between two roads where the traffic started at 5:30am with the weekly rubbish removal, then the snow plough clearing the roads and by about 7am Lea and I were up and ready to move on – so we did – off to the supermarket, had brekky and the on the road to Waterloo in Belgium where we had a lovely afternoon – the sky had cleared, it was crystal blue and snow everywhere again. “we retraced the battle between napoleon, wellington and blucher, went to the old farm houses where the French set up there observation posts – boys very fascinated re-enacting the battle with glee…! Travelled on to The Nederlands and parked in a nice
marina overnight.Friday, January 9, 2009
Christmas to 5th Jan 2009
Monday 5th January 2009
Awoke this morning to the spectacular sight of Paris bathed in a dusting of Snow – yes it was snowing. Last night the stars were in the sky, this morning grey and snowing. I got up early (8:30) and went off to a local patisserie and bought some croissants, the ‘famous’ Paris Flan, and an apricot and custard Danish. I wont mention the price. After another delightful ‘Parissienne’ breakfast under the Eiffel tower Sheldon, Ti and myself went off to take the trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, only to find it was closed due to bad weather..the snow. Visibility was down to about 500 metres so probably just as well. Headed south the the ‘Palais Versailles’ and checked out Marion Antoinettes famous gardens, all snow covered, and as the Palais was closed we headed north towards the Belgium border, where we are now parked up under some beautiful trees in the middle of the town Vallenciennnes. One thing we want to do is take the boys to see the sheer size of the supermarkets in france, - they are HUGE, sbout 3 times the size of the hypermarket at Aspley…so when we saw the sign for Marche Gros, we figured it meant Really Big Supermarkets. So after trundling through the suburbs, and then out into the outer suburbs, then past fields of snow, we pulled up next to the local abbatoirs and the stock yards. Decided not to spend the night there as the stench was already starting to cause mini blame games in the van so off we headed again and found this quaint spot.
4th January 2009
Up and on the road early, drove into and parked at the Arc de Triumph at the champs de Ulysses and, with the family still in various stages of waking up, I went for a walk and found a French patisserie and picked up some delectable pastries, and a couple cups of coffees and headed back for our first ever true Parisieene breakfast, although I think it was lost on the boys who advised they preferred Nuttella on bread.
Today we explored the Notre Dame, were there for part of Mass, and the magnificent choir singing and the huge pipe organs, then with the ingenuity of carrying our GPS with us decided on McDonalds for lunch (only 400mtres by GPS away)…well about 1 km later after going up and down streets and down blind alleys we eventually arrived…to nothing no Mdonalds, nothing that even looked like a food store, so we asked a local who understood only three words of English. Thankfully it included McDonalds, and pointed left and said ‘ blah..right right’, then pointed right and said 'blah blah left!!'. Anyway that was too far away for us so settled for Kebabs on a French Street corner. Then to the Louvre, where within 5 minutes Sheldon was bored, Ti was tired, and Kaydon fascinated. So as it was Free Sunday, we only spent a couple of hours checking out the Egyptian Mummies, and the Mona Lisa, then headed off and parked outside the Eiffel Tower, where after T Kaydon and I went to the top – what a glorious view – it was a crystal clear sky, and the lights were stunning…but icy cold breeze at the top so came down real quick. Spent the night at the foot of the Eiffel Tower – saw dozens of unafraid, fat rats.
Saturday 3rd January 2009
Up at the crack of 6am today and travelled for 2 hours with the family still asleep in bed, until we stopped at an Aire for breakfast.. The sky has cleared and it is going tobe a great day. Headed on after a fantastic shower at the service station, and arrived at the Caen Peace Memorial around 9:30am. Magnificent history of the first and second world wars and all about the DDay landings and the liberation of France. Headed to the actual beaches then and came across the old german bunkers, and remains of the concrete ports that were built in England, floated across the Channel and used to unload the ships during the assault. Had dinner on the beach, dipped our little toe in the English channel, and then we headed bak towards Paris – found another quiet Aire just out of Paris and camped up for the night.
Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd January 2009
at 7am I drove through to be greeted by a ‘van park’ of at least 200 vans all parking onight Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios – need I say more except for the fact the boys were beside themselves with excitement and just keptgoing back for ride after ride. It was cold and the day before had been snowing so we were quite fortunate – with the snow I believe allot of the rollercoaster’s are shut down.
Wednesday 31st December 2008
Much excitement this morning as we awoke to it snowing – and the snow flakes were massive – it was snowing heavy and all the kids were out in the yard like a flash playing in it. The whole grounds were transformed form the nice green acreage we had been used to for the last week to this white pristine wonderland and the boys were so excited – all along they had wanted snow at Heidi and Ralph’s and now on the day were were leaving it had turned up so we delayed our departure until we just had to leave, at around 3pm we set off and travelled right to the Disneyland carpark where we stayed the night, outside the locked gates.
Awoke this morning to the spectacular sight of Paris bathed in a dusting of Snow – yes it was snowing. Last night the stars were in the sky, this morning grey and snowing. I got up early (8:30) and went off to a local patisserie and bought some croissants, the ‘famous’ Paris Flan, and an apricot and custard Danish. I wont mention the price. After another delightful ‘Parissienne’ breakfast under the Eiffel tower Sheldon, Ti and myself went off to take the trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, only to find it was closed due to bad weather..the snow. Visibility was down to about 500 metres so probably just as well. Headed south the the ‘Palais Versailles’ and checked out Marion Antoinettes famous gardens, all snow covered, and as the Palais was closed we headed north towards the Belgium border, where we are now parked up under some beautiful trees in the middle of the town Vallenciennnes. One thing we want to do is take the boys to see the sheer size of the supermarkets in france, - they are HUGE, sbout 3 times the size of the hypermarket at Aspley…so when we saw the sign for Marche Gros, we figured it meant Really Big Supermarkets. So after trundling through the suburbs, and then out into the outer suburbs, then past fields of snow, we pulled up next to the local abbatoirs and the stock yards. Decided not to spend the night there as the stench was already starting to cause mini blame games in the van so off we headed again and found this quaint spot.
4th January 2009Up and on the road early, drove into and parked at the Arc de Triumph at the champs de Ulysses and, with the family still in various stages of waking up, I went for a walk and found a French patisserie and picked up some delectable pastries, and a couple cups of coffees and headed back for our first ever true Parisieene breakfast, although I think it was lost on the boys who advised they preferred Nuttella on bread.
Today we explored the Notre Dame, were there for part of Mass, and the magnificent choir singing and the huge pipe organs, then with the ingenuity of carrying our GPS with us decided on McDonalds for lunch (only 400mtres by GPS away)…well about 1 km later after going up and down streets and down blind alleys we eventually arrived…to nothing no Mdonalds, nothing that even looked like a food store, so we asked a local who understood only three words of English. Thankfully it included McDonalds, and pointed left and said ‘ blah..right right’, then pointed right and said 'blah blah left!!'. Anyway that was too far away for us so settled for Kebabs on a French Street corner. Then to the Louvre, where within 5 minutes Sheldon was bored, Ti was tired, and Kaydon fascinated. So as it was Free Sunday, we only spent a couple of hours checking out the Egyptian Mummies, and the Mona Lisa, then headed off and parked outside the Eiffel Tower, where after T Kaydon and I went to the top – what a glorious view – it was a crystal clear sky, and the lights were stunning…but icy cold breeze at the top so came down real quick. Spent the night at the foot of the Eiffel Tower – saw dozens of unafraid, fat rats.
Saturday 3rd January 2009Up at the crack of 6am today and travelled for 2 hours with the family still asleep in bed, until we stopped at an Aire for breakfast.. The sky has cleared and it is going tobe a great day. Headed on after a fantastic shower at the service station, and arrived at the Caen Peace Memorial around 9:30am. Magnificent history of the first and second world wars and all about the DDay landings and the liberation of France. Headed to the actual beaches then and came across the old german bunkers, and remains of the concrete ports that were built in England, floated across the Channel and used to unload the ships during the assault. Had dinner on the beach, dipped our little toe in the English channel, and then we headed bak towards Paris – found another quiet Aire just out of Paris and camped up for the night.
Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd January 2009at 7am I drove through to be greeted by a ‘van park’ of at least 200 vans all parking onight Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios – need I say more except for the fact the boys were beside themselves with excitement and just keptgoing back for ride after ride. It was cold and the day before had been snowing so we were quite fortunate – with the snow I believe allot of the rollercoaster’s are shut down.
Wednesday 31st December 2008
Much excitement this morning as we awoke to it snowing – and the snow flakes were massive – it was snowing heavy and all the kids were out in the yard like a flash playing in it. The whole grounds were transformed form the nice green acreage we had been used to for the last week to this white pristine wonderland and the boys were so excited – all along they had wanted snow at Heidi and Ralph’s and now on the day were were leaving it had turned up so we delayed our departure until we just had to leave, at around 3pm we set off and travelled right to the Disneyland carpark where we stayed the night, outside the locked gates.
Tuesday 30th December 2008Went tobogganing up the slopes and caught up with an old friend of the family Marg Goudard, who had spent time camping on our farm at Bowhill in SA 30 years ago, when I was a teenager and remembered all the family very well. Meeting tonight, subject was Psalms 96,and 97. Kids let of a bunch of fireworks and had a wow of a time…again.
Monday 29th December 2008Interlaken, Launnerbrennan, and the revolving restaurant at the Schilthorn - where it was absolutely freezing, views to die for but a very strong breeze - as you can see with lea's scarfe!! - then tobogganing and Kim and Aschi's in Bern (friends we met 15 years ago and introduced to the fun game of RISK) for Dinner, where we had Roclette – melted cheese and potatoes – delicious – it seems we can’t get enough of this meal.
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