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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