From England to France

January 20, 2012

It has been a while since we've had internet service, so this is going to be a picture and caption entry.

Our last trip in Yorkshire was to the two thousand year old city of York where we walked the outer walls of the city.  The first pic is of the ice house which was very deep inside.  They stored ice take from the city's river Ouse in winter there, and it lasted all summer.  After walking the walls, we went into the city center to The Shambles, a street where the tops of the buildings are so close together that people could reach out the window and shake their neighbors hands across the street!

The place reminded the kids of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter.  Jason even found a shop that sold brooms!

Had to take a pick of my lane!

Then it was a drive down to Kingston where we stayed in a place right next to these phone boxes.   David had a meeting at the University, so I took the kids for a walk down the river to Surbiton, where I used to live.  We stopped at the bench where David asked me to marry him, and I took a picture of the kids.  The river picture is the view from the bench.

The next morning we were up early and it was off to the Chunnel (Channel Tunnel) to get on the underground train to France.  It was a really quick trip!  We only had time for a snack and to put the head light deflectors on the car (driving on the other side of the road again) so we didn't blind people with our right hand drive car. When we stopped at a toll booth, the pay station was on the passenger side and I made a comment as to how someone driving alone could pay.  That is when David reminded me we were in the land of left hand drive cars again!  I am so confused :)

We parked outside of Paris and took the metro into the center.  Here is the little studio apartment we stayed in from the outside.  We went shopping at the market street just a block away and made a meal of bread, cheese and fruit.  The croissants are from a bakery that baked for the Queen of England!  We had to take a picture of the store front!

We also bought a special cake that is only sold in January. It is to commemorate the three wise men visiting Jesus.  Inside the cake is a porcelain figurine.  Luck to the one who finds it in their piece of cake.  Danika ended up with ours!

Then it was out for the night to the Louvre.  It is open late on Wednesday nights.  Had to include pics of the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and of course, the crown jewels that Danika had to take a picture of because of the 140 carat diamond.  We felt so blessed because the place was empty!  We had easy viewing access to everything!  We walked so much that we were all exhausted that night.

Yesterday was the day we visited Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower.  It was very windy at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and the kids had a great time playing in the wind.  They didn't want to leave.  The views were spectacular.  We rode the elevators up and then back down to the second floor.  Then we walked the stairs down to the first floor.  There was an ice rink with a small tower in the center on the second level.  Then in was back to the ground and our parting shot of the tower in lights.

Until next time...    ~Mary

Perspective

So, as you can see from Mary's post below, we bought a car.    It's a Vauxhall Zafira, 1.6 Litre 105 horse power, which, in English terms, is quite powerful!!  Andrew helped me look for cars, though we only actually test drove two, the Vauxhall and a Citroen.  It would have been very hard to buy French, but thankfully I liked the Vauxhall way better.  I've posted the picture of the car again here, because you should take a look at how big it is.  As we're walking toward it to drive away from the dealer, Andrew says to me "it's quite big, isn't it?".  This is at the precise moment as I'm looking at the car thinking "wow...it's really quite small".  It's actually a SEVEN seater.  Hard to believe, really!!   We needed such a HUGE car to carry all our luggage.  Sunday is D-day on that front...we pack the car for France. - David

Friday the 13th

January 13, 2012

This is David’s lucky day…  He passed his driving test, finished High School, found out that he got into Oxford, and asked me to marry him all on a Friday the 13^th.  I wonder what today will bring?

Since the last time I posted, we bought a used car for our travels.  It is a Vauxhall, Zephira.  If you take a close look, you will see that we brought some Montana with us as the “Get Lost in Montana” sticker is on the back window J 

It was interesting driving for the first time yesterday.  Driving on the wrong side of the road didn’t prove to be as difficult as I anticipated, but shifting with my left hand caused me all sorts of problems.  I kept reaching to the right and grabbing the door handle to shift.  Lucky I didn’t fall out of the car! 

Yesterday was spent in much reminiscing for David as we went to his old school, Batley Grammar, and also went and saw all of the homes he grew up in.  At the grammar school, Jason was very interested and really wanted to attend school there.  Danika, on the other hand, said that she was happy she didn’t live in England because she definitely did not want to go to a school like that.

We had lunch in Dewsbury at a little café and couldn’t resist taking a picture of the Spam Sandwich.   This is a special shout out to Paul Gladen and Mike and Jessica Winn, seasoned Spam eaters from the Bob Marshall Wilderness trip.

We ended the afternoon by visiting Golden Acre Park.  This is a beautiful park full of daffodils.  It is gorgeous when they are in bloom, unfortunately we were about three or four weeks too early.  David’s mum died when he was nine years old and her ashes were scattered around a cherry tree that was planted here in her memory.  We found the tree, and oddly, it was the only tree in bloom.  It was a lovely afternoon walking through the park.

Danika woke up early this morning to go with her cousin Leoni to take care of Leoni’s horse, April.  I am hoping they take some pictures of Danika “mucking out the stalls” so I can post them later.  Jason is still sleeping J 

Okay, the girls are back from the stables, so here are a few pics.  The first is just before they set off in the morning:

She was so happy that Leoni let her ride April.

Afterwards, she gets to take care of the saddle, muck out the stalls, and feed her.  Very happy little girl!

 ~Cheers,  Mary

Firths Hit Castleford

January 11, 2012

Our poor relatives…  We have EXPLODED into their house.  Yes, David’s brother Andrew, his wife Julie, and daughter Leoni, have been so generous to offer their home to us for ten days.  Unfortunately for them, they had no idea how much luggage and odds and ends we can manage to pack into small spaces.  Somehow, it has all burst out and is spread throughout their (ONCE) lovely home.  I am not certain if we will be able to contain it again!  There will be no pictures as it wouldn’t be fair to show their beautiful home in such a state.

Prior to coming to England, we asked the kids what their favorite thing that they remembered from England.  (The last time we were here to visit was 4 ½ years ago)  We figured it would be The Museum of Natural History as it had the big memorable dinosaurs.    But no, of course it was nothing so memorable.  They both wanted to go back to the local park in Castleford!  Seriously, a tire swing?  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Oh well, we had to go back, so here is the pic…

It has been great to get out walking, so we walked to town through the graveyard.

We also went shopping for groceries and I got sidetracked by some of my favorite biscuits…  we bought much more than we should have seeing as we had to carry it all home!  It was great buying Korma curry sauce that tasted fabulous for 79 pence J  Life is good with all of the amazing food here.

Couldn’t resist putting a picture of David in his borrowed pink slippers with Ollie, the dog. 

Last night we had dinner with (as we call them) “The Folks”, Peter and Joyce Firth.   They took us to an incredible traditional English meal at none other than the White House!  As we got out of the car upon our arrival, Danika said, “I wonder if we’ll see the President.”  Ever the cheeky girl!  Of course, I forgot to take the camera, so there isn’t a picture of the place to prove that we actually ate dinner at The White House.  A picture with “the folks” at their place will have to do.

I have caught a bit of a cold, so am very slow today.  More to follow...  Mary