Paris - the Low Lights.

Hawkers at all the tourist spots. The Eiffel tower and Montmartre were the worst. The guys at Montmartre kept grabbing at Gus and Theo to try to make them braided bracelets. I had to employ my teacher death stare and avery firm NON!  Mind you the "tower sellers" as they were christened by Gus and Theo, inadvertantly became a highlight with the arrival of a couple of policemen on bikes. There was a general scattering with African gentlemen sprinting off towards the Trocadero and trying to blend into the crowds, as the police just rode on through. It was like some funny comedy sequence. They were all back again about 5 minutes later though and the whole sequence repeated itself every 20 minutes or so.
More disturbing were the women beggars (I hesitate to say gypsies, although I think they probably would class themselves as such) draped in shawls and headscarfes. Their line - "Do you speeeeeek Eeeenglish?" the answer is "YES - GO AWAY!"

We even had one guy try the old "Oh, you've dropped your gold ring" trick on us. He wasn't very good at it though, as I actually saw him put it on the ground. He'll need a bit more practise if he is ever going to fleece anybody.

Rod's low light would have to be the cost of a beer! Even in our quiet little local area a beer at the local cafe can cost anything up to 8 Euros - that's roughly $12 Australian. Too much for a big night out, that's for sure!

Paris - The Highlights

Geocaching in the Jardin des Plantes was great fun, even though we did get a little rained on. The Jardins are very beautiful and feature some trees that were planted at about the same time as Captain Cook was sailing up and down the east coast of Australia. The cache was a tricky multi cache which had us chasing around after a series of clues, but we solved it in the end!

An afternoon in the Jardin de Luxembourg - the kids went for a pony/donkey ride and played in the super dooper playground, while we drank coffee and watched the local heroes fight it out on the boulodrome!

 

Rod and the boys went to  see the light show at the Eiffel Tower. It goes for about 15 min on the hour until the tower closes at about 11:00 pm. The boys thought it was fantastic - photo to follow! Here they are.

A Menhir for your thoughts.

Driving towards Carnac in the south of Brittany was a WOW moment, as we rounded a corner and came across fields full of menhirs, like an army of warriors frozen in position. I hadn't realized that there would be so many of them or that they would have so much impact.

There are three or four fields just like this and it is possible to just walk around among the stones, touching them and wondering about the whys and wherefores of their existance....well, other than that Obelisk the Menhir delivery guy had been around in the night!

We enjoyed a jambon and fromage sandwich (French Style) in the charming church square in Carnac - then scoffed some even more delicious Breton pastries. At this stage I can't recall what they were called but they were like a doughnut pastry filled with yummy apple and then dusted with suger and shaped like a Cornish Pastie. Mmmmmmmmm

Mont St Michel

Just a shortish drive from Dinan is the wonderful Mont St Michel. The view of the Abbaye as you approach over the causeway is absolutley iconic - breathtaking, awe inspiring and any other superlative you can think of.

Once inside, there is a narrow winding street that leads upwards to the Abbaye. Avoid the restaurents on this street - the meal we had was awful and cost the earth. Mind you, this to date, is the only bad meal we have had in France. The Abbaye is really interesting and the view from the top, out over Baie St Michel, is spectacular. I have no doubt, that St Michel on the top of his spire, never tires of it.

Catching up with Claire Bear!

We had some wonderful hours with Claire and her family while we were in Belgium. Claire lives in a lovely University town called Louvain la Neuve, just a short train ride out of Brussels. It is a very new town but built along the lines of a medieval city, with a central square and winding streets. There is a small lake with walking paths and very beauiful trees. The afternoon we were there, several people were fishing and we watched as one little boy, about Gus's age, pulled in a small fish. We were pleased to see it go back into the lake to grow a bit more! Louvain la Neuve was built especially as a University town and has a population consisting almost entirely of students and university staff. One other feature is the very new Herge museum, only opened in May 2009. For fans of Herge's work, especially Tin Tin, this is a must; although it is not so much a centre for children (they did enjoy it!) , rather a serious exploration and showcase for an important contributer to Belgian literature.

The real Brrrrrrr in Brussels!

We have been without internet for a few days again. Our apartment in Brussels had internet access for about half a day and then along with the heating and the hot water it too disappeared. You would have had no trouble picking us out of the crowd in the Grande Place (which is pretty grand and spectacular by the way); we were the stinky, cold, crabby tourists!

Madame Renault

We have come to love our car GPS (which we now know how to work - see my previous post Lost in France!) We have christened her Madame Renault and she has guided us safely to Mont St Michel, Carnac and St Malo. She is endlessly patient and good natured; recalculating routes when we go slightly astray and only once has she got so fed up with us that she said "Will you please proceed to the planned route" - this was after we ignored three consecutive instructions to turn left into the tiny, windy streets that make up the old city of Dinan! She forgave us however and quickly returned to her usual placid albeit somewhat bossy self.

Dinan - A jewel on the Rance.

Dinan is the most wonderfully picturesque town I have ever seen. It is still almost entirely surrounded by city walls and towers and the old town centre with its medieval timbered houses and narrow cobbled streets has been largely preserved. Our apartment is in a building that is snuggled up to the outside of the ramparts, right next to the Jerzual Gate which was once the main entrance to the city. There is a steep road running from this gate down to the old port, on the River Rance. We walk everywhere and even a trip to Monoprix supermarket for milk is like an adventure in time travel. When I look out our apartment window, if it weren't for the car parked down in the sqaure below and the ocassional TV antennae, the view could well be from the 13th or 14th century.

Shopping is fun as it is mostly conducted in French. A few people speak a little English but we have had quite a lot of conversational French practice with the locals. Australians are a bit of a rarity in Dinan as most tourists are from the UK or other parts of France. There are lovely shops here and lots of artists studios selling ceramics, paintings or glassware. There are also some divine clothes! Everything is very good quality and very tasteful by Australian standards. Even the fashions in Monoprix (which is sort of the equivalent of Target or KMart) are much nicer than what we could get at home. For those of you who are fashion gurus, I can tell you that the colour for next winter in Australia will be purple! It is everywhere in the shops here now - all shades from deep plum through to heather and fuschia.

Lost in France - remember that song?

....and we were only 2 minutes out of the train station at Rennes! This afternoon was a bit of a catastrophe. The train trip on Eurostar and then TGV was all very smooth, easy and comfortable but once we arrived in Rennes, the wheels started to fall off! Firstly the hire car (a Renault Espace) had had its back seats removed by the previous clients. One was sitting smack bang in the midddle of the rear space and the other was just folded up loose taking up heaps of room - so just where were we going to put the luggage and one of the children? The girl at the EuropeCar desk just shrugged her shoulders and said she did not know how to fix it and there was no-one else to help, being a Saturday afternoon. As there was another Espace in the yard, with its seats in the proper confirmation, we demanded to take that one. She reluctantly agreed saying that it was promised for a client on the following day - not our problem was the Viney response! For once we decided not to roll over! Mind you, karma has a way of biting you on the backside when you least expect it.

We were hoping for an automatic car as it was our first attempt at continental driving, but oh no, we get a manual. After a couple of practice spins around the car park we headed out onto the road and within 2 minutes were somewhere completely different from the written instructions we had downloaded from Google Maps the night before! We took a lovely tour of the housing estates of Rennes, getting into progressively seedier areas when we finally found a place to pull over and make a new plan of attack. Rod and Papa headed off to ask directions and buy maps, Mum and the kids and I stayed in the car. Unfortunately for us we had parked in front of a garage door, which suddenly opened and ejected a car complete with driver. What now, I thought! (well, that's not really what I thought, but it is the only thing I can write as this is a family blog!) I scuttled into the driver's seat to move the car. but could I get it started? Of course not! I got out of the car to talk to the driver and explain our predicament. Could I explain in French? Of course not! Could he speak any English? Of course not! In the end I smiled my sweetest smile and gestured to him that he should move our car. "Moi?" he said. "Oui" I firmly replied...and if you want to steal a Renault complete with granny and two tired children you are welcome to it! (I only thought that bit). He looked a bit surprised but did move the car and I pulloed myself together enough to thank him 'en francais'. He had been quite gallant about it all really.

At about that time Rod and Papa got back with direction on to the ring road and a couple of maps so we set off on our trip to Dinan, take two. The trip was fairly uneventful after that except for one moment of panic when the right lane had to go right and we did not want to go right  Needless to say, we were all very relieved when we finally arrived at our destination...but that is another story.

London swings like a pendulum do!

Woo hoo! London is great. We've been on the underground, we've been on the bus, we visited the mummies at the British Museum and the dummies at Madame Tussaud's! Some went to Wicked and others to Billy Elliot (fabulous show!!!), we've shopped at Harrods and flopped in Kensington Gardens. We've seen the London Eye, the Changing of the Guards (a bit underwhelming I have to say!), the Houses of Parliament and we heard Big Ben strike twelve. All in all it's been great.

Our apartment in Bayswater is lovely - very handy to two different tube stations on different lines - this proved a real boon as the Circle Line was down a couple of times and we would have been a bit stuck if we hadn't had the option of taking the Central line. It is only a 3 min walk to Kensington gardens too. This has been great for the kids. We took them geocaching in the park one afternoon which was a bit of an adventure. We had just got to that part of the gardens furtherest from any kind of shelter when the rain came down! We all huddled under the big trees and managed to say reasonably dry. To keep the children entertained until it eased up I told them 'spooky stories'. I was just building up to the climax of the tale when suddenly........Gran popped out from the other side of the tree! We had left her at home doing Gran stuff, but she had decided to come and join us; managed to locate where we were (Kensington Gardens is huge!) and then was able to creep up on us and scare the life out of us!

The geocaching team!

The other fabulous thing in Kensington Gardens is the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. Our kids spent hours playing here - it is the most gorgeous and inventive playground I have ever seen - with a real focus on imaginative play.

London from the top of a big, red bus!

I think that one of the best ways to get a sense of where everything is in London is to take one of the hop on, hop off bus tours. We spent most of our first day riding around the city, peering down onto peoples' heads. It took us a while to actually get seats on top of the tour bus as it was a sunny Sunday (a rarity I think) but we eventually annoyed enough passengers into getting off so we could steal their seats! The tours are good value as there are about 4 or 5 different routes you can go on, as well as a free river cruise, and the tickets are valid for 24 hours.

Lindisfarne - Holy Island

One of the most interesting things about Holy Island is getting there! The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway which is covered by the water for about 2 hours before high tide and about 3 after. So, all trips have to be carefully planned to make sure of safe passage. There are several photos on warning signs around the island of cars that have been stranded - try explaining that one to the hire car company! About half way along the causeway, perched up on tall legs, is a refuge box for those unlucky or disorganized enough to take shelter in should the worst happen. According to the coastguard at Seahouses it gets used more than you might think.

Ruins of the Lindisfarne Priory - Holy Island.

More Roman Around - Hadrian's Wall and Housteads Fort.

The day we went to Hadrian's Wall was very mizzly drizzly - all I could think about was those poor Roman soldiers with the wind blowing up their short skirts! Hadrian's Wall is pretty spectacular. It is amazing to think that so much of it has survived almost 2000 years - particularly when local farmers also build their walls from stone and would have no doubt "borrowed" bits and pieces of it for their own fences. It is a pretty steep walk up from the car park to the remains of the housteads Fort, but the view from up there is worth it. They say on a clear day you can see from one side of England to the other and I could well believe it.

Alnwick Gardens

Right next to the castle are the beautiful Alnwick Gardens. These were only built about 10 years ago but look as though they could have been here for centuries. There is a glorious rose garden which would be fabulous in summer (it was still pretty good in September!) and there is a really interesting poison garden. This garden is kept locked up and small groups are taken through by a guide who has a fund of grusome stories from all over the world about people who have accidently (or purposefully) poisoned themselves or others with plants.

Would anyone like a slice of my special rhubarb pie?

Alnwick Castle

We had a great day out at the castle at Alnwick. There are lots of activities to keep the younger members of the party amused - and some of we older ones found them quite amusing too!

The kids did both the Knights' Quest which was hands on activities and Dragon Quest, which was a dragon themed spooky house. Mind you, the scariest part of the spooky house was when Gran popped out suddenly from a doorway and made everybody shriek!

Alnwick Castle has a very long and interesting history and is celebrating 700 years of ownership by the powerful Percy family. Those of you with an interest in history will remember this as the home of the infamous Harry Hotspur - sounds like a rock star and, in his day, was probably somewhat of a celebrity bad boy!

Farne Islands

There are lots of boat companies offering cruises from Seahouses around the Farne Islands. We chose one that would land us on Inner Farne for an hour so we could visit St Cuthberts Chapel and the lighthouse. The trip out was pretty good - not too rough but enough splashing to be exciting! We saw lots of different seabirds (no puffins unfortunately - they have already left for wherever it is that they go) and plenty of seals. We sailed past the island and lighthouse from which Grace Darling and her father attempted to rescue the passengers of the "Forfarshire" and then landed on Inner Farne. The islands are very windswept and life here must have been pretty bleak for old St Cuthbert! Currently the only residents on the island are a team of National Parks chaps who monitor the wildlife for 9 months of the year.

I told you it was windy!

Sea Houses - Home of the Kipper.

Our base in Northumberland is the village of Seahouses, reputedly the place where kippers (smoked herring) were invented accidently. There are still some smoke houses working today but the herrings are not caught locally anymore. What would have been the fishing fleet is now tourist based, running tourists out to the Farne Islands to see seals and seabirds.
We stayed in an old fisherman's cottage in the part of town closest to the harbour. The houses are all joined together and the "streets" are just narrow lanes barely two cars width. This makes it very quiet and restful and the kids had the run of the streets. Very close by was a tiny pub called the Schooner Inn which we made our local for the duration. We were made very welcome by the publican and other patrons and called in most days for a quick pint of something. We even made up a team for the Friday Night Quiz - and were severley and resoundingly thrashed by almost everyone else! Mr Dickwit and his mate will no doubt be very pleased to hear that!

A boat trip to Loch Ness

Rather than driving back down the long and winding road beside Loch Ness we decided that we would do a boat cruise from Inverness. This took us along the Caledonian Canal, into Loch Ness and over to Urquart Castle from where we caught a bus back to Inverness. Much more civilized, and it gave the drivers a chance to enjoy to scenery too. Urquart Castle, perched out on its rocky crag above Loch Ness is one of Scotland's iconic images as far as I am concerned. Even though it is now just a ruin, historically speaking it was Scotland's third most militarily important castle after Edinburgh and Stirling. But whatever its military role, it is just extraordinarily beautiful and I was very excited to actually see it for real!

The cruise down the canal was really interesting too. The boat went through one lock between the Caledonian Canal and the River Ness and there was a commentary pointing out places of interest along the way. There was no sign of the famous monster - I think there was too much competition from the not so famous Viney/Pellow monsters! More photos here...

Cawdor Castle - Out Damned Spot (poor little dog!)

Cawdor Castle is the traditional home of the Thanes of Cawdor (including the legendery Macbeth, although he didn't ever really live there). It is a "working castle", lived in by the current Countess for 6 months of the year and with a large and busy estate. We really enjoyed the self guided walk through the castle rooms - whoever wrote the information panels has a very droll sense of humour and had us chuckling on numerous occasions, we particularly enjoyed "the lady in the saucy brown hat known to the family as Aunt Glum." Cawdor has a lovely garden, which although past its best in September, was still very beautiful.

More really old stones - none of them Rolling!

After a morning at Culloden we decided to do something a little more lighthearted and headed just down the road to the Clava Cairns to do a spot of caching. The cairns are prehistoric burial chambers which also seem to have some ritual significance - although nobody really knows what that might be. You can get right up close - there are no barrier fences - and it is possible to even go inside the cairns to what would have the internal chambers although these are no longer roofed over. There are some good information boards and picnic tables too, which came in handy when it came time to sign the cache log!

More photos here....

Culloden

Culloden Battlefield is a bleak stretch of moorland not far from the city of Inverness. It was here in 1746 that the last pitched battle was ever fought on British soil, between Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops and those of the Duke of Cumberland (fondly known since as “The Butcher”) representing the English Crown. There is a fabulous interpretation centre and museum explaining all the history leading up to the battle at Culloden and then there is an audio guided battlefield walk that uses GPS to lead you around the moor to the various key locations. I have to say that this was a very moving and emotional place to visit and it left us with a very real sense of how this particular episode in Scottish history has impacted on the national psyche and has had lasting effect even to this day.We have been very impressed by the standard of exhibits and museums throughout Scotland - it seems to be something that the Scots do very well - which is a big plus for the many tourists who visit.

More photos here, including some of Culloden Stables (where we stayed) and the nearby Culloden House. We also discovered a very whimsical set of carved figures along the path between where we stayed and the local shopping centre!

The Stones of Kilmartin Glen.

If you are interested in neolithic sites then Kilmartin Glen is the place for you. There are so many stone circles, standing stones and burial sites all situated within just a few kilometres of each other. We took a short walk across the fields, past a group of standing stones, to the Temple Wood stone circles. It is quite an awesome experience to lay your hands on a standing stone knowing that it was set in place some 5000 years ago, for who knows what purpose.

There is also a fabulous little museum next to the Kilmartin Church with lots of the artifacts that have been excavated from sites all over the glen. There are heaps of interactive displays and the kids got the chance to grind grain, weave wool, play a game of stones and polish an axe head. Just the sort of place to while away an hour while the rain fell down! In the churchyard next door there are some wonderful examples of grave slabs dating from about the 9^th century as well as several intriguing carved crosses. Just so as you know, the pub also does a really good meal. After all, holidays are not just about old stones! More photos of Kilmartin here.

Roman around Scotland!

After our visit to the Wheel, we visited the Antonine Wall. This was the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire in Britain. The remains of Roughcastle Fort are visible just as earthworks; humps and bumps under the emerald green grass. The kids had a ball, running around the area and playing some imaginary game involving magic and mystery. We walked from one end of the site to the other, stopping at several display boards to read about the fort and its defenses. Some of the features were still quite clearly visible, including the pits that would have been filled with stakes to protect the northern side. Interestingly, the fort was only in use for 20 years. Presumably the locals were too recalcitrant and the conditions too inhospitable for a longer stay! At the end of the site, there was a very elaborate stile, leading into Roughcastle Woods. We took a little walk along the path to find a geocache – GeoJen was the eagle eyed spotter! She would have made a great lookout in the days when the fort was in use! There are more photos here.

A Wheely Good Day Out!

The Falkirk Wheel is a wonderful example of the engineering brilliance of the Scots. After many years of disuse, it was decided that the Scottish Canal Systems should be revived for recreational use and the Falkirk Wheel was part of that project. It is a huge, hydraulic boat lift that connects the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal and it negates the need for a multi-step lock system. Costing about 14 million pounds to construct, it is amazingly cheap to run, using only about 1.5 kilowatt hours per revolution. (One revolution has the potential to raise and lower up to 4 boats.) We went on a boat trip which took us up in the Wheel, along the Union Canal, through the Antonine tunnel and then back again. There was a really interesting AV presentation throughout the trip, full of interesting facts and figures and some of the history of the area. There is also a really good display center (which is free to go in, we only had to pay for the boat trip) It was a drizzly, soft day but the display center had places for an indoor picnic as well as food and drink to buy. The general consensus was that the Falkirk Wheel was Wheely Great!

There are more photos of the Falkirk Wheel here.

Connected again!

Finally - I have reconnected to the virtual world! We have been almost two weeks now without a reliable (or even an unreliable) internet connection - some of the troops have been getting a bit restless about that! I am writing this from a carriage of the York-London Express - yes Wi-Fi on rails! Train travel is a wonderful thing and it makes me a bit sad that we do not do it better in Australia. Our train is very comfortable and quiet and swooshes through the countryside at a great rate of knots. The drivers (Rod and Louise) are very pleased to be able to relax and get to see something of the scenery as well. It is all very civilized!