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August - October 2017
A 62-day adventure by Gabrielle Read more
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  • TravelerEurope
    Day 1

    Getting here

    August 27, 2017 in England ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    A whirlwind last week in Brisbane, which very sadly meant we were also saying goodbye to the lovely Mia as she left Australia to return to Kiel, Germany.

    It was always going to be an epic journey for the children, but they handled it well, and we arrived safely. There was an overload of movie watching and general amazement that we were served dinner three times in a row.Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 2

    London

    August 28, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Beautiful weather and clear blue skies awaited us in London. Getting in early meant we had to put in a full day before going to bed, so that's what we did. Luckily for us, the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's biggest street party, was hotting up just as we were about to head out, basically right on our door step.

    First stop though was to buy a data pack, and with that in hand we were on our way.

    The end of the main street was being cordoned off ready for the parade, so we just had to follow the crowd and wait. The Carnival is a celebration of the Caribbean culture, so there was plenty of colour and lots of loud horn blowing (called vuvuzela). There were loads of people and when Craig went out later in the evening to forage for food, he felt as though he was in a distopian movie as there were so many people moving around. Finn commented his first impression is that people in London all travel in "gangs".

    Unfortunately the parade wasn't quite as coordinated as we would have hoped, so to save waiting around, we watched the first little bit and headed off through Hyde Park on our way to the Natural History Museum. Contrary to my sister's experience, we walked right in without lining up for an hour.

    After that, we went next door to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and ended up having some scones with clotted cream and jam in a rather ornate tea room.

    By this time, the feet were getting weary, so we jumped on a bus and headed home for an early night. Given we are at the tail end of summer, we were in bed before the sun went down (which the children thought was peculiar).    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 2

    London

    August 28, 2017 in England ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Today we headed out to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. I have seen this spectacle a few times now, but this was the first time I saw the full blown ceremony. We started with a stroll through St James Park and like obedient tourists, got there an hour early (although that was more accidental than planned). You can imagine Craig's delight at waiting for an entire hour, in the sun!

    The Band of the Irish Guards accompanied the parade today, so there was lots of pomp and pageantry (or standing around and being yelled out by the head Guard if you ask the kids).

    We left a little before the main crowd and was rewarded by a very short queue of less than 5 minutes at Westminster Abbey, and a good chunk of that was waiting for the ticket man's machine to connect to the payment network to take our money. I can never get tired of coming to this place. It is quite simply an awesome spectacle. This time around, audio guides were issued as part of the ticket and Finn and Kate listened with great interest to all the commentary as we moved throughout the Abbey.

    The rest of the day consisted of walking various Monopoly landmarks along Pall Mall past Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and onto Euston Station to catch a train out to the Harry Potter Studios.

    The journey home was an interesting one. We got off the train to change lines at Shepherd's Bush and was confronted by thousands of people making their way to the same Tube station. When the authorities tried to close the station because it was too crowded there was a surge of people into the station trying to keep the gates from closing. Given it then looked like a riot was about to start, we decided to catch the bus instead, but the sheer volume of people made that an impossibility so walking 30+ minutes home was the next option. Picture four tuna trying to swim in the opposite direction to several thousand tuna. It was hard work. Katie was at the right level to take a few elbows to the head, so even though quite "intense" (code for freaked out a little), it was still a spectacle.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 3

    London

    August 29, 2017 in England ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    After a late night last night, we had a leisurely start to the day, so didn't arrive at the Tower of London until about 11.30am. Once again, we were lucky in the lining up situation, especially since I hadn't pre-purchased tickets, and we were inside within 5 minutes or so.

    This is my third time here and the second for Craig, so we let the kids dictate the pace. We had to line up for about 15 minutes to get in to see the "Clown Jewels" as Kate was calling them.

    We then walked across the Tower Bridge, along the Thames to check at Borough Markets. I can see why they are popular - they are so eclectic and diverse. Located right under the overhead train line for the Tube, there was the noise of trains every few minutes, which just added to the vibe.

    So it was an early mark back to our apartment for a bit of rest, ready to head out to Matilda the Musical in the West End, written of course by the fabulous Tim Minchen.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 3

    London (M&M World)

    August 29, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    The kids discovered M&M World in Leicester Square which I kid you not was 4 levels of prime real estate dedicated to selling a mountain of M&Ms. We escaped financially unscathed, which is code for "we were mean parents and refused to buy very expensive M&Ms".

    Craig's comment: I can't believe we have flown half way around the world and this is where we end up.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 3

    London (Harry Potter Studios)

    August 29, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    This was simply amazing!

    The real sets used in all eight movies were set up on location at the Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden, just outside of London. The sets included the costumes, props, wigs and animatronics. The gift shop was one of the best I have ever seen for a tourist attraction. The kids (and I) were completely enthralled by the experience. The Great Hall was incredible in terms of the construction, the real stone floor and the attention to detail. The rooms set up for The Hollow (the Weasley's kitchen), Dumbledore's office, the Gryffindor Common Room and bedroom and Diagon Alley were a lot smaller in real life than you would expect, but once again, the detail in it all, plus the explanation of how they made it look so authentic was fascinating.

    The Hogwart's Express and the entire train station was set up, as was Privet Drive. The attention to detail in the props was incredible and the process of creating the animatronics (including the man hours for a large team for 10 years!) was trully amazing. Buckbeak was there as well as Hagrid's Hut, the animated Monster Book of Monsters, the Mandrakes (those crying baby plants).

    A true delight for Harry Potter fans!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 4

    Last day in London

    August 30, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    No more hot weather! Craig was delighted to find London had put on its usual, and more expected, gloomy rainy type of weather which makes it altogether a much more English experience. So out came the raincoats and the umbrellas and we set off for another day in London. The kids have become quite adept at reading the Underground maps now and with both Bayswater and Queensway stations almost on top of each other and only a few minutes walk from our accommodation, it has been pretty convenient to get around and for the most part we have had to avoid taking more than one line to get anywhere.

    We did a walk by of St Paul's Cathedral (mainly for the Mary Poppins reference for the kids - birds not there, perhaps because they are no longer fed). An educational walk by Newgate and Old Bailey via Temple Bar, where I was able to be impressed/surprised by Kate's recall of both from her convict unit at school. We then skirted around St Bart's Hospital on our way to the Museum of London where we spent several hours. I first visited this back in 1991 and was impressed then, not only because it was really well done, but also because it was free - an important criteria if you were travelling on the cheap! It has been completely updated since then, but importantly, it is still incredibly brilliant and free!

    Our one and only pub lunch for the visit provided another bit of respite from the rain before we jumped on a tube to Tottenham Court Road and to visit a specialist guitar shop and bought a guitar for the trip. Too wet to walk along the full length of Oxford Street, we jumped on another tube to get to the other end. Since Craig and I have recently watched the miniseries Mr Selfridge, we decided to go and look at the real deal. The place was jam packed with people which is a testament to the vision, but also hard to believe he died a pauper. Kate declared it the best toy section she had EVER seen in a shop.

    We then ducked around the corner to The Leonard Hotel and met Lesley for a very English afternoon tea in a very English drawing room. It was lovely to meet up again - last time we visited, Finn was only 10 months old. I lived with the Watters family in London in 1991.

    We popped home quickly to ditch the guitar and dress a bit warmer, and headed back to Drury Lane in the West End to see the "School of Rock" musical. Another bunch of talented kids performing and it was great to be caught up in the live atmosphere of the production. The character of the kid bass guitar player was called Katie, and our Kate had a conversation this morning about perhaps learning base guitar, so it obviously made an impact. She did look cool!

    A whirlwind tour of London in 4 days - off to Lille in France tomorrow for some self-driving of the battlefields of the Western Front.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    1
    Day 5

    London to Lille, France

    August 31, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Although we are travelling light, we thought it best to avoid the peak hour in the tube, so packed up early and were on our way to the tube by 6.30am. We had to change lines a few times (and a few more than necessary since we got on one going in the wrong direction, got off at the next stop and backtracked). Ended up at the Eurostar well and trully ahead of schedule and then boarded the train for what turned out to be just over an hour from London to Lille. Impressive! Claustrophobic boy survived, barely aware that we had just passed under the English Channel, whilst the kids got some homework done.

    Picked up the hire car and now for the hard bit - driving it!!! Craig's job (yay) which was not helped by the fact that the minute we drove out of the car park we were on a 6 lane motorway and it his first time driving on the "wrong" side of the road... I was in the nerve-racking position of being his navigator and getting us to our AirBnB with lots of really hard French names in the way of success, so our marital bliss was at stake. Happy to report we are still talking.

    Our converted farmhouse accommodation is lovely and all Frenchy. Pascale, our host, offered to drive us to the supermarche so we didn't need to brave the road again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    We stopped at her recommended bakery on the way where bread is sold by the kilo! Grocery shopping was a lot harder than you would think it should be, but we ended up with pate, cheese and sausage for lunch, and provisions for dinner including the very necessary alcoholic beverages. We also discovered that milk is not available in French supermarkets in any great quantity.

    Now chilling out for the rest of the afternoon - Craig is serenading us on the guitar and the children are working out how to live without a telly so are making up their own games, which seem to be getting increasingly violent in a fun-loving way ;-). Oh, they are progressing to making up their own jokes now.

    JOKES:
    Q: What did the cow do when he got to London?
    A: He went to the moo-seum.

    Q: What did the Carribean horse say when he went to the Notting Hill Festival?
    A: Hay man.

    Q: What did the sheep say when he got to London?
    A: Can you point me to the Temple Baaaa.

    ROFL?    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 6

    The Western Front

    September 1, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    It is trully amazing how beautifully presented and preserved the war memorials, museums and cemeteries are in this part of the world. What was also surprising is the number of Commonwealth cemeteries blotted across the landscape, on the sides of roads and tucked down laneways. Each of them is surrounded by perfectly manicured green grass, blooming flowers at the gravestone, all tastefully presented. It is quite breathtaking.

    We visited Carrière Wellington in Arras which were a series of abandoned medieval chalk quarries which were used in WWI. New Zealand soldiers dug tunnels to connect them, essentially building an underground city which housed 20,000 soldiers prior to the Battle of Arras. They essentially popped out of the ground right at the German line and took them by surprise. The sheer scale of the underground city was incredible. The NZ soldiers were digging and clearing 80 metres of tunnel a day! My grandfather's war diary has him in Arras on the 26th March 1918. On the 5th of April 1918 there is a diary entry which states "Captured by Fritz".

    We also visited the Musee de Somme in Albert which was in an underground tunnel where it laid out the various scenes of combat and life in the trenches. We stopped at a boulangerie for baguette and had lunch in a little square in Albert. My grandfather's war diary states he arrived in Albert on 10th February 1917, leaving on the 11th. He then came back on the 13th April 1917.

    A long day given we didn't get back to our farmhouse until 8pm, but since I was still wearing sunglasses because it was so sunny, it still felt early. I think we are quite easily falling into the later evening lifestyle of Europe!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 6

    Pozières Memorial and Villers-Bretonneux

    September 1, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The Pozières Memorial to the Missing was also breathtaking, commemorating the loss of 14,900 lives. So many graves of unknown soldiers, where the only identification is their country of origin. To think of the parents of these soldiers having no idea where their son was buried is heartbreaking. My grandfather arrived in Pozières on the 25th April 1917.

    The walls of the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux bear the names of 11,000 missing Australian soldiers who died in France. It is quite sobering an experience to walk through this incredible structure.    Read more

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