As Jim Morrison sang...

This is the end...

Well we slept in until 8, despite the early morning disruption from the alarm marks blackberry. With little time left, we planned a short route.


We went to the monument to the London fire, headed to a market that was unfortunately closed, went through the bankers alley and to St Paul's.


Our route back took us to the Millenium bridge and back to the hotel by 11:05 (Steven the cabbie was already there). We had a very scenic tour on our way to heathrow including the changing of the guard at buckingham palace.


Sadly, we arrived at our final European destination, terminal 4 at heathrow. The departures is actually much nicer than the arrivals which looks more like a bomb shelter. We were all overweight in luggage by several kilos.


It would've cost us over £120 but fortunately we had purchases the options plus upgrade so we were covered. Unfortunately I had left a water bottle in marks carry on which subjected him to increases scrutiny but no cavity search thankfully. I bought some Pimm's at duty free and we headed to the gate.
We're in the air as I type. I have taken fifi's suggestion and uses a brown paper bag. Well actsully not, I'm actually wearing the air sickness bag, it's not brown but it's made of paper. We've had lovely vistas of England, Greenland and Newfoundland. I have a few more random thoughts that I'll post tomorrow probably, when my brain is no longer mushy. I think I'll keep the blog going though, some about our upcoming camping trip but maybe even beyond that. Every day is a new adventure you know.


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Jolly old London

Another early day, this time after a late night. Somehow we managed to polish off 4 bottles of wine and some old port and stay up until 2 then get up again at 6:30. Cristian was on his way to London city airport so we figured we'd get to chat a bit more and also save the train fare if we just took a cab into the city from there. It was really sad leaving the old barn and Sara and Cristian and Josh. We know we'll be back though and that they'll be over soon enough. Plans are also in the works for a meeting in NYC or out west for some skiing.
From the city airport we took a cab with 'steven'. Anyone heading to London any time soon, ask me for his number. He was extremely helpful and a good tour guide too. He also offered us a flat rate to the airport tomorrow and we gladly took him up on that, arranging to meet outside our hotel at 11:30 am.
Speaking of hotels, ours was the Novotel tower bridge. What a great location. We were right BEHIND the tower!! It was also a very high end European style hotel. The tv screen behind the desk said a basic room was £300!! I had gotten a queen room with a pullout for £125 on lastminute.com (I love a good bargain)
We headed to the tower and completely by chance ran into carolyn and heather and their friends as we waited for our tour.


It was a great tour with another amazing guide. That Henry the VIII sure was a character!
On Cristian's recommendation w went to the London library and it may be one of my favorite venues of our trip. There they have some truly amazing original manuscripts including stuff from over 1500 years ago, the Magna Carta, the original handwritten manuscript of alice in wonderland, the music for Handel's messiah, writings from Leonardo DaVinci and original handwritten lyrics from the Beatles.
Next stop was the palace although aunt Betty did NOT invite us in, how rude!
Dinner was next at Dicken's pub, yes, THAT Dickens!


While we couldn't get pub food, too late, we did get some really good pizza with some really crappy service.


Our last stop was Covent Garden upon the recommendation of our fave london cabbie Steven. While it was a bit of a challenge actually getting there (late buses and crummy directions) it certainly was worth. Lots of sites to see and entertainment everywhere. We were back to the hotel by 11, planning our last few hours in London.


How does time pass soooo fast? Seems like we just landed at heathrow and here we are, ready to head home. All the more reason to plan another adventure!!


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Already planning next trip to Paris

All good things must come to an end :-(
Another sunny day in Paris. We started off with a quick trip to the grocery store to buy French candies and some cheese. It's so unfair that cheese is soooo cheap here. Very hard for me to not buy more.
We headed off to the Louvre and the lines weren't actually that bad. We went straight away to see that smiling lady. Compared to all the massive paintings in the accompanying galleries, she's really so very small. We had to go see Venus de Milo of course too and the crowd was almost as big there as for Mona Lisa.


That museum is just so very big. I can't even begin to think how much time you'd need to so it justice. Marks' favorite part of the museum was the part devoted to the medieval castle. Isn't archeology grand?
We went to Sacre Coeur in Montmartre next and instantly regretted not leaving more time for that neighborhood.


It's a great reason to go back though. Lots of artists and cafes and narrow streets and an amazing view of the city.
Because we had stored our luggage at the hotel, we headed back after Montmartre to pick it up. I convinced Mark to stop at the local brasserie for a coffee. Emma had a very pretty hot chocolate too. I


then has an interesting conversation with the server and a customer about all sorts of thing including politics and the virtues of both countries. Mark and the kids were pretty quiet for that since it was all in French. The server then very kindly suggested we take the bus instead of the metro to the train station to avoid all the steps and have a better view. It was a great suggestion and meant much less walking in the station too.


Once again, no problems at customs, just stamps and smiles. After buying some REAL Dijon mustard at duty free, we boarded the train and are currently en route to ashford where we will gain an hour of time.
It should be a quiet night back at the old barn with quite a bit of sorting organizing and packing. The next blog will be from London, stay tuned for more adventures!

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Location:Ashford,United Kingdom

I'm bloody knackered

Oh I think my feet may fall off!! I wish I had've been wearing a pedometer cuz boy did we walk a lot today!!
I'll apologize in advance. There aren't many pictures today since much if what we did didn't allow for photos. The day started in a rather macabre way. We had heard the catacombs were a 'must see' so off we went. What we weren't told was that even if you are there at opening (10am), it will take two hours to get in! At least it was sunny and pleasant. I spoke with a man from Poland who lives and works in Washington for a while. He recommended going to Vienna so you never know...
Back to the bones, millions and millions of them. The catacombs were created when disease was running rampant in the cemeteries of Paris. From the late 1700's till the mid 1800's, bodies were removed and their bones were neatly stacked. It's quite hard to imagine. Google it and check out the images. Freaky!
We left there and had a wonderful cafe lunch. How do they make such amazing sandwiches for so cheap??? Yes it's the bread but it's all the other yummy stuff inside too. Did I mention we had a baguette and croissants for breakfast??? Super yummy!!
Musee d'Orsay was next.


I'd have to agree with the people I had spoken to before our visit, that is an amazing museum. Yes the art is wonderful but so is the venue, a converted train station. We had this guide that I swear was an angel from the impressionist age. She had blonde ringlets and wore white linen and was so incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about her art.
We then walked to a famous bookstore and over to notre dame. By then it was time for dinner so we headed to a Lebanese place I had spotted near our hotel. Food was great and very reasonably priced too.
Our evening ended with a sparkly trip to the Eiffel tower at night.


I'll apologize in advance to emma's friends, no we didn't go up. It wasn't the massive lines, it was just we had already had a wonderful view from l'arc de triomphe.
Thank goodness for subway passes and maps. I don't know that I could walk much more. Train leaves for ashford tomorrow before 7pm so we'll see what we can fit in. Still want to see Versailles, les invalides and sacre coeur. Also have a bit of shopping an we have to stow our luggage at the station. Oh and I have to eat more baguettes and croissant and cheese. Just not enough time!!!
Ok since I couldn't take many pics today, here are a few extras:
Our room



The bestest ever mcd's in the world. This is inside mcd's and it's called mc'cafe (or something like that). Hey north American mcd people, take notice here:



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Location:Rue de Constantinople,Paris,France

We're moving to Paris :-)

C'mon over, help yourself, we've got all sorts of stuff you can have super cheap. Costs too much to ship it all to Paris.
Cristian got up nice and early and dropped us at the Eurostar. Customs was no more than a stamp, no questions. The train was smooth, very full, right on time.
We arrived at Gare du Nord and managed to navigate ourselves onto the metro, to change trains and get to our hotel. Even though it was 10:30, our room was ready and we took our stuff up. Ethan was quite afraid of the elevator. He's afraid of them on the best of days but this one had a door you had to swing shut and while the sign said maximum of 3 at a time, two was a bit more reasonable. Our room is small but clean and has an amazing view of other Paris apartments.


There is a great little full service grocery store right across the street where you can get all sorts of meats cheeses and alcohols!!
We headed out by foot to the Arc de Triomphe and were pleased by the sights. We climbed all those lovely stairs and took in the view. WOW!


From there we walked down the Champs d'Elysse and had lunch at McDonalds. Yes, I know that sounds weird but it's another thing from Mark's bucket list. You see they serve dill mayo for the fries. What we didn't know was that for your combo, you can order beer as your beverage.


Now it is a very little beer but quenching just the same. Emma had a happy meal and got a Shrek that speaks French.
We had quite a long walk after that and even broke down and took a bus because Pont Neuf was further than it had appeared on the map. That was the destination so we could go on our river cruise. The guide was helpful but it would appear I was the only one who could understand her, despite the fact she repeated everything in English after she had said it in French. It was a rather strange variation of the English language.
We figured it was time for dinner after they so we consulted our handy dandy guidebook I had borrowed from the barrie library (it's ok to take books yiu borrow on vacation right?) to find a restaurant. After one failed attempt (boy these Parisians eat late-didn't open till 8!) we ended up at Chez Jenny in the Marais. While it seemed expensive, it was worth every penny!! Ethan had the steak and fries and honestly, they were the best fries I have EVER tasted. Emma had salmon that was divine, Mark had chicken supreme with a quiche and salad for appetizer and I had duck confit with roast potatoes and gazpacho for my appy. Couldn't turn down dessert when I heard the magic words 'crème brulée'. Emma had these wicked chocolate crepes and Mark had this thing that was as big as a Nerf football. It was meringue and whipped cream on the outside and raspberry sorbet on the inside.


Mmmmmmm!
We took the metro back to the hotel, stopped at the bakery to get breakfast foods and then at the mini grocery store to try out some other new foods.
Here we sit, all nicely showered, various beverages and treats in hand, planning another exciting day for tomorrow.
So make your list and make an offer, at these prices, the stuff from our house won't last long!


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Location:Rue de Constantinople,Paris,France

No cream tea but yummy pizza

A very quiet day today. Preparations are underway for the voyage to france tomorrow. We'll b up at 5:30 to catch the train at 7 something. Did some laundry and some Internet research. Along the way we fit in a bit of outlet shopping. A few deals were had under the biggest canvas in the world (at least that's the claim around here).


We tried to fit in a cream tea but somehow the Swiss were just too difficult and schedules conflicted so we'll find a cream tea in London on Friday.
We did however return to Mecca, otherwise known as waitrose.


I could spend hours there and it really isn't that big.


First I have to figure out what the thing is and then I have to figure out if we have an equivalent in Canada. I just can't get over the wine selection in the grocery stores and the stupid cheap prices. The purpose of the trip was to get ingredients for pizza. While it wasn't a full scale Littlewood pizza party, we did make a lot and boy were they tasty!!


Hard to pick a fave.


All I know is there is enough for breakfast tomorrow and that makes me very happy. Bonus points for anyone who can tell me what an Aga is without googling it.

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Chalk dust and ploughman lunches

Another early start today as we returned to the Cliffs of Dover.


This
time we drove past the castle and headed to the actual cliffs. We got
Hollywood parking and headed out, up, up, up. Cristian has been there
dozens of times and is a seasoned hiker. He led us over hill and dale
and down a really steep part. It was like a switchback road only
super narrow and all chalky with white walls to one side and the sea
to the other. We ended up in a war bunker thing from WWII with a
wonderful view of France and all the ferries (not fairies).


The brave
ones then ventured down this skinny metal ladder to the actual
seashore. I declined to participate but took a cool video instead.
What goes up must come down or vice versa so up the hill we went. It
left everyone a little breathless. Some of us then continued on to
the lighthouse. It seemed closer than it actually was. There, Emma
and I had a delightful conversation with a woman who lives near Rye
and was waiting with her Staffordshire/Ridgeback cross. Emma finally
got her puppy fix. The walk back to the carpark is 2 miles and should
take 45 minutes. We did more of a power walk and made it in 30. The
trails were a bit more populated by then and I was glad we had set out
so early. I also noticed it was rather hard to get people to greet
you as you passed on the path.
When we got back to the Old Barn, we promptly headed out to the Wheel
Inn and this time Sarah and Josh came along!!


We had a proper Sunday
pub lunch. There was a band playing outside and it really added to
the ambience.


We were home in time to watch the end of the Tour de France and see
Spain win yet another championship. The rest of the day was a bit
more mellow and I think was appreciated by all.


I think it may be
time for a beer...


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Two things for the bucket

Mark's dream came true today. For 22 years I have heard all about Arundel castle. Now at one point on this trip he had the nerve to say, no, we don't have to go there. If anyone of you know Mark, sometimes he gets all pumped up about something but then declines in the end (best example if that is Allen's, a pub on the Danforth that he always says he wants to go to but never does, even if we're standing RIGHT OUTSIDE!). Anyway, this time I wasn't going to back down. We ran into some traffic and even briefly considered changing plans but in the end we persevered and finally arrived at the castle. The is still the home of the Duke of Norfolk and is rather grand.


There is a very old part still remaining dating back to the 1100's but much was rebuilt in the 1800's. We had a great tour of the keep (lots of treacherous stairs). Then we headed to the more current section and it was glorious. We could tour the bedrooms and they are still used quite often when the family visits. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside but you can always check out the website. http://www.arundelcastle.org/_pages/03_visitor_info.htm
Finally we went outside to the church and the gardens. The church has many Dukes and family members buried there in the roman catholic part. The most interesting part is that there is a Protestant church attached. The Catholic part was actually bought back from Henry the VIII by one of the Dukes. There is door that connects the two but it's only been opened six times in the past 400 years. There are also magnificent gardens of course, with all sorts of exotic plants.


Our trip home took us through Brighton, something from MY bucket list!! Ever since I saw quadrophenia back in grade 10 with Roger Daltrey and the Mods and the Rockers, I have dreamed of going to the Brighton shore. It's incredibly beautiful and very Riviera-like.


There are all sorts of amusement rides on one of the piers and these cute little cabins that you buy or rent to store all of your beach stuff. I think I may invest.
At home we enjoyed a true English classic, Pim's with strawberries, cucumber and mint along with lemonade.


Yummy. Currently we are waiting to pick up our thai take out. Still working out plans for tomorrow but whatever it is, I'll be sure to write about it.


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Started in London, ended in Peru

The day started early. Sara had the cleaners coming and we were eager to get to London. She took us to ashford international where we bought four high speed train tickets that included all tube and bus transportation. £60 for all of us was a great deal since the train got us to London in 37 minutes an a comparable GO ride to TO would cost $20 each return, wouldn't include TTC and would take over an hour.
We managed to navigate the tube all the way to the British museum which is surprisingly FREE!! That is one BIG museum.





The Rosetta Stone is the first wonder you see. We also saw a number of pieces that have companions in the Met in NYC. We saw an awful lot of dead people, mummies, remains and Lindow man (something for you to look up). I think we could've spent several days there but we finished around three.
After an in depth consultation of our guide books, we decided we could make the most of our visit by heading down to the houses of parliament. As we exited the tube, we were greeted by Big Ben.





He seemed happy to see us. We walked around the parliament and then headed to Jewel Tower. It's the last remaining part of the original palace of Westminster. It's pretty old. It's also the place where weights and measures were standardized.
We then walked around Westminster Abbey (sure is expensive to go in there!) and took our fair share of pictures. We walked back to the river then and headed onto a rather amusing boat cruise to the tower bridge.





Our travelcard that brought us to London also got us a sizable discount for the boat. Apparently it gives us 2 for 1 access to many of the top attractions.
The commentary for the cruise was provided by a gentleman whose family has worked the boats for the past 200 years (guess that's the only way to get a job there). He gave us lots of great information including the fact that the Tate Museum of Modern Art is free for a good reason and that the word WHARF stands for WareHouse Accessing River Front (c'mon now, admit you never knew that). After walking around the Tower we crossed the Tower Bridge and started to look for our restaurant.





We were going on a recommendation from the DK travel book I had bought at Costco. We walked past the Dungeon exhibit (not so sure I want to go into that scary place) but we couldn't find the street for the restaurant. Turns out preparations for the olympics have eliminated the street where the restaurant had resided due to massive expansions at the Tower Bridge tube station but more because of this massive skyscraper that's being built. It didn't really matter though because we ended up at an AMAZING Peruvian restaurant called Tito. Service was good and the food was even better. Everyone loved their foods.





Yes, I know there are probably a million restaurants where we could eat when we are back in London next week but it will be hard to turn down a return trip to Peru.
Tomorrow it's the long awaited Arundel castle. Mark has spoken about this since I met him. I hope it lives up to expectations!


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I'm Henry the VIII I am, I am...

http://www.eastwellmanor.com/

Quick sidetrip tonight to Eastwell Manor.


It was built as one of Henry the VIII's country homes. It's now a rather posh hotel, spa, golf course, restaurant etc etc etc.


More beautiful gardens, more beautiful vistas and some really proper people sighting on leather furniture speaking in really posh accents.


We had brought Josh and because Sara had on her gardening outfit, she opted to stay at the vehicle with him. While I believe anyone should be able to go anywhere, in hindsight, after seeing maids in black and white outfits and butlers in red tailcoats, I believe she made a good call.
On the way back we had a quick stop at the equally posh grocery store, Waitrose.


This was HIGH END but boy was it nice. I only took one pic outside but I'm sure I'll be back and I'm sure I'll take more pics!
www.waitrose.com

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Extra tidbits and morsels

Here's Cristian and Georgie having a cuddle.  She's had a bit of a tough time since her bout with tetanus and sometimes all you really need is a good cuddle!



Here's Ethan and Josh doing some male bonding with playing on the iPhone.  Somethings never change eh?


This is the sign on the entrance to Sara and Cristian's place.  Their home is referred to as 'the old barn'.


Ok nature lovers and tree experts:  can anyone tell me what is going on with this tree?  It's very tall and very old and very warty.  It goes up so high you can't really see the leaves but Mark thinks it's a maple.  I have a lovely UK pen for the first person with the correct answer.


Look at that cute face!!  Emma spends a great part of her day carrying Josh around and playing with him.  I think she's looking for employment.

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Location:Ashford,United Kingdom

Cow pastures and shopping carts

Another quiet day around Great Chart. Birds singing, sun shining. Mark and Ethan and I headed out for a walk through the village and beyond.


We passed the 'chav' (google it) pub and then the better pub and headed towards the historical town sign.


At that point you turn right into what looks like a barnyard. Well actually it is a barnyard but you're allowed to walk through it. Cows look the same in any country but the interesting thing with these cows was that they had numbers tattooed in white on their hindsides. We never did find the Gretzky cow but I'm sure he was out there somewhere. We continued down the road until we came to a beautiful view of the Downs, Tenterden and the site of the Battle of Hastings.


On our way back to town we stopped in at the church. It dates back to the 1200's but they believe it may have been there even before that. The graves outside sure looked OLD, we couldn't read most of them they were so covered in lichen.
We returned to 'the old barn' for leftover Indian food.


We'd had an assortment of rices, spices and meats and it tasted even better the next day.
The shopper in me resurfaced in a delightful store called matalan where we spend £61 and got two bags jam packed with clothing deals. So much england stuff that the clerk commented that our accents didn't match our merchandise. The store is kind of like a Winners with not as much stuff.


Ethan said it smelled like Winners. It was a short walk there so I could be going back before we leave if anyone would like any dirt cheap England football paraphenalia (sp?). Apparently the Brits will have to keep reliving the victory of 1966 for another 4 years.


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Location:Ashford,United Kingdom