heureuse année nouvelle! (Happy New Years!)

Saturday 31st December 2011 -  day 12


Today we woke up bright and early to beat the queues at the Louvre. 9am and we were in, it is an amazing building full of all kinds of historic artwork and sculptures. Easy to see why people can get lost in there, we were there for about two hours and decided to call it quits... sooo many people!

Next stop was Notre Dame where we were privileged to watch the 12pm service. We didn't go up the towers because the queue was so long... AGAIN! Next stop was the Opera House, and then onto the Sacre Couer. If you haven't been to this side of town you will have to go and visit and see for yourself. It's lively and the streets are bustling with buskers and market stalls and people everywhere.

Tonight we are hoping to bring in the new year at the Eiffel Tower... or at least somewhere close to it!

To all our friends and family in Australia and England, Happy New Year!

Au revoir 2011..

Me at the Sacre Couer

Happy New Year from the Eiffel Tower

French Monuments

30.12.2011 – Friday, day 11

First full day in Paris today and we climbed aboard yet another big red bus tour!  First stop was the Arc de Triomphe, an amazing monument built by Napoleon to commemorate his victories and honour the soldiers that fell during his campaigns. The engravings on this thing are absolutely stunning! So much detail has been put into it. We skipped the line (thanks to the Paris Pass) and I even managed to climb all 284 stairs to the very top, at which the view of the city is amazing.

There is only one more view that can top that and that’s the view from the Eiffel Tower, which was our second stop today. Shortly after arriving at this enormous tower we realised that it was going to take a fair while to get out tickets as the line ups were absolutely crazy long! Plan B – get some food and drink and scout for the shortest ticket line! After about 90 minutes of waiting in queue to get our tickets, we finally managed to set foot inside the lifts. Thank goodness there is heating in there because it was starting to get cold waiting outside, and we soon found out it wasn’t any better being up so high and having to wait outside yet again in another massive line to get to the top observation deck! There were hundreds of people up there and I can honestly say I don’t think there was one person who didn’t feel the cold. It would have to be the absolute coldest I have ever been in my life! We couldn’t feel our fingers or noses, and after another 45 minutes of waiting we couldn’t feel our toes either.

Thankfully the wait and the cold was worth it because the view from the top is beyond compare. Tip for next time though – you can pre-book your tickets thus avoiding the massive queues! Once you are up there though there’s a queue to get down so there really is no escaping it. It took us a total of over 3 hours to do the whole thing and we were probably only on the observation deck for around 45 minutes. There is a ice rink, café and restaurant on the 1^st floor that we made a quick stop at while we were on the tower… they think of everything these days!

Anyways, we went to the Opera House as our final stop for the day and it closed just as we were walking in… so unfortunately we missed out on that. None the less it was a great day, freezing but well worth it.

Underneath the Arc de Triomphe

Me freezing on the top floor of the Eiffel Tower

 

Views from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Bonjour Paris!

Bonvoyage from England.

29.12.2011 – Thursday, day 10

This morning we caught the Euro-Star to Paris (thanks to Nichola for driving us all the way to Canterbury West Train Station after a mix up with the local Aylesham Train timetable!).

It is a bit daunting being in a foreign country and not knowing the language or where you are going, but somehow we made it safely to our hotel in one piece. The underground in London is far better than the one here in Paris, and we have noticed that smoking is still very dominant here as everywhere you go there are cigarette butts thrown on the floor. The streets are jam packed full of people and tourists just like us and I’m constantly listening for anyone who is speaking English.

We are staying at Citadines Montmartre which is just around the corner from the Moulin Rouge. Our room is quite good despite the view of the cemetery next door, but although we have a mini kitchen they do not provide tea and coffee… so off we went to find the local supermarket to stock up on the essentials.

That was an interesting expedition! Of course most things are written in French at the supermarket here so it took us about 15 minutes just to find the sugar, another 15mins to select a wine and who knows how long to find butter and jam! Ha ha. Our most popular line in French so far is “Parlez-vous anglais?” (do you speak English), and of course we know Bonjour and Merci.

Back in our room we are just relaxing for a bit, drinking a bottle of French Red Wine and snacking on some croissants that we bought from the markets down the road.  Adam is busy reading up on the sites and tours we must cram into 2 days, while I am reading up on the French language and trying to teach both of us how to speak some basic French. (Thanks Manz for the lonely planet French dictionary!)

Tomorrow we are heading out to do the big bus tour and will try to cram in as much sight seeing as possible. We bought something called “The Paris Pass” which apparently gets you into 90% of the tourist attractions (for free), a metro travel pass and tickets for a river cruise, wine tasting etc.  

Looking forward to seeing a bit of the nightlife tonight, dinner and then a good nights sleep ready for a busy day of tourist attractions tomorrow.

Bonsoir for now!

Peak hour outside our hotel!

Me at the Moulin Rouge

Our first taste of Paris.. and a bottle of Australian wine just to be safe!

Canterbury

28.12.2012 – Wednesday, day 9

Well it only took 9 days but finally we managed a sleep in this morning (until 8am), and it was well needed! Feeling slightly better today although if I have to use one more tissue on my nose I think it’s going to fall off, it feels like sandpaper L.

We headed off to Canterbury on the double decker bus bright and early. I’m not sure how the driver manages to fit down those small country lanes as they look only wide enough for a decent size car! Anyway we arrived safely and I was in heaven! SALE SALE SALE SALES everywhere!

After a decent spot of shopping we headed in for lunch at Marlows with Uncle Tony & Janice, and Leanne & Paul. Then we caught up with Jamie, Kathryn & Lilly-Rose for a coffee by which stage the sun had set and it was pitch black outside… which means it was freezing again!

Thankfully we had already had a bit of a walk around the main street, saw the Cathedral and Westgate Tower so we were off home again on the bus. Night ride home sitting on top of the double decker bus again… felt like a rollercoaster!

Very excited about leaving for Paris tomorrow although we will miss England and the family and friends we have here. Will be catching the Euro-Star at 10:24am so we are off to pack our bags again and say our goodbyes.

Thanks to everyone for sparing the time to catch up with us, and to Aunty Pauline & Uncle Dennis for welcoming us into your home and sharing Christmas with us. It is greatly appreciated.

Au revoir England… for now.

Xxx

Me in a red telephone booth being a typical tourist!

Adam at the Westgate Tower

Paul, Tony, Janice, Adam, Leanne

Adam, Jamie, Lilly-Rose, Kathryn

Farewell Canterbury!

The Village

27.12.2011 - Tuesday, day 8

Woke up feeling a little better today after a good nights rest; still have a heavy chest but sinuses are clearing which is excellent. Poor Ads is starting to come down with it today so I have all but bought every drug available at the local Co-Op!

Today we visited Uncle Tony, Peter and Floss in Shepherdswell which is another village about 15 mins drive away. Their home is magnificent! “Mar Lodge” it is called but I think the name “Hayley’s Palace” is more fitting! Ha ha. I could honestly get used to living there, three guest rooms all with your own ensuite, huge kitchen, sunroom and an enormous front and back garden! Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of this palace but I’ll be sure to invite you over to check it out for yourselves soon enough (giggles).

In true English style we headed to the pub for a beer and a bite to eat for lunch, “The Bell Inn”. I’m told this pub burnt to the ground 4 years ago and they had to restore it back to it’s original plans… amazing job, small and cosy on the inside with a massive log fireplace, and hundreds of Tankards hanging from the ceiling.

Returned to Aylesham a few hours later and thought it would be best to go for a walk and burn off some calories from the feast we just devoured! Walked around the Village to check out the new welfare leisure centre, and the village square. That took all of five minutes so we’re back home again getting cosy by the fire! (kidding it took us a bit longer than that…. Maybe 20 mins).

Julie and the kids are coming for dinner tonight, and Nicholla and Chloe have popped in for a catch up just now. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as I’m told that I will be able to do a spot of shopping in Canterbury! 

Big grin :-)

Uncle Tony, Peter & Adam

The Village Green at Shepherdswell opposite the pub

On our walk around the Village at Aylesham

The new Leisure Club at Aylesham

Keeping Tradition

26.12.2011 -  Monday, day 7

We have officially been in England now for a week, and I still don’t think my body clock has adjusted. Not sleeping well at all and this horrible cold and chesty cough isn’t making it any easier.

Never the less we woke early to get ready for the “Dover Dash”! A Boxing Day tradition to dive into the English Channel, with all funds going to charity. I was surprised at just how many people turn up in the freezing cold and strip down to bikini’s, shorts and even a ‘man-kini’, to literally dive in and duck under the freezing cold water! All in good spirits, some dressed as Santa and the elves, some as 

superhero’s, and our family decked out in Aussie 

t-shirts while Adam (the only one from Australia) wore a union jack top hat!

Quite a laugh really.

Caught up with the family again, met Jamie, Kathryn and Lilly-Rose, but unfortunately this cold is knocking me around too much to stay out long. Hopefully will be feeling a little better by tomorrow for our trip to Sheppardswell to see Uncle Tony, Peter & Floss. 

Christmas day yesterday was good, lots of new faces but all very welcoming. A delicious English Roast cooked by Aunty Pauline and we added a bit of Australian Wine (Wirra Wirra) to remind us of home.

The log fire is burning tonight and we are enjoying some rest while brushing up on our French language before we head over to Paris on Thursday.

Merry Christmas!

25.12.2011 – day 6

We arrived safely in Aylesham yesterday and are staying with Aunty Pauline & Uncle Dennis in the village (not town, Village!).  The population is about 8,000 here and you can pretty much walk everywhere. It’s still freezing but no snow this year unfortunately.

Have met some of the family already, Nichola, Chloe and Garin and most cuddliest and youngest member of the family is little Baily! 18 week old little Bichon Frise puppy! Needless to say I am having lots of cuddles with this little man!

Christmas day celebrations are here at the house so there is no need for us to go outside into the cold! Thank goodness because my cold hasn’t disappeared as quickly as I’d hoped.. I think Ads is getting sick too but I have another script for antibiotics if we need it.  Doesn’t help that Adam was in SHORTS this morning! Ha ha, you can’t take the Aussie out of that man!

Sitting here at the dinner table staring out at a dark grey sky, missing home but I have Michael Buble’s new Christmas album blaring which reminds me of the Aussie Christmas we are missing out on back home.

To all our friends and our precious family, we love and miss you enormously and hope you have had a great Christmas day! Will be thinking of you today as we share our first Winter Christmas here in England.

Ho ho ho hope Santa has been good to you!

Much love,

Hayls and Ads xxx  

(L-R): LuLu, Pauline, Adam, Frankie, Hayley, John, Dennis

(L-R): Beverley, Mark, Sophie, Adam, Hayley, Maria, Jemma, Nichola, Ben, Jason

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!

23.12.2011 – Friday day 4

Caught the Tube yet again, and headed out to Camden Markets this morning in Camden Town.. about a 15min train ride from where we are staying. Got lost amongst all the stalls, there are too many to count or even recognise! It’s quite a beautiful setting along the river actually and the delicious smells from the food stalls is just amazing. We bought some Thai food (bang bang chicken!! YUMMO) for about 6 pound and sat down  on our scooters over

looking the river to have lunch.

The rain blew in not long after midday so we headed back into town to Oxford Street which was crammed pack full of people doing last minute Christmas shopping. Although being tempted, I only ventured into ONE store “Topshop” which is about 3 different levels full of the latest English winter fashion. Thankfully I found my way out alive, after getting lost several times, and poor Ads waiting for me at the entrance for about 45 mins! Ha ha.

 I’ve come down with a bit of a cold, so crowds and me aren’t mixing well right now so Ads too me to a “Walkabout” (Aussie pub) for a sit down and a few beers, just what the doctor ordered!

I think we’ve ticked all the boxes here in London, hopefully! We are heading out to Alysham tomorrow to spend Xmas with the family which is another train ride about 2 hours South.

Looking forward to celebrating Xmas with great company and good wine, starting to miss home though… long way to go yet!

London’s Original Bus Tour!

22.12.2011 – Thursday day 3

One word… Brilliant. Started the day at Marble Arch & Hyde Park then took a seat on top of the big red tour bus. Despite being the warmest day here since we arrived (12 degrees), the wind was chilling sitting up there but a clear blue sky and rooftop views made it worthwhile. We got off at St Pauls Cathedral to have a squiz but being the tight asses we are refused to pay an entry fee of 15 pound each to look at some statues of Jesus and the like!

After opting out of St Pauls, we ducked into a coffee shop to warm up and thaw out (free WiFi again, loving!). After a bucket of coffee (literally the largest cup I have ever seen!) we jumped back on the bus and headed to the Tower of London. We took advantage of the free guided tour, saw some amazing crown jewels that would put any womans diamonds to shame, and loads of armour suits, guns etc etc. The history in the old Castle is amazing and our tour guide made sure to give us all the tales of torture, beheadings and hangings which kinda gave me the creeps.

Next stop was Buckingham Palace where the guards put on a bit of a show for us, but really there’s not much to see… it’s just a big building with old fancy gates. By this stage of the afternoon (3:30pm) the sun was starting to set and I was absolutely freezing! Headed home for a hot shower and off to the Prince of Wales Pub for tea tonight. 

 

Typical Tourist…

21.12.2011 – Wednesday, day 2

Woke up bright and early this morning and headed out to tick off some typical tourist stuff… London Eye CHECK, London Dungeon CHECK, Oxford Street HALF CHECK!  Actually I gave up on Oxford Street after about ¼ of the way down as it was after 4pm and the streets were crazy busy with people walking head on into each other.

Had a bit of a chuckle whilst at the London Dungeon and as corny as it was it’s something that as a tourist in this city you just gotta do.  It’s like a bigger version of the ghost train from the royal show but only seen through the eyes of infamous London horror stories like the plague & Jack the Ripper. Got some cheesy pictures taken in there that were a good laugh!

My feet are in much need of some decent rest after being on them for 8 hours, and I am almost getting the hang of the Tube system.

Off to the pub at our hotel tonight for tea and watch a game of football (aka Soccer!). 

It’s London baby!

20/12.2011 – Tuesday, day 1

After almost a 30 hour journey from Adelaide we have finally arrived at our destination, London! The flight itself from Adelaide to KL wasn’t  too bad, the four hour stop over though killed us. Thank goodness for free WiFi! We did a bit of a lap around the airport  and headed straight to Starbucks for some caffeine to keep us awake which worked but it was probably the most painful experience out of our whole journey. TRANSIT! I hate transit.. you’re neither here nor there… stuck in-between places.

Anyways, boarding our flight to Heathrow I was well prepared, no sooner that we took off and I had downed a sleeping tablet and was out like a light. I vaguely remember waking up to the air hostess serving dinner which I turned my nose up and passed out again! Brilliant! 10 hours out of a long 13 hour flight I was asleep for, woke up just in time for breakfast and then it was touch down.

So first things first, land in London, catch the tube to our hotel, get off at the wrong stop so head straight to Starbucks for free WiFi and more caffeine! We were about 2kms from our hotel and it was beautiful weather outside, if you call 6 degrees and clear blue skies beautiful, so we decided to walk.. got 1/3^rd of the way and gave up so jumped on a red double decker bus which dropped us off at our hotel door!

We checked in and decided not to sleep so we freshened up and headed straight out.  Caught more underground tubes than I could imagine possible in such a short period of time,  and walked pretty much the whole of London city. We walked around Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circuis, went passed the London Eye which had a line up of about 500 people so decided to bypass and went straight  into the Aquarium. Saw House of Parliament and Big Ben, had lunch at a classic English Pub and had my first English beer, then headed home for a bit of a nap. We thought it would be a good idea to see a show tonight to keep us awake, so we got tickets for STOMP the musical which was showing at 8:00pm… great show from what I can remember, my eyelids were that heavy I drifted off to sleep during the performance and woke up many times doing the old classic sleepy head nod! Needless to say as soon as that finished we headed straight home for some much needed R&R.

We are staying at the Ibis at Earls Court, a small room and pretty pricey WiFi but I’m all about the free breakfast and heading out to explore.

All in all it was a great first day in London, but I did lean some pretty valuable lessons about how this city works. 1:  Business hours are 8am -3:30pm which appears to be the only hours of daylight this city sees. 2: Whatever you do and at all costs, ALWAYS stand on the right of the escalator when heading up or down stairs at the tube station.. unless you want to get bowled over! 3. Don’t ever trust a ‘Pakky’ phone salesman coz he has one intention in mind and that’s to rip you off! Doesn’t matter what country you are in, they are always the same.

Goodnight beautiful world, until tomorrow….

Getting on board..

On board with the commoners! I tried to sweet talk the air hostess into upgrading us but no luck! Gotta give it a go at least if u ask you shall receive! Lol. Still no luck. Cattle class it is all the way to KL.
Bring me some wine! 

Let the ride begin!

Bon-voyage Adelaide! We are departing a beautiful clear blue sky that is summer and headed for cloudy snowflakes that is winter! I've never been to the snow before and I'm not one to love winter so this trip should be interesting! Adam assures me that I still don't know what I'm in for ha ha.

Next stop is KL where we are hoping to have a bit of a nap in our 4hr stop over. Then it's the big trek straight to Heathrow! Ive heard a lot of talk about women getting the "Heathrow injection" (aka weight gain) when they arrive in London so it's lucky we are on a tight budget! Less money for food! Lol.

Looking forward to it, and to forgetting all our worries back home. Will miss our friends and family but this is an adventure of a lifetime!

Bon-voyage. X

Well it's about time we posted something new and exciting and on top of that list is our trip around Europe! Tomorrow, yes tomorrow we fly out to London! A white Christmas in Dover with the inlaws followed by New Years in Paris!! I'm looking forward to it although Ads said its getting down to 4 degrees during the day and into the minuses at night! Friggen cold brrrr. So we are leaving sunny Australia for the trip of a lifetime! OMG. Tomorrow! Watch this space!

Thoughts that brighten my day

Well this week has certainly taken my life in a step backwards; literally since I had a left knee reconstruction! They say no pain no gain & I have certainly put up with a lot of pain in the last few days.

I guess it's moments like these that you learn to appreciate the simple things in life that sometimes we take for granted. Like walking & being able to shower & go to the ladies room on your own. All of which I haven't been able to do!

I must say though that I'm feeling the love from my besties & my family. I have received beautiful messages & hugs from people wanting to check on me. Feeling very special & two of my girls even took shifts watching over me on my first two nights out of hospital as my hubby couldn't be there!

To top it off my bedroom looks and smells like a florist which I am loving! I received this beautiful bunch from my Mum & Dad (Fitt) which are just gorgeous! Brightens my day & gives me something beautiful to look at while I try to get back on my feet.