Well I have entered the town of Montpellier. At the train station we met Lise who will be the person helping us in Montpellier. We walked to our apartment with our bags, which seemed a long long way, but we got to see alot of the town. It is big and very old, with lots of great shops and restaurants. We live near an old church, that is now an art gallery. Sam and I played soccer in the square outside the church last night, before dinner. It was great fun. I am very lucky because I have my own room and a queen size bed!
To all my friends back home and at CPS, I am missing you all.
Will Edney, over and out.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
UK adventure continued - London
Off to London to visit the Queen, well at least see her palace. We had a great apartment right in the heart of the action, 200 metres from Westminster Abbey and close by Buckingham Palace. Only downside was a level 3 apartment and a hot stairwell - 4 large suitcases up the stairs (then later down) was my workout for the day! We spent our first afternoon enjoying the sights of Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the bridge over the Thames before lunch in St James Park and playing the tourist (with a few thousand others) outside Buckingham Palace. Then we headed off to East Finchley about 20 minutes north of London for a great dinner with our dear friends Rick and Janet and their boys, who had just returned from 3 weeks touring Spain.
The next few days were a whirlwind of the sights; we set a punishing schedule for the kids and they were fabulous, enthusiastically taking in each new part of the adventure. Highlights:
Hamleys, an extraordinary kids store, 7 stories of toys - quite overwhelming really!
Tower of London, a terrific showcase of the brutal history of London but very much the beginnings of our exposure to London queues; the Crown Jewels was a monster line, but our patience was rewarded with some enormous diamonds on show and interesting history of the monarchy. Think it was lost on the boys who were more amused at the other meaning of crown jewels!
Night time trip on the London Eye; quite an achievement for Michaela given her fear of heights although she had a pretty tight grip on the bench in the middle of our pod; the views were amazing and kids were enthralled. Will was obsessed with seeing Wembley stadium and Michaela, the MI6 building..both living their respective worlds of fantasy.
Boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich, very amusing guide, that appealed greatly to Michaela's sense of humour. A particular poem that made Mac laugh referred to the Lions' heads that adorn the side walls of the Thames, to indicate water levels and floodlines. It went something like, "When the lions heads are ducked, London is…..flooded"!! The cruise down the Thames highlighted London's ever changing skyline and architecture, as they proudly retain and/or rebuild replicas of buildings from eras long-past, while erecting the tallest building in Europe, made of glass (that wasn't meant to rhyme!). Greenwich meantime was a bit lost on the kids, but a must-do, given the significance of the location as the centre of time!
Harrods, women in full muslim dress and gucci sunglasses - very easy to get lost in this place.
London Duck Tour - Our Jack Blackesq guide hosted us in a World War 2 amphibious vehicle converted into a canary yellow touring bus around Westminster before plunging into the Thames (and fortunately floating) next to MI6 to the background of the James Bond soundtrack and of course once we hit the water switched to… "We all live in a yellow submarine". The kids were hankering for a double decker bus ride so we isolated the right route to get us to Hyde Park Corner and one came along shortly. We then covered almost the same route as the Duck which gave us a chance to test the kids absorption of the facts - they did surprisingly well!!
Kensington Gardens were absolutely beautiful and a lovely warm day with the kids playing in the Princess Diana memorial walking fountain (spot the children who have come from the Southern Hemisphere winter!). It was quite a long walk from one end to the other and an occasional break on conveniently placed very comfortable shaded deck chairs. The amble was punctuated by the kids discovering a limping pigeon and elevating this to a national emergency resulting in a compliant park ranger coming to the rescue. The kids asked what he would do with it and he kindly said he would take it to the vet. I think I saw him deliver the last rites as he tossed it into the rear of his vehicle! We were lucky to see the Grenadier guards clip clopping past on their way home from Buckingham Palace.
Lion King - great seats and a wonderful play with the classic songs. Astounded at the group of 16-18 year olds that spent a good deal of the performance talking to each other and the elderly Indian lady who checked her voicemail half way through the second half lighting up the whole section of the audience. The audience lacked the appreciative grace we get used to in Melbourne and to me seemed as though they were ticking the box of a West End classic. Despite all this we loved the show and the songs featured in the following days as the kids danced around London and Paris.
We had a great dinner with our friends Graham and Jennifer Martin at a flash Japanese restaurant in Knightsbridge.
The kids became adept at navigating the Tube and travelled free of charge - hustling through the disabled gates at high speed as we traversed the network. Their confidence is growing everyday!
Paris blog to follow! A bientot mes amis!
Sunday, August 25, 2013
UK (before France) - Stonehenge and Oxford
Not quite sure what we expected with Stonehenge, but my knowledge of it in advance was based on a set of drink coasters that my parents had during my childhood; so the general idea was familiar. But it is rather weird for us to be driving along on in our National Lampoons people mover passing paddock after paddock (or field after field as they are known in these parts) and crest a hill of another paddock and lo and behold there they are! We dealt with a bit of traffic, nailed a good park and all five of us donned the audio gear to be educated on the history. Will Sasha and Sam took delight in racing each other through all the audio history points.
Given that it was built 4,500 years ago, it is quite amusing to listen to the indecisive musings of the curators and historians on the "why here"? It is pretty clear that Pagan worship was fundamental to the design with the summer and winter solstice being cornerstones, but what amazed us was that they managed to bring the stones 240 kilometres from Wales (probably by boat) and then dragged them up hills to this quite boring grassland. They then upended these up to 40 tonne rocks injected them into the ground and laid (what looked to me like) cricket bails on top. Herculean task. If the mood had taken me, I think I would have built my henge over in Wales!
Then an easy drive on to Oxford. We approached with anticipation of a studious and historic village, with homely looking pubs and willows weeping into the banks of the river with punting scholars serenading their belles. The reality was a little different as Sam announced that he was busting and absolutely couldn't wait so the male members of the party ended up in the staff toilets of a large electrical retailer in a somewhat industrial suburb of Oxford. We then got lost in the initially complex one way system of the town as we traversed to its northern side. Unfortunately we didn't see any villagey pubs, punting scholars or weeping willows as we made our way to our hotel.
After we settled and set off for an explore we realised that aside from being larger and more of a city than we were expecting, Oxford is the hardest place in England to get a park. We eventually got one in a pretty dodgy spot after a tense search and embarked on our most important goal of a leisurely punt on the river. I have prior experience of punting (I know what many of you may be thinking here, but I mean the one with poles and boats) and it was amusing, ending in one member of our party getting wet (not me) and a sense of humour failure for the balance of the day!
We navigated our way to the Magdalen Bridge, which is Oxford's punting central and we confidently and optimistically rented one for an hour. Michaela and Will were first aboard laying nervously at the bow, with Sasha and Sam amidships. I received some final flying instructions from the foppish working student and observing a couple of amateurs crashing into each other just offshore pushed off into the unknown. It wasn't long before Sasha and Sam were in tears fearing an early dunking, I nearly beheaded Will with an overhanging branch and the level of instruction from the back of the boat was exceeding the driving advice I had got earlier in the day. I blame the wind, but after pushing through under a bridge and then turning around a couple more times than I had intended my confidence had disappeared. As if by magic, a second foppish scholar appeared and upon the urgings of all of my family members I meandered our punt towards him and he took us home. We had been on the water no more than five minutes.
Astoundingly this must be quite common as our rental was exchangeable for a pedal boat which Will, Sam and I leapt into much more happily whilst Sasha and Michaela sought dry land and hot chocolate. This part of Oxford was truly spectacular with the magnificent chapels, buildings, playing fields and beautiful gardens around Christ Church and other colleges quite breathtaking. The boys wondered how many rugby balls would end up in the river as we pedalled our way along the waterways.
We then made our obligatory contribution to the local tourism industry with the purchase of the "Oxford University" emblazoned hoodies for our three aspiring scholars. I knew I was being striped by the local version of Terry and Arthur but got nowhere with my negotiating techniques! A late Chinese dinner and heavy sleeps for all after a memorable but at times stressful day! Looking forward to relaying our London blog next...
Given that it was built 4,500 years ago, it is quite amusing to listen to the indecisive musings of the curators and historians on the "why here"? It is pretty clear that Pagan worship was fundamental to the design with the summer and winter solstice being cornerstones, but what amazed us was that they managed to bring the stones 240 kilometres from Wales (probably by boat) and then dragged them up hills to this quite boring grassland. They then upended these up to 40 tonne rocks injected them into the ground and laid (what looked to me like) cricket bails on top. Herculean task. If the mood had taken me, I think I would have built my henge over in Wales!
Then an easy drive on to Oxford. We approached with anticipation of a studious and historic village, with homely looking pubs and willows weeping into the banks of the river with punting scholars serenading their belles. The reality was a little different as Sam announced that he was busting and absolutely couldn't wait so the male members of the party ended up in the staff toilets of a large electrical retailer in a somewhat industrial suburb of Oxford. We then got lost in the initially complex one way system of the town as we traversed to its northern side. Unfortunately we didn't see any villagey pubs, punting scholars or weeping willows as we made our way to our hotel.
After we settled and set off for an explore we realised that aside from being larger and more of a city than we were expecting, Oxford is the hardest place in England to get a park. We eventually got one in a pretty dodgy spot after a tense search and embarked on our most important goal of a leisurely punt on the river. I have prior experience of punting (I know what many of you may be thinking here, but I mean the one with poles and boats) and it was amusing, ending in one member of our party getting wet (not me) and a sense of humour failure for the balance of the day!
We navigated our way to the Magdalen Bridge, which is Oxford's punting central and we confidently and optimistically rented one for an hour. Michaela and Will were first aboard laying nervously at the bow, with Sasha and Sam amidships. I received some final flying instructions from the foppish working student and observing a couple of amateurs crashing into each other just offshore pushed off into the unknown. It wasn't long before Sasha and Sam were in tears fearing an early dunking, I nearly beheaded Will with an overhanging branch and the level of instruction from the back of the boat was exceeding the driving advice I had got earlier in the day. I blame the wind, but after pushing through under a bridge and then turning around a couple more times than I had intended my confidence had disappeared. As if by magic, a second foppish scholar appeared and upon the urgings of all of my family members I meandered our punt towards him and he took us home. We had been on the water no more than five minutes.
Astoundingly this must be quite common as our rental was exchangeable for a pedal boat which Will, Sam and I leapt into much more happily whilst Sasha and Michaela sought dry land and hot chocolate. This part of Oxford was truly spectacular with the magnificent chapels, buildings, playing fields and beautiful gardens around Christ Church and other colleges quite breathtaking. The boys wondered how many rugby balls would end up in the river as we pedalled our way along the waterways.
We then made our obligatory contribution to the local tourism industry with the purchase of the "Oxford University" emblazoned hoodies for our three aspiring scholars. I knew I was being striped by the local version of Terry and Arthur but got nowhere with my negotiating techniques! A late Chinese dinner and heavy sleeps for all after a memorable but at times stressful day! Looking forward to relaying our London blog next...
Friday, August 23, 2013
UK (before France) - Bath
Bonjour from Paris. I am sorry that I have not updated our blog sooner, but between incredibly busy days and consistently late nights, I have struggled to put thought to blog, fingers to keyboard. But as time (and my memory) will soon get away from me, I am determined to share some thoughts and adventures with you this evening.
Before I resume our UK story, let me spend a brief minute on today's activity, being Disneyland Paris, or better known back home as EuroDisney. I will only spend a minute, as while a great experience for the usual fun-park reasons, I think we have realised that fun parks are not for us. Perhaps Seaworld with its live animals and shows, but that is all! From 10am to 7.30pm...a marathon effort for us all, followed by a 40 minute train and then what seemed like another 40 minutes following the 'sortie' signs out of Chatelet station. Sasha loved it as she has the height and courage to go on the most nerve-wracking rides, but for Sam, only 6, and Will with a terrible fear of speed and height, the options were limited. And as our kids get older, the world of imagination and Disney characters diminishes. Moral of the story...when in Paris, stay in Paris!!
Having said all that, the parks are amazing and the facilities, choices and service first-class!
Well as you probably know by now, our UK adventure has drawn to a close and we had the most fantastic time. It has been very busy and crowded given peak holiday season in the UK, however this has not diminished from our experience (the queues, perhaps a little), but added enormously to the atmosphere. The language we heard the least was English!
When we left you last, we were headed to Bath, where I was (together with many others I'm sure) in search of Mr Darcy. While no luck there, my expectations were exceeded by the beautiful countryside and romantic architecture. Bath itself is a bustling university town, with great restaurants, shops and gardens, but it is the classic 'Circle' and 'Royal Crescent' architecture that is synonymous with the town, and truly captures your imagination and sense of history, and Jane Austen story-telling! On approach into Bath, we were so lucky to come across a magnificant property called Dyrham Park, home to an absolutely spectactular estate, site of films such as Remains of the Day and Sense and Sensibility. I was in heaven....and the kids just loved the grounds, history and the deer!!
Another observation in certain parts of England, was that a class system still does exist! This was particularly and humorously played out in Bath, when we were playing in an open, public park near the Royal Cresent. Separating this park and the homes along the Royal Cresent was a more manicured lawn and low iron gates..that actually led around to the open, public gate through which we entered. Much to our amusement along came the 'jolly good show' set with their Ralph Lauren Polo shirts, remote control helicopter, Scottish terrier and keys! Our kids oblivious to the 'system' happily went to climb the wall between the manicured and less-manicured lawns, to play with the dog that had come over to them. It was a matter of seconds before one of the 'residents' came over and without acknowledging the kids, collected their dog. I felt like shouting..."we have a big house in Camberwell with a pool...and a poodle!!" Oh well, each to their own! It felt like we were stepping back in time.
Here are some beautiful photos (more to follow), note the different grass areas!
Before I resume our UK story, let me spend a brief minute on today's activity, being Disneyland Paris, or better known back home as EuroDisney. I will only spend a minute, as while a great experience for the usual fun-park reasons, I think we have realised that fun parks are not for us. Perhaps Seaworld with its live animals and shows, but that is all! From 10am to 7.30pm...a marathon effort for us all, followed by a 40 minute train and then what seemed like another 40 minutes following the 'sortie' signs out of Chatelet station. Sasha loved it as she has the height and courage to go on the most nerve-wracking rides, but for Sam, only 6, and Will with a terrible fear of speed and height, the options were limited. And as our kids get older, the world of imagination and Disney characters diminishes. Moral of the story...when in Paris, stay in Paris!!
Having said all that, the parks are amazing and the facilities, choices and service first-class!
Well as you probably know by now, our UK adventure has drawn to a close and we had the most fantastic time. It has been very busy and crowded given peak holiday season in the UK, however this has not diminished from our experience (the queues, perhaps a little), but added enormously to the atmosphere. The language we heard the least was English!
When we left you last, we were headed to Bath, where I was (together with many others I'm sure) in search of Mr Darcy. While no luck there, my expectations were exceeded by the beautiful countryside and romantic architecture. Bath itself is a bustling university town, with great restaurants, shops and gardens, but it is the classic 'Circle' and 'Royal Crescent' architecture that is synonymous with the town, and truly captures your imagination and sense of history, and Jane Austen story-telling! On approach into Bath, we were so lucky to come across a magnificant property called Dyrham Park, home to an absolutely spectactular estate, site of films such as Remains of the Day and Sense and Sensibility. I was in heaven....and the kids just loved the grounds, history and the deer!!
Another observation in certain parts of England, was that a class system still does exist! This was particularly and humorously played out in Bath, when we were playing in an open, public park near the Royal Cresent. Separating this park and the homes along the Royal Cresent was a more manicured lawn and low iron gates..that actually led around to the open, public gate through which we entered. Much to our amusement along came the 'jolly good show' set with their Ralph Lauren Polo shirts, remote control helicopter, Scottish terrier and keys! Our kids oblivious to the 'system' happily went to climb the wall between the manicured and less-manicured lawns, to play with the dog that had come over to them. It was a matter of seconds before one of the 'residents' came over and without acknowledging the kids, collected their dog. I felt like shouting..."we have a big house in Camberwell with a pool...and a poodle!!" Oh well, each to their own! It felt like we were stepping back in time.
Here are some beautiful photos (more to follow), note the different grass areas!
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