Homeward Bound

On Friday night, we took this photo with Daniel and Danielle after sharing a yummy meal together, relaxing over wine (that was mainly me and Danielle!) and laughs - just the way I want to remember our time with them.  I had such a great time connecting with my family, there is nothing quite the same as spending time with those people you grew up with. 

The next morning we caught the train to London bright and early, waving goodbye to mum, Murray, Daniel and Danielle from our seats.  We arrived in London at lunchtime and launched straight into the chaos of things by catching the tube, suitcases and all, to our Hotel!  My hands still have callouses.  Waiting for us was my great Aunty Nita, who lives near to London but I had'nt met before.  She was fun, she chatted to us like she had known us for years, helped herself to food from our plates and kept us all at ease in her company.  She found out I had 3 children, which she was astonished at ("But you look so young" - thanks Nita!) and I found out she used to be a ballet dancer and then later an actress (she was in Avengers!).  

By now it was 3pm, and we only had the afternoon to see London as we were off to Paris at 7am the next day.  We used the tube to get us to the Tower of London first, one of my favourite buildings.  Sadly, the viewing platform gave us only a view of scaffolding really this trip - making it not quite as majestic as I remembered it!  I was disappointed that my family didn't get to see it in all its glory.  We didn't have time to go through it and its SO expensive anyway, so back to the tube it was - Mum had put together a bit of a sightseeing walk for us, so we used that as a basis to get going.
First up was the awe inspiring Big Ben, Parliament Buildings and Westminster Abby.  I love these beautiful buildings and we all snapped away pictures of the magnificent clock.  

Then we wandered off towards Trafalgar Square via St James Palace and Downing Street.  Steph and Josh couldn't believe the amount of people snapping photos of the entry to Downing Street.  "People don't take photos of John Key's home" they said.  We joined the crowds taking their photo with the soldiers at the Palace.  Poor young guy looked a bit miserable as he stood in perfect attention despite all the tourists gazing at him.  Pretty awesome buildings though eh?

At Trafalgar Square we went to take photos on the back of the massive Lions, recreating the pic I had taken 12 years ago on my last trip to London.  But As I posed on the back, I got told to GET DOWN by a cross looking security guard.  Oops, guess that's not allowed now then.  I slid down and Steph settled for having her photo taken standing in the Lion's paws.  As we wandered around, pointing out objects of interest, I randomly said "Oh look - and there's a big blue chicken".  Everyone thought I was being silly until they saw it too!

We wandered down towards Buckingham Palace, walking the Mall which is beautiful with it's tree lined street.  Josh said it reminded him of Oak Avenue here in Hastings.  We all agreed that London is pretty and clean, not nearly as bad as it's reputation makes it out to be.  The buildings are amazing and the Tube was surprisingly clean and efficient.  At Buckingham palace, we ran into these guys dressed in gorilla outfits - we had already spotted them several times on our trip as they snapped photos around the city.  One of them joined me for a photo - thanks Mr Gorilla!

Picadilly Circus

We ended our day in Picadilly Circus, where we had good ol' McDonalds for dinner, and then took the tube out to see London Bridge by night.  Tired from a long day, it was off to bed early - but not before a quick pint in the local pub by our Hotel - where they were showing the highlights from the America's cup!


The Next morning, it was off on the Eurostar to Paris.  At 300km an hour, it only takes 20 minutes to cross underneath the English Channel! Within just a couple of hours, we were in France.  After dumping our bags at our hotel finally after a taxi ride (it should have been a walk, but we got a bit lost getting out of the large station!), we headed out to find food.  We had lunch in a lovely little restaurant, where we got to grapple with the waitresses and get to grips with the language barrier.  My meal was delicious - duck breast in a pepper sauce with sauteed garlic potato. Yum Yum!  Refueled, we decided to wander the city and see the place.  We crossed over the river on one of the many bridges which sides are packed with padlock after padlock, engraved with lovers names locked together in the romantic city.  Later, I added Marty and I to the many names engraved in various pens on the bridges.  We saw Notre Dame, and lots of other amazing beautiful buildings as we walked.  Every hotel and museum, church and bank, it seemed was decorated with ornate statues and amazing architecture.  Paris sure is beautiful ....

But boy does it stink!!! Every few metres we were hit with another pong of urine, or the sight of a wet puddle in a corner.  Once in a back street we even saw a poo which looked suspiciously human (gag moment).  What is it with this country?  Since when was it ok to wee on the side of the road?  It was pretty gross and ruined a little of the beauty of the place with it's dirtiness.

Notre Dame

Just another  beautiful building!

  We refeuled with some REAL italian gelato in the centre of it all...oh so good.  The french couple seated next to us kept giving us filthy looks and I heard the word "english" from them.  They obviously didn't read my top.   I had worn a NEW ZEALAND t-shirt on purpose, knowing how the french detest the thousands of English tourists that rudely refuse to even attempt their language - but they do love the kiwis!  "ahh...Rugby!" they say with a grin when we tell them where we are from.  Later on as dad sat for a minute and the others shopped, I used our street map (unsucessfully) to attempt to figure out where we were in this massive city full of tiny streets.  As I stood there in my short skirt looking a bit confused, I was approached by a young french man, offering his help.  I tried hard to flash my wedding ring as he asked me friendly questions about where I was from and who I was here with.  He was no help at all with the map though, he laughed and said "Paris is big!".  Ah well...it added to the illusion of the city of romance anyway!

We managed to see the Arch de'trumph before crossing the Pt. Alexander III bridge and checking out the Eiffel tower lit up in the dusky light.  After dinner we set off for home, well ready for our beds and with bruised feet from hours of walking the city.

The next day we headed off to see some of the big tourist spots before I headed off to the airport for home.  We wandered up Montemarte to see the magnificent Sacre Cour.  It stays pristine white because the brick reacts with the rain and is self cleaning!  Awesome eh?  Unfortunately, we got totally fleeced by the African's that prey on the tourists at the base of the church.  They grabbed our wrists as we walked past and before we had a chance to say "no thanks" they plaited us some coloured string bracelets as they chatted cheerfully to us.  Lovely?  Maybe.  Until they expected "a small note" for their services.  They literally grabbed money out of dad and steph's hands, and made off with about NZ $30 for the pathetic bracelets they left us with!  It did taint the Sacre Cour visit for us a bit, and the inside was not nearly as majestic as I recalled it being on my previous trip there after that experience.  

The view of the Eiffel tower from the top of the Sacre Cour was pretty cool though - it showed how HUGE the engineering feature actually is.  It dominates the skyline and we were off to see it up close!

By the time we got there, I was starting to think about my upcoming 30 hour adventure homeward, I had to get back to the Hotel soon for my lift to the airport.  So we snapped some shots and said goodbye to Josh, who was keen to wander the city in his own time for a bit.  It took us a while to work out the connecting transfers on the Metro system to find our way home, and we were all hungry by the time we left the station for the hotel.  Grabbing a french bread combo, we munched as we walked, believing I was in good time with about an hour to go before my pickup - just time to freshen up and finish lunch.  Not so!  It turns out that the phone we had been using for the time had reverted back to the UK time - so was an hour behind paris.  I discovered this I turned on my charging iphone about 2 minutes after arriving at the hotel- just as the phone rang in our hotel room to let me know my shuttle ride was waiting for me.  Panicked, I chucked stuff into my suitcase, changed my socks (ew - 30 hours in the same socks after walking around the hot city all morning? no thanks!) and flew down the stairs as dad followed with my suitcase.  It took me about the whole trip to the airport to calm down after that!  I discovered halfway there that I was sharing a shuttle with a kiwi family, who had been travelling  Europe following collecting a silver medal for NZ at the world water skiing championships!  To make it even more uncanny then sharing a pariscab with New Zealanders....they were booked in on ALL the same flights as me! It was quite fun - we chatted in Franfurt, in Hong Kong and said goodbye in Auckland!  

Finally in New Zealand, I burst into tears at domestic terminal when I discovered I might not be able to get home as Napier was very foggy.  I prayed, Marty prayed - and the weather cleared.  I was finally home.  As I entered the airport, two little girls screamed "MUMMY!" and attached themselves in a big embrace to my legs.  Luke went into hysterical silly mode, laughing and laughing and throwing himself on the floor in his attempt to run at me.  It was adorable.  And then it started.  "Where are our presents?!" the girls demanded several times.  Sigh.  They weren't happy with the "I am your present" either!  I have to admit though, they were delighted at what I chose for them, and adore their new Hello Kitty soft toys, taking them to school today to show off.  Luke loves his dinosaur suit, stomping around the place happily roaring.  After getting straight back into mummy duties, cleaning the kids craft stuff off the table and scrubbing at fingerprints, I finally unpacked and was asleep on the couch before 8.20pm! 

 It's good to be home.