July 31st, 2009

Yesterday marked the mid point of our trip. I can't believe it is half over!

This week and next week we are in Ingelheim. We're not even going any farther than Mainz for the weekend!!!!!

Yesterday I took the girls to Mainz on the train, it's about a 10 minute trip. I gotta say whenever you are ordering something in a foreign language you never know what you are going to get. Thank God I got the right train tickets. I wasn't nearly as lucky when I ordered the girls ice-cream! I thought I was ordering two cups of ice-cream one with a scoop of bitter chocolate and one with a scoop of chocolate nugget. We ended up with one cup of one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of bitter chocolate and the other cup with a scoop of chocolate nugget and one scoop of bitter chocolate. Our friend Yens later figured out that I had ordered a cone in a cup with bitter chocolate and chocolate nugget! Oh well!

Once again I nearly brought Olivia to tears of joy! Yes we had lunch at McDonalds again. Devastatingly though their pop machines weren't working so we all had to have orange juice. The good news is that it was really only orange in color there wasn't a trace of pulp (or nutrition) anywhere.

The girls have met a couple of little (3 years and 5 years old) kids. At this point no one cares how old they are. The only prerequisite is that they speak English. The Mom thinks she's won the lottery. She can't believe her luck! Their Dad works at Boehringer and they've just moved from Paris. They're feeling the same sort of shell shock that we were a few weeks ago. We are trying to get together for dinner, so far no luck!
Friends, yeah!

Because there is a lack of new travelling adventures going on with the Fairley's I'm going to do a 'best of' sort of thing...

For some reason when I rest my elbow on the arm rest in the car, 9 times out of 10, I inadvertantly unroll the window. I can tell by the look on Bruce's face that he feels so lucky that I'm his wife!!!!! It makes me laugh just thinking about it!

Another really annoying thing: Shannon has started making this sucking noise with her teeth! OMG! I can not begin to describe how crazy it makes me!!!!!

I think we all know Olivia's aversion to decent cuisine of any kind is pretty annoying to all the other Fairleys!

Bruce has kept his annoyingness to Amsterdamn where he must have reminded us 42 times that he had lived there 20 years ago. Clearly what he did there 20 years ago affected his memory!!!! The bottom picture is Bruce and the girls in front of his apartment there. Did I mention that he lived there 20 years ago? See how annoying that is?!?

Things I forgot to mention...

In Riems, France the parking is a premium. On our final day there, there were no parking spaces on the main floor of the parking garage. There was a sign that said 'car elevator', so we pressed the button and Bruce drove our entire family into an elevator that was so small that you couldn't open the doors to get out (say if something horrible happened like one of the people in the car had claustriphobic attack, and you really needed to get out) I had to go to my happy place and fast!!

One other thing about cars in Europe. I understand that the cars are smaller but they are still considerably bigger than the parking spaces! Unbelievable!

Keeping with the car theme...
In both the Netherlands and Italy we've noticed a peculiar phenomonen. When there is work going on on the highway they don't waste an able bodied person to wave a flag of warning they have these weird scarecrow/mannequin hybrids set up and somehow have them waving flags! It is funny yet disturbing at the same time! The ones in the Netherlands are particularly scary, crazy wigs etc. Of course the Italian ones are beautifully dressed!

Why is it that the German country side is so lush and yet there isn't a vegetable in sight in any restaurant?

TOILETS
It amazes me how many different ways there are to flush a toilet! There are the automatic flushers, the big pad on the wall behind the toilet flushers, the step on the floor flushers, and there are a few I just had to walk away from. The fact that many places charge for the use of the toilet is unpleasant yet not shocking. All the different ways they get you to pay is fascinating! There's the token approach the British are fond of, the different highway systems seem happiest with cash and in the German train stations you can get away without paying but if you don't pay before you go thru the turn style a loud buzzer goes off and won't stop unless you pay! I'm sure everyone in the vicinity suffers from hearing loss, it is unbearable. The amazing thing with that is how many middle aged guys are proud to save the 50 cents at the expense of their hearing (and mine!) I made eye contact with one guy and he gave me that proud look of 'boy did I jsut beat the system!'

SIGNS (a passion of mine)
As you enter Paris there are these signs that look like the car is on fire/exploding. They are directed to use the right lane. Really? I've tried to think of every possible explanation. I got nothin'!
Then there are the bathroom signs there. They are the best! Their sign people are elegantly dressed and it's a 50's rendering of a movie star type character. I feel like I should sashay into the bathroom! LOVE IT!

As we left Florence I noticed that their crosswalk signs are of little kids crossing the street running full out in shorts. The little girls pigtail is straight out, that's how fast she's moving. They aren't old signs either, they look recent. In Switzerland they have two 50's kids holding hands, carefully walking across the street. They speak volumes of how different the two countries are that share a border!

Just funny stuff...

In the visitors guide that was in our hotel room in Amsterdam they talk about how screaming and yelling in public are unacceptable and urinating in public is illegal, if caught it's a 50 EURO fine. Prostution is legal and please don't hesitate to contact the police if you have trouble with a pimp. please don't be embaressed they've seen it all and remember that if you use too many soft drugs a hot sugary drink will help make you feel better! Hard drugs are illegal and probably fake, jsut a ruse that will get you robbed! Watch out for fake police officers too! ...and parking is NOT free! What a crazy town. Did I mention that Bruce lived there 20 years ago?!?

I'm going to save hotel breakfasts for another Blog! It looks like things are going to be pretty dull for the next little while. I don't want to run out of material!
Have a great weekend!

From Florence to the Castles and home

We left Florence at 12 noon we planned to arrive at the Castles of Neuschwantien and Hohenschwangau at 6pm.
There were beaurtiful parts to the drive. On the way to Florence we drove through the Swiss Alps on the way back we went through the Italian Alps. Absolutely fantastic. The vineyards are all set up horizontally and in that area of Italy (and south to Florence) it is full of cypress trees. They are dark green and look like a tall, tight spruce. Very distinctive and such a contrast to the horizontal lines of the vineyards.

I don't think I've introduced you to Lola yet. She's our navigational system. We have questioned her several times but I must say she's always gotten us to where we wanted to go. Bruce couldn't figure out why we has about 40km's to go and she said it way going to take way over an hour. Well when you cutting through moutain ranges and doing switch backs it takes time people. We arrived at the castles just after 9pm. Poor Bruce, he was absolutely shattered!

So, we get to the hotel and I'm checking in and chatting with the woman at the front desk. Well didn's she life in Toronto for 20 years, on Logan Ave., the same street as a friend of Bruce's where he house sat! Seriously, what are the chances?!?!

It was a beautiful little hotel, a King bed for Bruce and I and a twin each for Shannon and Olivia. Bruce literally passed out and I took the girls for a walk around to see the castles from a distance and then we were off to bed too! It's amazing how exhausting sitting in a car for hours on end can be!

After a fantastic breakfast, fresh croissants, a choice of ordered egg & meat combo's, orange juice WITHOUT pulp, I'm sure if we had ordered the bacon it would have been crispy, and eggs wouldn't have been soggy!

Then got up into the horse drawn carriage, (is there any other way to arrive at a castle? I mean really!) and headed up the mountain to Neuschwanstien castle for our tour. Of course Olivia and Bruce wiggled their way up to the front and Olivia drove part of the way!
These two castles are spectacular, I'm using that word allot, but they are. King Ludwig II grew up in Hohenschwangau with his parents and brother and then went on to rebuild Neuschwantein castle from ancient ruins. Neuschwanstein is the castle that the Disney castle was inspired by.
I must say if you ever get the chance to see the castles, take a whole weekend. From the unbelievable drive there, to the quaint village that services the two castles, to the castles themselves it is quite an experience. In the Kings' bedroom in Hohenswchangau there is a night sky painted on the ceiling. He loved the outdoors. There is a full moon painted on the ceiling with a disc over it that moves so the appropriate phase is showing! How cool is that?!!? There is a 1000 year old, or at least really, really old piece of bread there, and lots of hidden doorways and passage ways.

After doing both castles and having both wiener schnitzel and ice-cream, pretty much mandatory in this neck of the woods, and a quick stop at the souvenior shop, we headed home.
Shannon picked up a little teddy bear that is not a replacement for Pooh B. but will be a companion upon his return. Olivia got a stuffed swan. Swans are really important around here.
It was about 1pm and our plan was to get home by 5ish, have a quick dinner and then Bruce had some work to do... Ahhh, what's that saying about the best laid plans?
Lola will often warn us about impending traffic disruptions. They never seem to come to fruition though. At one point in the never ending drive home she said there was a 8km queue due to an accident with people on the roadway! Yikes! Although we never saw anything it certainly slowed us down. Our original plan went out the window and we went to the local beergarten for a quick dinner. Nothing, and I mean nothing, other than restaurants are open on Sunday in Germany!
Finally we are home again! Now there are only about 42 tiny loads of laundry to do and we're back to square one!

The Florence trip: July 27, 2009

So here's the plan. A nine hour drive through Switzerland to Florence! I know it's not much of a plan but it's all we got! I packed us up the day before and tried to have the kids running around outside as much as possible. Bruce and I were up at 5am and out of the apartment by 6am with two very groggy children, just the way we like 'em! Believe it or not the drive was pretty uneventful! Spectacular views and vistas especially through Switzerland. The tunnels were amazing, one was 17 km. My claustrophobia reared its ugly little head. Bruce tried to help by telling tunnel disaster stories. Didn't really help! He was like that guy on the plane who can't some talking about plane crashes! The mountain ranges just go on and on. There are all these tiny towns built right into the side of the mountains. Castle like buildings, forts and churches sprinkle the upper levels. Really beautiful!

We stopped somewhere in Switzerland, I think, for a picnic lunch, I remembered everything except knives. They are pivotal when you are serving nutella as your children's only source of protein, I must say. This guy overheard our dilemma and produced a couple of knives. It ended up that he and Bruce went to the same high school! What are the chances, I mean really!?!? I think we have moved from our disastrous phase to our eerie meeting phase!

When we left Germany it was just starting to cool down from a warm spell. It was about 25 degrees I think. It was 39 degrees when we arrived in Florence. Absolutely scorching! Our hotel was just north of the Arno on the west side of town. It had a spectacular rooftop pool! The bottom picture is one of the views from the rooftop terrace. If anyone ever goes to Florence in the summer with kids. A pool is an absolute must!
I must say Florence was not what I expected. I'm not sure exactly what I expected but it wasn't that! It is really small for starters, less than 1/2 million people. It takes the term 'tourist town' to whole new heights! There is the same feeling there as in the Caribbean. The locals need you because their economy relies on tourists but they resent you for that. I'm pretty sure July in Florence with two young kids is not the ideal scenario though. Definitely a grown up town. Hopefully Bruce and I will be able to go back one day just the two of us.
Having said that, I had the best damn cappuccino ever! I can't even describe how good it was and Bruce assures me there are better ones out there! Out there being Italy, nowhere else!!
The food there is almost unbearably good! Soooo fresh! I loved the markets too. Leather, and accessories, just what I'm looking for! That is totally my kind of shopping. I love the smell of a deal! I gotta a purse (wanted one), a wallet (needed one) and ear rings (you can neve have too many ear rings). I could have got another purse, a belt and some cool hats if I didn't feel like all I was doing was throwing money at anybody that asked!
Now I have to make a confession! It's a big one... Are you ready? We didn't go to the Uffzi gallery OR the Acadamia. I know, I know! It was so stiflingly hot and you have line up unless you're on a tour... The thought was unbearable! Forgive me.

The first night we were there we headed straight for the pool and then the girls and I grabbed a quick dinner. Best lasagna I've ever had! Bruce had a work dinner to go. The next morning Bruce was off to work and the girls and I hit the pool first, of course, and then on to Florence. They couldn't bear the thought of a tour so we just walked along the Arno river towards the Ponto Vecchio and then into town. At 10am it was already 35 degrees. The next time I go to Florence, if it's in the summer I swear I'm taking one of those air conditioned bus tours! Don't judge me! You've not walked in my fitflops!

I had heard of the Museo Leonardo DaVinci from savymom.com, of all places. I found it, no small feat, well Shannon actually found it, and it was fantastic. It is really off the beaten path but totally worth it if you have kids. It is small but had some great videos playing giving you a great sense of the time he was alive and what his life was like and a great oppurtunity to sit down in air contditoning and then a bunch of the inventions were interactive. That is were the Mona Lisa pictures are from. Conveniently located near a McDonald's. I honestly thought Olivia was going to start to cry , when I told her we could go to McDonald's for lunch. It was such a relief for them to have "normal" food, Shannon's phrase. Where oh where did I go wrong!

So now it's about 1pm and we are heading straight back to the hotel to swim and just chill out. Because it is so hot none of the restaurants open before 7pm so the girls need to relax and rejuvenate because it's going to be a long nite. Nothing worse than tired, hungry, hot children, that is for sure!
I give Shannon, the map reader, some bad intel and we get horribly lost. I'm literally buying water and pouring it over the girls heads because it is so hot. Olivia face was so red I thought she was going to pass out. Finally we make it back to the hotel and drag ourselves up to the pool. We are bearly alive at this point.

THERE ARE ENGLISH SPEAKING KIDS THERE! I can not tell you how great it was! Georgia is right in between Shannon and Olivia in age, almost exactly a year older than Lee and E-lie(I spelled it phonetically because I can't for the life of me figure out how to spell it properly!) is 6 years old. Their Mom Terri and I yakked at the side of the pool while the kids played for hours together. It was a great afternoon. Really what we need to do is have an early dinner, maybe a movie and an early night. Ahhh, if only..

Bruce arrived back at the hotel later than expected, which here is to be expected, with one of his co workers no less and just needed to have a quick meeting over a beer... Will this day ever end. No, not really! J.M joined us for dinner at about 8pm. A great guy from Koln Germany that Bruce works with. Remember those hot, tired, hungry kids I was telling you about, they both came to dinner too! It is a miracle my head hasn't popped right off my shoulders by this point! 11pm and the girls are finally in bed!

Bruce had Friday off, hurray, and we are off to the markets, much to Olivia's shagrin, do I even need to add that? Poor kid, it's like we are torturing her. She hates the food, she's not getting enough sleep, we're always doing stuff we want, nothing is familiar... After lunch, which Olivia wouldn't eat, 'cause it was weird, we head back to the hotel to spend the afternoon at the pool. Please, please, let Georgia and her brother be there.

Yeah, they are. Their Dad Martin arrives soon after and we all spend a great time together. Bruce and Martin go and buy some beer and water at a local store. The hotel bar is so expensive and they don't seem to care if you byob. At some point saving money becomes a none issue because we end up having three bottles of champagne at the bar. We all then head off to dinner. By this point Olivia and Georgia are fast friends and Eli has a bit of a crush on Shannie, he thinks she is really cool! She was so sweet with him. Held his hand all the way to the restaurant, shared a pizza with him at dinner. He was collecting glass bits so Shannie kept an eye out for him. Once again we push Olivia past her limit! More weird food, Georgia got plain noodles, I didn't even know that was an option, so unfair! Apparently Italian bread is weird too. We wouldn't let her have any coke. Life can be so unfair.
Next year with Mrs.Balanger should be a piece of cake!
It's somehow 11pm again and we're just finishing dinner. We drag our exhausted, sun burnt bodies back to the hotel and try and sleep.
First thing the next morning, Bruce heads out to the markets on his own to get a briefcase and I take the girls swimming, then I head out after him.
I'm now walking, alone, in Florence to go shopping! I can barely stand it! This is the first time since we've been in Europe that I've been outside and alone! Life is good.
After a quick dip in the pool, some tearful goodbyes and promises of letters and visits we head off for what is supposed to be a 4 hour drive to the Neushwantein and Hohenshwangau castles in Germany.

July 21, 2009 off to Florence

Brussels, Amsterdam and beyond!

We left for Brussels on the afternoon of July 14th. It's about a 4 hour drive. We popped in a movie for the girls. They share a pair of headphones so it's really quite funny. Bruce made some calls and then I helped him get through some emails while enjoying the beautiful German countryside. It is spectacularly lush here. Vineyards climb up the mountains and there are tons of different kinds of cows. They seem to hang with their own kind. We passed one field and it must have had about 6 or 7 different breeds of cows. One group all had black bums and then black heads but their middle sections were a ring of white. I've never seen anything like it.
We stayed in the Grand Sablon area of Brussels. It's a beautiful area. Littered with antique shops and cool little cafes and not far from Grand Place.
Once arriving in Brussels and checking out our fantastic hotel. We had two funky rooms across the hall from eachother! Can you say kids room!!! Yeah!! We made sure we hit all the tourist highlights. We rubbed the bronze lady's arm for good luck. I made Olivia do it a couple of times. We saw Manneken Pis. Really after those two and Grand Place you can tick Brussels off your list. Don't worry we had waffles later!

The highlight of our stay in Brussels was dinner both nights with Taylor Imrie (Taylor is David's son, David is Bruce's 'Big Brother') Taylor has been in Europe since mid-May and has had a hell of a time! The poor guy has been mugged not once, but twice. If he hadn't told us the story you would never have known the trip had been anything but a ragging sucess! Then on the second night he took us out for dessert and there was something going on a few tables away, but trying to figure out what people are saying when they want you to understand them is hard enough... Anyways all of the sudden the two men have taken it to the street and then I'm not sure what happened but my eyes were stinging and I was choking on a peppery taste, I looked around and it was affecting everyone sitting on the patio. One of the guys had Pepper sprayed the other guy!!!!! Seriously if my tombstone doesn't say never a dull moment I'm gonna be pissed!

It was so great to see Taylor! He is such a good guy. Shannon and Olivia were so happy to see their 'cousin'! Watching Taylor and the girls walk through the crowded streets of Brussels hand in hand is one of those pictures in my mind that I will hold close to heart for a long time.
After dinner the first night, we went to a favorite restaurant of Bruce's, he has recommended to many of friends and collegues visiting Brussels. My Dad may remember it too! Anyways we meandered over to Grand Place and they were doing this light and sound show, it was amazing! In the months that we lived in Brussels before we never saw anything like that, Shannon thought it went on every night and really wanted to come back the next night to see it! 10pm time to get the kiddles, and their parents to bed!

Bruce headed off to work the next morning and the girls and I hit Brussels. First stop for waffles and chocolate milkshakes! This really is Shannon's town! Olivia was absolutley fasinated by Manneken Pis. We literally spent most of the afternoon trying to find the PERFECT Manneken Pis souvenior! I really wanted to take them to the Parc du Bruxelles but they were just too tired. We opted for a couple of hours back in the hotel room watching a movie. They watched a movie, I'm reading 'The book of Negros', it is fantastic!

As we are packing up to go to Amsterdam Shannon realizes that her Pooh B. is gone! We rip both rooms apart, obviously it's in the car, right? Wrong! This truly the hardest thing that has happened since we've been here. We talked to the hotel staff.The only thing anyone can think of is that he got caught in the bedding and went to the laundry. We left our name and contact info with them, I've emailed them since our return. We haven't heard anything. It chokes me up just writing about it. Shannon has sucked it up this whole trip. She always finds the ray of sunshine in a situation and this has devastated her. She is having trouble sleeping... Pooh B. if you're out there, come home!
There is a disney store in Florence and Shannon said if her Pooh B. doesn't make it back she'll try and fake it with a new Pooh Bear.

Oh yea, Shannon got Birkenstocks!!! Bruce scored a couple of ties and some new cufflinks and a Lagiole corkscrew!!! The buying corkscrew was one of those great shopping experiences where I now know more about corkscrews than I ever thought possible. I love people who enjoy what they do like that! We went back to see Manneken Pis one last time and he was dressed! I've never seen him dressed before. He had on little blue EU pj's! Tuesday is a big day in Belgium, the King will be in a parade through the streets... Manneken Pis gets dressed up for special occasions!

I got some cool scarves. Scarves are huge here. Leggings with short dresses are everywhere, jeans are still a staple, the skirts with the bubble hem are huge! Woman here really accessorize too! It's all about the belt, scarf... One thing Taylor noticed that I missed, not a pair of yoga pants or a hoody in sight!

All right everyone off to Amsterdam!
The old fashion windmills are so cool. You can really feel the landscape change as you get closer to the Netherlands. Our hotel, which cost less per night than our crappy lunch in Paris is a little out of the way shall we say! The one room we are all staying in is consideralably smaller than the girls room in Brussels! Olivia and I end up on loveseat hide-a-bed sort of deal. The hotel is under renovation so parking is limited, none of the vending machines are working, and only 2 or the 4 elevators are working. The second morning we end up leading a convoy of people, none of whom speak English down the stairs (from the 9th floor) to second floor then Bruce finds another staircase, out the back of the hotel and around to the front for breakfast! Crazy! Shannon tried her 1st boiled egg here!

We arrived in Amsterdam late afternoon and Bruce had a brilliant idea. We went and say the new Harry Potter movie at this beautiful art deco movie theater in downtown Amsterdam. Bruce and I each enjoyed a beer while watching the movie, you gotta love that! In this theater there are assigned seats. I don't know if it is specific to that theater or a European thing. Cool though! I can not emphasize enough how beautiful the theater was!
The upside to the tiny room was that Bruce turned into Shannon's cuddle toy for the night. That helped dull the pain of Pooh B.s absense.

Saturday July 18, 2009. We did the Van Gogh museum, a canal ride and Anne Frank's house with pancakes for lunch! It amazes me how much the girls enjoy the museums. They each got posters of Van Gogh prints for their room at home. Toronto home that is! The canal ride was okay. I'm still looking for a tour that beats the Hop on Hop off bus in London! Everything has paled in comparison since!
We've been so lucky so far with line ups. No line up at the Louvre, on a long weekend Saturday in July, no line up at the Van Gogh museum (the Rijks museum had a huge line-up) and I happened across buying tickets on line for Anne Franks house that get you past the really, really long line up there!
What an amazing experience the Anne Frank museum is. There is a photograph of Otto Frank looking at the empty rooms, it is haunting me. We bought copy of the diary and then a book that talks about everything going around that time. It helps gives you some perspective to the situation. The one of the saddest things about the exhibit for me was a video of one of Anne's childhood friends who talks about being reunited with Anne on either sides of a barbed wire fence. She speaks of how Anne died only a month before the war ended, having lsot her sister and all hope that either of her parents had survived. Very sad.

Now we approach the hardest part of the day. Everyone is tired and hungry and we need to find a restaurant! To say that the girls have embraced European cuisine would be a bold faced lie! Olivia at this point is surviving on bread and coke and Shannon is just hungry all the time even though she has been pretty good about trying stuff! Only problem is she tries a tiny bite, says it's good and then doesn't eat anymore! I don't know what happened or exactly when it happened but something happened!
Bruce put his foot down and insisted on decent restaurant. Olivia ate her first hamburger ever and Shannon ate this disgusting thing called a coquette. I think it's deep fried pate! Seriously! Shannon ate that, the whole thing! Really! She has tried bratwurst, weiener schnitzel. The tide has turned.

Now we head home to Germany... After all this driving and a nine hour drive to Florence just a few days away Bruce is really talking about me driving standard again, I'm talking about trading this car in for an automatic car!!! Can our marriage survive another driving lesson? that is the question!
Yes it can!
Bruce wonders how far I can get in first gear?! I can definitely make it to the train station and that will get the girls and I to Mainz. I don't need to get any farther than that!!!

It's Sunday evening in Germany and not a store is open in sight, all we've got in the kitchen are fruit flies so we are off to another restaurant! Bruce takes us to this little German restaurant in Mainz. He is very hopeful, me, not so much. He order weiner schintzel for the girls and... THEY LOVE IT! It's the closet thing to a chicken finger Olivia is likely to get!

Another driving lesson is scheduled for tonight. Last night Bruce tried to go to second gear, but I said not on the first date!!!!!

We're off to Florence and points in between at the crack of dawn on Wednesday! Keep those emails coming, they are my lifeline.
Love to all!

Monday June 13th

Friday night we went for drinks at Eric and Mary's place. It is this spectacular apartment right in the middle of Reims. He has completely refinished it himself and has done an unbelievable job. I wish I had brought my camera. Bruce used to work with Eric and he and Mary are newly married. She is a camera enthusiast to say the least. She has really inspired me to take even more pictures. From there we drove for an hour or so to Stephan's place.
OMG! It is an old French Farm house. I felt like I was on a movie set. It was a great evening. Stephan and his wife Alex have a 2and a half year old, Garlone. She is absolutely adorable! The girls played for hours and we ate for hours! Eating, drinking, more eating, more drinking! We didn't get back to Reims until 1amish! Yikes!!!

The next morning we were out of the hotel by 11am heading off to Paris. I gotta say, staying out until 1am and eating VERY RICH food and drinking alot may have not been the best plan...
On the crabby scale Olivia won hands down, Bruce as next in line, Shannon behind him. I sucked it up until the boat cruise then I was on the lookout for a new family!!

We started out at the Eiffel Tower, the line up was unbelievably long. But we still got to tick it off our list! Nothing like a Saturday in July in Paris!
From there we headed to the Louvre. We saw the Mona Lisa and Venus DeMilo, both on our list, tick,tick, and finished up with Napoleon's apartments, tick. Mr. Shook would have been so proud of Shannon. She recognized all the Roman goddess statues! By this point we were all idiots we were so tired.

We got the girls ice-cream and then Bruce literally snoozed by one of the fountains and the girls played with the boats. This is another one of those fantasies I had from when we were in Europe when Shannie was a baby!

I just wasn't ready to leave Paris yet but Olivia needed to chill for a bit. I know, a boat cruise sounds like a great idea, that's what I was thinking!
Think again!
At one point all three of them were sleeping. I didn't realize that Bruce was asleep. He had his sunglasses on, so I made several attempts at small talk and he totally ignored me. Then he did the head bob of all head bobs. It was so funny I had to forgive all and appreciate how great my family is and how lucky we are to be having this great experience!
Sadly the boat cruise did nothing to revive Olivia. We got off at Notre Dame, a biggie on both Shannon and Bruce's list. Olivia lay in my arms as I soaked up Paris and S & B did Notre Dame at break neck speed! There was a young guy playing an accordian and 3 inline skaters doing a sort of ballet to it! It was amazing!
Olivia just chilled in my arms and by the time Bruce and Shannie were back we were all ready for a little dinner and souvenir shopping. After the girls made some cheesy purchases we attempted to go to Sacre Ceour! We say it in the distance once but never got closer than that. Lola, our nav. system, isn't familiar with Paris! Oh well, next time maybe!

Poor Bruce only had another hour and a half of driving before he could rest his weary head!

Never a dull moment!

Man, oh man! Finally today I feel like my old self again! The girl who can get anything done! HA!

The girls and I set out this morning to find the grocery store that is close by yet well hidden from Canadian eyes! WE FIND IT AND IT IS FANTASTIC! It has familiar things like packages of El Paso taco mix, pulp free OJ, and microwave popcorn! I tell Bruce all the time, I don't need much but what I need I have to have!!!! We now have a place to stock up on comfort food before we head back to Germany. It's all good right?
One more stop and we're off to the park. As you may have guessed, or perhaps forseen, Olivia is really struggling. This morning I asked her to give some thought to what could make her journey easier. She decided a sketch pad would really help her enjoy her stay here. I can do that, right?! Ha, you didn't think I could but I did it! Then we innocently decide to take the escatlator down to pick up some lunch for a picnic in the park...

I honestly don't know what happened but all of the sudden the escatlator came to screeching halt and a man ran up to Olivia. She was fine, he was freaking out. Never good in a strange language! Poor Olivia thought she was in trouble so she was apologizing all over the place. The man was all over her foot so I looked down at and that's when I saw what was left of her Croc!!

After a while, and allot of gestering, they give us 15 Euro to buy us new shoes... We go home, (well back to the hotel) and I really just want to tell Bruce what happened.
Can I do that?
Nope.
The girl who breezes through the near dismemberment of her child can't make a freakin' phone call! I can't figure out how to use the phone, and the damn hotel clerk doesn't speak a word of English and something is going on with my email! Of course I now ask the question that leads to my undoing WHAT IF SHE HAD REALLY BEEN HURT?! I know I shouldn't go there but I went there anyways. Sometimes you're gone before you realize that you left!
It's 2:18pm or rather 14:18(I hate the 24 hour clock, it's stupid) and there is a minibar, what do ya' think?!

Here's a picture of the girls.

Reims July 9th, 2009

When we were in Europe when Shannie was a baby we took a picture of her on this very ferris wheel. Last night we feed the girls early, a brilliant idea I might add. Then while we ate a relaxing dinner beginning with Champagne the girls played on the walking street outside of the restaurant. They discovered the ferris wheel and had a blast on it.

London part 2

The girls and I arrived a Victoria Station on a mission. First some lunch then we were going to be hopping on and off a double decker bus. The girls were thrilled to find a MacDonald's around the corner. I feel like I'm making a confession when I say that! Anyways, after a fantastic lunch we stumbled across the ticket sellers for the buses. They made it very easy for us to pay them, after that things got a little complicated. Finally we found the bus route, and then the correct bus, who knew it could be complicated even in our native tongue! I must say they do a great job we saw it all. We only hopped off once and that was at the National Gallery, it was fantastic. Shannon did an audio tour and Olivia picked a few different paintings that really spoke to her and sketched. I had dreams of this when we toured the art galleries in France when Shannie was a baby!

Pause... Olivia just barfed on the bed. Seriously, she ate lunch, then lay on the bed with her head hanging over the edge and then sat up to barf on the bed!!!! I sometimes think that I am being tested. THEN she used her only clean sweatshirt to clean her foot up!!!So I've just yelled at a kid who was just barfing. Very nice! I'm sure there's a mothering award for that! Can you sponsor me for Mother with the least patience 2009?

Back to London... I don't know if this has got any press over there but there is this human art exhibit going on just outside the National Gallery, every hour on the hour for an hour a person is lifted onto a pilth(their word not mine) and they do whatever for an hour. It is going on for 100 days. We say 3 different people, none of them doing anything interesting but still kinda cool to be there to witness it.

While we were on the tour the skies opened up over London and the heavens drained! It was so bad that both the underground and the railway stations flooded. Needless to say my plan to catch a cab was dashed and we ended walking a fair distance getting back to the hotel about 2 hours late.

We had dinner at the hotel because the girls were shattered, all three girls! As luck would have it there was some great deal and the kids ate for free and Bruce and I each scored a free glass of wine. If I speak of the price of things alot in London it's because it has got to be the most expensive city in the history of the world.

The next day, yesterday was pretty much spent in transit, first the subway, then the train, then the car.

Reims is a really nice little town we spent yesterday afternoon and today discovering it and taking lots of pics. Bruce is working today and out for a dinner! Yikes, can you say long day with the girls?!?!!

Thursday July 9th

I had no idea how much I would miss having access to the Internet! My vision blurred, my palms were sweaty... Now at last, a hit of my drug of choice, the Internet and access to my friends and family!

Last Saturday morning we set out for Lille, France from there we took the train to London for the weekend! We can now check off Germany, Belgium (a quick drive through but Olivia can now say she has been there)France and England. For awhile we thought we might have gone through Luxembourg but a closer look at a map proved us wrong. All Olivia has to do is get to the Netherlands and she has caught up with Shannon. That will be a big day in her little life! Nobody likes a sister who's been to more places than they have!!!

We stayed at the Hilton at Paddington Square! Really nice hotel. We had a room with an adjoining suite. I did not appreciate how nice it was until we arrived at the Holiday Inn in Reims with out two double beds side by side. It's going to be a tight 4 days let me tell ya'
Back to London... We were tourists extraordinaire, our first stop was a pub for fish & chips for the girls and beer for Bruce and I. I think all the girls ate the whole time we were in London was fish & chips. The highest compliment they hand out to a chef is "these taste like regular..." Sad, but true!

The next morning we headed off to Portobello Market through Kensington Gardens, the girls played in Diana's memorial playground for a bit, very cool place. Since Diana's birthday was July 1st there was allot of cards and flowers at the main gate. It is incredible after all this time. Amazingly enough it was hot and sunny in London, don't worry that didn't last though. We dragged the girls through the market, they had more fish & chips for lunch and then headed off to Temple Station for the Harry Potter walk. It was 2 hours long. Bruce, Shannon and I were despondent after the first hour, suicidal after an hour and a half but Olivia loved every minute and made a friend. Then we rushed off to meet Bill and Liam Tharpe!!!! Yes, Jocelyn's husband and son, how cool is that! I gotta say, I loved London, and that was the high point of the stay for me. We had pizza at their place and them bid them adieu.

Next stop Bracknell... A driver picked us up at an ungodly hour and we headed off to the British operating unit of Bruce's work. We arrived at 8:30am, well before our 3pm check in time. They gave us our room right away, I could have cried I was so happy. I had visions of me trying to amuse the girls in the hotel lobby for the day. The outskirts of London are beautiful, tons of bunnies were on the property and there was a pool that we made several visits to, a playground and more fish & chips rounded out the day. The people Bruce worked with invited us to join them for dinner which was great fun! Guess what the girls had. Shannon actually had pizza, the other European staple.

Back to London... Bruce went to work with all the luggage, and that's saying something and the girls and I headed off to London for the day. A heads up from the front desk had us take a bus to London rather than the train. The cab ride from the hotel in Bracknell to their train station cost 8 pounds and the bus tickets for the three of us to London cost 9 pounds, in total, how weird is that?!?! Did I mention that it started to rain off and on the afternoon before? It would go from sunny to torrential rain, to drizzly and everything in between... It pretty much rained the whole 2 hour bus ride to London, good time to be on a bus... We went past Windsor castle, Legoland... Finally we arrived in London.

The girls are getting a bit antsy so I'm going to sign off. I'll finish off the trip in my next post.
Remember emails save sanity!

Friday July 3rd

Yesterday was a really rough day!

Neither of the girls slept very well the night before, Olivia couldn't fall asleep and when she finally did Shannon woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep. It was like the baby years all over again! Not good! Not good at all!

In the hopes of shortening the jet lag experience I woke them both up at 10am. Let's just say it wasn't very pretty. Nothing like 2 crabby kids and an overwhelmed, tired Mom.

Then when Olivia was getting dressed the top half of her dresser fell on top of her trapping her underneath. After we freed her and cleaned her up we realized she was okay. She is fine, bruised all over with a fat lip kinda' fine, but she's okay. It was one of those events that really magnified how alone and vulnerable we are here. I really didn't need that magnified at this point!!

It is scorchingly hot here! Not the norm in this neck of woods. Almost nowhere is air conditioned, certainly not our apartment or Bruce's office, and really where else is there? The unkown territory, absence of a car, language barrier topped off with the heat really make checking out the neighbourhood tough!

Once things cool down we'll be able to explore the neighbourhood but until then we are pretty much trapped inside the apartment. There are only so many games of UNO and crazy eights any one mother can play!!!!!

So, after one of the longest days of my life we decided that it was time to start my standard driving lessons. Really you say?!? Really!
After some yelling and crying, I did all of the crying and some of the yelling, we survived my first lesson. I'm hoping to have the hang of it and to be able to drive alone after a couple of more lessons. Gotta say I'm looking at hills completely differently right now!

I knew this part was going to be hard but come on, not this hard.
Last night I gave Olivia a gravol to help her get to sleep. I can't decide whether I'm starting her down the road to habitual use of narcotics, or if I'm really quite a crafty mother who has all the answers. I'm going with the 'great mother' option right now. I'm sure at 3am one morning soon I'll be going down the second guessing road, a road well travelled.

Today both girls woke up on their own before 8am! Hallelujah! Although we are still trapped in the apartment for the day once 6:30pmish rolls 'round it's the weekend!!!! Yeah!

We're off to London tomorrow, then a place just outside of London called Bracknell. There is a pool there, nothin' like water to amuse and exhaust kids, that's what I always say! Then we're off to somewhere in France. I'm a little worried about the kid amusement factor there but that's days away!

Feel free, or rather obligated to email me! Poor Bruce is the only adult I get to talk to, and he is exhausted after a long day of working in his 3rd language! Not that that stops me from talking mind you!

Auf Weidersehen!

Not sure what day it is, or what my name is for that matter!

Guten Tag!

We made it! The flight was delayed by 2 hours, something to do with the weather and having to use a smaller plane blah, blah, blah. After 8 excruiating hours in the air we arrived in Germany. It wasn't bad at all really. Olivia watched every movie available for about 2 minutes and that kept her busy and Shannon watched the Hanna Montana movie from start to finish, apparently it was excellent.

The three of us are still in a bit of a stupor, so there is not much to report. There is an excellent playground across the street, Thank you God!

Figuring out how to work everything here is really keeping me on my toes. The microwave is pretty much a crap shoot, I just press buttons randomly until I get a result. We had to get some of Bruce's friends to help us with the dryer, which is in the kitchen, and has a capacity of 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of socks. The water drains into a resevoir that you have to empty, imagine that?! Even flushing the toilet is an adventure...

It feels soooo good to finally be online again. Who do I was addicted to this?

I'll send something soon. Let me know how this is working for you, if private emails are better, I'm in.

Auf Wiedersehen