Paris - A fairy, army woman and a pig

Work requested my company in Paris, how could I refuse? I decided to get the Eurostar instead of flying for a change. Interesting fact for you, you are on French soil then you enter the Eurostar lounge. You go through French passport control even though you are at Waterloo! It was a fairly eventful journey because I wasn’t feeling too good, I walked to the station in a downpour and then found out that my ironed clothes were wet as my bag isn’t waterproof, my train was cancelled so I had to be put on another, I froze from the air conditioning, the line was hit 3 times by lighting (this was when I realised I was sat in a big metal case). I bought an egg and bacon roll that tasted of neither egg nor bacon, it was astonishing. It only took 8 hours in the end.

I was working for 2 days on a boat which was our meeting venue. A suit and 30 degrees heat doesn’t mix well. Neither does me and eating fish which I ate for 3 meals!!! I ended up swaying because of the motion of the boat for a few days and had to sleep with my foot on the floor to keep me stable.

Al arrived on the Thursday night. We took a boat tour on the Seine. I was astounded by the number of oriental people, the technology around their necks and the cheek of them standing in front of us to have their picture taken. I was so tempted to give them a photography lesson. We did feel sorry for one lady who had to constantly photograph a green lady (her clothes, not her skin). We had another runner in the photo stake, stripey lady. However, she just couldn’t keep up with the green lady.

We had a picnic and spent the afternoon laid on the grass in the sun by the Eiffel Tower. I woke up with the sun on my face looking at the Eiffel Tower. By this time my head had bounced upon Al’s bladder one too many times and we had to leave :)

We decided upon a pre-dinner drink in a bar close to the hotel. Little did we know that we were in ‘hen night central’. We were accompanied by a fairy, an army soldier with a bouquet and my favourite…a pig!!!! We were then offered ‘toys’ ;)

We did the bus tour of Paris in excruciating heat and then it was time to go back to Blighty. We had a great time in Paris, very enlightening even though we had both been there before.

Chocolate ice cream

You know its bad when you feel your heart beat in your feet, they were throbbing. Thats just how much we walked. I spent the morning with Phil then met Laci, Timi and Dori at Paddington station. We sat in a sauna (disquised as a train) for 30 mins to Windsor. We went on a city bus tour around Eton, the castle, old windsor, datchet and then did the tour again :) We also did a boat tour on the thames passing some very large boats and half naked people on the hottest day of the year.

It was quite upsetting to leave Laci, Timi and Dori again. Dori said 'Szia' after she covered herself with chocolate ice-cream. It was as far as her ear! Hungarians greet and say goodbye by kissing on both cheeks. Needless to say I too was covered. We had a great weekend and looking forward to the next trip.

Our first conversation

At 7am on a Saturday I was on the train destined for London. Laci, Timi and Dori arrived in England on Friday and we met in their hotel. At 9am the temperature has reached 23 degrees :( We first visited a child's idea of heaven, Hamleys toy shop. What a place, the toys were displayed by people and Dori's face just lit up and didn't drop until she was told 'no elem' )no batteries) for her bubble maker.

We next visited the Tower of London and watched a 62 gun salute in honour of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh's birthday. 4 cannons were fired 62 times, much to Dori's dismay as she has her hands over her ears permanently. We saw the Crown jewels, walked the walls and went inside the towers. At this point Dori felt the need to mess up my hair and was fascinated by the shape of my skirt. So much so that every so often she would lift my skirt up. Try explaining that one when you don't speak the same language.

Our next trip was to the Tower Bridge exhibition where you can walk across the sky bridges. This is when Dori and I had our first conversation -
"Szia Keela"
"Szia Dori"
"Ahhhhh"
"Szep"?
"Igen"
"Igen, nagy szep"

What a conversation :)
"Hi Keela"
"Hi Dori"
"ahhhhh"
"beautiful"
"yes"
"yes, very beautiful"
Dori and I then decided to say "Szia" every few minutes becuase we could both understand that one. I'm just hoping she wasn't saying it to mean 'bye' ;)

We ate in China town where Dori misunderstood me for 'China'. Keela and Keena (Hungarians will need to say it to find out what I mean:)) sounds very similar.

So after a very very long day we all slept very very well.

First sunshine over England

After weeks of rain the sun has finally shone over England and Keela is now sporting two very red arms, nose, forehead and feet :) Why is it that if the sun shines in England then we all feel the need to be outdoors? On the continent people avoid the sun like the plague. There is a saying that 'mad dogs and englishman go out in the midday sun'. The truth is that we actually do this. if you don't go outside when its sunny then the day feels wasted. Why is this?

Today we visited the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge designed by Brunel, the observatory which has a camera obscura and went down in the caves.