Paris - A short journey home

We aren't used to such a late night, we go to bed at 10pm usually. I remember a gite being mentioned in the French text books, and now we have stayed in one. Absolutely lovely, would stay in one again. Breakfast of pain au chocolat, then a drive to Nagiers, to get the train into Paris, walk to Gare Du Nord, lunch of Croque Monsieur, Eurostar to the UK, train home and then huge cuddles with our doggies.

Paris - The wedding of Laurence and Jerome

What an amazing wedding, it started incredibly early becuase we were picked up at 9:30 to get to the Mairie for 10am. We stood outside and double kissed a lot of people! Then the Italian family had 4 kisses. Inside the Mairie, we sat on benches, the wedding party arrived, Jerome walked with his Mum and Laurence with her dad. The official worse a red, white and blue flag. I couldn't say that I understood the words, but I understood when the Official read out Jerome's middle names, all six of them! Instead of 'I do', they said Oui.

We through confetti of rose petals and then drove to the reception in Pecy, 1.5 hours away. Their car had a gnome on the roof and covered in sunflowers. We had a buffet luncheon, socialised and then siesta time. Max organised a thumb print picture of all guests which was lovely. We had the official photo's, champagne cocktails and canapes.

The happy couple arrived to 'Tonights gonna be a good night' and danced through the large convered cow shed, beautifully decorated. Laurence and Jerome spoke first, and gave a shout out to the Germans, Italians, then the Brits...where Ali and I cheered....loudly. Between the sections of the meal, their friends and family provided the entertainment, whether it's an Italian song, guitar song, spelling their name in people and funny stories. It was wonderful, so many people had a part to play in the wedding.

The meal consisted of cream of asparagus and smoked salmon, veal, then their cake was a macaron tower and fruit. Dinner finished at 11, when we danced and danced and danced. Danielle (Ali's uncles partner), just wouldn't sit down. We didn't know some of the songs but dancing occured until 2am where we crashed in the gite.

Paris - Combs la Ville

 Today's ambition was to travel to Combs La Ville, where Ali's Grandparents lived. We managed to navigate the train system and travelled 40 minutes outside Paris to a very small town. We had to rely on Ali's memory to find the house. A completely empty street, except for the neighbours of the house we wanted to take pictures of! So, Ali had to explain in french, why we were taking pictures of a house. One problem, they were Portugese! they looked so confused.

We walked to the cemetary, on route buying a plant to put on the family grave. We found the plot, watered and weeded, then took the journey back to the hotel, then onto Boulogne Billancourt, the venue for the wedding. Meantime, Brigitte and Carol had arrived and treated us to a meal, complete with escargot.

Paris - the grave of Oscar Wilde

What a Parisian start to the day, petit dejeuner of coffee, jus d orange and a croissant. This is after a painfully noisy nghts sleep for Ali, I was oblvious. Our first stop was to the pharmacy to test Alis french to ask for ear plugs. We then visited Pere Lenchaise to look at the graves of Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Proust and Chopin. Oscar was my favourite, there is now a glass wall around it to stop people kissing it in red lipstick! The cleaner opened the glass door for me, and we got chatting. He told me that he is employed by the Irish tourist board, to clean the glass and clear the flowers etc. There were a lot of them. He also told us that people dont know that there are two of them in the tomb, his boyfriend wa buried with him a few years later, but nobody know.

We spent a good couple of hours at the ceremtary, then onto our next stop, to Canal St Martin and lunch of Chicken in Gorgonzola and Chicken Tagine. We walked along the canal, as detailed in the guide book, but i have to admit that a guided walk that takes in a hospital, social housing and communist party building, isnt quite me. The bridges and locks were good.

Next stop, the planted viaduct which was lovely, we walked for a bit, had a drink stop, then carried on to the Siene and Notre Dame. It was a day of smelling eau d urine, we saw one man weeing at the side of the road. We finished the day with dinner of a crepe, then a lindt hot chocolate, macaron and opera cake....in opera.

Paris - how much can we do in one evening?

How easy is it to get to Paris, just an hour to London, a very short wait in St Pancras, then a 3 hour train journey. I was just getting into my programme when they announced we were arriving into Gare Du Nord. The Eurostar is looking very dated now, but still amazing that we go under the water. What's amazing is that we get mobile signal, all the way through the tunnel. Getting to the hotel was easy, its literally just outside the RER. We are staying in the 2 star Prince Albert hotel, en suite. The location is perfect, a short walk to Opera and the main sights. I'm not sure about the fly decorated bed covers, or the shower in line with my chin, and the lift that only takes one person, but apart from that, perfect.

Time to explore and we happened upon heaven, aka a lindt shop! The Lindor treats were piled high and chocolates ive never seen. We couldnt resist temptation so bought a bag of treats we have never tried. Back to our wander, we ate in a cafe, french onion soup and goats cheese salad. Then walked and walked. We pretty much walked all of the big sights, Louvre, place de la concorde, Champs elysee, arc de triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Seine...then a metro home....shattered.

A contrasting day

We have learned that Sailor and Penny definitly prefers our bed over theirs. It's been a weekend of lessons, we also found out that Sailor and Penny can walk around with blankets over them, looking like ghosts. The night before, we had a family expedition to the toilet at 4am, this time it was 7am and a PJ walk which is a vast improvement. A lazy morning, then a quick dash home for afternoon tea with Ali's dad and Jeannie. What a weekend, we have inherited Mum and Dad's tent which means we will be going again...but with them, they have electricity :)

A very posh Larkhall Prison

I love camping breakfasts, especially seeing as we had no equipment, Mum and Dad had an electric kettle, George Foreman cooker, plates and china mugs, this is posh camping. While Ali spent time with Sailor, Penny and Billy, me, Mum, Dad, Jen and Jemma went to Oxford Castle, where Bad Girls was filmed. It was fantastic, we had a tour by a guide dressed up and in character. We climbed the stone spiral staircase to the tower for a great view over Oxford. The crypt freaked out Jen and Jemma because Most Haunted was filmed inside. Oxford Castle was used as a prison, so we walked in the cells and learnt something new. There was a crank, which was turned 57,000 times a day, completely pointless activity but it's where the term 'screw' came from for Prison Officers becuase the screw would be turned to made it harder for them, hence calling them Screws. The outside scenes of Bad Girls was filmed there, it was like walking around the set. We climbed the mound, which is a heap of earth when the moat was dug.

Jemma is a super fan of Bad Girls, so we walked around the outside, into the yard where the actors would walk to exercise. We walked up the steps which appeared a lot in the series. We walked inside the Malmaison Hotel and Jemma didn't have to ask me twice to get in the lift to go to the top floor to stand inside the iconic glass window which is the opening scene of Bad Girls. The hotel is surreal, it's just the same as Bad Girls, with cells, wings, Govenors Office...but super posh!

Back at the camp, BBQ time and toasted marshamallows which surprisingly, Mum and Dad didn't like! Who doesn't like toasted marshmallows!

Sailor and Penny's first camping trip

After Windband Camping, Ali and I thought it was a good idea to try camping with Sailor and Penny so that they could join us in the future. The idea expanded, and then there was 8 of us joining the trip, Mum and Dad in their brand new motorhome which I was really looking forward to seeing. We drop to Bo Peep caravan park and pitched the tent, the doggies looked a bit confused and penny hated her body harness, to the point that when she had it on she looked grumpy, as soon as it was taken off, she was bouncing around as normal. Fish and chips, then we snuggled down for a very cold night. Their PJ's went down a treat but gosh they couldn't understand why we kept putting them on a pod with blankets on top of them.