Scherer Family ~ European RV Tour

Final European post...

2008-08-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the warm welcome home! I'm so happy - the prior blog post FINALLY received comments!

Sadly, this is my final "European" post. It seems a little recap is necessary to wrap it all up in a neat package and capture some lingering thoughts.

For access to sporadically posted musings of the Scherer family check out our new personal blog: http://familyscherer.blogspot.com/

When I look back on the past 12 months, I am still amazed at what we did. Sometimes the brevity of our decision to pack it up and leave "Dodge" is unthinkable. I mean, we're supposed to be responsible adults, parents of young children, career driven... Then I realize how cool it is that we stepped outside the norm and explored a little more of our world.

We're (almost) back to normal - kids are in school and daycare after a few busy weeks of summer camp. Dan and I are working on next steps for our careers. We are looking forward to moving back to our real house on November 1.

11.5-months and over 10,000 miles later, we visited 10 countries, 95+ cities and over 100 campgrounds/stopovers. We relied virtually 100% on bikes, foot and public transit to get us out and about for our city tours, relenting to a rental car only 4 times during the trip.

All told, we probably missed more than we saw. Our first 6-months abroad was a mix of rather mindless wandering, which yielded some really cool experiences. We adapted to the formality of the UK and stuck to a pre-planned, fully reserved schedule for the last 3-months, which meant we were more prepared at each stop with regards to activities and sights.

Here are some random thoughts I've been noodling on along the way:

At the end of the day, we're all people. We want to be liked by other people; we all sleep, eat, work and play. Most of us just want to secure something a little better for our family.

Most people are really good folk at heart.

There's a tradeoff for everything. For example (having just watched Sicko) if you have great government sponsored healthcare, you're probably paying really high taxes.

Privacy is an interesting concept when virtually every street is filmed via CCTV (UK specific)

Obesity levels were interesting to observe as we traveled. For the most part, on the European continent, junk food, cereals and pre-packaged foods were really expensive. We noticed much less of an obesity problem in the general public (e.g. Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium). Once we got to the UK, junk food was cheap again and there was a dramatic increase in noticably overweight individuals.

Sundays - it took a long time to get used to stores being closed on Sundays. Now that we're back, I find myself wishing our stores were closed on Sundays too - it's nice to have a break from non-stop consumerism. It might push us to spend more time with friends and family.

We're way too young to not have jobs - we missed our professional lives and contributing to the businesses we were involved in.

We need to be near our friends and family - it's hard to build new friendships when living a nomadic lifestyle.

As we inch back to "normalcy" I can't help but fear that we've lost a little bit of what we gained in Europe. For example:

We keep forgetting to take our fantastic reusable bags (they were 0.19 EURO in France and are awesome!). Looks like the move to reusable bags in our region is slowly gaining popularity. I even saw a woven reusable bag at Costco this weekend!

We're back to being a 2-car family - though we tried to remain sensitive to MPG pressures when making purchase decisions.

We haven't taken public transit since being home. I love the freedom to be able to go wherever and whenever I want. On the other hand, I miss feeling like I was taking a car off the street and getting exercise at the same time.

We're back to mass-shopping at Costco - a blessing after experiencing the food prices in Europe. The behavior is driven in part by habit, but mostly cost (and storage space - we have room in the freezer!). Food prices have gone up dramatically here at home in the past 11-months, though I think when compared to Europe, food is still pretty affordable.

Shopping for food every other day was cumbersome at times, but we miss the yummy produce we ate in Europe.

If there's one thing I hope we learned it's to slow down, relax and enjoy life. We need to remember to take care of each other, our extended family and our friends. Life is too short to not foster those relationships.

Frequently asked questions:

What was your favorite city or country?
There is no single favorite destination. We found a variety of favorites, largely based on what we were trying to accomplish at the time.

Isle of Skye, Scotland - would love to go back and hike, explore, get lost. Definitely need to make it to the Orkney Islands some day.

Paris, France - for a big city, we really enjoyed our stay.

Costa Brava, Spain - loved it! L'Estartit was the tiny town with nothing to do but enjoy the beautiful beaches (note: we were there in low season and had the beaches to ourselves; given the high density apartments for tourists, I'd imagine it's another story altogether in high season).

Hall in Tirol and Innsbruck, Austria - loved the scenery and the people were super. NorthPark deserved more of our time for hiking and maybe some day, skiing.

Germany - well, Germany has a piece of my heart. My host parents are there and I just love the country.

Any new favorite foods?
We cooked a LOT. The fruits and veggies we purchased throughout Europe seemed more flavorful and fresh. Brötchen (small rolls) with jam is a new favorite for breakfast. We shared lots of homemade pancakes with friends along the way. Real French bread... fresh eclairs... virtually any of the pastries in Belgium... smoked Gouda from Holland... Nevermind the beer and red wine - it's amazing we didn't gain more weight while we were gone.

You homeschooled the kids?
Yes! In an RV! I think I am more empathetic of our school teachers. I now understand that the many, many school holidays are vital to the learning process. Sometimes walking away from a new concept for a few days allows time for the kids to think it through. I think I understand more about Megan's learning style and know that we have to find a way to stay involved in her education.

Are you still talking to each other?
Yes, believe it or not, we even still like each other.

Did you meet tons of new friends?
Yes, we met a few new friends, who we hope will visit us some day. We were a little isolated at times, particularly when we were in non-English speaking countries.

Would you do it again?
Absolutely.

What would you do differently?

Convert the motorhome to LPG (propane). It's much less in Europe and is quite readily available (with the exception of Spain). Tow a car, particularly in Spain and UK.

That's about it for now. We are happy to be home again - though we hope we've opened the kids eyes a little and made it "OK" to travel, experience other cultures and learn new languages.

Home Again!

2008-07-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

After an excrutiatingly long day doing an airport shuffle (and we were on a direct flight), we are home! Love the weather ... it's so warm and sunny today. My favorite moment was looking out the plane window and seeing the mountain ranges as we started our final turn into Seattle. So beautiful!

The luggage - long story, suffice it to say if I never have to pack 50lb bags again and shuffle them around Heathrow and SeaTac, it will be too soon.

Huge thanks to both our folks for meeting us at the airport & helping shuffle us and our stuff to Dan's folks. My mom went the extra mile and got the emissions + tabs renewed on the car and cleaned it as well. Talk about a sight for sore eyes - I didn't realize how much I missed it! Dan's folks are being super gracious in welcoming us in their home until we figure out our next step(s). We can't thank you enough for everything you have done to support us during the past year.

Another shout out to everyone who called us before we left London. Thank you for the farewells and the good wishes for our journey. We will miss you all (yes, even you, Phillip).

Everyone is healthy and happy - the kids are simply thrilled to be home. None of us slept well the 72-hours before departure and none of us really slept on the flight either. Tiredness seems to be a great antidote to jet lag. That said, I'll let you all guess who had the pleasure of getting up with the kids at 5:45 this morning. ;-)

Sophia finally gave up and fell asleep at Heathrow. Wish I could do that!

We're thrilled to be home. Realize now how huge our roads really are... as well as the cars on them.

Dan in all tiredness drove my car home last night. In a dazed, sleepy slur, he tried explaining to our folks how confusing it is to be driving on the right side of the road in a left-hand drive car after spending 3-months in the UK in a left-hand drive RV but driving on the left side of the road; except for the past week, where he was driving a right-hand drive car but on the left side of the road... you figure it out. He's all mixed up and has to conciously think about which lane to turn in to! Thank goodness for insurance.

Ciao for now!

Bye Bye, RV

2008-07-17T03:43:00.000-07:00

We've had an amazingly busy and complicated week. Literally in the last 24-hours prior to taking the motorhome to consignment, we had four offers / serious interest inquiries on the motorhome. In that time, we had one family from Scotland (who had seen the unit in Perth several weeks ago) come through with a solid offer and funding.

With bags are packed and in the rental car (barely), we drove Colin (the new owner) out to the main road and set off to an airport hotel for two nights.

One last look as we drove away.

After retrieving the forgotten cell phone, we finally experienced how it feels to drive behind the Winnie!

We've had two mostly sleepless nights. Now it's time to reshuffle our packing and make sure everything complies with the 50lb per bag rule. =)

Tons of fantastic memories to bring home. Leaving is bittersweet - we are thrilled to be heading home and back to our in-area friends and family. However, there's tons more to see and experience - we've just barely scratched the surface.

Back in 2!
Ciao!

Americana Wrap-Up

2008-07-14T04:22:00.000-07:00

Last I wrote, we had just arrived at Americana, a weekend long music/lifestyle festival.

After almost being rained out Thursday and Friday, the clouds gave us a bit of a break and it warmed up nicely enough to enjoy time outside.

We were easily the least patriotic of the bunch and we don't own a stitch of western gear! Folks and rigs were decked out in American (and some confederate) flags. Vintage automobiles, motorcycles, and newer rigs like Chevy Tahoes, Suburbans, and such abounded. It was very strange to be surrounded by these "oversized" American rigs after almost a full year of seeing virtually only compacts and sub-compacts.

One row of American RVs out for the weekend

The best part of the weekend was having a chance to say our goodbyes to folks we've met along the way - all our best to Robert and Diane; Phillip and Des (and Jemma); Roger & Marion - and all the many others we met along the way & over the weekend. Happy trails, y'all!

Main stage

Homemade caravan + business. The back of this unit is a firing range(!) with a container stacked on top for living quarters.

American fashion interpreted.

Feeling it yet?

Custom trikes!

Nice!

Classic Winnie!

To the event organizers, I recommend a few changes. We recommend adapting to the modern crowd, even if it means cutting out some of the bands to change the energy level of the event. Here are the highlights of our thoughts after the weekend - I'm hapy to consult on future event planning! =) =) =)

Musical diversity - Country Western and Rockabilly are well covered. There were almost too many concerts to try and figure out which were worth attending. Feel free to mix it up a little with some 70's and 80's cover bands. The audience is young enough to recognize and appreciate the music.
About that rain... you know it's going to rain, why not plan for temporary staging in front of stage 2 (which was a complete mud bog for 3 of the 4 days) and possibly tents for both the main stage and stage 2.
Dance diversity - There was a huge emphasis on line dancing. Break it up - offer hip hop, square dancing, etc.
Food - This was a total miss (and extremely overpriced too). Missing in action were: apple pie, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, BBQ, Tex-Mex food... the list goes on. An event like this would be premium space for American breweries (RedHook, Pyramid, Deschutes) to show that we too have great beer. Wineries too - any that are in the international business should be banging on the event planner's doors to be at the event.
Activities - Add some interactive events that don't break the bank. Music is fine, but 3 solid days of lawn-chair concerts feels a bit dull after day 1. Easy crowd pleasers that fit the Americana theme: comedy, rock wall climbing, American football exhibition (with cheerleaders -- tell me a college team wouldn't be thrilled to pull this off), rodeo exhibition (with an honest to goodness announcer and cowboys - think Ellensburg Rodeo), roller derby, heck, even an outdoor movie. There was plenty of room at the showgrounds to accomodate all of these activities and the entertainment value would make people feel good about the money spent to attend. (50 pp + 25 camping)
Make traveling to America a reality - This would be a prime event for the large tourism offices to show up - where's the Las Vegas tourism board? New York? Florida? I know many of the folks who attend the event don't make it out of the UK. That said, there are tons that do and there are tons that can, but they need that little push to tell them it's OK. American RV rental firms should be out in force - show folks that they can come on vacation and rent an American RV. Bring out the tourism industry with videos, posters, itineraries. The interest is there - these folks LOVE America and want a "genuine" experience.

Off the soap box. If you can't tell from above, at present, the event feels a bit tired and the crowds are not super energetic. This is more of a series of lawn chair concerts (though folks were driving their picups and classic cars to and from the concert fields).

On our way home very shortly. Can't wait to settle back in!

Ciao!

Learning About Americana Lifestyles

2008-07-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, we're at an American Lifestyle event - Americana - just outside of Lincoln.
Maybe we'll learn something about ourselves! For now, we're camped alongside more American rigs than we've seen all year, in a very friendly group of people.

Musical line up is mostly country-western or rockabilly with tons of line dancing workshops. Hells Angels are the security staff (!) and there are awards for American autos & bikes.

Should be an interesting weekend!

London

2008-07-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

For those who do not yet know, we are planning our return home quite a bit earlier than originally stated. We'll be home later this month (yes, that's this month, July!). We can't wait to settle back in and rekindle friendships and our family relationships. We've missed you all terribly over the past (almost) 12-months.

We've been in London for about a week now. About half of them rainy - the rest quite warm and beautiful. So goes the typical summer in the UK. There's tons to keep you busy and empty your wallet in this town. The contrasts between new, contemporary buildings and awesome architecture is simply stunning. Sometimes it works, sometimes I stare in awe, wondering what the architecht(s) were thinking.

Old mixing with new

More old mixing with new

The city is quite overwhelming and while transportation is good, it often leaves you about 1/2 a mile from your destination or having to trek it between a tube and rail station. Maybe we're just too impatient to catch the connecting bus. That said, it's relatively cheap to get around London - just £5.80 for the non-peak day card with the child card costing only an additional £1. The tube and rail lines are often partially closed for maintenance on weekends and holidays so be sure you check. Oh - and we've found the health and safety announcements an interesting addition to our travels. So far, at the train station we've been advised:

"it's advisable to carry a bottle of water in this warm weather"
"when it rains, the platform can be slippery"
"mind the gap"

We made the typical tourist mistake and mistook the Tower Bridge for London Bridge. A little disconcerting on day 1 as we exited at the London Bridge rail station but couldn't find "London Bridge." Oops. The beautifully ornate bridge we were expecting is known as "Tower Bridge" and is a pretty long (though worth it) trek from the train station. I found it fun to see the bridge in action though as Dan pointed out, "it's just a draw bridge."

Sophia on London Bridge with the Tower Bridge in the (distant) background

Tower Bridge in action

We felt like the London Eye was a "must do" given that it's the world's largest ferris wheel. Don't know that aside from the sheer novelty of it that I can honestly recommend it to anyone else. Lines are long for tickets (30+ minutes), followed by about a 30-minute wait (on a weekday) to get on the ride. It takes about 30 minutes to slowly rotate around - kind of odd to be crammed in a small, hot little glass pod with 15 of your closest strangers and no corresponding references (unless you purchaed the additional guide book). Short of the fact you're able to say you did it, time is better spent gaping at Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and maybe just wandering around, lost in the crazy maze of streets for a while.

The Eye of London as seen from the ground and looking at the pod in front of us at the top.

View from the top of London Eye

Big Ben & Houses of Parliament - we were just in time to hear the chimes on a sunny, beautiful day. Cool iron work.

Big Ben towering over Megan & Sophia

Kung Fu Panda was a huge hit with the girls. It opened at the downtown IMAX on the fourth of July - a perfect excuse to go to a movie on Dan's birthday! Best bet is to pre-purchase your tickets. All seats are preassigned at this theater and it made the actual event smooth. The theater does a cool presentation of how IMAX works before the show - very enlightening for the girls!

The girls can't stop "kung fu fighting" after seeing this hit!

Today (8.July) we got up early and made our way to the masses thronging Buckingham Palace so we could witness the Changing of The Guard. As we approached, I thought, "A downside of being a part of the Royal Family is you wake up each morning to throngs of people outside your house." Seriously folks, the ceremony was long and relatively subdued. Unless you are pressed up against the fence outside the palace courtyard, you really don't see or hear much. Despite the ceremony, a few cars exited the palace, creating excitement among the crowd - at least one person thought they saw a member of the Royal family today. Glad we did it though kind of wish we had taken the advice to view the ceremony at Windsor Castle as it's more intimate.

Flocking to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard

End of ceremony - cool to see the huge gates open and the soldiers marching by

Our favorite activities (besides dinner with Simone and Stefan) turned out to be the free museums. We first visited the Science Museum in an effort to quickly get out of the rain. It is so huge and so fun, it was hard to leave. The hands on science experiments, sponsored by Shell, were awesome and a ton of fun for Megan (us too).

Playing with bubbles

Exploring space equipment including a life sized astronaut mannequin

This afternoon (8.July), we went to the Natural History Museum (also free) and had our fill of earth science, creepy crawlies (cool ant exhibit) and dinosaurs. I think we saw maybe 1/4 of the entire museum before we finally left, exhausted and in need of coffee and cake. ;-)

Natural History Museum

Into the center of the earth

Snack, anyone?

This T-Rex moves and roars ... leaving Sophia to run around growling at everyone for the rest of the afternoon. I'm sure she insulted at least one commuter as we passed by and she looked directly at them and gave a mighty "roar."

Cool iron fence outside the Natural History museum

We've trekked all over London and probably still haven't seen 1/4 of the city. It's just a massive, sprawling experience. Glad we visited - even if it's not our absolute favorite destination. Wish the weather had been a bit more conducive to exploring the outdoor parks more - the few we meandered through are quite beautiful.

Tower of London

Ciao for now!

Happy Birthday, Dan!

2008-07-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

Normally, the 4th of July finds us scurrying around the house, cleaning up and prepping food for our annual party, to the tune of bottle rockets being launched throughout the afternoon. I can't say we don't miss it...

Without further ado, Happy Birthday, Dan! We'll make a day of it with the Eye of London, IMAX showing of "Kung Fu Panda" and dinner out. Hope you don't miss the fireworks too much.

York, England

2008-06-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

York - marketed as "Europe's favorite city" by the tourist board was indeed a beautiful city. Not sure I'd classify it as a European favorite, however.

City map (hey, why not?)

Despite all advance planning and communications efforts, we had a bit of a rough start at the campground. Somehow the wardens didn't know we were coming in a 35' motorhome (despite the fact it was clearly marked on the online booking form) and somehow, it was my fault. Mass transit at the site is extremely limited (4x a day). There is an ingenious park and ride system only about 1.5 miles away - but there's not easy access for bicycles (the bike lane ends quite suddenly on the very busy road leading to the park and ride with no side streets or side paths). Taxi fare to the park and ride was £6; taxi to town center was £10.

We finally made our way to the city, where it promptly started drizzling (not in the forecast...who's in charge of the weather??). Cool city - lots of interesting buildings to look at and enjoy. The shops have some fantastic fashions on display for summer and the streets were busy with tons of pedestrians.

Side street in the "Shambles" district

No heavy goods vehicles down this street!

Sophia, ever on the lookout for pennies, spotted glass jewels embedded in some of the paving blocks.

We took the kids through the Jorvik Viking Centre, enjoying the 2:1 price break from the Caravan Club book. It's an "interactive" exhibit about early viking settlers in York. It reminded me a bit of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland - you meander through a recreated Viking village - sights, smells and sounds similar to that which one would have encountered in the day. After the little ride, visitors are left to explore the exhibits - some with staff in uniform who tell stories, answer questions, etc. Megan heard all about how coins were made and even purchased a souvenair coin, stamped by hand in front of her.

Sophia - trying a Viking helmet on for size

Waiting for Sherry to finish taking pictures...

Reproduction prints can be found all over the city - this one was on one of the entrances to the city wall. (The Ambassadors, Hans Holbein The Younger, circa 1533)

Entrance to the market area

We're probably missing out on the best food...but just couldn't bring ourselves to sample from this booth. He was happily selling "real pork fat" - maybe Emeril should visit!

We declined touring York Minster and the tower. The cost is pretty prohibitive, even if it is a "once in a lifetime" experience and a "fine example of gothic architecture." We saw tons of gothic churches on the European continent and they didn't cost £30 (~$60USD) for the family to tour.

York Minster peeking out through a side street.

We opted instead for the city wall tour - free and a fun find. Our path was from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar. It rained the whole time, but was fun to walk and see views of the outer section of York Minster.

York Minster, viewed from top of city wall

Stairs at Monk Bar, leading up to city wall

If I could have one wish granted for the city, it would be that their transportation system be consolidated. I counted no less than 6 bus companies driving around the compact city. I don't think there's a single day-pass (like most other regions offer) that works on all bus lines. Their park-n-ride plan is great - users get free parking and a £2 fare (RT) to the city center - buses at the park-n-ride leave every 10-15 minutes from about 8am to 7pm Mon-Sat. There was a little bit of room for motorhome parking, but we couldn't see how to get around the height barriers (there were others who did).

On a parting note, how exactly do these buildings pass inspections? Maybe they are exempt due to age?

One set of many leaning buildings...not the worst, by far, but the one that I managed to snap a picture of.

On to Peterborough next, enroute to London.

Ciao!

Edinburgh, Scotland

2008-06-26T05:24:00.000-07:00

Today we head back into central England, stopping first in York. Means it's time to do my blog post on our visit to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. I'll leave most of it to pictures - we had a wonderful stay (3-days, 4 nights). The public transport is brilliant - buses are £2.50pp for a day pass and a bus runs every 15-20 minutes right outside the campground.

Crossing the Firth of Forth into Edinburgh

We didn't intent to spend all 3 days in the old district (Royal Mile area) but that's kind of how it worked out. At its peak, Edinburgh had the highest population density in Europe.

City blick from Edinburgh Castle

We had a remarkable day at Edinburgh Castle - though were glad for the half price discount from our English Heritage membership (£15 for the family vs. £30). The weather held - clouds but nice, warm sunny breaks greated us and kept us dry and warm. We started out in the park below the castle, which has a small ampitheater and hiked around the hill and up to the castle (the thoroughfare via the park was closed). After touring, we descended via the "Royal Mile" - a fantastic walk though we didn't quite make it the whole mile.

Looking up at Edinburgh Castle, from the park below

Saint Margaret's Chapel - Oldest building at Edinburgh Castle, dating back to the 12th century

Viewing the canon range

Mons Meg - presented to King James II in 1457

Dan & girls - Edinburgh Castle

For those who are not opposed to the "big bang" theory, a visit to "Our Dynamic Earth" is a good rainy day alternative. The building is next to the Scottish Parliment, at the bottom of the Royal Mile. It's very cool to see the contrast of the historical old city, glimpses of Holyrood Palace, the contemporary Scottish Parliment building all sharing Holyrood Park as the back drop.

Side view of Scottish Parliment building

Scottish Parliment building from the front

Visitors to Dynamic Earth experience an interactive "trip through time" exploring how our earth was created - learning about volanos, earthquakes, glaciers, etc. Again, we were thrilled to have the Caravan Club 2:1 discount - £17 vs. £30 (they charge for kids 3+ which is a shame - the exhibit is better geared to kids 7+). Cool factors include the "glacier" (yes, a huge piece of ice in a cooled room), the "rainforest" (where it actually rains every12 minutes) and the interactivity at the end, helping show how no decision on energy use or conservation is easy. Granted they take each aspect to the extreme, still drives the point home that the decisions we make impact us in ways we don't necessarily anticipate.

Dynamic Earth building with Holyrood Park in the background

Dinosauer evolution?

Had it been a nicer day, we would have ventured to take the hike to Arthur's Seat - but it was quite windy with rain squalls. We slipped into the Museum of Edinburgh (free) for a bit and were surprised at the silver collection - we hadn't known Scotland was famous for silverwork until then. Lovely exhibit including a sample sitting room from days gone by.

View of Holyrood Park with Scottish Parliment on the right

On our way to York now.

Ciao!

Isle of Skye

2008-06-21T15:11:00.001-07:00

A visit to Isle of Skye became required after we saw an old travel show by Michael Palin which included his visiting Isle of Skye by train. Since then, we have been determined to visit ourselves. We're only saddened that we only had time to visit one region.

First thoughts - the road we took out (A835 / A 832 / A890) are crazy and we were glad to have the use of the tiny rental car for the drive out (~2 hours). For much of the drive we were on single track roads, with just pull outs to allow oncoming traffic by. The speed limits are crazy - still at 50 mph and people think nothing of passing in areas I would never dream of doing so. For that, we were treated to absolutely stunning scenery.

Glimpse of the scenery on the drive out

Same stop as above, but different direction

The Isle of Skye is now connected via bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh as shown below. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the beautiful, gently curving bridge connecting Isle of Skye to the mainland in the background.

Bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh to Isle of Skye

We declined the whiskey tour - mainly as the kids aren't allowed on the production floor. There's no real use in touring a distillery if we can't visit all areas. With that stop off the list, we made our way directily for Dunvegan Castle, promised to be "the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland..."

Learning about the MacLeod Clan was interesting - though the castle and grounds itself didn't feel to be the most inviting of our tours. I can't fully explain it, but we were left with a sense of tension in the air and a feeling of not really being welcomed to the estate. Maybe part of it is the realization that an active family resides at the castle and suddenly acknowledging how odd it is that we paid to view someone else's stuff. The castle is interesting - there are sleeper bunks inside the walls, remnants of the "fairy flag" which holds magical powers, and several other artifacts. The gardens were quite impressive, with three separate themes to explore.

Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan Castle - side view

View from the Castle gunyard

Round garden

Inside the walled garden

Water garden

We had inadvertently skipped lunch - there's really not much on the Isle of Skye, at least on the route we took. The villages were quite small, many just a few buildings. On the way out, stopped at a pub that served excellent food and Cuillin beer. Yum - what a fantastic treat to end the day.

Cuillin mountains

As you drive by the mountains, there are visible rivers of water flowing down them - waterfalls like I've never seen before that appear to start at the top and just drop down. We hope to revisit someday and spend more time here. This area has got to be a nature lovers paradise - it's one of the lowest populated areas per square mile in all of Europe, I believe. We would love to hike and wander the villages in detail. Such a beautiful area - and as I understand it, rich in magic and folklore.

Ciao!

In search of Nessie

2008-06-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Posted 21.June, back dated to be in chronological order.

Knowing we can't visit Scotland and miss out on the Loch Ness Monster, we made our way to Inverness (campground at Culloden Moor). Had I known how much we would fall in love with the highlands, I would have planned to stay longer. There's so much in this area, 3-days simply wasn't enough.

This region of Scotland is very spread out and our luck with public transit ran out in a big way. The bus to our campground ran only every 2-hours to Inverness and there are massive changes in the bus operators resulting in confusing time scales and fees. For instance, the 1-day pass cost the same as the 7-day rider. But unlike other regions of the UK, the passes only cover Inverness; not the surrounding region.

We gave up and rented a car for the 3-days. At £38 per day, it was a bargain for saving the hassle of bus transit in this area.

First stop: Loch Ness.
Our drive started from Inverness and off we went, in search of Nessie. Loch Ness itself is 23 miles in length and about 700 feet deep in the deepest waters. There are several pull outs on the road, so we tourists can stop and read all about the history and take a look for Nessie. The girls loved this - gave them something to occupy their imaginations for the day.

The girls & I enjoying a vista of Loch Ness

Loch Ness Exhibition Center - we stopped here as it was the first as we entered Drumnadrochit. It was a bit cheesy but informative all the same, helping to explain what could have, might have, and can exist in the lake. We learned a bit about the mystery of the "monster" and the studies conducted to date in search of evidence. I think the gift shop was the best - full of little green (and one very large) monsters. It was hard not to buy anything.

Off to the tourist trap of the day

Fake Nessie at the Loch Ness Exhibition Center

Urquhart Castle - Just around the bend stands Urquhart Castle - a scenic ruin with commanding views of Loch Ness. We were granted free admission, thanks to our English Heritage membership. I can't do the history of this site enough justice - I recommend relying on the Wikipedia article or the Scottish Heritage information (sorry to my ex-colleagues, but Encarta didn't have an entry for the castle). Suffice it to say it's believed a fort may have been on this site as early as 600 AD with known records of the current site dating back to the 1200's.

This is a must-see in my book - the views and atmosphere are so pleasant. I wished we had a picnic basket to just hang out on the lawns a bit longer and soak in the landscape.

View of Urquhart Castle upon entering the site

Dan & girls waiting for me at the top

Love it!

Amazing trebuchet

Can't forget the Knicker Bocker Glory! We had read about it in a Paddington Bear book but didn't know what it was. Couldn't resist ordering it when we finally saw it on the menu at Castle Restaurant in Inverness. The picture tells the rest of the story:

Ciao!

Ayr, Scotland

2008-06-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Posted 21.June, back dated for chronological order.

Continuing our journey North from that Lakes District, we spent a week in Ayr, Scotland. It's a quaint seaside town and the campground (Craigie Gardens) was an easy bike ride from town. Famous Scottish poet Robert Burns lived in Ayr and it's the home place of Tam'O Shanter. The area is probably better known for its world class golf courses, including nearby Royal Troon. Neither Dan nor I play, so we enjoyed the view of the courses from the train. ;-)

Not a lot to report - the visit to Culzean Castle and the addition of a 3G modem are covered in separate blog posts. Interesting is the length of time the sun is up. We are quite far North and noticed that at 11pm, it's still fairly light out. The sun streams through our windows around 5am, making me wish our room darkening shades were a bit darker. It's strange to have it bright out at 10pm and later.

On the path to town - looking at the inlet from Firth of Clyde

We spent some of the time as "down" time - including a fantastic play day at (yet) another indoor playground. The girls love the freedom to run and be as loud as they want. When our two hours were up, we walked out of the building and ran into yet another playground - this one ocean-front and free. It has some awesome equipment. Dan wants to build a swing like the one below in our backyard.

Dream Swing

Now that's a fort

An encounter with a Scottish school girl left me smiling. She asked if America was nice and said she always wanted to go there. I asked her "why?" Her response, "Because Scotland is boring." She didn't like my response that she was lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and that every town can be "boring." I truly am getting old if I can't sympathize with a bored kid.

We ventured out to Largs via train. Largs is the site of the last squirmish with the Vikings (Battle of Largs, 1263). We skipped the "Vikingar" movie/experience and spent a pleasant afternoon exploring the town. Best stop was the city museum (free). We were the only visitors at the time and the curator was quite friendly. She admitted us to Skelmorlie Aisle, Largs Old Kirk (the old church cemetary). Skelmorlie Aisle is all that was left of the church when it was demolished in 1802. It was built as a masoleum and the coffins of Sir Robert Montgomerie and Dame Margaret Douglass are interred in the vault. The ceiling of the building is ornately painted and includes paintings of Largs through the seasons with the autumn painting including an image of the old church. Sir Thomas Brisbane is also buried in the cemetary - in the Brisbane Vault next to Skelmorlie Aisle. Very cool experience.

Our "all inclusive" travel pass didn't cover the ferry to Cumbrae -- which would have required another bus ticket to get to Millport. With the day getting late, we headed home. Maybe next time. ;-)

Loved this iron work from a church entry in Largs

Viking statue - Largs

Skelmorlie Aisle

Ceiling of Skelmorlie Aisle - showing the coat of arms of Sir Robert Montgomerie and Dame Margaret Douglass

On Father's Day we visited the Ayr market, held at the nearby race course. We resisted the urge to purchase from the "Meat Auction" -- my favorite quote as we walked by was, "It might be prime rib, but I don't know. Who'll give me a 10'er for it?" They literally were plunking meat down on the scale, not cleaning it after the last batch, then dumping the contents of the scale into ordinary plastic grocery bags. We did find some cute new dresses for the girls - a bit on the big side, but both are so pleased with their new formal-wear, I can hardly get them to wear anything else. Late afternoon found us back on the mega playground - which was quite busy this time. It was fun to see so many families out together. The weather, while not super warm, is enjoyable for outdoor activity - though can be quite windy in this region. A nice end to a mellow week.

Meat Auction at Ayr Sunday Market

Chasing Dad on the beach

All dressed up and nowhere to go

All for now - ciao!

3G Wireless - Cool!

2008-06-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

We recently discovered 3G in the UK. Welcome to our first roaming blog post. We're driving from Ayr to Culloden today (200 miles) and on a whim, tried our our new wireless connection. What do you know? It works while driving!

Recently, Dan has been known to say things like, "It's nice to have GSRM wireless network connectivity."

Apparently the modem we have works with most networks. It worked right out of the box - no need to set up or install any software. The program we went with is fully pre-paid and you just buy more time when you need it. No contracts - so is perfect for travelers.

Costs:

£49.99 for the wireless modem

£15 for 3gb data

Very cool to finally be connected at a reasonable price.

For reference, the Caravan Club sites in the UK that offer connectivity have been through KeZone. Although we were not restricted on data usage, we found the connections were often flaky and didn't work well. KeZone charges based on time usage and pricing schemes are about as follows (I can't remember the exact pricing for the hourly rates, but this is in the ballpark):

£5 for 1-hour

£10 for 4-hours

£20 for the week.

We like the 3G service - it's fast, fairly affordable and it works. The clerks in the 3G store were friendly and helpful. One note - the bandwidth rates are more expensive when traveling the rest of Europe ... so check your travel plans and rates.

Most programs we've looked at to date require a 2-year contract - which doesn't work well when touring (e.g. services from T-Mobile, Orange, Clearwire, etc.).

Ciao!

To Dad, on Father's Day

2008-06-15T01:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day! I hope we get to do something really fun with you. I hope the sun will stay out all day. I love playing with you. Your cooking is excellent.

We hope you enjoy your Father's Day presensts. They should be your favorite!

Megan & Sophia - Ayr, Scotland

Love,

Megan & Sophia

Culzean Castle - Scotland

2008-06-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

We are now in Scotland. Biggest change being that the roads feel wide open when compared to our latest adventures in The Lake District.

Our current campground is located in Ayr, a seaside town. Very cute and historic - with the town plans dating back to the 1200's (though many new buildings are intermixed with the few old).

Took the bus to Culzean Castle (about 30-minutes distance) and had a fantastic day out. The bus drops passengers at the main road and there's about a mile of walking before you get to the castle. Price for the family would have been £30; but we saved £10 with our 2:1 deal from the Caravan Club! Love it!

Visitor's center

Viewing the castle from the beach.

Side view of the castle.

Sadly, visitors cannot take pictures inside the castle. Too bad really, it's so beautiful. My favorite was the oval staircase... amazingly the last item to be added to the house. The kids loved searching for the lego men, hidden in every room. It was a great way to engage them in the experience and allow us to enjoy the beautiful rooms. There is a Camping and Caravaning Club touring site next to the castle and the castle operates a hotel on premises. Would be a very romantic get away. You can see a few interior pictures on the castle web site (click here).

Peep hole at the gatehouse?

We spent a fair amount of time hiking around the grounds of the castle - down to the beach, over to the caves beneath the castle. Then back up and off to the walled garden where we met one of the gardeners and learned all about this monstrous plant (sorry, I can't remember the name of it now) that looks like it's from the Jurasic period.

Jurasic looking plants inside the walled garden.

Palm trees - these were imported from the mountainous region of China and the gardener estimated they are over 100-years old. Apparently it's quite a common misconception that pine trees only thrive in tropical environments.

Another hike out to the bus (fueled by Culzean Castle candies) and we were back to our bikes by 6:00. Funny thing, when we biked through town to the bus earlier in the day, the streets were absolutely bustling with activity. At 6:00, it was silent. Hardly a person in sight and all stores closed up tight.

Ciao for now!

The Lake District

2008-06-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

Published 11.June, back dated 8.June to be in chronological order.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people tell us places we “must see” often not knowing or acknowledging the size of our rig. It’s only after the fact that people express surprise that we made the journey. The Lake District was just such an experience – at the campground (Park Coppice) people couldn’t help but stare at us and ask in awe, “You drove that here?” Not knowing has turned out to be a benefit to our travels. We don’t know we don’t fit … so we journey on, assuming that wherever a semi or box truck can go, we can too. Here are some pictures of what I was seeing out the passenger side of the motorhome. Dan laughs at me on these skinny roads, lined on both sides with stone walls. I tend to duck and lean left when the big lorries come at us.

View from the passenger seat

This is what the roads look like...

We stayed at Park Coppice, just outside Coniston. The campground was nice enough to hold a pitch for us – there is really only one at Park Coppice that is sufficient to accommodate us. We also had a few bits of mail waiting for us – the girls were thrilled to get mail from home!

Coniston Waters (the lake) was about 1 mile (downhill) from where we were parked. Sheep graze in the surrounding pastures and as the area is held by the National Trust, it is not overly developed. From the lake, we had a prime viewpoint of Brantwood, the home of John Ruskin for the last 28-years of his life. The Steam Gondola also routinely passed by on its hourly voyage. Otherwise, one is left to contemplate the wide open spaces, beautiful scenery and fortunately for us, nice weather. The girls spent an evening throwing rocks in the lake. Sophia took a tumble immediately after we arrived and was wet shoulders to toes; Megan soon after threw herself in the water, then jumped up, claiming it was an accident. Such a sympathetic sister!

Steamboat Gondola - This puppy can cruise!

The Lakes District was home to Beatrix Potter, the “Lakes Poets” (Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey), John Ruskin and hydroplane speed records. In 1957, Donald Campbell broke his previous speed record by attaining a speed of 239.07mph on Coniston Waters (source: Microsoft®Encarta®2007). Today, it's a very popular tourist destination and we were surrounded by people with trekking gear intent on reaching their destination.

Path to the lake (Coniston Waters) through another campground, through a few fields, inside the rock wall.

Bridge to Coniston

Beautiful hotel - love the stonework

We spent a day trying to reach the Beatrix Potter Experience in Windermere. The friendly staff at the Coniston Tourist Office directed us to take a bus from Coniston to Hawkshead; change to a private bus from Hawkshead to Ferry House and take the ferry to Bowness. Sounds fun. Only we are not early morning people and the buses run hourly, at best. We arrived in Hawkshead around 1:30pm… the next bus to Ferry House was not until 2:10. Exploring Hawkshead was fun though the old grammar school, attended by Wordsworth, was closed. Given that we were aiming for the Beatrix Potter “Experience” we skipped the Beatrix Potter Gallery which houses the original artwork (managed by the National Trust). Accents came to play in the next interchange – the bus driver kept asking why we didn’t just take the Stagecoach bus to Windermere – he then thought we wanted to get off at Hilltop, the location of Beatrix Potter’s home. Finally figured it out and we arrived without further ado at Ferry House. Turns out, we could have saved ourselves a lot of money and time had we understood the bus service better.

Beatrix Potter Gallery, Hawkshead

Entrance to grammar school, Hawkshead

Tourist outing foiled, it was a nice day out. The passenger ferry to Windermere is quite small and very beautiful as you can see in the picture below. We wandered the hilly area a bit, then decided to catch the bus to the train station (our connection to get home) a bit earlier than planned. Turns out it was the best possible decision as traffic gets clogged down by the marina and our bus was 10-minutes late. We arrived with 20-minutes to spare to make the last bus out of Windermere and back to Coniston.

Ferry from Ferry House to Windermere

Cruising across Lake Windermer

Windermere - these buildings are actually side-by-side.

Sunday was another beautiful day. We wanted to hike Old Man Coniston (2,635 ft), but after checking with a few folks, we learned it wouldn’t be appropriate for Sophia. Dan and Megan headed off for an afternoon of hiking. Sophia and I biked off to the marina at Coniston Waters to take in the Gondola Yacht and disembarked at Brantwood. We spent a good amount of time exploring the gardens and the house. Ruskin was an English art collector, critic, and thinker whose ideas influenced many later generations. My favorite two things from the house: 1) in one room was a bucket of stones. An excerpt from one of Ruskin’s books welcomes the visitor to take a handful of ordinary rocks; select one to examine and realize it’s a mountain in miniature. 2) a quote found in the study, “There is no wealth but life.” I’m attempting to read his book, titled “On Art and Life” and enjoyed exploring the gardens and house. We tried to grab a bite to eat before heading back to meet Dan and Megan, but the restaurant was too slow. We gave in to sharing a piece of carrot cake and tea. She thoroughly enjoyed it!

View of Brantwood House from across Coniston Waters

Met up with Dan and Megan at the Black Bull. We had tried the pub earlier in the week with dismal results on food but yummy beer. We had agreed to meet between 2 and 3pm so I didn’t think it an issue to arrive closer to 3. They had been there, waiting, for an hour already! Oops. As Sophia and I hadn’t had a real lunch, I ordered a Sunday roast and the restaurant redeemed themselves from our experience earlier in the week. Their Sunday roast was quite tasty and Megan grooved on it too. (Roast beef, served over mashed potatoes, with gravy, deep fried potatoes, two biscuit-like things, filled with gravy, and a side plate of fried turnips, squash and zucchini). We ate outside but I couldn't help but take pictures of the interior. Love it!

Inside the Black Bull, a 16th century pub

Black Bull bar

Megan's pictures from the hiking expedition

More gates...

View from trail

Looking over the village of Coniston

Mudflats, Beatles and more

2008-06-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

Posted 11.June, back dated to 4.June to be in chronological order.

Southport was the location of the nearest campground to accommodate a visit to Liverpool. A quite lovely little town, it is filled with Victorian touches and tons of shopping galleries. Sadly, like many seafront towns, it is a bit rough around the edges – salt water can wreak havoc on the buildings. The town is targeted to tourists, and many attractions are quite overpriced or were not open as school was back in session for this area. We’re not shopping for much, so the vast galleries of stores didn’t hold a ton of interest this time.

The campground is short distance from the beach – we took a walk over the sand dunes and found only mud flats. I’ve never walked in mud flats before, so shrugged and said, “How bad could it be?” It was squishy to say the least. When the tide is out in this town, it is OUT. We were not even remotely near ocean water – in fact, could barely see it. Shoes properly caked with mud, we headed back to enjoy a beautiful evening at our campground, where while tackling laundry, I managed to ruin a pair of Megan’s jeans in the spinner. Long story, suffice it to say, I think the individuals camping around the laundry block thought I was doing something crazy in there with all the racket it caused.

Our attempts to find family fun failed – with bowling costing over £14 per game for the family rate or £5 per person per game. The movie theater was only open on certain nights, with no family-friendly flicks. The amusement park looked quite run down and not well maintained. Add to it the lack of other visitors to the amusement area, we didn’t even try. We next tried the water slides and found they are open only some Thursdays then Friday afternoons and Saturdays during school term (which this area’s schools were just back in session after a week off).

Victorian styling

Fish!

Best Western - they have some really nice looking properties in Europe!

Liverpool Day Trip
Biking to the train station was a breeze - flat and only about 1/2 a mile away. We easily found our way to Liverpool with an all-day family travel pass for just £16, covering bus, trains and the ferry to Merseyside. Liverpool is the European Culture City for 2008 and is celebrating with fantastic colorful banners among the shopping district and tons of events.

Blick of Liverpool shopping district

Our best find was the free Maritime Museum. This museum is huge and well organized. We saw model ships, including the Titanic, and learned more about the city’s history. This is one tough city, surviving large-scale ups and downs throughout the ages, bouncing back each time. I left with a greater appreciation for the seemingly distorted mix of new and old buildings.

Light boat, anyone?

Maritime History - free for all & worth the time!

Cool! (Too bad it wasn't working)

We declined the Beatles Experience (£30) – just couldn’t stomach a museum at such a high rate. That’s almost $60 USD! Instead, we sought out Mathew Street and visited some the Beatles haunts, humming “Yellow Submarine” along the way. Tired and satisfied with our day of wandering, we made our way back to the train, back to Southport, and a brief bike ride home.

The Official Beatles Experience - ££££

Then, there's the free Beatles Experience - open to all city wanderers:

Entrance to Mathew Street

Original entrance to the Cavern

Wall of fame

Couldn't resist...

The Peaks District

2008-06-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

GPS of our campground: 53.24733N 1.81074W

It's a shame I didn't snap more pictures out of the window, or better yet, have the video camera recording some of the scenery of our drive. Yes, that includes close misses with the lorries that are bigger than us. Honestly, we saw some of the most beautiful scenery. In some places, it was reminiscent of driving through the Carnation Valley. But the stone walls that mark boundaries are something else and your imagination can't help but take over, trying to comprehend how long it must have taken to build the fences.

Stone fences

We drove only 70 miles or so from Drayton Manor, intending to see the "Peak District." Robert and Diane were caravaning with us. Imagine if you will the scene we must have created: a 35' Winnebago with a 45' rig behind it, followed by an American Jeep! We must have been the topic for some dinner (tea) conversations.

The budget side of me keeps trying to put us on the "Certified Locations (CLs)" as they are about 1/3 the cost of a campground. I had confirmed our rig would fit on the next site (Blackwell Hall), but wasn't sure about Robert - though he assured me they would be fine.

Amazingly, the bulk of the drive went without incident through super complicated roundabouts (which had been re-worked so Autoroute had the wrong exit numbers). We were completely fascinated with the landscape. We were driving through the rolling hills of England, complete with stone fences, cows and sheep. Everything is green and lush. I lost about 10-years off my life as the roads are also quite narrow and we encountered a few delicate spots where the lorries passing us were barely able to inch by.

At the prime moment that we needed it most, my navigational skills failed. We missed the left turn for the CL! This suddenly is not funny as we are on skinny, windy roads with no shoulder and no turn offs. AND, I am thinking about the 45' RV behind me. AND our cell coverage gave out, just as I had promised Robert that "yes, we are on the right path."

Several miles and one tiny village (Miller's Dale) later, we finally found a place to pull over and regroup with Diane (who was in the jeep - Robert had the sense to pull off the road by now and wait). Turned around, we found our missed turn and made it (barely) into the CL site. I went running down the hill, just in time to see Robert drive by the turn - and my cell phone still wouldn't work.

There was no way they would be able to get on the site- the final turn was just too tight for their rig. Even if they had made it around the corner, the camping area was long and narrow and they wouldn't have been about to turn around. They decided to move on. Thinking we had parted company, we were surprised to get a call that they had found the coach parking lot in Buxton (about 6 miles away). They came out and picked us up, brought us in to Buxton and treated us to a lovely dinner.

Final turn into the CL.

For the fun of it, here are pictures of us camping in a farmer's field. It's hard to drink a glass of milk in the morning when a cow is staring you down! Dan wondered if they would revolt if we had a steak on the BBQ!

Moo! The field in front of the RV was filled with pregnant cows! We kept expecting a biology lesson before our very eyes.

Camping on farmland.

The surrounding area is simply breathtaking. Weather permitting we hoped to spend 1-day in Buxton and 1-day hiking or take a long bus trip to Nottingham.

Sample views of the surrounding area.

Saturday we took the bus in to Buxton again. We enjoyed a beautiful day of town wandering, taking in the beautiful sights. This is another "spa" town, with natural spring waters in abundance. Renovation work has begun, centered on the "Crescent" to revive the spring baths - would love to revisit when they are complete. There just happened to be a "kid" zone in the nearby park, so we dropped in and the girls were thrilled to bounce on the trampoline. Sophia jumped for nearly a full hour (!) sure wish I had that kind of energy.

Bouncing around!

Example of the architecture in Buxton - seems every town has a pub named "The King's Head"

Sunday (today), we had planned to take the 2-hour bus ride to Nottingham, but woke up to awful weather. It was pouring down rain and we just couldn't fathom a 4-hour RT journey with city wandering in the middle. Instead, we decided to try out the coach parking lot that Robert and Diane had used. Besides, there are some pillows calling me by name in town and I finally decided I have to buy them.

When we arrived, the rain let up and we wandered our way through the Pavillion Park, admiring the beautiful gardens. The girls had a hoot drinking water out of St. Ann's Well, from which the natural springs flow. People were lined up Saturday, filling bottles with the water!

Blick of Pavilion Park

Goslings with a very protective mother (go ahead, get too close and see how she responds!)

St. Ann's Well

We found our way to Poole's Caves and took the guided tour. An interesting outing, but the stalicites I've seen in the US are much more impressive. These caves have been tourist attractions since the 1800's and reportedly were utilized by the Romans at one point in time.

Taking in a tourist attraction - Poole's Caves.

By 4pm, we were back at the RV...nothing much to do on a cool, rainy afternoon. The shops close at 4pm on Sunday. Since the rain continued to give us a reprieve, we took to the playground across the street, letting the girls exhaust their pent up energy. All told, a delightful day.

Train trestle at the town entrance. Where you see the lorry parked is the location of the coach park.

Tomorrow we move on to Southport, our base for visiting Liverpool and just maybe a day-trip to Dublin.

Ciao!

Drayton Manor Theme Park - UK

2008-05-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

GPS: 52.60859N 1.71469W

After feeling stuck in the rain for 2-days stuck in Birmingham, we needed a fun outing. Browsing the tourist stuff, I found Drayton Manor Theme Park, just outside of Birmingham. Best of all, they allow camping - even have an offical campsite for just £11 per night. As we are so big, we were placed in the coach parking lot so we wouldn't sink in the grass.

We arrived just after 2:30 and as there was no 1/2 day price or 2nd day discount for us (they discount camper's tickets by about £8 each and thus, don't offer a compelling 2nd day pass), we decided to just hang out for the afternoon and spend Friday in the park. Let's just say if you aren't playing in the amusement park, there's nothing else to do.

Drayton Manor Theme Park - entrance as seen from inside the RV.

I took the kids out for a walk - we found a cute little forest path that runs along the river. A little spooky with the high humidity and a bit of fog rising off the river. We were in the middle of a small forest when a massive downpour started. By the time we walked back around the outskirts of the park, we were thoroughly drenched! There was at least a half inch of water running down the hill as we were walking up it. Not the best way to discover that only Megan's jacket is waterproof.

Around 10pm, we noticed a really big rig pulling in. I said to Dan, "Do you think that could be Robert and Diane?"

"Well, is there a jeep behind it?" Dan asked.

Sure enough, at just that moment, a jeep pulled in as well. Suddenly, we were meeting up with fellow Americans who are travelling Europe in a 45' rig. We met on RV.Net, just prior to our leaving the States and have been trying to meet in person ever since. We had been in email and phone correspondance with Robert and Diane, but they totally surprised us by showing up at Drayton Manor. It was great to meet the people we've been sharing information with for the past year and see the difference that an additional 10' make!

American RV's dominating the coach parking lot (there was a small German-made motorhome between us, poor guy!)

On to the themepark review...

My recommendation to this park is to differentiate from Disney. Go back to being the family fun park. I know you all will say that we've been spoiled with Disney Anaheim and Disney Paris. In all honesty, the rides where Drayton Manor didn't try to imitate Disney were fine. The Disney clones were awful. The "Pirates" ride was a cheap rip off of "Pirates of the Caribbean" - soft music, animatronic characters that were falling apart, and just plain no energy (we won't talk about the grime and dirt). It would be nice if the amusement games were free - we would be happy to give up the prizes just to let the kids play games without doling out an additional £1+ per attempt).

I was able to coerce Megan with a "Quadruple Dog Dare" and a promise of ice cream to go on the "Apocolypse" with me. This is the grown up version of "Cranky the Crane" (see below) where they take up up high and it feels like a free fall. It was more fun that she thought, though for the wait, they should have raised and dropped a few more times.

On the flip side, the new area, Thomas the Tank Engine as fun - the kids loved it and the rides were just right for them. Sophia went on the Cranky the Crane drop (mini version of the full scale Apocolypse) and giggled uncontrollably the whole time. She didn't want to leave!

Photo opp with Thomas!

Cranky the Crane ride

Cranky the Crane - going up!

The park runs on a much smaller scale than other big theme parks with no hurrying to load rides, so waits can be quite long for short experiences. Gates opened at 9:30 am but rides didn't operate until 10:30 or after (annoying mostly in that there was no signage to let you know - so we spent 45-minutes wandering around, wondering why there were no rides running). Gates closed at 5:00 pm, but then in the middle of the day, signs were updated that rides would operate until 6:30 - so I guess some days, the park closes at 7:00 pm.

Dan & Megan on Drayton Manor's version of "Splash Mountain"

We didn't use it, but apparently this "human drier" can fit up to 4!

There was a zoo on premises, which was fun for the kids. Sadly, many of the cages were quite small and smelled badly (most notably the monkeys and reptiles). I think it's a shame to see tigers in enclosures where they can be taunted by and chased by the kids outside the pen, (Yes, it's true. The cage was a double chain link fence, leading into the glass walled enclosure. As we were walking out, a group of kids were chasing the tigers back and forth, yelling and waving their arms...)

Best bet for downtime was the huge playground in the middle of the zoo area. Filled with tons of kids, it has plenty of activities to keep the multitude of ages busy. We loved the sand play area, complete with chutes, buckets and a conveyer belt to move sand around.

Huge playground with sand feature.

All in all, we had a good day and the kids were quite simply exhausted by the end. The weather was fantastic - warm and the rain held itself in check. A round of Chinese food from up the road (thanks to Robert and Diane having the jeep on premises) and we were ready to call it an adventure and head out the next day.

Ciao!

Birmingham (UK)

2008-05-28T02:11:00.000-07:00

Birmingham is one of the examples of our less successful city visits. It started before we even arrived in - people kept asking, "Birmingham? Why? No one goes to Birmingham!"

Maybe we've been spoiled by the other beautiful big cities we've visited (Koln, Antwerp, Madrid, Seville) or maybe the logistics just jaded our view. There's nothing inherently wrong with the city, it just wasn't anything special either.

This past weekend was a Bank Holiday weekend and it seemed Birmingham was the only campground available. So, here we are.

Next was the discovery that the bus only runs once an hour until 1pm, then not again until 5pm and, don't miss the 6:55 out of Birmingham - if you do, you're in town until 11pm. The bus also doesn't run on Sundays or Bank Holidays (in this case, Monday) - two of our planned 4 days in town. The campground is just rural enough to not be able to purchase the family ticket for the day (£8 inclusive of all transit in the area) so instead have to pay £8 RT.

Due to the holiday, rental car agencies were booked.

We set out on our bikes Friday to go to the grocery store and found it quite a haul. While nice to be outside, riding with Sophia and no gears on the bike proved to be a challenge on the rolling hills. The "mile" to Sainsburys was understated- there's no way we would be biking the 14 miles in to Birmingham proper.

We ventured in to Birmingham on the bus Saturday. It's a very large, overwhelming city. We followed the crowd and the promise of tents, right into the Birmingham Gay Pride event. Sadly, not much more than drinking going on. Wandering on, we found the Rag Market, a little of everything a person could want, under one roof. It was a little remnicent of the Mercado in Barcelona. Across the street is the Bull Ring, advertising more than 160 stores.
St. Martin's Church, a few steps down from the shopping district.

The Bull Ring curves around - this is the view from the top of the stairs.

One wing of the "Bull Ring" shopping complex.

Looking down the center of the "Bull Ring"

All in all, we didn't get an overwhelmingly comfy feeling in the city. There's nothing wrong with Birmingham, but it just didn't seem like a place you would want to be after dark. And, unless shopping or with a guide, the central section wasn't that conducive to sightseeing. The best part of the day was that a bistro was located just across the sidewalk from the bus stop - our traditional 30-minute wait in a bus stop was much improved by beverages and snacks.

Wish every bus stop had a bistro near by. (blue bar is where our bus stop was located)

Sunday, the weather set in. We had been watching the forecasts and we knew a major storm front was on its way. Initially, it looked like Birmingham might be right on the edge - so I was hopeful that we wouldn't be hit too hard. Saturday the wind started; early Sunday morning, the rain joined the party and literally didn't stop for at least 12 hours. We spent a lovely day inside, watching the low dips in the parking lot fill with water and the wind gusts blowing the rain sideways across the tarmac.

Monday we found the train station (about 1-mile away and easy to get to on bikes, if you take the correct exit off the roundabout) and made it in to Birmingham again. We have a new level of empathy for our friends Matt and Gretchen (who bike across continents for fun). As we made it to the main road, the wind gusts started again and along with it, came the rain. Ick. Sadly, the Wythall station was closed and the on board sales allow only for individual transactions - we couldn't buy the family pass (£8 inclusive of all trains, trams and buses for the day) and we couldn't buy joint train-admission packages.

My initial goal had been to visit the Black Country Museum. Upon further reading of the brochure, I found the train stop was a mile away from the Museum. You guessed it, the wind and rain had started again. So we made the call to exit in Birmingham and wander the Bull Ring (a very large shopping center). Soon bored, we wandered off to the IMAX theater and took in Speed Racer. The movie was great fun - the kids loved the IMAX screen. Noted - it was a bit more violent and explosive than anything our kids have seen to date - but we all had a ball!

Birmingham has plenty to keep you busy - providing you have a plan, transportation and the weather holds out. The city itself is not all that beautiful - it's a rather industrial presence with some older buildings intermingled. They look quite out of place in some instances (take the contemporary Bull Ring that sits overlooking the church).

Ideas for future visits:

Cadbury World - The story of chocolate. I remain dubious, but a local assures me it's quite a fun day out.
Black Country Museum - A Living Museum, recommended by our friends Phil & Des.
Various walking trails - including Tolkein trails
ThinkTank (basically a science museum - but it looked really cool & interactive for the kids - be sure to look into a package deal from the train station to save you money)
National SEA LIFE Center
West Midlands Safari Park (didn't think they would appreciate the motorhome rolling through - but who knows?)

We're headed next to the Drayton Manor theme park - which includes an all new Thomas the Tank Engine Land, a zoo, and amusement park. They have a caravan park on their grounds - though as we are too large to park on grass in such soggy weather, they are allowing us to use the coach parking lot. It should be loads of fun and the girls are looking forward to having 1 or 2 "kid" days!

Ciao for now!

Enjoying the Natural Hot Springs

2008-05-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

A quick shout out to "The Roving Artist" as I think these are such fun keepsakes from our day in Newbury. Here are pictures of the two silhouettes Mr. Burns did of the girls - it was quick, painless and I'm in love with the idea! If you are in the UK and have a chance to work with this group, don't hesitate! These were created free-hand, not from a tracing. I understand from their web site that they will create silhouettes from photos as well.

Silhouettes of Megan and Sophia.

Bath (continued)

In the last post, I promised stories, so here goes my long-winded recount of our few days in Bath. First of all, the city is quite beautiful though I found myself more impressed with the countryside than with the buildings. Wandering around the area near our campground, we encountered magnificant trees that look like they are straight out of a sci-fi book (I've been reading out of Dan's collection lately...) - some looked like they were ready to reach out and grab you while others looked ready to pick up roots and walk away.

Trees along the walking path near the campground.

Our day sightseeing was fun - though we chose not to tour the Roman Baths as it just felt really expensive (£25 for the family). I found out, after the fact, that we could have gotten 2 for 1 admission via our Caravan Club membership. Oh well.

Entrance to the Roman Bath museum / exhibit.

Alternatively, we had a delightful tour of Bath Abbey. The site is known to have had a church as early as 757 and in 1090 a Norman cathedral was on the premises. The current abbey was founded in 1499 (source: Bath Abbey web site). They have activity sheets for older kids and it worked like a charm! Megan was completely distracted by finding answers to all the questions, which enabled us to take our time and enjoy the marvelous architecture. The curator of the museum entertained us with anecdotal stories and even stepped outside to point out the stone mason's marks on the buildings. Stone masons would place a stone, then quickly make a scratch on the side, which was their "mark." They were paid daily - and the marks showed how many stones each had placed.

On our way back through the Abbey, we were greeted by one of the staff. This is the first time that one of the clergy took notice of us and talked to us when visiting a church! He was quite interested in our travels and had even visited Seattle himself. Made the entire experience just a bit more personal and meaningful somehow.

Inside Bath Abbey (L) and view of the ceiling (R).

We biked in on our second day in town. It was just about as easy to get to the Bristol-Bath bike path as it was to walk up the path to the bus. With kids in tow and having to disembark a few times, it took about 30-minutes to bike to Bath city center. Part of the path was along the river Avon, which snakes around the city. Very beautiful and refreshing ride.

Kids were exhausted and it was a short day. But Dan convinced me to desert the family and go back to enjoy an evening at the spa. The Thermae Spa utilizes water from the natural hot springs. They have kind of a funky pricing model (in order to use spa services, which are extra, you must also pay for the time you are at the spa with a 1, 2, 3 or 4 hour "spa package" in addition to the cost of the treatment). But - they offer a "Twilight" special, with for £35 you get 3 hours to utilize the main spa facilities (minerva bath, steam rooms and rooftop pool), a main course entry, glass of wine and use of robe, towel and slippers. It was kind of weird being there by myself, but the setup is quite brilliant. Just grabe a float tube, wrap it around your shoulders and you just float around the minerva bath and roof top pool. Very cool. The food was simple but tasty. Downsides - there is no access to the "hot baths" unless you are receiving a "treatment" and the showers were on par with campground showers - small, with generic gel that is both shampoo and shower gel. I didn't think they would appreciate me walking around with a camera - so I've swiped a photo from their web site - probably one of the coolest venues to spend an evening.

Image courtesy of Thermae Spa web site. This is a slighly air-brushed view of the roof-top pool at the spa.

And finally, our campground host convinced us to stay an extra day. We were missing out on the "best" of England by traveling around in such a big rig. He heartily recommended we take the 20-minute walk to the Duchy of Cornwall, easily accessed from the path at the campground, but not accessible via motorhome. This turned out to be a pretty short walk, but well worth the day. The village is actually named Newton St. Loe and the property is owned by the Prince of Wales and leased to inhabitants though Prince Charles maintains offices in the village.

The Rectory dates back to the 1700's; the "Mount" from 1500's (extended in the 1600's); and most buildings are authentic from that period. Pictures first - scroll down if you want more information - I took pictures of the text and have typed it up below. =)

Picture of Village plan and history that was posted outside the post office.

The Thatch

Holy Trinity Church - we got to peek inside and it's marvelous!

Here's the verbatim text, as recorded from the sign outside the post office building:

"The first record of the village is in 5A.D. When the Wansdyke, a ditch and dyke earthwork, passed south of the village. At this time it was called NIEWTONNE. In 300 A.D. A Roman General Marceus built a large Villa. Niewtonne is listed in the Domesday Book in 1085 and was given by William the Conqueror to Goeffrey, Bishop of Coutance in Nortmandby and on his death in 1100 the Manor passed to Roger St Loe hence the village became known as Newton St Loe. A farmhouse was built in 1100 A.D. By Roger Mowbray which was fortified in 1400 by Lord Bottreaux. The remains of this House are known as St Loe Castle.

THE OLD VILLAGE The Shop, The Thatch, Newton Farm and Spencer's Cottage form the centre of the village and all date from the 1700's. The Shop was also a Bakery and Beer House. The cottage adjacent to the Thatch was a Public House called 'The Rising Sun'. The Fountain and Horse Trough were donated to the village by the Gore-Langton family in the 1800's. The village Blacksmith was at the top of the road leading into the village known as 'Smith's Hill'.

THE SCHOOLS There were two schools in Newton St Loe, the oldest being near the Church which with the adjoining school house was built in 1698 from an Endowment of Richard Jones, a Bristol Merchant. He also founded a charity to assist young people of Newton St Loe to train for an occupation, this charity still operates today. The school provided accomodation for the school-master, rent free. The school was extneded in 1911 but had to close on 18th December 1970. After the closure one of teh school rooms was returned as part of the School House, making a lifing room with bedroom above. The remaining school room became the Parish Room. The school at the other end of the village was built in 1846 at the expense of the Rector George Gore. Both buildings are now used for recreational purposes.

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH The list of rectors inside the Church date from 1297 as does the South Aisle and Nave. The Tower is 13th Century and contains a fine peal of 6 bells. The North Aisle was added in 1857 when the impressive Gore-Langton Memorial was erected in the South Aisle. The organ and windows are of great interest and date from the late 1800's. In the churchyard is a preaching cross which may pre-date 1297.

THE MOUNT, built it is believed, pre 1500's, has a superb view overlooking the Avon Valley. The house was enlarged in the 1650's to provide for servants quarters and again in the Regency period it nearly doubled in size iwth an attempt to 'Georginise' it in keeping iwth fashionable Bath. By 1870 Jon Lun Stothart and his family had moved into the house along with their 12 servants. The heir to the Gore-Langon Estate at Newton Park, The Hon. Capt. Chandos Gore-Langton also lived in the Mount from 1913-1924 with his family and added a further wing to the house. The Mount now remains a Grade II listed building of substantial size but still a family home.

The present Newton Park House was built by Joseph Langton in 1780, a wealthy Bristol Merchant who engaged Capability Brown to lay out the Park. Several large houses were built in the village at this time, The Hayes, Stonewalls, The Rectory, Spencer's Cottage and also most of the farmhouses and most cottages. The population is estimated at 200 in 1082 rising to 300 when coal was found and mined near the village. There are now 53 houses with a population of 150. The character of the village remained virtually unchanged from 1750 to 1950 when mains, drainage, electricty and water were installed, however Newton St Loe still has evidence of the past."

THE RECTORY Was the home of ten Rectors from the mid 1700's to 1952 when on the retirement of the Rev. Beaumont Russell it ceased to be the residence of the local rector. During this 200 years, the Rectory was the centre of village life and during World War II was the First Aid Post and A.R.P Wardens Post. After the War it became a Hall of Residence for Newton Park College before becoming the Headquarters of the Duchy of Cornwall, Eastern Region which manages Land Holdings for the Duchy stretching from Exeter eastwards."

Next up - Birmingham.

Ciao!

Beautiful Bath

2008-05-21T05:38:00.001-07:00

Only one campground would accept us in Bath - it's the Newton Mill site. A little spendier than our usual choices, but probably one of the most beautiful we've encountered so far.

Stories later, pictures now - we are finishing up at Subway so no time! =)

Newton Mill Campground.

View from the path just outside our campground.

Bath Abbey - very cool!

Southern Caravan and Motorhome Show

2008-05-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

Motorhome shows are something else in this country. We arrived Thursday, 15.May and camped for the weekend. Lucky for us, Phil and Des were there to greet us, so we were able to camp together. Loved spending time with them again. They made the trip worthwhile. Des spent part of an afternoon showing Megan around the piano! It made quite an impression.

Des and Megan, plinking.

Camping on site included free entertainment, to which the girls provided a secondary source of entertainment with their raucous dancing. They haven't slept so well in a long time. But, it did mean that they were out late ('till 10 or 11 most nights) and over tired this week.

Dancing queen.

Sophia, tucking her head under the pillow after a late night.

We did wander in to Newbury Saturday. The town is quite cute. Of interest was the open art exhibit that we encountered. The gentelman was creating silhouette cutouts right on site! Within about 5-minutes, he presented us with a cut out of each girl - done in free-hand and while we watched. What a fun keepsake!

From Newbury, we move on to Bath, then Birmingham.

Ciao!

Headed to the Southern Caravan Show!

2008-05-15T02:18:00.000-07:00

As usual, I've been slow to update the blog. Mostly due to the flaky Internet connection of late - but more as we've spent the last several days cleaning the motorhome inside and out (a fairly daunting task with 2 little ones running amuck!). Today we head out for Newbury and to attend the Southern Caravan Show in hopes of finding a potential buyer. We're planning to meet up with Phil and Des (who we met in Spain) so should be fun no matter how it turns out.

We've been busy in the last two weeks. Some highlights (will have to add narrative and pics later - most of my pictures are still on the camera):

Canterbury - We opted not to tour the Canterbury Cathedral and instead, spent a wonderful afternoon visiting the ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey, founded in 597 AD. Very cute little city, full of history and fun for a day trip.

Sophia at Saint Augustine's Abbey.

We moved out to a village called Winterslow. It was supposed to be a good touring base for Salisbury and Winchester. It would have been, had we had a car. The bus worked - just was a long haul each time we wanted to get out. And, it didn't run on Sundays. The spot was a Caravan Club Certified Location - for just 4.50 a night, we were permitted to park in a farmer's field! The surrounding landscape is spectacular and it was very quiet at night.

Thatch roofed house in Winslow.

Salisbury - Originally visited just to get to Stonehenge. What a fantastic city. The cathedral is still walled in and sits among a very beautiful, park-like setting. We enjoyed a bit of the Saturday market while enroute to Winchester - lovely local products on hand... such as a rabbit pie; fresh trout (caught the night before); sausages... the fruit and veggies were quite wonderful and we enjoyed yummy plums and cherries on our outing. Love springtime!

Stonehenge - Required visiting when in the UK. I was dubious - especially when I found out the bus 3 from Salisbury was a "tour" bus and would cost about 20 pounds for us. Well worth the outing - the landscape and the structure are quite stunning. Our bus also provided a commentary of the surrounding area, including pointing out the area of a landing strip used by the US to coordinate Normandy invasions. I haven't written the entry yet of our trip to Normandy (back in March) - suffice it to say, I am embarrassed that I didn't pay more attention in my history classes. For me, actually visiting these sites has helped me understand the level of coordination required between the various countries. We've now seen the beaches of Overlord Assualt in Normandy, with memorials, grave markers and tanks left as reminders to visitors. In the middle of a farmer's field, we saw the area in the UK utilized to coordinate the troops (from the top of a tour bus, granted). We've seen the living and working quarters of the troops that orgainized the massive rescue from Dunkirk from the secret war time tunnels at Dover Castle. While in Salisbury, we heard that troops were told not to damage the Salisbury Cathedral as they were using it as an aerial landmark. A very rich history lesson.

Winchester - We took at day trip to Winchester. On the way out, the route was Salisbury -> Romsey -> Winchester. Romsey turned out to be a very cute town. Their tiny Saturday market was in full force, with the church bells ringing. We were there for only about 20-minutes between buses, but it's such a beautiful town, it bears a mention. Picked up some yummy chiabata bread for a snack and moved on. Winchester is quite beautiful - will have to write a separate entry, including pictures. We visited the Great Hall, where a replica of Arthur's Round Table hangs, as the cathedral was closed for a private event, we wandered over to the ruins of Wolvesey Castle and were awed by the beauty of the area. Passed by the house where Jane Austen lived her last days.

The weather has been simply fantastic. Who would have guessed that we would be working on summer tans in the UK in May? Just today, it turned to rain - hopefully will pass soon.

Ciao for now!

Dover Castle - United Kingdom

2008-04-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

Posted 8.May; back-dated to 28.April for chronological consistency.

We first saw Dover Castle from the ferry as we arrived in the port. It holds court from the top of the cliff and would be difficult to miss. After settling in to the campground, we ventured off on the bus to Dover. We have an uncanny knack for missing buses. This time, we rode our bikes down the lane and were literally getting off as the bus (a full 5 minutes early) went roaring past. 30-minutes later, the next arrived and we were off!

We found the walking path easily enough - though there is only one signpost at the corner of the path. A long walk up, and we were met with a decision. Would this really be worth £25 (about $50 USD when you do the conversion)?

Yes, Sophia is posing. The path to the castle.

We made it!

Not only were we NOT disappointed, we went for the English Heritage scheme and got our £20 by spending the £42 and signing up for a year's membership! The membership allows free entry for the family to most of the 400 properties managed by English Heritage along with an offer of half off facilities in Scotland. Love it! Plus, they provided us a handy member package including a map with all sights and an informational book to provide context. We found ourselves wishing that something similar had been available in the rest of Europe.

Back to Dover Castle - first order of business was to quickly get to the entrance to the Secret Wartime Tunnels (after a pit stop of course, of which there are several strategically located). The woman at the ticket office was kind enough to slip us in to the earliest time slot and not in with the group of school kids who arrived at the same time as us.

The tunnels are perhaps best known for the "Operation Dynamo" in May 1940 which resulted in the rescue of 338,000 soldiers from Dunkirk, France (original estimates had been they could only rescue 45,000). A guided tour with multimedia effects lasts about an hour. Visitors follow the path a wounded solider might have taken during the course of arrival, treatment and recovery in the hospital wing. We moved on to some of the communications rooms and even got to peek at the "loo with a view" - one of the only rooms in the maze of tunnels that had a window to the outdoors. Some of the effects were almost a bit silly- but the overall effect left us appreciating the role the tunnels played during war time and understanding the working conditions of the men and women who lived in the tunnels.

Not so secret anymore.

Surfacing, we were awestruck again by the enormity of the site. We found our way to the main entrance & membership office (quite by accident). Onward, we followed a path and surfaced at the site of the Siege of 1216 exhibit. It was another multimedia experience but quite fun. Lots of information delivered during a fairly short audio presentation.

Roaming onward, it took a while to find the way in to the castle itself. We finally did and had a ball exploring the rest of the castle in which the Siege exhibit is performed. One can almost get lost in the various rooms and hallways of the castle. The exhibit theme was dealing with preparing for Henry VIII's arrival and helped set the stage to understand how many staff resided on site and how each of the rooms may have been utilized.

Diagram of the castle grounds.

Royal entrance.

More stairs...

We were utterly exhausted after climbing to the top of the castle tower. All smiles and thoroughly thrilled with the experience and with the opportunity to explore more of the English Heritage sites we wandered back into town and to our little house on wheels. Too bad we can't live at the residence inside Dover Castle... could you imagine the parties we could throw? (yes, there really is a private residence just inside - I think it was titled the "Constable of Dover Castle")

Dover, United Kingdom

2008-04-27T09:14:00.001-07:00

GPS of our campground: 51.10864N 1.22049 E
Campground name: Little Satmar Holiday Park

Yesterday we crossed the English Channel via the SeaFrance ferry. This despite the disapproval of the UK passport control officer. We were given a very harsh time as we didn't have proof of financial means, we're not employed, no UK address and we don't have onward travel tickets yet. You'd all be proud of me, I bit my tongue, used "Sir" and apologized a lot for the fact that the U.S. treats incoming visitors in much the same manner. He caused us to miss the 4:30 ferry.

Made the 6:30 sailing. Nothing out of the ordinary other than a lot of people gaping at our size. 1.5 hours later, we arrived in the UK.

Ferry dock.

Up on the ferry deck

Sailing to the UK.

We were a little stressed about the customs review - but the customs officers actually turned their backs on us! I leaned out the window and asked if they needed any documentation. Their response, "No. Not from you." With that, we followed the line of traffic, faced with driving on the left in an oversized vehicle that is intended for driving on the right! Everything feels backwards - you enter roundabouts going the other direction, pass on the right (left is the "slow" lane) and it just plain feels wrong. Fortunately, the campground is only about 7 miles from the docks and was very easy to find.

First glimpse of the White Cliffs of Dover.

Today we visited Folkestone and enjoyed a nice stroll through town. It's amazing how nice it feels to be able to speak our native language again! We didn't realize how much we missed English until today. Signs, menus, bus information - everything is English and we aren't guessing anymore! The town itself is a strange mix of old being renovated and what appear to be newly established big box stores. Lots of retail space available. The "creative zone" is an interesting assortment of artists and interior furnishing stores that are being updated. Very interesting artwork to look at as we strolled along the narrow cobblestone street.

Cute shopping district in Folkestone.

We saw several of these signs - promising to fix the place up as soon as possible. Interesting approach.

We enjoyed a lovely Madras Curry at the Sunday market (4₤ each) with the kids grooving on Thai noodles and chicken (split one for 3₤). The people around us have been fantastically friendly and the weather has been nice (though rain is in the forecast for Tuesday-Friday).

Blick of the Sunday market - this was only the part by the dock - there were more vendors in the town center.

No idea what this is, really. Just loved the machine installed in the side of a building, titled "Other People's Photographs." Dan examined it - but for all he could see, it's just a bunch of pictures.

The Internet connection here at the campground is limiting - we aren't abel to access MSN email or Hotmail and half the web sites won't load. However, Google has been stable, including checking Gmail and using Blogger. We can sign in to Messenger and we can see the MSN home page, but 90% of the time, links off the pages won't work. Strange and frustrating - we paid 5₤ for 24-hours and it doesn't work properly.

On a final note, we've been forewarned that our luxurious, wandering ways have reached an end. Our current campground hosts warn us that we need our reservations and next stops planned well in advance. This is a change for us... apparently despite the popularity of American RVs in the UK, not all sites will accept them. =( Why did we ever leave Antwerp? ;-)

Brugge, Belgium

2008-04-26T02:01:00.000-07:00

I know we're supposed to be in England now, but I just couldn't leave without seeing Brugge. After much deliberation, we agreed to skip the RV show at Petersborough (who wants to camp in a farmer's field with no electricity, anyway?) and take a daytrip to Brugge.

While waiting for our train at Antwerp Central Station, we found a 24/7 grocery store, completely automated! There was an assortment of a mini-quickie-mart - from diapers, beer, candy.... even lighters! One wall was food items; another non-alcoholic beverages. We had to make a purchase to see how it works - afterall, they had bottles of wine and 6-packs beer. You can't just drop those things down a chute. A robotic arm lifts a metal box to the row of your purchase, then an arm from the back of the merchandise gently pushes the item into the box. The box is then lowered to the right, a door opened, and you remove your purchase. Best of all, the prices were on par with the neighborhood grocery stores!

Vending machine / "grocery" at Antwerp Central Station.

Fun day - long train ride. It's about an hour and twenty minutes from Antwerp. The weather was a bit cool but pleasant enough to enjoy the day outside. One of the best discoveries of the day is that our day pass (for buses and trams) was valid in both Brugge and Antwerp. Not sure if this is official or not, but we ran the pass through on both systems and it was accepted.

Brugge is labeled the best preserved medieval city of Europe. The city is filled with cobblestone streets, skinny alleys and lots of touristy shops. Prices on souvenairs were less than Antwerp or Brussels. We enjoyed a boat cruise through the canals; found De Halve Maan brewery and enjoyed a beverage. Brugge Zot is not our favorite - it's too fruity. The kids groved on pfannekuchen (pancakes) with sugar and butter... and of course, hot chocolate.

And of course, we climbed the winding stairs up the tower from the 13th century. Had a very cool view of the city from 88m and while we missed the Carillon concert (which is only a few days a week), we were at the top for the half hour toll. Quite loud and very fun to show the girls how the bells functioned.

Belfry - tresury area known to have been used since the 13th century.

Going up.

View from Belfry.

Now, we're headed off to Calais and the ferry to Dover. Stay tuned!

Ciao for now!

Nine years and counting...

2008-04-24T00:26:00.001-07:00

Happy 9th anniversary, Dan! Despite the enthusiasm with which I sing along to Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" I'm counting on many more happy years together - wherever they may take us. I'm so glad you still put up with me. A toast to many more years together - happily so. =)

Today we leave Antwerp enroute to Calais, France. With luck, we will also cross the English Channel to Dover (by ferry, not the Chunnel). From there, we are headed to the National RV show in Petersborough running this weekend. It's time to start making contacts with potential buyers as we're hoping to sell the Winnie in the UK at the end of the trip.

Ahoy There!

2008-04-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Getting to town was interesting today - the trams and buses were beyond full to accomodate the Antwerp marathon (25km or 10mi - and no, neither Dan nor I are fit enough to participate at this point). The experience was akin to riding the subway in Paris at rush hour only there were no subway staff to shove people in.

After a bit of wandering, we found our way to "PiratenEiland" for a day of play and terrible food. The kids loved it - an indoor playground that spans several rooms and three levels. Dominated by ball pits and slides, the pirate themed park lacked only in quality food.

The girls giggled, laughed, ran, jumped ...and no one told them to be quiet! Fun!

Price is 9,50 EURO on weekends (7 EURO on most weekdays) per child (adults are free). For food and beverages, you have to exchange cash for their tokens - which are non-refundable. Everything is a la carte and averages 1 token (2 EURO). The food is nowhere near great (think ballpark dog on a dry bun), but the price was worth it to see the kids having so much fun. Even Dan got into the spirit and rough housed with the girls in one of the ball pits and made sure Sophia went down the big slides (together, of course).

Ship wreck!

One of many ball pits.

Loch Ness slide.

Third floor gym theme.

Antwerp, Belgium

2008-04-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

As usual, I'm behind on blog posts. =) Time seems to disappear and the connection has not been the greatest at our current spot- but is free (vs. 20 EURO a day through Proximus) so I can't complain.

We love Antwerp. Partly because it's a beautiful city, more because everywhere we go, we are greeted with enthusiasm and heartily welcomed. From the parking attendants to the transportation ticket office and even the gal at the post office. Everyone has welcomed us with huge smiles and offers of suggestions of where to eat and what to visit.

Our first tram ride was inspected at Central Station. The police swarm the outside of the platform and have waiting passengers line up in one of the entry hallways. Then they check (& mark) tickets of everyone getting off and presumably board the tram to check everyone else's tickets. It was kind of funny and overwhelming at the same time. Even the police were nice though - one overheard Dan and I trying to figure out the exit path and gave me a "yes ma'm, the exit is here." in English even. Public transit is really easy and affordable - it's 1,20 for 1-2 zones or 15 EURO for a 5-day pass.

Dan won't let me buy any diamonds (awww, poor me...) - but the store windows sure have been fun to look at. We got a laugh out of the advertisement that they will set any diamond in 15 minutes! (in other words, "quick - get them out of the store with their purchase before they can change their mind!") The girls and I visited the Diamond Museum which was featuring "Divas and Diamonds." Not sure the outing was worth the 12,50 EURO, but at least the kids were free and the jewellery in the "Divas" exhibit was exquisite. Sophia keeps asking if we can go back and look at all the pretty, sparkly stuff.

The shopping district is awesome here. Beautiful buildings and fantastic window displays. Either the fashion bug has finally caught up with me or my brain has registered that it's Spring. I want nothing more than to go buy a new wardrobe! Beautiful clothes and shoes flank the pedestrian street which itself is filled with magnificant buildings. My favorite "over the top" place is Antwerpen Feetzal - the interior is clad in gold leaf and the boutiques surrounding the central public area are fantastic. They certainly have the psychology of shopping down. Just the luxurious feeling in the building makes me want to shop (and historically, I hate shopping).

Antwerp Feestzall - view of the champagne lounge (elevated).

Antwerp Feestzall - center lounge.

Shopping district.

We spent a day at the Antwerp Zoo - a pretty expensive proposition (17,50 per adult + 12,50 per child over 3). They claim to have over 6,000 animals, but I think they counted an awful lot of the fish in that estimate and several exhibits were closed or under remodel. The grounds are fantastic and the seal exhibit was well done and we still enjoy the ability to see the animals much closer up than we've experienced in the States. However, many of the enclosures are awfully small and the animals (especially the tigers and lions) are bored and pacing. We did get to see the baby hippo! There were two adults and one baby - and they were bellowing to get out of the inside enclosure. Sophia couldn't stop giggling at the sounds!

Garden inside the Antwerp Zoo.

Megan & Sophia hamming it up.

Megan at the elephant exhibit - she's growing up on us!!

We took the elevator down 31 stories to the St. Anna Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel built in 1933 that runs under the Schelde river. We had been told that the french fries at Frituur are the best in Antwerp - so we indulged. They are made from real potatoes and cooked as ordered. Very yummy - though they should be careful of flavor contamination from the other foods they fry in the oil. The kids loved the wide open space and playground. We enjoyed a fantastic view of Antwerp across the river. Very cool. Access back was an easy tram ride (under another tunnel) - we've now been in 3 of the 4 tunnels in the city. (1.5 vehicle tunnel, Tram tunnel, pedestrian tunnel, and Kennedy Tunnel - for all vehicles).

Inside the tunnel - don't do this if you are claustrophobic!

Frituur - supposedly the home of the best french fries in Antwerp.

We'll probably be here a few more days. The fridge at our house went out and I'd like to make sure the replacement arrives fine on Saturday. Now there's a fun experience ... shopping for a refrigerator online only with an unstable Internet connection. It was possibly the most frustrating thing of the week. It's amazing how many refrigerators are in the $2k+ range that get really poor feedback for functionality, noise level and durability. I finally settled on an Amana bottom freezer with french doors on top. Hope it's lovely. Huge kudos to Rebecca at Frederick's Appliances in Redmond for facilitating the purchase and delivery. Their delivery fee includes installation and removal of the old, unlike Sears... whose delivery fee includes only delivery and removal (no installation). Huge thanks to our friend Holly for dropping everything and calling them for me to get pricing and explain that her friend needed a sales clerk to help over email/IM.

Kudos for Cheap Motorhome Parking

2008-04-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Can't pass up an opportunity to spread the word about a company we just learned about, whose mission is to develop inexpensive motorhome (RV, camping car, etc.) parking near large cities in Belgium. Once the Belgium sites are opened, they plan to expand to other European countries.

Today, we were declined entrance at "De Molen," across the river from Antwerp. Apparently they can have only 6 motorhomes at a time on the premises. They provided pre-printed directions for the site we would be welcomed. Feeling a little out of sorts, we headed out.

Turns out, "Vogelzang" is an old campground that is being revamped for motorhomes only (no caravans, sorry). It's currently free and electricity is 2 EURO/night. You have to use the site's adaptors to connect. It's closer to Antwerp than De Molen and the guys running the business are super friendly - even making sure we knew how to find the public transit and providing a tourist map!

Here's the location information:

Site name: Vogelzang - small signpost at entrance for "camping" and "no caravans"
GPS Coordinates: 51.19033N 4.40227E
Street Address: Vogelzanglaan - take exit 5 off R1, follow toward Berchem/Wilrijk.
Utilities Available: water (currently on request due to repairs to the system); electricity (2 EURO / day); chemi toilet
Internet Connectivity: Via free public wi-fi signal from Crowne Plaza Hotel (Thank you!!) [yes, it's designated as a free hot spot in the description.]
Proximity to Public Transit: About 200m to bus and tram lines that take you in to the city
Managed by: Nocterra - http://www.nocterra.com/

Here's to a fun visit to Antwerp. Spring is in the air - it was clear and even a little warm today!

Ciao!

Brussels, Belgium

2008-04-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

Posted 11.April, back dated to be in chronological order.

I'm so far behind on my blog posting with Paris, that I thought maybe I should play a catch up game and post some of the recentl pictures and stories before I forget about them.

Through our usual sense of planning, we wound up further out than we'd planned from Paris. Our GPS puck was broken, so we were trying to find LPG on rural roads... and well, instead of driving 14 km to a campground, we drove 162km to Peronne. Interestingly enough, the surrounding area is the location of the WWI battelfields - some of the first trench war fare.

Sadly, Paris left all of us very sick and run down. We spent virtually a full four days at the campground, doing nothing but trying to find our energy. Besides, it was raining... not much fun to be sick and out in the rain too.

By the time we got the energy up to move on (still no GPS puck), we realized that we were really far East in France and there really wasn't much more that we wanted to do. Why not? Let's go on to Belgium.

Statue welcoming visitors to Belgium

Goal: Visit Brussels
GPS of our campsite (inside the campsite): 50.76081N 4.54751E
Campsite Name: Camping Druivenland (in Overijse)

Very friendly owners - super helpful and one of the warmest greetings we've received at a campground trip to date. The site has been in the family for 3 generations now!
16 amp electricity
Some of the touring pitches have water and grey water drainage
Large field for tourers - difficult to access for units over 10m (we are 10.5... had to drive down to the dump station to turn around, then back up the hill to make a very tight turn onto the access road for the tourist field. They were kind and allowed us to leave through the side gate, which is much easier). Potential for soggy ground in the rainy season - we parked on the access road as the ground was quite wet.
Site has no interent access
Check prices carefully - we were charged full rate (+kids) simply because we arrived Easter Sunday. There were no other tourers on the premises... and we didn't get a discount for a 7-day stay (we stayed 8) even though it was posted on the door.
Local bus service is available, but the bus runs only once an hour weekdays and once every two hours on weekends. Bus drops you at the entrance to the metro.

30.Mar -Sunday - we tried to venture in to town. Made it to the metro by about 12 and there was a massive flea market in process under the ring road overpass. Dan suggested stopping and exploring and I reluctantly agreed (I had wanted to go to the "big" market in Brussels proper). If memory serves me correctly, Dan had to virtually drag me away. It was so much fun! Our only mistake was not grabbing a waffle from the waffle van...there was no other food and the surrounding area didn't seem to have any restuarants.

Got off the bus at Overijse proper and popped in to Tavern de Met. Very much worth the stop - we ate well and left happy. In fact, we ate there a total of 3 times during our 8 night stay in town! Loved the atmosphere and the food was really good.

The Met - atmosphere.

The Met - food that tastes as good as it looks.

31.Mar-5.Apr
We were still recovering from Paris and very low energy so weren't as productive and busy as normal. And, we had several chores (not to mention schoolwork) that required immediate attention (for example, fixing the GPS puck as Autoroute doesn't seem to be available in Brussels).

We did a lot of wandering and gaping at buildings. Some of these buildings it seems were built to compete with the building next door in terms of decorative detail. Getting around the city was easy with the group day pass for 10 EURO (valid for up to 5 people). We had one frustrating afternoon looking for Internet access and found a free public hotspot at the tourist office! Not only that, but the staff were super helpful and the exhibits inside kept the girls busy for half an hour while we took care of some online business.

Brussels is the capital city of the EU so I was initially surprised at how dirty it seemed. The subways, streets, sidewalks are pretty disgusting and there's tons of graffiti everywhere. Everywhere we went, we saw beggers - particularly women with small children, sitting at the entrance to the subway stations. It was a little depressing, to be honest. When you think about touring Washington D.C. though, I think our capital city is probably not much cleaner - certainly has some areas you would avoid at night.

Favorite Outings:

Cantillon Brewery - Found this the second time we went looking for it.The entrance is quite unimposing and in a neighborhood that we didn't feel entirely comfortable in. Very fascinating tour and well worth the time. Cantillon is still family run and is the only brewery that still uses spontaneous fermentation (open air vents in the ceiling).

Atomium- Sadly, I forgot the camera. We bought in to this tourist trap from the '50's and had fun with it. Shaped like an iron atom, magnified some 300 billion times, visitors experience an elevator ride to the top (some 80m in a matter of seconds). Three of the four sections are open for examination and it was a little like walking back in time with the oversized posters from the 1958 World's Fair along with a furniture exhibit from that era. It was a little expensive, but like I said, a relatively fun experience.

Wandering the Grand Place - the pictures don't do it justice. Even in the cool early spring air, people were out, enjoying the sidewalk seating at the cafes. About every other store window was a chocolatier. Yum! We found the budget way to experience gourmet Belgian chocolates was to buy the easter candy at 50% off. Yummmmmy!

One view of Grande Place.

Looking down a side street.

One of many chocolatiers.

Paris Summary

2008-03-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

Published 2.April; backdated to 25.March.
I've been lax about posting daily. My apologies. We stayed so busy the past 2 weeks that I haven't had the energy. I will add pictures later - we don't have Internet access at the campground.

We saw our mom's off last night at the Sheraton inside the Charles De Gaulle airport. All they have to do is walk out the front entrance and they are in the right terminal for international departures. Given their flight out is 8:30 am and they need to be there 2-3 hours beforehand, it only made sense.

So - a summary of our very busy, whirlwind tour of Paris:

Day 1 (arrival):

From airport to hotel. We all realize for the first time how far out their hotel is from us. The Disney resort area is pretty isolated.
We left after dinner to let them rest and recoup.

Day 2:
We met them at the subway - was supposed to be a low-key tour of Paris highlights. I had thought we should take the tour bus, but at the last minute, we decided to walk it. Sights: Opera, Arc d'Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Pantheon. Gyros in a food alley, where we were virtually assaulted by the restuarant greeters, all offering something special to us if we would just eat at their restuarant.

We managed to over-run everyone and emotions took a burst in practically all of us. Oops. Sorry guys - we just were so excited to see you and visit Paris.

Days 3-4:

We moved the RV to Disneyland. Motorhomes are designated a special place in the parking lot and the cost is only 13 Euro per day. No power, but from April-October there is water and a dump station. Megan and I ran out at 8:15am and took the bus to the grocery store. Stocked up with everything we could think of and were back to the RV by 9:30. Headed out and picked the moms up at their hotel by 11am. (nothing quite like curbside service from a Winnebago at the Disney Dream Princess Hotel!)

We played hard at Disneyland. Met Princess Jasmine, rode rides, and walked, a lot. Turns out, my mom loves roller coasters. Dan's mom not so much. Megan escorted them on the Tower of Terror and we're still not sure if they enjoyed the experience or not.

Our last night at Disney, I was determined to see the evening parade - they have it listed as Candelabra, their 15-year celebration. In short, we got very wet for a 5-minute character dance.

Day 5 (3/16):
More mellow - took my mom to church. Dan and the girls did their souvenair shopping. Moved back to our original campground (Paris Est Trembly) and checked the moms into a rental mobile home at the site. A bit of a step down from the Disney Dream Princess Hotel.

Day 6 (3/17):
Megan and I went to the Louvre with the moms. We arrived around noon and had a very enjoyable afternoon. Too little time to appreciate the full museum - but we did enjoy the Mona Lisa, Monet, sculptures and Napolean's apartements to list a few.

Day 7 (3/18):
Celebrated my birthday with tour of Notre Dame and a trip to the Eiffel Tower and this time, we took the elevator up. It was fantastic. Cold, but beautiful views of the city. Made us all realize how vast the area really is. Chocolate mousse cake and roses wrapped up the day. Happy Birthday, me. =)

Day 8 (3/19):

Took a day "off" and tried to play it mellow. Took the moms shopping at the nearby grocery store. Since the cafe stop didn't work on the 18th, we stopped at the cafe outside the grocery store for afternoon treats. The citron tart was fantastic; as was the "religeuse" (two cream puffs, filled with chocolate mousse and stacked on each other). Dan, Charlotte and Sophia returned home to rest. Norma, Megan and I wandered the shops in the village.

Day 9 (3/20):
Mom and Megan and I went shopping in Paris. First stop – Printemps. We admired the size of the store (4 builings, 22 stories) but were underwhelmed by the sterility. It’s not really that fun of a store for shopping. Much like Saks Fifth Avenue, it’s sorted by designer and not a very welcoming environment. We did enjoy it though – mom purchased a really cute lapel pin in the shape of a pansy. Outside, we found the sidewalk vendors, selling beautiful scarves for 5 EURO each (I know, they aren’t silk, but they also aren’t 250 EURO). Megan was catered to in a nearby store, her first “real” shoe buying experience complete with stacks of shoes and an attendant to put them on and take them off for her. She didn’t know what to think!

Dan took Charlotte and Sophia out to a nearby market and enjoyed the sites and sounds of a traditional French market.

Day 10 (3/21):

Day trip to Versailles. We endured an hour+ train ride to be beat back by the weather. Literally as we approached Versailles, the wind picked up and we were pelted with an ice storm. Umbrellas wouldn’t have helped … armour for body and face might have made it OK. We turned back – it would have been another hour in the elements to get in and we were all soaked through.

We went home for afternoon naps, then ventured out to dinner in a local eatery known to cater to the college crowd. Large portions, small prices. We arrived at 7pm (when they open) and once we figured out how to open the door, were treated to a fantastic atmosphere and excellent food.

Day 11 (3/22):
With rental car, we took off for Normandy. Followed the signs for Overlord Assault. Beautiful drive, though everytime we got out of the car we were assaulted by wind and hail. We did stop at Pegasus Bridge, several of the beach memorials and made it out to the American War Cemetary. A very interesting day.

Day 12 (3/23):
Sunday again and we’re exhausted! The tourist magazines said the Carrousel shopping center at the Louvre is the place to be on a Sunday. We went – moms had a great time shopping at the local hat/scarf shop. Wandered out – one last search for the cake shop I’d read about. We found it – but there was no indoor seating. We moved on to another café and had cheese cake and coffee as they didn’t have any chocolate cakes that were by the piece. Stopped by the nearby ice cream shop and enjoyed a fresh crepe, made before our eyes. Cold and tired, we wandered back to the car for an exhiliratin drive back to the campground.

Day 13 (3/24):

The moms stayed with the kids while Dan and I headed out for a shopping trip – 2 hours later, we overfilled the cupboards with the basics replenished. Took moms to hotel and said our goodbyes. We had to return the rental car to Orly and make it back to our bus station before 8pm or face a cold walk home with the girls.

Took moms to hotel and said our goodbyes. We had to return the rental car to Orly and make it back to our bus station before 8pm or face a cold walk home with the girls.

Day 14 (3/25):

The Moms flight departed 8:30am. =) We didn’t wake up until 8:30. Determined to find a cheap stopping point and recoup for the day, I routed us 25km away. Only our propane tank is empty and we wound up in Peronne by the time we found a station and refilled.

Ciao for now. Paris is awesome ... definitely worth the visit.

Paris Pictures - 17 March - Louvre

2008-03-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

Posted 9.April, back dated to 17.March to be in chronological order.

Sunday (3/16) was a bit of a low-key day - we moved everyone back to the campground at Paris Est Le Tremblay because we knew it worked. Nice to have our moms at the same site. The mobile home rentals were less than ideal - but for 80 EURO per night for 2 people, I think they did OK.

From this...

to this... (the one pictured was only one night - they moved to a somewhat nicer and larger unit the next day)

Monday (3/17) the moms, Megan and I set out to visit the Louvre. Dan stayed back with Sophia to take care of some projects around the motorhome.

For me, the fact that you need much more than one day to visit didn't really sink in until we arrived and saw the sheer enormity of the exhibit areas. I tried to find the "hidden" automats that are in the metro entrance, but was hopelessly lost. So we entered with the masses, through the glass pyramids. It's actually a pretty cool experience. About 30-minutes later, tickets in hand, we were ready to wander.

Outside the Louvre

We're really here!

I had suggested we split up to enable each of us to explore at our own pace and interest level. Everyone agreed. Except, my mom forgot her watch. Charlotte wandered off by herself while the three of us (me, Megan, my mom) headed out together. I've never felt so bad. We probably should have stuck together.

Another 15-minutes in line and we had audioguides, which are really complicated PDA-like devices. Despite my normal ability to make a computer function, I was unable to get the "zoom" feature to work (where you can navigate through a map of the building to your present location and "find" the piece(s) of artwork you are looking for). Definitely could be better engineered.

We wandered for two hours or so - lost in the overwhelming mass of artwork and maze of hallways and stairwells. Found our way to the Mona Lisa and paid our tribute. Not only is she behind glass, but they have a great deal of space roped off between her and the throngs of people admiring her. Loved how the "no pictures" signage was enforced. I think I was one of the only ones who bothered to turn the flash off. I do have respect for the artwork!

Mona Lisa behind glass.

Cooridor connecting buildings.

As the three of us were starting to head back to our agreed upon meeting place, there was suddenly an announcement over the PA to exit the building immediately. Alarms started sounding - and as we rushed through some fantastic sculpture exhibits, it occurred to me that I had an agreed upon meeting place with Charlotte inside the building, but not outside the building. Second thought - How am I going to explain this to Bill? "Sorry, I lost your wife in Paris. She's somewhere at the Louvre." I realized that I didn't know if she had the address for where we were staying in case she got separated from us. Didn't think about emergency planning for group travel.

Emergency exit procedures leave a bit to be desired. Hoards of people were still streaming through from other entrance hallways. None of the aides were ushering people out. Yet, when we finally made it to an exit where we knew we would easily find our meeting place, an attendant was actively rerouting traffic to a different exit. So you have thousands of people, only about a quarter of whom are obeying the alarms and exit directives and security staff closing off known exits but not seeming to stop more people from entering. It was frustrating to say the least.

Happily, we found Charlotte and apparently only the wing of the building we were in was closed down. There was no effort in the central lounge to move people out. Very bizarre.

After resting an munching on our brown bag lunch, the group agreed to stay together for the afternoon. Refueld, we were off looking for paintings by some of the greats ... Monet, Renoit... you know the names. After much wandering and a lot of time spent in a statue garden (which I could never details for on the PDA-like device), we found Napolean's apartments and finally, by following signs for a Dutch artist exhibit, we found the sought after classics.

Exhausted, we headed out. I honestly think you could spend a month in the Louvre and probably not get bored. It's such a great museum! I loved seeing the look on Charlotte's face when we finally found the classic paintings. Seeing Megan clue in to the statues and examine the statue of cupid as the audio guide explained it to her was marvelous. She was really into it, hearing about the use of lines and detail work while being able to examine the statue up close.

We found the Starbucks on the way out and imbided on coffee and a hot chocolate for Meg. Then we of course, admired the inverted pyramid inside and got lost looking for the restrooms in the Carrousel shopping plaza.

Found the metro entrance and politely waited out two very overcrowded trains for one that we stood a reasonable chance of boarding. (picture this, a woman is inside the train, her golf umbrella and oversized bag are outside the train and the doors are trying to close. She wrangles the umbrella up and in but a metro attendant had to literally push her bag in so the doors would close.)

A cool day. I can't wait to go back some day and this time, I know to budget more time and plan out the visits.

Paris Pictures - 14-15 March & Disneyland Paris

2008-03-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

Published 8.April, back-dated to 15.March to stay in chronological order.

Our moving the motorhome to Disneyland Paris turned out to be the best move. First off, let me confirm for any European motorhome visitors out there: Yes, you can park your motorhome at Disneyland Paris and yes, you can sleep in it overnight. No one would officially answer our questions prior to arrival (something I hate about Disney in general). In fact, even the woman at the tourist office just outside Disney Village couldn't provide a definitive answer.

The skinny on motorhome parking at Disneyland Paris:

Cost (per day - you pay at the car park pay station each morning): 13 EURO
Facilities on site: April-October - Water, dump station. Year round - bathrooms (not sure if there is a shower).
Recommendation: Park as far away from the "slide walks" as possible. The entry themed music runs until about 1am. We permanently have "Hello, and welcome to Disneyland Paris!" engrained in our brains.
Recommendation 2: Park in groups of motorhomes. Our second night there, the parking lot cleaners came through around 2am and they were nothing short of noisy. If parked in a group, at least the interior vehicles aren't being circled by the sweeper trucks.
Recommendation 3: Visit this park during low season and during the weekday. Our Friday visit was awesome - short waits, easy navigation through the park. Saturday was a completely different story. Crowded and the key navigation points don't really channel people very well. Rides were 40+ minute wait times.

We provided our moms with "curbside" service in the motorhome! Dan and Megan ran up to get them from the hotel, with the Winnebago parked out in front. I wish I could have seen the looks on the hotel staff/management's faces (if they even noticed us - but then we do kind of stand out). We definitely got the stare-down from the crowd waiting for the shuttle bus. The image of a Winnebago parked in front of the Disney Enchanted Dream Princess Hotel (or whatever the name of it is) just struck a funny bone and made me giggle.

The walk in from parking is about 1/2 a kilometer. Then there's the typical Disney confusion about tickets ... then the slog through the picturesque pre-entry stuff. About 45-minutes later, we finally found ourselves walking down "Main Street USA" complete with American flags on the buildings (in France!). All my bad feelings about Disney shrank to the background as I felt myself being absorbed in the magif of the place.

Onto the good stuff.

Rides:

Space Mountain II - great fun-though the music needs to be rachetted up a few notches! Megan was too small to go on it (she was fine on Space Mountain at Anaheim ... but this one is a bit rougher). Dan and I sent our moms on it after we went... I don't know that Charlotte will ever forgive us
Autotopia - The regulations are different in Paris. It was possible for Sophia to go on the ride and drive (that's just not right!)! The attendant missed the break - so Charlotte and Sophia had 2 laps!

It's a Small World - the must for every Disney visit. This one is bright, light and clean. We had fun enjoying the sights - but couldn't get that darn song out of our heads.
Indiana Jones Adventure - not worth more than a 5-10 minute wait. Nothing like my memory of the version at Anaheim. Very short roller coaster ride. In fact, they almost let us go through twice, but another wave of people made it through to the entrance ... Megan was too small to go on it.
Teacups - a dizzying fun ride, of course.
Pirates of the Carribean - a must see. Tons of fun with the girls though Sophia was a little scared, but we were on the lookout for Scooby Doo to save her (oops. wrong film company...hope the Mouse ears didn't pick that up).

Disney Railway - bummer. They don't manage the line queu and the only station open for boarding was Main Street - our attempts to ride it were futile this time.
Haunted Mansion - Stil fun after all these years. Always a shocking twist at the end - one which Sophia couldn't quite figure out.

Character Meet-in-Greets:

A mouse from Cinderella... awww.

Even the grandmas got into the princess spirit. (Note: Arial recognized and remembered Sophia about 10-minutes later! As she walked by us, she called out a friendly, "Goodbye Sophia!" and blew a kiss!)

Chipmunks galore (in Hollywood Adventure Land)

Woody! We didn't get to shake hands, but hey, we still gave a good ole' shout out.

Misc. Attractions:

We got swept away into the Alice in Wonder Land maze. I think we squirrled away at least 45-minutes, just because the kids wanted to go in the castle. Good job diverting traffic, Disney!

Aladdin's Magic Carpet - not worth the time. Just some dioramas of the story of Aladdin. Not very interesting for any of us (we were hoping the building contained a ride...). Though we had great fun trying out dreds on Dan and Norma (my mom).

Sleeping Beauty's Castle - very well done, quite ornate and fun.

Hollywood Adventure Land:

Built around the movie theme, much like California Adventure Land. A little lame - but more open spaces. Still was very crowded on the weekend.

Rides:

Tower of Terror - first Dan and I, then we sent Megan as a chaperone for Norma and Charlotte. Hehe.

Rock-n-Roll Roller Coaster - Charlotte sat this one out with Sophia and the rest of us went for a very fast, very fun roller coaster ride. Very similar to the Space Mountain in Disneyland. We were dubious. It was one of the only rides with no wait time and honestly, the description sounded lame. We exited the rides with huge grins.
Crusher's Wild Ride - Everyone else was beat - but Megan and I were determined to go on Crusher's Wild Ride (well, me, more so than Megan- the more she read the signs leading up to the ride, the more she questioned if this was really an appropriate ride for her). After waiting over an hour in line (the ride broke down), we finally got in our turtle shell and were off for a crazy fun ride that tipped us sideways and spun us around. We both floated back to the motorhome laughing, arrivin just in time for dinner!

This being our last night at Disneyland, I coerced the family into wandering back out at 7:30 for the "Candelabra" show, thinking it would be like the nighttime parade at Disney Anaheim. It hadn't rained all day. As we made our way back into the park, a gust of wind hit so hard, it blew us all sideways. We found ourselves standing in the cold, pouring down rain for a 5-minute character dance in the central square! I couldn't help but laugh - I had Megan on my shoulders and rain was pouring down my coat sleeves. After a reinvigorating shower, I was ready to go on rides... but, honestly, we were all exhausted from running non-stop and called it a night. Disney at night is quite beautiful though. Even if I can't hold my camera still enough for the night-time shots.

Exhausted, we were grateful that we didn't have an hour of train commuting on top of such a busy two days. The kids have never been so easy to put to bed and we were quite grateful to have our own bed to collapse into.

Paris Pictures - 13 March

2008-03-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

Published 8.April - back dated to 12.March to be in chronological order.

First full day with our (jet lagged) moms in Paris and we had the "idea" that we would have a low-key day, hit the "highlights" and rest up a bit. Fools! =)

We had them meet us in the subway at Chateau les Halles. Should be easy - just step off the subway, don't move, we'll find you. It really was that easy. Except that Dan and I freaked out when we arrived, thinking we would have to change platforms - then, once we realized where we needed to be, realized how long the subway cars are. Agghh! Needless to say, it was really easy. After about 30-minutes of fretting, we finally stood still and voila! Our moms arrived on the next subway, walked off the train car and all was good.

Should have stuck with my original plan of getting on the "hop on, hop off" bus - but my budget analysis got the best of me at the last minute. Afterall, we had already paid for public transit for 5-days, why should we pay again? Surely we can just use the public buses...

Alas, we hit the highlights and everyone was about ready to kill me by the end of the day.

Opera House - simply stunning inside and out. We opted not to go for the entire tour (8 EURO per person), but a traveling group broke into song on the steps - they may (or not) have been pros, but to hear voices singing and the acoustical beauty of just the entrance was moving. Very beautiful architecture and stunning attention to detail.

Arc de Triomphe

Next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. I'm proud to say, we managed to somewhat easily get on a bus from the Opera House and to the monument with relatively little problem. Figuring out the transit routes isn't as easy to do on the go when there are 3 adults and 2 kids heckling you. First up - snacks in the square across from the monument. Hey, there are no garbage cans, anywhere. Next priority - find the bathrooms. I'm pleased to say, there's a rather decent public bathroom near the Arc de Triomphe. Made everyone's lives easier.

Finally, we embarked on the walk to the monument, which takes you under the impressive roundabout which encircles the monument. What a fantastic memorial - beautiful and somehow thought-provoking amid the hub bub of traffic and tourists. The Arc d'Triomphe was originally ordered by Napolean in 1806, to commemerate his victories, and was completed in 1836. The monument today is a peace memorial, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier located on site since 1921. On the wall of names, we found reference to "Scherer" on the section dedicated to "Armees de Pyrenees or(ales) Des Pyrenees oc(ales) de L'Ouest de Reserve du Camp de Boulogne."

Eiffel Tower

The signs of tiredness are there and we all are ignoring them. Press on - the Eiffel Tower is just over "that" way. I got us on the "right" bus; second guessed; got us off (it almost took off with our moms still on board!), wandered a bit and got us back on the "right" bus (ironically, the same direction we had just gotten off). Anyhoo. We exited at the Military School and walked up - for a few minutes I was dubious, then alas, you round the corner, and there she is. Megan was thrilled - she had been pining to see the Eiffel Tower since we arrived on the 10th.

We had decided we would go up the tower. Dan and Megan were interested in taking the stairs, the rest of us were begging for coffee and cake at the restuarant. Just as soon as we were under the tower, a huge gust of wind hit and it was threatening to rain. After several minutes of discussion, we decided to return another day vs. freeze in line for tickets and again at the top.

Pantheon

Don't ask me how we got here. It all started with a search for a cafe. Unbelievably, we couldn't find a cafe that we could agree on and soon found ourselves within distance of the Pantheon. Again, we didn't enter - the group was beyond ability to function at this point only I didn't recognize it. We admired the building and Megan used grandma's hat to put on a fashion show as we delibrated how best to end the day.

Dan and I needed to find a place to add money to our pre-paid cell phone and we wanted to find a grocery store for our moms to get a snack for dinner. The Disney Princess Hotel is really isolated and turns out, the dinner offered at the hotel is a buffet, at an outrageous price. After the fact, we realized more inline prices were available at the Disney Village, a free shuttle ride away. After trying to accomplish tasks with everyone, we finally saw our moms to their subway train - they simply had to get off at the last stop, then take the shuttle bus to their hotel. Then we continued (unsuccessfully) on our errand quest, eventually wandering back to the motorhome for dinner and a very welcome bed.

Dan and I recapped the day - what went well, what didn't. We had agreed with the moms to visit Disneyland next - but we were not going to move the motorhome. At the last minute, we decided to pack up drive as we understood we could park the motorhome in the Disney parking lot. That way, we take advantage of the proximity of the mom's hotel and we can take care of food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) from the motorhome. We couldn't alert our moms (there seems to be no published phone number for the Disney Princess Hotel and our cell phone is out of money) - so we planned to do our best to be at their hotel at 10:30am, as we had promised.

The Grandmas Are Here!!

2008-03-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

Posted 20.March, back-dated to be in chronological order.

After a lot of build up, we finally arrived in Paris and found ourselves working our way over to Charles De Guall airport to pick up our moms. Their flight arrived at 8:40 AM, meaning we left our campground at 6:45 AM. I told them to wait for us at baggage claim, completely forgetting that you must retrieve your baggage prior to clearing customs.

About an hour after their flight arrived, they emerged from customs. Unfortunately, they had been inside, trying to call us from the public pay phones for 30 of those minutes. I don't think we even had the phone with us! Everyone was relieved to clear all of this up and we started moving luggage toward the RER. Got "The Grandmas" (as they are now re-named) 5-day public transit passes for zones 1-6 and started off to their hotel at Disneyland.

Proof our moms have been on the subway!

The hotel had them booked in a room with a king-sized bed. I helped plead their case, and after a few no's, followed by phone calls, I'm pleased to report that the Disney Princess Hotel upgraded our moms to a very nice two room suite and two king beds. They each had their own bedroom and a very luxurious bathroom (jacuzzi tub, robes, slippers, etc.). I honestly felt a little jealous - that jacuzzi tub looked mighty inviting.

Disney Princess Dream Castle Hotel

We ate a late lunch together and made plans to meet the next day ... hoping they would sleep well and that jet lag wouldn't hit too hard.

Tired bunch, love the tall tables!

Ciao!

Mimizan, France

2008-03-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

Published 19.March, back dated to be in chronological order.

Enroute to Paris, off-season. We finally pulled out the Reisemobile Bode Atlas book again (cheap overnight spots). After a frustrating drive to 3 sites listed (which were full on campsites, but closed for the season), we lucked out and found "Parking Helistation" in Mimizan, France.

Huge parking lot - lots of large RVs, most of which were American imports. Had a lovely 3-night stay, just behind the sand dunes. Power included; water and dump station were super easy to access. In the off-season, it's 5.50 EURO per night (vs. 30 at a campground). Access to the supermarket and ocean were easy. Though, the promised 5.5 km bike ride to Mimizan felt more like 30 km to me! Maybe that's just a sign we weren't as active as we should have been while in Spain.

Market in Mimizan, France.

Did I mention that it's cold? Bring out the winter wear.

Met a fantastic Scottish family and the girls were thrilled to have a new play mate. A huge "hello" to Charlotte and her folks.

The girls with a new friend - in princess attire!

~500 km to go - onward to Paris!

Ciao for now!

En-route to Paris: 3 passes, 3 snow/wind storms

2008-03-05T16:08:00.000-08:00

Published 19.March; back dated to be in chronological order.

I now know that Spain is not flat. We left nice, sunny, warm Madrid, hoping to stop at San Sebastian for a night or two.

However, after crossing 3 mountain passes (the highest was 1,300 meters, I believe) in three separate snow and wind storms, we were anxious to be anywhere but where it might continue to be cold. Unfortunately, France was probably not the best destination - but we have mom's enroute, so onward we go.

The picture (3rd of the passes, about 840 meters) does not do justice to what we were driving through. There were points of the drive that we thought we were going to need to stop, the wind was blowing so hard.

On a similar theme, at some point, just outside San Sebastian, we caught this road sign... exactly which highway are we on again?

We continued past San Sebastian to Camping Larrouleta - a rather uninspired campground in the off-season. The girls were tired from driving all day and we thought we could go swimming. Only the pool closed at 6 vs. 8 - even though 8 was the posted closing time on the door! I had two very unhappy little ones, who had hurridly put on bathing suits and ran from the RV to the pool in biting wind and rain, only to find out it was closed! The motorhome dump station is at an awkward down-hill angle so emptying tanks was a bit of a challenge. Overall, a good stopping point and friendly enough staff, but not a lot to offer in the off season.

Attempts to find the village on foot the next day were met with disappointment. We moved on.

Madrid, Spain

2008-03-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

Posted 19.March, backdated to be in chronological order.

On our whirlwind journey out of Spain and to France, we stopped for a day near Madrid.

Camping was best found at Aranjuez, about a 45-minute train ride from Madrid. Easy enough. We stopped at Camping International Aranjuez (40.04217°N 3.60083°W). The campground was quite nice, though their Internet connection quite flaky. For once the Internet was affordable, only it went down 4-hours into our 24-hour pass and remained down for the remainder of our stay.

A note about the campground - it was really nice. They charge on a per pitch basis, so be careful which pitch you choose. Some of the pitches that are well suited for large motorhomes are poorly planned, with trees or light posts in the middle of the entrance. We ordered our ACSI card while there and they were gracious enough to cut the rate from 35 EURO per night to the 14 EURO per night + fee for kids. After our stay, we've been informed that the camping near Getaf is not nice and we felt that the camping in La Cabrera would have been too far.

We biked in to the train station - about a 20-minute ride. There are no busses from the campground to the city center or bus station. Aranjuez is quite a nice little town with a palace and deserves a longer stay. We would have loved to stay another day or two, but we have a deadline to meet... Paris by 11.March!

Once in Madrid, we jumped on the tourist bus and enjoyed the beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon on the 2nd story of an open air bus. Our favorite was the historical tour. The second path was not at all interesting. By the time we left, we were in love with Madrid and felt sure we could easily have spent a week exploring the city.

Some pictures from our whirlwind tour.

5-arch landmark in a round about.

3-arch landmark

Cathedrale

City blick

Cool!

This is much better than walking!

This tourist stuff is tiring.

On a personal note, we've been letting Megan experiment with the camera. Here's a peek at her blossoming photography skills. =)

Seville, Spain

2008-03-02T04:21:00.000-08:00

Posted 19.March, back dated to be in chronological order.

Several stops back, we had been told that we could stay in Dos Hermanas and easily manage a day trip to Seville. My camping book lists two campgrounds and the larger of the two turned us away. (We could have parked alongside their reception office just fine and there was still ample room for parking but they wouldn't hear of it.)

We rerouted to nearby Alcala de Guadaira which on first look was close by, but we wouldn’t fit down the streets of Dos Hermanas so had to go back up the freeway and around. After 50 km, we arrived and there was no signage. Directions in the camping book are vague but say to follow the signs to the Hotel Oromana. I found the hotel in AutoRoute and mistakenly routed us directly there. The access road to the campground lies just before the entrance to the hotel – big rigs have no business driving up the hotel driveway. We had to back down. Rough road doesn’t begin to describe the next segment of driving.

Alas, we finally get to the campground. They speak no English. I speak virtually no Spanish. After some deliberation, they agree to let us stay and Dan walked the site to find the best route in. The site is on a hill and the access roads are being eroded by water! It was a bit of a rolling ride to the pitch – but there are 4 pitches that are almost suitable for pull through spots! Water is not potable and the drainage is nowhere to be found. The kids made quick friends with two Spanish children…who abruptly made us a flower garden in an old wooden box. Very sweet!

The next morning we were awoken by roosters. Actually, the crowing started around midnight and just didn’t stop until around 9am. Jumped on the bikes and headed to the bus stop – which I had been able to get directions to with much pointing at the map. No matter how many times you say the name of the street, if the person listening can’t understand it, you won’t get far. Regardless, the reception desk was helpful and we did find the way!

Bus to Seville was full – it took about 30 minutes to get there. We wound up stopped outside the Captania General building and should have gotten off one stop earlier. Wandering on, we quickly found our way to the tram – which for 1.20 EURO per person takes you from the central bus station to the Cathedral and Plaza Neuva. We wound up getting off at the Cathedral – there was a Starbucks, Post Office and hey – a really cool cathedral!

Dan had to get manager’s approval for two venti drip coffees! They just don’t do drip coffee here. The kids grooved on their hot chocolates and we all basked in the very warm sun. Only thing is, virtually everyone round us is dressed up to the hilt! Fancy suits, funny hats on the women… we have no idea what’s going on but I was starting to feel out of place in my shorts. After a bit of hemming and hahhing, we finally decided to join the line for the Cathedral. Loved the sign at the entrance… fee is 7.50 per person unless you are a native to Seville or unemployed. We were wondering if we could make our case as unemployed. In the end, we paid our 7.50 per person (kids are free) and for the first time, I bought in to the audio guide gimmick. Megan promptly took my audioguide receiver and I virtually didn’t get to use it again during our visit (I’m not really complaining…it was fun to see her getting excited about the history of the Cathedral). The Cathedral is built on the site of an old mosque. It is one of the longest and the central altar took 80 years to build. We were awed by the rich designs and intricate detailing. Loved the walk up the bell tower too with little glimpses of the city below. 38 flights of ramps later, we were at the top, admiring a fantastic blick of the city, including the bull ring. Then, back down again to the orange courtyard, where we decided to call the Cathedral visit to an end. I think we really only saw half of it!

View of Cathedral from Starbucks

Inside the Cathedral.

Descending from the tower.

View from the tower.

Megan swiped my audioguide!

This is where you exit the Cathedral.

Random pictures of Seville.

Onward to Madrid... our moms are coming to Paris to meet us on 12.March and we have over 1,000 km to go.

Ciao for now!

Gibraltar

2008-02-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

back dated to be in chronological order

The Rock of Gibraltar
belive it or not, i had the blog entry typed, images resized and ready to post. the wi-fi network at the campground we are at (3.March) went down and their office computer does not allow you to actually copy files over from a USB drive. Nor does it have any applications installed that might let you read a .txt file.

So - our last day near Marbella, we spontaneously rented a car and drove off into the sunshine to experience The Rock of Gibraltar, a British holding in southern Spain. Sadly for you, you´ll have to wait until I get to a new Internet connection to see the pictures and read the details.

Suffice it to say, we went to the top via tour taxi and it was the best move we could have made. We saw the Barbary Apes, Saint Michael´s Caves and Dan got to have an ape on his shoulder, which left a smelly but temporary souvenair. =)

Lovely day. Even better when we heard it had poured down rain all day at our campground while we had spent the day basking in the sun.

ciao!

Headed out!!

2008-02-29T04:19:00.000-08:00

Posted 19.March; back-dated to chronological order.

Some days it all just works. The alarm clock didn’t go off, but I was up early. Made coffee and started putting things away. By 9:30, all of us had showered, pancakes were coming off the stove, a second pot of coffee was on.

We had a really enjoyable breakfast with our Dutch friends (and yes, the pancakes turned out OK using self-rising flour + a little leftover baking soda we found). Regrettably, I finally had to end the morning and kick our guests out. The rental car had to be back by 11:30am and I still had to get gas.

I’ve said remarkably little about the highway system in Southern Spain. Suffice it to say it seems to assume that the driver has pre-existing knowledge as to how it works. Just because you can exit doesn’t mean you can get back on the freeway at that junction. If you miss an exit, it may be another 25km before you can get turned around. Sometimes you can only get on the freeway, going one direction, then must proceed to an exit that shows a cross over sign before you can get on the freeway going the other direction.

Such was the case. I had to get on the freeway going toward Marbella to get to the gas station that was a block away from us, but on the wrong side of the freeway. We got gas easily enough. But now, I was going the wrong way (toward Malaga) and had to go about 15 km to a point where we could make the turn around. Only there was an accident on the freeway… I had 30 minutes to get the car back. We crept through, took a side exit street (allows access to the businesses that border the freeway and then allows you back on the freeway in the same direction). Saw that the grocery store was open and decided to give it a try. Megan and I did a whirlwind run, grabbing a bit of everything (we could give any of those old shopping gameshows a run for their money!). Tossed it all in the back of the Fiat and zipped back to the campground. Dan just about had a heart attack when I pulled back up in the rental car. We were set on leaving TODAY! With 15 minutes to go, we unloaded, jumped back in, and zipped off the scary back roads to the rental shop. Megan and I had a very pleasant walk along the freeway home. I think she was just glad that I was no longer driving!

Feeling nervous about leaving without our package, we continued to pack up and get out of there. I paid up the bill and discussed possibilities of forwarding mail to Paris. The office suggested we wait until 2. Turns out, it was 20 EURO less expensive for me to pay for 14-nights than for 13 nights. The receptionist was beside herself with disbelief… “You want to pay for 14 but only stay for 13?” Yes, I explained. And if it’s a problem, you’ll have to listen to me talk about the washing machine that doesn’t work and the faulty water pressure which doused the kids in cold water… I got the lower price.

Miracle of miracles, the campsite golf cart pulled up and delivered our package. Ah. We can get on the road FINALLY. It honestly felt like we would never leave this particular campground. We love the friendships we made, but it’s time to move on (plus, we are due in Paris by 10.March!!!).

Next stop: Seville.

Gibraltar - Take II

2008-02-29T04:06:00.000-08:00

Posted 19.March, back dated to be in chronological order of our trip.

A few days ago, we had our neighbors, Phillip and Des over for breakfast. This morning, door open, sunshine streaming through, Dan called out to Phillip, “pancakes are ready.” He responded “thanks, but I just ate.” Next thing I see is our outside table being moved over, a different chair pulled up and there’s Phillip – he brought his own chair, silverware and maple syrup!

Pancakes and sunshine

Sunshine finally gave our energy levels a solid kick. We felt stuck at Camping Buganvilla, waiting for our LPG adaptors to arrive. The front desk alerted us that it’s a holiday in Andulacia, the region we are staying, and there will be no post, possibly until Monday.

Dan threw caution to the wind and suddenly decided we should pack up the RV and head to Gibraltar. In the end, we opted for the rental car - faster, cheaper, and less of a hassle. I can only imagine what the guys at Yellow Car must have thought to see me pull up on a bicycle and pull away with the folding bike neatly in the back of their Fiat Panda. Tiny, but functional.

About 3 hours later, we were there. The Rock of Gibralter – 6.5 square kilometers (2.5 sq mi) of British dependency. We chose to park outside and walk through “immigration” a loose term at best. I think if you just wave something at the guard they let you through. We jumped on the first bus we saw, after determining it would take us to the cable cars. Feeling slightly swindled, we agreed to the taxi sales pitch instead of the cable car – 50 Euro, but hey, we had agreed it would be a tourist day, right? And they were letting the kids ride along for free.

Monument marking the historical silver topped pillar that marked the path of safe passage.

View from the top. We like the fact that the runway crosses the main thoroughfare to Gibraltar.

Two hours later and smelling vaguely of Barbary Ape pee, we emerged from our tour with huge grins on our faces. Everyone had a different favorite point – Megan was thrilled to be on the top of a mountain and that we got to explore the caves (Saint Michael’s and the Siege Tunnels). Her disappointment was that we didn’t hike to the very tippity top peak (I don’t think they actually let you any further up than we were). Sophia liked the Barbary Apes. Dan loved the views, being able to see the tip of Africa through the clouds and getting a temporary souvenir from the ape that sat his shoulder. I loved that we were in a taxi and not walking the 9km on narrow roads shared with crazy taxi drivers. This is not pure laziness talking. We had a very grumpy Sophia to deal with and the roads on the hill are too narrow for both car and pedestrian. In some sections the pedestrians were standing flat against the mountain and the taxi was just inching by. Other sections the taxi had to do a 3-point maneuver to make it around a hairpin turn.

Barbary Ape close up.

View of concert area in St. Michael's cave.

Is that an ape on your shoulder or...?

In the town, we marveled at the narrow streets, tall buildings and enjoyed a round of beverages. Feeling refreshed, next up was to find the Morrison’s (British grocery store) and see about buying some baking powder so we could make pancakes the next morning. After a very frustrating walking tour (no one could seem to tell us where Morrison’s was, other than “it’s a long walk from here.”), we finally found it. The store was a complete ZOO. To top it off, they don’t carry baking powder. What grocery store on the face of earth does not carry baking powder? Especially one as large as Morrisons? Dejected, we bought some self rising flour and croissants as a backup (we had invited company over for breakfast after all). We tracked down bus number 10 and managed to get confirmation that yes, it would take us to Fronteria (the border) but no, our “day” ticket was not valid on this line. At this point, who cares? We’re tired, just get us back to the border and our little rental car. Megan was thrilled to be on a double decker bus and of course, we had to sit on the top. Rickety old thing, fun nonetheless.

Interesting facts we learned about Gibraltar:

The border between Gibraltar and Spain were closed until 1985.

The rock is all but hollow; I think the guide said there are some 4km roads leading to the peak; but inside are more than 70 km.

St. Michael’s caves were prepared for use as a hospital, though never used for a hospital. Now the caves host concerts in the summer and tourists year round.
Gibraltar natives learn “Spanglish” – a mix of English and Spanish.

We happily arrived home around 9pm. Kids to bed… busy day tomorrow. We are leaving no matter what. But first, we are treating our Dutch friends to American pancakes. =)

Mijas, Spain - A Day in the Sun

2008-02-27T13:02:00.001-08:00

Our current campground and location are really nothing to write home about. We wouldn't have stayed but for the promise that the rain would soon stop (that was 7-days ago, folks) and the fantastic people we have met here on site. Oh, that and Dan ordered propane adaptors that we are anxiously awaiting ... so we can leave! =)

Seriously - we took a day trip to Feungirola. It's a rather large town, but is all high rise buildings. The ocean front was interesting - it's a much steeper drop than CostaBella and the day of our visit, the waves were much higher (Megan tried to be swept away at sea). Not much to see or do here unless you are shopping. The best outcome of this outint was the addition of sand toys to our collection of kid's stuff. =)

Feungirola waterfront:

Megan, Having Just Experienced the Feungirola Waves:

We took another jaunt out to Marbella Center and while there are pretty parks and expensive boats, a block off the main road, the import stores with cheap plastic goods rule the day. That said, I all but pushed Dan into a barber shop and he finally got a long overdue hair cut for only 10 Euro.

The weather finally started turning nice on Monday and we set about doing chores. Laundry with machines that don't work; washing the motorhome; general housecleaning that's been long overdue. We have a new best friend in the motorhome, a small dehumidifier (it can pull out up to 5 liters of water per day) and it has been a life saver this past week.

Regardless of the rain (or maybe because of it), we've enjoyed a week of getting to know Phillip & Des from the UK. Our budding friendship survived a very tense evening of guys vs. gals in the UK version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" (face it guys, we won, fair and square!). They have been most friendly and helpful with sharing information related to campgrounds for RVs our size and the various maintenance tinkering that the guys do when there's nothing else going on.

Cory and Gina from Holland came out to meet us the first day we were here. They have lived in Canada and spent time in Washington D.C. They have been quite gracious at inviting us over for drinks and to celebrate Cory's birthday. We were invited to ride along with them to Mijas today for the Flamenco dancing exhibition and just to experience a small, Spanish villiage.

Mijas is a very cute Spanish village in the hills. Filled with white houses and tourist shops, we spent a fun day climbing stairs and admiring local goods. Leather goods, pottery, hand blown glass abound and only my willpower (and the fact that we are heading to Disney Paris soon) kept my pocketbook from getting significantly lighter.

Quick pictures of Mijas:

Donkeys for rent:

View from the hilltop:

Shop adorned with pottery:

Mijas sponsors a free Flamenco dance exhibition in the center. The girls and I loved it! Megan and Sophia wound up on the first step to the gazebo as the other tourists kept stepping in front to take pictures. Sophia decided to give the dancers a run for their money by putting on her own little show. The more I motioned for her to stop, the crazier she got. In the end, no one was hurt and not too many folks were distratcted from the exposition by our little one's grooving along to the music.

Flamenco performance:

Flamenco-Sophia:

With luck, our parts will arrive tomorrow and we can head out. We're due in Paris in just under 3-weeks for a semi-surprise visit from the grandmas! Can't wait to see them.

Ciao for now!

Somewhere in Southern Spain

2008-02-18T02:35:00.000-08:00

GPS coordinates for our campground (Camping Buganvilla): 36.50384N 4.80338W

We're near Marbella, Spain and are being treated to our first rain squalls in weeks. Yes, it's raining. Bummer.

Most recently we spent a day in Granada, primarily at AlHambra. Very beautiful town and fantastic carvings in the palace at AlHambra. The only disappointment is that they have moved the lions, from the famous fountain of lions, indoors to help protect them. We had skipped the museum tour and the museum closes at 2:30.

We are hoping to get out next to Malaga and then to the Rock of Gibraltar. Just trying to figure out how best to wander about in the rain ... yuck. Forecast is for rain through Thursday/Friday. We were hoping to be in Portugal at the end of this week.

Will get the prior posts (LaManga, Cartenga, Granada and various stories & pictures) updated soon - just a quick note to let our readers know where we are and our family & friends know that all is well.

Ciao for now!

Granada, Spain

2008-02-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

Note: Published 21.Feb, backdated to be in chronological order.
GPS of Camping Cubillas: 37.26892N 3.68057W

Somewhere in my ignorance on all things related to geography, my mind decided Spain is a vast flat land with lots of sandy beaches. Boy has this trip been an eye opening education!

Heading away from Cabo de Gata, I was feeling uncertain as to our ability to fit into any campsites near Granada. We had heard we simply must visit Granada, specifically AlHambra. Conversely, a fellow camper expressd concern that we probably wouldn't fit in any of the nearby campgrounds.

Driving over yet another mountain pass, we enjoyed the beautiful colors of the red rock and striking plateaus. We passed several small villages and were in awe at the fact that many buildings and houses near Gaudix are built right into the mountain! Facias are stucco and butt right up next to the mountain wall. The structures under construction looked simply like caves; but then we'd see a neighboring facade that looked like new stucco construction. Very cool. I'd imagine very energy efficient as well.

Back to the story - we arrived at Camping Cubillas to find an all but abandoned campsite (that charges 20 EURO/night!). There were two other campers, so we went for it. Being the "off-season" we were able to fit - during high season, there would have been no way. We parked on one of the access roads to the normal pitches. Absolutely nothing around, at least in walking/biking distance. There's a resevoir nearby, though you can't access it from the campground. The back half of the campground is setup for what we think is tent camping, in a "Blair-Witch" sort of way. Trees, closely spaced together and all but dead with electrical cords running up high. The ground is no where near even and, well, it was just a little spooky.

Next moring, we jumped on the bus (note the well signposted bus stop in the picture) to Granada. Fortunately, this bus was only 10-minutes late. We had a stroller to help with Sophia and the bus that showed up was a mini-bus. Oh well. You make it work. (Side note: in previous blog posts, I've failed to mention the appearance of "working women" on roads such as this - they sit on chairs, cell phones in hand - we've noticed them primarily on weekeneds... suffice it to say, I always feel a little awkward, standing on an unmarked corner, kids in tow, waiting for a bus.)

Dropped off at the very busy bus station, we struggled to find where to go next. Fortunately a lady at the tourist booking center was kind enough to give me general directions: take bus 33 or bus 3 to "Cathedral." We jumped on the 33, not knowing where to get off. Fortunately it was a very busy bus and stopped at every bus stop. 9 stops later, we arrived at the "Cathedral."

First stop: The Cathedral, dating from 1523. This is one of the most beautiful Cathedrals we've visisted to date. Very ornate but not in such a gaudy manner to be overwhelming. Given that noon services were in session, we cut our visit short.

We wandered the town center a bit. Listening to the soft music from the street musicians and exploring the narrow side alleys. Such a beautiful city and filled with simply fantastic buildings. Though the sidewalks are most unkind to strollers - most are made up of rock patterns. To add to the bouncy ride, there are steps everywhere. We wound up convincing Sophia to walk a good portion (which she needs to do anyway... just she didn't sleep well the night before, leaving us to deal with a crying fit every few minutes).

Glimpse of Granada:

Typical sidewalk in Granada:

After a quick lunch in front of what appears to be the judicial building, we started the steep but easy hike up to AlHambra. We made only one mistake - not stopping at the tourist office first.

Wandered for probably an hour, looking at the grounds, the beautiful buildings and enjoying the scenery. Imagine our surprise to see a "Hotel America" just outside the convent. As we saw a group of people rally around the palace signs, we finally realized you need tickets to get in to the Generalife, Palace and Fortress. They don't sell tickets inside AlHambra. You have to walk about a kilometer down hill to the "Entrance Pavillion" by the parking lot to purchase tickets. Tickets are 12 EURO each (kids under 12 are free) and limit you to a 4-hour visit on the grounds with only a 30-minute block to enter the palace. Once you are "in" an area, you can stay until the park closes; but you can only enter the restricted areas according to the time slots on your ticket. What's another 1km?

Entrance at top of hill:

View from top:

Are we in the right country?

Tickets in hand, we walked back up. Our tickets allowed us entrance starting at 2:30. We enjoyed a nice snack after being denied early entrance to the Generalife, biding our time for 15-minutes.

Generalife is an extensive network of terraced gardens, affording views of the palace and fortress. Dan got quite the work out, hefting Sophia + stroller up and down the many steps. In spite of being the off-season, we quite enjoyed the marvelous detailing that goes in to the design and maintenance of these gardens. Water features rule the landscape and cozy alcoves make you want to sit down with a good book to while away the day.

A peek through a manicured hedge:

View from the top of the terrace:

Water stairwell:

More waiting was in order to enter the palace. You can only queu up to enter at your appointed time. Espresso and hot chocolate for all, thanks to the automated machines, and I was acting like an impatient child on a long car trip. "Can we get in line yet?" Poor Dan. He probably told me "no" fifteen times between 2:45 and 3:30. We finally were allowed to get in line, but were redirected to the "other" line which has a ramp, helpful for the stroller. Only the "other" line is intended for groups, so we had to wait for the group to go through first. I'm slow at learning this patience thing. =)

The wait was well worth it. Mouth dropping awe soon ensued - the level of carvings and detailed work were simply inspiring. I wish only that I could have had the place to myself and all the time in the world to sit and take in the designs. I was too cheap to pay the additional 6 euro for the audio tour, so don't have the proper names and histories assigned to the images below. Hope some level of detail of the carvings is captured to light your imagination. The web link referenced to AlHambra provides historial detailing ... sorry, but there's so much information, it's difficult to consolidate it down to a concise overview.

Palace:

Glimpse of detail work inside the palace:

My only disappointment was the Lion Fountain. The lions have been moved into the museum, which is only open until 2:30pm. Only the cup the lions were holding remain in the courtyard. I took a picture of the poster describing the efforts to preserve the lions so you can see what the fountain should look like.

Original fountain:

Lions removed and enclosed for preservation:

Tired family, we chanced a quick peek inside the on site church and headed out for the bus.

Arriving at the bus station, I found the bus schedule posted on the (closed) window of the bus company. We had two choices - either catch the bus in 45-minutes or wait an hour and a half. We were trying to get well needed groceries and jump online at the nearby McDonald's. No such luck. Groceries in tow, we booked it for the bus stop. Only there is no indication that this is where the private line that provides rural service will pick up. We anxiously wait - tired, hungry, hating the lack of information. About 15 minutes late, we welcomed the sight of the small, crowded mini bus that would return us to our unmarked bus stop, just outside the campground.

Learning to just go with the flow... just go with it... don't fight it.

Ciao for now.

Who Needs Maps? Follow the Semi Trucks.

2008-02-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

Note: published 21.Feb but backdated to be in chronilogical order.
Goal: Drive to Almeria and have a look around.

I followed an ad in the camping book for a campground "near" caves, the only European desert and the ocean and birdwatching. Haven't I learned anything on this trip? Ads are not notorious for telling the truth.

The drive sounded easy enough. After a quick breakfast of fresh sugar mini-donuts and fruit (thanks to the supermarket at the campground), we packed up and started removing ourselves from Camping and Caravanning LaManga.

This was no easy feat. I swear, everyone put their daily schedules on hold to wait for the Americans to attempt to leave the too small pitch. We had no less than 30 people watching us manuever out. Some helpful; the rest just shouting directions and adding to the chaos. A few brilliant souls were cheeky enough to walk or bike in front of the RV as it was moving. Stupid people. Really!

The route sounded easy easy enough: – go another 230 km South. Take the MU-602 to the A7. Only the MU-602 is in the process of being upgraded. We encountered lots of new roundabouts and for about 15km, we paralled a brand new, 4-lane highway that was not yet opened. Good thing there were trucks in front of us – we switched back and forth over it twice and would have been lost had we not been able to follow several semis. AutoRoute team: purchase updated maps of Southern Spain, please.

We found Camping Cabo de Gata without any problems (tourist site here). Just the closer we got, the more we realized we are in the middle of nowhere. Normally we can find a supermarket to pull into or near; not here. Worst yet, it's Valentine's Day and we have nothing... Maybe the kids will forget.

As we descended the mountain range, it appeared that the ocean was suddenly in view. Don't be deceived - it's the plastic coverings for all the greenhouses. They literally line the edge of the road and extend as far as the eye can see. Local rumor has it they are full of tomatoes! A bit of an eyesore to look at once you figure out what the reflection is.

It was too windy to walk the 900m to the beach. The campground does not deliver their advertised description – they advertise easy access to caves, desert, etc. – but that’s only true if you have a car. It was horrendously expensive (30+ Euro/night for a short stay) and we didn't fit in any official sites due to the sun shades they have at virtually every pitch.

We did meet some really nice fellow campers who offered lots of advice. We braved out our afternoon and night in the blustery wind and unofficial spot and moved on. Needless to say, we missed seeing the flamingos of Cabo de Gata and didn't manage a visit to Almeria this time. This area is supposed to offer some spectacular scenery and beaches that you have to hike down to. You just need another method of transportation and the bikes weren't going to cut it. On to Granada.

Ciao for now!

PS: Megan did remember Valentine's Day and tried to give her sister one of her stuffed animals as a Valentine's Day present!

LaManga, Spain

2008-02-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

Published 21.Feb.08; backdated to dates of visit: 10.Feb.08

GPS coordinates of campground: 37.62806N 0.74589W

Note: if you find this post a bit cynical, recall we just came off a week of beach-front bliss. =)

Going off the recommendations of some Swedish folks we had met way back in Heidelberg, we arrived at Camping and Caravaning LaManga in pursuit of a great campground and warm weather. Apparently, we are bringing the Seattle gray along with us ... the weather was nice (60's F) but overcast, windy and threatening rain. This campground is huge - it's basically a rectangle 1 km long and has a bit of everything (playground, beach, church, supermarket...).

Lesson 1: Book ahead

I knew I should have a reservation. Alas, was too lazy or otherwise distracted to pursue one. Honestly folks, we have no schedule. We don't know where we'll be one minute from the next. We arrived to hear they had only one spot for us for a max of 3-days. Fine. I'll take it.

Lesson 2: Always point out the obvious

The receptionist had a birds eye view of our RV. She knew how big we are. I assumed she would assign us to an appropriate spot. Wrong. We were directed to a spot that is 80m(2) with hedges along the path to make turns really fun. I knew, looking at the map, that we were in for a fun ride. Well, I showed them! We fit. (If you can call all but mowing down a hedge and sticking out to the bitter edge of the pitch "fitting.")

To add insult to injury, we had quite the crowd watching us get in. All of them helpfully pointing out that we really needed a bigger pitch. "Isn't there something available in the "J" block?" they'd ask. Or, "You really shouldn't be in this block."

Lesson 3: Just because you're paying a premium, doesn't mean anything is close (or included)

To our chagrin, LaManga was about a 10km bike ride away. We thought we found it, but I think we really only found the main road for the peninsula. The majority of the stores and restuarants are closed for the winter. The peninsula is really just a 12km road running through the middle of the peninsula with condos and closed shops on the left and right. We finally gave up looking for lunch and stopped for snacks at the local grochery store. Trust me, it beat whatever it was they were dredging up out of the freezer and frying at the nearby "cafeteria."

Feeling defeated at our attempts to explore, we went looking for the "covered" pool at the campground. Luckily, I went by myself and didn't mention it to the kids. The campground charges an additional 4 EURO per person for the covered pool. AARRRGGGHHH.

Lesson 4: Mass transit in Spain works differently

Determined to have an adventure on this leg of the journey, we set out for Cartenga. I knew they had Roman ruins, but didn't know anything else about the city. (Taking Internet connectivity for granted again, are we?)

The bus stop was immediately outside the campground, but was defaced and had an entirely different schedule than what was available at reception. Adding to it, it was on the corner of a pretty busy highway. Here we are, being stared down by everyone driving by, a family of four, waiting for a bus that was 20-minutes late. It literally pulled up as we were about to give up.

Without incident, we were delivered to the "Estacion de Autobus" in Cartenga, which was all but deserted.

Lesson 5: Just Visit the Darn Tourist Office

Don't get me wrong, we had a nice afternoon. Cartenga IS quite a beautiful city, a mixture of old and new. But, we came to see Roman ruins. We saw them, we just didn't know how to get to them. We spent the afternoon wandering, admiring the architecture and the plazas in the city. We tested our sense of direction and tried to find the MediaMarkt that was supposed to be nearby (never did find it). We finally entered and experienced a Carrefour store (think Fred Meyer). Then, we gladly called it a day and headed home for RV-land. The only hic-cup was that we were supposed to buy tickets BEFORE getting on the bus (funny that, they sell tickets on the us at each stop). The driver finally took pity on us and let me pay for tickets at the bus - otherwise we would have been stuck at the bus station for another 1.5 hours.

Church Building, Caretenga, Spain:

Kids

Cartengian remodel?

Does this qualify as a remodel vs. new construction? Love the detailing on the facade...

Gettin' Along, Boss

Seen as we headed back toward the bus station. An actual donkey pulled cart, headed INTO town on a very busy 4-lane road!

Winter - Mediterranean Style

2008-02-05T03:14:00.001-08:00

GPS of our campground: 38.90737N 0.06657W

Feeling a little worn out after a busy few days, we started making our way to Kiko Camping in Oliva, knowing others who have camped there in 35' units. Finding Oliva was not difficult, but finding Kiko Camping proved to be beyond our abilities for the day.

A little further up the N332, we found signs for EuroCamping and were able to follow signposts to the destination. Again, the infrastructure is being greatly developed and there are new streets, new condos, etc. which do not appear on our map.

We agreed to settle in for a week and are enjoying a week of "winter" weather, Mediterranean style. This morning found me, camp chair on the sand dune in front of the RV, enjoying a cup of coffee in 60+ degree (F) weather while the kids happily played at the playground.

Here's Megan's journal entry for the site (in her own words, own spelling):

"Me and mi little sistr run and play. It is so fun. I can scoot. Me and Sofeu play."

Pretty good work for a kid who was a reluctant reader just 6-months ago, eh? Needless to say, I'm quite proud of the progress she's made.

View from our RV:

RV parked on the "Dunes" section:

In search of propane - or - Next time, pony up the Internet fee!

2008-02-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

There's a blog entry I never posted from Switzerland, which carries the same theme - "in search of propane and propane accessories." Thus far, we have only encountered problems with finding propane filling stations in Switzerland and Spain. The other countries we've visited have propane at the normal gas stations and issues have been simply related to having the right adaptor (which we still need to purchase our own).

In Switzerland, there are only about 18 propane filling stations, most of which are located in the Zürich region. From St. Blaise, we drove to Interlaken (gorgeous drive) to get propane. We found a plant in Winterthur that was really easy to access and felt fortunate.

Spain is more difficult. Most of the cans used are butane, which we cannot use as it's too hot for our refrigerator.

Resources for finding propane filling stations in Europe:
LPG & CNG Tankstellenverzeichnis - http://gas-tankstellen.de/menu.php
Autogas - http://www.autogastanken.de/
In Valencia, you can find propane at the Taxcor station: GPS: 39.45798N 0.40914W

Our search in Spain started with asking other campers. One couple said it's possible, but difficult. Another camper confirmed that propane was available at a filling station near us (at the time, we were in Peniscola). Everyone told us to look for "butano."

We never found "butano" - we had assumed it was a manufacturing plant. Nope. Seems to be the Spanish word for "butane." Regardless.

Day 1: Mission Impossible

We took the N332 towards Valencia, stopping at virtually every gas station along the way. No propane. If asked, they said to look for "butano just ahead." Finally, through broken English/Spanish, we were directed to the Repsol in Nules.

The Repsol in Nules was just a warehouse of butane and propane tanks. Won't work for us. The gentleman was kind enough to suggest we drive to the El Graco Repsol YPL. He even looked at my laptop (which I resorted to taking with me whenever I stepped out of the RV) to confirm the direction. Off we set, toward the port at El Graco. Only we had no idea where to go once we get there. You guessed it, we went to the wrong area of the port. The gaurd was nice enough to talk to me and confirm that yes, we would need to return and follow the "Industrial" signs.

Back we went. Starting to feel like the cast of Gilligan's Island (we had promised the kids we wouldn't drive long today), we followed the signs for "Industrial Port" still now knowing where we will find Repsol YPL. Once we were in the right area of the port, the signs made it easy. While Dan turned the motorhome around, I approached the gate (I didn't see the pedestrian gate, so I stood next to the call box in front of a huge, orange truck gate). The greeting is of course in Spanish. I ask for English. The next voice is in English but is so loud, I have to back up. Long story short, I'm escorted in to the office to make my request. The one person who spoke English left and returned with a regulator and a tank fitting. "Do you have these?" he asked.

"No, I have the original German tank opening." I got a very confused look. "You must have these or else it's impossible in Spain." He proceeded to talk to his boss and suddenly I have three people scurrying around, discussing what to do. The person helping me said, "you must convert to a bottle."

Sadly for me, the motorhome is now parked across the street and out of sight. I must have looked like a crazy woman, insisting that there must be a way to get propane in our tank, which is mounted to our motorhome.

I finally conviced the attendant to follow me out of the gates and talk to Dan. He looked at the unit and again told us we must convert to bottles in order to refill. He and Dan talked it out, agreeing on what needs to be done. The assistant then led me back in to the building and had a fourth person go for a length of low pressure hose. Handing me the low pressure hose and two c-clamps, he gave me a piece of paper with the phone number for the "warehouse" and another for the "shop." Apparently, I can get a tank at the "warehouse" and a regulator at the "shop" - both in Castelleon. They then convince another employee to get into his car and escort us to the "warehouse" - which they aren't sure if it's open or not - and the phone is not being answered. It might be 5pm before they open.

Following someone who has never driven a motorhome is always fun, especially on tiny beat up streets and the cooresponding 2-lane roundabouts with 6 exits. We made it to the "warehouse" - a non-signed building with a brick wall and imposing looking gate in a very uncomfortable looking part of town. Fortunately, the owner arrived just as we were about to give up - I understood not a word, but blindly followed these people around and exited with a used regulator but not a tank. Getting a tank is more complicated. It requires a contract. The assistant raised his shoulders - indicated that "maybe" I could get one from the "shop" but he didn't know what time they are open. He kindly pointed out on the map where we would be able to find the shop, then took off.

By now, it's 3:45pm. We had made an appointment enroute for an oil change at 4:00pm at a Ford Service Center that we found along the way (quite a ways back). There's no way we are going to be able to drive through downtown Castelleon, looking for the "shop."

Feeling dejected, we decided to head back to the Ford Service Center and be 20-minutes late, but at least accomplish something for the day. And that's what we did. The manager of the shop thought we were funny and was surprised to see a Ford chassis on a motorhome. He and his apprentice quickly got to work and did a fine job changing the oil, fuel filter, air filter, oil filter. You should have seen the look on his face when he pulled the dipstick out to check the oil level - it's about 6-ft in length. His parting word (with a smile) was "Americans."

We went back to the parking lot in Peniscola for the night. Paid for Internet connectivity. Went online and downloaded all the addresses for as many countries as I could. For what we spent on gas...

Day 2: Accomplishing the Impossible:

The next morning, we headed out again - this time with an address of a gas station that has propane pumps. We made a few navigational mistakes - largely due to obvious infrastructure updates which are not yet in our mapping software. Finally found the Taxcor station, which has Repsol branded tanks. The station has three sets of tanks, all at opposing angles and each with different clearance levels on their overhangs. Dan had to back out, turn around on the street and back the RV in, as close as possible to their overhang (which is under 3,6m tall). Where there's a will, there's a way. Only wish I had thought to pull out the camera and take a picture.

We are now too far south to go back to Peniscola. At some point, I rechecked our camping destination and saw I had made a mistake - the campground I wanted to visit doesn't open until the 15th of February. Very long story short, we backtracked about 40km but ran into various restrictions at the campgrounds along the way - mostly due to height; one or two due to weight restrictions.

On a recommendation from a fellow camper, we aimed for Cullera - he had indicated that there was area large enough for us. We were trying for the campground, but never actually found it - our mapping software leading us to a street that is no longer a street but a part of the huge boardwalk. A total stranger who showed us where other motorhomes were camping said that we were too big for the campground anyway. So, we spent a night wildcamping in Cullera. There were several other motorhomes with us. We were happy to be off the highway and to have made it through the tiny streets of Cullera as well as we did.

After taking the girls out for a stroll the next morning, we found the path out was much easier. Again, there have been massive infrastructure updates to some of these areas and our mapping software has not quite caught up.

Towns we missed but that warrant time - Castelleon, Valencia, Cullera.

We've been warned several times lately to be really careful in Southern Spain. Yet in the past 3-days, we have encountered so many helpful and accomodating people that I'm left in awe. I know we have to be careful - that's a given no matter where you travel. We just feel fortunate to have encountered hospitable, helpful folks. We are appreciative of the assistance.

Peñíscola, Spain - 40.39803N 0.41302E

2008-02-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

Note: Published February 4, 2008, backdated to stay in order chronologically.

Leaving Montserrat, we were in search of power. Our coach batteries are not working properly and it's a challenge to get through 1-night of wild camping/boondocking. We agreed to try a spot listed in the Bode Atlas guide that would be 8 Euro/night and on the map, there were plenty of "bail-out" options (campgrounds) if we needed them. Off we headed to Peñíscola.

Easy drive until we reached the exit. We'll just send out a "thank you" to the several drivers of oncoming traffic who had to find a shoulder or pull out, where there were none, so we could get by.

As we're struggling with streets that are narrowing and an impossible zig-zag, I saw a sign for "Parking La Mercera" with a motorhome on it. We followed the main road, voila! There's a rather large parking lot with motorhomes - as well as a main road to/from town. Not our original destination, but it works and is still only 8 Euro/24-hours. All 8 power outlets were in use - but someone was kind enough to let us daisy chain off their connection for the night. They left the next morning - and we were set!

Parking La Mercera:

Lots of folks around us were from Great Britain; others from Germany and Netherlands spoke really good English. All were friendly, inquisitive and helpful.

The parking lot is a block off the beach and it's a beautiful, groomed beach. Condos and villas line the beach and there is a large boardwalk for walking and biking. We spent a fair amount of time wandering, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, birds singing and gorgeous weather. Grocery stores were readily accessible however most shops and restuarants were closed up - it is "winter" after all. Days are warm, evenings are cool (47-degrees F).

Winter picnic:

Sunset:

Looking down the beach at Peñíscola:

We spent one day biking - first out to the main road to see if we could find propane (no), then out to the motorhome shop we had seen on the main road, to see if they could change our oil (no) or if they knew where we could get propane. I was directed to "Butano" - just past the overpass, on the right. Fortunately, we didn't bike any further as we were on a really busy highway.

Giving up for the day, we biked down toward Peñíscola, in search of a McDonalds for Internet connectivity and lunch (there were WiFi options available at the parking lot, but we felt they were too expensive). We spent a lot of time biking around and never found the McDonalds (turns out it was the "other" direction). Finally gave up and stopped at a pizzaria for lunch around 2. Friendly service but not terribly inspired food. We really need to start getting recommendations for where to eat before we start looking for food.

I think part of the issue is we are typically looking for lunch around 12 or 1pm. Many shops and restuarants close for mid-day and don't open again until 4 or 5pm. Regardless, we biked about 20km in all that day (that's a lot for me, folks, even on flat terrain). Felt good to get the exercise and you can't beat the scenery!

PS: Parking La Mercera was actually quite nice however a little noisy. I'm not whining here, just will point out some lessons learned:

Garbage/recycling pick up seems to happen around 1am (you hear the truck picking up and banging the dumpsters).
Dogs bark non-stop - both from other campers and from local farms. 1-block off the beach is farmland and most seem guarded by huge German Shephards.
When there's another parking lot immediately next door, try not to park along side it. We did so, trying to stay out of the way and not take up too much space. To our surprise, around midnight a tour bus pulled up parallel to us (but on the other side of the fence) and continued to idle his engines, opening and closin compartments on the bus for about 15-minutes directly behind our bedroom window. He did the same again at 5am. We moved to a new parking spot the next day - so were at least protected from the tour bus annoyance. =)

Next entry: Refilling propane in Spain

Montserrat, Spain - GPS: 41.59673N 1.83843E

2008-01-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

Note: Published Feb. 4, 2008 but back dated to be in chronological order with our travels.

After a few very busy days in Barcelona, we decided to head to Montserrat. Monastery, culture, nature - all to be enjoyed in a spot that is theoretically best reached by a combination of train from Barcelona, followed by rack railway or cable car up the mountain.

Folks along the way were dubious as to whether our motorhome would make it. No one seemed to know whether or not staying in the motorhome would be allowed. A call to the parking office assured us there was room to park our 35' beast. The person I spoke with indicated that while unsure of the "official policy" he knew others stayed in their motorhomes while visiting.

We found Montserrat easily enough and surprisingly, the route up was quite nice. Roads were wide and well banked and as it was a Monday, there was no tourist traffic for us to deal with. (I believe we took the BP-1103 off the A-2 on the way up.) We found three other motorhomes in the parking lot and parked near two in the mid-section of the lot. (we eventually moved a bit so we weren't sleeping "downhill.")

The views are striking and the landscape phenomenal. Here you see the view from our door...don't jump! Being the off-season, it felt like we largely had the place to ourselves. Tourist traffic was very low and while that also meant the main cafeteria was closed, it allowed us to selfishly enjoy the surroundings without competition.

Monday afternoon, we explored the grounds and the Basilica. Inside, it's silent and extremely ornate. When you exit and enter the side door to the right, you are led through the side corridor, up steps, and to pass directly in front of the statue of the La Moreneta (The Dark One) which is the patron saint of Catalonia. After touring the Basilica, the doors exit to the cave of candles. There are so many candles burning you can feel the increase in air temperature! Very beautiful and serene.

Approaching:

Top of the landing, outside the Basilica courtyard:

Basilica facade:

Cave of candles:

After a quick dinner, I coerced the family back up to the Basilica at 6:15 to hear the Boys Choir. However, I had not memorized the timetable well enough. 6:15 is Rosary (no singing) and 6:45 is Vespers (singing at the end)-we should have arrived at 6:45. Not knowing, we sat quietly in the back, listening to the Rosary (in Latin, I believe) with the Monks responding in the background. At 6:45 the bells started ringing and the monks entered the Basilica for Vespers.

At the end of Vespers, the monks sing and the Boys Choir enters to join in. Attendees are presented with the contrast of the deep resonating adult voices against the high, almost angelic boy's voices. The monks departed and the Boys Choir sang two additional hymns. Beautiful and yet ghostly. Sophia and Megan thought the voices of the Boys Choir hurt their ears. Hurrah! They finally understand how their own screeches and squeals sound to us!!

Personally, seeing the boys enter almost brought me to tears. I couldn't help but think of kids barely older than Megan being sent off to live at a monastery. The boys are educated on site and sing five times daily. I'm sure there is a process in place to accomodate familial association. Just was a little disturbing to see the group of mostly young boys, away from home, arms tucked inside their white tunics as they entered and exited. My mommy heart couldn't help but break just a little and think these kids are somehow being deprived of their childhood and family bonds.

By the time we returned from Vespers, the two motorhomes near us had left. So, here we were, in a deserted section of the parking lot, by ourselves. On one hand it was kind of cool. On the other, a little eery. Needless to say, we had a fairly restless night. Wanting to be unobtrusive, we left the sliders in. The parking lot is attended and there was no reason to feel uncomfortable - other than we were waiting for someone to knock at any moment and ask us to leave. Believe it or not, we could hear the echo of dogs barking from the valley below. I know I should be able to tune it out by now, but something about feeling alone and isolated on the side of a mountain made it all the more irritating at 1am.

Tuesday morning I headed out for chocolate croissants as a treat - nothing like a bit of buttered chocolate with coffee to cure the effects of a restless night. The road construction near the top was already in process, but I was the only "tourist" and there were several times that the machinery stopped. In awe, I enjoyed several minutes of complete silence intermingled with the gorgeous landscape during my walk (~1/2 km each way). For me, that alone was worth the trip. After breakfast and lots of coffee, we headed out our separate ways. Dan and Megan were off to hike the St. Jeroni trail; Sophia and I were intent on visiting the museum.

Turns out, the trail was entirely inappropriate for Sophia. Dan and Megan made it in about 2.5 hours RT. Megan was simply beaming when they met up with us. Her face aglow, her spirits lifted at accomplishing such a feat. She's turning into quite the little hiker. They passed other Americans struggling on the trail and Dan threw out, "If she (Megan) can make it, so can you." Ouch. After summitting, someone else they had passed made it up and pointing at Megan, said to Dan, "muy rapido." That's our girl.

Trail perspective:

View from the top:

Rapido niña: (OK - hope this isn't Spanish slang for something other than my intention - I'm so proud of Megan that she completed the hike with Dan and in such great time - couldn't resist trying to use the quote from the hiker they encountered on the trail.)

Sophia sat contentedly in her stroller while I wandered the museum, listening to the audio guide. We were virtually the only visitors and I couldn't help but think that off-season traveling is the way to go.

We greatly admired the work of Caravaggio (Repentant Saint Jerone), Picasso, Dali, Monet, and many others. I particularly enjoyed the Catalan collection and being introduced, specifically work by Fortuny and Nonell. I don't know how much of it Sophia really enjoyed - but there were certainly paintings and sculptures that struck her fancy and elicited a comment. One, of a little girl sitting at the piano but turned to look at the painter looked so much like Sophia that she actually asked, "Is that me?" Another sculpture, of a mother holding a child, brought forth an "aww. Look. It's a mommy holding a baby. Is that you, mommy?" Very sweet.

By the time we finished with the paintings, I was overwhelmed to the point of not being able to take in any more artwork and Sophia was ready to get out of the stroller. One funny note, the audio guide mentions a quote about the area - "A man is not truly married until he visits Montserrat." Not entirely sure how that is supposed to be interpreted, but hey, Dan, I guess you are now "truly" married.

No stopping point is complete without a playground. =)

We headed out almost precisely 24-hours after we first arrived. The only surprise to the whole trip was that we were charged the "bus" rate for parking. 24 Euro for 24 hours! The car rate is only 5 Euro. Kind of a bummer, but at least the money goes to the ongoing support of the Monastery.

Barceonla, Spain - 41.41306°N 2.22194°E

2008-01-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

Note: Blog post published Feb. 3 but back-dated to be in correct chronological order.

Somewhat reluctantly, we left L'Estartit, headed to Barcelona. Did I mention how much we enjoyed just relaxing and taking in the gorgeous surroundings and weather? Our last night there, we met a couple from Great Britain, who are headed to America! They are currently in a large motorhome and have toured Europe in a 35-ft vehicle as well. We stayed an extra night to continue sharing information. Good stuff and a huge thanks to Mike and Ali for all the info. Hope to see you when you reach the Seattle area.

The weather was great - warm, but not too hot during the day (60's F). Evenings cool off quickly as soon as the sun sets. Lots of road noise at the parking lot, but hey, where else can you stay in Barcelona for 22 Euro/night?

Day 1 - We used public transport to get around. Seemed like a lot of hassle for the 9km we needed to travel to get to the downtown district. Kids over 4 must have a valid ticket. Sadly, unlike Germany, there is no "family" or "partner" pass that allows us all to economically travel together. Still, it is cheaper than renting a car and paying for in-city parking.

Destination for the day was the Mercat de la Bogueria and Las Ramblas. Time permitting, we hoped to also visit the Cathedral. Wander we did, and we were overwhelmed by the beautiful city, the splendid colors of Mercat de la Boqueria and the wonders to be found on Las Ramblas. We were caught up at some point in a street production of live music and oversized puppets at the Cercle de Artistis. Later, Dan was chased down by street clowns yelling "Papa" as he pushed Sophia along in the stroller. We encountered seemingly spontaneous dancing on the sidewalk as we wandered. At the end of the day, I walked away feeling like this city is ever-changing. I don't know that anyone can capture the spirit of Barcelona in words - our experience was one small section of a very large, very diverse city. And, no, we didn't make it to the Cathedral on this day.

Picture of Mercat de la Bogueria - it was early in the day so we only purchased a fresh fruit plate to share. I have been craving the huge shrimp ever since. The colors and the energy of the market are fantastic - a welcome change to the supermarket duldrums.

Picture from Las Ramblas - a 1.2-km pedestrian zone that has everything from street performers to live animals for sale. I couldn't help but think of my mom as we passed dozens of small flower shops, all with bright flowers and floral arrangements. We avoided the "seedy" area of the strip - mostly due to our keeping to daylight hours with the kids. It was nice to see so many people out and about - most of our stops lately have been in tourist towns that are fairly well closed for the "winter."

Finally, as we were looking for lunch, we came across this attractive offer. Too bad we're not Australian and so glad we American's aren't the only ones known for our excessive behaviour.

Day 2 - We decided to use pedal power to visit the Sagrada Familia, considered to be Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece, though it's been under construction since 1888 (that's 176 years, folks!). There is a very nice pedestrian/bike path (Ave de Diagonals) that made the going really easy for the most part. We arrived without too much trouble (the city streets are a little deceptive and we wound up needing to backtrack a bit).

We found our way to Sagrada Familia and were instantly in awe of the size and detail of the temple. The ornate exterior begs for a pair of binoculars and about a week of quiet contemplation. Parking the bikes, we started to wander in, only to notice that the fencing was separating two areas and it looked like we were going in the exit. Then we noticed the Disney-style entry booths ... and, making our way around the corner, finally found the tourist entrance (our original attempt would have put us in the small chaple, which was actively in use). Inside, one is greeted with a construction site! Scaffolding, materials and workshops fill the center area. A display of the types of stone and regions of the world they were imported from gives the tourist something to do. Other than that, it's stare, in awe, at the interior with the huge columns which branch out at the top. Parts of the building are still open to the environment; other parts have gorgeous stained glass, which reflects spots of colors around the building. It's both magnificant and gaudy at the same time (no pun intended). We got in line for the elevator as it was a 45-minute wait, learning only later that there is a second elevator with a much shorter wait period. We were well rewarded for the wait and the additional 2Euro per person. The narrow, winding staircases, views of the steeples with their mosaic colors and fantastic views of the city were breath-taking.

Exterior views from ground level:

Interior view with light reflectin off the stained glass:

Spiral Staircase:

It's difficult to imagine working on a project of this magnitude. Gaudi worked on the temple for 40-years. When I think of the construction continuing for 176 years, and it's projected to be completed in 2020, I realize that there are several generations of laborers who will have dedicated significant time to a project that is ongoing, even after their time on the temple. I get impatient enough with my short-term projects... I can only imagine that one of this magnitude can be disheartening some days. On the one hand, contributing to this great masterpiece; on the other, knowing you may not ever see it completed.

Thoroughly lost in thought and honestly, I was questioning the steep price of entry (8 Euro pp + 2 Euro pp for the elevator though they didn't charge for the kids to enter the church), we out looking for lunch. Let's just say we got very lost - which was fun in it's own right until we also got very hungry... then very irritated. It's impossible to know where to eat in this town. So much seems "cafeteria" style and uninspired; other places have only the "Menu of the day" avaialble - which though a great price, is too much food for us in the middle of the day. Finally, only cafes in the tourist centers were open, get off on a side-street and everything was closed up (it was Sunday, after all). So much of the afternoon is comprised of memories - I'm unsteady enough on the bike with Sophia, you don't really want me taking pictures along the way too. We saw a lot of mosaic work, inspired by Gaudi; we saw a live orchestra, performing in the middle of the pedestrian walkway on the Ave d' Joan with the audience dancing to the music. Finally, we ate a rather uninspired lunch at a corner cafe.

Enroute to the motorhome, we wandered off to the convention center grounds (which are across the street from the Parking Forum). There's a whole "Forum" built up here that is simply fantastic. We had avoided the area, thinking it was only for conventions and exhibitions. But, there are playgrounds, beach access and plenty of sights to see. Very cool to see a city establish an waterfront area such as this. Though it does seem geared toward summer concerts and fairs, it's open to the public year-round to enjoy.

View from the "Forum:"

That's it for Barcelona this time. We're headed to Montserrat next.

Some of the best days are free

2008-01-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

GPS location of our campground: 42.04235N 3.18449E
Camping Les Medes - a very nice, very friendly campground.

We came to l'Estartit for a day or two and have stayed a week. In part, it's the beautiful weather; in part, we have Internet access and have been updating the blog (now if only I wasn't so wordy...).

But, to get back to the title. Some of the best days are free and we've found that here. The town is a tourist destination and is completely boarded up right now. On the outskirts, there are a couple of grocery stores that are open. On weekends, the Harvey's in town (British fast food) opens, but are hard pressed to serve food. The boats that take tourists around the Medes Islands are operating only on Sundays, and we missed the boat, so to speak, due to a misunderstanding of the prices posted outside the vendor's office.

So, why stay? Let the pictures do the justice on this one, keeping in mind that it's January.

Sunsets:

Playing:
There are playgrounds everywhere along the beach.

The beach:
Sometimes, you've just gotta roll up your pants, kick off your shoes and go with the flow.

Hiking:

Outing 1 (1/21) - we didn't really have a goal - there's a street, running up the side of the hill to the villas and we followed it. At the top is a nature preserve as well as two view points / hiking destinations. We called it good though, to reach the entrance to the nature reserve - we weren't provisioned for a long stroll. Looking at the map later, we were on track for Cala Calella and just didn't know it.

Outing 2 (1/22)- Castell del Montigrí

A fortress built to protect Torroella de Montigrí in 1294, but never completed, this was a fun, somewhat spontaneous activity for the day. The summit is at 302m (992ft) and it took us about 1 1/2 hours to make it (keep in mind we had two little ones along for the "walk"). Megan was a trooper and handled the ascent and descent with no complaints. Sophia too, but parts of the trail were too rocky and steep - so Dan carried her most of the way up. You can climb up one of the towers and walk the perimeter of the fortress (another 13m in height)! We made it down the mountain as the winds were starting to pick up and arrived at the bus stop just in time for the (late) bus. Happy bunch tonight!

Go up this:

Pass 3 chapels:

The cross is about the mid-point (or, as Dan says, "You've done 90% of the verticle, don't stop now.)

Summit + 13m - the perimeter of the fortress.

Swimming:

This campground has three pools, one of which is indoors and open in the off-season. The kids have never slept so well!

We've been fortunate that the winds have not been present until today. The winds have a special name here, La Tramuntana. According to the climate tab on the tourist site, the area is generally mild, but the NNW Tramuntana winds can be as high as 100km/h! The wind has been gusting through, starting this afternoon. At certain parts of our bike ride home, there was no need to pedal as the wind provided plenty of push! For that, the climate write up also mentions the area has an average of 2,600 hours of sunshine every year... we're not missing the rain in Seattle.

Ciao for now.

Update: L'Estartit, Spain

2008-01-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

¡Hola! We just arrived in Spain and are loving the feeling of thawing out. It reached 60-degrees today (15.5C for any European readers). I found myself peeling off my sweater to bask in the sunshine coming in the front window. Ahhh... nice!

Apologies for the delay in blog posts. It's been a while since we've had affordable access to the Internet and our time spent with friends and family over the holidays was not the appropriate time to be spending copious amounts of time online. Internet prices can run in the range of 8-15 EUR per HOUR! Many places didn't offer a discount for multiple hours, makine a long run online impossible.

Everyone is doing well. We have tons of fun pictures and memories to share - will try to spend some time tonight updating the blog with the back-dated posts.

Some of the memorable stops:

Christmas markets in Switzerland and Germany
Beautiful extended Christmas with my host-family
New Year's in Munich with friends (you think 4th of July fireworks at our house are bad, you haven't seen anything compared to this!) and celebrating Sophia's 3rd birthday at the permanent circus in Munich.
Lugano, Switzerland - beautiful!
Driving along the Italian Riviera - though I didn't take any pictures due to being overwhelmed with the beauty while at the same time scared to death of the narrow roads, cliffs, cyclists and sheer number of people out enjoying the sunshine!
Visiting Stes Maria De La Mer, France, whose church is dedicated to the two St. Mary's and Sara, the Patron Saint of Gypsies.

On the personal front, the kids are growing at an alarming rate. Megan has started reading and tries to read sign posts and graffiti along the way. She doesn't care that it's all foreign languages - she's just happily putting sounds together. Sophia is working on going through her "Terrible Two's" at age 3... fortunately it's not a daily experience. Dan and I are healthy - Dan's learned the secrets to a mean fried rice and yummy pancakes. =) Life is good.