Hello again... the countdown is on, and we both finish work for good on the 19th of Dec - hooray! Am quite looking forward to not having to drive anywhere at the exact time that everyone else in the immediate vicinity decides to do the same... unless we want to, of course.
In theory, we've been packing and organising frantically, but in reality, things are slightly behind schedule, so the coming week will be far more hectic - although, we've done this packing everything up thing before, and it's not nearly as big a job this time around...phew!
Last weekend I decided to sack off organising and buggered off for a long weekend in Paris instead... Kent gets motion sickness, so opted out, as the main destination was Disneyland, he (quite rightly) assumed I would want to go on all the rides. I have to say it wasn't quite as big as I was expecting, but definitely still fantastic... my inner 8 year old was captivated by the castle, especially seeing as it's all decorated for Christmas - probably one of the most magical sights I've ever seen. Our second day there was at Walt Disney Studios, which wasn't quite as magical, but the rides were even better, especially the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith Rock n Rollercoaster... more fun than you can shake a stick at. The only downside was that the second day was Saturday, so it was terribly busy and we had to queue for over an hour-and-a-half for each of those. Worth it though.
The next two days, Susie News and I spent in the city... despite all the awful things I've been told by numerous people, Paris is NOT a dump, and I didn't encounter ANY rude people. I honestly think it's all in how you approach them, and without very few exceptions, people were friendly and helpful - a woman even approached us in the Metro when she saw us looking at the map because she thought we might need help... such a relief!
We did all the standard tourist fodder: Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, a river cruise, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, a wander past the Louvre, a trip on the big ferris wheel thingy, the Christmas Markets, and a visit to a huge department store to see the really big Christmas tree that I'd seen in other people's photos, but failed to locate via google - a lucky guess took us to it.
I loved the place, and could happily spend longer there - it's beautiful, and we didn't really have enough time to look at more of the history (and I think Susie might have got a bit bored of that!)... but there's always next time, I suppose. A few photos are here:
It was a bit of a shame that the weather wasn't particularly nice; our first stop off at the Eiffel Tower was a bit of a non-event, as you couldn't even see the top because of the fog... it was still a bit cloudy the next day, but at least you could see the ground from the top... it is a LONG way up there, or at least it feels a long way in the lift, which just seems to go up forever.
I managed to somehow damage my train ticket one of the days, so I had to jump the turnstiles to get out - no one even batted an eyelid! I did ask at the information desk but the lady said it should work and not to worry... so I had to jump again on the way back to the train - not the most dignified look when I'm not quite so bendy as I used to be!
We're home now, with a week before we leave for Sheffield, then a couple of weeks in Scotland, before we head to Istanbul for a week in the middle of January... which I'm hoping will be warmer, although apparently they have winter in Turkey too, so we may have to wait just a little longer to thaw out! From there we have two weeks in the South and West of England, then a week in Marrakech, Morrocco (again, hoping for warmth, but probably not going to get it) and a week with friends near Bergen, Norway... where it will be extra cold and dark for us... and that's not even half of our holiday yet! Safe to say we'll be well tired by the time we hit terra firma in May...
Take care,
Kent & Eryn x
