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Month: July 2018

France Part 1

France Part 1

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It was goodbye to the FREE no speed limit autobahns of Germany and back to tolled 130 km speed limit motorways as we arrived in France. We will be here for a month, staying in 5 different places in that time, this blog post is about the first two weeks. These two weeks were meant to be the south of France and Barcelona, Spain but after some long travel days a month or two ago we bailed on that idea due to the length of time it would take to get all the way down there and back.

 

The first week we stayed about an hour north east of Paris in a quiet rural town. BK found a co-working space in the next city over so did 3 days of work there. On one of the days he wasn’t working we headed into Disneyland, Paris. BK and I have been to the one in Los Angeles (pre kids) so we knew what to expect. We also knew a family who went at the end of last year and another one in April this year. So along with their comments, a ton of blog reading and youtube watching, I was pretty clued up on how to do Disneyland with kids. We mastered the FastPass system. I had bought a supermarket load of food the day before so we didn’t have to buy overpriced rubbish there. I made up snack packs to give everyone as we waited in the long lines (we only waited in 2 lines that were 45+ minutes long so that was a plus!) And water and water and water!! We arrived on time for opening at 9.30am and got our FastPasses working straight away. First it was rides, rides and more rides, then R and I took a break and watched a show with a bunch of characters celebrating the park turning 25. Followed by more rides. Then another break for lunch and a ‘character meet’ with Pluto! 🐶 Then more rides and another show for R and I – this time princesses! After that we staked out an excellent place on a curb for the parade. Finally one more ride, our fave, Thunder Mountain and we left at 8.30pm. A visit to McDonald’s to get an ice cream and a salad wrap each, and we rolled in the door at 9.45pm. I purchased one thing all day – a Minnie Mouse soft toy. I got a Mickey Mouse soft toy from California, so I purchased him a French wife 😄 🇫🇷 I did find a Christmas store onsite but I restrained myself!

 

My top tips for Disneyland would be:

🔸Take food in!! I didn’t even look at the prices this time but I know they are horrendous for average food and long wait times. Eating while standing in lines is a great time passer. Keep everyone fuelled, not with heavy stuff that doesn’t suit roller coasters…if you know what I mean 🤮

🔸Master the FastPass system, to the minute. As soon as the time comes up, get another one started, THEN go on the ride you’ve been waiting for. Get time working for you. 🕒

🔸If you’re carrying around drink bottles in the same bag as your electronics, put the electronics in a snap lock bag. I did and was very glad when wee boy tried to be helpful but accidently knocked a drink bottle lid off as he put something back into the bag, next minute, soaked bag, but dry phone/Wi-Fi unit/ power bank/cables. Phew. 📱

 

The rest of the week was rest and laundry and a tiny bit of school. We did pop into the next town over to have a look and a walk. School work is slowly grinding to a halt as I run out of resources. C does have comprehension book he’s working through but R doesn’t. However by the time you’re reading this my Mum should be here to refill the resources, so we should be up and going again soon. I’m not too worried about it. Their school will fix them (haha, jokes, I know you’re reading this Marcus!).

 

The following week we drove south to the coast for some ‘glamping’, like we did in Austria. The most exciting bit for this Mum was the kids club! I love my kids but oh I miss my own space! When we arrived it was 34 degrees, hot! I got the run down on the park, the kids events crew were milling around so we met them and I answered their (bazillion) questions about our trip. Then it was unpack and into the pool! That evening a thunderstorm was forecast and at 1am it showed up, right above us! For the next 2 hours it rumbled and did it’s lightening thing so not much sleep was had! Finally we got back to sleep only to be woken up by little Miss R screaming at full volume at 6am (her daddy moves REAL fast when she screams, it’s quite hilarious…and cute) a huge spider had crawled on her and no way was she staying in her bed anymore. So in with us it was. Sleep.

 

The next few days were a mix of walks and exploring the local area but making sure we were back onsite for kids club sessions! The kids got their faces painted a few times, played on the playground, made friends with other kids and played at their tents.

 

The week was topped off by the Tour de France bike race coming past. We watched the caravan (parade) as a family in the hot sun, then got some lunch, BK and R didn’t want to come back out to see the cyclists so C and I found a nice patch of shade to sit in, till we heard several helicopters, which could only mean one thing and up we jumped! The first 3 riders were 4 or so minutes ahead of the main bunch, I took a photo of them then got video of the rest coming past. An American rider was trailing the big bunch because apparently he’d crashed at the ‘feed zone’ a few kilometres back so he wasn’t happy.

 

Yep so that was the first two weeks in France, onward we go! No budget update, I’ll do one for the whole time in France.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

Germany Part 2

Germany Part 2

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It was a good drive down from The Netherlands to a lovely place called Osterspai on the Rhine river. On the way we went through Eindhoven and called into a special beer shop to get a smoked beer BK had been looking forward to trying. We came across a car accident on the autobahn and as we sat in traffic we found that very disciplined German drivers would make two lanes on the motorway by pulling to the side of the road which left a wide lane down the middle for emergency services. Once one emergency vehicle had gone past, nobody moved, they knew there would be more emergency vehicles coming, and of course there was! Nobody decided to be disrespectful and use the wide lane themselves either which I was surprised at.

I had put a week of rest by the Rhine in my itinerary at the very beginning of planning and was so glad I did.

The first day we were there our Airbnb hosts gave us their train pass to use for the day so we went into Koblenz, which is about 15-20 minutes north of where we were staying. We went up a gondola to visit a fortress overlooking the city. There was a Family Day on which was celebrating areas of the world. So I had a German say to me “G’day Sheila, we’re learning our colours in English” it was quite funny! I replied I knew English very well thank you. Probably should have said I lived a 3 hour flight south of Australia.

The rest of the week was rest. A bit of school, a few walks, a bit of laundry, and a visit to a castle called Marksburg. BK found a co-working place in Koblenz and did some good work hours. One day I did drive the kids 30 mins south to a town called Bacharach. My parents had loved it when they were here 11 years ago. We had a walk around but it was a sleepy little village. A lot of the shops were closed 12.30pm till 2pm, possibly siesta time?

On our last full day by the Rhine we took the ferry across the river, it was only going across every 30 minutes not on demand as it had been earlier in the week, so that made us miss our train south. Fortunately I had a back up plan, to catch the next train, which we did, but we got off at the wrong station so missed the boat trip we were aiming to do by 5 minutes. However I had another back up plan to do the next boat trip an hour later. Unfortunately it turns out that one wasn’t running at that particular time that day, so it was back to the train station but as I was buying train tickets to go back to the ferry to go home the train came and we missed that by about 30 seconds! By this time I was exhausted! So we collapsed in a heap at a playground and waited for the next train an hour later. Some days you just can’t quite get it right, it was not helped by the fact we’d run out of data on our phones so couldn’t adjust the plans after things started going wrong.

Despite not doing much we loved the week, the Airbnb house and hosts were amazing. The rest was much needed, and watching the boats go up and down the river from the window or on our walks was fascinating.

On a side note about our accommodation. I heard that someone thinks we’re bunking down in people’s houses, with the hosts. This isn’t the case. Each house/apartment/cottage we rent is exclusively ours for the time we’re there. Sometimes the host lives in the same building (e.g. Berlin and Zagreb) but most of the time they live somewhere else. This was the same in Asia also. So no we don’t come back from exploring and have to make small talk. We’re just a normal family in a normal house.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

 

Budget : $576 under