Roast, Ralf, Railway Stations, Rain and Rolling Countryside
Well I promised this blog to be published a lot quicker than the last so here goes...
Regarding the subject heading of the blog.... It basically sums up ourlast few days in Switzerland except for the Roast
part, so I'll get that out the way now.
Firstly the ROAST... This part is for my two buddies in Joburg who get to pick up us gypsies from the airport. Am I allowed
to put in my request for the following now? Roast Meat (not fussy which one - however after seeing the cute cows with bells
around their necks in Switzerland, I think I'd feel guilty eating Beef :), then roast potatoes, cauliflower and cheese,
butternut, peas and lots of gravy (nothing boiled or fried). Is that a tall order or what? I don't even mind cooking it,
just as long as I have a bigger space than 1,5 meter squared to cook it in :)
Well 3 days ago we headed towards Switzerland. Once again an unplanned part of our trip as it took place sooner than later.
We left France at about 11am on Friday with a relatively short distance to drive (1.5 hrs), can you believe that's how far we
were from Switzerland. Well the drive turned out to be much longer because we had to stop to find out how we could get
internet access in Switzerland. Our original plan was to use Annecy (France) as a base, go to Switzerland on
Fridayafternoon, spend the weekend there and come back Sunday afternoon so that we could work again on the Monday. Then re-
do this trip on Friday afternoon again.
On reaching Switzerland, we drove into Geneva where Dean parked the van. I was to venture into the town in search of the
Tourist Information. Well I never quite got there because I saw an ORANGE shop. This is the wireless internet provider that
we were using in France. I went into the shop where I was second in the queue. Well an hour later and after 2 people behind
me were rude enough to jump the queue,I was still standing in the queue having got nowhere because ORANGE don't offer
wireless internet in Switzerland. Instead I was to approach Swisscom. I left the shop and turned around in every direction
and couldn't remember where the van was. For a few minutes, I panicked. I couldn't even think of a landmark where the van
was. Anyway I eventually found my way back to a hopeful looking Dean but I had no good news to tell him.
Our journey continued, until I eventually found a Swisscom. Dean parked the van and I ran in. Much more organised with about
9 people to help and you took a number from a machine and the number was called out. Aaagh success at last at a price. 50
Swiss Frans for 135 minutes of internet airtime. VERY expensive BUT it enables us to stay on in Switerland and not have to
drive back to France. So if you're not hearing often from us, it's because we quickly download mail, disconnect, type
responses and re-connect. Of course we constantly have to watch the battery power on the pc and van as well.
So off we headed to Interlaken. We remembered going there years ago and loving it. Well the Swiss, although much friendlier
than the French, definitely do NOT want campervans in their town. The first night we arrived we drove around for 3.5 hrs
looking for a parking that allowed overnight camping. We eventually found one but made sure that we left early in the
morning.The next day we decided to go up to the top of the Jungfrau mountain so that we could see snow. The trip us was really fun.
It took 2,5 hrs either way. The beautiful little Swiss Chalets on the way up are simply gorgeous as well as all the cows
that just seem to appear everywhere. On reaching the top, we walked through what is called the "The Ice Palace". It
consisted of walls of ice and ice sculptures. Of course Tanner, decides it's an ice-skating rink and goes flying and because
he is such a role model to B.O.J. No. 3 (Bundle of Joy), Jetan decides to try the same thing and lands flat on his bum and in
tears! Have I mentioned how cold we were at this point? Jesse was already complainingFinally we made it to the doors that led to the snow - and we stopped! Deciding that we need every bit of available material
that we have, to cover us. By now we had already lost one beanie hat so that left one of us without a hat. So we had to
take it in turns to go out. First it was Dean and Tanner. They came in with noses streaming and eyes running but with huge
grins on their faces. Oh yes, not just a grin on Tanner's face but also a huge bruise we he had falled on the ice. I have
been told that he sobbed his little heart out when this happened.Next it was my turn. Off I went armed with my camera. Scarf on, gloves on... Did I mention how cold it was????? The wind
was very strong, I could barely stand up straight. The ice was also very slippery but instead of being concerned about my
rear end maybe taking a fall, I had to protect the camera hanging around my neck BUT even through all of this it was
definitely a memorable experience. I started to make my way down and met with a snowball - my other half thought it was a
good idea to send one my way. I would have loved to have retailiated but there was no way I was even bending down in case my
face met the ice.On coming back in, Jesse was feeling even more nauseous and I started feeling really lightheaded. Oh yes I never actually
got onto the next part of my subject heading.RALF - have you heard of saying "Hello to Raaalf" Well that's Jesse. On reaching the snowtop doors, he had to find the first
available bin to puke into, after that it was a packet. I then found myself running to the nearest place I could to get a
packet. The run was not far - maybe 200m but by the time I turned around to come back I was absolutely out of breath. At
that altitude and in the cold it is just so difficult to breathe. I am sure that this was so much worse for Jesse but we
hadn't thought . In fact when I was running back there was a lady passed out on the ground and she was been given oxygen.Jesse finally ventured into the snow and loved it but wasn't there too long. We never took Jetan out because of the ice
being so slippery.We decided we needed warming up so made out way to the restaurant. Why I bother to make packed lunches I just don't know!!!We landed up ordering a huge plate of chips and a huge plate of spaghetti bolognaise - 7 Franks and 17 Franks - That comes
to about R130.00 but we felt so much better afterwards. It actually took about an hour or so for all of us to feel normal.Dean and Tanner went out again while I sat behind with Jesse, who was by now lying sprawled on the floor under the table,
still puking into a bag (yup in a restaurant) and Jetan who was absolutely impossible. Now for those of you have read my
London Blog, I have to ask - Why do I always get stuck with the puking child. It was not looking promising for our trip
home. At 3:45pm we caught the train back. It was so funny to see EVERYONE on the train sleeping. Everyone was absolutely
exhausted. The trip up and down required us to board 3 different trains each way. Very tiring with 3 kids.On the second to last train back, Jetan desperately needed a nappy change. I had wanted to go to the toilet to change him
but couldn't for fear of missing the connecting train. So yup, you guessed it, he had to be changed on the train. So there
we have it - Puke and Crap!!! Fun being a parent isn't it?On the very last train home Jesse and I sat opposite a man in his mid 40's. He was very quiet until Jesse starting puking
again (By now we're on our 4th bag). Well now he thought he could converse with us. No matter how many times we said to him
we don't speak German, he decided to talk. He talked the entire trip. It drove me nuts. I was only too glad to leave the
train.That night we found another sleeping spot between a main road that runs along the mountain and a lake. There were no lights
at all, so when we eventually turned ours off, it was pitch black. This spot was good for us because we could run the
generator and no-one could hear.The next day we took a walk around the town, and had to visit a laundromat. Whilst parked, a gentleman came and told Dean
where he could park for the night. It was about a minute away behind a building, next to a running river. The river was so
loud that no-one could hear the generator running so it was perfect.
Well that brings us to Yesterday and to RAIN and ROLLING Country side. We decided that we needed to head towards Luzerne,
which is further North. Well it rained the entire way but to make matters worse the trip took us up along the windy curving
roads of the mountain. I was a nervous wreck the entire way. Although beautiful, it was a very scary trip. I think both
Dean and I barely breathed the entire way.
And finally RAILWAY STATIONS. Since being overseas, these seem to be our local hangout because of the internet. I now hate
Railway Stations and never want to go near them again. Everyone is in a hurry!Today we didn't have to go because we found FREEEEEE Internet. The only problem is that it is at a parking lot which is very
expensive to park out. So Dean just keeps the engine running in case we have to make a quick getaway. It is a park where
old people walk their dogs and I am sure that judging by the looks on their faces that they think a camper van comes from
outerspace.
Well that is now us all up to date. We have walked around the Old City of Luzerne today and are heading for Munich tomorrow
where we hope to visit the Lindt Chocolate Factory.
xxx Marielle and all the guys.
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
France Blog
Hello Hello. Are we in trouble or what? Have had a few people ask - WHEN are you going to blog? So sorry, time has just passed by so quickly.
At this moment in time I have no idea where we last left off in our blog and I don't have an internet connection right now so I can't check so I am going to go back as far as I can remember and that's to Bournemouth, our last stop before leaving the U.K.For those of you who don't know, we found a church to visit called Wessex Christian Centre. Went to both morning and evening service and really loved it. A lovely couple (ex South Africans) invited us to dinner on the Monday night. It was really nice to not have to sit in a "box"and eat supper. We thoroughly enjoyed their company and plan on visiting them in a few weeks time.
We then made our way to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais. This ferry cost us a third of the price of when we first caught the ferry from Calais to Dover. Why, I just don't know. It was the same shipping line just a different time that we sailed. The first trip was done at midnight which we were told was the cheapest! This time round we caught the ferry at 4:30pm.
We arrived in Calais, originally planning to have driven straight to Paris, Eurodisney but we discovered that the drive was about 2 more hours than we thought so we decided to find a place to camp for the night. We camped next to a small river quite near the port. The next morning, Dean realised that his credit car was missing. So off we went back to the petrol station that we had been to the night before where for the first time I had to speak French to someone - Either my French is really bad or he just chose to not listen to me. I tried in every way possible to explain that my husband had lost his credit card, showed him mine so he knew what I was saying, but to no avail. He eventually called his assistant, who was not their the night before, and I explained to her. She understood me, opened the draw and there was Dean's card. Well did we breathe a sigh of relief.Dean informs me, that he was in absolute awe of the French babe the night before who he paid for the petrol so that's why he forgot his card.HELLO Dean, I'm a French babe, I had to remind him!Anyway thank goodness we had made the decision to not drive to Paris the night before as we would not have been able to get the card back.
That morning we began our trip to Paris. It was a long drive with us eventually finding the Aire that we found in the Camperstop book. It was just a parking at a petrol garage but we were quite happy to park and not pay anything.
The next day we headed towards Eurodisney. 13 Euros we discovered, is what we had to pay to park and sleep over but this did not include electricity. Well after all we had spent on the Eurodisney tickets this seemed like a drop in the Ocean.
To cut a very long story short about Eurodisney or Mickey "House" land as Jetan calls it..... It was just fun all the way. Very exciting for the kids. Very tiring as well. They were like bulls in a china shop. We barely ate for 4 days and that's no lie. We had cereal in the morning, left the van at about 10am (that's when the park opens), then it is about a 1.5km walk to the gates and then of course we walked the entire day until 10pm the first night and 7pm for the 3 nights after that and then we had to walk back at the end of the day. Thank goodness, during part of the way, there are those flat escalators that you can just stand on BUT NOOOO not my boys, they think it's fun to run along the one going in the opposite direction!
After the 1st day at Eurodisney, we decided to go into Paris to see the Eiffel Tower (good tourists that we are). Well it only took 35 minutes to get there, we found a parking easily right under the tower. Were told by one of the locals that it should be okay to park as it was a Sunday (never mind it was the coach bus parking) however there wasn't one coach in site.
So off we went, to discover that going up the tower was just too expensive so decided the walk under was just as good. After about an hour we see in the distance a couple of coaches, well did Dean run or what. By the time we got back to our van there were about 4 coaches waiting to park. Thank goodness we did not get a ticket. Enough of this we thought and headed back for the short drive back to the park. Well that was wishful thinking. It took 3,5 hrs to get back. I have discovered that Paris streets are worse than London streets. The French just do not believe in obeying traffic lights and the traffic cops (no matter how cute they are :) are just no help either. Dean and I can definitely say that we have seen the street life of Paris.
The next day we pounded the Walt Disney Park Studios pavements, had lots of fun. On the 3rd day, Dean had an idea. I must take Jesse and Tanner into the park for the day. He will go and sit at the one hotel and check mail and clean up the van and keep Jetan. Although I hated being apart from him, I decided to go with the plan. At 2pm, Dean did meet us and brought us sandwiches to eat. The food at Eurodisney is just so expensive. A hotdog costs 4 Euros 70. There was just no way we could buy anything let alone any souvenirs. Well I was exhausted by the end of the day. Jesse and Tanner insisted on staying to the very last minute to watch the same end of evening celebration that they had already watched twice...When I got back to the van, Dean was doing his nut with Jetan. Jetan hadn't slept all day and had talked all day long.
The next day, sly Dean that he is, says okay it's his turn to go into the park (I knew this was coming) but I landed up having all 3 boys in the van for hours. Did I get the raw end of the deal or what!!!!
Leaving Eurodisney was bitter sweet to say the least.
Now that we had left the "safe haven"of Eurodisney where Dean at least knew he could connect to the internet, we decided it was time to venture into France. Both of us very nervous, him because of work and me because I knew the pressure was on to communicate.
We headed towards Beaune. For no particular reason except that it was on route to Lyon and then to Marseille. Well we landed up spending about 4 nights at the parking lot. We had electricity if we needed it and paid for it, and the wireless signal that Dean was receiving was the hotel next door so he didn't even have to leave the van to connect.
While going to the laundromat one day, I met a lady and we got chatting. Thank goodness in English. I told her we were staying in a camper van etc... A few hours later, she came to invite us to watch the Rugby Final. Now how could us patriotic South Africans say no to that!!! It was so nice to be warm, as we had been going through a very cold spell with the wind being really cold. I think I've sent most of you photos showing us all bundled up.
Our stay in Beane enabled us to recharge our energy batteries a bit. It was also so nice not to have to pay to stay somewhere each night. The night before we left, Tanner, bumped his tooth (he had injured himself a few days before while him and Jesse were kickboxing in a supermarket!). The poor little guy was really sore and the blood was gushing out. This left Dean and I in a predicament as the tooth that is currently hanging loose is not coming out naturally with a tooth behind it. It is actually bruised and hanging on. Now, our travel policy says that only in the event of an emergency can we claim back from them if we take him to the dentist but even to do this we have to pay the first R2000.00 and we can't claim that back. The next morning we had to make the decision whether or not to take him to the dentist. Tanner assured us that he was okay. We were nervous to not take him because we had already reported this event to the emergency helpline which means that if he now has a problem, days later, they most definitely won't cover his expenses. So the question I ask is:NOW WHY CAN'T THESE KIDS JUST HOLD ONTO THE JOLLY TROLLY WHEN WE SHOP!
We eventually left and made our way to another stop - Bourge-en-brasse. Found a place to stay, parked next to a beautiful church. Dean decided to leave at about 6am that morning and drive while the kids were sleeping. Good move!
We arrived in a place called Annecy. Now for those of you who are really good in Georgraphy or bother to actually look where Annecy is, it's not en-route to Marseille! Change of Plans again! We have decided to make our way to Switzerland for the weekend. We spent a good part of today looking for a place to sleep and looking for a hotel that had a wifi signal for Dean. We have found both and what must be one of the most beautiful places I have been. We are still in France but we are only 30 minutes from Switzerland and this part of France definitely has the flavours of Switzerland. I even saw a cow with a bell around it's neck early this morning. For those of you who know me, this is the one thing I wanted to see in Switzerland so I can't wait to see a whole bunch of cows! We will then come back to Annecy on Sunday night and spend the weekend here and then back to Switzerland next weekend.
The wifi hotspot is about a 3 minute walk from where we are camped so that's good for us. We spent the later part of this afternoon sitting near a lake (we are parked directly opposite from it) while the kids rode their bikes/scooters. Tanner, my crazy son, decided it would be fun to walk in the water. I don't know how he did it, it was freezing. I had my feet in for about 10 seconds and they cramped up.
It is now 9pm and Dean left the van about an hour ago to walk around the town. Jesse and Tanner are still awake and it's time for me to log off this computer because it is plugged into the campervan inverter at the moment. Oh here comes Dean and he is complaining that it is too hot in the van. I have only just switched off the gas heater.
Bye for now. I'm sure Dean will have a few things to say...
Latest update from Dean....
Hello everybody, sorry I haven't blogged but M has beaten me to it a few times. Personally I think Annecy has to be on par with the fjords of Norway in beauty. Clear crystal water lapping from the lake and mountains. In Paris, we decided to buy a generator for the camper. Unlike the U.K. where we were staying at C.L's (Farmer's land) with 220 volts to plug in, France is the complete opposite and finding power to charge the leisure battery of the van is a real challenge. So besides finding a tap to refill the camper water supplies on a daily basis, the responsibility has fallen on me to make sure that the pump which pumps the water for Marielle's shower NEVER should die at the most inconvenient moment. An error which would be held against me for the rest of my life. I therefore find myself filling up so-called generator on a daily basis with the french favourite unleaded petrol mixed with 2% generator oil sourced from a French"hypermarket"after peering at a bottle with french instructions on it for over 20 minutes. For all I know, I could be putting a mixture of rasberry juice syrup into the favourable generator for charging pump for showers for the queen. Please pray! If it sounds like I don't know what the hell I am doing, you have no idea! As it is, I haven't quite figured out how the "Queen"can use her hairdryer or hair straightener yet. Upon connecting the generator to the van, I found that a french generator plug does not suit a dutch van and went desperately in search for that little piece of cable that the camper dealer had given to me which I had stashed 4 months ago in the gas cylinder compartment.
Oh ja!!!! Since our little van has now travelled between continents and over 8000 Kms, it is important to share this piece of advice with future travellers. In Holland, they provide you with beige gas cylinders with Type A hose plugs which do not work when refilling gas in the U.K, where we were lucky enough to be lent a 15K bottle by friends. I then stored the old Dutch bottles alongside the new larger U.K. bottle which we then used while travelling around the U.K and on entering France.However, as "Queen"was having her daily shower powered by above-mentioned pump and generator the steam which normally is associated with the hot water powered by English gas abruptly began to disapate leading to screams of "where is the hot water? (expetives deleted)". I rushed to check what could be tweaked in this moment of despair, only to find that we were running out of U.K. gas and had no French gas to replace it, which led to an urgent visit to a gas shop the next morning. After much searching and stressful map reading (GPS did not know where the gas shope was and kept on taking us down a narrow cobbled street), I finally ditched M and the kids parked on the side of the road and sprinted to the shop reaching the shop at 11:59am (Please note all shops close at 12 each day in France). I walked into the shop and said "Do you speak English"and was met with the official "NO!". "Bonjour" I said while holding up my U.K. gas cylinder fitting. "Propane"he asked, shaking his head. In my best hand signalled French I explain to him that I needed a Butane Gas cylinder fitting to stick on the newly acquired french bottle for heating for water for "Queen"now sitting in van with glum look on face.
Well it's now 2 days later and Dean never got to finish his update but I think it's time we upload this blog otherwise we'll be back in S.A. before we do it.
We have tons more to write of events in the last 2 days but that will come in another blog.
At this moment in time I have no idea where we last left off in our blog and I don't have an internet connection right now so I can't check so I am going to go back as far as I can remember and that's to Bournemouth, our last stop before leaving the U.K.For those of you who don't know, we found a church to visit called Wessex Christian Centre. Went to both morning and evening service and really loved it. A lovely couple (ex South Africans) invited us to dinner on the Monday night. It was really nice to not have to sit in a "box"and eat supper. We thoroughly enjoyed their company and plan on visiting them in a few weeks time.
We then made our way to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais. This ferry cost us a third of the price of when we first caught the ferry from Calais to Dover. Why, I just don't know. It was the same shipping line just a different time that we sailed. The first trip was done at midnight which we were told was the cheapest! This time round we caught the ferry at 4:30pm.
We arrived in Calais, originally planning to have driven straight to Paris, Eurodisney but we discovered that the drive was about 2 more hours than we thought so we decided to find a place to camp for the night. We camped next to a small river quite near the port. The next morning, Dean realised that his credit car was missing. So off we went back to the petrol station that we had been to the night before where for the first time I had to speak French to someone - Either my French is really bad or he just chose to not listen to me. I tried in every way possible to explain that my husband had lost his credit card, showed him mine so he knew what I was saying, but to no avail. He eventually called his assistant, who was not their the night before, and I explained to her. She understood me, opened the draw and there was Dean's card. Well did we breathe a sigh of relief.Dean informs me, that he was in absolute awe of the French babe the night before who he paid for the petrol so that's why he forgot his card.HELLO Dean, I'm a French babe, I had to remind him!Anyway thank goodness we had made the decision to not drive to Paris the night before as we would not have been able to get the card back.
That morning we began our trip to Paris. It was a long drive with us eventually finding the Aire that we found in the Camperstop book. It was just a parking at a petrol garage but we were quite happy to park and not pay anything.
The next day we headed towards Eurodisney. 13 Euros we discovered, is what we had to pay to park and sleep over but this did not include electricity. Well after all we had spent on the Eurodisney tickets this seemed like a drop in the Ocean.
To cut a very long story short about Eurodisney or Mickey "House" land as Jetan calls it..... It was just fun all the way. Very exciting for the kids. Very tiring as well. They were like bulls in a china shop. We barely ate for 4 days and that's no lie. We had cereal in the morning, left the van at about 10am (that's when the park opens), then it is about a 1.5km walk to the gates and then of course we walked the entire day until 10pm the first night and 7pm for the 3 nights after that and then we had to walk back at the end of the day. Thank goodness, during part of the way, there are those flat escalators that you can just stand on BUT NOOOO not my boys, they think it's fun to run along the one going in the opposite direction!
After the 1st day at Eurodisney, we decided to go into Paris to see the Eiffel Tower (good tourists that we are). Well it only took 35 minutes to get there, we found a parking easily right under the tower. Were told by one of the locals that it should be okay to park as it was a Sunday (never mind it was the coach bus parking) however there wasn't one coach in site.
So off we went, to discover that going up the tower was just too expensive so decided the walk under was just as good. After about an hour we see in the distance a couple of coaches, well did Dean run or what. By the time we got back to our van there were about 4 coaches waiting to park. Thank goodness we did not get a ticket. Enough of this we thought and headed back for the short drive back to the park. Well that was wishful thinking. It took 3,5 hrs to get back. I have discovered that Paris streets are worse than London streets. The French just do not believe in obeying traffic lights and the traffic cops (no matter how cute they are :) are just no help either. Dean and I can definitely say that we have seen the street life of Paris.
The next day we pounded the Walt Disney Park Studios pavements, had lots of fun. On the 3rd day, Dean had an idea. I must take Jesse and Tanner into the park for the day. He will go and sit at the one hotel and check mail and clean up the van and keep Jetan. Although I hated being apart from him, I decided to go with the plan. At 2pm, Dean did meet us and brought us sandwiches to eat. The food at Eurodisney is just so expensive. A hotdog costs 4 Euros 70. There was just no way we could buy anything let alone any souvenirs. Well I was exhausted by the end of the day. Jesse and Tanner insisted on staying to the very last minute to watch the same end of evening celebration that they had already watched twice...When I got back to the van, Dean was doing his nut with Jetan. Jetan hadn't slept all day and had talked all day long.
The next day, sly Dean that he is, says okay it's his turn to go into the park (I knew this was coming) but I landed up having all 3 boys in the van for hours. Did I get the raw end of the deal or what!!!!
Leaving Eurodisney was bitter sweet to say the least.
Now that we had left the "safe haven"of Eurodisney where Dean at least knew he could connect to the internet, we decided it was time to venture into France. Both of us very nervous, him because of work and me because I knew the pressure was on to communicate.
We headed towards Beaune. For no particular reason except that it was on route to Lyon and then to Marseille. Well we landed up spending about 4 nights at the parking lot. We had electricity if we needed it and paid for it, and the wireless signal that Dean was receiving was the hotel next door so he didn't even have to leave the van to connect.
While going to the laundromat one day, I met a lady and we got chatting. Thank goodness in English. I told her we were staying in a camper van etc... A few hours later, she came to invite us to watch the Rugby Final. Now how could us patriotic South Africans say no to that!!! It was so nice to be warm, as we had been going through a very cold spell with the wind being really cold. I think I've sent most of you photos showing us all bundled up.
Our stay in Beane enabled us to recharge our energy batteries a bit. It was also so nice not to have to pay to stay somewhere each night. The night before we left, Tanner, bumped his tooth (he had injured himself a few days before while him and Jesse were kickboxing in a supermarket!). The poor little guy was really sore and the blood was gushing out. This left Dean and I in a predicament as the tooth that is currently hanging loose is not coming out naturally with a tooth behind it. It is actually bruised and hanging on. Now, our travel policy says that only in the event of an emergency can we claim back from them if we take him to the dentist but even to do this we have to pay the first R2000.00 and we can't claim that back. The next morning we had to make the decision whether or not to take him to the dentist. Tanner assured us that he was okay. We were nervous to not take him because we had already reported this event to the emergency helpline which means that if he now has a problem, days later, they most definitely won't cover his expenses. So the question I ask is:NOW WHY CAN'T THESE KIDS JUST HOLD ONTO THE JOLLY TROLLY WHEN WE SHOP!
We eventually left and made our way to another stop - Bourge-en-brasse. Found a place to stay, parked next to a beautiful church. Dean decided to leave at about 6am that morning and drive while the kids were sleeping. Good move!
We arrived in a place called Annecy. Now for those of you who are really good in Georgraphy or bother to actually look where Annecy is, it's not en-route to Marseille! Change of Plans again! We have decided to make our way to Switzerland for the weekend. We spent a good part of today looking for a place to sleep and looking for a hotel that had a wifi signal for Dean. We have found both and what must be one of the most beautiful places I have been. We are still in France but we are only 30 minutes from Switzerland and this part of France definitely has the flavours of Switzerland. I even saw a cow with a bell around it's neck early this morning. For those of you who know me, this is the one thing I wanted to see in Switzerland so I can't wait to see a whole bunch of cows! We will then come back to Annecy on Sunday night and spend the weekend here and then back to Switzerland next weekend.
The wifi hotspot is about a 3 minute walk from where we are camped so that's good for us. We spent the later part of this afternoon sitting near a lake (we are parked directly opposite from it) while the kids rode their bikes/scooters. Tanner, my crazy son, decided it would be fun to walk in the water. I don't know how he did it, it was freezing. I had my feet in for about 10 seconds and they cramped up.
It is now 9pm and Dean left the van about an hour ago to walk around the town. Jesse and Tanner are still awake and it's time for me to log off this computer because it is plugged into the campervan inverter at the moment. Oh here comes Dean and he is complaining that it is too hot in the van. I have only just switched off the gas heater.
Bye for now. I'm sure Dean will have a few things to say...
Latest update from Dean....
Hello everybody, sorry I haven't blogged but M has beaten me to it a few times. Personally I think Annecy has to be on par with the fjords of Norway in beauty. Clear crystal water lapping from the lake and mountains. In Paris, we decided to buy a generator for the camper. Unlike the U.K. where we were staying at C.L's (Farmer's land) with 220 volts to plug in, France is the complete opposite and finding power to charge the leisure battery of the van is a real challenge. So besides finding a tap to refill the camper water supplies on a daily basis, the responsibility has fallen on me to make sure that the pump which pumps the water for Marielle's shower NEVER should die at the most inconvenient moment. An error which would be held against me for the rest of my life. I therefore find myself filling up so-called generator on a daily basis with the french favourite unleaded petrol mixed with 2% generator oil sourced from a French"hypermarket"after peering at a bottle with french instructions on it for over 20 minutes. For all I know, I could be putting a mixture of rasberry juice syrup into the favourable generator for charging pump for showers for the queen. Please pray! If it sounds like I don't know what the hell I am doing, you have no idea! As it is, I haven't quite figured out how the "Queen"can use her hairdryer or hair straightener yet. Upon connecting the generator to the van, I found that a french generator plug does not suit a dutch van and went desperately in search for that little piece of cable that the camper dealer had given to me which I had stashed 4 months ago in the gas cylinder compartment.
Oh ja!!!! Since our little van has now travelled between continents and over 8000 Kms, it is important to share this piece of advice with future travellers. In Holland, they provide you with beige gas cylinders with Type A hose plugs which do not work when refilling gas in the U.K, where we were lucky enough to be lent a 15K bottle by friends. I then stored the old Dutch bottles alongside the new larger U.K. bottle which we then used while travelling around the U.K and on entering France.However, as "Queen"was having her daily shower powered by above-mentioned pump and generator the steam which normally is associated with the hot water powered by English gas abruptly began to disapate leading to screams of "where is the hot water? (expetives deleted)". I rushed to check what could be tweaked in this moment of despair, only to find that we were running out of U.K. gas and had no French gas to replace it, which led to an urgent visit to a gas shop the next morning. After much searching and stressful map reading (GPS did not know where the gas shope was and kept on taking us down a narrow cobbled street), I finally ditched M and the kids parked on the side of the road and sprinted to the shop reaching the shop at 11:59am (Please note all shops close at 12 each day in France). I walked into the shop and said "Do you speak English"and was met with the official "NO!". "Bonjour" I said while holding up my U.K. gas cylinder fitting. "Propane"he asked, shaking his head. In my best hand signalled French I explain to him that I needed a Butane Gas cylinder fitting to stick on the newly acquired french bottle for heating for water for "Queen"now sitting in van with glum look on face.
Well it's now 2 days later and Dean never got to finish his update but I think it's time we upload this blog otherwise we'll be back in S.A. before we do it.
We have tons more to write of events in the last 2 days but that will come in another blog.
Friday, 05 October 2007
Squires update - Up to 4th October 2007.
Oh my goodness, I have just seen that the last time we blogged was on the 23rd September, well between then and now I can't remember all the details of what we did and where we were, so can't really fill you in - sorry :) Dean asked me what day of the week it was yesterday and I didn't have a clue. I had to check the calender on my cellphone!
Last week we were in Halwell (Devon). Well being there was really great as we were the only ones besides one other caravaner.
The field was huge so the kids could play and make as much noise as they wanted. Of course, that's when they were outside!!! which was NOT much because of the jolly rain. While there we visited Torquay and Dartmouth. Visiting Torquay involved us crossing over on a ferry. This was quite nice as we could just drive on, stay in the car and it literally took 5 minutes.
This is the only way we could get across to Torquay. Dartmouth was gorgeous. Absolutely NO parking so we found a Park and Ride (they have quite a lot of these) where you pay and and park but then there is a bus that takes you into the town and you catch the bus back to he parking at any time. Now Dean and I could live in Dartmouth. Such a quaint little town with so
many houses along the bay, some of them even have their own mooring stations. Just like we would have garages, well THEY park their boats. A little bit of envy did most definitely set in. After a long day in Dartmouth and with Jetan offering many tearful moments, just to test us, we finally made our way back to the park and ride bus to discover that the van is running out of gas. Now at home, if this happened and I couldn't cook, it wouldn't be too bad, cause and AFFORDABLE KFC or Spur is down the road and our bath is not run on gas but in our little van it presents a bit of a problem. Well with some kind of tea (which is actually supper in the U.K.) taken care of, and bathing in I don't know HOW many litres of kettle boiled water, we finally
drifted off to dreamland.
We spent 5 nights at this site, it was so nice to know we had a home at the end of the day and not have to try and find one.
2 nights ago was another story! We decided to save a bit of money and find somewhere to sleep that did not require us to part with 8 - 10 pounds. So we headed to Poole (which is near Bournemouth) and relocated to the Car Ferrry Terminal for the night. We didn't look conspicuous at all, as there were people waiting to board the ferry in the morning. Met a lovely
elderly couple who are leaving the U.K. after living their lives here and moving to Brittany, France. Well did we Oooh and aaah! Learnt a few secrets from them, like parking in a hospital parking for free! Mmmmmm one we haven't tried yet.
They were catching the ferry in the morning but had not realised that because of the Foot and Mouth disease in the U.K., that they were not allowed to take any milk or meat products (even tinned) to France so they were going to bin it all, but they blessed us with what they had. What was even more of a blessing is that we had intended to do quite a shop before we left
the U.K. on our way to France and we would have spent money for nothing as we would not have known. So this was a double-blessing for us. Now when we were still in S.A. I said that I wanted stories like THESE to tell so I'm glad that this one came about HOWEVER the story of Jetan keeping us up the entire night that night is not one I want to tell. The night before he had been rubbing his ears but no other symptoms. Then during the course of the day his nose started streaming. Well that night, he woke up crying and crying, there was just no way to console him. We were also kept awake by the Camper owners that arrived and decided to have a bit of a party outside our caravan BUT the ferry terminal had another advantage. The toilets
were spotless and there were even showers that were heated. Now that was a bonus! AND we didn't have to pay for them.
Yesterday, we decided to not travel far and only made our way about 45 minutes further to Ringwood (near the New Forest area, where we were over a month ago). This area is really stunning and I am happy to be back. We were exhausted when we arrived here yesterday and didn't do much except go do Laundry. I wanted to wash all the bedding. Made our way to the laundromat, where we met a lady who gave us an instant offer for the van, unfortunately it was about 2000 pounds less than we want for it BUT she didn't close her offer at all and we have her number, so we'll give her a call in a few months time.
The site we are at is opposite a forest. Unfortunately the forest is playing havoc with out internet connection so I guess we'll be driving shortly - ha ha. It's 9:32am S.A. time and only Jetan and I are awake! . Oh did I mention that Jetan woke up many times last night and now he is coughing really badly. The only way to calm him down was to sing to him.He was absolutely fine yesterday. The weather was gorgeous with NO wind. Having no wind is stunning. The boys played outside and we cooked outside. The cold is always fine (not that it was cold) just as long as there is no wind.
Today we go into Bournemouth (very big city) to do a bit of hardware shopping. There are some things we would like to do on the van before we head off to France next Wednesday. Yup, that is the date, and hopefully it won't change! Our very big problem is the internet in Europe and all the campsites close at the latest the end of October, so it means finding Aires to stay at (these are designated areas for camper vans that have electricity points but no-one manns them BUT they are not expensive) BUT we need to find wireless internet. We are extremely nervous about this part of our trip. There are so many places we want to visit, like Switzerland, Austria etc... but this hinges on our internet availability. Had we planned our trip a bit more cleverly, we should have done that part of the trip first but we wanted to be in those areas when the cold
got too much in the U.K. which will probably be in about a month's time here. Our van is really warm, but showering is already feeling a bit cold. Time to start taking all the vitamins that I lugged over from S.A to keep us flu free.
Anyway that's all I can think of right now. Please bear us up in prayer regarding illness. Tanner is also sounding fluish but he is really such a trooper and just plods on.
Will try and update the blog sooner than later :)
Last week we were in Halwell (Devon). Well being there was really great as we were the only ones besides one other caravaner.
The field was huge so the kids could play and make as much noise as they wanted. Of course, that's when they were outside!!! which was NOT much because of the jolly rain. While there we visited Torquay and Dartmouth. Visiting Torquay involved us crossing over on a ferry. This was quite nice as we could just drive on, stay in the car and it literally took 5 minutes.
This is the only way we could get across to Torquay. Dartmouth was gorgeous. Absolutely NO parking so we found a Park and Ride (they have quite a lot of these) where you pay and and park but then there is a bus that takes you into the town and you catch the bus back to he parking at any time. Now Dean and I could live in Dartmouth. Such a quaint little town with so
many houses along the bay, some of them even have their own mooring stations. Just like we would have garages, well THEY park their boats. A little bit of envy did most definitely set in. After a long day in Dartmouth and with Jetan offering many tearful moments, just to test us, we finally made our way back to the park and ride bus to discover that the van is running out of gas. Now at home, if this happened and I couldn't cook, it wouldn't be too bad, cause and AFFORDABLE KFC or Spur is down the road and our bath is not run on gas but in our little van it presents a bit of a problem. Well with some kind of tea (which is actually supper in the U.K.) taken care of, and bathing in I don't know HOW many litres of kettle boiled water, we finally
drifted off to dreamland.
We spent 5 nights at this site, it was so nice to know we had a home at the end of the day and not have to try and find one.
2 nights ago was another story! We decided to save a bit of money and find somewhere to sleep that did not require us to part with 8 - 10 pounds. So we headed to Poole (which is near Bournemouth) and relocated to the Car Ferrry Terminal for the night. We didn't look conspicuous at all, as there were people waiting to board the ferry in the morning. Met a lovely
elderly couple who are leaving the U.K. after living their lives here and moving to Brittany, France. Well did we Oooh and aaah! Learnt a few secrets from them, like parking in a hospital parking for free! Mmmmmm one we haven't tried yet.
They were catching the ferry in the morning but had not realised that because of the Foot and Mouth disease in the U.K., that they were not allowed to take any milk or meat products (even tinned) to France so they were going to bin it all, but they blessed us with what they had. What was even more of a blessing is that we had intended to do quite a shop before we left
the U.K. on our way to France and we would have spent money for nothing as we would not have known. So this was a double-blessing for us. Now when we were still in S.A. I said that I wanted stories like THESE to tell so I'm glad that this one came about HOWEVER the story of Jetan keeping us up the entire night that night is not one I want to tell. The night before he had been rubbing his ears but no other symptoms. Then during the course of the day his nose started streaming. Well that night, he woke up crying and crying, there was just no way to console him. We were also kept awake by the Camper owners that arrived and decided to have a bit of a party outside our caravan BUT the ferry terminal had another advantage. The toilets
were spotless and there were even showers that were heated. Now that was a bonus! AND we didn't have to pay for them.
Yesterday, we decided to not travel far and only made our way about 45 minutes further to Ringwood (near the New Forest area, where we were over a month ago). This area is really stunning and I am happy to be back. We were exhausted when we arrived here yesterday and didn't do much except go do Laundry. I wanted to wash all the bedding. Made our way to the laundromat, where we met a lady who gave us an instant offer for the van, unfortunately it was about 2000 pounds less than we want for it BUT she didn't close her offer at all and we have her number, so we'll give her a call in a few months time.
The site we are at is opposite a forest. Unfortunately the forest is playing havoc with out internet connection so I guess we'll be driving shortly - ha ha. It's 9:32am S.A. time and only Jetan and I are awake! . Oh did I mention that Jetan woke up many times last night and now he is coughing really badly. The only way to calm him down was to sing to him.He was absolutely fine yesterday. The weather was gorgeous with NO wind. Having no wind is stunning. The boys played outside and we cooked outside. The cold is always fine (not that it was cold) just as long as there is no wind.
Today we go into Bournemouth (very big city) to do a bit of hardware shopping. There are some things we would like to do on the van before we head off to France next Wednesday. Yup, that is the date, and hopefully it won't change! Our very big problem is the internet in Europe and all the campsites close at the latest the end of October, so it means finding Aires to stay at (these are designated areas for camper vans that have electricity points but no-one manns them BUT they are not expensive) BUT we need to find wireless internet. We are extremely nervous about this part of our trip. There are so many places we want to visit, like Switzerland, Austria etc... but this hinges on our internet availability. Had we planned our trip a bit more cleverly, we should have done that part of the trip first but we wanted to be in those areas when the cold
got too much in the U.K. which will probably be in about a month's time here. Our van is really warm, but showering is already feeling a bit cold. Time to start taking all the vitamins that I lugged over from S.A to keep us flu free.
Anyway that's all I can think of right now. Please bear us up in prayer regarding illness. Tanner is also sounding fluish but he is really such a trooper and just plods on.
Will try and update the blog sooner than later :)
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