The Final Cut

Mmmm - snails. Chewy, garlicky deliciousness.


The Sacre Coeur


Ok, I lied. This will now be my last blog. Our final day in France was, once again, a great one.

Our scheduled departure time from Charles de Gaulle was 9.50pm. This meant we were able to get in another whole day before embarking on our long journey back to reality.

The plan was to have breakfast, pack everything up and leave the luggage at our hotel until later that day. We had organised a shuttle to pick us up from the hotel door - no more trying to get through the Metro with all our luggage. That was not an experience that we would ever want to repeat.

The plan was to catch the Metro out to the Montmatre district and visit the Sacre Coeur - an amazing white cathedral set on the highest point of Paris. We once again got lucky and stumbled upon a fete which completely surrounded the Sacre Coeur. It was great. We ended up trying some escargots (both the kids tried and loved them), local oysters, lots of wine and foie gras. We still feel a bit funny about eating foie gras and do not really agree with the whole force feeding thing but, hey, its delicious!!! Traditionally, fois gras is eaten accompanied by the very sweet wine, sauterne. We ended up talking to this winemaker who was selling his wine along side a lady selling her duck and goose fois gras. He recommended his own semillion should be drunk with fois gras - he thought that sauternes are too sweet and that the medium sweet semillion was better suited. We totally agreed and promptly bought a bottle of the wine and a little can of both the different blocks of foie gras'! We cannot wait to share these with our friends (Jono - the goose has your name on it when you visit in December). The Sacre Coeur was stunning, but once again it was about the food and wine.

We made it back to the hotel in time to be picked up by the shuttle. The plane trip was long and arduous but somehow easier than the trip over. I think this was down to the fact that we all slept a little bit and the times of day worked better. We hit the ferry to Waiheke on a beautiful afternoon and made it back to our wonderful home. Its huge after the hotel in Paris! We really are very lucky. We all feel like zombies this morning and expect to feel worse in 3 or 4 days, but thats fine. Back to school for the kids and back to work for us tomorrow.

The trip was an amazing success. It was in fact the trip of a lifetime as we hoped it would be. We return with over 25 kgs of extra baggage - most of this is food and wine. Spending 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for an extended period with your children is a situation that most would not have found themselves in too often. We all have to work. You realise that you dont actually know exactly what they are like. You really get to know them when you spend that much time with them. I am lucky as I only work down the road so I do get to see them alot (my brother in London never sees his kids. He leaves for work at 5.30am and returns at 10pm - most of that is travel time). The conclusion that we are left with is that we are incredibly proud of our children. On a trip like this, you find yourself in sometimes very difficult situations. They did so, so well. They are growing into wonderful little people, we couldnt be happier. They rock.

We saw some beautiful places on our travels. But getting up this morning and looking out our window to the sea, you take for granted how wonderful our little country is. Once again, we are very lucky.

Au revoir

Its a small world after all

Jamie and Ben in front of Mickey


"But where are her arms , Dad"


Once again I find myself in an odd place.

I'm writing this, my last blog, in the toilet of a Parisian hotel. I am not doing this because I plan to take an impromptu shower or pooh. Its because, as previously mentioned, we are in a one room hotel and the kids are sleeping. I've never spent so much time in a loo writing before. Reading sure - but not usually writing.

We've had yet another fantastic day today. But first, yesterday.

Yesterday we got to the Arc de Triomphe, walked down the Champs Elysee, had a picnic in the grounds of the Tuillerie Gardens and visited the Louvre.

The Arc de Triomphe is cool - the roundabout surrounding it is cooler. For those of you who haven't seen it, its slightly bigger than the one at the top of Ocean View Rd just before Waiheke Fruit & Veg. Basically you have a roundabout as big as a small planet with absolutely no sense of order. Cars, trucks, bikes, bicycles and grannies in particularly mobile "old people movers" all speed around attempting to make their exit and basically trying not to hit each other. Its total madness. But somehow, it works. Considering the rate at which the French drive, I don't really see how.

One of the many streets off the is the Champs Elysees. Otherwise know as shopping central. All the biggest and baddest retailers pay some of the largest rents on the planet to have a presence on this street. Chanel, Versace, Loius Vuitton, Mont Blanc etc. We went long and bought a pepper grinder. We then made the mistake of entering the Disney store. The kids went nuts and Chris and I had to set down some fairly detailed and militant rules. Pretty much "You're not getting anything, we dont have any money". We brought them a 5 euro badge each - generous huh.

Next was lunch in the Tuillerie gardens. Nice place. Its given us some inspiration for Hauraki Rd. Not quite sure about the 30m tall statue though, it might get in the way of our view. Also saw these crazy as women sheisters. They walk in front of you and pretend to pick up a gold ring that was already in their hand. They then ask you if it is yours and try to plam it off to you for a few euros. Once you give them that, they then come back at you and demand more. Once you say no, the ring is still in your possession and they refuse to take it back. It gets messy from there. Luckily, eagle eye Chris sussed them out early before I had the chance to get her that ring she has always wanted for a bargain.

Onto the Louvre. Wow. Double Wow. Some guy told us that if you looked at every single piece of art, you would be there for 9 months. I believe him. We (Chris and I) loved the 3 hours we had there. A word of wisdom for future travellers - dont take your 8 and 9 year old to the biggest museum in the world no matter how cultured "you think" they are. We had just passed the ticket booth when Ben was saying how boring it was. This lead onto "Its so small" when we saw the Mona Lisa and "Where are her arms?" when we saw the Venus de Milo. Kids - you gotta love them. Not. Next time, we will devote a 3 or 4 days. This magnificent, awesome place deserves that much respect.

Today we took the kids to Disneyland.

It cost 188 euros (about NZ$400) just to get in the door and thats before we had even considered buying a 15 euro hotdog. Having said that, Diseyland is a machine. Its huge, massive, meticulously organised and a hell of a lot of fun. We stayed till the doors were shutting which was about 7 hours after we got there. We managed to see pretty much everythimg we wanted and had a ball. This one roller coaster thingy was terrifying. It shot you off like a rocket into the dark then threw you up, down, backwards, sideways, upside down and right side up before it spat you out the other end. I thought my head was going to get sucked off. Jamie loved it, Ben thought it was "ok". Typical. Next time well get him a rubiks cube to play with.

We finished our final night in Paris with a lovely dinner on Rue de Oberkamf. I had lamb, Chris had chicken and we all had snails. We couldnt leave without trying escargots and they were fine, a bit chewy but very tasty.

We will be sad to leave tomorrow. We have a couple more sites to see then we depart for home at 9.50pm. Paris has been great, but to be honest, its pretty hard work with 2 kids in tow. You have to do alot of walking and this doesnt always go down too well when the reward at the end is some ancient building. All in all, we have really enjoyed it. Chris and I plan to make it back here on our own within the next 10 years - we should have paid this trip off by then. The South West of France, to us, was real France. Here everyone speaks English so you get lazy. The people are real in the South West, the food is abundant, affordable and honest. Paris is great, just different.

Au revoir France, a bientot j'espere.

Tomorrow we start our journey home. We will arrive all the better for the wonderful experience that France (and Spain and London) has been. Its been the best of times, but theres no place like home - and your own bed.

Gay Paree

Up the Eiffel Tower


Not up the Eiffel Tower


Nice. The city of love. In Paris with my wife. Its about time.

Oh yeh, I forgot, the kids are here too. One room, four beds - romance central.

We arrived via the TGV - le Train de Grande Vitesse - literally The Train of Great Speed. this puppy goes over 300 kmph - almost as fast as the Range Rover. She doesn't hit maximum speed until about half way North, after Poitiers. But when she does, oh yeah, boy heaven. The bottom of France to near the top in 5 hours - thats fast. All in all, it was smooth and fun. Getting to our hotel was neither.

Weve been here for six weeks and there is four of us. Including 10's of kilos of food we are bringing back - we have alot of luggage. Each of us with a back pack on and four huge bags that no one can pick up except me. This was a problem. Although we only had to switch lines on the Metro twice, there was about 3 km's to walk and about 15 almost vertical staircases to hawl the bags up (and down). Putting the millions of Parisians on their way home and the fact we had our little cherubs in tow into the equation made things incredibly hard. Most of the time I had to lift 2 bags to the top of a flight of stairs, leave the kids and Chris up the top guarding the bags then go back down and hawl up the other 2. By the time we hit the first train, my shirt was drenched and I was exhausted. Chris had to drag a bag up the last 2 flights with one of the kids because I was nearly dead.

Thankfully, the hotel was fine. We aren't talking the Regent here, but we are in central Paris and it is totally acceptable - clean and nice. Another plus was that breakfast this morning was great - a crispy baguette, slice of cheese, a crispy croissant, butter, jam, coffee and a juice - 5 euros each which is a bargain.

Spent the first full day today. We got up the Eiffel Tower (see pics), had a cheeky 3 course lunch in the Latin quarter and got to see the Notre Dame. As you can imagine, we have seen a few cathedrals in our time but the Notre Dame is a cathedral. Mouth dropping in its size and grandeur.

The Eiffel Tower was fun. Getting aroung Paris is also fun but tiring. The Metro and the absence of 300 kgs of luggage helps though and makes it relatively easy. The constant thought that someone is either going to (a) steal your kid or (b) your kid gets lost or (c) you leave them standing at a Metro station as you speed away all seem to keep you on edge.

Paris is expensive. We are going to have to budget here or we may have to sell the house or the kids when we return. However, we have so far stuck to the mantra that we are not going to return from Europe and ever say that we wish we had done something that we didn't end up doing because it cost too much.

Tomorrow - the Louvre, Jim Morrisons grave and the Champs Elysee. What are you doing tomorrow?

London and Gordo

Mmmm - warm beer

Jason was lucky enough to be able to spend 3 days in London on his own visiting friends and family. Ok, so its Jason writing this, but sometimes speaking in the third person is fun and yes, I do consider myself lucky.

The mission was to fly from Biarritz (about 45 minutes from Salies) on Thursday and return on Sunday. Thursday and Friday nights were spent with my oldest friend (known each other since we were 5) and arse kicking hospo guy Graeme and Saturday night with my big brother Ev. I hear you saying "how come Jason graces Ev's presence with 1 night and Graeme gets 2 nights ?" Well, there is a particularly good reason for this, which I will mention shortly.

So, to cut a long story short, Jo drops me off at the airport and I catch a quick 1 1/2 hour flight to London. Graeme picks me up and we get back to his house where a quiet family dinner with his wife Tanya and their beautiful children Jordan (17), Taylor (7) and Mia (4) was on the cards.

Quiet - yeh right.

We had a fair bit to catch up about and 6 bottles of wine and a beautiful meal later and I was hitting the sack (the couch actually) at 3 am. I was then woken up by Mia jumping on my head at 6.30am. No worries, I had to get up anyway and I hadnt come to this crazy city to sleep.

Now to the reason why I stayed with Graeme for 2 nights. We had a reservation at Restaurant Gordon Ramsey - Gordo's flagship restaurant. 3 Michelin stars of gastronomic pleasure. Now I know that I have received the feedback that I am always stating that we just had the "best meal yet" but the meal I had that night was the "best meal I have ever had in my life". 500 quid best!! Lucky I wasn't paying as Graeme knows how much I love food and offered to pay. We even got to tour the kitchen and meet and talk to the Executive Chef! Once again, it is amazing how many doors get opened when people realise that you are a kiwi. The evening was glorious and once again, I wont bore you with the details - and there were many, as this meal was all about detail. My only regret was that Chris was not there she would have so appreciated it - possibly more than me.

That night ended at 5am and once again started with a Mia attack bright an early. Hey - it was great to catch up on the latest episode of Hanna Montana though.

Ev picked me up about 10am and I went to his place and got to hang with my extended family - Sonja (his partner), cousins Ruby (7), Lottie (4) and Isabella (4 months). Emotional times as they are so far away and Big Ev (hes 6 foot 5 inches tall) is my favourite man on the planet. Its such a shame that our kids dont get to spend time together. In fact, they couldnt be further apart. The time with them all was prescious. We had a beautiful dinner then went to a traditional pub where various people tried to convince me that flat warm beer was nice. Whatever.

That night ended at 3am then I was off to the airport at 10am for my flight back to Biarritz.

The entire time in London I reckon I got about 12 hours sleep. I felt great though as I was so amped to see my special people and have a few days in massive London. Great mission. On return to Salies, we had a final dinner where we all dressed up and shed some tears. Off to Paris and the final leg of our journey. Its been a blast.