Rhine River

So...I have finally caught up....today, yes today, we drove from Cologne to Rudesheim along the river. Castles at every turn. A very fast flowing river that takes journeys hours longer up stream. No river cruises in winter but still had an enjoyable day stopping here and there, where ever it took our fancy. Enjoyed a traditional kebab (like a yiros in a round turkish roll) on the banks of the river. Lots of cargo boats going up and down, a busy 'road'. Parts of the 'car' road have had landslides into the river so reduced to one lane in parts with traffic lights. Boys click happy snapping every castle and interesting building. Drove to the massive monument overlooking Rudesheim. Reminisced about our time there in 1998. Seems so long ago. Boys remembered the rock group that were singing then (in summer) as it was very noisy. Fabulous views. Enjoyed wandering the narrow streets, listening to the old bells chime and a bit of shopping...more luggage to squeeze into the wagon!! (Not mine I add.) Finished the day off with another traditional German meal in a local restaurant then an early night in our hotel. Time to catch up on my blogs and shake this cold. Chris has got me some German horse tablets to knock it off. Hope they work tonight. Tomorrow we head to Heidelberg Castle. Good night x

Cologne Cathedral

Oh my goodness...it is so tall. Said to have the tallest spire and is the 3rd tallest cathedral in the world. No kidding. Just a shame pollution does it's worst and most of the outside is blackened. Still seeing it floodlit at night was lovely, as was the view from the railway bridge over the Rhine. As in the Cinque Terre the chain link fence was full of padlocks...we never have one handy when we come across these. Had another lovely local meal, more wine and chit chat on our travels. Boys enjoying tasting traditional home cooked food. The waitress was really nice too!! The next day we viewed the cathedral during daylight...still black and tall. Inside massively tall with 3 pipe organs and ornate statues. We visited the treasure rooms full of gorgeous gold and precious jewel religious pieces. The most important artifact being the arc carrying the crowns and clothing of the 3 wise men. It has been restored in full, parts of the original decoration are on display in cases. Also impressive are relics of St Peters chains and other saints bones encased in religious objects. The Bishops rings were lovely. You can see why churches were robbed...a lot of wealth then. An interesting display and well worth a visit. Just down from our hotel was part of the original town wall, cool, and bizarre bridal shops selling all manor of coloured puffy wedding dresses...each to their own! They boys wondering what my problem was...I guess I am a traditionalist!

Belguim Chocolate..mmmm

Another day in Brussels. After a big breakfast Belgium style...complete with cold meats, cucumber, hot chocolate, eggs, cereal etc..we walked back to the Grand Place area to see the famous Manekin Pis fountain. Nice bronze statue..a surprise, thought it would be stone. Wandered the cobbled streets tasting and buying Belgium chocolate..as you do. More photos in the square admiring the beautiful buildings and large nativity. Walked to the park where a huge ice sculpture exhibition was on. Ventured in..lots of cool life size sculptures of super heros, Asterix and Tin Tin of course. Very cool..but not too cold temp wise also. More admiring of buildings and monuments plus a delightful mature busking string trio complete with double bass playing one of my favourite classical pieces in one of the old squares. Surprises around every corner!

Happy New Year Brussels

Arrived in Brussels to a very swish hotel with lovely big rooms, modern architecture in the atrium and as usual a lift that only takes 3 of us at a time...they are rated to 5 but when we all get in the alarm goes off!! We haven't gained that much weight! We could take the stairs but as we request high floors for the views and no street noise this is a bit of a challenge after a long day walking!
So Brussels...full of monuments and buildings with character both big and small. Our first day was spent at a brilliant model village depicting countries from the EU. A 1:25 scale meant the models were very large and very detailed. They had interactive buttons so you could make the Berlin Wall fall down etc. A fun morning. the boys wanted to go up the Atomium...wasn't bad, nice view and lots of info about innovation and inspirational innovators. We then headed to Waterloo. Climbing the 300 odd steps to the top of the mound a bit of a challenge for me..still trying to shake my cold. At the top..fantastic views of the battlefields..and blowing a gale on one side...freezing! Saw the Panorama painting...360 degrees inside a huge circular building. Impressive. Depicted the battle scenes with sound effects. Can't imagine what it would have been like for all those young men. Back  in Brussels the boys found a comic store full of Tin Tin and other comic memorabilia. Nice to browse! Walked to the Grand Place...amazing. Beautiful tall buildings with gold decoration, then to our surprise chamber music started playing and a light show started on all the buildings. It was very cool. So lovely. Had tea in the Comic Cafe, traditional food in an old building with Tin Tin paintings. Adam enjoyed the Tin Tin books free to borrow during dinner. A great night.

Chateau de Pierrefonds

On route to Brussels we stopped off at Pierrefonds, a delightful french village/town in a valley. Our purpose..to see 'Camelot', the castle used in the BBC Merlin series. It didn't disappoint. What a castle. It had been severely damaged by war but has been lovingly restored to a complete beauty. Felt like being on the set. Explored the chapel, main rooms with their huge fireplaces and ornate carved features. The crypt was full of tombs with full figure statues on them plus standing statues. They had coloured lights and music playing..quite an atmosphere. You can't climb up to the parapets but there are wonderful views of the town on the walk up. We loved our time there.

Paris...city of love xx

Love the eiffel tower all lit up at night, love the impressionist paintings, love the view from our hotel room, love the language, love the little restaurant we ate in.....
The eurostar trip to Paris was smooth, fast and much easier than flying. The car hire at the train station very convenient, however they did not have the car we ordered so were given an upgrade. Knowing nothing about cars we said ok. Got to the car to discover it was a mercedes wagon complete with hood ornament. A huge beast but our luggage only just fitted in. We had no option but to take it. Chris has done a fab job of manouvering our luxury car and working out the stick auto. Lots of getting out with 4 of us at each corner for carparking...a challenge!
So, we made it to paris...headed to the notre dame. Had planned to climb the towers but the line was huge so settled for lunch sitting in front of it admiring it's magesty. Headed to the museum of invilides. Fantastic range of weapons, guns, swords, armour. The tomb for nepolean was incredible. A massive church with paintings in the dome ceilings, then a massive circular crypt for his tomb, which was enormous. Quite amazing. Enjoyed a delightful dinner at a local restaurant near our hotel then a beautiful walk to see 'the tower' all lit up, plus the xmas markets, river and ice rink. Magical. Next day we visited the museum d'orsay for art and sculptures set in the lovely old railway station....scene for the movie hugo. Delighted in seeing fav paintings and delighted to discover new fav artists. And we didn't have to queue..got tickets on line...bonus! A lovely time in gay paris x

Flight of the Concorde

Forgot to mention on our last crazy day in the uk we managed to squeeze in a tour of the Concorde at Manchester Airport. What a beautifuly engineered craft, zooming through the air like a supersonic swan. So amazing to see up close. We all got to sit in the cockpit, this one being the first commercial concorde. Shame they stopped the service, due to 9/11...businesses refused to fly commercial and chartered jets. In it's heydey you could get a joy ride for 200 pounds, our tourguide said money well spent! Anyway a big thrill for Adam to see one up close and was pretty cool watching the regular planes take off and land too since the hanger was right next to the runways.