Day Thirty Three - A Day of Rest

So today I slept in ... I really really slept in and woke about lunch time. '

Hubby had woken up way earlier and explored the adjoining mall... so when I woke my rather sick self up at lunch time my childlike excited husband dragged me to the indoor ski field. After staring at the beginners falling over for a while we found a place to eat overlooking the ski fields and had such wonderful food I was in heaven. We looked at a few shoe stores and furniture stores before I was dragged back to bed for antibiotics and sleep. 

I will say, if I was staying in one of the tiny little rooms we had in Europe I would be insane by now, instead this room was rather pleasant, I wandered from the bathroom to the lounge room then back to bed... how on earth can I get bored with so much space to play in.

We ordered in again tonight (he is really trying to take care of me) and tried a few different Mezze plates. On of those was Hummus and while topping up the drinks I mentioned that Hummus was very good for your skin. Rounding the corner with Fresh drinks this is what I came across .... yes he is slightly crazy and yes I still love him.

Tomorrow I want to ski but hubby says wait and see how im feeling, no cold air for me till I stop coughing!

Day Thirty Two - Expert Traveller ... I Think Not

So today was supposed to be one of those easy posts where I say …. “We travelled all day and nothing happened so sleep now and start exploring tomorrow. “ I really really want to say that but unfortunately we had a bit of drama.

The drive to Gatwick was fine, the flight to Dubai was fine but the minute we arrived everything just started to go wrong. We got our luggage and just as we started to make our last dive to freedom we got hit with Customs. Now before you all shake your heads and go … your crazy …. That’s so stupid. We both realize this was a bit oversight on our behalf. So they are scanning our suitcases and suddenly one of us is pulled aside. We need to look in THIS bag. This bag being mine so I dragged it over to the desk and proceeded to pull nearly everything out, me at this point thinking, I have no idea what they are looking for. Then I remembered what we had brought in London and promptly forgot about and it hit me, “Gun!” And just as quickly “oh shit” So I explained very quickly it wasn’t really a gun, it was a decorator piece done like a 1800s gun and that we had brought it for display from the tower of London.

Ben and all the customs guys were looking at it and the woman asked me to come and sign something to indicate that I had given my permission to have the bag searched. I left hubby and the boys playing and we went off the sign the paperwork. All fine so far but when I came out there is no sign of hubby or the customs boys. So I wandered to the driver pick up point … no hubby, I wandered back to the customs area … no hubby. Finally I ask the girls where he was and they point to a little door down the far end of the hall. Hurrying down I then got pointed to an office at the end where hubby is sitting in a small chair surrounded by 6 customs officials. Now for the moment I want you to picture my poor husbands face, no one has told him anything, they wouldn’t let him wait for me and they are all towering over him speaking in a foreign language. He looked terrified and to be honest I didn’t blame him. It turns out even if it’s just a decoration it still needs to be verified by the police to say “its fake”

Cue the next 3 hours of them attempting to fill in a form, figure out how to work out the printer, take photos and all the time new officers come in to have a bit of a play. Then the big boss comes in and at this point I’m tired, hungry and feeling like I’m coming down with the flu so I ask him how much longer and is everything ok. Then it all starts happening, forms print, pictures are taken and I being tired and hungry pull out some lovely Belgian Chocolate and offer it around. See everyone takes a piece and then its their turn, so a tray of Arabic coffee is brought in and the whole atmosphere is warm and friendly and questions are asked about our holiday and our time in Dubai.

So we get walked up to the police station and it takes him about two seconds to determine that it isn’t real and we think … yay but then he walk off into his bosses office. They argue for a bit and he comes out and says he is keeping the piece because in his eyes a gun is a gun is a gun. Again at this point we are tired so fine, we lose the gun, it was unintentional and disappointing but its fine, we just wanted to go home. He tells me he has to write us out a warning and then we sit there for an hour while various people come in look at the gun, argue with the guy and then leave. Finally a guy comes in that EVERYONE stands up and salutes, looks at the gun, shakes his head and walks out. This is where we start getting worried, where is our warning letter, why are we still sitting there. The police officer that served us then comes back to us, shoves the gun in our hands, tells us to put it away and that we can go because its not real.

Say what????? So we do just what we said, we quickly put the gun back in our luggage, run out the door, and get into the car and leave. It all seems very weird and surreal and yes we will admit we just didn’t think about it. Its such an old gun it sort of reminds me of a blunderbuss and is mostly done in wood with a couple of pieces of ornate metal so for us we were more worried about getting it through customs Australia.

Anyways getting to our hotel was easy and the room … oh my god the room is heaven. I may have booked us a suite and its lovely, there is an entry hall, a lounge room, bedroom, bathroom, powder room and dressing room all of which seem perfectly decorated and are so comfortable.

We ordered dinner at midnight and after eating fell into bed. Oh yes, and dinner itself was almost silver service with a little table, full table service and everything. So bad start in Dubai and hopefully good finish. I’m planning to sleep in tomorrow morning and not move until I grow bored of bed. 

Day Thirty One - Chocolate and Beer

So we had one day more before flying back home. Normal people would pack, rest and reflect on everything we have seen but hey ... when have we ever been normal. Instead we went back to Europe on a 13 hour tour to Bruge, Belgium.

Firstly we did something rare - we caught the train through the tunnel by car. Now that is weird, the car drives onto the train and once everything is secure you can walk around the cars and look out the windows. Its all very well timed and well run and happens very smoothly.

Oh yes the city of chocolate, fries and beer. I don't know if you remember but one of my bucket list items was to find the best chocolate shop in Europe and eat it until I was sick. I can safely say I have definitely ticked this off my list. Below are pictures of all the shops we went into and tried their chocolates.

We also ate fries which were apparently created here and were great (Hubby had three lots), waffles (well duhh) and 11% beer!

Now the city itself is so damn cute I cant believe how pretty the city really is... its really pretty.

Sorry its not a long post but we are off to the airport in 10 minutes .... time to go with our copious amounts of luggage.

Day Thirty - Im Coming Home

Today is the first day where we travelled backwards. We are back in London on our way home but lets start at the beginning. Another early freezing cold morning at a the coldest train station I have ever experienced. Now usually I exaggerate slightly about the cold but today its quite funny because walking through the station we spotted people in ski gear with ear muffs, beanies and gloves ... so oh yes it was a cold train station.

The train itself was quick and easy and very very comfortable. We left, travelled and then arrived within a blink of an eye and were whooshed off to the hotel.

This is where things go slightly hairy. Hubby may have been slightly overwhelmed when presented with all of the packages we had posted from all over Europe back to the hotel.

Obviously there was not enough stuff to try and get home so we then walked back to the tower to purchase the helmet we wanted when we were here originally. We then had to buy another suitcase to carry everything home before dragging our very tired bottoms home for dinner and sleep. Tomorrow we have an early start for our day trip to Belgium.... Apparently Belgium is the home of chocolate so yay for tomorrow.

Day Twenty Nine - Paris In One Day

Today we desperately tried to fit everything we wanted to see in Paris in one day. First off we made a very chilly visit to the Eiffel tower at 8.30am which was great because we were the first people up to the very top. Oh yes without a doubt another goldfish moment ... I hate heights and this one was worse than normal. I couldn't even deal with the elevator which was glass so stood cringing into my husbands jacket as I tried not to look down. The top "level three" was horrible and I swear I could even feel it moving. It was a lovely view from the top but hey ... I hate heights.

Afterwards it was off to Napoleon's tomb where we were amazed at just how big his tomb and maybe his ego was. Don't get me wrong it was majestic and lovely but really ... when does majestic become excessive.

Finally we did see the Louvre and meet the lovely Miss Mona Lisa - it was almost an anticlimax, we had expected it to be crazy busy and more than a little bit overwhelming and while there was a few people, it took a few minutes to get to the front of the cue instead of the hours I was expecting. After that it was a long walk home and a few hours to relax before we were off to see Moulin Rouge.

Now I don't know what I was expecting from the Moulin Rouge but it wasn't what we got. The Moulin Rouge is Bollywood with a Parisian twist and lots of nipple. There didn't seem to be much of a story and the costumes while elaborate were almost obscene with beads and feathers coming out of places I would prefer not to discuss.

So would I recommend it .... yes. Why, because it really opens your eyes to the way Moulin Rouge has changed over the years. I would also say its hilariously funny to watch and hubby has mentioned the he wouldn't kick any of the girls out of bed if he wasn't married man! hmmm, don't know quite what to think of that comment so I'm just going to let it go.

Off to London tomorrow and this really signals the ends of our time in Europe and begins Dubai.

Day Twenty Eight - Let Them Eat Cake

Firstly it has apparently been proven that Marie Antoinette did not use that phrase but its just so catchy I had to use it in my title. So today was Versailles and we had an amazing tour guide who really made the history come alive for us which was great.

The palace itself is lovely, pretty much as grand as a few of the others we have seen, obviously its huge and the hall of mirrors is just an insane power trip from good old Louis the fourteenth but what really makes Versailles grand is the gardens. Its very easy to stand on the top level and say wow but to really get just how insanely large it is you really have to see it all. Obviously walking wasn't an option for hubby so the plan was to take the little train and see it all ... then the impossible happened. One of the "to rent" golf carts zoomed by and his eyes lit up. Obviously we were taking a golf cart ... not so obviously it was actually pretty good fun. We zoomed around looking at the huge amounts of gardens, hedges, fountains and lakes before arriving at the little palace which at one point was a hide out for MA (Short for Marie Antoinette because she has such a long name). This little palace I liked more than the main palace, it was simple a sweet and very earthy with natural stone walls and marble stone floors. 

Now this is where I found my quiet moment, we visited MA's little hamlet. She had a make believe farm built with lovely little perfumed and pink dyed sheep for her to play with. I don't really know what I was expecting but it was the most amazingly peaceful place. The buildings were quaint, the views heavenly and even better because there was a bit of a walk to get to it there were a total of 20 people in the entire area. Really for us this was a highlight of our trip.

We had arranged to have dinner back in Paris with friends but had an hour to kill so decided on visiting Notre Dame in the evening. Now this was without a single doubt in my mind the moment that took my breath away. Walking through the cathedral I found a group of choir singers practicing and even thinking about it now has the on my arms standing on ends. I walked around with tears in my eyes and was overwhelmed not because the church was the biggest or the most ornate but because it felt like it had the most faith. Now im not a religious person but in this church I could appreciate just how much love it had.

Finally dinner with friends where I had the duck and afterwards we stood in the freezing cold at the Eiffel tower to watch the nightly lights show.

All in all an amazing day if a long one. Tomorrow should be slightly less busy and our last day in Paris.