What not to Blog About

Coming home from the local pool I was pulled over by the French police. Not one, not two but five. I wasn't the only one and yes I guess I was going 70 km in a 50 km area but really five police? No passport and not enough euros to pay the fine on the spot. What is an American to do? Thankfully one of the officers spoke English. She and the others were wearing full on police gear including guns and bullet proof vests. Sweat pored off the women's face. Had she been alone I think she would have sent me on her way but with the small army I needed to pay the price. 

"Ninty euros" she said, to make this be done."

"But I only have 20, we were at the pool, it's all I have, and my drivers license."

"Where are you staying" she asked

"souvenuy"

"Ok we keep your id and you go home to get the euros." (Not making this up.)

Now a sense of fear and relief comes over me. I can go get the cash. 90 euros? That's about100 us dollars. Well that sucks, but look they aren't arresting me. I should be happy. So I zipped home, actually I crawled home, no more zipping from now on, and got the cash. I had to borrow from Calum who still has his spending trip money but at least I had the cash. They said it had to be exact amount, could not make changes. (Again not making this up.)

Now back at the scene the police officer made me get out of my car. They couldn't understand my license, needed the license number and my address. They also wanted to know where I was born.

"Texas in the US I said."

Still wanted more info, "the city too."

Afterwords they had me sign the ticket, and hand over the cash and then they said with a kind of French smile, 

"Ok,it is all done".

Just glad they didn't yell at me.

England: Beach in Margate

We took a day trip to Margate, a sea side town about an hour from where Colin's family lives. There were lots of tide pools and chalk rocks to play with and Hadley decided to go deep in the sand. There were a few people in the water but the water tempeture was cool. Colin visited this beach when he was young with his parents and sister.

Here is Hadlen in the sand.

This is a panoramic shop of the chalk cliffs similar to Dover.

Here is Calum in the tide pools.

England: Boat ride and Dover

Now we are in England getting ready to celebrate Ethne, Colin's mom, 80th birthday. We drove to a sea town in France called Calais. There has been some difficulties in this town due to a large group of people trying to get to England via the train tunnel and on the ships without passports. There were police everywhere as will as trucks backed up for miles due to the closure of the tunnels. We had no difficulties getting over by boat but we will see how the return trip goes. Here are some pictures of Dover the sea port we arrived in. This area is known for the chalk cliffs as well as Dover castle where lots of stritagic events took place in World War II . 

You can see the castle in the middle of the cliff. On clear days you can see France from the cliffs.

Netherlands

Hadley, Calum and I went to the Netherlands to see my collage friend Reena and her family. Rena and Rob took really good care of us and we had a great time with them. We went to a beach, visited their daughter Mira's school, rode bikes to a Van Gough exihibet and on some dykes and even spent a day in Amsterdam. All that and a wonderful barbecue with Robs sisters and family. So nice to see Reena again and if we make this summer trip again we will visit her and her family again!

Here is my boys and Mira, Reena's youngest daughter, at the beach.

Reena and me.

Beautiful park surrounding museum with Van Gough exhibit.

This park offered free bikes that you picked up on the outer edge and could ride all over the park.

Family barbecue!

Hadley feeding sheep we found on the dike bike ride.

This is called the seven bridges in Amsterdam and the kids we took an a relaxing boat ride!

Heat Wave

We have been having a heat wave in Europe. Yesterday it reached almost 100° and there was such a long line at the swimming pool we go to that we ended up heading out to the lake instead. There was a full moon no breeze and we were able to swim past 9 PM. These are pictures of Calum and I are swimming out to a little deck in the middle of the swim area. This part of the lake is about seven minutes from our house.

It was so nice that we're planning a picnic this evening and to hang out in the water like we did last night.

Evening Walks

The house we are staying in instilled in you is situated about half a block from a river. Many evenings we finished dinner and head out for a walk along the river.it's a lovely walk and last night I brought my camera so that we could take pictures of this place. We even found a geocache without even using the iPhone. We just stumbled onto it and knew what it was. The boys bring their walking sticks each time we go and usually their pocket knives in case they want to do a little whittling along the way.

Walking sticks.

Taking a little break.

The geocache.

I would really like to keep the evening walks going even when we get back into South Bend. It's a really nice way to end the day.

Poss in Paris

Hadley brought his stuff possum along to Paris. It turns out he had many adventures of his own and hear some of the pictures that we took of him.

Poss waiting for the Metro.

Poss in the Metro.

Poss on the boat ride.

This one's a little harder to see, Poss  is posing in front of the statue of Hercules at the Louvre.

Poss by the Eiffel Tower. 

And last but not least Poss in the sewer with some distant cousins. That little guy really knows how to travel.

Paris part three: The sewer tour and Boat Tour

Collin had heard about the longest standing tour in Paris which is called the sewer system tout. Unfortunately it was actually a live active sewer and probably the most disgusting thing I've ever done. It really stunk.

Here is a picture of Hadley's possum Poss the Boss hanging out with rats from the sewer.

We are actually in the sewer here.

Right before we left the sewer the boys found a little shop which was actually in the silver where they picked up two more loveys for their collections. Their names are Piper and Sniffy the rats. Piper is gray and Sniffy is brown. Fortunately they were wrapped in plastic so they didn't smell like the sewer.

The day was redeemed by taking a boat ride around the Paris canals right after we got out of the sewer. It was an incredibly beautiful day and I tried to sit back and just watch and not take too many pictures but here's one I took with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Paris part two the Louvre

Saturday we got up and took the metro to the Louvre. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get through the security and once inside it was really easy to get tickets. We wandered around till about four in the afternoon and saw as much as we could. Huge crowds in front of the Mona Lisa but we waited out turn. There's a really helpful app that you can get for your iPhone that tours you with lots of information and it really made a difference for us to know more about what was going on in the museum. And Hadley's possum came with us to all of our ventures and you might notice a couple of the pictures with the possum hiding in them to. Here is the Venus de Milo and of us looking at her ( thanks Hadley).

And of course the Mona Lisa with the boys doing their impression of her. Next is a picture of the crowd that is  standing in front of the Mona Lisa.

My favorite was the lace maker by Veemer. The details are incredible and I really like the frame. Made in inlaid wood.

After a long day at the museum we headed off for dinner and they took A panoramic picture in the restaurant that actually turned out incredibly cool.

Here are the boys enjoying their desserts.

The boys stayed up really late in Paris. I think we finished our dinner close to 11 PM and the night before when we walked to the top of the tower we didn't finish dinner until midnight. There was no sign of this restaurant even slowing down that late at night, oh Paris. 

Paris in three parts: Eiffel Tower

It's about a 5 Hour drive to Paris from our house. When we arrived it was around 6 PM. So we dropped our bags and took off for the metro to see if we could get to the top of the Eiffel tower that evening. One of the fastest ways to the top is to walk to the second level by stairs and then you can buy a ticket to the top from the second level. We were able to pull that off with only a short wait at the bottom and a longer one(30 min) on the second level. It is an amazing view from up there and the evening view was incredible however I do think the pictures of the Eiffel Tower from the ground are even more stunning. You do have to be prepared to become best friends with thousands of people to get there but it's definitely worth it. Here are so pictures of the view and from the ground.