Crossing The English Channel

We made reservations for the ferry online using the iPad and took the whole family, RV and all across the English Channel.



The cliffs of Calais and the cliffs of Dover were amazing.



Set up camp in Abbey Wood on advice of a very nice man. Turns out we were just a few kilometers outside London city center and a 5 minute walk to the station. Sets up nice for a few days in London. Decided to rest that evening because we know tomorrow is going to be CRAZY!



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Location:Calais to Dover

Four Ladies Walking and the Redmonds

So we get to Calais and end up at a really fun campground. The best part was, it was so close to England we were surrounded by people who spoke English! We wanted to tell you about a foursome we met and also a couple from Wales.

These four American ladies (from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and San Francisco) were sitting next to us outside a quaint little restaurant on the campground (seriously, some of the bars and restaurants at these campgrounds are awesome) and asked us about our trip. Turns out these four are all retired or semi-retired, at least two in their 70's, and they are WALKING from Canterbury, England to Rome, Italy!! they expect it to take four months walking twenty kilometers per day. One of them climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro at age 70. the walk is an ancient route called The Via Francigena. We did some research and here is the Wiki on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Francigena

Turns out Martin Sheen and his son, Emilio Estevez just finished a yet unreleased movie about it called The Way, here is a link to an article and YouTube trailer:

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/the-way-a-movie-with-martin-sheen-and-emilio-estevez/

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?v=LJJ5X7mhVig

Well, we talked to them for a long time and they also have a blog which I will include in just a moment so you can follow along if you want, we will be. We kicked ourselves for not getting a picture of them but we intend to keep in touch and request them to send us a picture to post. Their blog is:

http://wandaroach.blogspot.com/


THEN as we were speaking to The Four Ladies ( we call them that now) there was a couple one table over listening to both of our stories (our 4 week trek through Europe and their 4 month walk to Rome) and were curious to hear more. So we all started talking to the Redmonds, a Scottish man and a Welsh woman currently living in Wales. Mr. Redmond is retired British Air Force (we talked about Ellen's late brother Jim Gleason who was based at Lakenheath Air Force Base in England when he passed away, Mr. Redmond had some time at RAF Mildenhall next door). Mr. Redmond has friends in Cleveland and has always wanted to visit America but has not had the chance. He wants to visit The United States Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We let him know we grew up in Dayton. He gave us his email address and we sent a link to our blog, so, Mr. Redmond, if you are following you two are welcome to stay with us in Columbus, Ohio if you visit! We sit right between Dayton (one hour drive) and Cleveland (two hour drive).

What a fun group of people and a great stay at a great campground (Rest Bien Assise?) prepping for our ferry trip to Dover, England and a few days in London!




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Location:Calais, France

Versailles/Calais

We were nearly trampled leaving the station to visit Versailles. Though I have participated in long lines and ridiculous crowds many times on this trip, this was the worst. In fact it was so bad that two thirds of the family abandoned ship.






Maggie and I stayed and toured Versailles while Jim and the rest returned to the RV to prep for departure to Calais and the ferry to England! After waiting in line for ticket and then waiting in a longer one that snaked back and forth across the plaza, we got in. I looked at the clock and saw it was time to leave and catch the train back to our campground so we did a kind of quick tour.

It's hard to admire yourself in the hall of mirrors with all of those people in the way.




We elbowed our way out and hurried back to the campground to find our carriage waiting at the gate.

Off to Calais ...or so we thought. The GPS tried desperately to get us to squeeze our camper through some rather small tunnels. After driving about an hour and executing a few amazing u turns, we passed Versailles again... Which was ten minutes or so from our campground. It took forever to get out of Paris, but when we finally got to Calais there was something to celebrate... Everyone was speaking English... What a treat!

The other fun thing was: the wine...



was cheaper than the water.....




So we got to enjoy some whine without the "h" for a change.

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Location:Versailles and Calais, France

Paris Day Three

Took the train in again. Went to the Notre Dame........




with everyone...and although some of the kids are getting tired of churches, they could still smile for the camera


We then hustled off to the station to ship Caroline off to her friend. After waiting in line for what seemed like eternity to get her tickets, we had about two and a half seconds to get her to the platform.

We took the reduced family to the Louvre, standing in line during the hottest part of the day to buy tickets.



Once inside, we scrambled through huge crowds and shot past unbelievable works of art

(Where pieces with a sense of humor gave passers by the finger.)




so that we could see the Mona Lisa



and the shattered Venus de Milo .... It was awesome! (except that we missed the Faberge eggs)




I can't say we strolled through the tuileries, because, believe it or not, it was again the hottest part of the day. Darting was necessary at this point so we zipped from tree to tree, pushing others out of the way when needed, so we could enjoy some shade...and a carousel ride



After all that, the Jeu de Pomme was closed... No Water Lillies... No Starry Night... But it turned out that was okay, because we had changed our focus to finding a bathroom

A little more time on the Champs Elysées and then back to the Eiffel Tower to purchase some sort of souvenir that Mary wanted...




Then we split up. This seemed risky since Jim had not quite mastered the Metro yet, but Ellen took three of the kids back to the campground and Jim went to pick up Caroline at the train station, sad inscription on the wall at the station if you know French:





All went well and at the end of the day we were sitting at our plastic tables under our awning when Jimmy saw a "hamster" run by. No picture of that....




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Location:Paris, France

Paris Day Two

Started the day looking for cream for Mary's arm (spider bite?) at the Pharmacie near The Arc De Triomphe.




.....then down the Champs d' Elysees. As we strolled, Caroline called a friend that was an exchange student from the Champagne region of France. She decided she wanted to take the train to visit him so we spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out how to get her there. Turns out we had to wait until the next day. While we were at Gare de L'Est (train station) we were evacuated due to a security threat. You should see the amount of soldiers in Paris walking around in threes with AK-47's (figured they would not appreciate me snapping photos...I hate getting shot...

Then.......we trudged to Sacre Coeur atop Montmartre




Down the hill to Moulon Rouge




Had a drink at one of the zillions of gorgeous Brasseries at every corner, this one was near St Michel.





Then home to the RV, we call it home now........6 people......84 square feet

Mary brought back half the dirt in Paris on her feet..





Couple of other nice photos:
















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Location:Paris, France

Oui, Paris Day One

Took two days and a million dollars in tolls to get to Paris. We enjoyed a beautiful drive through the mountains




and stopped near Riom the first night. Our campsite had trampolines, a pool, ping pong (seems to be popular in Europe) and some mega checkers/chess games




Jimmy wanted to stay the rest of the month.

Arrived in Paris July 2nd late afternoon and HAD to jump on the train and get our first gander at the city. Maggie on the Seine.....



Straight to the souvenir shops........



from every possible angle..........





.......and a picnic dinner under the Eiffel tower.


Stayed in a cute little town called Porch Fontaine with the obligatory local grocery/ fruit stand.....




And patisserie......



We couldn't make our credit card work to buy train tickets so we took the advice of a local and headed to central Paris and jumped the turnstile.....you would then find us later giving the same advice to other newbies to Paris. Two days in Paris to come!

Location:Paris, France

Kate by the sea

Camped between Calella and St Pol, Spain near Barcelona. Beautiful!!!!! In the water up to our shoulders, we could still see our toes...



Out of the water you could see alot more than toes...Jimmy almost lost his head!



Beautiful babes everywhere!




Snorkeling and ping pong......great pool as well. Look at this view of the Mediterranean from the camper steps...





It was an hour on the train into the city to see Kate Dowrey (our niece)



She is interning in the fair city of Barcelona and was happy to show us the sites







we spent two evenings in the city enjoying a smallish family get together a million miles from home.



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Location:Barcelona