Home sweet home!
The best part about going away is the coming home! We have been home long enough to shower and put on a load of washing, so I thought I'd update before having a little nap.
I don't think I mentioned the "joys" of Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris before, or indeed much about our flights.
When we left four weeks ago, we were actually more than half an hour late taking off; the federal police had detained someone who was booked on our flight, and they had to make sure that their luggage wasn't on the plane. Not one person on the plane had any problem with waiting for them to do that!
Now, we had gone through security at Sydney airport, (where I lost the scissors from my manicure set, which we had accidently packed in our hand luggage) and then at Singapore, and had no other problems, but when we got to Paris, well, the French are a whole other story. Firstly, we arrive at 6am and there is no-one around to tell us where we go for our connecting flight. We arrived at terminal 2c, and had to go to terminal 2f-sounds easy but they are totally different buildings and we had to take a shuttle bus, but there was no-one to tell us that; we found a cleaner who pointed us in the right direction. We were fine, but someone else on our Singapore-Paris flight only had a few minutes and was running to get their connection. Then we go through security and it is obviously set to be far more sensitive as almost everyone sets off the alarm, and we have the wand waved over us and have to turn out all our things from our bags and pockets.
I have reported all of our travels up until Edinburgh- we had set up a hotmail account and whenever we found an internet cafe (far fewer than we had expected) we would send a group email to our family and local friends, then cut and paste it to LJ-that's why some of the comments might seem weird and irrelevant, but we would only pay for short times on the net and would be typing as fast as I could. And I know it was more of a list of where we went, but words truly don't do justice to the amazing places we visited.
After Edinburgh, we stayed near Hadrian's Wall and visited some Roman ruins which was better than the previous similar ruins we had visited at Wroxeter, mainly because at Wroxeter, it was about 0.5 degrees (Celsius) and at Corbridge it was about 8-9 degrees, a world of difference when you're in an exposed field! the next day we went to Rievaulx Abbey, one of those amazing buildings made to honour God for centuries which were wantonly destroyed after Henry VIII's fight with the church (as an aside, it was good to be told, I think it was at Winchester, that they also realise that Henry was never a Protestant, he was always a Catholic -he left money in his will for the saying of masses for his soul- it was a power and money thing that caused his split with Rome-I'd read and heard this before but it doesn't seem to be widely known here at least). Then we went to York, and yet another amazing Church, in fact quite a few beautiful churches. And Jorvik which has grown from some Viking excavations over the past few decades; aimed at tourists, obviously, but really well done.
Then the long trek to visit Robert's cousin Simon in Torquay, a couple of days with him were great and off to Heathrow we went. Detoured to Glastonbury to see the Abbey-yet another example of Tudor vandalism.
Checked in at Heathrow, and had to pay lots of excess luggage-the Air France web site said 23Kg per person, but it was only 20. We still would have had to pay for 1Kg, but ended up paying for 7, which was a pain. Apparently there was an emergency landing somewhere else in the airport, so we left very late, and got to Paris with only 20 minutes for our connections. And of course, we had to run to the shuttle bus and go through security. This time after three goes through the metal detector, they made me take off my shoes. My hiking boots (they are heavier than my gym shoes)-with all the lacing that take ages to put on and off. Then they didn't even LOOK at them. I wear orthotics for my badly pronated feet, and I never even had to remove them or anything. Grrr! We ran up to the gate to be told we were too late, couldn't get on the plane. There were another three couples in the same situation. They took us aside and explained that they would give a voucher for a hotel overnight and put us on the same flight 24 hours later. Well, a day in Paris sound OK (except that I am due to be at work 26 hours after we arrived today). I asked "what about our luggage " (I really don't want to spend an extra day in the same outfit-30 hours is more than enough!), and was assured that our bags had been removed from the London flight and not loaded onto the Singapore flight, so at least we would have some clothes and toiletries. Then someone came over to advise that we could get on the flight after all, so we rushed on, then sat there and the flight left about 30 minutes later. Flew to Singapore and a straightforward transfer. Arrived in Sydney-I can understand why the late Pope always used to kiss the ground after he arrived anywhere, I felt like doing the same thing. Bought a few things - perfume and liquor-at the duty free store then went to the baggage carousel. And waited for our bags. And waited. And waited. According to the lost luggage department, one of our bags is in Paris. It is booked onto the same flight 24 hours later. We hope the other bag is with it! (no-one knows for sure) They will deliver them to our house when they arrive. Tomorrow we hope. On the flight that we would have been on if the plane had left on time.
We have had the most wonderful holiday- a dream come true, and the only thing we would change is that next time we are going in June (probably in 2009, but in 2008 if we can save the money fast enough), so that it is warmer, stays light after 4pm and everywhere will be open-so many places were either closed for the month or on certain days or closed early. We didn't run out of places to see, but there are places we couldn't go to this time that we will see next time. And a couple we will definitely go back to (Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich for sure). The only problems were from the time we got to Heathrow on Friday, and I guess if that's the worst thing that happens, we can't really complain. Well, assuming that they do turn up. Fingers crossed!
I don't think I mentioned the "joys" of Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris before, or indeed much about our flights.
When we left four weeks ago, we were actually more than half an hour late taking off; the federal police had detained someone who was booked on our flight, and they had to make sure that their luggage wasn't on the plane. Not one person on the plane had any problem with waiting for them to do that!
Now, we had gone through security at Sydney airport, (where I lost the scissors from my manicure set, which we had accidently packed in our hand luggage) and then at Singapore, and had no other problems, but when we got to Paris, well, the French are a whole other story. Firstly, we arrive at 6am and there is no-one around to tell us where we go for our connecting flight. We arrived at terminal 2c, and had to go to terminal 2f-sounds easy but they are totally different buildings and we had to take a shuttle bus, but there was no-one to tell us that; we found a cleaner who pointed us in the right direction. We were fine, but someone else on our Singapore-Paris flight only had a few minutes and was running to get their connection. Then we go through security and it is obviously set to be far more sensitive as almost everyone sets off the alarm, and we have the wand waved over us and have to turn out all our things from our bags and pockets.
I have reported all of our travels up until Edinburgh- we had set up a hotmail account and whenever we found an internet cafe (far fewer than we had expected) we would send a group email to our family and local friends, then cut and paste it to LJ-that's why some of the comments might seem weird and irrelevant, but we would only pay for short times on the net and would be typing as fast as I could. And I know it was more of a list of where we went, but words truly don't do justice to the amazing places we visited.
After Edinburgh, we stayed near Hadrian's Wall and visited some Roman ruins which was better than the previous similar ruins we had visited at Wroxeter, mainly because at Wroxeter, it was about 0.5 degrees (Celsius) and at Corbridge it was about 8-9 degrees, a world of difference when you're in an exposed field! the next day we went to Rievaulx Abbey, one of those amazing buildings made to honour God for centuries which were wantonly destroyed after Henry VIII's fight with the church (as an aside, it was good to be told, I think it was at Winchester, that they also realise that Henry was never a Protestant, he was always a Catholic -he left money in his will for the saying of masses for his soul- it was a power and money thing that caused his split with Rome-I'd read and heard this before but it doesn't seem to be widely known here at least). Then we went to York, and yet another amazing Church, in fact quite a few beautiful churches. And Jorvik which has grown from some Viking excavations over the past few decades; aimed at tourists, obviously, but really well done.
Then the long trek to visit Robert's cousin Simon in Torquay, a couple of days with him were great and off to Heathrow we went. Detoured to Glastonbury to see the Abbey-yet another example of Tudor vandalism.
Checked in at Heathrow, and had to pay lots of excess luggage-the Air France web site said 23Kg per person, but it was only 20. We still would have had to pay for 1Kg, but ended up paying for 7, which was a pain. Apparently there was an emergency landing somewhere else in the airport, so we left very late, and got to Paris with only 20 minutes for our connections. And of course, we had to run to the shuttle bus and go through security. This time after three goes through the metal detector, they made me take off my shoes. My hiking boots (they are heavier than my gym shoes)-with all the lacing that take ages to put on and off. Then they didn't even LOOK at them. I wear orthotics for my badly pronated feet, and I never even had to remove them or anything. Grrr! We ran up to the gate to be told we were too late, couldn't get on the plane. There were another three couples in the same situation. They took us aside and explained that they would give a voucher for a hotel overnight and put us on the same flight 24 hours later. Well, a day in Paris sound OK (except that I am due to be at work 26 hours after we arrived today). I asked "what about our luggage " (I really don't want to spend an extra day in the same outfit-30 hours is more than enough!), and was assured that our bags had been removed from the London flight and not loaded onto the Singapore flight, so at least we would have some clothes and toiletries. Then someone came over to advise that we could get on the flight after all, so we rushed on, then sat there and the flight left about 30 minutes later. Flew to Singapore and a straightforward transfer. Arrived in Sydney-I can understand why the late Pope always used to kiss the ground after he arrived anywhere, I felt like doing the same thing. Bought a few things - perfume and liquor-at the duty free store then went to the baggage carousel. And waited for our bags. And waited. And waited. According to the lost luggage department, one of our bags is in Paris. It is booked onto the same flight 24 hours later. We hope the other bag is with it! (no-one knows for sure) They will deliver them to our house when they arrive. Tomorrow we hope. On the flight that we would have been on if the plane had left on time.
We have had the most wonderful holiday- a dream come true, and the only thing we would change is that next time we are going in June (probably in 2009, but in 2008 if we can save the money fast enough), so that it is warmer, stays light after 4pm and everywhere will be open-so many places were either closed for the month or on certain days or closed early. We didn't run out of places to see, but there are places we couldn't go to this time that we will see next time. And a couple we will definitely go back to (Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich for sure). The only problems were from the time we got to Heathrow on Friday, and I guess if that's the worst thing that happens, we can't really complain. Well, assuming that they do turn up. Fingers crossed!