Mellingen

Our train ride from Paris to Zurich went without a hitch. The kids have decided they much prefer first class rail to cattle class air travel, even if it's slower. Seats are huge, more leg room, no seat belts and they can walk around whenever they want.

Switzerland is just as picturesque as we imagined. Mellingen is only a short drive from Zurich, and the weather has been beautiful so we've been out an about the whole time.

It's been great fun catching up with everyone, Sash's cousin and her husband are lovely and have made us very welcome. Except I've only just realised I don't have any photos of the kids with their cousins yet - they're all in bed now so it will have to wait until we catch up with them again in Macedonia.

Sash's cousin's husband took us for a drive today to a place called Zug, which has a mountain lake and views of the Alps (only it was a little hazy and we didn't get to see that much of them).

Early tomorrow morning our eight-night visit to Italy begins with a (relatively) short two and a half hour train ride to Milan.

Paris :: Days 2 & 3

We are exhausted.

We've spent the last two days touring, walking, eating, walking some more, touring some more, walking, eating....

Yesterday was a bus tour of the city in the morning, followed by visits on foot to some of the monuments the bus went past too quickly.

Pyramid at the Louvre

A statue of Joan of Arc

Arc De Triomphe

Notre Dame

Pantheon

Pont Neuf (one of the many bridges over the Seine

Then we spent the afternoon shopping and checking out everything going on while choosing what to get for dinner.

Today was a visit to the Eiffel Tower first thing in the morning (we got there early and joined the queue just before opening time so didn't wait too long).

From the top

Then we went to the Rodin Museum to see this:

Then it was an evening tour of the Louvre. Like everything else in Paris, the place is simply immense. 

The scale, detail and obvious amount of money that's been poured into the entire city over centuries is just amazing. Jesika is already talking about the next time we visit :)

Tomorrow, we leave for Switzerland to visit family for a couple of nights. We're also going to change mode of transport for the next few destinations - tomorrow's journey is the first of four train trips (the rest will take us to and through Italy).

Paris :: first impressions

This place rocks!!

As busy, congested, confused and flooded with people as New York, but so much more style, flair and way friendlier people. We're yet to find any truth in all those stories about the stuck-up French and their unwelcoming ways.

Oh, and they don't mind speaking English. Not one little bit.

We've seen so many on the streets, Maks has decided he now wants a Smart Car. But it has to be black.

Oh, and Michael, you need to see if you can swing a transfer.

San Sebastian/Madrid/Paris

Boy did that suck.

After five pleasant days with the lovely Basque people in Donostia, Madrid and the surly rudeness of its airport and hotel staff was a bit of a shock.

Some tips about Madrid:

• The people there are decidedly unhelpful
  
  
• None of their freakin' planes are on time (which is why we were staying the night instead of risking a missed connection)
  
  
• The people at the airport information desks look at you as if you've suddenly grown a second head if you ask for a taxi for more than 4 people. The conversation goes like this (and yes, it happened on several occasions):
  
  Us: 'Hello, can you please help us book a taxi that will carry five people?'
  
  Info Desk person (with the you've-got-two-heads look on the their face): 'But you have five people.'
  
  Us: 'Yes, we need a taxi that will carry five plus all our luggage.'
  
  Info Desk person: 'But a taxi only carries four people. You will need to book a special taxi.'
  
  Us: 'Yes, this is what we are asking. Can you help us?'
  
  Info Desk person: 'It is not possible. Try over there.' (points at hire car desk)
  
  
  Us to hire car person: 'We need to get five people to (hotel/apartment), can you help?'
  
  Hire car person: 'Yes, I will call you a taxi that carries more than 4 people.'
  
  

• People in Madrid hate being forced to speak English - even when the pizza place you're ordering from has it's menu written in English
  
  
• Juan the reception guy at the Holiday Inn Express probably hates us with a passion. We were so annoyed with his crappy service we decided to make pests of ourselves. Here are some of the requests/phone calls we made to him while he was on duty (in the space of about an hour)
  
  
  
  • Juan, can we please have the interconnecting rooms we asked for?
  • Juan, we were told we could have breakfast before checkout, will this be possible? (It wasn't.)
  • Juan, how do we order food? (This was at 4.30pm. Nothing in the vicinity would open until 7pm) 
  • Juan, do you have change for the hotel foyer vending machines? (He didn't)
  • Juan, can we have some extra towels please?
  • Juan, the tv in one of our rooms is not working, can you send up a maintenance person? (He couldn't, but we found the room's circuit board and flipped the switch ourselves)
  • Juan, what time does tonight's football game play? On which channel? Which teams are playing? (I kid you not)

We were up at 4am to get to the airport by 5am to check-in for a 7am flight to Paris.

The kids are now over flying, period. Maksim's words were "I think I like the destination more than the travelling part now".

Ditto.

San Sebastian :: Day 4 - Akelare

That was AMAZING.

On our way in...

View from our table

Sash and I were acting like we'd never seen food on plates before - we took photos of everything before we ate it. Lucky the kids aren't old enough to be embarrassed yet. They also behaved beautifully the whole time (only arguments were over who's turn it was with with the cameras).

The lady we've leased our apartment from screwed up her nose and said "no, no, little food, little food" when we told her where we were going. Don't suppose the locals care much for the approach.

WARNING: gratuitous food shots, blame too many episodes of No Reservations. And these are only a few of what we took. Please feel free to scroll past.

Jes and Sam opted for regular fish and chips, Maks was adventurous enough to order Iberian pork and was rewarded with this...

Then there was dessert...lots of dessert...

Even the paper over this one was edible.

Sash had arranged a special birthday cake for me.

After our meal, the chef came out to meet us.

Then it was time for coffee, and some cognac for Sash, before we left.

They packaged up what was left of the cake for us to take home. Our taxi driver got a piece too.

Tomorrow we fly back to Madrid, where we stay for one night before continuing on to Paris.

San Sebastian :: Days 2 & 3

More bad weather, unfortunately. Temperatures same as Australian winter (beween 13-15 degrees) during the day. Lots of rain yesterday, today was more overcast than wet. So much for lounging on the beach!

We've wandered the streets and have done a little bit of shopping. Kids got their hands on some iPads for the first time yesterday - although they agree they're just over-sized iPods, they still want them.

Incredibly beautiful buildings, most of them built in mid-1800's and heavily influenced by French architecture.

Sash has booked a table at this restaurant for my birthday tomorrow. Three Michelin stars means it's not exactly a cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets kind of place. Wonder how the kids will cope.

San Sebastian :: Day 1 - Jesika’s Birthday

Poor Jes, she was so looking forward to swimming at the beach on her birthday. But we woke up yesterday (at lunch time) to this...

And the rain steadily got worse. She was very pleased with her birthday present, though. 

Kids and I spent the day indoors, Sash ventured out to buy groceries and watch the Spain v Switzerland game in a bar down the street.
Being so close to the French border, some television is in French but most is Spanish. Kids had a blast listening to their favourite Disney shows in another language. Radio is a mix of local Spanish stuff and music that we’re used to listening to.

Figuring out how to use the washing machine was interesting...

We made sure Jes finished off her special day with some more chocolate cake.

Hoping the weather improves soon!!