Where in the World are the Bullivants?

A month in Paris – every time that we told someone that we were doing this they were amazed.  A whole month?  Isn’t that expensive?  What are you going to do?  We thought that we might relax after a gruelling schedule of 24 countries in almost 12 months, but this was not entirely to be…

We did manage a whole four days of relaxing.  We unpacked, we went supermarket shopping, we cooked (well mostly), and slept – a lot.  We found the bakery where we would buy bread and dessert treats for the remainder of our stay.  We enjoyed the market that ran a couple of times a week.  But most of all, we found a wine shop for me to get recommendations on French wines and to purchase some for home tasting.

But after this short break, Laurence was off to the airport again to pick up Kris and Santana on their first ‘European Adventure’!  I must admit that the schedule was relaxing; not too many early morning and home by 4:00 pm (mostly).  Plus, they left us behind as they went to London for a weekend.  But a lot still got done and a lot was seen.

On our first we wandered around the surrounding areas.  The market, the park, the zoo (turns out that Kris is a zoo fanatic – which I guess we kind of already knew), and the bakery.  We introduced them to the French baguettes and pastries, which they took advantage of for the rest of their stay.  Slowly we circled out, one day we headed to the Pantheon, the next to the catacombs.  We visited the Moulin Rouge, Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe.  We also spent most of a day in the Louvre together.  But on the most part, Kris and Santana were happy to wander around and explore at their own pace and by themselves.  It was really great to catch up with them each afternoon and see what they had been up to.  To grab dinner together and chill out in the apartment.

Apart from the typical highlights of Paris, the main agenda was Disneyland.  I cannot say that it was at the top of my list (in fact it was not on my list at all), but a day at Disneyland can change most people’s minds.  The atmosphere was great, it was like we had taken Kris and Santana to a candy shop and they were on a sugar high.  They had it all planned, what rides there were, when they opened, how busy they were going to be, which direction we should go around the park in – they made the day easy.  Laurence thoroughly enjoyed himself.  I preferred some rides to others (i.e. I preferred the “It’s a small world” kids ride to the “Indiana Jones” teenager ride), but it seemed like there was a ride for everyone.  The highlight of my day was the Disney Parade with all the princesses singing and dancing.

An unplanned visit was to the Paris Zoo, full of all the animals Laurence loves; llamas and giraffes.  The setup there was impressive, all the enclosures looked in good condition and big enough for the animals that were being held there.

Two short weeks later we were off to the airport to drop Kris and Santana off and to pick up my sister, Sarah.  Conveniently, they left/arrived within an hour of each other so we did not have to spend a lot of time waiting around an airport which had been bombed before.  Sarah’s agenda was a bit more stringent, a lot more to do, a long list.

Even though Sarah had been flying for about 24 hours, there was no rest for the wicked.  After settling her in, feeding her, allowing her to clean up a little, we were out the door and onto our first adventure.  Day one involved going to the Pantheon, the Catacombs, and then the Eiffel Tower.  Given the practice of getting around for the past two weeks I navigated us around the city like a pro.  To top off the evening we went to a Chinese restaurant near the Eiffel Tower so that we could Skype home and show off to the family (with it shining and blinking in the background).

Day two was spectacular: Sainte Chappelle, Notre Dame Crypt, and a walking tour of downtown Paris.  Laurence even joined us for the walking tour.  I had been to Paris twice before, and had been there for two weeks already, but I had never been to Saint Chappelle.  I think that it is the most beautiful church that I have ever been in.  The stained-glass windows were incredible – even though it was a grey and drizzly day.

Sarah and I had a proper lunch of snails and French Onion soup (at the same place I had tried them 10 years prior).  I think that all passed muster, but Sarah would spend the rest of the trip trying to get some more of that soup!

Day three was a bit of a killer, there was a lot of ground to be covered.  It started with a walking tour of Montmartre from the Moulin Rouge to Sacre-Coeur Basilica.  After the Basilica and lunch, we headed up to another church, that of Saint Denis.  From there we took the train to the Arc de Triomphe.  If that was all, then I am sure we would have been fine.  However, from there we crossed the city to Notre Dame.  Up, up, up the stairs we went, all the way to the top, such a long way up, until our legs and lungs were burning, to see the gargoyles and city views from the top.  Worth the visit, but a bit much after such a long day.  After looking through Notre Dame itself we met Laurence for dinner near the Eiffel Tower (yes, that’s right, Laurence left us after the walking tour so that he could laze around the apartment, perhaps to take a nap).  By now I am sure you are thinking, it must be time to go home, but no, we marched on, on to the Seine river cruise as sunset was falling.  Yea a perfect day, but a long one, one that was ready to be over.

Day four was the day of Sarah’s husband, Michael.  It was his secret, his surprise.  He had stealthily contacted me (ok, not too hard with Facebook these days) and arranged for me to take Sarah to Rome – sorry Laurence, you will have to stay at home.  The hard part was secreting away the money from the joint bank account in order to pay for the trip.  It was well done and from what I understand a complete surprise on Sarah’s part.

A whirlwind tour of Rome can be done, do not let people tell you otherwise.  Yes, more time is desired but you can see all the major parts in two days – especially if you are a planning guru like myself.  If you do not have someone – let me know.  Having been to Rome before, I knew how crazy it could be but I did not expect Sarah to get a real taste of it quite as soon as she did.  On the bus ride in we had one crazy driver; he was taking on the phone (hands free – thank goodness), gesticulating like only an Italian can, driving the bus (a secondary task), and when Sarah exclaimed as car cut off our bus (being a true Italian and having noticed Sarah’s exclamation from a few seats behind) the driver promptly let loose a tirade of what we could only guess we swear words in Italian while waving both of his hands at the car. After a ‘suitable’ period of time the driver looked back at us, shrugged his shoulders, and continued his telephone call like nothing had happened.

Our first stop in Rome was the Roman Forum and Colosseum – of course.  We had pre-booked tickets, but the line around the place was one of the longest lines that we had seen at an attraction (that and we had just spent half an hour walking there as the taxi driver wanted to rip us off for the fare).

That evening we took a trip to look at the Pantheon and to grab some dinner.  We dined Italian style (i.e. we stuffed ourselves with booze and food until either our wallets couldn’t take it or we could not fit anything else in – I will let you guess which one).

Bright and early the next morning (much to Sarah’s complaining – I had warned her that she needed to be able to walk all day) I dropped her off for her tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I met up with her later that morning in the Sistine Chapel and we explored the remainder of the museum.  A quick look at Trevi Fountain and a very large serving of gelato we were on our way back to Paris.

Back in Paris, we proceeded to the first of our day trips – Mont Saint Michel.  Although the tide was out, it was still a remarkable sight to see.  I had been waiting to make it here for years.  The monastery buildings were built high and into the rocks on which they perch.   The little village surrounding the monastery make it magical.

What can a trip to Paris be without a second trip to the Louvre (or the first for Sarah).  We spent the whole day (yes – approximately 6-7 hours) wandering around everything that we could.  It was a long, long, long, tiring day but well worth it in the end.  Sarah and I entertained ourselves by taking pictures of the statues/pictures in suggestive ways.  Laurence, having already spent 5-6 hours at the museum, spent his day visiting what he did not make it to last time.

On our last day in Paris we headed out to Palace of Versailles, a seat of political power in France and home of the royal court for a while, until they lost their heads.  This was an epic day.  Having missed the chance to hire a golf cart (highly recommended if you do not want to hear Sarah say, “it would have been nice to have a golf cart”, “we wouldn’t be in the rain if we had a golf cart”, “a golf cart would have been quicker”, or “I wish we had gotten a golf cart” all day.  Admittedly, a golf cart would have been nice).  We explored EVERY part of the grounds that is open to the public, even the old horse carriages.  We had planned well and they were playing music while the fountains ran – well worth the wait for them to be turned on every half hour or so.

Our last little side trip, before having to say goodbye to Sarah, was to London.  A short train ride across – after a lot of pushing in front of people in the immigration line as we did not ‘arrive’ at the train station in time (about 2 minutes late and only because we got lost at the train station) and our tickets were not guaranteed.  They were going to put us on the next train!  That afternoon we took a look at All Hallows by the Tower, Southwark Cathedral, and a couple of walking tours to get our bearings and to hear about Jack the Ripper.  That evening we had pies for dinner – oh glorious pies how we have missed you (still not as good as BP pies).  We explored London Bridge and Borough Market – where about two weeks later the terrorist attack happened.

We had a full day in London, and used every minute of it.  First stop was Westminster Abbey, where even though we had tickets and arrived 30 minutes before it opened we still had to wait in line for quite a while.  From there we took the hop-on-hop-off bus to the Tower of London.  The Yeomen Warden (the Beefeater) was exceptional and had us in fits of laughter throughout the visit.  The set-up had changed from the last time I visited and it was well worth the time.  The evening finished with my belated birthday present – a Broadway show – Aladdin.  It was AWESOME.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone, and if you don’t like Aladdin then you should see Phantom of the Opera!

The next morning, we woke up to hear about the Manchester attack.  But with it being our last day in London, we had to make the most of it.  We trekked out to Hampton Court Palace, the palace of Henry VIII. Having learnt about the history, and read numerous novels on the subject, it was amazing to see what the palace was like.  I must admit that it is much smaller than expected – but perhaps if we hadn’t have gone to Versailles first then it may have been more impressive size wise.  The gardens around the palace were vast, my favourite part of the whole place.

A quick train ride home to Paris, a short sleep, and then off to the airport – a new adventure to begin.  Sarah to Bangkok and us to Milan!