London, England - 14-17 October 2007

Just a quick visit to the UK on the way back. We tried to work out how to see the family in Manchester but there just wasn't the time and on short notice it was way too expensive.

The day we arrived we had organise to have dinner with my cousin Julie & her hubby Clinton who moved to London. It was funny to be going to a dinner we booked in 5 months ago! Before dinner Adam and I went for a walk through Hyde Park, the sunset was very pretty.

Buckingham Palace...

The following day we took it easy... we 'found' the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. We spent a bit of time in the gallery - actually about an hour plus the gift shop. We joined a free tour and saw 4 paintings but we learnt alot about the function and purpose of art and how to read the story. The National Gallery covers a period of approx. 800 years up to 1900.

Just a street or two in London...

In the afternoon we checked out where Julie works at the Haymarket Hotel, just beautiful!

That evening we took in a show - 'Macbeth' starring Patrick Stewart as Macbeth. It was our first time seeing a serious Shakespear play (although it was a modern setting) and we though Patrick Stewart would be a good incentive. I think we both enjoyed it.

The following day Adam had to work and I went family history searching (where possibly the rudest people in England worked and researched!). That aside, I did find a marriage 'certificate' for some ancestors from 1808 - although this side of the family is being challenging. I have a theory to follow up from home but it is a long shot...

Wednesday was time to go so we caught the Heathrow express to the airport and off to Tokyo we went.

Love and Hugs, Chel

Disney Studios & Disneyland, Paris - 13 October 2007

It just wouldn't be a holiday with Adam with a theme park so after a long walk through Paris we ticked off the cultural tasks and moved onto fun.

As we had both been before we were able to get a 2 park, 1 day ticket as we knew exactly what we wanted to do in each park. We started at Walt Disney Studios as our absolute favourite ride is there and I hadn't done this park with Belinda and Matt. The ultimate ride here is the Aerosmith Rock'n'Roller Coaster - a really fantastic rollercoaster to blasting aerosmith (which helps distract you from the upside down feeling sick feeling) LOL
The other ride we liked in this park was a new one since our last visit - Crucher's Coaster which is based on the Nemo movie. Basically you ride the rapids of the eastern Australian ocean currents. Despite the many warnings, it was only the second to last 10 seconds where I had to close my eyes and concentrate on not being sick LOL - great fun!
It actually only rained under the umbrella - quite difficult to do a pose and not get wet.

Walt Disney studios is smaller than Disneyland itself, probably about the size of Movieworld on the Gold Coast.
This year is the 15th anniversary of Disneyland Paris. We took a break between parks and had lunch in the Disney Village (an area outside the parks with gift shops, restuarants and other entertainment). We decided not to have a balloon ride, although we saw it up in the sky from a distance a few times.

To my delight there was a Halloween theme on in the Disneyland Park, this was new from my last visit...

It was much busier than my ealier trip but we knew what we wanted to see so the extra people didn't really make a huge difference.




This is the easiest roller-coaster type ride at Disneyland (except the one in the kiddy area which closed early so we missed it - oh well, next time). This is a favourite of ours...
Although the queue was quite long this time... My first ride on autopia was in September with Belinda and Matt, it was great to have another chance with Adam... Ironically, Autopia has nosiy petrol engines and a traffic jam at the end!

The park was open late (until 10pm) and it was great to see the park at night. Unfortunately, I left my second battery charging at the hotel so my photo opportunites were limited.
We also rode on Space Mountain 2, Buzz Light-year and Pirates of the Carribean.

Paris by night, France - 12 October 2007

We arrived late in the afternoon and with only a short stay I was keen to take Adam on a walking tour. We were staying close to the Bastille, a different side of Paris to last time, so there were things neither of us had seen.
Our short walk took hours and wasn't really all that short!
For those of you who know Paris, the following will give you a sense of just how far we walked - largely in the dark and sometimes in the rain!
We were staying on Boulevard Voltaire and so walked up to the Place de la Nation...

then to Place de la Bastille...

From there we headed over Pont Marie to small island on the Seine. After a short wander we crossed the Pont St Louis onto the larger island, home of Notre Dame. Again, the Monument de la Deportee was closed but we walked up the Seine besides Notre Dame, which Adam had only seen from a bus last time. From there we headed accross Pont au Double to Boulevard Saint Germaine. We wandered along here for a short time before wandering into the side streets which are much more interesting. After a quick stop for a photo below (I will have to find the guidebook to remember what this was) we crossed the Seine again and were at the Lourve.


From here we walked through the Tuilleries where I took this photo of the Tour Eiffle...
I wanted to get up to the Place de la Concorde but most of the Tuilleries were closed so we had to take the street. But we did arrive...

After this we walked through Place de la Vendome (location of the Ritz, where Diana spent her last night, and the most exlusive shops in Paris), past Place de la Opera, up the Boulevard des Italian to Bolevard MOntmarte and to Porte St Denis which marked the end of the street where we would find our restuarant for dinner.

Out of habit I think we walked home from here, quite a long way. And as we both forgot to go to the toilet before we left it was a long sprint in the rain to get back to the hotel. LOL

Of course, there was one stop on the way home at Place de la Republique but the photos didn't really work out.

Geneva, Switzerland - 11-12 October 2007

A walk around Geneva...