travelling allrite

A year ago we had just arrived back from our tenth anniversary trip to Europe via Malaysia. Sometimes I think it can take a year or more to properly appreciate a trip, time discarding those memories of jetlag and weary feet, the race to stick a schedule and keep everyone happy and highlighting all those wonderful experiences in your mind. Vignettes suddenly pop into your head, leaving a feeling of wistfulness for the year gone. A hotel room of toys with Alex in the centre of them, mountain scenery below, a meal in Paris, breakfast on the train. The same thing happened in 2010, a year after my previous trip to Europe. Dreamily falling asleep to music alone in a hotel room, tinned mandarins for breakfast, a quiet walk through central London, cobblestones in Ghent. As I said in my last post there is something special about travel to Europe and the long, long flights there. Whenever the earlybird fares are released I feel a tremendous urge to book them. I know what we want to do; just g...

Here we are at the A-Train hotel in Amsterdam after a day on the trains. A long day on the trains. We said a sad goodbye to Paris, catching a packed metro train and then a RER train up to Gare du Nord station. We were early and there was not much to do but stand around the headers and watch the trains arrive and depart under the canopy. Our fast Thalys bound for Amsterdam waited next to another decorated with Tintin, in a cross-promotion with the Spielberg movie. The Thalys was very comfortable inside, bright pink and red decor, wifi (free for first class, extra cost for us) and power sockets. After days of blue skies today we left under foggy grey, racing past tenements, then cultivated fields of green dotted with small towns. Though our tickets were for Amsterdam we had to make a stopover in Brussels to pick up some lost property. We had actually left it in Ghent, but the luggage staff kindly shipped it straight down for us and look after our big bags as well. Not having seen out...

Our last day in Paris! How could we not be a little sad? This is a special place. Though the sights are uncountable it is the experiences that make Paris what it is. We could easily spend a month here, doing very little, just soaking up the atmosphere. Unfortunately, it is not to be on this trip, so we had to make this last day special. I was originally planning a day trip out to Vitre, a medieval castle town in Brittany, but we couldn't stomach six hours in a train. So instead we decided to take Alex on a sightseeing tour of Paris. During our three previous trips here we have visited many of the popular tourist destinations. You might think Alex is too young to do the same, but he has books on Paris that he can relate to, most notably Masumi's Paris Hide and Seek where you have to find Theo and his dog Potchi in various locations around the city (thanks Nanna!). The previous night we had visited the Eiffel Tower and Alex had spotted the lifts going up and down. Of course he...

We looked outside our window this morning to see warm blue skies and a market set up underneath the railway tracks. While shopping for groceries at the supermarket the previous night had been a painful ordeal, the opportunity to mingle with the locals at the stall selling fresh produce, breads, meats, seafood and miscellaneous items was not to be missed. There were sea urchins and snails, bbq chickens and ducks, an amazing variety of apples and the nicest looking tomatoes that you've ever seen. Tiny strawberries and clementines with the leaves left attractively on top. We stopped at this stall and that, filling up our pantry though we only have a couple of days to eat it all. And it was only a few metres away from the apartment. Our menus du jour at the Bistrot Pierrot across the street were so much better than the day before's and we felt a little Parisian taking our time to savour them and watch the world unfold outside the window. Until Alex dropped his glass of water on ...

Alex has been talking about this day for months. He wanted so much to turn three so he can do "martial arts" at preschool with his slightly older friends. And he knew a bit about Paris thanks to some books brought back by his Nanna. He opened his presents, a complex Swiss wooden puzzle and a German board game, along with a magic writing board purchased at Hamley's in London. But what really captivated him was the musical birthday card from Sydney with a picture of a toilet and a flushing sound when openend. "Can we see that toilet?" he asked. I really should rename this trip "The toilets and lifts of Europe". As he got dressed he talked to his Bob the Builder jumper. So cute! For the first time on this trip we left our hotel to a sunny day, the sky crisscrossed by contrails. I had prebooked tickets to the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, quite far out from our hotel's location. They were still closed when we arrived, but we joined the ...

In Australia we commemorate the 11 of November with a minute's silence to remember those who have fallen in war. In Zurich the town centre is invaded by colourfully dressed brass bands playing loud music. But only because of the extra 11. It was 11-11-11 (well, 2011) and we were wandering through the old streets of central Zurich wondering why all these strange people with painted faces, zany costumes and a variety of musical instruments were gathering together. I knew it wasn't the time for the famous street festival. We had arrived into Zurich's main station on the overnight train from Prague. Alex had ended up sleeping with me on the top bunk after crying out in the night. As we ate our breakfast in another compartment I was a bit disappointed by the lack of mountain scenery. Instead there were rolling green hills and autumn forests. There was also plenty of evidence of Switzerland's industrial side. It's sad to see Australian industry steadily migrate oversea...