Gravesend

 First step off the train and I thought, WOW these are my people. I felt right at home. The cute brick houses have so much character, the streets are quiet, and it feels warm and welcoming.

Although one downside once at the hotel. The Wi-Fi sucks. Now I feel like I have travelled back in time as I have no phone service and no internet connection. What am I going to do?

For one, this post is written on a word document. Two, I guess we’ll watch TV as a family! And three, the park across the parking lot is gorgeous, lush green; “American Football” here we come. For the brits, we will be throwing the oblong football, I think they call it rugby, we did not bring the round kicking soccer ball!

When we approached the hotel from the back side, I thought I was staying in a dump, and quickly wanted to rescind my decision. I miss not having a fridge, microwave, or toaster. But there is a kettle and tea! This arrival cup of tea is delicious and tastes like another.

We met up with my cousin Liam and his daughter Izzy for a pub night where we enjoyed trivia till late. Good ol’ fashioned fun with our kids at the night pub with us.

Our full day in Meopham area was spent view a Manor and its garden grounds. Absolutely stunning and the kids enjoyed themselves as well. Next, we went to a pub for lunch and whipped around on some country roads. I truly thought I was going to be in a car accident and was trying to sort out the ways I could receive medical treatment as a tourist. Brad suggested I was comical in the back seat. The road is about wide enough for 1.5 cars and only 1 in some parts as it was so narrow.

We made out alright on the high-speed train to travel from South England to Northern England. Each train we rode on had a table and four seat facing each other for our family to enjoy. And yes, the lush green rolling hills, cute brick houses, sheep, cattle, and wind turbines were all along the train. Quite lovely to view along the train. I definitely took several pictures of brick houses, and rolling green hills with the odd sheep on it!

Disney Paris

26,000 steps later and we have officially seen the sights Disney Paris has to offer.

Would I go back?

No.

Although the park is smaller and condensed compared to Disney California the rides are at a minimal. Each ride had a 40 minute or longer suggested wait time, but that was more like an hour or more. The boys, at 10 and 12, were not interested in waiting in the lines as the rides were not quite worth the wait.

Disney Paris offers express entrance to the rides at a premium rate, but I was advised by many travelers this was not required. After being there, I would highly recommend this given the chance to repeat the experience.

My personal favorite ride here is the same as my favorite ride in California, Star Tours, where you enter a space shuttle buckle up and C-3PO takes you on an exhilarating ride through space simulation with near misses to crashing the ship!

Owen’s favorite ride was the Tower of Terror! An elevator that shoots you up and drops you leaving your stomach at the top while on repeat. Quite a disgusting feeling I might add.

Erik’s favorite ride was Indiana Jones, a small rollercoaster that went upside down and whipped you around for sixty seconds and then complete! My head smashed into the support bars several times making it not so much fun.

Brad’s favorite ride was Pirates of the Caribbean, where we boarded a boat and tried to spot Jack Sparrow throughout the ride with drops in the water to bring you a minor thrill of excitement.

We watched the parade, ate dinner, and headed back to our flat via light rail.

The Facts

 Paris is busy.

The monuments are humungous.

Restaurants are tiny.

Living spaces are small.

People are ignorant.

Your bubble is continuously invaded.

Theressa you would understand.

Public washrooms are at a minimum.

Information overload.

Incomprehensible number of restaurants.

Expensive.

Walking. Walking. Walking.

And the coffee is long, black, and ohhh so bitter.

Touristy Paris

 Started the day with a cold shower, not on purpose, woke up at 9am after the jet leg kicked in and we were completely asleep. Actually, we were awoken at 2am to a man trying to get into our apartment! To be expected, I guess, I booked us an apartment in the night life district of town. Not just night though, the Parisien's are here all day as well, it's a happening street to be! I would assume this supposed intruder partied too hard and could not remember his door after the long hike up the winding staircase.

Upon getting everyone ready we headed to the river and boarded the hop-on hop-off bus tour. My initial thought was let's hop on a bus and let it do all the work for us. I can tell you that is not the case. By the time I arrived back at the apartment six hours later, my legs were tired of walking. That being said, YES, that is the way to see the city of Paris, as the main attractions are soooo spread apart, this makes it easier to get from A-B.

Today Notre Dame was our first stop as we ventured through the Louvre yesterday. Click-Click and then thought let's walk to the Pantheon! You know the bus is doing all the work so let's journey further than where it drops us off! HA! silly us. We did not make it, we turned around after fifteen minutes and hopped back on the bus. Next stop was the Arc De Triomphe! Intense! I do not know how many lanes round-a-bout that was but it seemed dangerous to get to the middle, but of course there were people running in front of cars to complete the task. 

This area of Paris is cobblestone streets and high-end shopping called Champs-Elysees. Aside from the cobblestone street, this area of town reminded me of New York City 5th Avenue. Jenika you would be in so much debt after coming to Paris.

We were scammed at the Eiffel Tower. Cost us 40 Euros to have our picture taken by a vendor selling Eiffel Towers, in return for 40 Euros he provided us with mini take home towers. I guess we paid for the experience.

Finding a toilet in Paris next to impossible. Toilets are for paying customers only. I swear no one drinks water in this city. I want to say it took nearly an hour before I was finally allowed to pee in a hair shop. No coffee for me tomorrow morning and no water before dinner.

I see why Parisien's are considered ignorant. Anywhere you walk there are cyclists, mopeds, motorbikes, buses, and cars and everyone is going where they want when they want. Honking and screaming is normal. I enjoyed watching regular citizens cut in front of the Police and nothing happen. Not sure what the laws are but in consideration of this thought maybe this is where I need to get my full license!

Paris style burrito tacos were eaten in the apartment. Everything tastes a little different in another country but we managed. After food and drink we ventured out into the bustlen street. Not many streets over and we were in a homeless area. A quick U-turn and we found ourselves inside the Museum of Art History. A strange Museum. A large two courtyard building with apartments lining the top rectangular perimeter along with several patrons enjoying a glass of wine in the covered area. Strange. A very strange occurrence.

And now to rest and prepare for another day of walking!

A Paris

 We have arrived in Paris!

Ahhh.. the sweet smell of cigarettes and smog encapsulate my nose. HONK, HONK, rings in my ears as drivers weave in and out of traffic. BEEP, BEEP, we hear from behind as the scooters zip between cars. Patience is not common practice while commuting, apparently arriving at your destination in aggressive format is key. Thankfully the cab driver made that happen for us. Actually, inside the cab, well mini-van, there were six seat that all faced each other, so you could enjoy the ride going backwards if that's your thing. 

Our loft apartment is quaint, cozy, on the top floor, and is fully overrun by trees, vines and flowers in an atrium. The stairwell is steep, spiral, and has no handrails - does this mean little liability issues in this country? The building smells with a mixture of bleach, mold, and must but seems clean. Our windows push open into the courtyard with cute iron bars to keep you safe, while I listen carefully to hear the sounds. SWISH, SWISH, WEEOU, WEEOU, wind and sirens. I love the sound of the sirens over hear, there little siren sounds like a little toy truck a child would play with!

Brad and I ventured to the store to collect dinner, breakfast, and snack items. That was something! The shops are teeny, single lane traffic only. What's easy in Canada to go into a convenient store and locate what you want/need is not as easy when you are in another country and another country that speaks another language to boot. We scoured the first floor, thought, "Oh, let's have pasta and chicken"... but where is the pasta sauce? Finally a store clerk I could ask, in English, where he advised us there was a downstairs to the store. Off we went collected the rest of the items and then some.

We experienced our first cafe in Paris. 😶 Not so sure I'll do that again. Uck. it was bitter, left a film on my tongue, and grit on my teeth, I could barley choke it down, but managed every sip knowing I need the boost to make it to 8pm.

Alright, off to make dinner and then hit up the Louvre!

Bon Voyage

 Ok, it's 5am and I am up. Shhh. We must be ever so quiet not to wake the clan. Today is travel day!

To get to this point was such a journey. To be fair it was just the last week of my life that was a journey. The stress I put my body through to go away is crazy, and for what? It's not like I can change the outcome of the unknown on the other end. Or maybe it's a feeling that I didn't earn this and I am an imposter.

As this is a common occurrence when my life leads up to travel, I booked myself several appointments, you know, being proactive and all! I saw a massage therapist, chiropractor, physiotherapist, and a Chinese Medicine doctor. As I write this, it sounds completely ridiculous. But I knew that already. What battle seriously goes on in my head that I cause my muscles and bones to tense up and shift where they are not suppose to? 

My shoulder and neck muscles were extremely tight, my quads ached, my hips tilted and shifted so that every step I took their would be aching, ringing pain in my knees and then I had to take the day off before my vacation just to calm the F down. Wow! Where does this come from?

Cleary I need a better process. How can I better my mind and thought process so this doesn't keep happening? Well I do not know the answer to this, no revelations have come to me while posting. 

Back to the clan. It's now 5:30am and the husband is awake. Ready for Travel day. I'm not so sure he is excited or what he is feeling. Actually, you never can quite tell. For the most part he is even keeled. Hmm... maybe I should take a page from his book and calm the F down. But if I did that then maybe we wouldn't be here today travelling and blogging... But really... unfinished thought, let's come back to this.

My oldest son, Erik, is now 12 and extremely excited to be travelling! This one shows all his emotions out in exuberant ways. He's created this rap song, well not a full song more like a blip of a beet to get you moving. He picks one word, say Pickle, and then stutters the P. P - P - P - P, roles the P, Prrrrrrrr, Slams the word PICKLE, then sings BOOM BOOM Ya! All while busting a move.

This blip of a beat got an email from his teachers concerned about is lack of focus in the classroom and disturbance to the children around him. I printed the email and will save it for future memories. He can often be seen jumping up from his seat, rapping a blip, showing off his dance moves, all suave and stuff, and then sitting down like Mr. cool dude pretending nothing happened, while his classmates are down for the beat, hollering... can I get a BOOM BOOM YA!

I see the disturbance this would cause in the grade 7 classroom. But as a mom I am ever so proud of him and his personality to be carried in such a confident way.

Here's a thought, back to a bodily process for me, maybe I should put on some dance music, share my excitement with some moves, and let loose in the week events arriving at this day. Noted! I will try this next time and report back to y'all.

Bon Voyage as the French say. Yes we are headed to Paris, France today. With a short stop over in Toronto. I would say to grab dinner but I am pretty sure on the two hour window of landing the bird and getting to the next bird terminal there will be no eating happening. Sad Day. I was really hoping to have a nice sit down dinner in Toronto. That being said, the next you will hear from me will be 36 hours from now. Buckle up. It's going to be a journey with 3 Boys in tow!!

Would you rather own an airplane or a ship? Why?

 To Fly or To Sail?

I choose to Fly. Fly away with me. A song that rings true to me when I need to get away is, “I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again.” For as long as I can remember this song inspired me to fly away and see the world. So many new experiences and moments to dive into.

Of all the times I have sat in an airplane seat I think to myself, I should become a pilot, then I could fly wherever I want to go! Small secret that might prevent me from flying… as soon as the airplane makes its way down the tarmac at 10 miles per hour and I place my headphones on, turn on my audio book… and I fall asleep.  I for the life of me cannot keep my eyes open as the plane takes off. What a scary situation as a pilot that would be.

Imagine the world you could see if you could fly along with the speed at which you can get places is amazing. Clearly money would have to be no object. The first place I would want to see in Bali. I have wanted to go there as a special occasion, like a 20 year wedding anniversary, since the day I looked for a honeymoon spot. In due time, with saving money, I will get there with my hubby one day. A dream written  down is a goal in action.

Why would I not sail? Sounds like snail mail. Slow and steady, not to mention the sea-sickness that might ensue, yuck!! Stuck in a 10x10 room, rocking up and down, no horizon in sight, attempting to share a toilet for days on end, someone call the doctor, this situation is serious.

Oh but the romantic Titanic scene with fancy dinners and live shows are all on board to enjoy. The dream to travel slowly and take in the fancy ship at a leisurely pace while enjoying a holiday sounds enticing. As I have not experienced this adventure yet, I will have to report back once my lucky stars align and I find myself be romanticized on a cruise ship set for a king!

If not a cruise, how about a catamaran? This is something I could definitely enjoy. Lying on the netting suntanning on the Ocean blue water with schools of fish travelling below me. Crisp, cold beer quenching my thirst before snorkeling the surface of the calm waters. Or casually cruising down the cliff shoreline with the breeze blowing in my hair. Yup, this sounds relaxing.

To Fly or to Sail? Depends on the boat, I guess…