Hello once again. We continue our travels through London.
On Monday, after a tasty early breakfast, we went to the local "Big Bus Sightseeing tours" stand to by a ticket on the hop on, hop off sightseeing bus. This pass is good all day and you can get off the bus whenever, and get back on when you are ready to continue on. We got an early start because we wanted to be in Trafalgar Square in time to grab a tour to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. After the bus took us past Hyde Park, the American Embassy, the high class shopping district, and the Texas Embassy, we arrived at Trafalgar Square. I took pictures of the boys on the gigantic lion statues at the base of the statue of Lord Nelson. Then we joined up with our walking tour. Our first stop was St James's palace to wait for the review of the guards. However, when we arrived, we were informed that the ceremony would be delayed by up to an hour. So, we all got our picture taken with the guard in front of the gates. The stories are true. The guy just stands there and doesn't react to anything.
After a wait of about an hour, the regiment decided to move out even though they couldn't find the band to play them down the street. Apparently, that was the delay. So we got to watch the guard march out of the gates, stand at attention while they were being inspected, and then move out. We marched alongside them down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. Since they didn't have a band, our tour hummed "Bridge over the River Quay." They went into the palace. Then, because we were with a guide, we learned that the new guard was marching down the mall with a mass band and horse regiment. We had excellent spots to watch the parade. They were practicing for the festivities the following day. The Queen would travel down the Mall from Buckingham Palace to Parliament to open this session of parliament. We got to see the dress rehearsal.
After a quick lunch, we headed off to The British museum. We all got the kids audiotour. This is a headset and map the you take around the museum to find certain displays that are explained for kids. We stopped first at THE Rosetta stone. Andrew was very impressed with this. Then we were off to find the kids displays. It is kind of like a scavenger hunt. The highlights of the tour were seeing the very first plate in England (2000 years old), some well preserved mummified bodies, and the chess set that was used as a model for the giant wizards chess set in Harry Potter. As we were searching for the exit (it is a really big museum), we happened upon a lady that had a display of coins. We held coins that were 2500 years old. Wow!
We joined up with our bus tour after the museum. There was only one problem. While we were in the museum, it started to rain. Can you believe it? In England? We had had nothing but sun until now - we even got sun burned. But there wasn't a whole lot to see from the bus. We decided to call it a day (Michael had fallen asleep on the bus anyway) and headed back to the hotel. We found a restaurant near the hotel and I had a real Cornish pastie for dinner. They taste as good as in Mackinaw City. Then it was off to bed.
Tuesday morning we jumped on a train and headed to Windsor. You would think we were headed to the castle, right? Nope. We were looking for LEGOland. This was a really fun day for the kids. There are LEGO creations everywhere in the park, including LEGOworld, mini cities from all over the world. We even saw the Space shuttle take off!! I think a sign said that they used 20 million LEGOS in the park. There were also many rides. Most were fairly tame (the park is geared towards kids under 12, but we went on two roller coasters. They were the first coasters for both kids. The first one was mostly up and down. Michael wanted to go again. Andrew hated it. The second one we did was very curvy. Andrew liked this one and Michael was very upset. Strange kids.
The park was not very crowded (we went on quite a few rides twice - no wait), and much bigger than we thought it would be, so it took us most of the day. By the time we got to Windsor castle it was closed. We walked around the outside though, and even think we saw the butler leave for the day (maybe a tour guide).
We took the train back to London and picked up some chicken to eat in the room. I don't think I have said anything about our hotel. It is in Belgravia, down the street from Buckingham palace. This is a really neat part of London. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Margaret Thatcher live here. We really like the hotel. It is conveniently located, and a bed and breakfast, very small and friendly. We are the only family staying here, though. The staff knows who we are without asking, the American family. Anyway, we had this cute but rather small set of rooms in the converted basement. Sounds kind of dark and gloomy but it wasn't. We had a shared courtyard entry way and our own courtyard out the side. Even though Michael was on a cot on the floor, it was really a cute room. There was only one problem. Starting on Monday morning at about 7:00, there was a drip through the ceiling in the boys room from the shower of the room above. It woke the boys up earlier than we would have liked. We had mentioned it to two different people in the mornings, but when we asked about it to the night manager, he moved us to a new room. We are now on the top floor, the fourth. It is still a two room suite, but now the boys are in what would be the attic. They have a large room with two beds. We have moved to a king from a full. And we have a balcony that looks out onto the rooftops of London. Every time I stand out there at night I start singing from Mary Poppins. "On the rooftops of London..... Whew, what a sight." We are very happy.
Until the next edition!!
Amy
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Furman weekly, May 9 - 15, volume 3, number 15
Cheerio from Jolly old England!! My, we are getting around this trip, aren't we?? It's been another busy and fun week.
The week started off with the Rinaldi's coming over for dessert on Monday. This was so that they could say hi to my parents, who were arriving that evening (more on that later), and also so they could say goodbye. Tuesday was to be the last tutoring sessions for the boys as Shahla is heading to Iran for 5 weeks. So we had cookies, brownies, and cidre and all laughed and talked together. My parents called after a while and said that they were stuck in Toulouse. The train that runs to Colomiers stopped running at 9:00 and they arrived at 9:10. So some of us made a trip to get them. It was good that the Rinaldi's were there. We would have never found them otherwise!!
Tuesday, Andrew had a full day with the tutor. Then my parents, the boys and I (poor Dave) packed off to Carcassonne overnight. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in the walled city. The bed and breakfast was very pleasant with a very interesting Scottish host and a loud TV. He fell asleep in front of the TV with the volume all the way up. Fine, until it was just static!! Before bed, we had an interesting dinner at a cave-like restaurant. The sign outside said that there was live music. It was actually a practice session for a not so good band. They would start on a song, then stop half way through when they messed up. Then they would start over again. It got a little annoying after a while.
On Wednesday, we saw the city. We bought some souvenirs (after all, we may never be back, right?) and Andrew discovered that he does NOT like haunted houses. We spent all day there and got back in time to pick Dave up from work.Thursday morning, Dave dropped my parents off at the airport. They were heading to London for a day before flying home. I spent the day cleaning the house. You see, the realtor got our month's notice, and already wanted to show the house. Sigh. I was hoping to rest for a day before packing. Oh well, now we will come home to a clean house.
Friday morning the realtor came through the house. All that cleaning, and they only spent 10 minutes in the house and tracked flowers all over!! Then in the afternoon, I took Shahla to the airport. We said goodbye. I hope that we see her again. We have come to really like the family. Maybe Roxanna will come visit with us this summer.
Saturday, we started off on our last big trip, London! Our plane was supposed to leave at 9:40, but, as there was an "unofficial" security strike, it took a long time to load the luggage. It was almost an hour before we left. And, of course, when we arrived in London, one of our bags was missing. We had all our clothes and things, but no cameras!! Bummer.
That didn't stop us, though. We took the express train into London and found our hotel. It is a really cute bed and breakfast in Belgravia. We are a few blocks from Buckingham palace! After settling in, we asked for a recommendation for someplace quick for lunch. We are used to living in France, where this is difficult, but in London, no problem. The guy that checked us in suggested we go back to the train station (three blocks) and eat upstairs. So we followed his advice and you'll never believe what we found. All of the major tube stations have malls in them. Stores, groceries, and a food court! There was a Starbucks, burger King, Mc Donalds, and a bagel shop. We settled for the KFC, although the deep dish pizza place looked good too. Funny how good fast food tastes when you haven't had it for a while.
After lunch, we bought a disposable camera and took the tube to the Natural history museum. This was a good way to spend the rest of our first day here. They have a special dinosaur exhibit. There were lots of bones and interactive displays, but the most impressive were the animatronic dinos. The T-rex was very realistic and appeared to be sniffing you. Very scary. Michael thought it was really cool and had a big grin on his face when we left.
We also checked out the mammal exhibit (complete with full scale models of a Blue whale and many other large mammals), and the "creepy crawly" exhibit. Gross! In one section, they showed you all of the bugs that live in your kitchen. The boys loved it.
Unfortunately, the museum was closing, so we took the tube back to the hotel to see if our luggage had arrived. Nope. So we went for dinner. What else do you have, the first night in London? Fish and Chips. Yum! Andrew is even sold on Vinegar instead of ketchup.
Sunday morning, after discovering that our suitcase had arrived, we had a real English breakfast. France has great food, but the breakfasts leave a lot to be desired. We had eggs and toast, fried mushrooms, ham, grilled tomatoes (read to-MAT-toes), OJ, fruit, bread, cereal, cheese, and of course TEA! We enjoyed it so much, that Dave and I were planning what we would have tomorrow before we finished.
Then we took the tube to the Westminster pier. While looking at Big Ben, we bought tickets for a river cruise to Greenwich. The tour was very pretty and the guide was really funny and informative. When we got to Greenwich, we explored the last remaining Tea Clipper, the Cutty Sark. This boat could travel up to 20 miles per hour, had three masts and over 11 miles of rope on the deck. We got to tour the whole boat, from the head, to the galley, to the crews quarters. It even had a saloon, even though there were only about 28 people on board.
After exploring the ship, we had worked up an appetite, so we stopped at a local grocery to pick up picnic supplies. We ate in the shadow of the clipper, before heading on to the Old Navel College.
We walked the grounds and peaked in the chapel and the painted hall, but there was nothing much to see here. So instead we moved on to the Maritime Museum. We spent a long time here. They have displays on any aspect of sea faring. I enjoyed the section on arctic explorers and shipwrecks the most. There were quite a few things displayed from the titanic. The boys really liked the art room (where they made 3-D rock ponds. I have no idea how we are getting these home), and the "hands on" kids area. They got to practice loading cargo with a crane, test out deep sea diving equipment, and have target practice with a cannon. It was a really cool museum. We had a hard time dragging them away.
We had other places to go, though. We trudged up a steep hill to the Royal observatory. At the top of the hill, we got to stand on the prime meridian (0 Longitude) and see the clock that sets the world's time, Greenwich Mean Time. As Dave said, this place is obsessed with clocks!! In the museum, there were all different kinds of clocks. Even an atomic clock. There is also a large telescope here. And, in one of the rooms, there was an ancient telescope that you could look through and see Pluto (as in Mickey and Pluto. Very Funny).
As we were walking through Greenwich, we decided that is was time for dinner. So, when you are in Greenwich, what do you eat? Tex Mex!! It was actually a really good meal. Then it was back to the hotel for baths and bed.
Whew. This was a really long note. I will try to divide up the rest for you. We have a lot of really cool things to see this week. I think we all will be really worn out by the time we leave on Sunday, but you only get to do this once, right? Until then!
Amy
The week started off with the Rinaldi's coming over for dessert on Monday. This was so that they could say hi to my parents, who were arriving that evening (more on that later), and also so they could say goodbye. Tuesday was to be the last tutoring sessions for the boys as Shahla is heading to Iran for 5 weeks. So we had cookies, brownies, and cidre and all laughed and talked together. My parents called after a while and said that they were stuck in Toulouse. The train that runs to Colomiers stopped running at 9:00 and they arrived at 9:10. So some of us made a trip to get them. It was good that the Rinaldi's were there. We would have never found them otherwise!!
Tuesday, Andrew had a full day with the tutor. Then my parents, the boys and I (poor Dave) packed off to Carcassonne overnight. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in the walled city. The bed and breakfast was very pleasant with a very interesting Scottish host and a loud TV. He fell asleep in front of the TV with the volume all the way up. Fine, until it was just static!! Before bed, we had an interesting dinner at a cave-like restaurant. The sign outside said that there was live music. It was actually a practice session for a not so good band. They would start on a song, then stop half way through when they messed up. Then they would start over again. It got a little annoying after a while.
On Wednesday, we saw the city. We bought some souvenirs (after all, we may never be back, right?) and Andrew discovered that he does NOT like haunted houses. We spent all day there and got back in time to pick Dave up from work.Thursday morning, Dave dropped my parents off at the airport. They were heading to London for a day before flying home. I spent the day cleaning the house. You see, the realtor got our month's notice, and already wanted to show the house. Sigh. I was hoping to rest for a day before packing. Oh well, now we will come home to a clean house.
Friday morning the realtor came through the house. All that cleaning, and they only spent 10 minutes in the house and tracked flowers all over!! Then in the afternoon, I took Shahla to the airport. We said goodbye. I hope that we see her again. We have come to really like the family. Maybe Roxanna will come visit with us this summer.
Saturday, we started off on our last big trip, London! Our plane was supposed to leave at 9:40, but, as there was an "unofficial" security strike, it took a long time to load the luggage. It was almost an hour before we left. And, of course, when we arrived in London, one of our bags was missing. We had all our clothes and things, but no cameras!! Bummer.
That didn't stop us, though. We took the express train into London and found our hotel. It is a really cute bed and breakfast in Belgravia. We are a few blocks from Buckingham palace! After settling in, we asked for a recommendation for someplace quick for lunch. We are used to living in France, where this is difficult, but in London, no problem. The guy that checked us in suggested we go back to the train station (three blocks) and eat upstairs. So we followed his advice and you'll never believe what we found. All of the major tube stations have malls in them. Stores, groceries, and a food court! There was a Starbucks, burger King, Mc Donalds, and a bagel shop. We settled for the KFC, although the deep dish pizza place looked good too. Funny how good fast food tastes when you haven't had it for a while.
After lunch, we bought a disposable camera and took the tube to the Natural history museum. This was a good way to spend the rest of our first day here. They have a special dinosaur exhibit. There were lots of bones and interactive displays, but the most impressive were the animatronic dinos. The T-rex was very realistic and appeared to be sniffing you. Very scary. Michael thought it was really cool and had a big grin on his face when we left.
We also checked out the mammal exhibit (complete with full scale models of a Blue whale and many other large mammals), and the "creepy crawly" exhibit. Gross! In one section, they showed you all of the bugs that live in your kitchen. The boys loved it.
Unfortunately, the museum was closing, so we took the tube back to the hotel to see if our luggage had arrived. Nope. So we went for dinner. What else do you have, the first night in London? Fish and Chips. Yum! Andrew is even sold on Vinegar instead of ketchup.
Sunday morning, after discovering that our suitcase had arrived, we had a real English breakfast. France has great food, but the breakfasts leave a lot to be desired. We had eggs and toast, fried mushrooms, ham, grilled tomatoes (read to-MAT-toes), OJ, fruit, bread, cereal, cheese, and of course TEA! We enjoyed it so much, that Dave and I were planning what we would have tomorrow before we finished.
Then we took the tube to the Westminster pier. While looking at Big Ben, we bought tickets for a river cruise to Greenwich. The tour was very pretty and the guide was really funny and informative. When we got to Greenwich, we explored the last remaining Tea Clipper, the Cutty Sark. This boat could travel up to 20 miles per hour, had three masts and over 11 miles of rope on the deck. We got to tour the whole boat, from the head, to the galley, to the crews quarters. It even had a saloon, even though there were only about 28 people on board.
After exploring the ship, we had worked up an appetite, so we stopped at a local grocery to pick up picnic supplies. We ate in the shadow of the clipper, before heading on to the Old Navel College.
We walked the grounds and peaked in the chapel and the painted hall, but there was nothing much to see here. So instead we moved on to the Maritime Museum. We spent a long time here. They have displays on any aspect of sea faring. I enjoyed the section on arctic explorers and shipwrecks the most. There were quite a few things displayed from the titanic. The boys really liked the art room (where they made 3-D rock ponds. I have no idea how we are getting these home), and the "hands on" kids area. They got to practice loading cargo with a crane, test out deep sea diving equipment, and have target practice with a cannon. It was a really cool museum. We had a hard time dragging them away.
We had other places to go, though. We trudged up a steep hill to the Royal observatory. At the top of the hill, we got to stand on the prime meridian (0 Longitude) and see the clock that sets the world's time, Greenwich Mean Time. As Dave said, this place is obsessed with clocks!! In the museum, there were all different kinds of clocks. Even an atomic clock. There is also a large telescope here. And, in one of the rooms, there was an ancient telescope that you could look through and see Pluto (as in Mickey and Pluto. Very Funny).
As we were walking through Greenwich, we decided that is was time for dinner. So, when you are in Greenwich, what do you eat? Tex Mex!! It was actually a really good meal. Then it was back to the hotel for baths and bed.
Whew. This was a really long note. I will try to divide up the rest for you. We have a lot of really cool things to see this week. I think we all will be really worn out by the time we leave on Sunday, but you only get to do this once, right? Until then!
Amy
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Furman weekly, May 2 - 8; Volume 3, Number 14
Hello again!!
Well, one more week has come and gone. It is amazing how fast our time is going by. We received news this week that Smiths Grand Rapids can't live without Dave any longer (It's terrible to be needed), so our return date is currently June 8. There are a lot of mixed feelings about this. As Andrew says, when he is here, he misses there, but when he is there, he misses here. I agree. I am not sure that I am ready to head home. I am so comfortable and relaxed here, but there are lots of things to look forward to at home. We seem to have two lives and we are about to return to our other one.
The week was fairly quiet. We are trying to rest up for the upcoming trip to London. Dave and I went out on Tuesday night. We are starting our "last time" visits to places. We went to the Chinese place and enjoyed our last nems. We had a nice time.
Then on Thursday, we invited the Wichmans (with their five kids) over to help us celebrate Cinco de Mayo. This is a Mexican holiday that is celebrated in Texas as well. We continue to celebrate it to honor Andrew's birth place. It is really an un-French holiday as it celebrates the defeat of the French army by the Mexicans, so we are pretty sure that we were the only ones celebrating. We had a good meal - we even found Cheddar cheese!! The kids had a good time playing and the adults had fun comparing notes on living in France. It's sad that we are leaving, when we are starting to feel so settled - friends, church - it's starting to feel like home.
Saturday, after sleeping in, we headed back to the Prehistoric parc near Foix. The boys wanted to see the rest of the park and to show Dave. We had a picnic on the way and arrived just in time to see a wedding party arrive. The grounds are really beautiful and they were having there reception at the restaurant on site. We toured the museum again (the boys were great considering that they had seen it a week before) and learned a little more about the items that have been found. Then we took in the rest of the park. We all got a chance to try the spear throwers. Michael and Andrew are getting really good. I hit the target on the first try, and Dave can throw really far.
From there we took in a few more of the displays, but the highlight was getting to try our had at cave painting. There was a cave "wall" set up with the three colors of paint that were used. After a brief introduction, we all tried our hand at painting. It was very messy, but lots of fun.
We were pretty worn out at this point, so we headed home. We decided to take the scenic route, which really paid off. Dave happened to glance out the side window, and what did he see? The A380 returning from it's third flight. It was preparing to land (the airport was about 15 miles away) so the landing gear was down. I was struck again by how graceful the plane is. It appears to be flying in slow motion. It flew directly over the car. We pulled off the road and watched it fly into the distance. It was really cool.
Today is Mother's day (in the states. It is next week in Europe. Do I get two?) and the boys did a great job making the day really fun. I slept in (oops, missed church), and had a great French breakfast of croissants, bagette, cheese, yogurt, orange juice, and jelly, and, of course, hot chocolate. Then I got to open presents. There was lots of chocolate, bath salts, and a monopoly Europe Edition. It is in Euros and you buy famous cities in Europe. It will be a game that can only be played with me because all the cards are in French! We played a game this afternoon (Andrew soundly beat everyone), I had a bath and we went for a nice bike ride in the sun. It was a really nice day.
Well, that's it for another week. We will have lots to tell you next week. My parents come back on Monday and leave on Thursday. Then we leave on Saturday morning to head to London. Should be interesting. We will keep you informed. Have a great week.
A bientot!
Amy
Well, one more week has come and gone. It is amazing how fast our time is going by. We received news this week that Smiths Grand Rapids can't live without Dave any longer (It's terrible to be needed), so our return date is currently June 8. There are a lot of mixed feelings about this. As Andrew says, when he is here, he misses there, but when he is there, he misses here. I agree. I am not sure that I am ready to head home. I am so comfortable and relaxed here, but there are lots of things to look forward to at home. We seem to have two lives and we are about to return to our other one.
The week was fairly quiet. We are trying to rest up for the upcoming trip to London. Dave and I went out on Tuesday night. We are starting our "last time" visits to places. We went to the Chinese place and enjoyed our last nems. We had a nice time.
Then on Thursday, we invited the Wichmans (with their five kids) over to help us celebrate Cinco de Mayo. This is a Mexican holiday that is celebrated in Texas as well. We continue to celebrate it to honor Andrew's birth place. It is really an un-French holiday as it celebrates the defeat of the French army by the Mexicans, so we are pretty sure that we were the only ones celebrating. We had a good meal - we even found Cheddar cheese!! The kids had a good time playing and the adults had fun comparing notes on living in France. It's sad that we are leaving, when we are starting to feel so settled - friends, church - it's starting to feel like home.
Saturday, after sleeping in, we headed back to the Prehistoric parc near Foix. The boys wanted to see the rest of the park and to show Dave. We had a picnic on the way and arrived just in time to see a wedding party arrive. The grounds are really beautiful and they were having there reception at the restaurant on site. We toured the museum again (the boys were great considering that they had seen it a week before) and learned a little more about the items that have been found. Then we took in the rest of the park. We all got a chance to try the spear throwers. Michael and Andrew are getting really good. I hit the target on the first try, and Dave can throw really far.
From there we took in a few more of the displays, but the highlight was getting to try our had at cave painting. There was a cave "wall" set up with the three colors of paint that were used. After a brief introduction, we all tried our hand at painting. It was very messy, but lots of fun.
We were pretty worn out at this point, so we headed home. We decided to take the scenic route, which really paid off. Dave happened to glance out the side window, and what did he see? The A380 returning from it's third flight. It was preparing to land (the airport was about 15 miles away) so the landing gear was down. I was struck again by how graceful the plane is. It appears to be flying in slow motion. It flew directly over the car. We pulled off the road and watched it fly into the distance. It was really cool.
Today is Mother's day (in the states. It is next week in Europe. Do I get two?) and the boys did a great job making the day really fun. I slept in (oops, missed church), and had a great French breakfast of croissants, bagette, cheese, yogurt, orange juice, and jelly, and, of course, hot chocolate. Then I got to open presents. There was lots of chocolate, bath salts, and a monopoly Europe Edition. It is in Euros and you buy famous cities in Europe. It will be a game that can only be played with me because all the cards are in French! We played a game this afternoon (Andrew soundly beat everyone), I had a bath and we went for a nice bike ride in the sun. It was a really nice day.
Well, that's it for another week. We will have lots to tell you next week. My parents come back on Monday and leave on Thursday. Then we leave on Saturday morning to head to London. Should be interesting. We will keep you informed. Have a great week.
A bientot!
Amy
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Furman weekly, April 25 - May 1; Volume 3, Number 13
Happy Labor Day everyone!! I hope this finds you well. We are still here and enjoying every minute of our brief time in Europe.
I thought that this week was going to be a quiet week of rest after rushing around for the last three weeks. I was wrong. It had been quite a busy one.
It started off quietly, with lots of laundry and the boys to the tutor's. Then on Wednesday we were up early to watch history as it happened. We went to the smith's office (at the end of the runway), climbed on the roof of the building (through a bathroom and up a ladder), and watched the A380's first flight. There were around 50,000 people watching, some having camped out all night. We got there about 30 minutes before the scheduled take off and had some of the best seats. It was really amazing. This huge plane was so graceful when it took off. And quiet, too. It is half as loud as a 747. The flight went really well and they are planning another for Monday. That one we will watch from the front yard. Then it was back down the ladder (the highlight of Michael's day) and home for lunch.
The next morning, my parents, the boys, and I left to do a little spelunking. We drove down past Foix to the Grotte de Niaux. This is a cave with 15,000 year old cave paintings that you can still see. We had a tour reserved at 1:00 and it turned out that we had the tour all to ourselves. So the five of us and the tour guide grabbed some flashlights (no electric lights so as to preserve the paintings) and headed into the cave. We walked in the dark through the caves for about 35 minutes before we reached the first paintings. They were in a dead end that had the most amazing echoes. The paintings were beautiful. The ones that we have seen in Lascaux were redone to look like they had when they were first drawn. These were obviously much older. It is amazing that any survived. In fact, the tour guide showed us one that had almost washed away in the span of a few days when the cave started draining a new way a few years ago. They had to adjust the flow of water to protect it. Incredible.
We spent about a hour and 45 minutes in the cave and saw two major painting sights. Then when we came out (surprised that it was daylight), we went to the prehistoric park near by. This one is much more modern and technologically advanced then the one near Lascaux II. In the first building, we wore headsets that were controlled by infrared lights. Where you were standing determined what the tape spoke about. There were many interesting displays along the way, including an exhibit of prehistoric artifacts and a recreation of the caves.
From this building, we went to a mock archeologist's dig. This was an opportunity for children to learn how to be an archeologist. The next class didn't start for 30 minutes though, so instead we continued exploring. There were neat paths through the woods and alongside a river that took you out onto a hunting plain. At this sight, there was an opportunity to learn to throw a spear using a spear thrower!! WOW!! We all took a turn and were pretty good with most of us hitting the targets.
Unfortunately, we learned that the park was closing then. We still had half the park to cover! We will definitely have to go back. It was really cool.
When we got up Friday morning, we learned that mom and dad had decided the night before, after we went to bed, to leave that morning on the train. So we dropped them off at the train station and wished them well. It should be interesting to see how their vacation goes.
Friday night we had the Reich's over for dinner and haircuts. We even figured out how to use the charcoal!! We had a very nice evening and wished them well as they head to Paris this week.
Saturday we finally had our rest day. We didn't do anything until late afternoon and then it was only a trip to the store for a few things. It was a good day and we are almost recovered from our travels.
This morning we had a totally new adventure. We went to church. The Toulouse International church is in a town right near here. We had been invited by a friend of Dave's at work. Although it is more new age and fundamental than we are used to, it was nice to be at church again. When we are here, we see a lot of churches, but don't ever go to church. This was a nice change to that pattern and I think that we will go again when we are in town on Sundays.
After church, we had lunch with the Wichman's (he invited us to church). They have 5 children, ages 3 1/2 to 14. We all had a great time. The boys especially had great fun playing with other children, something they have really been missing. We were there most of the day. We are going to schedule another visit soon.
Well, that's it for another week. We are quickly running out of them. We are looking to be home the second or third week of June, so the weeks are definitely numbered.
Until next week.
A bientot!!
Amy
I thought that this week was going to be a quiet week of rest after rushing around for the last three weeks. I was wrong. It had been quite a busy one.
It started off quietly, with lots of laundry and the boys to the tutor's. Then on Wednesday we were up early to watch history as it happened. We went to the smith's office (at the end of the runway), climbed on the roof of the building (through a bathroom and up a ladder), and watched the A380's first flight. There were around 50,000 people watching, some having camped out all night. We got there about 30 minutes before the scheduled take off and had some of the best seats. It was really amazing. This huge plane was so graceful when it took off. And quiet, too. It is half as loud as a 747. The flight went really well and they are planning another for Monday. That one we will watch from the front yard. Then it was back down the ladder (the highlight of Michael's day) and home for lunch.
The next morning, my parents, the boys, and I left to do a little spelunking. We drove down past Foix to the Grotte de Niaux. This is a cave with 15,000 year old cave paintings that you can still see. We had a tour reserved at 1:00 and it turned out that we had the tour all to ourselves. So the five of us and the tour guide grabbed some flashlights (no electric lights so as to preserve the paintings) and headed into the cave. We walked in the dark through the caves for about 35 minutes before we reached the first paintings. They were in a dead end that had the most amazing echoes. The paintings were beautiful. The ones that we have seen in Lascaux were redone to look like they had when they were first drawn. These were obviously much older. It is amazing that any survived. In fact, the tour guide showed us one that had almost washed away in the span of a few days when the cave started draining a new way a few years ago. They had to adjust the flow of water to protect it. Incredible.
We spent about a hour and 45 minutes in the cave and saw two major painting sights. Then when we came out (surprised that it was daylight), we went to the prehistoric park near by. This one is much more modern and technologically advanced then the one near Lascaux II. In the first building, we wore headsets that were controlled by infrared lights. Where you were standing determined what the tape spoke about. There were many interesting displays along the way, including an exhibit of prehistoric artifacts and a recreation of the caves.
From this building, we went to a mock archeologist's dig. This was an opportunity for children to learn how to be an archeologist. The next class didn't start for 30 minutes though, so instead we continued exploring. There were neat paths through the woods and alongside a river that took you out onto a hunting plain. At this sight, there was an opportunity to learn to throw a spear using a spear thrower!! WOW!! We all took a turn and were pretty good with most of us hitting the targets.
Unfortunately, we learned that the park was closing then. We still had half the park to cover! We will definitely have to go back. It was really cool.
When we got up Friday morning, we learned that mom and dad had decided the night before, after we went to bed, to leave that morning on the train. So we dropped them off at the train station and wished them well. It should be interesting to see how their vacation goes.
Friday night we had the Reich's over for dinner and haircuts. We even figured out how to use the charcoal!! We had a very nice evening and wished them well as they head to Paris this week.
Saturday we finally had our rest day. We didn't do anything until late afternoon and then it was only a trip to the store for a few things. It was a good day and we are almost recovered from our travels.
This morning we had a totally new adventure. We went to church. The Toulouse International church is in a town right near here. We had been invited by a friend of Dave's at work. Although it is more new age and fundamental than we are used to, it was nice to be at church again. When we are here, we see a lot of churches, but don't ever go to church. This was a nice change to that pattern and I think that we will go again when we are in town on Sundays.
After church, we had lunch with the Wichman's (he invited us to church). They have 5 children, ages 3 1/2 to 14. We all had a great time. The boys especially had great fun playing with other children, something they have really been missing. We were there most of the day. We are going to schedule another visit soon.
Well, that's it for another week. We are quickly running out of them. We are looking to be home the second or third week of June, so the weeks are definitely numbered.
Until next week.
A bientot!!
Amy
Monday, April 25, 2005
Furman weekly, April 22 - 24; Volume 3, Number 12
Wow. What a week! We are really worn out. This has been a really tiring week. We saw lots of really cool things, but we worked hard to do it.
We got up on Friday and had breakfast in the rooms, after wishing Grandpa happy birthday. Then we all packed into the car (it is kind of crowded with the six of us and the luggage) and headed to Italy. We didn't have a hard time leaving Geneva. It was much better than when we arrived. We did have one stop on the way to Italy; Mount Blanc, the highest peak in Europe. We stopped to look at the peak (and the other mountains in the Alps), and then drove UNDER it!! The tunnel took about 20 minutes, and when we came out, we were on the other side of the Alps and in Italy.
We drove for another few hours and finally arrived in Turin (Turino). We were going to skip checking in until after a little sight-seeing, but we stumbled across the hotel as we were entering town. So we checked in and picked up a map. It was very helpful! Turin is about as well marked as Geneva. But, armed with a map, we made our way to the Museo dell Automobile (Automobile museum). Turin is the Detroit of Italy, making brands like Fiat and Ferrari. They had some really cool displays of old cars starting with a model A and a model T through modern cars. They even had some steam engine cars. We had a good time wondering through the displays and were pleased that some of the displays had English translations.
Then we headed off to the Borgo Medioevala, a reconstructed medieval village. It was built in 1884. It is a small cluster of buildings, dwellings, workshops, and stores all looking onto one street with a castle at the end. The castle was really cool, but we didn't get much out of the tour. It was only in Italian. We walked through the town and felt like we were in the middle ages due to the large numbers of knights and ladies running through the streets. (A school had been making clothes and armor out of crape paper and had been let loose to have a battle.)
We walked back to the car by way of the river and park. After resting in the hotel for about an hour, we went to a restaurant recommended by the front desk. Time for PIZZA!! Because restaurants don't open until 8:00 (even later than in France), it was a late night. We had great pizza, though. The wait staff had a good time trying to teach us Italian, and thought we were very funny. It was a wonderful meal and we look forward to our next meal.
From there it was off to bed. Saturday was going to be a big day. We have all of Turin to see in one day!!
Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we drove into Turin. Amazingly, we were able to find a free (read not pay) parking space! We then walked to our first stop, Duomo di San Giovanni. While it is a beautiful church in its own right, this is the church that houses The Shroud of Turin. This is the 4 yard sheet of linen that many believe to be the burial shroud of Christ. Although the actual shroud is next scheduled for public viewing in 2025, we saw the case that holds it. There was also a striking, full sized photo copy. There was a person constantly narrating the copy, always in Italian. However, we could see the outline of a man that was obviously hurt when he died. Andrew was very impressed with how clearly you can see the outline of a face. I found it very moving to stand before the case holding the shroud.
From there we moved on to the Palazzo Reale. This is a 17th century castle. Unfortunately, the Italians don't seem to be very organized and the next tour was at 1:00 (it was 11:30), so we bought tickets for the tour and went to see the San Lorenzo church. This was a really beautiful church. It is very different from any church we have ever seen. It was circular and the guide book says that it was designed by the architect, Guariano Guarini, at his best. It was very hard to explain, so I will have to let the pictures speak for themselves. There was also a side alcove with a copy of the shroud (much less crowded) and selves showing the articles of the passion. There was a replica of the crown of thorns (matched to the wounds on the shroud), samples of the nails that would have been used, and some of the whips that would have been used (also matching the wounds on the back).
We have a quick lunch of Panini, al fresco, before heading back to the tour. Although the tour was in Italian, we enjoyed the beautiful rooms and the brief written translations into English. We also met a man from England (and Canada) who was on holiday. He offered to translate if the tour was in German or Dutch, while I offered the same for French. No luck though. The castle was decorated similar to Versailles. Lots of paintings and gold. I'm sure we would have gotten more out of it if we had understood the tour. :)
I forgot to mention that Turin is the sight of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Knowing that, we knew that there was going to be some road construction while they put in a subway system. We didn't see much of that. What we did see was the whole town "sprucing up." Many of the statues were covered up and being cleaned. Many buildings as well. In fact, the next thing we tried to see. The Queen's castle is right across the square from the Palazzo Reale. However, it was closed and looked like it was being remodeled. So we moved on, consoling ourselves with gelato (ice cream) on the way.
We had quite a walk to get to the twin churches of San Carlo and San Cristina. These two churches are built right next to each other (both in the 17th century) on Piazza San Carlo. The Piazza (plaza) was described to us as one of the most beautiful in Turin. We missed the piazza, walked right on by. When we finally found it, we knew why we walked by. It is not there. It has been replaced by a hole in the ground. Apparently, they are redoing the piazza. Because the churches open onto the square, they were closed as well. We have learned that you shouldn't visit a town that is hosting the Olympics the next year. Everything is being closed in preparation for the next year!!
We then ran into the British man from the castle. It turns out he owns a bed and breakfast in Canada and invited my parents up for a stay!
We walked back to almost where we started to go to two museums that are housed in the same building, Museo Egizio and Galleria Sabauda. The Galleria is a collection of paintings from the house of Savoy (the royal family). It sounded very impressive and we were looking forward to seeing it. However, it was also close in preparation for the Olympics. So we had to settle on just the Museo. This was really cool. It is called the Egyptian museum. There were statues of Pharaohs, real mummies in real sarcophaguses, and entire tombs transplanted there. It is one of the best museums of its kind. We had a great time and the kids were very fascinated with the mummies and the food and things that were buried with them.
We were all really worn out by this time, so we headed back to the hotel to give the boys baths. We then got another recommendation for a restaurant, this time we requested pasta. The first option was closed, the second full, but the third was open. It appeared that the front desk misunderstood our request, because this was a seafood restaurant. Very traditional Italian food, but hard on Dave. He settled for the calzone, and the rest of us took the recommendation of the waiter. What we got was a pasta with mussels, calamari, squid, and a prawn. UGH!! Definitely not what I would have picked. I suffered through and most of it was pretty good. The highpoint of the meal was the dessert. You get to pick out three!!! Yummy.
We took our time in the morning and were on the road by around 10:30. When we left Turin, it started raining. As we climbed in the Alps, it started snowing. By the time we left the tunnel on the other side, it was raining again and it rained the whole way home. We got home around 7:30. A very long day. Needless to say we are tired out. Hopefully we will rest up this week.
Well, I hope you enjoyed our adventures this week. We sure did. You probably won't hear from us for a week now. Hope you are all well. We miss you.
Amy
We got up on Friday and had breakfast in the rooms, after wishing Grandpa happy birthday. Then we all packed into the car (it is kind of crowded with the six of us and the luggage) and headed to Italy. We didn't have a hard time leaving Geneva. It was much better than when we arrived. We did have one stop on the way to Italy; Mount Blanc, the highest peak in Europe. We stopped to look at the peak (and the other mountains in the Alps), and then drove UNDER it!! The tunnel took about 20 minutes, and when we came out, we were on the other side of the Alps and in Italy.
We drove for another few hours and finally arrived in Turin (Turino). We were going to skip checking in until after a little sight-seeing, but we stumbled across the hotel as we were entering town. So we checked in and picked up a map. It was very helpful! Turin is about as well marked as Geneva. But, armed with a map, we made our way to the Museo dell Automobile (Automobile museum). Turin is the Detroit of Italy, making brands like Fiat and Ferrari. They had some really cool displays of old cars starting with a model A and a model T through modern cars. They even had some steam engine cars. We had a good time wondering through the displays and were pleased that some of the displays had English translations.
Then we headed off to the Borgo Medioevala, a reconstructed medieval village. It was built in 1884. It is a small cluster of buildings, dwellings, workshops, and stores all looking onto one street with a castle at the end. The castle was really cool, but we didn't get much out of the tour. It was only in Italian. We walked through the town and felt like we were in the middle ages due to the large numbers of knights and ladies running through the streets. (A school had been making clothes and armor out of crape paper and had been let loose to have a battle.)
We walked back to the car by way of the river and park. After resting in the hotel for about an hour, we went to a restaurant recommended by the front desk. Time for PIZZA!! Because restaurants don't open until 8:00 (even later than in France), it was a late night. We had great pizza, though. The wait staff had a good time trying to teach us Italian, and thought we were very funny. It was a wonderful meal and we look forward to our next meal.
From there it was off to bed. Saturday was going to be a big day. We have all of Turin to see in one day!!
Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we drove into Turin. Amazingly, we were able to find a free (read not pay) parking space! We then walked to our first stop, Duomo di San Giovanni. While it is a beautiful church in its own right, this is the church that houses The Shroud of Turin. This is the 4 yard sheet of linen that many believe to be the burial shroud of Christ. Although the actual shroud is next scheduled for public viewing in 2025, we saw the case that holds it. There was also a striking, full sized photo copy. There was a person constantly narrating the copy, always in Italian. However, we could see the outline of a man that was obviously hurt when he died. Andrew was very impressed with how clearly you can see the outline of a face. I found it very moving to stand before the case holding the shroud.
From there we moved on to the Palazzo Reale. This is a 17th century castle. Unfortunately, the Italians don't seem to be very organized and the next tour was at 1:00 (it was 11:30), so we bought tickets for the tour and went to see the San Lorenzo church. This was a really beautiful church. It is very different from any church we have ever seen. It was circular and the guide book says that it was designed by the architect, Guariano Guarini, at his best. It was very hard to explain, so I will have to let the pictures speak for themselves. There was also a side alcove with a copy of the shroud (much less crowded) and selves showing the articles of the passion. There was a replica of the crown of thorns (matched to the wounds on the shroud), samples of the nails that would have been used, and some of the whips that would have been used (also matching the wounds on the back).
We have a quick lunch of Panini, al fresco, before heading back to the tour. Although the tour was in Italian, we enjoyed the beautiful rooms and the brief written translations into English. We also met a man from England (and Canada) who was on holiday. He offered to translate if the tour was in German or Dutch, while I offered the same for French. No luck though. The castle was decorated similar to Versailles. Lots of paintings and gold. I'm sure we would have gotten more out of it if we had understood the tour. :)
I forgot to mention that Turin is the sight of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Knowing that, we knew that there was going to be some road construction while they put in a subway system. We didn't see much of that. What we did see was the whole town "sprucing up." Many of the statues were covered up and being cleaned. Many buildings as well. In fact, the next thing we tried to see. The Queen's castle is right across the square from the Palazzo Reale. However, it was closed and looked like it was being remodeled. So we moved on, consoling ourselves with gelato (ice cream) on the way.
We had quite a walk to get to the twin churches of San Carlo and San Cristina. These two churches are built right next to each other (both in the 17th century) on Piazza San Carlo. The Piazza (plaza) was described to us as one of the most beautiful in Turin. We missed the piazza, walked right on by. When we finally found it, we knew why we walked by. It is not there. It has been replaced by a hole in the ground. Apparently, they are redoing the piazza. Because the churches open onto the square, they were closed as well. We have learned that you shouldn't visit a town that is hosting the Olympics the next year. Everything is being closed in preparation for the next year!!
We then ran into the British man from the castle. It turns out he owns a bed and breakfast in Canada and invited my parents up for a stay!
We walked back to almost where we started to go to two museums that are housed in the same building, Museo Egizio and Galleria Sabauda. The Galleria is a collection of paintings from the house of Savoy (the royal family). It sounded very impressive and we were looking forward to seeing it. However, it was also close in preparation for the Olympics. So we had to settle on just the Museo. This was really cool. It is called the Egyptian museum. There were statues of Pharaohs, real mummies in real sarcophaguses, and entire tombs transplanted there. It is one of the best museums of its kind. We had a great time and the kids were very fascinated with the mummies and the food and things that were buried with them.
We were all really worn out by this time, so we headed back to the hotel to give the boys baths. We then got another recommendation for a restaurant, this time we requested pasta. The first option was closed, the second full, but the third was open. It appeared that the front desk misunderstood our request, because this was a seafood restaurant. Very traditional Italian food, but hard on Dave. He settled for the calzone, and the rest of us took the recommendation of the waiter. What we got was a pasta with mussels, calamari, squid, and a prawn. UGH!! Definitely not what I would have picked. I suffered through and most of it was pretty good. The highpoint of the meal was the dessert. You get to pick out three!!! Yummy.
We took our time in the morning and were on the road by around 10:30. When we left Turin, it started raining. As we climbed in the Alps, it started snowing. By the time we left the tunnel on the other side, it was raining again and it rained the whole way home. We got home around 7:30. A very long day. Needless to say we are tired out. Hopefully we will rest up this week.
Well, I hope you enjoyed our adventures this week. We sure did. You probably won't hear from us for a week now. Hope you are all well. We miss you.
Amy