Paris, Day One - Friday.

The day began with a bumpy start, literally. As we stood on the station platform watching our train to London approach, Stewart noticed a definite "clunking" noise underneath the front carriage. I shrugged, figuring it was nothing more than the rickety tracks of Portslade Station, and boarded the train.

30 minutes later, sitting on a locked train with no air conditioning OR electricity, we were informed by the conducter that there "might" be a problem. He said they were working on the "technical problem", and that he would update us with any details post haste. More minutes passed. Stewart and I had started giving each other worried glances at this point, and he was busy watching them outside of the window work on the train. FINALLY the conductor came back and gave us the cause for our delay. He said, and I quote:

"There appeared to be several large planks of wood stuck underneath the train. In order to solve this problem, we have taken something very large and very heavy, and hit the wood very hard."

Everyone chuckled, the train lurched, and we were on our way.

The time? 2:30. We were still over an hour away from London, and then we were several underground stops, and a passport control away from boarding our Eurostar to Paris.
But we made it to the Eurostar terminal without event.... and boarded the train right on time.

We noticed immediately that our seats were facing backwards. Fun. I love to travel 185 mph in reverse!

It was on the Eurostar that I realized why American have a bad reputation in Europe.
Seated directly across the aisle from us, was a young American man (although I still claim he was Canadian!). He was busy chatting with the poor English guy beside of him, asking really idiot questions about the Eurostar, but that's not all. 15 minutes into the journey, he proceeded to whip out from his backpack an entire deli department. I'm talking a whole loaf of bread, jars of mayo, mustard, and a huge pack of assorted deli cuts.

So he's over there making himself a sandwhich, asking the poor English man if he wants one with crumbs spraying everywhere... and then the stench hits me. I'm talking SERIOUS STENCH. This guy has obviously been walking around with this deli meat in the 84 degrees all day. It STUNK. I'm talking rotten catfood kind of stink. How he ate that stuff is beyond me, it really is.

Here I am, already feeling slightly gross at the prospect of speeding at nearly 200 mph backwards... inhaling these toxic fumes. I nearly upchucked all over myself.

He continued to eat until most of the bread, and every. single. slice. of meat was disposed of.
I'm sure he got really great views of Paris from the toilet in his hostel.

We made it to Paris without incident, in 2 hours and 35 minutes. We checked into our hotel by 10:30pm, and planned to start our day in Paris first thing in the morning.

So ends, part one. ;)

A shock to the system....

If you have noticed, in the column next to my blog there is a link you can click to see the weather in Brighton, England. I rely on that link to keep my eye on the weather, since the Europeans don't seem to believe in the weather channel.

I just checked that link this morning to see what our last week in England has in store for us. The temperature isn't going to hit 70 until Saturday, which is the day we leave.

So I decided to go to http://www.weather.com and check on the weather at MY house, in Matthews, NC.

Ummm.... a heat index of 105? 109?

Insanity!!!

All I have to say is... Thank GOD for CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!

Bonjour!

We're back from Paris!!
I have lots of little stories to share, so I'll have to break them down when I have some time into seperate blog entries. It's going to be a crazy week since this is our last one here!! So much to do to get ready to come home.

But no worries, I will share Paris! I promise!

Au Revoir

Tomorrow, we are dumping the children off at the inlaws, catching a train into London, and boarding the Eurostar bound for Paris!

It's a short weekend, but are looking forward to getting some time alone, and seeing the sights.

Pictures to come when we get back on Sunday Evening.

Footnote:

The Eurostar travels at speeds in excess of 180MPH. I'm not so sure about traveling at that speed! Eeek!

The Bluebell Railway

Today we had a fun morning!

We loaded up in the car and headed out to the Bluebell railway. The Bluebell railway is an historic railway in the Southeast of England... they have taken measures to preserve old steam engines, their carriages, and even old abandoned platforms/stations in their "war time" state. It was really very interesting, and very pretty -- and of course Christian LOVED the fact that he got to ride on a real life TRAIN, just like Thomas!

Some photos of the Bluebell....

The Station:



What is a train station without a pub?





An old fashioned "fire extinguisher"...



The steam engine...



Waiting impatiently for the conductor to blow the whistle! All ABOARD!



The train at Kingscote Station, getting ready to head back...



Wartime "memorabilia"...

Is that what you call sea life?

What a sad sad trip to the sea life centre.

The bus ride there was where my agony began... as we were attempting to get off the bus from the second floor, the impatient bus driver decided everyone had gotten off at that stop and took off before we were even down the stairs. So I thought well, no big deal - bus stops are usually one right after the other and walking distance in between really.... but good GRIEF this bus must have gone nearly a MILE before stopping again! So it was off to a bad start. Add on top of that the fact that I was cussed out by an old man getting off the bus because I accidentally bumped my stroller into him as I struggled to get myself, three kids, a bag, and the stroller off the &*$^#&^$%#&%$ bus. Let's just say that Christ was with me, because if I had been in the flesh I would have 100% told that old man to swivel. Instead I apologized profusely. Maybe had that crotchety old man offered to, oh, I dunno - HELP ME - he might not have gotten a stroller beating.

We finally arrived to the Sea Life Centre and met Nanny... late, but safe.

First of all, there were so many foreign tour groups in the place that at one point I was almost positive I was in Hong Kong. So many flash bulbs that my eyes still see spots! Second of all, we paid over 26 POUNDS to get in... that was with a get one free coupon, and me lying that Christian was still two! 26GBP = almost 50$!!!! It was pathetic. We were in and out of there in under an hour. The biggest deal was their "shark tank" which housed one really sad looking nurse shark that might have quite possibly been dead and just stuffed for effect.

Christian was petrified of the entire thing, thinking that the octopus was going to break thru the glass and eat him (I am sure this stems from being forced to watch JAWS at PaPa's house, as that is where my insane fear of Sharks in Swimming Pools comes from). It really was a really crappy day. Hot, and crappy.

After we waded thru the mass of picture happy Japanese Tourists (honestly, guys, that isn't a stereotype. It's the God's Honest Truth) we went back up and had at the very least a nice lunch at one of the seaside pubs.

By nice, I mean they gave me two ice cubes, instead of none.

God Bless the USA.

Even the kids are tired.

Maddie said to me yesterday... "I really miss America. The beds there are much nicer and softer."

Charlotte expressed a concern about if her bitty babies would remember who she was yesterday, and Christian keeps asking "Which home?" when we tell him it's time to go home from somewhere.

We have less than two weeks left here, and like I said before I truly want to enjoy it the best I can. But homesickness really does loom heavy!

Today, Stewart is in London, and I am meeting Gloria down by the seaside to take the kids to the sea life centre. It's really boring if I remember correctly, but it's a good way to kill a half a day anyways.

On Wednesday, we are going to the Bluebell Railway, a scenic steam train, and then on Thursday we are attempting a trip to Little Hampton, which is a touristy beach. Then of course on Friday, we are leaving for Paris!!!! Sans kids of course.

I feel like I don't have much to blog about nowadays, because the excitement of being over here in a new place has kind of worn off at this point and now we are just biding our time before we come home. But I'm determined to keep this up until we leave!

Note to Self: Don't Use Blowdryers Overseas

I wake up to chaos at my house this morning. Children running everywhere, everyone demanding something at the same time (usually on two different levels of the house), trying to get everyone bathed, dressed, fed, and watered before we left for church was enough to make me want to crawl back into bed and just admit defeat to the day.

Of course, as always, I left my own preparations to the last minute.

I snuck off to the third floor of the house, in a lame attempt to get 5 minutes of peace, only to be greeted by my son, diaper-less, exclaiming to me (and the neighbors, and probably half of South East England) that he has a "GIANT HUGE weiner".

I shushed him down the stairs, made a mental note that the grossness of men really DOES start from birth, and hurried thru my shower.

At 9:50, I began to panic. Charlotte refused to get her shoes on, Madison was crying because she wanted to wear the red dress and NOT the green one, and Christian was still telling anyone who would listen about what was in his pants. I quickly threw on my clothes, threw on my make up, and then ran into the bedroom to dry my hair.

I was greeted in the bedroom by Stewart, who was busy getting himself dressed. We were bickering back and forth over what he should wear vs. what he WANTED to wear, and I turned my back to him in and a huff to plug the hairdryer in (thru our travel electricity adapter) at which time it EXPLODED. Fire shot from the plug, and large ***BAM** richocheted thru the air, smoke started to seep out of the socket. I was thrown backwards a bit, and the alarm began to screech.

Fast forward 30 minutes.

The alarm is still screeching.
I can't feel my fingers.
Our ride is here.

After attempting to get in touch with our landlord, we just gave up, cut the mains, and left. The huge racket ceased, but the small alarm under the stairs kept screeching wildly. I am sure the neighbors loved us this morning.

I am assuming that the alarm has just used up his battery at this point, because when we got home it was quiet in the house.

My hair dried into it's standard frizzy mess, and I finally regained feeling back in my left hand.

Stupid electricity.
You'd think they would make that crap UNIVERSAL!!!!

Paris!

Today was a good day.

We went to my FIL's baptismal service. This was important to us, since we were there when he became a Christian, and he has waited until we were able to be here to be baptized. It was a very emotional day for all of us. What a wonderful blessing his testimony was!

We booked our Paris tickets!

We will be spending next weekend in The City of Romance... taking the Eurostar there thru the channel tunnel, and staying in what I *think* is a one of the fancy districts in the city. We'll see. I wonder if this trip will change my attitude towards the French? ;)

Brighton Beach Memoirs

Another hot day on the south coast of Brighton today, but the Draper family made the best of it!!! We loaded up this morning, hit lunch, and then drove down to the shore. We played in the "sand", ate ice cream, and swam in the sea.

It was a good day.

English "Sand" -



Building "sand" castles... when the tide went down enough, you could catch glimpses of good building sand!





Everyone playing on the shore....Nanny and Grandad included!

To the beach!

Well it's 4am your time, but it's nice and sunny and warm mid morning here in England, and we are gearing up for a trip down to the beach.

We've tracked the tide times, so hopefully we can go when the tide is the lowest - so we can go down and play in the sand at the water's edge. Brighton Beach, you see, is all pebbles and smooth stone. So if you want to play in the sand, you have to wait until the tide is all the way out. And I'm not sure if what is underneath that really counts as sand... I'm thinking it's more like "sea muck". Pictures, to come of course, later today or tomorrow.

I feel like my blogs have been fairly boring for the past few days, but to be honest we've pretty boring the last few days. It's been hot, and we've all just been grumpy. Ready for life back in the states. Now that we have a deadline to this trip in site, we are going to try and have more fun while we're here. Believe it or not, there are some things that I will miss about this summer.

More later.

The Great British Summer

This heat wave has just been crazy the last four days!! Today in London they were expecting it to be nearly 95. That's just inhumane without air conditioning!! It wasn't too awful here in Hove, but bad enough. I believe the heat wave is meant to be heading out of here tomorrow... I am looking forward to getting my nice 70ish weather back! Of course, I will me longing for the mid 80's once I am back home in the states, and I'm dealing with the heat and humidity that I know everyone is suffering with over there right now!

This ad is great that I am sharing with you tonite -- although with the current weather, it's not quite accurate! Of course, this is a freak freak occurence (I'm starting to really believe in Global Warming!!!) and my in laws assure me that the ad isn't far from the truth.

We're Coming Home!

OK, not NOW... but we are coming home sooner rather than later!! Our flights have been rescheduled and we're now going to be back on US soil August 5. A little over two weeks!

It has been a great summer, but I'm ready to get home to my house now. I miss home. 6 weeks feels like an eternity when you are away from your home, and your comfort zone!

I can't wait to see my friends and family!

When Will I See You Again?

This is an ad that they continually run on BBC here. The ads over here continally traumatize me, but this one takes the cake. He he he. Just thought I would share. You can pretend your in the UK with me, watching quality TV on BBC! If you're lucky, they will repeat that documentary they had on last night about Feral Children raised by DOGS!

Hades.

It's so hot already, and it's not even 10am.
Double glazing on windows over here act as a greenhouse, I'm sure of it.

I think this is a crime against humanity. Surely A/C is a basic American right. Should I put a phone call into the embassy?

We have a big week planned.... after today. Hopefully the weather will relax and fun will be had by all.

Holy HOT.

Heatwave!!!

Today it topped out at nearly 85 here in Hove, and tomorrow the high is creeping towards 90. Poor Stewart, he'll be in London in a wool blend suit where the weather (thanks to the smog and pavement) is meant to hit well past 90.

I wouldn't be so eggy about the heat wave if anyone had blasted air conditioning here.

My house is like a furnace today.... so so so hot. Everyone is just hot and miserable.

Counting down until Thursday when the heat breaks.

To The Blockbuster Video on Blatchington Road, Hove, England....

Dear Blockbuster on Blatchington Road,

After traveling twenty minutes on a hot, muggy bus that smelled vaguely of body odor.... carrying three children and a stroller on board with me to get to your establishment, you told me I wasn't allowed to rent movies from you.

I know I looked a bit disheveled and perhaps a little like a vagrant.... but Public Transportation and I just don't get along really.

Honestly, you could have cut me a break. After all, I am stuck here in this house with no car, no air conditioning, and no real TV. All I wanted was a few DVD's to plug the kids in front of so I'm not driven completely insane before August 16. But NOOOO, my name isn't Stewart Draper. Even though my last name is Draper, I have Stewart Draper's blockbuster membership card - it just wasn't enough proof for you was it?

So in conclusion, I would just like to say thank you for the Migraine, Blockbuster on Blatchington Road. You provided a great (albeit pointless) hour break in the day. Of course, it would have been better to come away with movies instead of three shrieking, screaming, children.

ARRRRRRRRGH!

Comments, anyone?

I just realized that I have had my security settings set on my blog so that only those of you who are registered already with blogger could comment. Well BAH to that! I've changed it now, so anyone can leave me a note. Notes are appreciated. ;) I'm bored here, with little access to Americans... show me some love!

Devil's Dyke

Today we took a trip up to Devil's Dyke. I would be lying if I told you I knew exactly what a Dyke was, but what I do know is it's high up, hard to get to, and the views are spectacular. It's part of the famed Sussex South Downs!

We ventured down to the city centre before lunch, and caught one of the open top buses up to the Dyke. The kids loved being up there on the bus... it was like a giant convertible!

We spent a couple of hours there... hiking, eating ice cream, and finishing up with a great pub lunch at the pub that sits atop the Dyke.

Some pictures from our day...

Daddy and Christian:



Sisters:



Some shots of the countryside view:





And Christian, by the end of the day, waiting for our bus home in Churchill Square...

Homesick.

In the fifth week now, going on six if I can count... and I'm getting homesick!! I miss my creature comforts... my friends, my family, my horse. As I sat outside in the sun shivering this afternoon at lunch, I even miss the North Carolina Heat!!!

I'm such a homebody... I really am.

And while I am so grateful for this opportunity for my family... especially for my husband, and for my kids who I think deserve to know who they are and where they come from... after all, they are as much English as they are American...

... I am ready to go home now.

Drusilla's

Last week we went to Drusilla's Zoo, which is a little zoo park outside of the Brighton area in a little town called Alfriston. It's actually a really great zoo and the kids loved it. They had a great time. It was a good way to get out of the house and into the sunshine!

Maddie was pleased to see the baby Shetland Ponies of course, Charlotte really liked everything weird and icky, and Christian true to form was more excited about the train that ran thru the park and the diggers in the exhibits they were remodeling. Ah, well.

Hopefully this can be my last "update post" -- I feel like I have kind of caught up now. He he he. I've been living in the past for the last few days! Hopefully my next posts can be in the present tense.

What did we do without internet access before?!

Arundel

Well this post is like over a week old now, but I wanted to share the pictures anywho. When my sister and brother in law were over, we took some time to get out into the country to visit the village of Arundel, which is built around the River of Arun. The really interesting thing about Arundel is the huge castle which still resides there, and which is still lived in! Built in the early 1100's, it's still standing and spectacular. The grounds are gorgeous too. The whole place makes me want to live in a castle. ;)

Some pictures of the village and the surrounding grounds of the castle....









Some shots of the castle, and the view from the "keep" at the very top...







The cathedral in the village....



And finally, the Draper Family, atop the Keep.

Internet?!

It looks like we are covered and up and in action!!! Phew. At the moment, our connection is still a little sketchy... I'm not a big fan of DSL. Hopefully we'll have the kinks worked out soon. I swear, the English make everything a million times more complicated than it has to be -- and they wonder why they lost the war.

Missing In Action

My friend Kelli had this to say about my disappearance from the internet:

"Today I am pretty sure she got on the wrong bus and is wandering hopelessly in Scotland. She may have stumbled into St Andrews for some fun shopping along the way but I'm pretty sure she is on the brink of starvation b/c she can't understand the wait staff in any restaurant. She keeps getting chips and brown sauce no matter what she orders and that my friends, is downright nasty. Poor poor girl."

Good guess, and probably on any other given day it could have been quite true -- but it turns out that we have just been under the stress of moving, and BoA screw ups.

After losing our internet at the inlaws LAST week when a major out of character storm rolled in off the sea and over the downs, we moved into our house finally on Saturday (almost a week late due to banking errors all over the place)... and now we are waiting patiently for our broadband to activate. I'm so so lost without my email and my blog and most of all my connections to my friends and family back in America! I miss you all... hopefully I will be back with real blogs ASAP. I have lots of pictures to share!

A world cup loss, gay pride, and other interesting tidbits

London yesterday was the by far the most interesting London trip that I have ever been on.

For the most part, I really love London. But I realized yesterday as I stood in a crowded tube with several people that hadn't heard of the many riches of deodorant, that every time I have ever been to London (and I have been now going on 6 times) that I have visited in the early spring or winter. Never have I seen so many people all crowded into the city!!! I am so used to my leisurely strolls thru the gardens, the lingering at the palace gates with no one else even remotely bumping into me. Shopping at a half empty Oxford Circus, dining at non crowded restaurant full of locals at Trafalgar Square... or even just leisurely walking up and down the Thames, watching the crazy locals on bike boats and sampling the fruits of the street vendors.

There was none of that yesterday.

There was pushing, shoving, nearly dying on the subway. A heat wave which had people in this part of the country gasping for air and definitely deodorant. SOOO many tourists that at one point I was sure that no one that spoke English actually LIVED in London.

Yesterday also happened to be Europride... a giant gay pride event that takes place in London and seemed to encompass every gay person in Europe. I heard germans, russians, french... the lot. I have seen every form of transsexual, seen every version of leather hot pants, and have seen enough grown men in their underpants to last me a lifetime. They actually shut down entire STREETS for this. Trafalgar - shut down. Oxford - shut down. Leiscter - shut down. It was madness!!!!

Now, take that mental picture (by the way, Stewart's favorite view from that event was the five grown men in leather open backed/front chaps, wearing chains around their necks and black leather masks, chained to a 'master'. ) and add on drunk, young, England fans... chanting profanity of all sorts in the streets. Now, imagine that England lost (not so hard to imagine, because they DID) and try and combine the two. Drunk young TICKED OFF England fans and flaming gay grown men in hotpants, waving around PINK England Flags....

So it was definitely a different side of London.

Next time I go, it will be during the week, off commuter times, and preferably in a season WITHOUT the tourists.