Summer in Europe and back to Oz 

June 21st 2012 to Sept 30th 2012

From Norway to N. Wales

Tuesday 20th June - We had no real plans other than we were to meet up with Bob and Diane in France in last week of August and we had booked flights back to Sydney via HK on September 30th. Apart from that the world (or at least what could be reached in a Skoda) was our oyster.

Our first stop was going to be Oslo, Willy had some old friends he wanted to catch up with so we decided to spend a few days in Oslo on the way through to Fredrickstad. The problem with Oslo is the cost of accommodation it's a killer. 

Jan kindly let us use what was his old dental workshop which was no longer used, fortunately it's right in the middle of Oslo so in spite of being subterranean it's very handy if a little spooky.

Camping in Sweden with
the new tent

We catch up with some of Willy's old friend, I do the Vigerland sculpture park again and then carry on down to Fredrikstad to see Kirsten for a few days.  By now summer had arrived and the weather was really nice, lots of evening barbeques which in the long Norway evenings was really nice.

Sunset on a Zealand Beach

Thursday 28th June - Time to leave, we decide to make our exit via Sweden rather than taking the ferry to Denmark. The first stop was Gotenburg where we found a great campsite down by the water. Camping was now a little easier as we had a new tent which  I had brought over from the UK so we were better prepared for all weather camping

Design Museum Copehagen

From there we moved on to Copenhagen for the weekend staying at a hotel very near the Tivoli Gardens which we didn't actually visit. Copenhagen is a really nice city with only one problem - people smoke in bars. It's make you realise just how anti-social smoking is.  Anyway apart from that the place is really nice, we visit the Design Museum and I wander around on a really sunny Sunday afternoon and came across a giant sand castle building competition next to the opera house.  

Design Museum

The people are very friendly but it feels like a land of giants, everyone seems to be really tall and very well built - can be a little intimidating as they do tend to drink rather a lot and after about 10.00 at night there seems to be no sober people anywhere, fortunately they are very pleasant drunks just a a bit daunting.

Sand Castle competition
& Opera House

From Copenhagen we moved on to the coast of Zetland and camp there for a couple of nights. I have never considered Denmark to be a particularly interesting country but there is some really nice country side and beaches, considering it's really all a giant sand dune!

Torunn and Ole

July 8th Saturday - William looks up an ex-flat mate of his from his days in Oslo. She normally lives near Copehangen but when we call is on holiday with her husband on the far north of Jutland at a place called Torup Strand.  Torunn and Ole have a beach house is which about 5 minutes from the beach and  5 minutes from the forest so it's a great spot. 

Fishing boats at Torup Strand

 Torunn is Norwegian and Ole is Danish. This make life interesting as she speaks Norwegian to Ole and Ole speaks Danish to her. This make no difference to me but is very confusing for William as he can only understand half of any conversation. Like all Scandinavians they speak absolutely perfect English most of the time, even with William as apparently his Norwegian is crap!

Uncovering skeletons
in Denmark

Go to Aalborg one day and came across an archaeological dig at the local cathedral. If you look closely at the pictures you can actually see the skeleton as it is bring unearthed. 

After a couple of nights with Torrun and Ole decide it's time to move on so we head for Hamburg, there's really no alternative when leaving Denmark. From here we have to decide to go down the Atlantic coast of France which we had done the year before or drive down through Germany and the Eastern part of France. I have always wanted to visit Berlin so we book a hotel for the weekend. Hotel prices in Berlin are particularly good so we get a good hotel near the centre.

Eastside Gallery Berlin

Friday 13th July - Berlin is a fascinating city. Although obviously the Berlin Wall has long gone the difference between what was East and West is still visible.  The biggest difference is probably the grand boulevards and squares much favoured for military parades by the East. 

Spend the three days wandering around and taking in  the sites. 

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Berliners have preserved many examples of building and structures from both WWII and also the cold war era. 

The Eastside Gallery is a 1.3Km stretch of the Berlin Wall with over 100 painting by various artists - it is a memorial to peace and freedom. 

Somewhere in Denmark we had managed to get a chip in the windscreen. We decided to try and get it fixed in Berlin. The chip was on the left side so the first garage refused to do it. Apparently in Germany garages are not allowed to fix cracks on the left (drivers) side of the windscreen. We pointed out that as this was a right hand drive car but to absolutely no avail, obviously rules are rules. However the next place was somewhat more flexible and we managed to get it fixed.

Strasbourg Cathedral

From Berlin we drive down into France crossing the border near Strasbourg. Although in France Strasbourg is more German than French, it has, after all, changed hands so many times there has to be some confusion.

Monday 16th July - It's the city where, at great expense,  the whole of the EU parliament decamps to to every month.

The Thinker

The city itself is quite small, the architecture is more German than French with a great old town and cathedral. The food is a good mixture of the two styles with lots of pig's knuckles and the like.

In addition to the EU parliament it has one of the oldest universities in Europe and at this time of year a large visiting student population. We did the Museum of Contemporary Art which has Rodin's "The Thinker" and an exhibition of Max Klinger works. 

We had one of those wonderful surreal moments when trying to get a top-up for the broadband SIM card. You can top-up on-line but need a French credit card so that was out. So you go to the shop and get the voucher, but to activate it you need a French phone. 

Strassburg

Normally this is OK you just ask the shop to make the call and do the activation. However for some reason the shop assistant stated that they didn't have a french phone - so here you are in a French telephone shop, surrounded by phones and the shop assistant is saying they can't do the activation as they don't have a phone!

William nearly managed to get himself and the car flattened by a tram through driving along the tram tracks rather than car track. Roads in European cities can be very confusing as they are designed with public transport, bicycles and pedestrians always having priority over cars....

Lapin makes you happy

Thursday 19th July - After hotels for the past few weeks it's time to save a bit of money and go camping.  We head for Dijon and find a nice campsite walking distance to the city. There's also a regular bus service which according to their blurb was "Bus of the Year- 2004".

During our stay in Dijon the car develops a very loud squeaking noise from the front leftside wheel. It lasts about 20 minutes and then goes away. Back at the campsite we take the wheel off but can't see anything. This is a really worry as it really does sound like the wheel is about to drop off. We extend our stay and spend the next few days driving around to see if we can recreate the problem but no luck and everything seems just fine.

Testing La Skoda in the Vineyards
of Bourgone  

Dijon is very close to the villages of Bourgogne which includes such places as Beaune, Chablis and Nuit St. George. We end up one lunchtime at the village of Nuit St. George and had a great lunchtime meal - Salad for me and Lapin for William washed down with a local Chablis, this has to be one of the nicest regions of France - it is just so french! It's just a shame that Dijon itself is not a particularly interesting city.

Although the problem with the car seems to have gone away we decide that rather than driving further South (we were going to Barcelona) we will stay in France and head West towards Bordeaux and then up the Atlantic coast. 

From Dijon we decide to go make for Lyon and book a hotel for the weekend in Lyon. 

Monday 23rd July - Between Dijon and Lyon we stay at a campsite at Etang de la Fougeraie in Burgundy. The place has it's own carp and trout lake and is right in the middle of a National Park. It's a great campsite with it's own small bar and restaurant and the usual early morning delivery of baguettes and pain au chocolate...

We stay here for four nights and lo and behold the car noise comes back again,  This time we are rather less freaked out by it and try to do some diagnosis, breaking, accelerating turning etc etc but to no avail anyway it goes away again after about 30 minutes.

Friday 27th July - Off to Lyon - the Gastronomical Centre of France and France's 2nd largest city. The hotel turns out to have the smallest room imaginable - but will do for a couple of nights and it is right in the centre of the city. The new part of Lyon is spectacularly unimpressive but the old town is really nice and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Lyon is at the confluence of the RhÔne and SaÔne rivers so the city seems to have lots of water and several banks which make it rather a confusing city to get around. There's also a lively nightlife so all in all not a bad place for a weekend.

Saturday lunchtime we go to a Lyonnaise restaurant - big mistake. I'm not the most adventurist of eaters and my French doesn't run to knowing many animal parts however I recognize chicken fricassee when I see it. William dives into pig's parts stew and isn't disappointed.

Rocamadour

Tuesday 31st July - Push on towards Bordeaux and we pick a camping site in a National Park in the Dordogne at a place called Thegra. Another good campsite in a forest with lots of walking tracks. We stay here for 4 nights and visit the nearby town of Rocamadour which is quite beautiful being built on a cliff face but oh so full of tourists! The place is built into a cliff face with a monestry at the top. We do a 12Km walk around the town which is rather nice if a little warm and for once we don't get lost!

Rocamadour

We try to get to see the Gouffre de Padriac which are caverns with sub-subterranean rivers. Unfortunately it's now the height of the  holiday season in France and the queues are unbelievable so we cross it off the list.  By this time we are both a little over sightseeing so it has to be something really spectacular and easy to get to to get us interested......and caves just don't do it!

Friday 3rd to 20th August - From Thegra we move on to the West Coast - Le Porge (a beach near  Bordeaux). The campsite is in a pine forest about 5 minutes from the beach. By this time it's getting quite hard to get places due to the school holidays plus the campsites seem to be full of children.... However the beach is great even though there are some days when it's almost impossible to get in the water due to the breakers. We end up spending almost three weeks here. To be absolutely honest we are both so over travelling we just want to stay in one place and 'chill out' - I'm just an old hippie at heart!

The campsite is enormous but we manage to get a nice quiet pitch with no noisy neighbours, there is also a restaurant on site and more restaurants and bars on the beach so all in all it's OK. The weather is great, a bit too hot if anything but perfect beach weather.

Fishing nets in Pornic

Monday 20th August - Thursday 23rd August We are due to meet Bob and Diane in Honfleur on 25th August so start to move up the coast. We stayed in Pornic last year and really enjoyed it. The campsite is set on top of a cliff and there are restaurants and a town within walking distance. The difference is that we are now in August and last year was September -therefore more tourists.  We find a rather nice quiet beach within walking distance so have a very pleasant few days eating at the local beach restaurant which does rather nice seafood.

Bob and Diane 

Friday 24th August - Drive to Caen where we spend the night, go to a great restaurant shown on 'Trip advisor' wonderful food!.

Saturday 25th August -1st September  - Drive to Honfleur, pick up the keys and settle in. Meet Bob and Diane at Deauville and go out to dinner.  This is a sort of replay from last year except this year it's a week earlier and the weather is much much better. 

On Monday go to "D Day" beaches starting at Omaha ending up at Arromanches where the remains of a Mulberry Harbour can still be seen at low tide.

The Benedictine Factory

Tuesday is Dane's birthday so Champagne all round. On the Wednesday we go to Fecamp and do a tour around the Bededictine factory which was rather interesting. Thursday is a rest day and Friday we drop D & B off at Le Havre railway station for their onward trip to Bordeaux.

We go back to the house, tidy up and pack the car ready for the trip back to the UK. 

Saturday 1st  September - Up really early to drive to Calais to catch the ferry back to Dover. Arrive in the UK about 12 and travel down to Banbury before taking Willy to Manchester on Wednesday to catch his flight to Norway.

The garden in North Wales

5th September 22nd September - Off to Manchester to put William on the flight to Norway and then on to North Wales. Not much happens for the next couple of weeks. I walk up and down Snowdon one day - perfect weather for a walk that takes about 3.5 hours in each direction, collect William from Manchester on Wednesday 19th.  Not a lot of activity, we visited the local pub several times to enjoy the late summer evenings, caught up some friends and sadly put the car in the garage to await our return in 201n? 


Sunday 23rd September - catch the train down to London and check into the hotel which is just off High Street Kensington.  A friend of Willy's from Norway comes over towards the end of the week, I meet up with Catie and we generally pass the week shopping, eating drinking and sleeping. 

Sunday 30th September - The start of the trip home, rather like 15 months ago we are both looking forward to getting to our destination (this time Sydney) but there is some trepidation. After 15 months away we realise the holiday is over and it's back to reality...  Fly out of Heathrow in the evening, a couple of G & T's and into Hong kong on Monday 1st. 

Monday 1st October - We had arranged to stay with Joanne for a couple of nights but unfortunately she was away on a business trip.  We still stayed and are welcomed by Irene, Max and Max's new brother Charlie. 

For Hong Kong the weather was really nice, not too hot and not too humid. Managed to catch up with some friends including Paul and David. Did the usual shopping and eating but were itching to get back. We were due to fly out on the Thursday 4th October arriving Friday in Sydney. Everything seemed to be going well until I tried to check-in online with Cathay Pacific. Managed to get William checked in but then when I was entering my details realised that my Australian passport had expired in March 2012. I hadn't used it since we flew out of Sydney 15 months ago!

To say a mild panic set-in is a slight under-statement. Spent the next three hours running around Wan Chai getting an emergency passport issued. The High Commission came to the party and $100 later had a passport valid for precisely 5 days or until I landed in Australia.
which ever came sooner. 

Thursday 4th October 2012 - Off to the airport to catch the evening flight back to Sydney - this was it the last leg home and probably the last flight of the trip. Settle in, Gin and Tonics all round and a very uneventful light back to Sydney.

Friday 5th October 2012 - Arrive back in Sydney after being away for exactly 15 months - we left on 5th July 2011.  Michael and Stephen were there to meet us and we got chauffeured back to Clement Street. Bart was back but hiding behind the washing machine and didn't actually show himself for several hours and then very reluctantly.

Back in Oz with the best cat in the world

Now several week later it feels like we have never been away. The apartment is back to normal,  Bart has started attacking me again, William has started the mammoth task of sorting through a gazillion pictures and I am desperately trying to finish this blog!

Monday 19th November - As a rather sad footnote to our travels  Willy is back in Norway  having attended his mother's funeral who died on the 7th November   Good that that he spent time with her so recently.