Aurevoir London, until we meet again...

It wasn't without sadness that we said our final goodbyes to London, a city whose moods change with the weather, whose atmosphere changes with postcode, whose secret nooks and crannies are so inviting and yet whose sprawling urban jungle can feel so isolating. Despite millions of inhabitants London can at times be surprisingly lonely, but then will quietly remind you that you're part of one big community; a shared love of beer in the park in the summer (and all three of those things separately), standing on the right side of the escalator, queuing, the front seat on the top deck of the bus, the front carriage of the DLR, meeting friends at the pub, being annoyed when the next tube is more than two minutes away.... A city best enjoyed by jumping in and then holding on for the ride, pinching your self every so often with the realisation that you live amongst 2000 years of history in one of the most metropolitan cities in the world. But, it's the people who make a place special, who make a place feel like home, and I'd like to thank each and every one of you for making our time in London an unforgettable experience. 

Watching the sun set over the Thames on our last evening

Now that I'm finished with the deep and meaningful, here is a bit on our travel through France: from Normandy, to Mont St Michel and Bordeaux before driving down to San Sebastián, where we have just arrived.

We picked up the van and got out of London without much hassle, and boarded the Eurotunnel to Calais. From there we spent a night in a traditional French beach house just out of Bayeux where we met up with our friends accompanying us for the weekend.

Our home for 60 days - let's hope it doesn't literally burn out....

The next day we explored some of the important sites in WWII. We first stopped at Longues Sur Mer, a German battery with four large guns still in place. The battery was defeated in June 1944, but not until >3000 tons of bombs were dropped on it. It is the only historically listed battery in France.

We enjoyed some crepes for lunch and then headed to the American War Cemetery at Omaha beach. Omaha Beach was one of the landing sites, given code names Omaha, Gold, Utah and Juno, Sword. The rows upon rows of crosses brings the tragedy of war into sharp relief.

We also did some celebrity spotting, as we saw John Lithgow from Third Rock from the Sun....

We then visited the Overlord Museum - Operation Overlord was the name given to the D day landings.

Our last stop on our day in Normandy was Pointe du Hoc, where the US Ranger Division landed and scaled 90ft high cliffs under German gunfire in order to capture the artillery that could fire on the D Day landing beaches. How they succeeded seems seems like a miracle when you stand there and think what they had to endure.

The guns lined up at Longues Sur Mer 

View from inside one of the gun emplacements / bunkers

The things in the water are prefabricated break waters that the allies used to unload cargo without having to capture one of the heavily defended harbours, giving them a distinct advantage

Crepes for lunch

American War Cemetery 

'To these we owe the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live'

Looking over Omaha Beach

Overlord Museum

Overlord Museum

The cliffs at Point du Hoc

Landscape pockmarked by explosion craters

Paul for scale

Celebrating an eventful day with strawberry pie!

The next day we visited Mont St Michel, an abbey built on an island in 708AD, built in honour of the archangel Saint Michel, whose statue adorns the spire. Following the French Revolution and until 1863, the abbey was used as a prison. 

Mont St Michel

We also visited the impressive old port town of St Malo

Saying goodbye to our friends, Shaun and I then headed to Bordeaux to celebrate my birthday and our three year wedding anniversary. On the way we stopped at Rochefort en Terre, a tiny picturesque village.

Rochefort en Terre

As well as explore Bordeaux, we spent a glorious day in the small nearby town of Saint Emilion, enjoying the sunshine and some of the local wine.

Saint Emillion

There are >200km of tunnels beneath St Emilion which was quarried for the limestone since the 9th century. They are now the perfect place to store wine barrels!

Bordeaux, in front of Miroir d'Eau (mirror pond) and Place de la Bourse (famous medieval rampart and square)

Miroir d'Eau also lets off mist with a magical effect 

Inside Cathedrale St Andre, famous for it's masonry 

Cathedrale St Andre

Cheese!

Old gate into the city - Porte Cailhau - since 1495

Delicious anniversary dinner at Restaurant Melodie in the old town

Until next time, from España!

Germany & the Netherlands

In early April we took a trip to visit some of my family in Germany and the Netherlands who I'd previously met in 2014 when my parents were in Europe.

First stop was a couple of days sight seeing in the Black Forest. We stayed in a postcard perfect town called Gengenbach; within the city walls, the cobbled streets and immaculate old buildings made it feel like you were stepping back in time. 

Gengenbach

From Gengenbach we explored the Black Forest region, stopping at an old village that is now an open air museum, the town of Triberg to see the worlds largest cuckoo clock and sample some of the famous Black Forest cake, and also Lake Titeesee and Schluchsee, and the town of Baden Baden (where apparently all the rich Russian tourists come on holiday).

A 400 year old farm house in the Black Forest

Worlds largest cuckoo clock!

Triberg

Waterfall above Triberg

From The Black Forest we made our way north east to the small town of Tauberbischofshiem, near the Rhine valley area along the Romantic Road, to visit my Great Uncle Rob and his wife Marie Luise. It was wonderful to see them again, to catch up and to hear more about my family history (Rob and my Opa and their family grew up in Indonesia, before & during WWII). We all took a day trip to the nearby town of Wurzburg to visit the Residence, which my dad had mentioned was very impressive, and it certainly was! Unfortunately it has been bombed in WWII, but a lot of the original furniture and paintings had been moved into storage prior, and was therefore saved, including the worlds largest ceiling fresco painting (with strange interpretations of exotic animals which no one in Europe had seen at that time!). Inside was the most impressivly decorated golden room that you could ever imagine! The room was wall to ceiling painted mirrors with spectacular gold frames. If only we could have taken pictures!

Tauberbishofshiem

Wurzburg Residence

The 15th century fortress, Marienberg, in Wurzburg

Views over Wurzburg

From Tauberbischofshiem, we had a mammoth day of driving all the way up to Amsterdam where we had dinner with my mum's cousin Annelies and her partner Tobias. It was lovely to meet them, and I definitely could sense the family resemblance with my mother!

For the next few days we were welcomed into the home of my mum's other cousin Emiel and his wife Helma, and sons Vincent & Joshua. We enjoyed spending some quality family time together in their home in Rustenburg, a rural village just out of Alkmaar, and also exploring the nearby cities of Alkmaar and Hoorn. While in Hoorn we had a tour around the Half Moon - the ship that Hudson discovered America in.

Hoorn

The Half Moon

On the way back to Frankfurt (where we were dropping the car and flying back to London), we stopped in Keukenhof Gardens to see all the beautiful tulips. Truly lovely and a welcome sign of Spring.

It was wonderful catching up with my family again, and I truly hope that some day I can repay their generous hospitality back in New Zealand!