All Good Things ... (Finale)

This is our last blog post as yesterday we arrived back in Melbourne after our flight from Heathrow.

The kids did a great job over the 23 hours of flying, especially as we stopped for about half an hour in both Dubai and Singapore. It's quite strange to board a plane late on Thursday and end up at our destination on Saturday morning with the long fly time and nine hours time difference between countries.

On Thursday 8 July, back in London, we walked beside the River Thames from Waterloo up to Tower Bridge, past the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern Art Gallery. We then caught the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) to our old place at Gallion's Reach (near London City Airport) and were a little disheartened how the area still lacked life and, aside from a few new buildings and an extension to the DLR, was pretty much as we left it eight years earlier.

Lachlan loved the driverless light rail and sat at the front in the 'driver's seat' (pictured), stopping to pick up passengers. He had also wanted to catch a London double-decker bus, so we retraced our old route to work when back in London by catching a bus from North Woolwich to Canning

Town, then a connecting train on the Tube back to Waterloo.

It was great at the end of the day to then catch up with our friend Janelle who we also saw back at the start our trip in Dubai (she lives in London). After a coffee, we then thought we'd used pretty much every other form of transport for the day so we took a cab to the airport (costing a lovely 70 pounds = $120 Aussie dollars = ouch!). Unfortunately we didn't have much choice as we'd accumulated 95kgs of luggage which was a little too much for Sandra and I to lug onto the Tube during peak hour.

So, we're now back in Melbourne. As I've said before, we had an awesome time and it's a shame that all good things must come to an end.

It's great to catch up again with family and friends and again have the creature-comforts of home, but in no particular order, here's some of the things we'll miss about Europe:

• The wonderful sites including beautiful, historic buildings.
• Warm weather and long days (it's 15 degrees in Melb and dark at just after 5pm ... yuk!).
• 130km per hour speed limits.
• Guilt-free 10 min showers without water restrictions.
• Meeting great people and learning more about their cultures.
• Wandering around a new town, not knowing what to expect, getting lost and finding something cool and unexpected.

So, thanks for reading over the past several weeks. Back to normality!

Journey's End

After 46 days of travel through seven countries (10 if you count the world's two smallest in the Vactican City and Monte Carlo, and our 1 hour drive through Germany) ... we've reached our journey's end.
This has truly been the trip of a lifetime, and as I scan my way through this blog it's incredible how much we've crammed into such a short span of time.
Tonight we board a plane from Heathrow for a 23 hour flight back to Melbourne, but as we have a day still in London we're taking a trip down memory lane (it's around the corner from Whatever Street).
We lived in London for several months back in 2002 so we're keen to check out our old stomping ground.
This is probably our last post from overseas. To all our friends and family back home, we've only taken 5801 photos which we'll show you in incredible detail.
See you back in Melbourne!

London Monopoly

The start of today wasn't exactly something we had as part of the itinerary. Our first four hours was spent in the emergency ward of St Thomas' Hospital about a block from our hotel. Everyone is OK, but as we're not registered with a local doctor, it's the only way to see a GP while in England as a foreigner.
After a long wait, we all got checked out, and Sandra and I were diagnosed with tonsilitis. At least we were able to get some decent medication for the 23 hour flight home which starts tomorrow night.
After getting back to the hotel for a rest, we then decided we needed some fresh air and went for a gentle walk across the river to the centre of town. Sandra went her own way to do some shopping in the Convent Garden area, while the rest of us went on a Monopoly board tour of central London.
Johanna and I (while still feeling pretty run down), are now off to see Les Miserables in the West End before calling it a night.

Legoland, Windsor

One of the things the kids have been hanging out to do since we arrived in Europe is visit Legoland in Windsor. So yesterday, Tuesday 6 July, we jumped on a train from Waterloo Station across the road from our hotel and made the one hour journey.
It was probably the last thing we actually felt like doing as we're all pretty run down, but it was a promise to the kids and they've been great by being good at the places Sandra and I have wanted to visit.
We're glad we made the trip because the theme park was fantastic and on par with Euro Disneyland in Paris that we went to several years ago.
We took a river raft ride which warned you at the start of the queue that you might get wet. What we weren't expecting was for lego animals on the side to be actually squirting bucket loads of water at us (as the ride itself was fairly tame). So, sick with colds, we also ended up drenched at the start of the day which didn't help. But fortunately it was still warm and we dried out over about an hour.
The amount of effort that went into creating the park was fantastic with a lego zoo full of animals you'd see at a regular zoo (life size), a pirate-themed section, pyramids and several other attractions.
One of the parts the kids loved the most was the driving school where they could go through a short course, then go out on a track and drive go-cart lego cars and get their lego driver's licence. Lachlan was particularly devious and deliberately crashed into other four and five year olds (thinking no-one was looking), while Johanna was the perfect driver obeying the road rules.
From a parent's perspective, the best bit was near the end where there was a minature Europe.

London

Yesterday, Monday 5 July, we took a one hour flight from Amsterdam to London Heathrow.
It was great to be back in London, and predictably little had changed since the time we lived here for several months in 2002. Nevertheless, the familiarity of the place is fantastic, and even though we've loved Dubai, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy and Holland, it's also nice to be back in an English-speaking

country (well, sort of English if you count Eastender slang). At the start of our trip when we were bursting with energy, the challenge of ordering a meal using only French was a lot of fun, but now that we're tired it's also nice to again get what we need quickly.

We were going to take a train from Heathrow to the city, but instead opted for a cab to manage our 70kgs of luggage (which British Airways made us redistribute across an additional bag because they're British and like their odd little rules).

The hotel we're staying in was advertised as being 5 mins from the London Eye. As a true skeptic, I interpretted that as being several suburbs away and if you caught a train for 5 mins you'd be able to see it on the horizon. Well, occasionally skeptics are proven wrong as I was this time as we're maybe 100 metres away. The building we're in is right behind the imposing structure. So, with such an attraction on our doorstep, it wasn't long before we were onboard the ol' Eye and checking out London from above.

As Johanna and Sandra have been on it twice before (just once previously for me), Lachlan was the only one really bursting with excitement as the rest of us just peacefully took in the familar surrounds. We need to keep reminding ourselves that while we've seen a lot of London while we lived here, Lach's seeing it all for the first time. Johanna says she remembers bits, but she was just two when here last.

The others were keen to return back to the hotel for a rest, but I was equally keen to get out and pound the streets to reorientate. Over about two hours I walked the touristy route past Big Ben, past White Hall, over to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and back to Waterloo where we're staying.

We then grabbed some noodles from an Asian store across the road for a late dinner, and then settled in for the night. It's hard to believe that this time next week I'll be back at work, no doubt freezing away in Melbourne (London is having a heat-wave ... it was a massive 25 degrees today!).

Zaanes Schans & Amsterdam

Today (Sunday 4 July), we had a minor sleep-in, or sleep 'out' as they say in Holland because a sleep-in means you're dead!

While I got to check out a windmill museum a couple of days ago with Daan, the kids were particularly keen to see one for themselves so Sofie took us to an historic park in nearby Zaanes Schans to see several.

The park is a bit like a Dutch version of Sovereign Hill (except free), and also had a cheese-making area where Johanna surprised us all by trying out a few cheeses and making several not-so-discrete fly-bys to get more of the local product.

Also here was a clog factory that we remembered visiting with Johanna when she was 18 months old. Again we were keen to recreate an old pic from 8 years ago by sitting in a giant clog though it had been painted orange instead of yellow as we remembered it. Is there nothing sacred from the orange brigade!

Sofie then drove us 12kms further into Amsterdam. As the weather continues to be unusually hot for Holland, and the humidity quite draining, we managed only a basic walk around the city centre before

getting on a boat cruise of the canals. Last time we did this, Johanna cried constantly and was given a toy doll by the boat's captain to keep her happy. No such dramatics this time from the 10-year-old who instead took in the sites sitting beside her brother whom she kept in line every time he got figgety.

The day finished with a BBQ with Sofie, Daan and Paul. It was also really good to see Sofie's parents at last as I'd missed catching up with them when mountain bike riding a few days ago and

at Le Tour yesterday.

This is our last day in Holland as tomorrow we jump on a plane for a short flight to London where we'll finish up our trip later in the week. We've had an absolutely wonderful time so far and can't believe how much we've fit into just six weeks, but we're also getting tired and Sandra, Lachlan and I have a cold (hopefully Johanna can resist the trend).

Sofie and Daan have been outstanding hosts, and we're very grateful for their hospitality over the past week. It was great to see them in Austria, then now at their home, but over dinner we already started plotting the next catch-up ... perhaps somewhere different for all of us like Canada? Time will tell. Thanks for making us feel at home Sofie and Daan. Farewell Holland!

Tour de France pt.3

Yesterday's Tour de France prologue in Rotterdam was absolutely fantastic. I was feeling very flat and a bit sick with a cold at the start of the day, but am so glad I still went along as it was undoubtedly one of the best sporting events I've ever been to (definitely up there with the Sydney Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games).

The day started with two train trips over 1.5 hours from Beverwijk to Rotterdam, arriving at the start of Le Tour at about 11am. I got off at Rotterdam Centraal Station and was very impressed by the city's organisation for an event where they were expecting up to million spectators. Yellow signposts marked out the walking route every 50 metres with estimated walking time, making it very easy for tourists to navigate their way to the course.

I travelled to the event by myself as Sandra and the kids, along with our Dutch friends were staying back for the 2nd birthday of their son Paul.

After making it to the first point along the course, I decided to walk along the 9km route initially with the aim of finding the best vantage point with a little shade as the weather was already very warm and humid. However, after a 5km walk to the start, it was clear that here was the best place to be as behind the start line were all of the team buses with mechanics working on the bikes and the occasional glimpse of a rider checking out the course.

Unfortunately, some of the team buses were completely out of the public view such as Lance Armstrong's Team Radioshack. However, it was surprising how close spectators were allowed to get to most of the other buses parked close to the barriers. While it was very cool to check out the behind-the-scenes set-up of the big names like Garman, Rabobank (hard to see only because of the huge numbers of Dutch followers), Astana and Saxobank, I was particularly keen to see the new Swiss team BMC Racing - mainly because their lead rider is Australia's Cadel Evans. By about 12.30pm the weather had turned from very hot to bucketing rain (though still quite humid), so an added advantage of following BMC was that they were parked under a bridge which offered a little protection from the elements. After waiting for about an hour and talking with a few other Aussies who similarly had donned their national flag, we caught sight of Cadel. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, it was absolutely wonderful that he saw a bunch of Aussies and came over to sign autographs (see pics in post #2 below). Before now I had always watched the tour from home into the early hours of the Australian morning supporting a rider or two, but not a team. Now, I'll be cheering on the boys from BMC who I got to see a fair bit of over the space of 2-3 hours around the start area.

It was surprising how quickly three hours disappeared, and just after 2pm the official parade started with all of the sponsor's cars and floats blaring music and giving out freebies along the course. An hour later, the riders were allowed out on the course for training, though with the 198 riders all riding individually in time trials during the prologue, the top ranked riders were not out as they were not due to race until 7.20pm in the case of Cadel, or 7.30pm for Lance

Armstrong (2nd last pic in this post) and last year's winner Alberto Contador (last pic).

The leader's yellow jersey was claimed by Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara from Team Saxobank in a time of just 10 mins even. Englishman Mark Cavendish (3rd last pic) was sensational last year, but was down the rankings after the prologue. Armstrong came in fourth, ahead of Contador.

Cadel Evans finished 23rd - 39 seconds off the lead, and unfortunately lost one of his team mates Mathias Frank who crashed out and sustained an injury (not a good start for 'my' new team of BMC).

After a fantastic day out, I navigated my way to the nearest regional train station at Rotterdam Zuid and made the 1.5 hour trip back. When I arrived back at our Beverwijk 'home', it was great to see that the party that started a few hours earlier was still going (though the party boy had retired to bed at his grandparents). It was really nice to meet a few of Sofie and Daan's friends, even though I was completely exhausted from feeling sick with a cold and having walked at least 15kms around the Rotterdam course.

Earlier in the day, Sandra and the kids walked to the nearby market which the locals call by its original name 'the Black Market' because it's where all of the 'off the back of the truck' items used to be sold. Strangely, they all came back empty-handed which just goes to show that we're all starting to get pretty tired after so much travelling (surely they could have bought me a machine gun, rocket launcher or at least a dodgy DVD at the 'Black Market', though I think it's more the place nowadays for junkie electronics from China that you'll find at most markets around the world).

So, I wish my young friend Paul a very happy 2nd birthday. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your party young man, and even though there's a bit of a language barrier, "Papa Lachie" (Lachie's dad) as he calls me ... wishes you a great year and hopes to see you a couple of years older in Australia some day.