I really didn't know what to expect with Venice. After our disastrous arrival in Nice I was anxious on the drive to Venice. We were to meet a woman there at 6.00pm and she had given us instructions about parking the car and then taking a water bus. It was sounding all too hard! However, her instructions were very good and by 5.30 we had caught the water bus and were waiting at the bus stop for her. Our apartment is extremely old but has everything we need. Last ...

What started as a disaster, actually turned out to be OK.We left Cases de Pene at about 10.30 and got to Nice at about 5.00.By 6.00 we realized we were not going to find the B&B and we had started to argue amongst ourselves….family democracy!! Mike called the owner who told us that he had let out our rooms because we hadn't turned up at the estimated time of 2.00 and when he went to charge our credit card, the number was wrong.(I have yet to check the email...

South of France - Day 1 What a beautiful place! We're staying in a small village called Cases de Pene which is about 12 kms from Perpignan. The Gite we're staying in is one of six in a complex. (We're the only ones here because schools have gone back in Europe.) The Gites are gorgeous and the area stunning. We're at the foothills of the Fenouilledes and we're surrounded by Vineyards and Olive Groves. Today we stayed at the Gite, (with the exception of Mike who w...

Paris - Day One Today we set off to use the Metro for the first time. We took off without really preparing because our internet access wasn't sorted. Once we got over the embarrassement of not understanding the system, (and needing someone to help,) we were off. The boys were really excited about seeing the Eiffel Tower and they weren't diappointed. The looks on their faces were priceless...I think they were expecting to see a little iron structure. We all went ...

We left Lower Langford for London and stopped at Stonehenge on the way. The boys were very impressed by it's size, even George commented that it was really big.We spent one last evening with Stewart and Maureen, Adam, Lucie and Rico, and one last day repacking all of our bags. All that hockey gear!! (Not my shopping!) Our experience at Heathrow Airport trying to drop off the rental car was a bit hair raising - but we managed to get there after a few wrong turns. ...