Well Done Guys. Brilliant effort to complete so much. Good to have you back.

Hi Both. I hope you are having a great night tonite. Berlin is not a bad place to finish the tour in, is it? I am going to go to the Public Records Office in Kew tomorrow, whilst Pauline shops. Don't think I will find anything so interesting that it delays my picking you up at Stanport Airstead, but..................

See you tomorow night.

Mum paid £100 into your account today, wasnt a cheque so doesnt need time to clear etc..As had to have a long lunch hour to pay your money in, had to buy everyone Marks & Spencers cakes for everyone at work too..

Have fun, phone mum when you land as they'l already be there waiting.

PS: This software is quite clever. It put in the *** all by itself. The PC Brigade get everywhere nowadays don't they? Night Night

Hi Both. Very sorry to read your diary entry and discover that the City of Light doesn't appear to be its' normal hospitable self. If the hotel room is s***e, then compain and ask them to move you. Still, Koln tomorrow - "Ordnung", naturlich. You seem to have used your time to see quite a lot. The Trifle Tower is fab, once you have got used to it rocking in the breeze! Did you get a really good view of the City? Let's arrange a massive family meet up in Paris next year and have a really good scoff and chat. Simon is in France again this week with Sandy. He texted me this afternon from Le Touquet and asked me how far a Cessna 150 and a 172 and a Cessna 410 could go on max fuel. That depends, as I am sure you can imagine (pax, height, etc) but isn't instant electronic communication wonderful? I googled the answer, or a range of answers. Gotta go. 4 pints in the bar after my lamb and I need to clean my teeth and doze a bit. Out to Dinner tomorow , we are going to do a pub quiz and beat the world - one of the people that works with me has been to Oxford and knows all sorts of stuff - my job will be Aeroplanes, WW2, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler or any 1950's or 1960's Pop Music!! TAke Care and see you both soon.

Hi everyone.

We left Nice last night on an overnight train which was certainly not the highlight of our trip! The poor seating conditions were accompanied with strange people and blizzards of cold air!

We arrived in Paris at 6.50 this morning and went straight to the hotel. No frills comes to mind, were on the ground floor in an executive box which had its own wet room!

Hardcore as we are, we wasted no time sleeping and went straight to the Eiffel Tower *no student discount, Champs Elyses and Arc de Triumph, where caroline bought a nice top, then to Notre Dame.

We then left and came back to our hotel.

We will be leaving Paris tomorrow morning at 8.55 to cologne and then connecting to Berlin! Have fun everyone

Hi guys, well mr moles have vacated premises,2 were caught, hope thats all of them but am not really sure, anyway, time will tell.Hope you dont find France too busy, all the French take their holidays in August.Paris doesnt have many people in it except tourists according to uncle Dhiraj, so presumably all coastal resorts will be busy.Weather here rubbish lately, knew dad wanted to paint.Aunty Kath has had her back garden done, has patio n decking, and bought a patio heater, so has had some fun this last week. Take care, enjoy, see you soon, mum/dad

Welcome to La Bellle France! An odd week looking back over the Travel Journal - no entries from you because of lack of Internet access, but loads of phone texts and then Messenger at the end to keep in touch.

The next few days will be a test of how France has embraced the Internet. Because the Internet is seen as largely American and because France, quite rightly, regards the US with deep suspicion, France came out with their own thing called Minitel. This was a sort of computer/phone hybrid which would give you loads of access to all sorts of data - how to find a plumber in the middle of the Vendee for instance. Never really took off.

I think there is even a French ebay site, so they must have at least a few computers there by now! Let us know how it goes and leave some journal entries if you can.

I have had a look at the stats for your website, you have had about 2000 hits by now and that is really good. Some of the others have maybe made a couple of entries in a month and have had virtually no interest at all. What you have to establish is if you have 10 followers who are very interested and compulsorily view or whether you know 200 people who are a bit more balanced!!

I think you will find Nice is very nice. As discussed on Messenger, I think that the Old Town has the best of it. There is a lot to see in the hinterland too, if you want to go back with a car someday.

Perfume town (Grasse? I think), a place called Beaulieu with some mega-Restaurants, a couple of towns that have festivals, such as one with Oranges and Lemons where they do fantastic tableau made out of fruit. We went to one where they did it all as scenes from Alice In Wonderland, full size, made out of Oranges, etc.

What we never did was actually go in the sea from the Promenade at Nice. You will be able to do that as it should be quite warm this year - but I bet you notice a difference after Vernazza.

Look forward to you logging on with updates and photos and we wil see you at Airstead Stanport to bring you home. Take care

Dad

hi both, trust you are still enjoying sunshine. finally had some rain, everything looks better.mr mole still in residence, hopefully not for long. very strong winds today,n dark before 10 last night for first time for ages.loads of black clouds so shouldnt have been surprised really.Robin sold his BMW, lookin for an A-Class to tide him over, as he wants another Porsche or Ferrarri at the end of the year.dont think you can get a wife n 2 kids in one of those with all the clutter. sent your letter to o2 jj,left you a copy in your room.my car went to garage to be repaired 2day, should have it back by thurs t all being well.dont think got any more news, enjoy n take care see you soon mum

Well done, All.

Thanks for the texts and I particularly appreciated the phone call from the Square with all the music and people having fun! It really is ideal preparation for driving off at 06:00 to work tomorrow!!!!

What better place on earth to chill out? I know it is hot but, no stress, no trains, no booking, no panic ----- Mum says you must remember to come home in time to pack for Mannheim, Caroline.

I don't recommend Hungarian Pinot, at least not the sub-£2.50 kind from Aldi. I hope it is just alcholic fruit juice and not anti-freeze dressed up - not to my taste at all. Still we got some super looking Gewurztraminer at the same place. We will keep it until you come back.

Was it in the shop in Cinque Terre that I got the bottle of Mussolini Wine? I think they had several other characters from that time as well?

I'll close now and log in to "Messenger" on the off chance that one of you (not Lin, methinks) will be sober enough to log in when you return from the Square.

Speak soon

Dad

PS: Peekchewers? Illewestrayshuns?

Hi Pauline..quick note for you...if the heavy's fail...........put good old-fashioned mothballs down Mr. Moles holes.........he will move house immediately....well, wouldn't you!

hi JJ Caroline, not been able to log in for couple of days , dont no what that was about.Got in no trouble today.Had email from Jane, she'll be in Malaysia by now,probably in jungle.I think she might be removing leeches on a fairly regular basis!! after that they're off diving somewhere, so dont expect to hear for a week or so, you'll probably be back by then.Am going to try n see if I can get some good copies of your pics, Jane gave me some instructions to try to see if it will let me open them properly.Nice of you to ring, Kate phoned as well yesterday.Still hot where she is.no rain yet up here in frozen north,dads grass not doin well, but am managing to keep spuds n green house ok.Have called in the heavy gang to persuade mr mole n co to vacate the premises, but none caught yet.Cheeky devils are diggin up spuds beans n even greenhouse!!!His days are definitely numbered!!Enjoy the culture see you soon, take care mum