Where's the cheese?

Last Sunday was Sarah's Birthday and we visited Cheddar Gorge, just near the village of Cheddar. This is where the famous cheese originated. There are a number of caves in the gorge that were used for maturing the cheese. Well that's the history lesson done with. Oh and by the way in case you were wondering there were no castles nearby to visit.
It was quite a grey and cold day. When we were close to the gorge, there was a sign indicating that the road was closed. Of course in typical English fashion the sign was placed about 100m after a turn off to an alternative route so you had to turn around and go back. We went down the alternative B road, which wasn't too bad. Once again when we were close to the gorge there was sign that the road was closed. We stopped and considered our options and then saw a few cars just drive down the road past the sign so we decided to join them. They were holding a cycling/orienteering event in the gorge and I think the organisers had closed the road for the start and then forgotten to remove the signs. We saw quite a few muddy cyclists riding around with maps attached to their handlebars.
When we got out of the car, it was raining very lightly. I told the kids that the official term over here for this is mist. They disagreed and said it was rain.
There are a number of attractions to visit in the gorge including two caves. We went into the first one. They are not as good as Jenolan caves. We all got audio guides to listen to, which gave information at particular points in the cave. Ella didn't understand that you could stop the guide so went through at a pace as she tried to make sure she was at the right place for the guide. I had to stay with her and we went through rather quickly. The others appeared at the end of the cave about 20 minutes later.

Ella with her audio guide

We had a nice pub lunch and then went into the second cave. This cave also included a cheesy fantasy adventure. Various models with voices and sound effects had been placed in the cave and the idea was that you needed to find a special stone to restore world peace (if only it was that easy). The children thought it was all quite funny. There was also a live guide who ushered us through the tour wearing a hooded robe. Simon greeted him with the line "nice Jedi outfit". At the exit to the cave there were steps up to a trail around the top of the gorge and a viewing tower. I couldn't face the level of whinging that would have occurred even at the suggestion of going up the steps for me to even consider mentioning it to the children. We will have to leave that for another time (our ticket is valid for 10 years!).
After the cave we went to have a look at the museum and then the shop for some cheese and lollies for the trip home. The weather forecast for the day was for mist in the morning (which was correct) and then fog in the afternoon. I was not that keen to have to drive in the fog but luckily it was clear on the way home. On the way back we drove through Glastonbury but didn't see any signs of the famous music festival.
As we arrived home Ella asked if she could "watch some trashy tv". She is really her mother's daughter.

More ski photos and a video

If you want to see some more photos of our ski holiday check out Lisa's blog. Also there is a video of the everyone skiing at you tube, search with the keywords La Plagne, 2013 and Aussies and you should find it.

A little piece of England in France.

Last week while it was snowing in England, we took a break from visiting castles and went to La Plagne in France for a weeks skiing. It is much safer being in France than England since they seem to know how to deal with snow in France.
Sarah organised for us to stay in a chalet hotel run by an English company that specialised in running family ski holidays. I think almost everyone staying in the hotel had kids and anyone that did not was a grandparent. All the guests were from the UK and so were all the staff. Here is the view from our hotel room.

View from out hotel room

Our one complaint about the room was that it was very hot. Despite numerous attempts to cool the room, it still felt like we were back in Sydney. In the end we slept with the door to the balcony open.
The kids were booked in for all day lessons for the first five days and we took advantage of the ski hosting to learn our way around the mountain. The kids had lunch back the hotel each day while we got to sample the on-mountain dining.

On the final Saturday we went skiing with the kids. There were 5 children and 6 adults. Our friends Lisa, Michael and Immi had joined us and Immi had been in ski lessons. Ella also had met a Scottish girl in her lessons and we had met her parents during the hosting.

After a few runs in the morning, which also included a run through the jumps in the snow parks and a few crashes we headed into one of the restaurants for the kid's favourite après-ski activity: hot chocolate.

We then headed out again and followed the kids around as they skied between trees and tried to find every jump and bump that they could on the side of the runs.
We made it safely to lunch, where everyone took advantage of the deck chairs.

Second visit to London

After our week in Belgium, we returned for a few more days in London. This was just before New Year. I had specially booked a hotel that was close to St Pancras station where the Eurostar terminates in London. The hotel was one tube stop away. Unfortunately, there was work occurring on the line and the tube stop was closed. So we had to walk the twenty minutes to the hotel. Some of the area looked like it was part of a housing estate. Having watched too many episodes of the Bill, Sarah was quite concerned and we had to make a few detours.
On the Saturday we were planning to go to Madam Tussauds. When we got there the queue was at least 20 or 30 minutes. Even though the children have embraced whinging, they have not embraced the other English pastime of queuing, so we decided to do the bus tour of London instead. The bus driver said this was the busiest that she had ever seen London. In the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel as the children were getting tired. After a period of rejuvenation Sarah treated each of the children to some shopping time with her. That night we went to Wagamamas for dinner. Ben was happy as he got rice, chicken and carrot; most of his favourite foods in one meal.

The next day we went to have a look at Buckingham Palace and were amazed by the number of people walking around.

After that we walked down to Westminster for a cruise on the Thames, which was included in the bus tour ticket.

In the afternoon we caught up with Angela, Lisa and John who are friends from Sydney living in London. We had a nice afternoon tea on the Kensington High street.

On the Monday morning we took the kids to the Tate Modern gallery, which is in the old Bankside power station. None of us were that impressed. The biggest attraction was the drawing tablets connected to computers for the kids.
Lunch was at Waterloo station. The boys were happy to get sushi again. Ella was treated to the Golden Arches. We all had a great time in London and there are still lots of things we want to see there. Top of the kids list is Hamleys -- the famous toy shop. However, it was very busy with people everywhere and Sarah and I were happy to get the train back to sleepy Weymouth.

Christmas in Brussels

We spent Christmas in Brussels, with our friend Hala, her husband Gillian and her two boys Elias and Edward. Gillian had been busy in the previous weeks getting an apartment ready for us to stay in. Elias was very exited and wanted to sleep with Ben.

Hala and Sarah cooked a nice Christmas lunch of turkey and roast vegetables. Hala had also done a lot shopping before we got arrived to ensure that everyone had their favourite foods. She bought a lot of cucumber.
The days following Christmas were a bit a grey and wet. On Boxing Day we went to Oostende. The next day we went to Bruges where we visited the chocolate museum and had a nice walk around the town.

Brussels was quite multicultural and the boys enjoyed their first sushi since we left Australia in October. The last morning in Brussels was spent looking at the Christmas markets for Ben and Ella to buy a souvenir and also going ice skating. On Friday afternoon we caught the Eurostar back to London. The adventure continues.

Bed in Breakfast and Another Castle

Our friends from Australia, the Lee family, are visiting their English relatives up in Birmingham for a few weeks over Christmas. While Michael was hard at work, Sarah took the children up to visit. The Lees are staying with Deb's Mum who didn't quite have room for another five, so Sarah and the kids stayed at a local bed and breakfast run by Deb's family friend, Celia. The place was called the Rectory Cottage and was very everything you'd expect of a typical English Bed and Breakfast. However, something got lost in translation with the kids as they were very disappointed not to get their breakfast in bed. They thought they were going to a 'Bed in Breakfast' place. They reluctantly trooped down to have their breakfast in the breakfast room with the two stuffed dead robins. While we were there we went to visit another castle, Warwick Castle, which was very impressive and included a cheesy swordfight display. 

London Armstrong Christmas Party

Normally on one of the weekends before Christmas we go to the Armstrong Christmas party with between 70 and 90 of Sarah's cousins. Sometimes we even host the party at our house.

This year we had a mini party with Rosie.

Rosie met us outside the London Aquarium and we walked down South Bank. Along the way, there were some street entertainers who fascinated the children.

Our first trip to London

On the weekend before Christmas we had out first trip to London. We caught the train up on the Friday afternoon. Luckily the flooding that had closed the train line on Thursday had subsided. The trip takes about 2:45 hours. We stayed at a hotel near the Tower of London.

On the Saturday, it was quite wet and we decided to go on the London Eye and visit the London Aquarium, which were both indoor activities. Our friends from Weymouth, the Lochs, joined us for the visit to the Aquarium. After lunch we went to Trafalgar Square via the Horse Guards.

Ben was very excited to see all the London taxis and red double decker buses.

On the Sunday, we visited the Tower Bridge museum and the the Tower of London. The kids were treated to a lunch at Pizza Express.

After lunch we had to get ready for the next adventure. The Eurostar to Brussels. This involved a stop at Tescos where the children as usual spent a lot of time being indecisive about which snacks they wanted to have on the train.

The weeks before Christmas

We checked out the Christmas markets at Bournemouth, which is a costal town about 1 hour to the east. Santa really gets around in England.

There were a few early starts. Ella is not a person that can wait for things. She even has trouble waiting for the end of movies and starts pestering you half way though the movie to ask what the ending is.

On the night before her birthday I was instructed to leave her presents outside her door. At 4:30 the next morning we woken up by an excited seven year old who was very happy with all of her presents.

On the 21st, we were going up to London and then Brussels so allowed the children to open their Christmas presents before we went. They were under strict instructions to not open their presents until 6:30. Rustling could be heard from about 5:30. I think all of Ella's presents were opened by about 6:15. Next year I don't think anything will be left under the tree until we are ready.

The biggest day of the year

Ever since she could talk, the biggest day of the year has been Ella's birthday. This was one of Ella's main concerns about coming to live in England - What was she going to do for her birthday in England without her friends?

Luckily she has made some new friends at school. Sarah researched a number of party options and reached agreement with Ella on an indoor go-kart party. Outdoor party options in December are not that viable here.

Yesterday was the big day and there were higher than normal levels of excitement and impatience. When we reached the venue Sarah received a phone call from the guy supplying the go karts that he was running a few minutes late because he had van trouble. We setup the food and the guests started arriving. Then Sarah got another call saying that due to van trouble the guy could not make it. One of the parents who had a van kindly volunteered to go and get the gear but unfortunately this was not practical as the go-kart hire is based in Poole about 40 minutes away.

What were we going to do? We only had a couple of party games, we didn't even have pass the parcel. (This would be a good point to stop the blog article and leave you all in suspense....)

Luckily I am not that cruel. Also luckily for us, the venue where we were having the party, a community sports hall also hosted parties and had a jumping castle and some fitness balls and other stuff. The guy from the hall set all of this up for us. Disaster averted, the kids happily ran around the hall and jumped on the castle for the next hour. They all had a great time.

 

Without our regular baker, Sarah purchased a chocolate cake and candle from the local Asda. It was good but not as good as Granny's.

P.S. Ella got a lot of great presents from her friends. Quite a few of them involved beads. Watch out Deb, she will be bringing all of these with her when she comes to visit you in January. You and her can just have a beading love in.

What we did last weekend.

No castles were visited last weekend.

On Saturday, it was a beautiful sunny day. Some members of the family just wanted to laze around watching TV, playing on the computer or their iPod. I finally convinced Ben to walk into town with me. We were on haircut attempt 2, after head lice treatment. We both had haircuts, with a total cost of £7. Sarah bought Simon and Ella into town and Ella also had a haircut. A quick visit to the library followed. Simon complained this morning that Sarah doesn't get books fast enough and never has anything to read.

On Sunday we drove Portsmouth to visit the Historical dockyard. We toured the HMS Victory and HMS Warrior and had some time in an interactive exhibit.

It was cold but fun.

The highlight for Michael and Sarah was the tour of Horatio Nelson's ship - The Victory. It has been fully restored down to the finest detail. The details of life for the sailors, 60% of whom were press-ganged into the crew, were very gruesome. They got very little food, lots of rum and alcohol and were often beaten. Life is very different today for the English sailor.