20050726 Viva le France

Never a dull moment in the Bowen household and the past two weeks have been no exception!

The 14th July marked a day of birthdays. Trevor (Lawrence’s dad, Diane (Richard’s mom) and Tessa (Gwyn’s mom). Tessa’s came through to London to celebrate with us. Lawrence and I were still at work but Bronwyn and mom seemed capable of entertaining themselves with a whole lot of sightseeing. We all had dinner (Shawn and Nadia included) at a Steakhouse on the Thursday and we had a toast to everyone at home, especially Trevor who celebrated his 60th…we wish that we could have been there to celebrate with you. On the Friday, we went to see the Lion King in Covent Garden. It was fantastic! You can’t imagine the costumes that they wear; even we Africans were impressed because they really did look like animals.

That weekend we went to visit the Tower of London. The highlight was definitely the Crown Jewels…what were De Beers thinking when they gave that Diamond away. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to Kew Gardens. It deserves more time though because it is massive and absolutely beautiful.

This weekend we spent in Paris (ah so blasé). We left on Friday night after work via the Eurostar. What a good way to travel. 3 hours later we were in the centre of Paris waiting for a taxi. We booked a hotel in the centre of Paris, close to the Arc de Triomphe and it looked very quaint when we got there on Friday night. When we woke up and went outside on Saturday, it was exactly what I had pictured. You had to walk through a street market to get our hotel, which was in a little square. The street market sold fresh fruit, veg, seafood and foie gras. Lovely.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day on a “hop-on-hop-off” bus where you are taken to all the sights and can get on and off the bus as you want. We spent time at Le Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.

Words cannot describe the feelings of actually seeing theses places. The Louvre was breathtaking (it was not given the time that it deserves, but we did see Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo…as well as a whole lot of statues of men without winkies, not sure what that was all about). Notre Dame was amazing in that a feeling of peace comes over you when you walk in. The cheery on top was definitely the Eiffel Tour. We spent about 2 hours in the queue, but you cannot complain when you finally get up there. Lawrence and I went to the second level, couldn’t get the guts for the highest level. We finished the day at the Champs Elysee and Arc de Triomphe, just awe inspiring.

Sunday was designated Tour de France day, just as well we did because all the shops close on a Sunday in Paris. We found a spot on the pavement at about 14h00 and had to stand until the riders came through, at about 17h00. We complained about the long wait, but all was forgotten when the riders came in. One big bunch of them, coming through at a speed of note. They came past 8 times, so we could see their strategies in play. Lawrence saw a whole lot more that I did, oh to be tall!

After the Tour de France, we had a bit of a rest because the feet were suffering and then decided to see the sights of Paris at night. This is a must for anyone coming to Paris. We made our way to the Eiffel tour at about 9pm. We bought some crepes from a street vendor and sat on some steps over looking at tower and waited for it to get dark enough to see the lights. Please have a look at the photos because no words can describe it, made the whole trip worthwhile. We also had a look at the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee at night, lovely.

Monday was spent at Leisure. We took a boat cruise along the Seine for a last look at Paris and then made out way to the train station for the trip home.

This was an excellent initiation of travelling in Europe and we are already negotiating our next trip.

20050710 News at last

Hello Guys,

It has been a while since our last update just been so busy with work that our life has kind of felt like it was slipping into a work sleep work sleep rhythm. But we have actually done a lot since.

I suppose you have all heard about the bombing in London, terrible event which has really hurt the city. Gwyn and I were lucky to have been at work when it all happened and as we don’t really go into the city have not really been affected by it. Things have seemed to return to normal, although the mood is very sombre. There are still a lot of people missing and emergency services are pulling bodies out of the tubes…terribly sad and we are so grateful that we weren’t there.

On a lighter note, let’s pick up from our last update. Gwyn and I went up to Birmingham to visit my family, Gran, Granddad, Aunt, Uncle and my cousins (the 2 little ones who have been shown on the banner for the last couple weeks). We caught the Virgin train from Euston station (yip the station where a bomb went off) and compared to our last trip on the Mega (disaster) Bus, this was the Rolls Royce of travel – comfortable and fast. Got to Brum at 9h00 and we had a quick look round the city centre where Gwyn will definitely be going back to hit all the fashion shops and the 8 story high book shop. We caught a cab up to my grandparents and it was really great to see them and the rest of the family again. Their old folk’s home, Elizabeth Prout Gardens, is grand with lots of friendly people and great care. There are emergency buttons and intercoms in all the rooms. At a stage, I went into the bathroom and pulled what I thought was a light switch next to the john. Next things, the wall in the bedroom was talking to Gwyn asking if everything was ok. We were picturing the NHS rushing in to get me out of the toilet. Funny for us, but a godsend for the older people.

Trevor had made an impression on a number of ladies who live there - apparently he is quite the Casanova! It was the firs time that I had seen my 2 little cousins, Christopher was expecting his cousin (me) to be his size and was a bit disappointed when we were larger and older. Ciara was a bit more relaaxed, and by the time that we left, they were chatting away, cool kids. Gran and Granddad are really looking good and full of naughty jokes, next time we go up we are going to be spending some more time - 2 days is way too short.

We also did the strawberries and cream thing, popped off to Wimbledon one Saturday afternoon to catch a couple matches. The queue to get in was incredibly long and took us over 2 hours to get in to the place, but everything was so organised we did not mind the wait. Andrew Murray was playing so all the poms were out in force sitting on Henman hill, where there is a huge TV, supporting the young lad -. We caught about 3 games and had a smasher of a time. Next year we will be doing the centre court thing with my mom… can’t wait.

Yesterday we went off to Hampton Court Palace for the famous flower show. The palace sits on a massive estate with meticulously kept gardens. The show was very interesting with highlights being the 4 Seasons pavilion, which as you moved through, takes you from summer to winter scenes, very well done. Is was an interesting show, but quite frustrating in that we do not have a garden to do up, although we did manage to steal a lot of ideas for small gardens. More interesting for us was the tour of the Palace itself which dates back to the 1600’s. One can just imagine the historical figures walking the same paths as we were. We even had a look at the maze, not sure that I will list it on my 10 favourite things to do when I am bored as the royalty in the 1700’s did, but it was fun nonetheless.

This week is Trevor’s birthday (quite a big one but not sure if we should mention it here). Sorry that we are not there, but we will have a toast to you on Thursday. Tessa (Gwyn’s mom) shares the same birthday as Trevor, and she is coming down to London from Manchester on Wednesday to spend the birthday in London. We are going to see The Lion King on Friday to celebrate.

Then the next weekend it is off to Paris. Yipppeee….