Paris

PARIS... Oh yeah we are actually in Paris!!
Matty and I came here for our birthdays in July We arrived late on thursday the 17th July and left on Sunday 20th July.
We had a great time - We bought a ticket for a tour bus that allowed us to hop on and off when we liked for 2 days. This why we got the commentry as well as a ride to all the sites as Paris is pretty large!
On the Friday we basically did a big tour around the city, checking out all the sites and getting a good idea of Paris. We then went back to our hotel to get ready to head out for dinner as it was my birthday. We went to a lovely little restuarant, not too far a walk from our hotel. The restuarant was decorated in a typical French fashion and the waitors were so nice helping us trying to decifer the menu in their broken, but not bad, English. We had a 3 course meal and the food was just amazing! We even tried some french meals that we had never head of, and they were so good! After dinner we had a night cap (very strong cocktail) at another cute place before heading back to the hotel

On the Sat we were up reasonably early to head to the Musee Du Louvre - Wow, it os pretty amazing. the best museum i have been to yet! It is massive, and although it is packed with people you never feel over crowed. While here we saw the famous Mona Lisa, Michelangelo's Dying Slave, the Venus de Milo, the Chevaux de Marly horses, just to name a few. There were so many sculptures, painting and other amazing things. we spent 5 hours in there and still didn't finish. I would definately recommend this to anyone!
After this we headed for a walk around the Notra Dame and then went for another hour tour on the bus to a part we had not been to. And then finally home to have a rest and get some dinner. We had another very nice dinner and crahed after our long day!

Sunday was another nice sunny day and we were heading to spend the day on the Eiffel Tower. We didn't actually need to wait in the queue as long as we though and soon we were on our way up the first 360 steps to the first level, and the fisrt view of Paris from high. After a lap of this level we were climbing another 360 steps to the second level, and another stunning view. We didn't go any higher as the 2 hour wait kind of put us off and the fact that we did have a flight to catch.

All in all, it was a great weekend away!! :)




* Matty on the top level of the tour bus, near the Louvre.
* A view of the pyramid entrance to the museum

* Self portrait * Matty jumping for joy

* Matty with at Marly horse

*look it's the Mona Lisa!!

* One of the rooms in the Louvre


* The view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower


* From the Eiffel Tower
* Matty and the Notra Dame

The Eiffell Tower!

* Matty and I celebrating in Paris!

*Matty with a F1 car

*Matty and the Arc de Triomphe

Dublin - St Paddy's Day

March 15-18 2008

Matty to write.....

*Our first Guinness in Dublin!
*Matty with the Guinness Man

*Aimee and Kim inside the Guinness Factory
*Climbing barrells

*Guinness makes you strong!
*A new comer to the Guinness gang

*We got to pour our own pint!
*From the top floor of the Guinness factory. What a view of Dublin

*Loved the parade!
*Nice beard Matty!

*Hello from Dublin!
*Cheers boys!

*Matt the Leprechaun
*Ray with hair!

*PARTY TIME!!
*Matt's mate from work, Alex, with Aimee



*St Patrick's Catherdral

Canterbury in Kent

Canterbury Cathedral
The Cathedarl is massive it didn't all fit in the photo!
Matty and Becs by the Old Weavers building.

This was gorgeous! We didn't go down the river but it would have been awesome if we had.

Aimee, Kimmy and Bec

This is the Canterbury Castle - Yeah we all it would actually be a castle too! What a let down.
Aimee found a Ferret!

Road Trip to Wales

We left London on the Friday for our 3 day Road trip. We started by heading to Stonehenge, although due to the bad road signage we ended up going via a small detour past a little historic town called Lacock, which was tiny but very cute. It was at this point that we decided to call it Wing-It Road Trip and just go wherever the road takes us. Finally we got to Stonehenge where the weather cleared up for us and the sun was shining, even if it was still freezing cold. Yip Aimee was well covered up and I’m sure she was thinking of the beach back in warm NZ. Stonehenge was smaller than we all thought it would have been, but it is pretty amazing. With the audio guides commentary we learnt all about its history. I think the most fascinating fact is that a third of each standing stone is under ground! Also, how did they get those stones there, never mind how they put the ones onto the top of the circle!

We were then off to Bristol to find a place to stay for the night. We tried a couple of places but ended up staying at the Premier Inn; a simple place but clean, and a good price, I would recommend it. We wondered off to find some dinner and ended up in the hotel restaurant for a nice quiet meal.

The following morning - after looping the town twice trying to get onto the wicked, high suspension bridge ,before we realised that it was one way – we were on our way to Bath. We all loved the town of Bath, with its old streets and buildings. Aimee and I did the old Roman Baths while Matty and Ray went for a wonder around and a quick beer. Once Aimee and I had finished our tour of the baths, the boys took us for a walk to the river and a small lap around the town as it was lovely weather. It was then back into the car and off to Wales.

Our first stop in Wales was to Cardiff city – what a nightmare though. We went around the city twice trying to find one of the three Premier Inns on my map. The final straw was when we could see the inn but the road we were on had no turn off for miles – What the?? For their capital city you would think they would have a better road system and signage. We then all decided (it didn’t take much) that we’d try for one of the inns just north of Cardiff in a little town called Caerphilly.

With much delight we found the place straight away. Dropping off our gear we headed to the pub/restaurant next door for some dinner and a well-deserved drink! This place must have been one of the local hangouts as it was packed with lots of families (in the family section) as well as a hen’s party (in the pub section). When we arrived back in our room to watch some TV and to relax we heard some crazy party going on in the room next door. It turns out that we weren’t the only people to hear them as they were kicked out later that night and when Matty and I went to checkout we mentioned them and ended up getting the night’s stay for free because of it. So all in all, Thanks Caerphilly!
Our last day was a busy one. Firstly we went to Swansea on the south coast and went for a nice walk along the beach – again another fabulous day. Thanks Aimee for bringing the good weather over with you! Back in the car and we were heading north to the Black Mountains National Park in central Wales where we were met by the local wild horses. We stopped to say hi and all three ended up surrounding the car and wouldn’t move until we fed them nuts and raisons we happened to have in the car. After our touch with nature we realised that we hadn’t eaten so when we came across a little village called Llangadog we thought we’d check out a village pub. The owners were a lovely couple originally from London and they made good cheap baguettes. Our next stop was quite a few hours away – London – but it was a good drive.

All in all, a great road trip! :)

The famous Stonehenge

We found some sheep, a reminder of NZ

What Stonehenge would originally have looked like
In the Roman Baths in Bath

Where is Aimee's body?
One of our many self portraits.
We enter Wales

Us in Swansea
Matty and the wild horses

in Wales
The horses surround our car

demanding food! Cheeky buggers.