Summer Holiday 09 - The Trip Home

Day 12 - The Long Journey Home

It was an early morning start, I had finished all the packing the night before so it was relatively easy to dressed the kids and get everything ready by the time our van transfer arrived to take us to the station. Although Peter and I have traveled by Eurostar before we had forgotten that we had to go through customs etc. so even though we were there early we spend the time at a cafe having breakfast and buying magazines. Of course the Lee boys had to go to the customary last minute Toilet run just as it was time for us to check in.

When we finally started moving towards the check In area which was on the 2nd floor, memories started flooding in about our last trip so I immediately felt a knot in my stomach as I thought of all the toy guns in our luggage.

So there was an entry form that was needed to be filled in for every person before we approach the customs officers with our passports so we spent some time filling that in. Then we had to go through the security checks and as our luggage's went through the X-Rays machine I can see the officers whispering amongst themselves ..... probably assessing whether our family of five could be possible terrorists.

So as we were ask to open our bags (It took me 5 minutes to find my keys) and they went through our bags and made sure the guns were toys ...we missed our train and had to take the next one an hour later. I was so angry with everyone and sulked in a corner for the whole hour.

The Train ride was painless comparatively as I banned the kids from playing any games on board, so everyone just chilled and fall asleep. We arrived in London and left our luggage at the station and went Selfridges at Oxford street to have lunch at their Cafe on the 4th floor. Then we walked on Oxford street for awhile as I did some last minute shopping.

We decided to check in early at Terminal 3 Heathrow in case we have problems with our luggages again so we made our way earlier to the airport. I was really taken abck at how bad the condition of terminal 3 at Heathrow when we arrived for this holiday 2 weeks ago, the carpets were old and worn, everything was just so old. Most airports in Asia is shiny and new so it was really surprising to be in this airport. We flew by British Airways last time so we were in the newer terminals.

So there were very few interesting shops here. Our flights were the last few for the day so we had a long wait ahead of us. We had no problems with our luggage's. We had dinner at TGIF and waited for 5 hours in the crowded airport. My youngest son took out his harmonica and stated to play and we somehow manage to pass the time by reading. It was a night flight and everyone just fell asleep even before the dinner was served on the plane. By the time we woke up there was only about 3 hours left of the flight so it was quite an easy flight to be on.

My boys agreed that it was a good holiday. I think they had preferred this holiday then our last one where we went to a beach. My boys are definitely not beach people, my husband is the only one in the family who enjoys the beach poor thing!

Summer Holiday 09 - Euro Disney

Day 11 - Paris ( Mon. 20 July)

Euro-Disney Day! Weather was great, Queue's was long and the kids favorite ride the space mountain was out of order just when they were about to go on it. But there were plenty of other rides. The euro-disney is about 3 times larger than Hong Kong's plus they have a Disney Movie lot adjacent to it so you would more than a day to cover it all.

As in most case when we are in an amusement park I am paired with my youngest 4 year old to go on the kiddies ride while Peter gets to go on the rollers coasters with the two older boys...again and again.

I did manage to go into the haunted house, the pirates of Caribbean ride (twice!!) an Noah's favorite the Dumbo ride and the magic Carpet ride. But there were really to many people and the queue was so long .....the boys queue up for 75 minutes for aride while I went to the studio back lot tour with Noah.

Guns and more guns.....

We refuse to get the boys any more guns.....


Noah was happy as his collection of Minnie Mouse head gear is growing...he also insisted on a Minnie mouse red t.shirt. There was also a show on Playhouse Disney characters which he absolutely adores......My baby sing and dance and it made all the queueing up worth it!

The magic Carpet Ride......

In front of Disney Studio Park.....

In front of the Hollywood Hotel where there is a ride of a free falling lift.....straight out of Seth's nightmare.

Water rushing towards us at the studio back lot tour......

Summer Holiday 09 - Sunday Fun

Day 10 - Paris ( Sun. 19 Jul)

We went to Eileen's and Benoit's again on Sunday morning. We went to Versailles Sunday Market bought some food for lunch and french goodies to bring home to Hong Kong as gifts for friends and families. The boys like going to their home. They had Wii and so we spend 1/2 the day enjoying a typical long and leisurely Sunday lunch with our friends while the boys played.

I was beginning to get very restless by 2pm just after lunch ended so we bid our friends a heartfelt goodbye as they drop us at the Invalides (army museum). Our boys who were into guns were quite excited to visit this museum and were attentive at most of its displays of past and current weapons of war. I had hope as I brief them the devastation of war that they realise that people die, someone daddy, son, brother died on these weapons that they are so in awe of. I know boys will be boys but I guess its my job to pepper their enthusiasm with a little bit of reality......

Still after hours of me taking pictures of them with the many many guns that was displayed in this museum my patience was at its tethers. It was appropriate at that time we were at the second world war wing were there was a big picture of the atomic bomb explosion and my husband said so this is how world war 2 ended ......yes I said after many many people died, many people lost their daddy, their mummy, their child......

I must say this war museum is much better than the one in London. Bigger and with much more items displayed it covered centuries and the 2 major wars. It manage to capture my normally restless boys attention.

Napoleon's Tomb

Peter and I took the boys back to the Tuileries fair. Since its late in the afternoon the crowds were much bigger so it was harder to keep an eye on them. The boys won more guns to bring home and I was getting worried how I would get this very realistic looking firearms through customs.

After a quick dinner at a cafe somewhere near the fair we head back home. I had a long night ahead of me as I needed to do some packing and prepare for our last day in Paris.

Summer Holiday 09 - The Lavergne's

Day 9 - Paris (Sat. 18 Jul)

We went to visit dear friends Eileen and Benoit. When we were in Paris last it was to celebrate our 10th wedding Anniversary 3 years ago and we stayed with them. Because our children came with us we did not want to impose ourselves on them and decided to rent a place elsewhere.

They live in Versailles, yes where the beautiful palace is situated. We went there when we were there last about 3 years ago and since our kids were not into palaces and arts, we though we'd explore the other part of the palaces that we had missed like the Petite Trianon and the Grand Trianon, go down to the canals and the farm area the palace had. It was a huge ground to cover actually and it gave us a good workout before dinner.

They were plenty of farm animals to amuse the kids, horses, goats, sheep's, fowls just everywhere on the scenic grounds. Quaint little cottages where the workers use to stay before the revolution, little gardens of fruits and vegetable just charmed the pants of us city folks.



Eileen and Benoit was very patience with our boisterous kids. French kids are generally more quieter and well behave, while my kids are spoilt in spite of my strict ways.On top of that since we have moved and live in concrete jungles all of their lives ....i.e Singapore, Korea, Shanghai and now Hong Kong they were not that at ease with nature I am ashamed to say. My youngest actually refuse to walk on sand or on grass and this is with his shoes on. I am delighted to say that these 2 manage to coaxed Noah to sit on the grass when they took them for awhile as Peter and I roamed the two Trianons.

We sampled delicious home made sherbets with flavours like coconut, kiwi fruits and blueberries as we walked towards the canals. The clouds were getting darker so we did not spend much time there wary of the fact that it was a long walk back to the car. There were big fat fishes in the canals and they fought with the ducks for bread that was thrown to them. Since I only had biscuits we fed them that and they don't seem to mind.

So we head back to the Lavergne home where Eileen cooked a delicious dinner and though us to eat the way the french do ie a minimum of 2 hours / 4 course dinner with cheese sampling and the wine and of course the dessert which is the highlight of the meal for me! I am still dreaming of the cake they had.

My boys loved it they had asked me whether we could have 4 course dinner everyday ....not bloody likely.

Summer Holiday 09 - Parc Asterix

Day 8 - Paris Parc Asterix (Fri. 17 Jul)

Parc Asterix is an amusement park just an hour drive north of Paris. The park is based on characters from the Asterix and Obelix comics a favorite of mine during my childhood. I had found a company online called Paris Vision that will arrange for entry tickets and coaches to and from the park.

Paris Vision office is situated on Rue Rivoli the street by the Tuileries and Museum Louvre. We went there early unsure of procedures. I did not even have time to eat my breakfast busy getting all the things we needed packed as its a whole day affair. As it turns out Paris Vision took us to another company that actually owns the coaches to Parc Asterix situated underneath Musee Louvre. If I had known this I assume It would be much cheaper to go straight to this company but unfortunately......

Parc Asterix opens at 10am and we had arrive by coach a good half an hour earlier. We were not the only ones there was about 200 or so people hanging about the entrance with no cafe or even a breakfast kiosk in sight. The weather too was not in our favour it was a cloudy cold windy day. Dark clouds hangs over our head threatening to burst at any moment.

In spite of the gloomy beginnings It turns out Parc Asterix turns out to be quite a treat for us, surprisingly filled with rides to accommodate all ages. Even my youngest son Noah who is only 4 and often unable to go on rides were delighted of the various mini rides a smaller version of the more thrilling rides.

Because of the gloomy weather a lot of people stayed away from the park filling the park only a quarter of the people that was there the day before, a hot shiny summers day! I knew this as I had a British mother who was there on her second day with her teenage kids. She said most rides had long queues so we were extremely lucky as we were able to go on rides again and again pretty without lining up too long.

My only problem was that all .... ALL not one kiosk or restaurants were open until noon so apparently this is the french way. So unfortunately for me I would have to stay hungry up till noon. There wasn't even a place to buy water but being a mom for so long I always have some water and snacks handy in my bags for outings like this.

By 12 in the afternoon all the restaurants and kiosk that can be found everywhere were opened and they were not at all stingy with potions...... the cotton candy was as tall as Noah so as you can imagine what that amount of sugar can do to kids......

The day ended at 6pm where we headed to the designated area to catch the coach back to Paris. We found a food court underneath the Louvre Museum that had Moroccan / halal food so we had dinner there before heading home.

It was great to see my boys so happy. They were very satisfied with the park.