Bath

Matchstick

Travelers

Versaille

Versaille pancake

Dads paris street

Longleat snake

Bath Abbey

The silence

CJ's threshold.

It's fair to say Courtney has reached her threshold of having her photo taken. Before the trip Dad told CJ that regardless, she had to have lots of photos of herself in the various places we went on this holiday.

She has, without hesitation, posed for hundreds of photos over the last fortnight. It's wearing thin...

Volvo S60 - Brilliant

Today Dad found out Volvo have invented a 'safety system' that parents have been crying out for for years.

The rear head rests in the S60 are spring loaded and when a button on the dash is pressed, they fling forward.

In the event a child is playing up in the back, the parent can deliver a gentle blow to the back of the head.

Thecranegirls love it ! :)

http://youtu.be/pLZKSOErJBc

Blenheim Palace

This morning the girls went to Blenheim Palace, the home to the Duke and Duchess of Malborough. It is a wonderful old building which has been in the Spencer-Churchill family for hundreds of years. Outside there is a beautiful garden, fountains and a man made lake with waterfalls.

The palace is also the place where Sir Winston Churchill (the current Duke is Churchill's godson) was born in 1874. There was a section dedicated to Churchill and his life.

Exploring Oxford

We arrived in Oxford early in the afternoonnd after negotiating with an angry parking ticket machine, we made it to the Ashmolean museum.

There was heaps of Egyptian, Greek and Chinese artifacts. There was also some more modern history including a number of Stradivarius violins, including the Messiah which is famous partly because it is in such good condition, leading some people to doubt it was hundreds of years old. This violin was donated to the Ashmolean on the condition it was never played again.

Then we walked over to Christ Church College, one of the most well known colleges which form Oxford University. The college is a beautiful old building and the large dining hall is now more famous as being Hogwarts Hall from the Harry Porter movies.

The girls also stood on the steps where Professor McGonagall welcomed new students to Hogwarts School of Magic and we saw the courtyard where Harry learnt to fly on a broom and play quidditch.

Afterwards we wandered the streets of Oxford, getting a feel for the university town. The girls walked through Radcliffe's Camera

Stourhead

This morning we visited Stourhead, a beautiful old manor house which was previously owned by one of the banking families. The grounds are huge with beautiful gardens. As we explored the gardens, thecranegirls finally got to experience how bitterly cold the weather can be in the United Kingdom.

It's fair to say thecranegirls have given this old building and gardens thing a decent go - but it's not growing on them (or Dad).

Stonehenge

This afternoon we visited Stongehenge. It was freezing cold and we're not sure we have it justice doing our quick lap and dashing back to the car.

And We Backed Light

Longleat Safari Park

The Maze

Telephone Box

Longleat

Roman Baths, Bath

Clara Oswin's house

The Doctor's companion, Clara Oswin lives in this house - in the show.

Sushi Lunch

For lunch we went to a sushi place where the food comes past on a conveyor belt and you choose small portions as you like.

Safe to say we've found a new favorite of Courtney's.

Cardiff

The Doctor Who Experience

Today we went to the Doctor Who experience in Cardiff. It started with an interactive show and then you could wander around and see all the old costumes, TARDIS consoles and characters.

Cardiff

oday we travelled from Belfast to Cardiff. Basically the whole reason for coming to Cardiff is to see the Doctor Who Experience. We are booked in for the big show tomorrow so today we spent the afternoon wandering the streets looking at places where Doctor Who episodes had been filmed. For lunch we stopped at Eddie's cafe, the place where the episode Impossible Astronaut was filmed (in part).

Tonight we had dinner at Jamie's Italian, one of the restaurants owned by Jamie Oliver. It was some really lovely Italian cooking.

Cardiff Penthouse

Titanic Exhibition

Today we went to the Titanic Exhibition in Belfast. It was a really modern museum with heaps of cool interactive exhibits.

Afterwards we walked along the Titanic trail which ended at the dry dock where the Titanic was launched from. We got go down right into the bottom if the dock and see the second last place the Titanic settled.

View from the girls window

Thecranegirls are currently staying at Rayanne House in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

 

Courtney's Birthday

Today is Courtney's 14th birthday. Although she is missing her family and friends very much, she knows show lucky she is to be spending her birthday in two different countries.

Today we sorted of "wasted" a day away in Paris. After a week of getting up early, waking and rushing we decided on having a little sleep in. There is along way to go yet and we don't want to get burnt out. 

We packed the suitcases up and Dad and the girls went to the Le Comptior Cafe down stairs and had fish and chips while Louise ducked out for a last minute look at the shops (the rest of us had retired our feet)

But the resting didn't last long and soon we were walking with the suitcases to the train station (where the escalator was broken) to catch the two trains to the airport. 

We flew Easyjet from Paris to Belfast which took about 75 minutes - once they'd changed a wheel on the plane. 

When we arrived at our accommodation there was a huge bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates for the birthday lady, delivered all the way from Mum in Australia.

Rayanne House, the guest house we are staying in is beautiful. Courtney thinks it is jury like the house in a book she is reading at the moment. The girls have their own room with huge beds. 

M&M World London

Volvo S60 Parental Control

Stonehenge

Courtney's Birthday Flowers

Courtney has been lucky enough to have her birthday in two different countries. 

When we checked into our Bed-n-Breakfast today, Courtney received a bunch of flowers and chocolates sent to her by Mum on the other side of the world. She loved her gifts.

Euro Disney

Today we went to Euro Disney. We had to get up really early and walk (again) to the place where the bus picked us up. 

The bus ride took about 45 minutes which gave us a little chance to have a snooze. 

We arrived at the park and were given invisible stamps on our hands (or were we)... 

Firstly we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride which had us in little space ships, shooting at the aliens and other bad guys. 

Space Mountain was awesome but left us a little giddy and queezey. It was a really fast roller coaster in the dark - it went upside down and jerked side to side. 

We went to the shooting gallery and then to a roller coaster called Thunder Road - which we thought was going to be sedate enough for

Brooke - we were wrong. Still Brooke love the roller coaster. She did not know if she wanted to laugh or scream. We got a great photo of her - eyes closed and tense. 

We watched the stunt cars and the history of animation as well as show on special effects. 

We went on a tram ride which showed how the movie makers made sets etcetera. That show had thousands of liters of water and fire balls coming towards us. 

We went on a Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride which had some great puppets and also a life(ish) size version of the Black Pearl. 

The girls did a little shopping and lastly we wandered through the Mad Hatters maze. 

Eiffle Tower II

Last night we planned to go out for dinner and to go up the Eiffle Tower. Our plans were somewhat ruined because there was a large protest underway and the police had closed all the streets between our accommodation, the restaurant and the tower. 

We eventually made our way around and made it onto one of the last assents of the evening. 

Every hour the lights on the tower flicker like a strobe light and there are two search lights on the very top which cast light for miles and miles. 

We left the tower and because it was a warm night and the protest was still going, we had to walk all the way home along the river. 

A lot of the bridges in Paris have hundreds, if not thousands of padlocks attached to them. All the tourists write of engrave their names onto the padlock as a sign they have been there.

Thecranegirls now have a sister lock.  

On the Bridge to the west of the Musse D'Orsay (the one with the Jefferson statue), on the hand rail on the eastern side of the bridge, on the right hand side of the 14th upright - the girls have locked an 'Fortress'' padlock to the bridge. 

On the padlock the girls wrote "Courtney and Brooke. Sisters 2013"

The girls have each kept a key to the lock. We hope it is there for years to come. Who knows, one day they might get back to Paris to check on their lock.

Terrible Weather

Over the days we have been in Paris the weather has been wonderful. Most days it is Tshirt  weather - almost warm. Louise had us all expecting to be freezing cold most of the time.

It's become one of our ongoing holiday jokes how awful the weather is in Europe.

Euro Disney

Centre Pompidou

This afternoon we went to Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum. It's fair to say, thecranegirls share Dad's appreciation of modern art.

There was heaps of Picasso paintings but this one was our favorite... Basically a huge white canvas with white textured paint on it...

Norte Dame

This morning we wandered down the the Notre Dame cathedral. There was a mass being held whilst we were there and the stain glass windows were amazing.

Versailles

The girls had such a tiring day yesterday at the Lourve, this morning called for a slow start. We woke about nine and then caught the train to Versailles. The line to get into the palace was at least 300 people long bit to be fair it took only half an hour or so to get inside. Inside was chaos with hundreds of people wanting to see the same rooms. Just when dad was about to give up, it appeared everyone did and it quietened down.

We saw where the kings and queens of France grew up and from where they often controlled the country. We also got to see lots of their furniture and art work.

 After looking inside the palace, we explored the gardens which had lots of beautiful ponds, some some with waterfalls. There was one pond in which there was a water fountain that squirted water in time with the music.

The girls got to try crepes for the first time - they are just like Nana makes! So again today was a lot of time on our feet walking and everyone is looking forward to tonight's sleep.