The Rest of Our Adventures with our First Visitors

So, I didn't mention that we had planned to see Paris on our very first day in France and then go to the Normandy sights on our second day. We ended up skipping out on any sight seeing the first day because the car ride was getting to be too much for little Alex (we had 6 hours of driving that day!) In hindsight, it wasn't even a good idea to try to squeeze anything in that day. What were we thinking!!?? We rented a house about an hour outside of Paris and we just went straight, grabbed a bite to eat and went to bed! So we opted out of going to Normandy and went to Paris the next day instead. The house we stayed in was interesting. Looked way nicer in the pictures. It was still nice just not totally what I expected. And the owner only spoke French so communication was rough!! They lived on site too.
Here are a few pics at the house:

standing by the door to our portion of the house

 

Entry to the house, gardens and horse stables

Steaming truck load of fresh manure outside the gate

 

Petting and feeding the horses

and the only picture I got of the inside....it was nice that there was a toy box there!

 

{Ghent, Belgium}

I don't know what it is but I love Belgium! Not a lot of sights to see but just quaint villages and streets. Derek had a conference in Ghent 4 years ago. I tagged along and ventured the city alone for 3 days. I really came to love Ghent! We had also planned to go to Brugge, another fabulous city in Belgium, but we decided not to rush things. We were still exhausted from Paris!

 

Best part of the day...lunch....Belgian Waffles, French Fries and Hot Chocolate!!!

 

Street with Hanging Shoes

 

Gravensteen Castle

 

{York, UK}

This day ended up going all wrong in so many ways. Derek and I had yet to go here but we've heard great things about it. It is a 3 hour drive to York, we just got done doing SO much driving...not a good decision to do this today. It also ended up being our only day without rain and we spent the majority of the time in the car. Knowing that Natalie & Alex wanted to see a castle I looked into one......obviously not good enough because it was North of the city center of York and the castle itself ended up being closed. We paid to walk the grounds. The grounds were amazing though! By the time we were done exploring them it was dark and we didn't get to see any of the city!

 

Castle Howard

 

 

 

After a long walk through the woods we found a playground

 

{Stonehenge & London}

We started out with Stonehenge which is, you guessed it, a 3 hour drive.

 

There was a guy doing headstands so Blake had to try it too. I really should get him doing this at every site we go to. He's always doing it anyway.

 

By the time we got to London it was dark. It was cool to see it at night although I'm sure Natalie and Alex would have rather seen it during the day.

 

Tower Bridge

 

Late Night Race

 

{Cambridge, UK}

The girls had to go back to school. Derek had to go back to work. Natalie, Alex, Blake and I went to the college town of Cambridge. Sorry no pics! I had yet to make my way to Cambridge. It's an easy hour drive. It is now my new favorite city that is close to us! Lots of shopping, beautiful scenery, great restaurants! We met up with an old friend of Natalie's who happens to live in the area.

 

{Castle Rising}

Natalie & Alex's last day here......I had to take them to a castle. Another one I hadn't been to but the only one that is close to us. It wasn't as grand as some of the others we've been to but it was still quite impressive. We ended their stay at our favorite restaurant.

 

Despite everything, we had so much fun...such an adventure! We LOVED having Natalie & Alex hang out with us and hope they will come back.....and Andy should come too! We look forward to more visitors. And now that we know not to squeeze so much in it shouldn't be as exhausting! ;)