Greetings from Garda

We have arrived at Largo di Garda, on its south-west shore, at the town of Manerba del Garda.  The site, Camping Zocco, is approached by a track that becomes steeper and narrower as you descend.  Had the sat nav lead us in the wrong direction? Would another van come up the road towards us? Will we need to....reverse!?!!! – such are the questions intrepid caravaners must worry themselves with!!! Anyway needless to say good old sat nav worked (I knew it would!) and we are now ensconced in an olive grove that overlooks the lake.  We can’t quite see it from our plot, but we know it’s there and we didn’t like to risk heading down to a lower terrace our clutch being the way it is (read earlier blogs for more info!!!)

The weather was glorious until Thursday evening when a huge thunder storm descended.  On day one we went on a geo-cache that took us all around an archaeological site high up on a promontory and gave us fantastic views of the rolling countryside in the foreground, the lake and a backdrop of the mountains to the north.  Unfortunately no geo-cache was located but the treasure-seekers appetite is now whetted!

Wednesday after a morning of school (yes Mr Gellini was teaching again!) in recognition of Sulby School sports day we held our own sports day on the football pitch above the swimming pool.  We had javelin throwing, egg and spoon (badminton racquet and shuttle-cock), skipping race and flat racing against the stopwatch, even I joined in!! There was excitement, disappointment, tears – just like the real deal.

We then headed to the bay of Salo – long stone esplanade, tall cyprus trees, boats bobbing at anchor, crystal clear water.....restaurants with starched linen... I’ll stop now!

On Thursday morning Ames and Ben French studies continued; les cours... ‘A la plage’ whilst Tom sat with Daddy in the gardens next door and played cards whilst Kev down-loaded the next installment of Sat Nav for France... exciting stuff this travelling malarky!  In the afternoon we went on an intrepid walk from Manerba along the coastal footpath to the viewpoint at Belvadere.  As Gelling adventures want to, it turned into somewhat of a more adventurous trip as we navigated the stony, uneven footpath with sheer drops down to the lake, but that was the least of our worries.  As we dropped through woodland and scrub to the bottom of the cliff we were passed by several good-looking men who all smiled courteously as we made room for them to pass.  It was only as we reached a dead-end at the bottom of the slope that we realised we had hit upon something of a Hampstead Heath area and quickly turned on our heels and marched our off-spring back along the hazardous drop-off to the top-path and into town for well-deserved ice-creams!!

On Saturday we had a fabulous trip across the lake from Maderno to Torri del Benaco.  Although the weather was still rather inclement, we wended our way along the terraced shoreline, with glimpses of sumptious weekend get-aways from Milano with steep terraced gardens, hanging with ivy, vines, citrus fruit and large square canopies strung to provide shade.  The boat set off, just in time for Ben and Tom to decide that they needed the loo (so I missed the initial 5 minutes!) but the scenery as I looked out from the porthole was stunning.  The light being the way it was gave an unrealistic 3-dimensional view of the landscape, with the shoreline in the foreground, the near hills centre and the mountains in the distance (I know that the photos just won’t do the scene justice.)

We wandered around the east coast town though the back streets (that smelt of Alpine villages) and came out on a square that faced the lake.  A wedding ceremony was spilling out of the square’s church, people dressed in their finery – ladies in short silk dresses in vibrant colours, fascinators pinned to their coiffured hair, perched upon tritty-trotty heels, the men in sharp dark suits many sporting sunglasses.  The bride had arrived on a large black speedboat (only in Italy!) and we managed to gain a glimpse of the couple (obvious from their beautific smiles) but unfortunately missed the dress.

Lunch was simple but delicious, pizza with a carafe of rose overlooking the lake, with the mountains behind.  Ben had a huge bowl of mussels and was fortunately most well afterwards – didn’t really feel like clearing up in a small van!

Today, our last in Italy, has been most relaxing.  Tom woke up early (well 8.15) and I took him and his beloved pack of playing cards down to the lake, wandered along the wooden pier that projects into the lake some 20 metres, and sat playing ‘give away’ and ‘ocky knocky’ as the sun rose higher in the sky and the lake slopped under our feet.  Having had our wholesome breakfast of baguette and jam (& the obligatory coffee) we gave the inside of the van a quick clean whilst the tiddlers dammed the stream to the side of the camp, then went up to the pool.  Although the sun was out and the place was the busiest it’s been since our arrival the water was still freezing.  I managed to push out my usual 30 lengths!?!  :-) and the children managed a few minutes splashing around, particularly ‘king of the pool’ who has now mastered back flips under water, but my husband didn’t stay in for long!

After a lunch washed down with peach bellinis, this afternoon we’re wandering down to the lake to try out the lilos that a kind Dutch couple gave to us on their departure, then it’s packing up camp, chicken breast with Boursin for tea and an early night after watching the Italian-set ‘Stealing Beauty’ with the divine Liv Tyler. 

Tomorrow we have a day-long journey west, back to France and to the town of Draguignan in order to take in an early stage of La Tour on the 3rd July before meeting up with Mum and Dad in Provence.

Hope that this blog finds you all well. Arrivederci for now!  xxx    

Letters from Venice.

Camping Italia, Venenzia... 

and so the Gellini’s story continues as they head north to Venezia and the Lido di Jesolo, a spit of land to the north of the city.  Venice you may ask – why, to re-visit the romantic location of Kev’s 'proposta del matrimonio', although it wasn't quite the same picture in 35 degree heat with 3 ‘rug-rats’ at heel!!!

We arrived at Italy Camping Village in Cavallion-Treporti on 17^th June.  Apart from the shocking state of the roads (the IoM should be very proud of the condition of their roads!), spotting the occasional lady of the night (I didn't realise they still made shocking pink Lycra mini-dresses) and the amazing number of bridges to get travellers across the network of lagoons, the drive from Ravenna north along the Adriatic coast went without a hitch.  The mood in the car was happy and care-free, with windows down and ‘Virgin Rock’ playing on the radio in the front of the car whilst ‘How to Tame a Dragon’ was showing in the back.

Camping Italia is the smaller (and cheaper!) sister site of the enormous 'Union Lido' which has 2200 tourer pitches alongside their camping village and hotel!  Having arrived around half two it was still siesta time (1-3pm) which gave us a bit of time for a look around.  It was all very leafy, well laid out, lovely pool and much to BAT’s excitement had a large water slide.  Having plumped for a site Kev and Ben headed off to get the car and caravan whilst Ames, Tom and I bagsied our space.  We should have known from the large, red raspberry-type fruits in the tree above our head why this site was vacant, but it seemed such a lovely spot and only some 20 metres from both pool and golden sandy beach.

The air was warm and heavily-scented, you could hear the sea and all around came voices from different countries: Italy, Germany, Netherlands...  We were befriended by the lovely older couple opposite, from Hamburg, who spent 3 months every Summer in Italy then up to the Baltic Sea for the next 3 months.  They shared stories, mixed nuts and raisins for our ‘cards nights’ and gave Amy a lovely shell necklace ‘the eyes of Santa Lucia’ which is supposed to bring the wearer good luck.  All the people we encountered were so friendly and engaging, it really encouraged you to try harder to speak their language.

It was a fantastic, relaxing, chilled-out week where we mosyed from our pool, to next door’s pool with its ‘lazy river’ or the other large pool complex with its own beach and slide.  I spent mornings doing aqua-fit and zumba-sessions and evenings on the beach doing pilates... but my goodness it was hot. 

Day one it was high 20s but with a pleasant sea-breeze, by day four it was reaching 32-33 degrees, the breeze was non-existent and the humidity had greatly increased.  You couldn’t move without perspiring and at night (in the van) with 5 hot bodies and no air moving naturally it was desperate!  We did pinch the children’s fan once they’d gone to sleep but it was hot hot hot!

Anyway.... as I said at the start of these Venetian ramblings, the reason I really wanted to head north to the area of Venezia rather than south to the hills of Tuscany and Umbria was to re-visit old haunts: the Pont du Vin just off the Piazza San Marco and see the domos full of eastern promise and the basilica’s glittering facade.

We left Punta Sabbioni on the public ferry-boat ‘Poveglia’ with a day-ticket in order that we could jump on and off the local transport into whatever porto took our fancy.  It was another stinking hot day and the Italian style caramel-coloured dress that I’d bought not 2 days previously in the local market (and looked so nice in the mirror at the time) clung to me like a rag!

However it was bliss standing at the bow of the boat en famille as we headed towards the sky-line of Venice and sailed up the Grand Canal.   

We berthed just by the Pont du Vin, but convinced that the bridge had been further away from Saint Marks Square (what did I remember I was young and in love!) I made everyone trek over several bridges along the lagoon before announcing that no Kev, you were right all along, it must be back the other way!  In that heat I can assure you that the tribe were non too pleased.  We did however eventually find ‘the bridge’, took some photos and went on our merry way with the hundreds of other people into the square.  

The basilica is stunning but I also loved the beautiful old cafes with their billowing white canopies that come out over the square to provide diners with some shade.  We managed to escape the throng fairly easily and threaded our way down alley-ways selling gellatos, Murano glass, masks, beautiful jewellry....

We stopped for lunch in a quiet square (no billowing canopies for us!) and shared sandwiches and pepper crisps without trying to attract the attention of the local pigeon population, although we had Tom to shoo them off when required.

From Venice we took the boat to Murano.  If you want to purchase that fish-bowl your parents had with a cat looking wistfully into it, then Murano is the place for you!  No, no joking aside there were lots of lovely shops selling exquisite glass-ware, but when you have 3 young children and a husband who doesn’t 'browse', I would head to the next fishing village of Burano instead.  This is a gorgeous spot with the houses washed in bright, bright colours: reds, blues, yellows, pinks, ochres and lots of little squares onto which restaurants spill out.

After a week of sun and sand and sea and general cavorting around, it was time to pack up and head for the hills and Largo di Garda.  Having spent just 2 nights previously on Lake Como on our last sejourn (we were beaten off by gigantic killer mosquitoes) I was a little apprehensive, but oh how wrong could I have been.

Ciao for now!

"Buon Giorno Buon Giorno Ferdinando"

“Buon giorno Buon giorno Ferdinando” to quote from one of my favourite films, ‘Room with a View’, however I sit here not overlooking the dreamy towers of Florence but the pine forest of Ravenna Marina in the campsite of “Piomboni” (it sounds better when you say it with an Italian accent!!)  The obligatory glass of rustic red wine sits by my side, Roccaverde Sangiovese, to aid the fluidity of the prose and the temperature is only just beginning to drop. 

I suppose many of you will have seen my husband’s delightful blog today showing the temperature (sure you all wanted to see that at present!?!) and the pictures of Tom and I asleep.  It’s a good job it’s Father’s Day otherwise he would have been in BIG trouble, if only he’d chosen a more flattering angle, but I suppose he’s just getting even after my entry on Ben’s birthday.  Anyway, that’s all by the by....

So when I last posted we were in the west of Italy, Ameglia, seeing the sights of Pisa and the surrounding countryside.  We were there for about 5-6 days but hadn’t really felt that we got into the Italian vite.  I did manage to take myself off from our campsite one afternoon to explore our local town, perched on the hillside some 500 m above the basin floor; that was fantastic.  As I pedalled up the dusty road the heat radiated off the stone walls and being a Saturday afternoon it was really quiet.  People were sat outside their houses chatting and on one balcony I passed there was someone sat dyeing their hair and painting their toe-nails!

The commune of Ameglia was reached by passing through thick stone walls hewn from the bedrock.  The solid wood gates were open and out of a sense of respect I got off my bike and started to walk up the passageway that separated the houses.  As I walked along the path, following a couple of elderly ladies deep in conversation, it narrowed and the temperature dropped.  There must only have been a couple of metres between the front of some houses, daubed in terracotta, rose, pistachio and ochre with large solid brass door knockers on most doorways.  Always the romantic, as I passed from the path into a stone square to admire the view of the valley below, I was enchanted to hear a mass of some kind occurring in the small church.  I was too shy to pop in, too concerned that I’d disturb something of importance, but I loved every minute of the experience (including the rose garden at the top of the town set within the old castellated walls) but perhaps it was just the chance to have a bit of time and a bit of quiet all of my own!

On the last day in Ameglia it pelted down, those big, warm, fat raindrops that drench you as soon as you set out.  We decided that the morning would be spent with the children in ‘Schola di Gellini’.  Kev, as well as setting a couple of tricky maths lessons, lead a wonderful science lesson which composed of questioning what would happen having shaken up a can of fizzy pop if you (a) tapped it 3 times (b) left it for x seconds (c) opened it straight away.   There was much excitement in camp as Ben set his stall out as ‘the shaker’, Ames as ‘the tapper and counter’ and Tom ‘the watcher’.  With all 4 of them standing out in the heavy rain the experiment took on another dimension.  Measurements were taken, noted and then duly discussed and written up.  I think he missed his vocation in life, it was brilliant!!

As we left camp Ameglia the following morning the rain still persisted and having left the awning up overnight in the vain attempt that it might have dried out, we had a job to fold the sodden lump and store it in the van for our next journey, to the east coast.  It was a long drive but B,A&T were kept entertained with Tom’s birthday movie ‘Pirates’ and the now very popular ‘Hong Kong Phooey’.  Much to our disappointment, we arrived in a rain-sodden Ravenna some 6 hours later, but the staff at reception were so much more welcoming than at Ameglia.  The irony was, as I think I mentioned before, the camp’s strap-line was “Here everyone has fun”, they just forgot to tell the front-desk personnel!!

The site is set on the spit of land that juts north from Ravenna which during the 5^th century was the capital of the Roman Empire (you learn something new every day!).  There is still a huge port situated behind the spit and being in the Adriatic delta the countryside looks like The Fens.  We’re about 100 metres from the sandy beach and the site is great although the enormous mosquitoes are something to be believed. (We’ve got Deet spray, citronella candles, mosquito coils and still we’re getting chomped! although having Kev and Ben is a bonus as they seem to be the first to be attacked!

We’ve had a very relaxing few days mooching from site to beach and back for a lazy lunch of bruschetta, tomatoes and mozarella washed down with a glass or two of rose’.   We did head off for a culture vulture trip into the old town of Ravenna which was great, for Kev and I in particular!!!  We’d found the 3* Michelin green guide sites of historical interest and hunted them down, Basilica di San Vitale, Mausoleo di Galla Placidia, Battistero Neoniano and Sepolcro di Dante (he died in Ravenna having being exiled from Florence!) 

Well we didn’t actually enter the buildings but the brickwork was beautiful and we did manage to slip into the cool of a small church.  Tom loved trying to catch the pigeons in the square where we stopped to have lunch (stealth approach led to full on attack!) and the gelato went down a dream, I can recommend the Tiramisu!

The children have loved the beach.  We’ve had sand wells, sand fortresses and sand boats, shell castles, jelly fish hunts, volley ball matches, played piggy in the middle, had boules competitions and been booted off the private beach having illegally erected our new sun parasol and had the audacity to sit on our own seats (but all in a very pleasant way!)

Last night Ames and I headed into the local town to purchase a few treats for Father’s Day.  The place was absolutely heaving, it was like the last time I went to Ibiza with the bars full of  young, beautiful people drinking cocktails (one looked like it had frog spawn in it!).  Having returned to camp Kev had managed to rustle up a delicious steak au poivre and frites with a tomato and courgette gratin – delicious!  The night concluded with the mini disco, but one I’ve never experienced before, more like a wedding disco.  It was lead by a guy dressed in a white shirt , tight black pants and a mike, who sang along to the songs whilst gyrating his hips.  We switched from the theme tune to Alvin and the chipmunks, to some local Italian waltzes and finished off with GamGam style or whoever you spell it!?!  All good family fun!

Kev’s Father’s day started really well with a breakfast of croissants infiltrated with honey and rich ground coffee and then off to the beach for relaxation in the sun but has gone downhill since lunch... 

He’s just emptied out the chemical loo, packed up the children’s toy boxes in the heat of the sun (must be pushing  40 degrees), cleaned the car and packed up the trailer.  I think he deserves a meal out at the campsite restaurant and gelatto for pudding, don’t you???! Ciao for now. xxx    

Ben's Journal - 2

Ben-edi UN Juin

My Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today it was my birthday & I Got Skylander Giants cap and top, Hero Factory Pyrox, Chocolate Biscuits, Sweets of any kind, Storm trooper top, The Iron Giant (not forgetting my Legoland & Euro Disney tickets.) For my Birthday we did bouncing on the bouncy castle at 10.00, Tennis at 11.00 (while we were playing tennis I challenged Kebby to a half-court tennis match for a full bottle of coke & I won 2-1 against him and won the full bottle of coke,) Electrics at 1.45, Football at 2.00 (I won Hurrah!,) Pool at 3.00, Sorry at 4.00 & monopoly at 8.30. Soo for tea we had cheese burgers the size of your head. For pudding we had jelly & homemade cake.

Jeudi deux Juin

It was Tom’s birthday and we went to the Verdun Gorge for a go on a pedalo which was not a bright idea.   Once we were on we had to pedal quite fast to get through it as we only had an hour and so we did.  Then I saw a waterfall and said Daddy let’s steer it over to that waterfall.  When we got there I was on the wrong side of the pedalo!  And got wet through.  Then we saw another waterfall and it was even colder when we went through.  Mummy did some good geographics on the way back.  When we got back to the car we heard thunder and Mummy and I saw a flash of lightning which shook me to the bone and I was scared.  WE had to go about 50 mph to prevent getting caught.  As we went out for lunch we just had tuna sandwiches and another home-made cake for tea.

Mardi trois Juin 

Today Mummy and I went into town to get some bread and I had to go on my bike which was even harder than walking (which Mummy was). When we were back I found that Amy and Tom were playing at being a dog and its owner.  Amy had painted Tom’s face with face paints.  I wanted to give Mummy a whacky wild wise woman face paint and I did.   Then Mummy painted me an army face paint as I had a gun from my birthday.  While we were doing that we went to the exercise park to warm up and when we had finished the exercises Tom had eaten all his sweets.

Mercedi quatre Juin

We travelled to a place (Antibes).  It was quite a while until we got there, I would say 9 hours.  When we got there I said this is a quite good campsite.  When we had set up camp, me Amy and Tom went to play in the park.  I made a volcano and Amy and Tom went on the swings as I was too big for them and made crashing swings (game made up by Amy).  In the afternoon we walked out onto the main street which was really busy to go to the beach.  I was really excited as I thought it would be a sand beach but when we got there it was just stone beach, but luckily enough there was quite a lot of water and the tide was coming in so we threw stones in and Daddy threw a piece of wood and we had to hit it.  I saw it float away in the distance.  I threw a piece of wood and eventually hit it in the middle.

Jeudi cinq Juin

Today we had to go a long way to the next campsite in Italy!  When we got there we found out it was called Camping River.  When we were all set up we asked to go to the park, we were amazed to find a massive pirate ship and we held secret meetings there.

Vendredi six Juin

Today we went to Pisa to see the leaning tower and have a picnic.  I had a four slice sandwich (cheese, ham, lettuce, tomato) and on the way back Amy had her photograph taken by people from Japan.  Whilst we were walking back we went to the ice cream van.  We were allowed 2 scoops and I got fraise and chocolat.  On the way back we went to Decathlon and bought 2 swimming caps so that Mummy and Daddy could swim in the pool with us.

Samedi Huit Juin

We went to the pool in the campsite and wasn’t cold so we all went in with our swimming caps on.  It was quite deep and we weren’t allowed in the small pools (because it had a mushroom fountain!)  When we dried off Amy, Tom and I went to the park again because we wanted to do another secret meeting.  When we got there was a boy and we didn’t know if he was English, French or Italian.  We had to work out and we found out he was Italian because his mother came and said some words which always ended in A, E, I, O and U.  Then another girl came and we knew straight away that she was Italian because her name was Celia.

Dimanche Neuf Juin

It rained all day and so we did school.  I had to do maths which was quite easy until Daddy gave me equivalent fractions.  We also did ‘until’ and ‘now’ for literacy and last but not least science which was really fun because we had to use cans of fizzy drink and we thought it would squirt when we shook it and didn’t tap it, but it didn’t!

Lundi Dix Juin

We travelled to Ravenna (on the east coast of Italy).  On the way there we watched Hong Kong Phooey which is a quite funny film but I like the music.  We also watched ‘The Pirates’ which was really funny and they had a miniature food fight.  When we got to the campsite we were really excited and wanted to go to the parkas it looked really fun but as usual we couldn’t as we had to help set up camp and it was raining (like hailing down – annoying!)

Mardi Onze Juin

Today we played pirates and Amy pretended to be cutlass Liz, Tom pretended to be Captin’ Birds nest and I was just a pirate. After that we went to a burning hot, sunny beach then we had fajitas for tea.

Mercedi Duos Juin

Today we cycled to the park and played super heroes and so we then had to do school and in school we did ‘literacy’ and ’spelling’. After we had lunch we all cycled for a mile into town to get an ice cream and I got chocolat. After we had to cycle that boring mile back to camp to go to the beach. When we were back we had a scrumdiddilyumtpous dinner.

Jeudi Triese Juin

Today we all drove to Ravenna to see the Basilica & other old buildings it was most fascinating. On the way back we stopped for an ice cream & I had mango. It lasted all morning! In the afternoon we went to the beach.

Vendredi Qrartorse Juin

Today we had school & it was making a mosaic leaning tower of Pisa & for lunch we had bruchetta. Then we all headed down to the beach for 3 whole hours!

Samedi Quinse Juin

Today I had school & it was maths so daddy gave me mind boggling questions=equivalent fractions. Then we all headed to the beach to have lunch. After lunch Amy, Tom & I made a world travelling space ship.

Jour De Pere

Today I woke up & started reading my book. When daddy woke up we gave him our presents to open. Then we walked to the beach & we had a massive swim in the sea. So as always the frightening would come=school. It was only my blog though but I’m still typing my blog at 5.00.

Amelie Rose’s Journal

On Thursday I went on the boat. We watched television and Ben played on a car game.  Daddy gave us some pocket money.  I bought a juice then we watched a movie but I did not know what is was called because I did not watch the first of it.  When it was finished we went off the boat. 

On Friday we had to go to Harry and Libby’s house.  We had a delicious dinner.  We had roast potatoes, sausages and beans.  After we went upstairs to see where out beds were.  Mine was in Libby’s room, so was Tom’s.  Ben’s bed was in Harry’s bedroom.  Then we went to sleep.  After it was morning.  We had breakfast.  I had Rice Crispies.  After we got in the car and Daddy drove to a cafe called Costa so we could have lunch after we watched Road Runner.  It is hilarious.

On Saturday we went to Swiss Farm and met Lilly, Daisy, Ellie, Kate and Madeleine.  We played cricket.  I am good at cricket but I missed it a few times.  Then I asked if I can go to the park.  Mummy said you can go if you stay with the big girls.  We went to the park and there were some monkey bars.  I like the park.  There was a bush with twig seats and there was a bird’s nest.  The next day there was another bird’s nest.  We made a club called the fabulous four and our password was ‘onesey’, but we changed our password because Ben knew the password.  The other password was ‘bluebottom’.  Daisy is funny, Madeleine is flexible, Lilly is loved.  Ellie is like teenager and so is Kate.

 On Sunday we went to Ellie and Daisy’s house.  Daisy had lots of Moshi Monster stuff.  Daisy had more Moshi Monster stuff than I had.  After we went to a different campsite.  We did not meet any friends of ours.  The campsite was called Chertsey and there was a park called Chertsey Park but there was no sign to say and no monkey bars but there was some swings and a slide.

On Monday we went to Legoland Windsor Resort.  We went on a Dragon ride 2 times.  After that we went on a train ride.  The train went round and round and round until it came to a stop.  “That ride was really really good”, I said when we got off it.  Then we went to Chima.  We had 4D glasses on.  They made us feel things and foam came down at 1 minute and water came down at the next minute.  We watched 2 shows.  One was a puppet show and one was a pirate show.  Salty was really funny in the pirate.  Elvis was good in the puppet show.  We had some doughnuts with them was chocolate dip.

On Tuesday we drove to a boat but we did not what it was called because it did not have the name on the side of it.  We went on the boat with our caravan.  The boat took us to France.  Then we did off the boat with our caravan.  We drove to a campsite in France.  The campsite was a farm.  We went to a shop.

On Wednesday we went to a different campsite.  The toilets were not nice and the showers were not nice at all.  On the way to Euro Disneyland we had a Starburst.  In Disneyland I went on a ride called Space Rockets.  I saw Ariel and Mickey Mouse.  We went to a shop in Disney and I bought a Kitty keyring and a Kitty pencil. My favourite part of Disney was the parade.

On Thursday we went around Paris.  The weather wasn’t great.  We went strolling up the Eiffel Tower.  It was freaky because I didn’t like being so high.

On Saturday we went to Lake Annecy.  There was a lovely park with 2 swings and a table for tennis table and on the mountains were para-gliders.

On Sunday we all cycled to a market and Ben said “Where is the food stall?”.  So Mummy and me went to look until we found the food stall and after that we went back and Tom, me and Ben went on our bike up and down the hill.

On Monday Mummy, Ben and Daddy cycled and Tom and me went in the trailer.  We went on a boat to Annecy and I kept changing places.  We saw swans and baby swans (cygnets).  We had a picnic in a big field and then instead of going back to get the car we cycled and got postcards for our friends at school and I posted a letter for Ellie.

On Tuesday we drove up to a big village which had a campsite in and picnic tables so we had lunch there and a park.  The park was great.  We had to rush back home because there was going to be thunderstorm around the mountains.

On Wednesday we went to Provence and there was 2 bouncy castles.  One was near and one was near a park.  The park was near the swimming pool.  The park had 2 monkey bars and there were quite wet so I could go on them but when they were dry I was scared to go on them because I thought I might fall off.

On Thursday we went to the pool but it was freezing so my cheeks went pink so Mummy said should we have a shower and go back and have a hot chocolate.

On Friday I, Ben and Tom went on the near bouncy castle which was hard to stand up because it didn’t have much air in it.  We played rolling tag which is where someone thinks of a place to roll but doesn’t tell anyone else so then everyone else goes to hide and then the person rolls to the place they thought of and if they touch anyone the person they touch are ‘it’.

On Saturday it was my big brother’s birthday.  We all woke up and Ben got loads of presents.  He liked them a lot.  For breakfast we had bacon butties which were delicious and we did all the things that Ben wanted to do.  We played tennis, football, go on one of the bouncy castles and cycled to town to have an ice cream.  I had Kinder, Ben had ‘chocolat’ and Tom was asleep.  We cycled back and had sandwiches for lunch.  For tea we had burgers as big as your head and I ate all of mine.  For pudding I had a yoghurt and Ben and Tom had jelly.  As well we had a homemade cake by Mummy which was delicious and the best cake in the world.

On Sunday it was my little brother’s birthday and he got lots of presents as well.  We had croissants and we went out for lunch.  Ben and Tom had 2 big pizzas and I had a little burger and loads of chips.   After that we went on a pedalo in a big lake.  We had only 1 hour to have a turn.  I dipped my feet in when the pedalo was going and the lake was really cold.  Tom wanted to throw sandal in and he did!  Ben saw 2 waterfalls and said “Daddy can we go under those waterfalls?”  I was on the wrong side and had squeeze over to Tom’s side.  We had to pedal quite quickly to get back as there was a thunderstorm.  Tom said it was thunder and lightning fighting.  We had to get back as quickly and for tea we sandwiches and another homemade cake which was delicious and it was the best one in the world as well.

On Monday we packed up to go to a little campsite.  Tom and me were playing ‘doggies’.  Tom was the dog and I was the owner.  I painted Tom a doggy face paint and I used my skipping rope as a lead and Tom ate all his sweets from his birthday.  Tom and me went to the park and I held Tom on my skipping rope like a real dog.  We played a really good game of doggies.

On Tuesday we went to Antibes which was a little campsite with a park.  I made a gae called crashing swings up.  The person who owned the campsite was a bit strict so everytime he came passe we had to get on the swings and do normal swinging.

On Wednesday we went to a campsite called Camping River which was had a great park and there was a huge pirate ship in it so we made a club up and had secret meeting in the slide.

On Thursday Ben, Tom and I went in the swimming pool with our swimming caps on and I had a melt down as I didn’t want to wear my cap because i thought that only girls had to wear caps but then Ben and Tom went to see the lifeguard and he said everyone has to wear caps.  In the pool it was quite chilly but I swam a whole length and came back. Tom tried to follow me - I had to swim as quickly as I could to the shallow end and give Tom a piggy back.  We made a whirl pool and I said, “ 1-2-3 mushroom float” and we all went round and round.

On Friday we went to the leaning tower of Pisa and we had a nice picnic in a big big field and i got a photograph from some people because they said I looked really lovely and then we pretended to hold up the tower of Pisa which was really good.  Then we went back, we got an icecream, 2 scoops.  i had vanilla and chocolate to make ‘kinder’.

On Saturday we went in the pool and Mummy and Daddy had swimming caps so we could all go in.  Mummy came in and all of us came in except Daddy, and all 4 of us made a whirlpool and I did a mushroom float as it was good fun.

On Sunday it was hailing down and Daddy me and ben had a crazy idea to do a science test to see if 4 fizzy cans would match the things that we thought they would but 1 didn’t and we did maths – I had 6 tests in a new book and they were quite easy until Daddy gave me some timetables which were quite tricky.

On Monday we took our awning down and went to a different campsite on the east coast of Italy. and it was very exciting.  We watched Hong Kong Phooe and The Pirates.  HKP and The Pirates are very hilarious.  I like the music of HKP because at the end it says ‘with the Hong Kong Phooe chop, yeah’.  When we get there Ben and I saw the park and it was great.

On Tuesday Ben, I and Tom played pirates.  I had a facepaint of a pirate and we went to the park.  We had lunch.  For lunch I had bruschetta and for pudding we had cream and chocolate mousse.  After that we went to a beach which was just across the road.  It was great for making things.  we made a bridge and a fortress.  For tea we had fajitas.

On Wednesday I woke up and had breakfast.  For breakfast I had  shreddies and frosties.  After I got dressed into my clothes and we went to the park.  After we did Mummy and Daddy school.  we did literacy and spellings.  It was extremely fun.  After we cycled to a shop to have a look in it.  Then we had an ice cream, mine was chocolate.  After we had lunch we had sandwiches, in it I had pate, ham, cheese, lettuce and cucumber.  For pudding we had yoghurt.  After Daddy had his eyebrows plucked and haircut , then we went to the beach.  On the beach we found some dead jelly fish.

On Thursday we drove to Ravenna.  We saw lots of old buildings.  After we had icecream.  Mine was chocolate chip and we had lunch as well.  Then we drove to the beach, then we had tea.

On Friday we did school and we did the leaning tower of Pisa (in mosaic tiles) then we had lunch.  We went to the beach and Ben dug a deep well.  We made sandballs which were perfect.  After we had tea.

On Saturday we did school which was maths then we skyped my best friend Elli Johnston.  After we went to the beach and made a boat.  Then we had lunch and got an ice lolly.  After we went back and Mummy and I went to get some presents for Daddy.  In the evening we went to a mini disco.

Today it was Father’s Day.  We gave Daddy his presents and we had breakfast.  After we went to beach and we went in the sea.  Then we came back and Tom, Mummy and I had a shower.  Tom and Mummy went to sleep 

  

Il Scorchio

Hot hot hot - 30 in the shade and up to 45 in the sun

Too hot for some little ones

and for some big ones too 

Les Poupes de Jour

Tom tripped on the gravel, fell off the swing, crashed his bike and finally tumbled out of the caravan and broke the bin.

Amy stood on the bed, overbalanced and pull the curtain rail down.

Ben tried to turn the temperate control on the fridge up to 11 and snapped it off.

Bella Italia and a bit more France!

Ciao la mia bella amici.  Spero che questo blog trova a tutti voi bene e amare la tempo bello si hanno attualmente!

Well here we are at last in the land of la dolce vita!  Arrived here from Provence, via Antibes a couple of days ago.  Having both boys birthdays back to back (and still chastising myself for going on that tram journey 4 years ago!) we had a pretty full on couple of days.  Ben’s birthday was action packed (he had it all planned on an itinerary) and we went from bouncy castle, to tennis (where the winner won a can of diet coke!!!), football where we all got a bit hot and red-faced and finally a cool dip in the pool.  Even Kev braved the elements for a quick dip wearing the obligatory speedos (well in his case a pair of more modest ‘Daniel Craig’ trunks.  A burger tea went down extremely well and as for the Betty Crocker, well Oeteker gateau, it was surprisingly delicious, topped off with a smothering of dark chocolate, smarties and buttons.

Some 12 hours later and we were doing it all over again, but this time it was Tom Tom’s big day.  Fortunately there wasn’t an itinerary for day 2 so with Tom’s consent we headed over to the Lac de St Croix, at the edge of the  Verdon Gorge and re-visited Moustiere a beautiful spa town nestling at the foot of a warm Provencall hillside. 

It was a baking hot day and as usual we had set off later than we should have, and in doing so had not given ourselves quite enough time to get to Moustiere, find a nice restaurant for a birthday treat and enjoy!  The roads are steep and twisty (many lacets) so by the time we’d arrived, parked in the free car park at the bottom of the hill, stopped several times to tip stones out of crocs and sandals it was just before the unofficial end of France’s temps de dejeuner. 

Some 10 years ago we’d experienced a fabulous steak frites at a simple little cafe in one of Moustiere’s many stone squares; how hard would it be to re-find this gem? 

Half an hour later, having dragged the children up and down countless steps and through alleyways with shops selling gorgeous provencal goodies recessed deep in cool dark caverns we still hadn’t found nivarna and time was running out.  We passed a cafe selling predominantly pizzas but the steak-frites the biker boys were manging looked good so we sat down and persuaded the marie that he really would like to feed us.

I know it wasn’t the moule-frites Ben had been promised for his birthday or the spaghetti Bolognese that Tom wanted but we were sure it’d be just fine, especially when they had a dish with mussels, squid and white fish which I said i would share with Ben.  (Talk about taking one for the team!)

Disappointing wasn’t the word!  I tried to be brave but couldn’t muster a happy Mummy smile as my delicious light fish dish arrived caked in thick, undercooked batter. It all disappeared with the help of my youngest son, but next time 1. Don’t try and recreate an experience 2. Don’t be late for lunch in France and 3. Don’t take one for the team!!!!

We went on to have a fantastic 5-seated pedalo trip on lac de St Croix where everyone took it in turn to pedal, steer and lounge off the back of said pedalo, marvel at the way the water had gouged through the rock sides, creating sheer walls of stone, huge caverns and waterfalls (oh no that was just me) but all agreed it was magnificent and the children particularly loved Daddy steering them into the spray of the couple of waterfalls that fell directly into the river. 

The journey became even more exciting as we paddled back to base and a low rumble of thunder was heard and dark clouds started to gather in the distance, then a flash of lightning, another rumble, another flash.  Excitement turned to focus as Kev and I took charge of the pedalling as the children shouted words of encouragement and squeals of ‘go faster, go faster.’

Back on terra firma we all felt much happier and with such a tale to tell, of near certain death!

Another birthday finished with another delicious cake, this time chocolate and vanilla marble- styley c/o Oeteker.  Not bad, not bad, particularly when smothered in nutella, chocolate buttons and smarties.

We waved good bye to Provence on 4^th June after a day of packing up camp, route-planning and a small amount of relaxing poolside!  Having decided to break our journey to Italy half-way we had a stop over in Antibes.  The site was clean but rather basic (the loos were as i imagine Roman stalls! Ames and I weren’t the least impressed, but the boys thought the urinals excellent and insisted on showing them to us, particularly the corner ones!?!) 

We seemed to miss the beautiful palm-lined boulevards of Antibes that afternoon as we only ventured onto the pebbly beach opposite the site (Tom and Ben were banned from stone-throwing into the Med after several wayward throws!).  We did manage to navigate the beautiful tree-lined roads up in the hills above the town as we searched out a Lidl and Decathalon but perhaps didn’t quite grasp all the pearl of the south had to show us!

Having been fleeced E36 for a one night stop-over (Kev had suggested we manage without electric hook-up and he was right!!) we limped off site into the bright Mediterranean sunshine, on-coming traffic and a nose for pastures new – Italia!

Having checked the routes (we were now using the truckers guide of Sat Nav!) to ensure that are under-powered car and over-weighted van could cope with the terrain, we had decided to auto-route our way to Emiglia-Romana in northern Italy and the town of Ameglia.

I don’t mean to sound ignorant and as you know I do hold a geography degree, but northern Italy is mountainous and I don’t mean a bit, I mean REALLY mountainous.  Fortunately the autoroute took us ‘through’ the mountains, tunnel after tunnel after tunnel (not good for my claustrophobia!) but the scenery was amazing.  Precipitous hillsides, mostly terraced, many with greenhouses; deep gorges down to the Med, tiny tumbled down farmhouses, beautiful villas with stunning gardens but over-looking the auto-route.  Life continued all around with this whacking great lump of tarmac carving its way through. 

We stopped at one point for a quick picnic lunch and a loo break, and yes girls, it happened, my first Italian wink!  Yes I was surrounded by my 3 children but it happened, and I’d only been in the country an hour!

We reached Ameglia and River Camping, whose strap-line by the by is “Here everyone has fun”!!  It is a lovely site, great pool (although we all have to swimming caps, mmm nice!) and super play park with a pirate ship, zip-wire......

Today we headed, again rather belatedly, to Pisa.  Long, hot journey but interesting.  It’s quite industrialised along this coast.  The snow that I thought covered the top-most of the mountains turns out to be quarried marble and huge slabs of it lie in shop fronts and yards along the road side.  We went through a town where the road was lined with orange trees (fully formed fruits growing on them).  Pisa itself was busy but we managed to park away from the throng and stroll along the river before turning up towards the square housing the domo and tower.  I loved looking at the buildings; huge wooden doors with ornate brass handles, a shuttered window slightly ajar, the small bricks that made up many of the walls, a worn boot scraper.....

We took the obligatory photos, Ben holding up the tower against his back, Amy with her hands, Tom with his feet! 

Amy got her photo taken with a Japanese lady, Tom said it was because “Amy was lovely”.  Finished the trip with a gelato before heading off back up the coast.

Tomorrow is swimming (in the new caps bought from Decathalon) and beach.  Ah La Dolce Vita!!!!  Buonanotte.  xx