Freddy, Clouseau and Mr Henley

We made it to Paris with the girls and our redezvous with Fat Freddies at the Rock en Seine Festival. With our flags waving and impromptu versions of the NZ national anthem from the kiwis in the crowd (ah that felt good), the Wellington boys did us proud and were the hit of the show. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCJg63SziL4

Not such a hit was to arrive back at our hotel to find our car had been broken into and various unimportant items taken. Where is Inspector Clouseau when you need him. It's not so much the loss that is a pain, it's the inconvenience of spending the next day dealing with the French police (brilliant), local windscreen guys (awesome), hotel staff to help with enquiries (absolute rubbish) and good old Southern Cross Insurance 24 hour staff who emailed me back confirming my insurance claim as 'Dear Mr Henley'!

Oh well all is now well...and we are moving into an apartment in Montmartre today and out of our shoe box rooms at the Premier Class (yeah right!) hotel.

Corsaint

We are now staying in Burgundy in a tiny village called Corsaint. Our petite maison est pres une eglise! No internet so we have taken over a bar with iphones, macbooks etc at the ready! This is an awesome part of France with rolling green hills and pretty villages that look the same as they did 400 years ago! Off to a Baroque concert tonight at the church right next door to our house! Only in France eh?

Vivre la Résistance!

Just visited the Centre for the History of the Resistance and Deportation here in Lyon. Powerful stuff about the role of the Resistance Movement in France during the war and also the tragic story of the Jews, Gypsies, Homo Sexuals and other misfits who were deported to their certain death. Only 3% of the Jews who were sent to the camps survived! When in Lyon you must go here it will move you to realise that you are not that bad off! www.chrd.lyon.fr

Young Boys bear all!

Yep the blog turns x rated here.

We all went to Switzerland yesterday to experience a bit of Swiss efficiency both on and off the football field. Had a great day in Berne 3 hours drive from our base here in Lyon on the other side of the Alps. What a stunning drive, arrived at Swiss border and told to pay 40 euro. Why? Because you are entering the most expensive country in the world that's why!

Spent afternoon in lovely city of Bern complete with city's mascot bears in a big park. No admission fee to see these great animals. That was the only cheap moment of the day.

Then off to pub to meet up with the Spurs Swiss Supporters Club (40 members) and then Fraser Callaghan who had scored our tickets for the match against Young Boys Berne that evening. And score is precisely what the Swiss decide to do 3-0 down before Spurs realised that the synthetic grass pitch we were playing on was not a practice pitch. This was the real thing. A respectable come back to 3-2 saw us go back to France reasonably happy (2 away goals for the second leg at Spurs next week). Arrived home in Lyon at 3.30am after Swiss had decided to be efficient and close motorway for maintenance all night. Who does road works at night I ask you! I have been subsequently told by Fraser that 'The Swiss have too much money so are always repairing the roads just to keep cash moving around.'

All in all a great day, met up with an old friend and made some new ones who were probably too drunk to remember us in the morning!

Special Day

Yesterday we discovered it was a 'Special Day' in Lyon. Which translated in French means everything was closed. In typical French style 'Special Day' is not mentioned in any of the guide books as a holiday or publicised anywhere around town. It just is.
C'est la vie.

Kia ora Abbi, hi Felicity, Hail Mary!

Two proud moments for us here in Lyon already. Firstly we met up with Abbi (flew in from NZ) and Felicity (trained in from Amsterdam), it was soooo good to see them both and apart from trying to find Felicity amongst the thousands of passengers (I walked straight past her, I was looking for my little girl) at Gare Part Dieu, the meet ups went relatively without a hitch.

Secondly visiting the famous Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere www.fourviere.org/english.php we were delighted to find various translations of the Hail Mary prayer and there it was in Maori!!!! Now here's a question for you Catholics out there. Exactly why is Mary so important to Catholicism as opposed to Anglicans who just see her as Jesus' mum? I just don't get it, do you?

foux du fafa

We have arrived in France for much celebration with a joint 80th and 21 st celebration on the first night. John (Judge) Main and his grand daughter Jessie! Staying in a massive 200 year old 'party house' and chilling in the french countryside with our good friends Chris and Laura and their extended family both ways. Already getting into the swing of le supermarche et le pomplemousse! Thanks Jemaine and Brett! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzZ3EYzjzuE

The worst football team in Europe?

So what did I know about Andorra before we decided to turn right from Barcelona and hit this insignificant ink spot between Spain and France. Well they are rubbish at football and that's it! What else do you need to know? However as an omen of worse things to come they played England in 2008, the first qualifying game of this years World Cup and here's what one commentator had to say during the game...

25 min: This is a thundering non-event, another extremely flat performance by England. Who, for all their possession, haven't created much of note against the team ranked 183rd in the world. Very poor, though their hapless display has been the genesis of this fantastic pun from Gareth Carpenter: "I think England are afraid that all the evils of the world will be unleashed if they actually manage to get into Andorra's box."..... ha I love that (England scraped home 2-0).

Anyway back to Andorra, which is precisely where we are now. Well it's absolutely brilliant (not like their footy team). All Pyreneesie like with picturesque mountains, blue lakes, expansive ski fields and wait for it...cheap beer!

So we went for a walkies today and the photos say it all. So if you are looking for picture postcard principality with one of the worst back lines in the history of football, this is definitely the place to visit.

Gotta pick a pocket or two

Within two days of being here we've had two attempts by dodgy looking friends from the African continent to strip us of our cameras.
First go was the old 'can you help me I'm lost' trick with a map, the second a straight forward fumbling actually in a camera shop, queuing at the counter.
When in Barcelona don't trust ANYONE!
Best not to take big bulky cameras out onto the street, if they see you coming YOU WILL BE TARGETED!
Here's how they do it www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HazQlWgdzg

On the Buses

Want to discover a new city for the first time... take Reg Varney's advice and get on the buses! Yep the Tourist Buses. I know it sounds a bit naff but after taking such a bus on a return to London one year I discovered a whole new world previously not encountered in the 5 years I worked there.
So parting with 29 Euros @ for 2 days unlimited travel we climbed aboard and came face to face with a city that has simply got it right! Barcelona is a feast of architectural diversity with a quirky touch of Gaudi on most corners. Looking from the top of an open top bus gives you an unparalleled view of the cityscape which is clean, uncluttered and superbly blends modern with late 19thC design in buildings, open spaces and long, magnificent boulevards.
In short Barcelona is probably one the most stunning cities in the world. No wonder so many people told us to go there, including my easily unimpressed son Ben!
Thanks everyone for the advice oh and thanks Reg for the memory- www.onthebusesfanclub.com/id11.html

Barcelona here we come

It's been a great two weeks here in Lanzarote but it's time to move on for the sake of my head (hangovers) and body (too much food!). So it's off to Barcelona tonight for a bit of cultural entertainment. We are staying here...www.barcelonabb.com so should be good. Ok here's the pic that sums up our time here in the Canaries!