YAY I now have a brand spanking new job starting Monday 8th February at British Engines!  So it’s ‘don’t let the door kick ya on way out’ from Northumbria Uni as of midday Friday… which will be sad because most of the people there are fab and amazing and took it upon themselves to give this Kiwi lass a heap of ribbing which was fun (and one of the reasons I ventured to the other side of the world)… but things changed and suddenly I didn’t enjoy working there as much so I decided to pull the TEMP card and jump ship!  Off to pastures new with free car parking and paid bank hol’s… and the bottle of Malibu I saw perched on the window-sill when I was being shown around was a good sign that it’s my kind of office!

In other news… and there is a bit as I have been a lazy cow and not updated this thing since 2009!   Over Christmas I did some extra shifts at the University Library which was interesting and met another fellow Kiwi who worked there! I also had a bit of a shitty Christmas day itself because for some reason I was vomiting all morning then totally slept through Christmas dinner – not exactly what I had planned for my first Christmas in the UK but thems the breaks I guess.  Having a week off work was lovely and the fact that it was snowing was fab!

Um…. I’ve planned my next trip and it’s to Dublin, Ireland over Easter!  I’ve booked the flights and accom so no excuses – and I’m going on March 31st and coming back on Monday 5th April.  Loads of bus tours planned and a rail tour over to Limerick and back which should be amazing hopefully.

Of course now that I’m in a new job I won’t have as much freedom with my holidays for the next few months but I’m planning on doing some weekend trips between now and Easter… Edinburgh, York and Loch Ness (again) to name a few!  June/July should hopefully bring my NZ family over for a month or so (including my Dad which is the most exciting bit as I haven’t seen him for almost a flippin year!) and we’re gonna be going to my Auntie’s apartment in Spain for some of that time which will be awesome.

Hmmmm what else…. memory banks rebelling… shit.  3-mins left before my early knock on my 3rd to last day at the Uni so I’m gonna leave it at that for now… more soon!

Rossco over and out xxxx

Well I’m pretty sure there will be snow on the ground on Christmas day but I don’t think it will be falling as insanely it was last Friday!  It was truly another UK WOW moment to add to my list when I looked out the window at my Aunties and saw the snow falling…. like REALLY falling…. I’m talking big fat snowflakes!  I was so excited and like a kid in a candy shop – espeically since I didn’t have to work that Friday!  The other weird thing is the fact that there’s still snow everywhere even though we haven’t had any falling snow since Sunday (in central areas of Newcastle anyways!) It’s just THAT cold that even though we’ve had gorgeous sunny days all this week it hasn’t been enough to melt all the snow… unlike Christchurch where it would snow over night and be gone by the end of the next sunny day! I’m loving it to be honest – even though I’ve had to get the bus to work this week it was lovely to walk to the bus stop in the semi-darkness with the snow falling and also hearing it crunch under my feet… a moment spoilt of course by me hitting an icy spot and gracefully landing on my arse!

So yes… this Christmas will be a totally different one compared with previous ones but that’s what life is all about!  Poor Mum and Dad won’t have any kids at home for Christmas day as my lil brother is working that day… and well I’m thousands of miles away!  I have received a couple of presents from home  though which was awesome! and my curiosity has been sparked because the Postie left a note yesterday saying he had some parcels for me that didn’t fit in the mail box… like THREE parcels! I have an idea who sent one of them but as for the other two I’m completely in the dark… and I have to wait until Xmas Eve to go collect them from the postal depot!

I’ve put some pics on Smugmug of the snow etc… as well as the renovations at my Auntie’s place (Daisy Cottage) so go check it out! – Rossco’s Pics

I’m also going to go visit my Grandad in the hospital on Xmas Eve and take him some chocs and bikkies…. oh and that would be the Psychiatric ward he’s in too – here’s hoping they let me out once I’m in! (For those who don’t know – my Grandad has dementia… and probably won’t know who I am!)

Right… so that’s you updated for another week! Hmmmmm might have to change the name of this blog to “The Randomly Updated When I’m Not Procrastinating Rossco”? or “The Daily, Weekly and Monthly Rossco – Who Know’s When She’ll Update This Bloody Thing!”…. or maybe remove all deadline pressure and have “The Rossco”? …. Hmmmmmm thought is needed so I shall keep you posted!

This is Rossco signing off…. an early knock from work beckons and I have a week & a half of hol’s to fill with loads of drinking and merriment! oh and heaps of Marks & Spencers Xmas Mince Pies – thank you M&S for providing me with these sweet and delicious treasures!   xxxxx

Now I’ve wanted to write this post for awhile… whenever I walk into town during my lunch hour actually!  This is because whenever I walk to Northumberland Street shops I have to walk past Courtney AirSavers. This in itself isn’t unusual as heaps of people do it every day… but for me it brings back memories and reminds me how far I’ve come in the last 6 years.

Courtney AirSavers was the travel agent I went to with my Mum back in 2003.  I had come over with her with the intent to stay on once Mum had returned back to NZ… but just before Mum left I got scared and decided to just go home with her.  It’s funny because whenever I walk past that travel agent now it takes me back to that day and I remember all the emotions rattling around inside me as I sat with Mum while she booked me a flight home… fear, disappointment and I guess embarrasment to some extent - that I hadn’t had the guts to stay.  It comes down to the fact that I just wasn’t ready to do it at that time in my life…  but now whenever I walk past Courtney AirSavers I smile to myself because I’ve finally done it!

Moving away from my family, friends and New Zealand was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life and even though I often suffer from terrible bouts of homesickness I’m glad I’m doing it!  It’s been amazing to be able to get to know my UK reli’s better as well as experiencing different cultures and workplaces.

Now… on a completely different note here’s my fav pic from home that I quite often put on my desktop at work…

xxx

Whew what a whirlwind weekend I had!  The weekend in question is the 21st & 22nd of November that went from a 3 day one where I was mainly going down to see the All Blacks kick England’s ass at Twickenham…. to a 5 day weekend where I had a job interview as well!

Originally I planned to just drive down to Oxford on the Friday – taking my time this time and taking in some sights on the way -  go to the game on Saturday with Amelia and Mike, then drive back first thing Sunday morning.  That all changed on Thursday morning when I got the call from a job agency asking if I could be down in Reading for an interview on the following Tuesday! Of course I said yes and then kinda freaked out a little as my head exploded a wee bit thinking how I was going to pull this off… so first of all I went through all the scenarios in my head.  Hmmmm drive back up to Newcastle on Sunday and go to work on Monday only to drive/get train back down Monday night/Tuesday morning? Methinks not! so I squared it with the boss to have Monday and Tuesday off (as well as Friday)… good-bye precious annual leave + flexi time I’d built up! So…. I headed down on the Friday, taking a detour via Whitby on the coast (gorgeous!) to have their famous Fish & Chips, and then proceeded to get lost beyond belief around Birmingham once it got dark (at 3.30pm!) and the sat-nav died!  Eventually I made it to Amelia & Mikes and fell onto their sofa and accepted the wine on offer… pffft like I would ever refuse wine!

Up bright and early on the Sat morning for the game… excitement!!!  Massive NZ flag in hand we left and headed off to Twickenham safe in the knowledge that the sat-nav was fully charged.  Or so we thought! Yeah we got stuck in traffic the closer we got to Twickenham and it pretty much died a slow death… so I nominated Mike to write down the directions before it completely shut down.  Meanwhile… we noticed a big white van in the lane next to us with an England flag flying – cool, at least we know we’re in the right place! Ok so they’re getting out of the car to stretch their legs cos we’ve moved like an inch in half an hour… OK so their not stretching their legs – they’re taking a piss on the side of the road in bumper to bumper traffic!!!  Nice… and to add insult to injury one of them had on a really retro All Blacks top on… I’m talking Buck Shelford era haha.   If he hadn’t just done what he did I would’ve tooted my horn and waved the flag…

Alas we eventually got to Twickenham, parked the car and ventured inside to soak up the atmosphere…. and more importantly feed our faces as we were starving!  HELLOOOO fancy sausage in a bun… YUM!

Seats found and would you look at that we’re like 3 rows from the field!  Best seats ever and was so awesome to be able to actually see the faces of the All Blacks when they were near!  Cue Hayley Westenra (my brother went to school with her…) and the Kiwi national anthem…. also cue Amanda to start singing along to the Maori version at the top of her lungs and get weird looks from surrounding people! but hey… impressed with myself that I knew all the words haha.  Have to admit I did get a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat during it (which almost hindered the ’singing’ aka screeching) and before I know it it’s time for the HAKA… oh yeah!  All in all it was an amazing experience… and I got a pretty damn nice view of Dan Carters ass when he bent over right in front of me! still annoyed I couldn’t get my bloody camera out in time haha. 

Oh and we won of course and the atmosphere was out of this world!  Took me a while to get used to the fact that when the rest of the 82,000 strong crowd were cheering and getting excited it was generally not a good sign for the AB’s haha.  For the first few mins I was cheering for the England team a few times before getting used to it… oh and I was a very vocal Kiwi fan… imagine a moment of silence… then a scream from a lone New Zealander of “C’mon All Blacks C’mon” haha embarrassing? hell yes but well worth it!  Specially when the lady sitting next to me said “I’m supporting the England team… but your guys have got better legs for sure!” haha oh and when the entire crowd kicked in with… “Swing loooowwwww… Sweet Chariot…” it was like something I’ve never experienced before and just had to smile.

To cut a loooooong story short… the rest of the weekend was awesome too!  After the game we went back to Oxford to go to Nandos for tea but couldn’t get a park so went back to Amelia and Mikes & had some drinkies, then on Sunday we slept in like we’ve never slept in before haha and spent the day lazing about (bliss!) then on Monday I slept in a weee bit and went to Reading for a trial run before the interview and to look at the shops, then came back and had Nandos for tea in Oxford with Amelia.  Went to the interview on the Tuesday morning… came out feeling pretty good about it and drove back up to Newcastle, arriving back about 7pm thoroughly exhausted!

The next day I get a call from the agency saying can I go back down the following Tuesday for a 2nd interview as they couldn’t decide between me and one other person… totally awesome that they were impressed with me but on the drive home I thought a lot about what they’d told me about the job during the interview and decided it wasn’t the job for me after all….

Onwards and upwards though… I was super-glad to have this past weekend totally free of any plans whatsoever and after getting chores out of the way Sat morning, then checking on my Grandad’s house, I pretty much did nothing the rest of the weekend…. perfect!

I’ve put some pics up on Smugmug but at this stage they’re just the ones from my mobile… CLICK HERE…been too much of a lazy bitch to get on my laptop and sort my camera photos cos I took a HEAP… maybe this weekend!

Laters gators… xxx

I can’t wait for 2.30pm Sat 21st Nov!  Yet another thing will be crossed of my massive ’TO DO’ list!!  I managed to get some tickets through work for the All Blacks vs England match at Twickenham… not only for myself but for my fellow Kiwi’s-living-in-the-UK  Amelia and Mike!

So I’m driving down from Newcastle this Friday and plan to stop off in York on the way to have a quick look see and hopefully take some nice pics.!

Seeing the infamous Haka performed in front of a possibly 82,000 strong crowd on foreign soil will no doubt bring a tear to my eye… nothing like a bit of good old Kiwi pride!

FINALLY!  My dream is about to be realised! Well…. it will be at 8pm January 8th 2010 when I go to the Hammersmith Apollo and laugh my ass off to the hilarious Billy Connolly!  Also known as The Big Yin as I’ve recently found out while reading ‘Billy’ – a biography on his life brilliantly written by his Aussie wife Pamela Stephenson.  How funny that I was reading it when I learnt on Facebook that he was putting on some shows! 

I missed seeing Billy when he was in Christchurch a few years ago and I’ve ALWAYS regretted it so I bought a ticket straight away this time! I don’t even care that I’ll be going on my own.. cos I get to see and hear Mr Connolly in the flesh!  After years of watching his dvd’s and seeing him doing his tours on his 3-wheeler trike I’ll finally be able to say I saw him live… brilliant!!   I mean one of his one-liners is my tag line on this blog for gods sake haha – “Never trust a man who when left alone with a tea cosy…  doesn’t try it on” – pure madness and I love it!

Well last week I decided to make a move.  I’ve done all the exploring I can in and around Northumberland & all the way up to Scotland so I’m going to move on to another part of the country to explore!  My NZ best friend Amelia and her hubby Mike have generously said I can stay with them in Bladon, Woodstock until I get a place to live so now all I have to sort is a bloody job!  So far so good on that front – I’ve applied for a few and already got an interview lined up for Nov 6th so I’ll be heading down for that. SO totally excited! I can’t wait to spend more time with Amelia as well as explore London and the surrounds – shall be grand!

Who knows when the move will take place but I’m hoping before Xmas… I will definitely be coming back up to Newcastle for Xmas though as it’ll be the first one away from NZ  (cue sad face…) but the first one with my UK family in ages! (Last time I was about 8 I think… all I remember was that it snowed and we made snowmen in the field next to my Nana’s house… please happen again!)

On another note… I came across the opportunity through work  to buy some tickets to the All Blacks vs England rugby match at Twickenham, London on Sat Nov 21… how could I resist! So Amelia, Mike and I are gonna be cheering the boys on… me decked out in Kiwi gear so there is no confusion on who I am supporting of course!  I’ve always wanted to go to a big match of some sort in the UK just for the experience and I’m sure it won’t disappoint.  I spoke to my Dad in NZ the other night and he was super excited about it too so here’s hoping he’s watching it on tele and I get some camera time haha.  Hmmmm…. this calls for a huge mad crazy banner/sign of some sort to grab the attention of the camera-man methinks?

Ok so after we got back from Paris on the Tuesday I was back at work on the Wednesday absolutely shattered haha.  I was hanging onto the dream of a lovely Sat morning sleep in… but Mum and Vicky had other ideas!  Instead of a Sat morning sleep in we headed off to the Lake District first thing in the morning – Vicky had sorted accommodation on the opposite coast in Whitehaven so we headed there!  We drove through Keswick on the way which was absolutely lovely – then we hit Whitehaven… and found the place Vicky had booked over the phone. Horrid! Seriously, seriously rank – it didn’t even look like a B&B so we had to resort to plan B… ringing the owners and using the old ‘we’re having engine trouble so won’t make it there tonight” excuse haha. Now before Vicky rang she told both Mum and I to keep quiet (as we’d just gotten over a giggle-fest over something) and what did Mum do!? the second Vicky said the blatant lie Mum burst out laughing, which of course almost set me off and Vicky was struggling to keep a straight face! Whoops… oh well. Onwards and upwards! We had brought a wee picnic so we headed back down to the harbour and plonked ourselves on the wharf and had ourselves a wee feast of, amongst other things, some scrummy chicken, cheese and pineapple – and a lovely cuppa tea while we planned our next move.

After feeding our faces we continued on down the coast, which beared a shocking resemblance to the West Coast of NZ funnily enough, and kept on the look out for accommodation.  By this stage it was about 3pm from memory so we weren’t toooo worried… yet!  We got to Broughton in Furness which looked like a nice place to stay so we had a wee drive round to try and find a place. Vicky got out at a place that was offering self-catering accommodation, but was full, and asked if they knew of anywhere that was available – and the guy was lovely and said his wife ran the information centre which had a list of all accommodation places!  The fact that it was so late in the day and we didn’t have accommodation secured in the Lake District was obviously a stupid thing to do… we knew this by the look of shock and surprise on peoples faces when we told them haha. Apparently we were shit out of luck here but oh well… on to the next place –  Coniston! That turned out to be a bust too tho so at this stage we were kinda thinking “oh shit” haha.  We were told we would probably find some accommodation in Windermere so we headed there – and had to take the car on a ferry to get there! Upon arrival we had a drive round and EVERYWHERE was booked… so we went to the Info centre and saw this sign…

This is when we really started to think we were either gonna be sleeping in my car… or just going home!

It was about 7pm at this stage so we headed out of Windermere and our luck finally came in and we found a decent place on the way out of town! Relief is a word that came to mind… bourbon was the next word that came out of my mouth haha.  So we put our stuff in the self-catered apartment and headed back into town for a meal and a well earned drink!

After a good’s night sleep we headed off in the morning back into Windermere to have a proper look around and then up through Ambleside  to Grasmere.  Now this was completely gorgeous! Despite the fact that it hadn’t stopped raining all morning it was really picturesque.  It was also the site of the great poet William Wordsworth’s grave which was really interesting.  We stopped and had a coffee and took some photos – Beatrix Potter is also well-known in that region because back in the day she had a farm nearby – which we think we caught a glimpse off but can’t be sure haha. Lots of Peter Rabbit and  Jemima Puddleduck nick-nacks in the souvenir shops so I got some for my friend Emma’s birthday back in NZ cos she’s a big fan of Beatrix Potter.   On the way out of the car park  I managed to drive through a huge puddle… not noticing the Japanese tourist walking on the footpath… she got COMPLETELY soaked and we all burst out laughing! Sorry!!

We then headed back up into Keswick planning on having our lunch there but the weather was just so shocking with the rain that it just turned into a quick dash to the toilet and we were back on the road to Newcastle. Homeward bound!  All in all it was a good weekend away with Mum and Vicky but the rain made it hard to do anything really! Taking photos espeically Oh well… it was the Lake District after all.  (Not a patch on the Southern Lakes of NZ though that’s for sure!)

High Point = The laughs we had in the car and sitting on the wharf having our picnic lunch feast.

Low Point = The rain!

Wow I really am becoming a bit of a slack bitch when it comes to this ‘daily’ blog haha!  Forgive me?

Well what’s been happening of late… Mum and Vicky have jetted back to New Zealand and have been home for over a week now. I spoke to Vicky on the phone the other day and she’s not happy with the NZ weather…. Spain and it’s 30 deg seems like a million miles away and she’s eagerly hoping she’ll win Lotto so she can come back!  While they were here I did take almost every Friday off and we headed off for multiple long weekends in my car – fabulous! I think I’ll do a few different posts on those trips tho – here’s hoping the memory  banks are still fresh! (People who know me will be laughing now because I have a memory like a fish… a retarded fish at that.)

OK well this is gonna look a bit naff but I’ll sign off this post now and go get cracking on my other ones   Oh and here’s the latest pic of me… taken on my phone at the beach in Northumberland… on what I’m not convinced was the last sunny day we’re gonna have for a while!

Rossco x

Well I’m back to the grindstone after spending 5 wine-filled nights in gorgeous Paris with my Mum, family friend Vicky, brother John and his girlfriend Hayley!  We had an absolutely amazing time and our breath was taken on oh so many occasions at the sheer magnitude of some of the amazing sights!  It really is unbelieveable when you actually stop and think just how long those monuments and statues have been there.

Our trip started off with the Easyjet flight from Newcastle to Charles de Gaulle Airport landing at approx 4pm on Thursday 13th August – Mum’s 59th birthday!  A shuttle then whisked us away to the fantastic loft apartment Vicky had found online for us – and it was EXACTLY how it was portrayed on the internet which was such a relief! Would’ve been nothing worse than us walking in and it being a total dive… but it wasn’t… it was awesome!

 Unfortunately something that wasn’t quite so awesome was that Mum had been struck down with a painful stomach bug the day before and was feeling like arse… so she lay down while the rest of us spent the first day scouting things out.  Took the Metro to Champs de Mars and saw the Eiffel Tour! Vicky got a bit emotional which set me off because I was already missing my Dad haha. We were a right pair!  After taking it all in we were waiting in line to see if we could pre-book tickets for the next day and come back with Mum (cos the queues were horrendous) and kept getting pestered by the local illegal souvenir sellers!  The trick is not to make eye contact with them otherwise you’re seriously screwed haha. Funniest thing happened then tho because all of sudden one or two of them started running for the trees of the park and we were like What the?… and then it was like a fricken stampede! And got even funnier when they went from the concrete to the dirt of the park because they created a huge dirt cloud haha and with them being dark it fully looked like an african stampede!  Then we see this French policeman on a bicycle hooning along at the rear and come to a cool-ass skid stop on the dust and it all became clear what was going on!  We were cracking up along with all the other masses of tourists, then we all clapped when the policeman cycled back through looking as cool as anything…. two mins later the buggers were poking their heads round from behind trees to see if the coast was clear which was funny to watch too.  Then we went for a walk through the gardens and had lunch at our first proper French cafe!  Wine & beer for everyone ordered in French of course and Vicky and I shared some pate – so good!  John then went and did a solo mission in Paris (translation : he went drinking haha) while Hayley, Vicky and I went on a ‘Cafe-Crawl’ and had some cocktails (mmmm MOJITO’s!) and did some people-watching. Maaaaaaaaaan did we see some sights! Somehow we found our way back to the apartment a few hours later – slightly toasted and slightly embarrassed that we’d done an unintentional ’Dine-and-Dash’ on the last cafe! Ok so maybe we were more than slightly toasted haha. 

Day Two Mum was feeling kinda better, so with the help of multiple Rennies + other medications Vicky picked up from the local Pharmacie, we hit the road and walked to where the action was! It took a mammoth effort on Mum’s part because she was feeling absolutely horrible but wanted to see the sights, so even though we had to stop a couple of times we finally got to Palais du Louvre and soon to follow was a definite breath-taking moment in the Musee du Louvre!  Now before I go on, if you wanna see some pics CLICK HERE… Walking through the Palais do Louvre to the actual Louvre Museum was abso-friggin-lutely amazing! The glass structure just looks so magnifico being surrounded by the Palais as the detailing on that is absolutely unreal.  So we sat there for a wee while next to the water pool (so hard not to put your feet in on such a hot day but not allowed!) and of course I had to take a photo of Paddington haha.

Then we crossed the road and got on a L’Open Tour Bus ,which we’d seen at the Eiffel Tower the day before, and started on the Paris Grand Tour – which was the main one of all the big sights. Basically the rest of the day was full of  either OMG’s or *GASP* or Holy Shit That’s Big or Wow That’s Amazing…. in between the multiple GOD IT’S HOT!  We had a grand time then got off for some lunch at about 2pm and by then I was knackered with the heat and Mum was feeling a bit crook so us two and Vicky got the Metro back to the apartment while John and Hayley went to go up the Arc de Triomphe and do some shopping.

Day Three we used the 2nd day of the bus tour ticket as basically a taxi to get us around haha. Did a different tour route and set our sights on going to Montmartre – an area of Paris renowned for it’s artists.  Vicky had heard of this place where all the artists gather in a market situation and we really wanted to take Mum there (seeing as she herself is an artist) so we stopped at Moulin Rouge haha and had some lunch to recharge, then hotfooted it up the hill to find these artists! Oh and find them we did – bloody hell was it crowded but I could see Mum was thoroughly enjoying it (despite still being sick).  Hayley and I both had guys come up and start randomly cutting out our silhouettes and it was amazing to watch them make this perfect profile of us in literally 1 min… with only two pieces of paper and a pair of scissors!! Oh of course then he wanted money for it haha.  It was really good tho so I got it – must take a photo and put it in the album actually….. Hayley egged John on to get their caricatures done which turned out to be really funny – Johns’ espeically was SO him – he better put it in a frame back in Blenheim!  After Vicky had stopped having her tonsil’s tickled by the French waiter Mohad (seriously random thing that happened!) we then headed back down the hill  to the tour bus again and back to the city.  Everyone but Vicky and I were ready to call it a day and go back to the apartment at that point so Vicky and I used up the last of the tour ticket and did a totally different tour of what I would class as Paris-everyday life, as it had none of the impressive sights really but you saw that it wasn’t all like the touristy centre.

Day Four we got up uber-early and squashed the 5 of is into a taxi for 4 (on the plus side the driver was petrified of being stopped by the cops so was driving fast and it was really cheap!) and Mum finally got to see the Eiffel Tower up close and personal!  Of course it didn’t open til 9 but we knew we’d have to get there early to avoid the queues… and avoid we did.  But did Paris help us out with a nice warm morning while we waited? Nope… we had the first chilly and foggy morning of our trip and on the worst possible day! We went up to the top of the tower and the views were amazing but would’ve been so much better if it’d been clear… but still… a chilly & foggy day up the Eiffel Tower in Paris is still better than a chilly and foggy day at work in Newcastle!  So with that done John and Hayley headed off on their own again while Mum, Vicky and I headed across the road to the river and got on a Batobus for a cruise up the River Seine!  Mum & Vicky have always wanted to see Monet’s Waterlilies so we did that and Mum got to indulge her artistic side again at the Musee de L’Orangerie (after scaring the shit out of Vicky & I by going super-pale and almost throwing up while we waited to get tickets!)  Then we took a wander down the Champs Elysees and got some lunch from a sandwich bar and sat down on a park bench. I decided to go have a lie down on the grass cos it was so hot…  it wasn’t until I got up 10mins later and went back to sit with Mum and Vicky that I learnt there had been a sicko dude lying just metres away “giving himself a wee treat” if you know what I mean! In the middle of the day in broad daylight! Talk about disgusting… That was enough for me so I headed back up the river on the Batobus and walked to the apartment while Mum and Vicky went to the Louvre.

Day Five was the day John and Hayley left at 8am heading to Londonfor the next leg on their trip –  Hong Kong, before heading back home…. and it was the day I finally got a handbag from Paris! Vicky, Mum and I went shopping in the morning before the shuttle was due to pick us up at 1.30 and got ourselves some presents. I got two handbags – one gorgeous Marilyn-inspired one and another purple leather one with flower detail. LOVE THEM! We got back to the apartment just in time to chow down on the last of our wine, cheese and delicious bread before the shuttle arrived to whisk us away back to the airport and UK…. 28deg to 16deg in under 2 hours haha. Brilliant!

All in all a great city break… but I never thought my first European trip would include damn near all of my family from NZ!

xx