Paris

Today we set off about 8am took the RER into Paris. On the way Steve checked out our hotel on tripadvisor.com only to inform us of the latest post that read 'don't stay there'. Great! As it turned out the Hotel Duminy Vendome was beautiful. Located just behind the Rue de Rivoli and the Tuileries, we first walked to the Louvre. Unfortunately the queue was at 2hrs so we decided to give it a miss, walked through the Tulleries and visited Musee de  l'orangerie to see the amazing wall to wall Monets instead.

Then we stopped at the Place de concorde and more amazing (to Steve) was the humungous hotdog he ate there. We had a chocolate banana crepe and a gluhwein and headed back along the Champs Élysées to window shop with the masses. Well it wasn't all window shopping, we made a purchase of an eiffel tower charm for my bracelet.
Stopped for a photo of the arc de triomphe and watched a while as hundreds of cars diced with death as they negitiated the most infamous roundabout in the world. After that it was another hike towards the trocadero as we admired the architecture of the buildings and finally arrived at the Eiffel Tower.
Mark bought the keyring he had been after all week and we found the entrance to the Jules Verne restaurant. We felt somewhat like movie stars as we walked to the front of the snaking queues of people waiting to go up to the observation towers, and walked straight into the lobby of the specially assigned lift.

The restaurant lived up to its name - the food was beautiful, we had the foie gras, sauteed monkfish tail and then coconut pineapple passionfruit tartlet for dessert. Plus the wines and champagne and the bread and the tasters we were stuffed to the nines and Steve was regretting the hot dog he had earlier.
The whole experience was topped off with my anniversary present (6yrs) a beautiful black and white diamond ring from Canturi.

Then Alyssa had to head back home to Dubai and the three Hubers headed off for after dinner drinks in St Germaine. We met up with some friends from Sydney, Danny and Mads at a bar and shared xmas stories. They were heading to Chamonix for a week in the snow. So the rest of the final night of the year was spent enjoying the Parisienne culture. The next morning we had breakfast in our funky basement restaurant and then a final coffee at the Tabac with Steve and we headed back to Disneyland via the metro which was still free!

Pantomime

The kids (and Mark) enjoyed their first ever panto this year. The very British tradition was enjoyed by all, with both Jack and the Beanstalk and Snow white and the seven dwarves. The first one was in Southport with our friends the Hastings. Afterwards, we blitzed Pizza Express - having to pre-order because there were 14 of us! Tom was mesmerised throughout and moved from lap to lap after being 'swallowed' by the flip seat.

The second trip was to the floral pavillion in New Brighton with Nanna and Grandad. This time they were treated to all the gadgets like butterfly wands and swords.

fun-packed christmas day

Well it wasn't too early a start, both kids were awake at 6.30am but we managed to delay the getting up till 7. Ela commented that Santa must have been because winnie was missing from her bed. We had struck a bargain that she would trade him in to Santa for a present she really wanted, a barking toy dog.

So we came down the stairs to see the massive Santa sacks that were left. they took about an hour to get through those and then there was another hour worth of opening presents from friends and relatives.

Mum and dad got sunnies for xmas - a strange present for here in the snow but perfect when we get back to the hieght of summer. Tom was Thomas the tank engined out and Ela was inundated with princesses. Favourites were the remote controlled buggy and the barking doggy....well actually Ela was enthralled with all her presents. I think there were 4 black bin bags full of wrappers and paper sent out to the bin.

Then we got dressed and headed to the halfway-house pub in Woolton for xmas lunch - turkey with all the trimmings. Then headed back home to further demolish nana and grandads house with all the toys.

Certainly a christmas to remember.

White Christmas

Well as all our friends predicted (unknowingly) we did indeed have a white start to our christmas. It's fairly unusual to have snow in Liverpool at all so having it drop on xmas eve was something special.

The kids couldn't wait to get outside and start throwing snowballs at Daddy. There was a brief arguement over who was putting the carrot in but we compromised and Tom stuck his carrot in the back as a tail.

Rolling the body was very hard work according to Ela so as soon as the snowman was finished they were happy to come back inside.

Meanwhile Daddy had been hard at work slaving over the hot stove preparing our traditional christmas eve fayre. A turkey roast dinner with a lovely Zinfadel red and rose. There were a few challenges to overcome - lack of space being the major hurdle but he did an awesome job and we especially enjoyed the mince pie ice-cream he made for pudding.

Penguins

Well after the sucess of the Superlambananas during Liverpool08 Capital of Culture, Liverpool has been graced with 100 5ft high penguins, each painted and located on a winters trail around the city.

Ela and I met up with one of my best school friends Jackie and her daughter Evie and we went in search of some penguins around the city centre. here are some of the best ones we found...

 

 

England here we come

Excitement is running high in our house with just a few days to go before we set off to England. We have had a round of christmas parties, lunches, playdates and farewell dinners. Photos here of some pre-xmas pressie opening.

Ela has 'graduated' from both Cabarita-Mortlake pre-school and Gumnut, here she with her favourite friends, Belle, Bo and Gabby. She has been sure to tell everyone - including Santa that she will not be 'at home' for xmas so presents need to be delivered to both places. small ones to England and larger ones to Australia!

And of course Tom has ho idea of what is to come - 24hrs of flights plus a 5 hr drive to Liverpool, but he's non the less just as excited.