Blogs from Nord-Pas de Calais, France, Europe - page 9

Advertisement

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Boulogne-Sur-Mer August 9th 2013

We were beginning to think we were on the 10 cities in 10 days tour. Our travels weren’t quite that fast, but it was getting to the point where we had to stop to remember where we were each day, “if this is Thursday then we must be in .... “. The morning of August 9th we left Dieppe with light winds and a cloudy sky headed to Boulogne. Later in the morning and early afternoon the winds picked up and the seas got rougher. The water is shallow along this coast and as a result the wind creates short, choppy seas. With this combination the seas get uncomfortable, but not enough to be any kind of problem for us. As we got closer to Boulogne the winds piped up to about 22 knots and the ... read more
What Did That Say???
Grey and Choppy
Hand Steering Again

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Lille July 29th 2013

The rain is falling softly outside the living room window causing the green of the trees to glow in a vibrant color. It is good to be home. Although "home" is a relative term. Our move into this new house is finally, almost, over. Here and there you can still see bare wall that needs to be touched up, or my brother's room that still needs the floor layed. But altogether, we've arrived, and it is a good feeling. I suppose, since this is my first blog entry, I should introduce myself. My name is Tessa, and I'm an MK who grew up all over Europe. Last year I went to the States to start my studies in English Literature, my first year in Virginia went by so quickly, it almost feels like a dream sometimes. ... read more

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais July 15th 2013

Leaving behind the delights of Najac and the Aveyron Gorges we had 5 days to potter up through the middle of France to get to Calais. The plan was to spend the last few days just north of Paris near Compiegne and visit some friends. Patchwork fields with dry stone walls and bordered with trees reminded us of home ..but then passing through villages with beautiful old stone houses and flower bedecked streets - mostly ville fleuries we knew it was France. I love the large brown tourist signs at the side of the roads - depicting the delights of this or that town or city ...some of them works of art in themselves ...who designs them - is it a state department ?? an arm of the tourist boards?? or are they commisioned...I would like ... read more
Hotel de Ville Calais (2)
Somme Roman  theatre (2)
Parc Floral Orleans (6)

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Calais June 1st 2013

Suzy was gearing herself to come home. Not a pretty sight!!! We are all truly miserable and wish our holiday could go on forever. There is nothing worse than coming home knowing that the adventure for this time is over. We woke up early with the plan of unplugging Suzy from the electrics and moving the last few hours to our last stop at Guines near to Calais. The roads were fairly empty, the hedgerows looked distinctly boring. All those lovely flowers that graced the roadside in Croatia and Italy had all gone and all you could see for miles was green. And of course the odd field of yellow oilseed rape. A pretty plant but what a stink of cabbage when it goes over. We arrived at Guines Le Bien Assise in the early afternoon. ... read more
Calais
Calais
On the train

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Dunkerque April 16th 2013

Suzy is still sitting comfortably on our drive hooked up to recharge her batteries . She is being prepared for the trip to Croatia and back. Sion has worked out it's 8 more sleeps until we get to France. We have started to load up the van. Books and maps put in the cupboards, clothes packed, last minute just in case foods put into the fridge and the cupboards - it's a lovely feeling to know that at last we are almost on the road again . Kathrein has worked OK the last few days but today she refused to go up again. We have spoken to Solar Solutions who fitted her and they have been deep in conversation with RoadPro who provided the dish. The offer is to take the dish off and send it ... read more
Bergues
Bergues
Bergues

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Calais April 1st 2013

With tanks full, everything battened down and Georgie rearing to go we hit Dover port. Woolly says – it was rather boring, I had been so excited about the ferry and I could see it but we had to sit and wait in Georgie before we were waved on-board. Finally parking Georgie in her berth and making sure she was all snug and warm we went up the stairs to the passenger decks – I sound like I’ve been sailing for years already! – The sea looked very choppy and I wondered if I needed to take my sea sickness bracelets (courtesy of Zoe), but Jo told me to wait until we were in the channel and sea what it was like then (took me ages to get THAT joke!). Dead on 11.30am we left the ... read more
All aboard
Are we there yet!!!!
Bye Bye UK

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais March 29th 2013

Lets start at the beginning - the sweet little coastal town of Wimereux, a pleasant drive from Calais where we disembarked from the ferry. The first two photos are of this town, our first night in France... The next day we headed to Amiens to see the largest Gothic cathedral in France. It did not disappoint! We've included a photo of the exterior and interior of the amazing cathedral (Click on the photo tab for more pics...) Afterwards we drove to a secluded campsite, passing through grim Rouen at peak hour (thanks Sat Nav!), just past Elbouf. The nice wooded countryside is shown in the next pic, as is a snap of the charming exposed beam houses of this Normandy region. Our next stop was to see the Bayeux tapestry. The tapestry which is almost 1000 ... read more
image
image
image

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Lille January 3rd 2013

I have arrived in Lille and have been welcomed by Lise's family. The first few days have been spent by getting used to the time difference, eating as much French food as I can, and practicing my French (OK I admit it I played a lot of league of legends too). French food I've eaten includes pumpkin soup, zucchini soup, Pot'je Vleesch (different meats in gelatin), different cheeses, baguettes, croissants, and different patés (like a meat spread that you put on bread). Lise and I took a long walk around Wambrechies (Where she actually lives, a small area close to Lille) and I took a lot of pictures to make a stop motion video that I can hopefully upload. We had planned to go to Strasbourg before Christmas to visit Lise's friend Alex and enjoy the ... read more

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Lille December 26th 2012

The next day we decided to walk around Lille, use one of our Christmas presents, and visit the art expo known as Fantastic. The expo is composed of fantasy art all throughout the city. Lise parked in an underground parking deck in Euralille, a newer area of Lille. It’s a big shopping mall and if you park in the parking deck and bring the ticket to Carrefour after making a purchase, they knock off an hour and a half from your parking time. Most of the parking in Lille is not free so this was the most cost-effective option. The first thing that we did was to go on the Grande Roue (a big Christmas ferris wheel) that we had been given tickets to by Lise’s sister for Christmas. When we arrived at the top the ... read more
Lille Wheel
Wheel tickets
View from the top 1

Europe » France » Nord-Pas de Calais » Lille December 25th 2012

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m a little worried because today I’ll be on display for everyone. The Brocards are celebrating Christmas Eve because more of the family can come today. Here’s the guest list: Me, Lise, Mr. Brocard (Yves), Mrs. Brocard (Carole), Lise’s sister (Elodie), Her boyfriend (Olivier), Boyfriend’s dad (Serge) Lise’s mom is doing all of the cooking so I don’t have to worry about that (she prefers it that way too). Usually when I wrap presents I get my brother to help, and he was absent this time so I did my best with the wrapping. I got Lise a dress that she picked out. I bought finger puppets for Lise’s dad because he is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for. I ended up giving one to Serge also because he gave me a ... read more
Yves starting fire
The table is set
We opened the cat's presents first




Tot: 0.174s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 11; qc: 83; dbt: 0.0944s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.4mb