We left sweden on the boat to Kiel in Germany . in Sweden it is illegal to have summer tyres. Unfortunately our winter tyres were the ones with studs which happen to be illegal in Germany, so as soon as we arrived in Germany we had to buy some summer tyres.
We went to the city centre of Kiel and had some sandwiches and cakes for breakfast, then we bought some new summer shoes with flashing lights on for Winston and Henry. Flashing lights make them easier to find in the dark!
We drove to Hamburg, went swimming in a nice swimming pool with dinosaurs and a volcano.
We stayed in a cheap hostel in the centre by all the strip clubs and sex shops. It cost 32 euros for a room with 4 bunk beds.
We drove about 3 hours to Hannover, stopping for some rubbish fish and chips for breakfast at motorway services. In Hannover we went to the aquarium, which wasn't as good as Universeum in Göteborg and a bit more expensive. We stayed in the cheapest hotel in town which was very basic and pokey, but ok.. It was 42 euros per night for 2 nights.
The next morning we went to a launderette which was also a cafe and a pub. We had breakfast while the machines washed our clothes. It coat about 7 euros.
We rode on some trams and went to the city chttp://centre. We walked past a jewellers and Winston wanted to ask how much silver coins cost..we went in and bought 2 for about 17euros each... Real money / treasure.
Next morning we drove to Frankfurt. We stayed in a hotel in bad soden.. Hotel taunus, it cost 60 euros per night including breakfast. Our hotel was 2 minutes walk from the last stop on the local train line which went directly to the Messe. The trade show was all sorts of shiny crap that people fill their houses with. Winston and Henry like to touch everything, and many of the stand owners were giving them sweets. Henry did a wee on an Amazonas hanging chair. Winston liked the travelators.
We had nice dinner in a pub near the hotel with good food and miserable staff. It was valentines day, so maybe thats why they were so sour.
Next day we drove through Netherlands and met Caroline's friend in Belgium. Lovely family with 2 little girls and a 3rd on the way, the we drove to just outside lille in France. We had to stop at a McDonald's to charge up the phone and download a map on their WiFi so we could find the place. The airbnb we stayed in was a single dad with 2 kids in a house with very steep stairs. It cost about 30euros. We went to a croissanterie for breakfast where the morrocan owner spoke some Swedish. We went to depressing Dunkirk, a horrible down and had a croque Monsieur in a smelly little cafe. The only good thing was that some people were wandering around dressed as clowns.
We took the boat from Dunkirk to Calais. We were last on the boat. As Winston was in the passenger seat, he handed the passports over to the customs people in france. On the boat, henry got the shits.. After the first one we used my jumper as trousers, then he pooed in that,then we used a pashmina as a sarong. We drove to cottenham and got to hannah emily Oscar Rubin's house by 7.
We went to the science museum in London which is free, but as it was half term it was overcrowded, so we went to Hyde park instead, then debenhams, where I sent the kids hunting for different items while Caroline did some shopping.
Henry fell down a few stairs at hannah Emily houses, and he held his breath and his eyes rolled back in his head, so we took him to A&E in Addenbrookes.
The boys really enjoyed playing with Oscar and Rubin for the 5 days we stayed there..every day they say they want to go there.
We flew to Romania about £60 each
.. Would have been a lot less if we had booked earlier..Caroline arranged airbnb right in the centre for 40euros per night. 3 bedroom penthouse. Very nice. Transfer from airport was about £17.
.. Would have been a lot less if we had booked earlier..Caroline arranged airbnb right in the centre for 40euros per night. 3 bedroom penthouse. Very nice. Transfer from airport was about £17.
We realised that we are spending too much on eating out.
In Bucharest we met Ada. Caroline had a checkup at the dentist. We saw the peoples palace. We went to Sanaia by train to see a spooky castle. The tours were a bit long for the kids who got restless after about 20mins. Winston said that a carving of a man holding a scroll acting as a pillar looked like it had a jetpack on. We went to a fantastic mall where Winston and henry went on little boats.
We met a lovely homeschooling family in the library ...Florian and Andrea, Octavius and ........ Hopefully we will meet up again. After about an hour Winston and Henry started to interact with their children.
Vlad , our airbnb host installed a washing machine, so we could wash our clothes, and dry them on the huge radiators.
We went for dinner with Ada, and Winston and Henry were chasing each other around the restaurant.
Bucharest airport was easy except the security person wanted to molest Winston. I insisted she at least ask nicely.. Her colleague said she didnt have to ask (because they are the ones with the guns), and then did the most minimal pointless search/molestation on Winston.. And the same on Henry. It was probably their light shoes that set off the buzzer.
4.5 hour flight to Dubai for about £70.
We will stay in Dubai for 3 days then fly to India for about £70each... So the total cost of flights to India is about £200 each. I think we could have done it for about £160 if we had booked well in advance.
