Europe in 40 days

Sorry no blog today due to a death in the family

It’s a amazing how far I’ve come with my arm after 4 weeks with no plaster unable to move it a centimetre without pain to now be able to brush the left side of my hair, not the right, have a shower, eat with a fork and be able to reach my mouth, took some pics with the camera but that was agony, carried a cup of tea for Clive, scratched my left arm without the use of the scratchy spoon, do up my bra round the front so im very pleased but theres still a long way to go, I’m working on washing my own hair but havent got there yet, maybe tomorrow. I was just watching ninja warrior and there was a man with a false leg doing it so a lesson to us all.

Lovely to get a lie in this morning- not, woke up at 6am made us a cuppa, then another, had a shower and got dressed ready to explore Zagreb.

Gordon our host told us to go right and in 10 minutes we would be in the centre of Zagreb, he was right but there were about 3000 steps to get down there, I thought to myself we have to get back up here and as I’m writing this my heart rate is measuring around 120bpm and I am soaked in sweat.

Zagreb was empty when we got there at 8.40 it was lovely the bar workers were washing the pavements and putting out chairs ready for trade, the first restaurant we spotted was an Indian, noted for later.

After wandering around the main square and deciding to do the hop on hop off bus tour at 10 am we headed back to the cafe street for breakfast which was toast with peanut butter and raspberry jam, a portion of very spicy chips (we love chips) and a soy latte yummy. The bus tour cost about £8 each which was great value we were on the bus for an hour to start then an hour and a half, Zagreb is big. After the first hour we got off at the cathedral to have a look around, it is the tallest building in Croatia and stunning inside. You can also book to see the treasury which spans 14 centuries of Christianity.

By now we were hungry again so decided after much deliberation on the first Indian restaurant we had seen and headed that way after looking in some souvenir shops and picking up some tat.

The food was delicious and spicy but not hot, we were bemused so I asked the waiter and he said no one here eats hot food, if we did hot we wouldn’t have any customers, weird Croations, curry should at least leave a tingle on the lips.

Food finished we started on our way home, those steps though. Got home and went for forty winks, So nap out of the way we wandered round to the local Spar shop and bought a bottle of brandy for a fiver and are enjoying a glass or two as I type. We are both knackered so are watching telly and sipping the brandy and I think before too long we will be in the land of nod ready for our drive to Belgrade tomorrow

Some pics from today

Left at 8.15 this morning, straight to the bakers for 2 vanilla croissants and 2 cinnamon twirls. The croissants were the best we have ever tasted wish we had bought 4.

We decided to visit Salzberg in Austria on our way and the sat nav took us the scenic route which was beautiful, typical Austrian rolling green hills with lovely wooden chalets, flowers brimming at the window boxes. It was at this moment I burst into song ‘The hills are alive ‘ I sang sweetly, Clive jumped a mile and nearly went off the road. I half expected to see Julie Andrews skipping over the hills in her skirt made from green curtains.

The scenery didn’t change for most of the journey and we soon arrived at Salzberg, parked up and made our way to the Lovelock bridge. This bridge has the most padlocks I have ever seen and the view was delightful a street market ran down the left side of the river selling arts and crafts and food. We walked right around took some pics and made our way back to the car for the 2nd part of the journey to Lake Bled in Slovania.

Lake Bled is an amazing place we both were gob smacked when we first saw it, amazing it’s like Disney castles and houses that Walt Disney fashioned his empire on, we will definitely go back here for a few nights, there’s camping too so might drag the tent out for that lol.

This homeward journey has been amazing, no borders and beautiful scenery and by the way the roads in Slovenia are some of the best we’ve encountered. Onwards to Zagreb now to meet Gordon our host at the next Airbnb right in the city centre. We have 2 nights here so looking forward to exploring the city. Will let you k how how it goes tomorrow.

Some pics from today

Google maps dont get up too early these days, we typed in our destination at 8 am and set off, I said we need to stop for something to eat before we settle into the journey so the first services came up and we got an avocado bagel. When we drove into the services our map said 4 hours 30 minutes to go to destination, when we came out it said 4 hours 52 minutes, I thought somethings not right but anyway off we went up the motorway to then have to turn round and go back 17 in the direction we had just come. Thirty four k for an Avocado bagel. It was very nice though.

Germany is very picturesque each little village has a church with a spire, they are all different and quite charming and photogenic.

Stopped at Nuremberg for lunch as we wanted to see the Palace of Justice, which is the famous war crimes court where the top nazi criminals were tried. It was just like the film The Reader which must have been filmed there. Fascinating stuff could have spent all day there but onward and upward.

D

Driving along at 120km per hour on our way to Munich when we heard tooting of a horn, it was a Turkish white van man who pulled up to our window a did a thumbs up in appreciation of our Turkish number plates. It made us smile for a good while. Whist in Munich we had some more Turks shouting Hos Geldenis, Turkish hospitality all over the world, love it.

We reached Munich and decided to have a drive around the city before going to our destination, what a lovely city, we will have to go back there, the Olympic stadium looks amazing and they have so much going on there. The centre was packed full of parked cycles and pedestrians

W

We have got ourselves stuck in an accident on the motorway, cars have parted to either side of the road to allow emergency vehicles to have easy access there have been too many vehicles for my liking including 3 ambulances, 4 police cars 3 fire engines and a recovery vehicle. Two hours later we were allowed to carry on and it started raining. We got to our accommodation at 7.55pm everything was shut so we made do with pasta in a tomato sauce packet meal and a bottle of red. Apartment is very nice with the smallest cutest kitchen ever.

well off to Zagreb tomorrow another long journey but we have 2 nights there so time to have a good look around. We will be passing through Austria and Slovenia on the way. As it is our last day in Germany here is an important German lesson for you to get the pronunciation right

https://youtu.be/NcxvQI88JRY

Sweet dreams x

We woke up in our luxury apartment in Dunkirk had a shower and a coffee and made our way to the nearest bakery for breakfast, i asked Clive to get me a custard croissant this was around 9 am. The bakery was empty not just of people of food too, he had two apple pasties type things and an empty baguette- gutted – we had the apple things though but they felt like yesterday’s, very sad. The Baker said we are waiting for the delivery you are too early. Anyway off we set as we have a 5 and a half drive today to Frankfurt.

Off to Belgium we went, the landscape is very flat, my daughter asked me to send her pictures of mountains not a hope, we saw the signs for Bruge and Brussels they were very tempting but we didn’t have time on our side so we ploughed on. All of a sudden we saw the sign saying Welcome to the Netherlands which was totally unexpected we thought we were doing Belgium to Germany obviously the sat nav had other ideas.

Again the Netherlands, very flat, I knew this because of all the stories my mother told me about when she was in the airforce and posted there ‘flat as a pancake’ she would say and she was right.

Eventually after two pit stops a vegetarian baguette and some McDonald’s chips and a drink we were 2 hours away from Frankfurt, both knackered. Clive said ‘my God I couldn’t be a long distance lorry driver driving 8 hours a day’ I said ‘No especially if you have to go dogging afterwards’ he perked up a bit then.

Eventually reached our destination and spent an hour trying to find which apartment it was so I had a huff and sat in the car with some crisps while Clive tried to find the place. We were told 22 and it was 29. We are here now and its lovely, not quite as lovely as yesterdays but lovely and that first glass of wine is going down a treat. The television took some 20 minutes to sort out the he realised it wasn’t plugged in and went ever so slightly miffy when i mentioned it. He had to turn it up to full volume as i was chomping on some potato sticks from Asda’s, perfect with red wine (pouty bugger) we tried watching Revenant not good in German we didn’t understand a word then about an hour in he found it in English nearly lost an eye at that point

My arm although getting better every day does not allow me to sleep lying down, or sitting up actually, it’s more or less fine during the day with the odd painful episode as if to remind me, so my sleeping habits have become thus. Go to bed after taking tablets and the odd glass of wine to promote sleep. Lie in bed tossing and turning until I have to get up and sit on the edge of the bed until the pain subsides then try every sleep position known to man to no avail, get up and go and make a cup of tea sit on the settees for an hour then sneak down sideways as if my arm wont notice and try again. This sometimes works and I get a couple of hours then wake up in agony and repeat the whole process again. My physio said ‘ yes that’s normal’ I wanted to punch him then sue him for telling lies I dont think it will work, but maybe it will.

will catch up tomorrow, another long day xxx

We had a quiet day today popped down to the Coop and filled up with wine and gin lol, Sue makes a perfect pink gin, got home and had a light lunch with some wine , then collapsed into a heap and slept for an hour before getting ready for an evening in Lucca with your friend and mine, Sting.

Left the campsight around 4 pm and followed sat navs directions which took us to a broken bridge and a diversion which made our journey there 2 hours instead of 1 and a half. The whole place was buzzing as Sting were playing that night during the July and August music festival. The concert didnt start until 9.30 so we had time for food and a look around.

We found a little restaurant and discovered all the good tables were reserved but after z bit of cajoling she let us sit there as the first bookings were for 9am. Well by the time we had finished eating we were all full as eggs and needed to do some walking so off we set and discovered what a gorgeous city Lucca is.

We met an Austrailian girl who was here with her friend, they had an Airbnb overlooking the stadium and had seen Mark Knopfler, Elton John, Scorpions and Sting practicing that afternoon

It’s been a super fast 2 weeks here in Wales and the weather has been mostly raining. The Italian job arm has been a b*****d, as the movement returns the pain gets worse. Note to self- do not ever ever put ones arm in a sling for 2 weeks. The elbow and shoulder joint have stiffened up like buggery and at times I have thought about amputation. I have learned to wash and dress myself of a fashion with a little help from Clive now and then. I have had one visit to physiotherapy where he manipulated me into such pain that he was in danger of losing a eye. But on the whole the hospital has been marvelous fitting me in between other appointments to accomodate our trip home, good old NHS, please do not sell out to the American system. It’s been super seeing family and friends over the holiday and especially our 2 grand children, Jaxon the boy and Baxter the dog it was great fun trying to make Jaxon laugh and failing and trying to get the cushions off Baxter when he was so excited to see us he decided to try and rip all the cushions apart. So we are off, 8 am this morning for a leisurely drive to Dover, the ferry to Dunkirk leaves at 4 PM. The sat nav has sent us on a detour to Gatwick airport and back for no reason, saw a sikh construction worker with the longest white beard ever and a bright blue turban with a hard hat perched on top. Got to Dover at 2.30pm and drove easily into line to wait to board

We are waiting to board the ferry and we have a munter in front of us who is scoffing his way through 3 piglets and their mamma as well as a barrel of lager he hasn’t stopped for the last half an hour its amazing and he has flat feet and he is driving. The ferry left on time and we waved goodbye to those white cliffs and as they fade into to the distance I started singing quietly far far away, far far away, last night I heard my mamma singing this song ooh wee chirpy chirpy cheep cheep woke up this morning and my mamma was gone ooh wee chirpy chirpy cheep cheep chirp, Clive woke up and did one of his grimacy smiles showing his appreciation.

Went to our Airbnb which is amazing by the way, first time we have seen a 90 inch telly on a wall, and she advised us to go to Bray Dunes for food which was by the seaside, it was lovely and the place where all the boats landed for the evacuations all those years ago, we watched the sun set then went for a walk down the promenade and a pizza.

The zebra crossings here have model children on them with school bags saying merci on them, this is thank you in French

but we are not here long and tomorrow’s lesson will be in German below is the longest word in German you can look it up on Google translate or wait until the end of the week for my translation

Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft

Speak tomorrow from Germany

Some more pics from today

Got home yesterday around 5pm to be greeted by a table full of goodies left there by my bestie Joanne, we didn’t look in the fridge until later and found more goodies in the fridge. Clive said ‘she’s a good girl, sometimes’. I agree.We decided to go to A+ E first thing I the morning so that I wouldn’t have to wait overnight, so we set off at 6.30 am and got there by 7 am. It was suprisingly quiet there but the electronic sign said ‘Waiting time is approximately 7 hours’ Oh dear.Well after registering and sitting down, my name was called and we went in and explained the problem and showed the x ray, then were sent back to the waiting room. We waited an hour or so then were called to speak to the doctor, he sent me for another x ray and then back to the waiting room. Called again, bloods this time – waiting room called again and told they would prefer not to rip out all the metalwork, the bone is relatively straight and they are sure the bones will graft together so the benefits would be so small it wouldn’t be worth it. So I have an appointment for next week to see the orthopaedic surgeon who will check it again and take out the stitches which I’m dreading as they are all metal staples which I discovered today. So I think a week of rest with Clive doing all the jobs and I might cook a meal or two providing he does the chopping. We are both relieved not to have to go through another op.Bonus of the day I got a new sling which means I can wash the one I’ve been wearing for the last 3 weeks in 40 degree heat – yes it smells. We have emptied the car (that’s the royal we) and now the car is lovely and clean and the house is a tip, we will sort it out over the next 2 weeks so that we can fill up with stuff, lots of stuff for the way back. Clive bought the teabags today.We are looking forward to seeing all the kids and grandkids, one of them being a dog. So will resume this blog if anything exciting happens and if not on the start of our journey home.Thanks all for listening to my rantings over the last 3 weeks. I’ve enjoyed it.Some pics from our journey not previously posted

The hotel in Calais was non descript, a 3 star bland set of rooms with beige everything. Even the staff were beige.

We ate a a very typically British pub where everyone spoke French, went back to our room had a glass of wine and went to bed, shattered. I woke up this morning with a strange feeling in my leg so asked Clive to give it a massage, it was excruciating so I got up and couldn’t walk. Clive gave it another massage and I thought it was severe cramp, then when Clive mentioned sciatica realised that what it was. Great same side as the Italian job arm, now I looked like I’d been in a bad car accident limping, hanging on to Clive for support and arm in a heavy duty sling – great. This lasted until we got off the ferry and more but then mysteriously disappeared much to my delight. Took some pics of the white cliffs of Dover, havent seen them since I was 19 setting off on another epic journey from Dover to Pakistan.

We stopped at a services to get a drink and decided to get some chips from Burger King and a coffee £12 unbelievable, I thought Europe was expensive, the services were charging 30p more per litre of petrol than the towns unbelievable.

We saw Keith Richard ‘s brother at the ferry too.

Well we are home now and going to A+E first thing so hopefully get this arm sorted tomorrow and can begin the repair again.

Will keep you up to date tomorrow hopefully so goodnight sweet dreams x

Some more pics from today

After settling in we ventured to Carrefour for our supper, on the way we passed through a little village where Robert and Clive would be very happy. So happy as you can see from the photograph below.

Clive smiled and behaved accordingly all through the village waving at all the other Toussieux

When we got to the supermarket we were greeted with stares from the locals, so we were obviously strangers in the area. We picked our food and went to the checkouts where we queued behind 3 young men of the rastafarian variety. Needless to say we were grouped with them by the locals as nefarious strangers, which made me want to be even more outrageous so I waited until we got outside and said in a loud voice Je mon tap le cul par terre but it was drowned out by the rastafarian boombox in their car playing R. Kelly – it’s your birthday so I decided to do that swaggery walk thing to the car and made Clive do it with me, I think the locals were suitably impressed.

We got back to our place of rest and had our food undercover out on the patio by the pool it rained while we were out there so the temperature cooled down quite a bit and made it comfortable. The wine went down well too 11 euro for 5 litres, should last a day or two.

We have purchased tomorrow’s breakfast, Clive has 2 croissants with choc chips and I have some sort of strange cake with custard in it. These French people eat strange things.

Cecile our French host has just asked what we would like for breakfast, didnt realise it was included – Je mon tap le cul par Terre!

I think Clive has found a new friend here, someone who likes to make a mess and dabble with lots of things in his shed, they are out there now trying to fix the back door of the car which has mysteriously stopped locking. There is drilling, screeching and hammering going on and also lots of laughter,. I think they may both be Toussieux.

Well breakfast had lots of choices, jams and spreads different types of bread, yoghurt, cereals, cheeses, little cakes and lots of tea, in fact the biggest cup I’ve ever had. Suitably filled up and our teapot filled with hot water for the journey, off we set.

It was a long journey to Calais 459 miles so we had stocked up with food and drink to eat on the way as it’s so expensive here. The services in France are lovely, they provide picnic tables and chairs and the toilets are separate from the shops so there is no need to go in if you have a picnic which so many people do with their families.

We have noticed that the service in restaurants and bars gets steadily more expensive and poorer as we move towards the UK. Turkish customer service is marvellous in comparison, these Europeans could learn a thing or two about keeping the customer happy.

The French countryside is beautiful but empty, huge swathes of farmland with various crops currently being harvested mainly wheat so you get the striped effect of green and gold

I have finally got used to taking pics with my mobile instead of my usual digital camera which i need two hands to use, it has taken a long time but today I have taken some pics that will go on our walls when we get back. The best camera in the world is the one you have in your hand. Not my quote but so true.

Well we made it this far with some ups and downs on the way, back to blighty tomorrow, hopefully the trip back will be less eventful.

Some more pics from the day