Dave & Pen's place on the Web
Posts tagged Travel
Home again
Jul 16th
We’ve been back a few days and are now fully into the swing of life again. Pen had a little bit of jetlag but nothing major.
While we were traveling pennstar.net was updated using the WordPress for Android App. I was most impressed with how well it worked. The best part about it was being able to work offline.
This was critical as I rarely had internet access and was thus able to compose blog posts in pieces, instead of trying to compose something in the 30min I had internet.
I found myself writing snippits after we had been to a site or first thing in the morning. The WordPress app pretty much allowed me to do most of the critical functions required to write a blog post.
Once we found a free wifi spot, it was easy to complete the post. Uploading the finished article, including pictures taken on my phone was a snap.
So a big thankyou to the WordPress developers who created the app you made blogging while in Paris possible. Also a big thankyou to everyone who came to our blog and read about our travels.
Paris Day 6
Jul 14th
So we didn’t get to do a night tour as we left the booking a bit late. What we did instead is go and see the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph all lit up.
Both of these monuments are very easy to see from our hotel. The best view in Paris of the Eiffel tower is a 10min walk from our hotel at a place called Palias De Chaillit.
When we got there at 8:30pm it wasn’t dark yet so we went and had dinner at an English pub called FROG XIV. Then at 9:45pm when it was finally getting dark we walked back to view the tower.
To see the Arch De Triumph we caught a train for a couple of stops and got a great view. Around the Arc everything was being prepared for today which is a national holiday in France with a big parade that goes past the Arc.
As for today we left our hotel at 9:00am to catch a train to the airport. We immediately ran into the problem of the ticket machines not accepting our credit cards (I have had this problem before in Australia but didn’t think of it at the time). To solve the problem I left Pen with the bags and ran to the bank to withdraw some money.
After changing ticket machines to one that accepted bills we were off and running again.
After catching the train all week, getting to the airport on the metro was pretty easy. All we had to do was change lines twice and as a bonus we got an express train for the final part of the journey to Charles de Gaul airport. The total train trip took abour 1hr 10min.
One thing to know about CDG is that it takes a long time to get your tickets, get through immigration and then through security. All in all it took about 1.5hrs to do that.
Another thing about CDG is that it is really nice to look at as it has a somed roof. The downside of that is that tha acoustics are terrible. It is really hard to work out what they are saying on the announcements. This didn’t help when they were trying to tell us the new departure time for our flight.
The flight was delayed two hours and as a bonus Pen got the honor of having further inspection done on her bags and a pat down to ensure she wasn’t a terrorist. You never know about these Australians traveling to the US. 
Btw the weather was terrible today in France so we are not really missing anything, although it was mainly the weather that caused our two hor flight delay.
Still we managed to get to Atlanta only an hour late. It was interesting as it was the first time we had gone through customs and immegration in Atlanta. You would think that after 9 years in the city we would have flown an international flight out of Atlanta before now.
We had a great holiday and would love to visit France again one day.
Paris Day 5
Jul 13th
Last night while we were out for dinner some French Navy personel came into the bar. Being the first time I had ever seen the French Navy uniform the only thing I could think of is what the Navy officers must say at recruit training.
“Men I know you have all heard rumors about the Navy being Gay. These rumors are not true. To help combat them we have decided to put pompoms on the top of each of your hats.”
And now for something completely different.
Being our last full day in Paris you would think we would try and fit as much in as possible. We decided to go the other route and take things slow. i.e. look at all the stuff we had bought, write some postcards to Australia and generally just hang out.
We did hower take a river cruise up and down the the Seine. This was an hour long trip up and down the river. We got to see a different view of most of the sites we traveled to by train. Many pictures were snapped on the trip.
Tonight we plan on doing a tour of Paris to see evrything at night. At this point in time it is a plan only as you need to reserve these things and we haven’t quite got around to that yet.
Some of the things we have learnt while being here is that the French are really quite nice and helpful. If you want to go shopping for clothes etc then you should do that after hours. Most of the monuments close at 6pm but some clothing shops (especially on the main shopping strip) are open until 10pm. I have also confirmed my belief that America is pretty much the only country where American Express cards are taken everywhere.
Tomorrow we head back home. It will be a shame to leave Paris but it will be great to get back and see the kids again. Annie Spell has been doing a bang up job looking after them.
Paris Day 4
Jul 12th
We completed day 3 with a trip to the Louve. That place is huge! The art work on display there is amazing. We randomly chose a wing to view and founf that it was the one holding the Mona Lisa. So yes Penni and I have now seen the Mona Lisa.
Pen has decided that it’s been great to see everything, but her favorite thing has been the food over here. She loves being able to walk up to a cafe, sit outside and order quality food. We have seen very few chain restuarants in our travels.
Today we planed on making further use of our train pass and travel as far as we can on the train line to see something. Our detination was Vincennes Castle. The castle is the highest keep in Europe and was used over the years by the Kings of France as afortified residence and a holding place for political prisoners.
In addition to the castle there was a chapel based on La Chappelle that we saw yesterday. When we went in I took a picture of the stained glass windows and was propmptly told in french that I can’t take photos. Both Pen and I missed the sign as we came in. I still have the picture though.
It was amazing that something so beautiful had so few tourists. It was very easy to miander around at your own pace without the press of crowds.
We then headed off to Basilica of the Sacred-Heart. This was another amazing feat of architecture and the view from the church steps was amazing. One of the signs out of the front of the church stated that for 125 years day and night someone has been praying. That’s pretty impressive!
Paris Day 3
Jul 11th
Day 3 started out with the luxury of sleeping in. Our kids are early risers so rarely do we get to sleep past 6 or 6:30am. Today we rose at 8:30am and headed down for breakfast about an hour later.
We had been tossing up whether or not to take an open bus tour around Paris. We eventually decided that we should put our train pass to good use and not take the bus (much faster travel time). So off we went to St-Michael Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle for our first couple of stops for the day.
Sainte-Chapelle is amazing with their stain glass windows. Unfortunately they are restoring some windows and we didn’t get the full effect. Still it was incredible.
We visited Notre-Dame cathedral while a mass was on so we got to experience the full thing. The cathedral is huge and really impressive.
On a different note probably the funniest thing we have seen while here, was when we were lining up to go up the Eiffel Tower. While waiting in line there are all these people trying to hawk their wares. At one point they all started running. Soon we saw two policemen on bikes riding casually through the area. Once the police disappeared all the people all appeared again. It was like a bunch of galahs that had been scared.
Paris Day 1 & 2
Jul 10th
It is now 4pm on our second day in Paris. It has been a great vacation so far even with the flight problems we had.
We left on Thursday night after turning the house and kids over to the wonderful Annie Spell. Made it to the airport wioth plenty of time to spare. After a quick bite to eat we boarded our plane. The plane backed away from the gate relatively on time but then sat there. In fact we sat there for an hour and a half, where upon we learnt that there was problems with one of the engines. So back into the gate we went and waited another hour while we got a new plane.
This time we got underway. We landed in Paris 4 hours late which started our next adventure. We needed to collect the 5 day train passes we had ordered, so we jumped into a taxi and showed the driver the address we wanted to go to.
It turns out our really nice taxi driver didn’t speak any english (not so good), but Penni managed to dredge up enough of her year 7 french class to explain we needed to be at the address by 6pm (time was 5pm).
The taxi driver got us there with 5min to spare and even got out of the car to help us find the travel agent.
After collecting our train passes we then successfully navigated the metro system to our hotel.
We followed that up with wine, cheese and dinner at a little cafe areound the corner from our hotel.
End of Day 1
Today we have seen two of the major sites of Paris, the Eiffle Tower and the Arc de Triumph.
It is worth the 1 hour wait to get ticket and get up to the first level of The Eiffle Tower. It is even more woth the half hour wait to get the lift to the top of the tower.
The Arc de Triumph is just as spectacular. We climbed to the top and loved the view from there.
Currently we are sitting in McDonalds using their free wifi to bring this post to you.
More later.
Los Angeles
Feb 24th
Well my first week in LA is done. The people at work are nice and the new project is going to keep me really busy. My work put us up at Embassy Suites Glendale which was about 45min from LAX. It’s a very nice hotel with breakfast provided in the morning and a mangers reception provided at night (free drinks and food).
The hotel is close enough that my work mate Yan and I can walk to work each morning (It probably takes us 5-10 min). In doing so we have discovered that at least at the office we are working at, very few people in LA arrive at work at 8:00am. By 9:30am though everyone is there. It has been weird arriving at work and realizing that everyone on the East Coast are just about ready to go to lunch.
On Saturday I went to Universal Studio’s Hollywood. This was a great place to go when you’re by yourself. Lots of different shows to see, and things to do. I spent from about 10:30am to 5:30pm at Universal Studio’s. Beyond enjoying it for myself I also realised that the next time we do theme parks with the kids, we won’t do Universal. The theme park is really made for kids 8+, maybe even older.
On Sunday I went to the Glendale Galleria and The Americana at Brand in the morning and C3 Studio City at night. It was great to see what is happening at the C3 church plant in LA. If you are looking for a contemporary church in LA this is the place to go.
Tonight so Yan actually got to see some sites of LA, we went to Hollywood Blvd. Lots of stars on the ground and tourist shops. It was the one place that we didn’t stop at when Pen and I visited LA with my folks about 6 years ago.
Almost through my stay, looking forward to flying home and seeing the family again on Friday.
Snow, Snow, Snow
Feb 14th
It snowed last Friday here in Atlanta. We received 3 inches of snow which is probably the most we have experienced since the first year we were here. It was great fun as you can see from the video below.
I’m off to LA in the morning for 2 weeks. Which is much better than the 4 weeks my work was initially proposing. Pen will do a fantastic job as Super Mum. Meanwhile while I’m over there, I will get a chance to check out the LA church plant C3 Studio City.
Super Bowl weekend
Feb 7th
This weekend we had our friends Trevor and Amy Garrett come and visit from Toronto. Trevor and Amy pastor the Toronto C3 Church, they are fantastic people and we love to see them whenever they come into town. The kids love having Trevor and Amy come and visit too as they always bring them books by one of their favorite authors Robert Munsch. This time they received the books Stephanie’s Ponytail (Annikins) and The Fire Station (Classic Munsch).
In addition to this Daniel came down with a fever this weekend which put an immediate hold on our Super Bowl plans. Instead of catching up with a bunch of friends, we are now spending the night at home as a family, hoping that Daniel will be well enough to go to school tomorrow. So far so good!
Earlier this week there were layoffs at work. It was a real shame to see people who you have worked with over the past 9 years let go. At least they are being given a package of sorts. Still it’s not a great thing.
In other news it looks like I will be traveling for work again. I have been asked to be involved in a new project which requires Flex programming experience. I will be working in LA for a period of time. Not too sure on the dates or how long (that is still to be decided) but it will happen. I’m sure when it happens Pen will do a fantastic job as “Super Mom” again.
It’s time for the Super Bowl so I will sign off now. Here’s hoping the Saints win this one.
Traveling for work
Jan 10th
For the next two weeks I will be working in Florida. Finally after a couple of years the old BellSouth Data is being merged into the AT&T database and systems. Subsequently I am traveling to Orlando FL this week and Miami FL next week to hold the users hands as they get used to using a new system. I get to come home and see everyone for the weekend but fly out on the Sunday night.
Meanwhile back on the ranch Pen will be “Super Mom” looking after the two kids by herself. So far things look good as our neighbors Jason and Julie have invited Pen and the kids over for dinner tonight, and Pen’s friend Annie will be dropping by tomorrow night.
Last night Pen and I went out for dinner with our friends Brian and Jessica for my birthday. We went to Outback Steakhouse, where you can buy real Australian beer. James Boags Premium larger was my favorite beer in Australia and it is offered at Outback Steakhouse. We had a fantastic time hanging out with Brian and Jessica and wish we could do it more often. A big thanks to Annie who came over to babysit the kids.
