The quietest it has ever been...

Apparently there is some band playing at the Oval tonight- no cars on the streets, no lights on in houses, and such a great run from the airport! 

Thanks to a Granny for a fantastic homecoming, it was great to see you at the end of the line. Especially after customs confiscated our fois gras,:(

John was great through the last trip- had a 10 min meltdown on the final decent but was good for the rest and all commented (before meltdown!) how good he had been. Good to have credit in the bank. Amazing how many cringe on a plane when they see a baby nearby. 

A great tip for anyone travelling by with a baby. Stagger your meals by one of your party having done sort of dietary req. 

Special meals get brought out first which means you can swap babysitting once the other meals are brought out. 

Great to be back! 

Lobby of our final hotel, Motel One. Great for any Power fans touting Europe. A lot of teal going on in this hotel chain. 

Couldn't take JMs seat home, hope you find a good home for it Roh and Evi. 

Final crawl before we board in Brussels. 

You wanna know what they call a Big Mac in Dubai? 

Yep, they were thinking there goes the end to my sleep on flight. 

A family of six took Business Class. Sorry mate, Economy is all we can afford. They make you walk past them to tease you. Just keep in mind which end hits the ground first. 

Back in our waterbed at #14. Best in the world. Little fella sleeping soundly. 

Last (full) day.

TI reckon we are all ready to come home. Weather is starting to turn (or perhaps we have been lucky...) and we have well and truly hit out baggage allowance (and a peacock-will be an interesting conversation). 

Spent out last day in Belgium doing all of our favourite things, and will catch up with our Belgian family one last time tonight. 

Chocolate, check. Seafood in the square, check. 

If I had a palace and a hedge, I'd keep my hedge trimmed. Love the interwoven plants here. Holly is red just in time. 

Brussels architecture is a real mixed bag, love the gold accents detail and extravagance. Storm clouds closing in. 

Seafood soup- will try this when we get home! Yep, Holliday beard. A group of teens asked me for a selfie, for their scavenger hunt 'find man with moustache'. Did not have the heart to tell them to be cautious of men with moustaches. Teachers not as paranoid here, but did pass a group of preschoolers in matching hi-vis. 

Godiva dipped strawbs in the Grand Place. Happy wifey. 

The Grand Place at night was like the beginning of a Disney movie. All silvery shadows. 

The Sticks.

Our last French stop before we head back in to Belgium for our departure is Lille. 

Known as the 'sticks' or to locals, les Ch'tis, it has a very well kept old town and quaint little alleys of cobblestone going off on every angle to a square (place). Very French. 

We have had all of our bad weather at once here, but it is the type of place where bad weather and rain fits. 

We have made the most of our super cool apartment (dinner at home the last couple of nights has been great) and JM has appreciated the extra sleep. 

We finally tracked down a new Sophie after JM threw it on the street somewhere in Austria. It was reuniting old friends-his eyes lit up as if to say 'where have you been- it's been so long!'

Although the old town is beautiful, this is really a logistics stop. 

Rach has spent the  afternoon trying to overfill La Poste's pre paid boxes and fit a toy for John way too big in to our suitcase (we are, sadly, returning it tomorrow to a store called the  'Ferret of the North'). 

Rach has just reminded me to take the cheese out of the fridge. When in France... Gotta fly! 

The main square. 

Typical buildings. 

Paul and home brand Roquefort in the rain. 

Sophie where have you been?

Rach and our credit card. 1 day... 

Ted, JM and Rach settle in for a gourmet burger. Dad has polished off his steak tartare. 

5 week challenge.

We have seen a few new places this trip, and, as you do, one drive through Germany we discussed where we would go if we had to spend all trip in the one spot. 

Rach is keen for Wiesbaden. Activities include starkers thermal spa (every day...), decent shopping (esp for kiddies), day trips to Frankfurt and very cute wine towns on the river (just don't go to Rudesheim on a sunny Sunday) and German food (great currywurst and bakeries). The only improvement would be Sunday trading- is it 1980 (or adelaide?). New York like inner city burbs, complete with squirrels. 

Travis is keen for Beaune- French food, Charmbolle Musigny, and the amazing

Wine store Anatheum. 

For Weisbaden...

Yep, a 'butter schnitzel' on our final night in Germany. 

Steep vineyards on the Rhine (for snobs this the Burg... vineyard)

Exceptional bakeries

Before spa....

Post spa transformation. 

Best currywurst so far...

With daddy, in front of hot spring. 

Jonny with his first Steiff, Ted. 

A lot of NY city feeling here, in the older parts towards East Village. 

Favourite things.

Despite our second day of rain on our trip, nothing could dampen the birthday mood.  Rach and John crammed many of my favourite things in to one special day. 

Woke to the little man with a sore head baring all sorts of gifts. Germany is the one place in Europe where the shoes are big enough. 

Mazipan can polarise. I love it, and would take the good stuff over chocolate in most cases. Sausage, a special purpose mazipan knife, and mazipan in Lubeck- the home of mazipan. Enough said. 

Finished  the day with dinner at a very fancy 'rasthouse' just south of Hamburg with Rachel's family Oliver, Elké, Tim and Felix. Great to see you all again. 

Thank you for a great day guys (and also for the wine I just sent to mum and dad's house...). 

I can't help it if JM has great taste in shoes. Thanks mate, you shouldn't have! 

Me about to fight my way through 200 pensioners to find the best mazipan on the planet. Mazipan selfies all round. 

Had 2 too many sausages on my birthday...

Feeling young and spritely in front of this old building- from 1400. 

Finished the day with the Rothers and icecream with whipped cream. Never really got the whole cream and icecream thing until now. Wow. 

Thanks guys for a great day and for moving the Penfolds release date to my birthday. 

X

@ Waschsalon

We have seen our fair share of laundromats, but this one takes the cake (and coffee for that matter!). 

In a very fashionable part of Berlin, Weinmeisterstraße, the laundry owner has turned it in to a funky cafe and he dresses for the part too. 

(Coffee was best so far in Germany...). 

Check the owners jacket in the background! We had to wake John for a feed- well behaved. 

And the wallpaper! 

He schedules people for different machines. Rush hour, and he is doing a roaring  trade. 

Seems hamburg is the city of Murphy birthdays- Rach turned 30 when we were last here. 

Castles!

Visited the Lesser Town of Prague- certainly not the case for tourists. It's like all the Adelaide Show carnies set themselves up in tourist towns on the off season. 

Motorised ferits, strange hair clips, chaticatures, poorly made plush toys and selfies. Murphy selfie follows...

Had 'Ryba' and Chips last night for dinner, as, we were all 'Czeched Out' food wise! Fish and chips, England style, good in theory... 

Jonny is becoming a gun tooth brusher. 

Off to Berlin today as we head back towards our departure point.