More voice please?

After being ill last weekend, I now am left with no voice. This never used to really happen to me and if it did it was only for a day and returned back to normal very quickly. Earlier this year though, soon after I started my new job, I got really really ill and actually ended up having to take two days off work which I hardly ever have to do. Anyway, got over that and then for the first time lost my voice/ got laryngitis which lasted about two weeks. It makes it near impossible to try and project your voice above the excited chatter of 20 little children, never mind trying to sing songs with them! 

So this time I decided to go to the doctor on the second morning sans voice. Nothing to do about it said Mrs doctor but to drink honey and lemon and keep absolutely quiet as if I keep straining my vocal chords I stand the chance of causing serious damage. Can't have any anti-biotics as it's only been 4 weeks since she gave me the last course of anti-biotics for my throat.

The children yesterday kept asking me where my voice is. "Why is your voice like that? Why can't you talk to us? Is it because you did too much singing?"

The best was when one said, "I think you should go to the doctor and have more voice put in."

So I'm back in bed with no talking for the next four days. Hopefully I will have more voice put in by Monday morning!

Happy birthday!

Today is my sister's 30th birthday! Happy birthday Simóne!! Love you lots xx

Back in the garden

I hope you enjoyed all the blogging the past two weeks. I'm afraid it'll probably dwindle down to monthly blog posts again about the garden and our part time cat. Andre and I do have a few projects in mind which should keep this little blog of mine a bit more interesting hopefully!

I'm hard at work editing the video of our holiday. Although I keep asking myself why I took so much video! Now I have to sift through it all to show you the best bits. I must have taken at least an hour's worth of clips or more, I'm not sure really, but need to cut it down to around 3 minutes to make a watchable little movie. In the meantime I made this one before dinner tonight of Jürgen flying his helicopters while we were there last week. ('there' would have been Germany)

The sun was out today. Our garden has been in desperate need of attention. I said to Andre today it feels as though gardening is just all about weeding. Like the weeds have this competition going to see who is faster: us pulling them out or them growing back again. They are frequently in the lead.

I picked the last acorn squash today. Actually there's still one small one left, but I'm not sure if it's planning to do any more growing. In the picture you can see the squash plants on the left. Next to them I planted something else but I'm not sure anymore what it was... I think it might be courgettes. It's either last year's courgette seeds that didn't amount to much then or it's the cucumber seeds I got for free. I planted it really really late and am surprised at how big they've grown. I didn't expect anything to happen there, just thought I'll stick the seeds in the ground since I had some space to fill. I was either thinking I'll just give the courgette seeds another go or I planted the cucumber seeds not thinking anything will happen this late. I don't like cucumber much. But as you can see they've gotten quite big. There are a few flowers. I considered pulling them all out this morning. There was just so much weeds all over and it's difficult cleaning under those big leaves. Andre, the one who is always pulling every plant he finds out of the ground, said I should leave them and see what happens.

I had to throw away the radishes as they had gotten too big. They are so easy to grow and you have to really watch them so they don't get to big. You've got to get them out and eat them while they're still small. Apparently they taste better that way. I wouldn't know, I don't like radishes either. The second batch of salad leaves survived amongst the weeds. They're still there, but are not doing much growing anymore. I need to plant some in pots in the green house. The fennel seems happy. (You can see them in the back left hand corner behind that little pot.) The first batch is big and we really should try some of it. I keep putting it off because I don't really know what to do with it! I've even planted a second batch so must really decide how we're going to eat it!

Oh I forgot all about the tomatoes today, I will show you a picture next time. They're all in the greenhouse and still doing well. You should be able to see them in the picture above if you click to enlarge it) I was surprised at how well they survived in there while we were away. The peppers and chillies are in there too and still going strong. I harvested what there was before we left and we're using the chillies in most dinners now. They're not really very hot. The green peppers I sliced and froze. Not sure if there will be much more as I don't think we'll be seeing much more warm sunshine.

We bought some bulbs last week. Tulips in red and yellow and I can't remember which other colours. I wanted to plant them today but was so tired by the time we finished. 

Ok, let me try finish the video editing. 

Places to stay on bike trip through Europe

This is really just for ourselves in case we do a trip in the same direction again and for others who might do a first trip like we did. I searched for places to stay before we left, but in the end bookings.com worked great for a quick hotel search as they have a description and ratings and we found them to be cheaper than booking directly with the hotels.

Bruges/ Brugge: Hotel Ibis Brugge Centrum, Katelijnestraat

This hotel was right opposite the Novotel which we originally wanted to book but was fully booked on our way there and back. The Ibis was relatively cheap, as were all the places we stayed at, and basic, but perfect if you only needed a place to sleep. Everyday we offloaded at the hotel, changed, walked around and had dinner and came back to the hotel exhausted and ready to go straight to sleep. 

Best thing about this hotel: It was right in the centre of the old town of Bruges, perfect for strolling around this beautiful city. AND it has the most comfortable beds and duvets and pillows. It was by far a winner with the beds out of all the hotels. I hate to admit it, but it was even better than our bed at home! Free internet in rooms although they tell you it's only available at the bar. Bikes park for free right in front of the hotel on the square- just drive up over the pavement. There is a public underground car park if you prefer to pay or are traveling by car.

Nürburgring: Sliders Guest House, Dollendorf

We didn't have anything booked ahead for our second night and emailed a few places around the Nürburgring late the previous evening. We couldn't find anything where we could just book online as most hotels have now. Brendan from Sliders Guest House was the only person who actually came back to us and did so right away. (We didn't have a phone with international roaming so was relying on an email reply.) Brendan didn't ask for anything else like card details ahead of time. He was a fantastic host and we would go there again just because of him running the guest house. (And I loved his dog, Daisy :-) She's a great dane. I should have taken a photo of her...) Anyway, the room was very spacious. Bathrooms are shared with the other guests but there were three bathrooms upstairs amongst the 5 bedrooms and never did we have to wait to have a shower or bump into other guests upstairs. Downstairs we enjoyed chatting with the other guests and all ordered pizza in to have together there.. The best part of staying at Sliders is that you can ask Bren to take you out for a lap around the ring.

Free wi-fi, continental breakfast included and optional English breakfast extra. Free parking in garage.

Heidelberg: Schönberger Hof

Again we didn't book anything and didn't even plan to stay in Heidelberg, but we took the backroads that day and just didn't get as far as we planned. Backroads are lovely but take so much  longer. Andre now calls me the highway queen. Before all I wanted was to go on the more pretty backroads, but after that long day I would say every morning, "Just highway it all the way!" We stopped at an internet cafe as we actually couldn't find the old town area of Heidelberg so we needed an address to put in the satnav. This hotel room was more spacious than others like the Ibis. Breakfast was included, although only continental, but a nice variety. Wi-fi was an extra €5 for 24hrs. Underground parking for €10 extra. And it was close to the old town as always so we could walk around and explore. We had a fantastic dinner at the Palmbräu.

Eching: We stayed with my mom and Jürgen :-)

Limburg: Arcadia Hotel

This hotel was on the main road which separates the old town from the rest of Limburg, so not exactly the most romantic location but at this price it is still close to the old town- we walked there in 3 minutes. It's literally just across the road. Free wi-fi, breakfast €10 extra, free underground parking, spacious room. Limburg is so beautiful. Do not miss this if you're driving through, it's so worth a stay for at least one night. We chose this as it happened to be exactly half way between Eching in Germany and Bruges where we wanted to spend our last night.

And some more photos which I've not yet posted. Just random ones of the trip.

Leaving home

Arriving at the Euro Tunnel

Waiting to board the train

Boarding the train

Inside the train

On our way home (just before turning into our village)

Day 11: Back home

The trip yesterday back home went fine. We've been so blessed not to have anything go wrong on our trip. We chatted to a guy while on the train from France back to England, the euro tunnel. He was on a bike too and just went to France for two and a half hours for a business meeting and then back to London again. He does this twice a week every week. It's only an hour from Bruges to the tunnel, about half that time driving through Belgium and the other half through France.

Then it's the two hours from Folkestone where we left the train back home...

It's good to be back in our own home again, but we've had such a fantastic time and will always remember this trip. I know we'll be going back to Bruges again maybe even just for a long weekend. Andre said we could take the car one weekend so we can do some shopping! For some reason I love shopping for clothes in Europe. Here in the UK I hardly ever buy clothes. I think I got used to the little shops there and don't like shopping in a crowded mall anymore. 

Anyway, I can carry on writing about random stuff, but there's nothing more really to say about our last day but the milage and time as I've been doing. We did an extra 5 miles compared to day 1 going there as we got a bit list in Bruges. There were road works everywhere and every road the satnav/ GPS wanted us to take was closed.

So...

Day 11: 195 miles  Bruges - Burghfield Common
Time on the road: 10.05 - 2.15 (+ 1 hour time difference)


Total: 1704 miles or 2742 km
Total time on the road: 41 hours and 45 minutes

Day 11: Leaving Bruges

We're on our way home today.. We considered staying an extra night here, but rain is being forecasted for this afternoon and heavy rain tomorrow and we'd rather not drive back in the rain if we have a choice.

 

We got caught in some light rain yesterday evening too while wandering around here. We went for a drink at a restaurant to escape the rain and had some snacks too as we've not really had lunch. We had cheese croquettes. So delicious! Basically just crumbed cheese that has then been fried. I had a Belgium cherry beer, the only beer I will drink as it tastes more of cherry than beer.

 

 



Of course after that I wasn't starvingly hungry anymore so was being a bit difficult deciding on where I would like to eat dinner. We walked around from one restaurant to the next for a rather long time! They have the menus displayed outside each restaurant and all seem to do basically the same thing: Flemish stew, steak and some different kinds of fish. I couldn't decide what I wanted and in the end Andre decided on a lovely restaurant which was very nice and cosy and we had steak which was absolutely cooked perfectly and so delicious.

 

We booked the euro tunnel last night too. The prices vary depending what time you want to leave, we'll be there for around noon and it happened to be the cheapest fare at £27. After I booked I told Andre there were some tickets that cost £81 one way. He didn't believe me so we checked out the ticket prices and it was true and also the 12-2 slot then cost £31. This morning the website was still open so I though I'd refresh the ticket price page and see if it changed again and now ALL the tickets, no matter what time you want to leave today, are £81!!! So glad we booked when we did. I guess the less spaces available on the train the higher they push the price. Sneaky.

 

Andre would like me to add that this is 'monkey bike heaven'. I guess if you're too cool to cycle (everyone seems to have a bicycle) then you have this small motorbike called a monkey bike. Andre of course would like one. I said they're great if you have to drive around a city like Bruges, but in our little village there's nothing to drive to and we're not driving it to Reading.

 

Ok, going to get breakfast now.

In front of the church tower after doing some Belgian chocolate shopping

 

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Day 10: Things to do on the back of a motorbike

To pass the time on the bike, here's a list of what you can do to keep yourself busy:

 

Check what time it is when you leave.

Check the temperature.

Compare the difference in temperature when you drive in shade compared to sunshine. (Gets even more interesting when it's a foggy morning.)

Check what time you are due to arrive at destination. (All these done by carefully peering around driver at dashboard and satnav/ GPS)

Work out how many stops you will need.

Work out what time you will actually arrive at destination.

Check speed.

Check time again.

Check temperature again.

Notice that you can make a Ricola sweet last exactly 20 minutes.

Check driver is still following correct route.

Check time.

When the sun shines on your face, watch yourself in the back of the drivers helmet.

Pull funny faces at yourself.

Move head around and watch funny distortion of your own reflection.

Check how much time has passed.

Check how far until next turn off.

Work out how long until next stop.

Work out how many breakfast bars are left and how many you can eat at next stop.

When body starts aching, be on constant look out for place to stop for a break.

After break repeat all of the above.

 

 

Outside the hotel in Bruges

 

Day 10: 260 miles Limburg - Bruges

Time on the road: 9.10 am - 2.30 pm

 

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