Killarney

After the Dingle Peninsular we drove to Killarney which for me, has been the highlight of the trip. These images are at the Killarney National Park where we took a horse & trap ride around to a stunning waterfall.

Situated more or less within the National Park is Muckross House.  What can I say!  Completely stunning, when can we move in?

Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry

Stunning, incredibly rugged coast line around the Dingle Peninsula ... we took this route rather than the King of Kerry, apparently more beautiful and less congested.

There is farming land all along this peninsular, literally sheep and cattle grazing right up to the cliff fronts.  Here we had to give way to a flock of sheep.  The farmer was moving them from one paddock to another, only problem was the road running through the middle!!

The Burren & Cliffs of Moher / County Clare

Behind us, an ancient, very ancient megalithic tomb of around 5000 years old.  The landscape of The Burren is very rugged, wind swept and covered in limestone rock formations.

don't pay the ferry man ...

Yesterday we left Wimbledon around 6.30am for the 5 hour drive to Holyhead where we boarded the ferry to Dublin. About 1 hour into the trip the kids were a little green around the gills.

We did get to the other side but Bella, Ed and Charlotte were definitely worse for wear after the experience.  Bella has pointed out that this was our 3rd ferry trip and when was I going to get it that flying would be a much better alternative.  Point taken!

Kylemore Abbey / Conemara / Ireland

le Gai Paris

We had a whirlwind tour of Paris, one day only but we packed a lot in.  We plan to spend much more time there in the future ...

The day started very early, with a 2 hour drive to a town called Antony where we parked the car and trained into Paris.  I had signed us up to a 3 hour walking tour with a fabulous, very animated guide who was French but had an American accent when speaking English!  He had lots of interesting facts and figures and the kids really enjoyed it.

Bella in Jardin des Tuileries - notice the bird in the animation!!

Charli's royal pet corgi Prince George enjoyed the sights of Paris with us!

Huelgoat

Huelgoat is within the Parc d’Armorique in central Finistère, Brittany.  I was very excited about visiting this moss covered oasis - so were the kids but not for the same reasons!!  Upon pulling into this lovely sleepy village it occurred to us that the fair had come to town! Dodgem cars and all.  We didn't fight it, fairy floss all round!!

Roscoff & Ile de Batz

On Sunday we drove to Roscoff, about an hour or so from Morlaix.  Roscoff is famous for onions & Onion Johnnies, Frenchmen who would peddle their onions door to door around Britain in berets, stripped breton t shirts and red scarfs.  We caught a boat from the port of Roscoff to Ile de Batz, Charli and Ed were drenched on the way over.  On the drive home we came across a London Bus from our local bus route!

Mac & Charli, Ile de Batz shoreline

the pretty town of Dinan

After a night in Dinard, a stunning seaside town about 20 mins from St Malo we set off early for the medieval town of Dinan.  We arrived nice and early and got to see the town come to life.  

Le Mont Saint Michel

We are on our first adventure to the continent.  We sailed on Tuesday night from Portsmouth to St Malo on board the Bretagne with Brittany Ferries.  It was a 12 hour trip (though in reality it could be sailed in less than half that time).  We were well and truely in steerage, disconcertingly below the water line. The kids all felt very seasick and I got about 3 hours sleep so we were happy to put our feet on French soil. 

The first stop was Mont Saint Michel - the kids felt they were in a medieval movie set. We did a tour of the abbey with a very cranky French woman who clapped every time someone raised their voice.  She was scary!

Waddesdon Manor

I am doing a catch up of blog posts this morning.  This is our day at Waddesdon Manor, Sunday of last weekend.  A stunning Loire Valley style chateaux built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1883.  It was a house made for serious parties, Great Gatsby style.  Stunning gardens.  I think we need to go back for a second visit ... after looking at the website again now I can see that we missed a fair bit.  We have learnt that it pays to go easy on the historical aspects of outings like this - the kids can only tolerate so many hours of audio guide, Gainsborough's and French Tapestries ... and did I mention the National Trust volunteers guarding every square inch of these properties.  Boy are they stern (read cranky) and sticklers for the rules. Heaven help you if exit for the loo without a return pass! Hysterical, really.

rain rain go away

On Saturday afternoon we headed off to the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre to see the Sound of Music.  The forecast was for rain but we were looking on the bright side - the forecast isn't always accurate right?  Well this time it was spot on. Thank the Lord for disposable ponchos!! We get to use our tickets for another show in the next 2 years!

a tour of the palace

Today we toured through the state rooms at Buckingham Palace, viewing an exhibition to celebrate 60 years since coronation.  We saw the Queens Coronation gown and those of her ladies in waiting.  We also saw the outfits worn by Prince Charles (age 4) and Princess Anne (age 2) - very cute indeed. The pics above are of us in Lizzies backyard!!  Charlotte adopted a royal corgie and we had lunch in the garden cafe which Bella thought looked very Mag Square !!!

a visit to Downton Abbey

This will interest the Downton Abbey fans.  Yesterday we set off for Newbury around 12.30pm (west of London), arriving at Highclere Castle around 2.00pm.  The pre booked tickets have sold out for the entire summer season but we were lucky enough to get "walk up" tickets at 2.00pm.  After following the show for the last few seasons it was fabulous to have a good look around.  I was very keen to go below stairs to the kitchen but it turns out the kitchen is a film set at the studio.  Still we saw Countess Grantham's room and the bedrooms of Lady Sybil and Lady Edith.

In other news the girls are horse riding everyday this week and Ed is doing  a Tennis clinic.  Happy days!

the party is over people

... well for Bella and Ed at least!  Today they hit the books.  Their tutors, Kane & Cordelia arrived promptly at 9am and they wasted no time getting stuck into English, Maths then Science.  B & E were very happy with how it all went.  Kane & Cordelia are lovely and put them very much at ease.  Kane is an actor and one of his best mates is in the second lead in the new Hunger Games movie (Sam Klaflin) and another friend is Jeremy Irvine who was more or less plucked out of drama school by Steven Spielberg to play the lead in War Horse.  So as you can imagine, Bella is loving hearing about all this Hollywood stuff (and so am I!!!) Kane will be auditioning for a part alongside Jude Law in an upcoming Westend production of Henry V later this year.

Enough from the Hollywood Foreign Press!! The very exciting news of the day is that Ed is receiving an offer for Year 7 at Wimbledon College, the Jesuit school we have been working hard to get him into.  Big relief to get a spot.  Now just Bella to go, which we should hear more about at our meeting on Thursday.

Ticking some boxes

This week we have ticked a few more boxes. Charlotte started school and got off to a great start. The school is lovely, small and everyone is welcoming.  Charli received 4 birthday party invitations during the week and when asked if she was a sporty girl or preferred singing and dancing, she belted out a couple of Adele songs giving her classmates the answer right away!!  She is also enjoying this terms sport which is rounders on a Monday.  This involves a bus trip to one of the local sports fields.  School starts at 8.30 and finishes at 3.50 so it is a longer day than she is used to and this caught up with her by the end of the week!

We have organised tutoring for Bella & Ed.  Another big tick. Their tutors are Kane & Cordelia and the focus will be maths & english plus some science for Bella.  They will be schooled from home with about 6 contact hours each week (2 days of 3 hours) plus homework.  

Bella and I have an interview at The Ursuline High School this week, which is where we hope Bella will go to school from September.  Fingers crossed & hopefully another tick!  Getting into schools over here is a complete nightmare, even for the locals.  

I am still waiting patiently to hear from Wimbledon College for Ed and will chase a little harder this week.  I have been told that he is number 1 on the waiting list but I still need to clarify the year level they will offer him.  Ed joined the Old Wimbledonians Cricket Club on Friday and the vast majority of boys in the team are going to Wimbledon College in September so that will be a nice ice breaker for him.

We have bought a car (tick) after managing to find an insurance premium that wasn't going to send us into bankruptcy (tick tick).  Most of the quotes were upwards of GBP2,000 which had us questioning whether it was even sensible to buy a car or just rent one when we needed to.  After lots of calling around I found a decent quote with Elephant Insurance so the car is going ahead - Elephant Insurance, what is that name about? Their logo and corporate image are very reassuring! I have been in stitches about it.

Yesterday we had a wander down the Portobello Rd.  I am a fan of fonts and vintage letter press printing blocks so I was very excited about creating the little DIY artwork above.  For those struggling with  the back to front text it says Isabella, Edward & Charlotte MacIsaac.  I already have Nic & David so I will slot those in along with the letters for L O N D O N and it will be a nice keepsake!! (I am itching for a creative project can anyone tell!)

The variety & quality of flowers over here is SUPERB and each time I pass a flower stand the camera comes out.  Look at those peonies! The last picture in my collage was a shop front in Notting Hill  - in case you cant read it, the sign says "Mungo & Maud / cat & dog outfitters" HYSTERICAL and definitely for posh pooches only!

Mac and I had a lovely walk through a tiny edge of the Wimbledon Common this morning.  The common is 1,100 acres in total.  The houses around the common are TO DIE FOR and the feel is very rural and villagey.  The common is mostly in its natural wooded state with wide tracks weaving throughout.  I was half expecting Robin Hood to ambush us on the path and if you look closely you might see a Womble!!

Bath

We hired a car for the weekend and this morning, very very early (ok it was 7.30am) we set off to the town of Bath, about 2 hours drive out of London.  In normal form, I sleep most of the way and Mac was left without a wing man - it didn't seem to matter, he got us there without a map or sat nav.

We did a walking tour of the town and took in all the Georgian architecture (stunning!) Our guide had lots of interesting facts and explained where the term daylight robbery comes from.  

A window tax was introduced in 1696 and it worked on the assumption that the bigger the house, the wealthier the occupants and the more windows it was likely to have. The tax was unpopular because it was seen by some as a tax on "light and air" hence the turn of phrase daylight robbery. In an effort to avoid incurring this tax many homes including the lovely big ones, had permanently sealed off or bricked in window panes.

Lunch was a quick whip around Tesco's and off to the park for a picnic followed by a tour of the Roman Baths in the afternoon.  Since our last trip to Bath (circa 1997) an enormous amount of excavation has been done at the site revealing many more ruins and very interesting video reconstructions etc.  The kids had a fantastic day and were totally engrossed by the history of Bath.  All told, it was a much more successful day than our trip to the Tower of London!

a day out

On Sunday the weather was the best it has been so far so we headed into London for a look around.  First stop was the Egyptian room at the British Museum.  We couldn't believe how many mummy's were on show including mummified cats, food, birds and a crocodile - who knew!

Next stop Covent Garden which the kids loved for the hustle & bustle, street theatre, lots of shops, ice cream and generally buzzy London feel.

All in all a fun but rather exhausting day!  We caught up with Dino Stephanos later in the afternoon who had flown to London from San Francisco to watch a football match with a side trip to Paris for the French Open  ... as you do!

a school visit for Charlotte

Today Charlotte & I visited Ursuline Prep where Charli will start school on 3 June.  She will do 5 weeks in Grade 5 before the school year ends and she will start Grade 6 (gulp) in September this year.

We took a bus to the next Village to get the uniform, needless to say that was very exciting and Charlotte put her uniform on as soon as we walked in the door.  The school seems really lovely and is quite small in terms of student numbers so there will be plenty of one on one teacher time if necessary. There is a very sweet little fenced off natural habitat in the school yard complete with tadpoles & frogs and just to complete the scene, a little squirrel foraging for food. (We still think they are cute ... this may wear off!).

Settling in

We have been in London one week now which I can hardly belive.  There have been a few frustrating moments - the usual teething problems such as sporadic hot water, zero water pressure, no washing machine, faulty dryer, faulty dishwasher, eating off plastic plates, boiling the water for a cup of tea in a saucepan etc etc. But all first world problems really and they are being sorted out day by day.

After telling the kids that squirrels are everywhere in London, we have failed to see one despite looking in all the right places.  Above is Cannizaro Gardens in Wimbeldon, stunning but not a squirrel in site and yesterday we walked through Green Park near Buckingham Palace and nothing!

The kids were keen to hit the tourist spots yesterday which included M&M world, Picadilly Circus, Hamleys and Oxford St.  Back into the West End on Friday night to see the musical Matilda which is apparently fantastic.

Tomorrow we will visit Charlotte's school, Wimbledon Ursuline Preparatory School and find out about the uniform etc.  Charli will (most likely) start school on Monday 3rd June.