Author archive
24 August 2007
Marie and Kristina joined us in our little rental car this morning to drive down to Lou’s place an hour south-eastish of Paris. The area is called Douchy and the nearest village, where we stopped briefly is called Courtenay. We learnt later that many French people don’t know where that is and they often resort […]
23 August 2007
Having been here in recent years, it’s nice not having the pressure of visiting the “must see” attractions. We just roamed the city, went into some shops including a Toyota dealership to look at some new models. Best of all, we could just relax, eat, drink, absorb the atmosphere and enjoy the company of friends. […]
22 August 2007
We were only in Paris four years ago and I never expected that we would be back so soon. I’ve made really good French friends in Paris and we decided to see them in their home ground. I love Paris but it’s even better with friends! There’s Marie who lives in Paris itself and Lou […]
21 August 2007
Above: Bad photo of wind farms in the sea north of the United Kingdom. We reached the United Kingdom from the north, spotting some wind farms in the sea. We landed at Heathrow about 1100 and took the tube to our hotel, the Cromwell Crown. Having been to London in recent years, there was no […]
20 August 2007
Above: At Mission Santa Barbara. We have a big day today, driving from Arroyo Grande to Los Angeles (about 3h drive) before flying to London Heathrow. We had enough time on the drive to stop at the Mission at Santa Barbara, about halfway through the drive. While the mission was founded in 1786 the existing […]
19 August 2007
Above: Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach. Kim, Eric and Rodger were off to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (classic carshow) today. That really didn’t interest me and I didn’t want to pay an exorbitant sum to see more cars. But I couldn’t stay back at the hotel as we had checked-out for our move down […]
18 August 2007
Above: Street scene in Carmel today. We headed out in the car this morning to Carmel and then Pebble Beach. Along the way, Kim was distracted by a sign saying there was a car show at San Martin County Park. Of course, he couldn’t resist that and we took a detour there. This car show […]
17 August 2007
Arrived into San Francisco at 1225 from Auckland after an overnight flight. We collected our rental car and despite not having tonnes of time, we did a drive around of San Fran to give Eric a look at the Golden Gate bridge. It’s his first time here and it seems cruel not to show him […]
17 August 2007
We flew out of Auckland to San Francisco at 1910, without any hassles, despite on standby tickets. Kim and I had a couple of hangers-on with us: his old friend Eric plus his best mate Rodger as well. They’re all car fanatics and have quite a treat ahead in California with various car events.
4 May 2007
I slept nearly all the way home, seated in Premium Economy. It’s quite unusual for me to sleep on flights, sometimes being wide awake despite assistance with sleeping pill. It was a good end to a trip I didn’t really want to undertake, for good reasons. I had only returned from a long trip to […]