New Parents, a Small Baby and a Van - Blog 2
Jade:
After Jimmi wrote his introduction I felt compelled to write my own. I think we both agree we are truly grateful for the way our lives have worked out. I once went to a psychic and she told me that one day I’d be with an exotic boyfriend. Australia is pretty exotic, right?! Ha ha!
What she didn’t tell me is that he’d also be my best mate and probably the only one to laugh at all my shit craic. So after much deliberation (“Jimmi, you’ve got until the end of this week to decide if we’re going to do this or not”) my exotic boyfriend and I made a decision to try for a baby. My only caveat was that if we were lucky enough to conceive that we would take the baby travelling. Turns out Jimmi has some cracking swimmers and I’m now looking down at the little bean head as he’s chattering away, 12 weeks old, on a blanket in Berlin, thinking how I couldn’t be happier to be on this adventure with the two most handsome men I know.
Somewhere west of Paris, France - 288 kms
Total journey - 812.4 kms
New mileage - 241,198.8 kms
Jimmi:
We were then invited to visit some old friends at their incredible farm just 50 kms west of Paris. The day we arrived toward the end of August there was heat wave and was about 32 degrees without a breath of wind. Sounds great right? Not in a 1994 VW T4 transporter with no air conditioning and a baby! We were supposed to stay 1 night, we stayed 5! We were invited to stay and were assured we weren’t outstaying our welcome. We asked about 6000 times a day only to make sure which in hindsight was probably more annoying.
With one day reaching 34, it really was a blessing to not be in the van. It was also pretty shamaze that it had a pool as well. A gift from the gods was how it felt to cool off in that heat (pass me some grapes please Cornelius?) It was the day Séamus had his first dip in the pool.
Jade:
He was perplexed at first, dubious second then sort of, kind of, not really, enjoying it. It was also unfortunately the beginning of Séamus getting regular reflux, which led to a couple of days of screaming in pain day and night. We’d finally get him off to sleep and he’d wake up suddenly from nowhere screaming. Thankfully we figured out quite quickly what it was, and picked up some Gaviscon Nourrisson (Infant) mixture the next morning from the local pharmacy. We had some as he’d had some mild cases previously but was the one thing we’d forgotten before we left for the UK.
Travelling with an infant baby tip numéro un:
Before setting off on your trip, we highly recommend doing some research about typical things that babies suffer from and buying medication in your home country before setting off on your adventure so you don’t have to worry about trying to find a pharmacy in the country you're visiting if you can avoid it.
You know what you're buying, there is no language barrier, and you don’t have to worry about it being open. In places such as France, Spain and Italy, most retail stores close for sometimes 3 hours in the middle of the day for lunch. For us, Séamus suffers from colic so we have a supply of Infacol, and we know that he’ll teethe on this trip at some point so have Bonjela, teething bites, baby paracetamol and ibuprofen ready to go. If you have a preference of nappies or wipes etc. then make sure you bring a supply of them too.
Quick disclaimer:
Obviously we are not doctors though so seek your own medical advice in relation to your children. Totally appreciate our advice may not be practical when not travelling in a car, but have at least one of everything and take the empty bottle or packet to the pharmacy when you need more as we found it really useful to get an equivalent if they don’t have that product in the country you’re in.
During our stay we visited Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay, a really beautiful medieval abbey dating back to the 12th century about 40 mins drive from our friends’ place. It features beautiful old stone buildings, with some remains of old built by a spring; now converted into a hotel. We had a quick poke around and had a beer in the garden but didn’t stay long as there isn’t that much to do as it is a hotel after all. It isn’t free to visit either which we thought was bit of a cheek!
Motorway Driving Tip:
Having been on road trips through France several times, many of those reading this will be aware of the ridiculous price of the toll roads (or peage in French) to use the motorways. When you’re on a tight time schedule, you often have no choice but to use them either. My friend Andrew had always been on about using the ‘green’ roads (rather than ‘blue’ motorways) when he went on a trip many years ago on no budget whatsoever. We are on a similar trip, trying to make our weakening Pound stretch as far as possible with a mildly stronger Euro. We also want to use as little diesel as possible in our 22 year old van so cruising on no more than 100 km/hr.
What I realised though, is what Andrew was actually saying was that you don’t actually see anything. You don’t get to see the vast flat French countryside, with the miles of crops growing some of Europe’s finest fruit and vegetable produce. Or the beautiful light tan cows grazing on the endless pastures, nor drive through what seems a continuous stream of medieval villages one after the other. And actually, the roads are pretty well maintained in France, which isn’t the same for all European countries that’s for sure.
Jade - Travelling with an infant baby tip numéro deux:
Breast feeding tolerance - apparently in France breastfeeding is ‘something done in private’. Apparently, many women formula feed and so it’s just not seen in public very often. Now, I’m accustomed to just whipping the old boob out in the UK so I found this attitude quite uncomfortable and frankly ridiculous. I must admit I started to feel a bit out of sync with the Frenchies about this and the current ban on the burkini that’s happening in some towns. I say, get it out if you want, cover up if you don’t.
Épernay, Champagne Region, France - 128 kms
Total journey - 940.4 kms
New mileage - 241,326.8 kms
After 5 amazing nights on our friend’s farm, on the recommendation of some of their other guests we continued north east and settled for 3 nights in Epernay. If any of you know me or Jade, you’ll know that we absolutely love a booze tour. We’ve learnt how to make beer, wine and whisky I’m not sure how many times. It also won’t surprise you to hear that we don’t remember how to make any of these things...and I can’t quite for the life of me remember why that is.
Anyhow, a booze tour in Epernay as the French would put it is the pièce de résistance of booze tours, so we were more than a bit excited to experience the hundreds of ‘visite des caves’ tours on offer. The never ending rolling hills of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grape vines are truly spectacular as well.
I’m a sucker for a sweep panorama - random stop on the Route Touristique du Champagne just outside Epernay. Incredible drive - highly recommend.
View from De Castellane tower just off the Avenue de Champagne, which was our favourite of all we tasted. I can assure you this is statistically significant information.
Interesting facts about Epernay:
- There are 110 kms of cellars in Epernay alone, some of them built by Napoleon’s army (or so one guy said to us on a tour. You know ones that know more than the guide? Yep, that guy.)
- There are over 100 champagne houses in the Champagne region.
- All champagne grapes must be harvested and pruned by hand under strict regional regulations.
- Many champagne makers managed to build false walls in their cellars to successfully hide their resting vintage inventory from the Nazi’s during WWII.
- Champagne tastes so much better at 20 euros a bottle. I mean seriously you can bathe in the shit.
Jade:
Séamie had a couple of bad evenings with his colic and reflux the poor darling. Probably gutted he was only on the milk and not the champers. It’s not fun trying to settle a baby in a campsite, not the relaxing evening the other campers had in mind I’m sure. NOTE: When I’m drinking he gets formula, he’s not having boozy boob!
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg - 238.2 kms
Total journey - 1178.6 kms
New mileage - 241,565.8 kms
Jimmi:
We washed the fizzy grape juice from our bodies and continued northeast to Luxembourg City. Having fairly low expectations of it due to a friend having painted a less than average caricature of it, we intended to only stay the night before heading off to meet a friend in Cologne, however our poor boy was hit with another bad bout of acid reflux so decided to stay another night. After a long night up and a good sleep in, we got a free bus into the city centre to check out what Lux City had to offer. Turns out, that much like the country the city is also tiny and we took in some of the sites in the old town in just a few hours. We might’ve gotten stuck at the pub for 3 or more grande Bofferding or so before that too. Good thing I took some photos.
Being where they are positioned on the map in Europe, the people of Lux tend to speak many languages, however the official is French & German, but not to forget Luxembourgish! However, some only speak one or the others so we were unsure how to greet people….”ummmm, g’day?”
Kerpen, Cologne (Köln), Germany - 183 kms
Total mileage - 1361.6 kms
New Mileage - 241,748.8 kms
Jade:
Jimmi being the kind of guy he is has received a few invitations from people all over Europe to have us stay with them on our trip. This time it was his former colleague Rolf. On arrival we realised we didn’t have a bottle of wine to offer them so we frantically drove around Kerper trying to find a shop. Remember England in the ‘90’s when all you could find that was open on a Sunday was a corner shop, usually owned by someone whose faith doesn’t allow the consumption of alcohol? Well, this was the case here so we arrived with a 5 Euro bottle of something that might be drinkable at the end of a party when there’s nothing else left. Luckily Rolf and Tanja saw the funny side and after an unbelievable welcome lunch of tapas I knew we’d get along fine.
Now, I was very tired when we visited Cologne so I can’t really say much about it. You know when you’re just not in the mood? So I’ll let Jimmi take over…..
Jimmi:
We had a great day cruising around Cologne, I liked the fact it wasn’t too big so could do what we wanted in an afternoon. The incredible Dom zu Köln (cathedral) was amazing, as they often are in Europe, evidently its spire is one of the tallest in the world.
We loved visiting the neighbouring Früh Brewery (no ‘official’ booze tour this time) for lunch and a Kölsch that they traditionally serve in 200 ml glasses. Rolf highly recommended their blood sausage speciality called the ‘Himmel an Äd’ which was amazing. Think traditional UK black pudding, but softer and juicier, served with sort of soft herbed sauteed style potatoes. We also shared this awesome local antipasti thing:
Hemmingen, Hannover, Germany - 314 kms
Total mileage - 1675.6 kms
New mileage - 242,062.8 kms
Jimmi:
After much debate about where to head next after visiting Cologne, we decided to continue east with our ultimate next destination of Berlin. However, Berlin in the north east of Germany is about 600 kms from Cologne which is way too far for one day so decided to stay in Hannover for a couple of nights to break up the journey. Jade found a little campsite just outside Hannover that had really positive reviews on Trip Advisor so went for it. We arrived at dusk and at first I was a little disappointed as it appeared that there are many permanent residences here, but apparently they are all chalets for holiday makers.
The camping area however is right by a little lake, and as I write this the morning after our first night I can hear the ducks quacking and the geese gandering or doing whatever it is that they do. After our boy fed just before 5am this morning I struggled to get back to sleep so decided to get up and go for a run to explore the surrounding areas. I was treated to a beautiful sunrise over the lake, with fog floating no higher than 2ft above the water line. As I write this just before 8.30am on a brisk September morning it remains still, with literally no one in the campsite up to appreciate this still beauty.
Just before I went to bed last night, I suddenly realised that the sky was absolutely brimming with stars. I had a sudden flashback of being 11 years old and stopping on the side of the National Highway on trip between the Gold Coast and Melbourne with my step father at the time to stretch our legs and be stood motionless at the breathtaking skyline like it was the first time I’d ever seen stars. The fresh central Victorian country air scintillating my nostrils as we gazed at other universes is something I’ll never forget.
With only minimal lighting around the campsite and virtually no moon, it was really difficult to capture the stars - this time in the northern hemisphere. However, using the one lantern still on in our awning while Jade and our boy slept, a 30 sec exposure and as wide an aperture as my lens will allow I managed to get something pretty cool I think.
Here ends ‘New Parents, a Small Baby and a Van - blog 2’. Next stop, Berlin.
As Lou Reed once said, “In Berlin...It was very nice. Oh honey, it was paradise.”
Awesome work guys. Loving the updates xx
ReplyDeleteGreat update...still have the bottle of wine ;-)
ReplyDelete