May Half Term - Another European Road Trip! (28th May - 4th June 2016)

On Saturday 28th May, the Cryer Family all headed in different directions!

Scott, Lucy, Tom and Harry had originally planned to go to France at half-term, but due to diesel supply problems in France, they changed plans two days before and decided to go on a European road trip instead! (My Dad had rung up from France to say he couldn't get diesel anywhere near them.) 

I didn't mind missing France and had booked myself on-call, and onto a training course, but I was a bit gutted to be missing a road trip!!! Tom on the other hand didn't want to do lots of driving, so he decided to stay home with me, whereas Jack who had planned to stay home and revise for his GCSE's, didn't want to miss out on the trip, and went along instead!

On Saturday morning then, Scott, Lucy, Jack and Harry headed off to Dover, Tom got taken by David Cain, the Young Men's President to a Stake Youth Hike at Grafham, and I drove to Wisbech for a Breathing Apparatus course!

I was dreading the course, but it went really well. We did an exercise at a college next door to the fire station which was due for demolition, and I had a great partner and we did really well. I also did well in my individual Entry Control Officer exercise. I also saw a couple of guys from my training course, Max and Luke.

Scott and the guys drove to Dover and got a ferry to Calais.

They went to Dunkirk Beach for a bit to stretch their legs.

Then they drove to Karlsruhe, Germany, via Luxembourg. After stopping off at the hotel they went for a wander.

Sunday 29th May. The guys went to Baden-Baden, and drove through Switzerland, past Milan and spent the night in Parma.
Jack did a pretty good job of taking pictures and putting them on Facebook each day, plus Lucy Snapchatted me and put pictures on Instagram, so I had a rough idea of what they were up to!

Buhl, Germany.

Gurtnellen, Switzerland.

Monday 30th May. The guys drove from Parma to Florence and parked in a car park 15 minutes from the Duomo. They had ice cream first!

 They went in the Palazzo Vecchio and up the tower.

Another Snapchat from Lucy!

They also walked to the Ponte Vecchio and then drove to Rome.

Another Lucy Snapchat.

In Rome they went to their Air BNB apartment about 15 minutes from St. Peters, and went for a quick walk around St. Peter's before bed.

Tuesday 31st May. The next day was a big walking around Rome day!! They walked miles!

Back in England, I spent the first part of the week decorating the downstairs toilet - painting, preparing the walls, and doing the most ridiculously fiddly wallpapering job ever!! As soon as I'd got the first bits of paper up, I put this picture on Facebook to shock those of my friends who thought this day would never arrive!!

Wednesday 1st June. The guys went back to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountains in the morning, and then to Vatican City and went into St. Peters. They stayed in the same place as the night before.

Meanwhile at home I finished decorating the downstairs toilet! I had to keep going and taking a look in there because I was so happy!

Tom and I had gone to Huntingdon too, and among other things (like a new light pull for the downstairs toilet) got a table tennis set from Wilkos. It was great fun playing on the dining table!

In the evening, Tom and I were invited to dinner at Richard and Jo Blackhurst's house, but Tom didn't really want to go, so I went on my own. Had a nice evening, and stayed late chatting.

Thursday 2nd June. I wanted to get the porch finally finished off, and made an early start on it. The portions of skirting board that had never been painted, and had been covered by the shoe racks were horrible! The walls were a mess too, and I removed a couple of the lower coat racks.

The guys took about 3 hours to drive from Rome to Cinque Terre, where they parked near Corniglia. They had a gorgeous walk from Corniglia to Monterosso, got dinner on the beach then caught a train back. They then drove over an hour to Genoa.

In the evening, some of us from the fire station took the pump into town and put up bunting for upcoming events. A woman from some group brought along the bunting and took these pictures which were put on a town Facebook group, thanking us.

I ended up tying most of the bunting up, using cable ties. Lisa and I also got to climb onto the old Natwest Bank roof and over the balustrade, in order to attach a big banner to it. It was a great view out over town - I loved it up there!

Friday 3rd June. The guys drove to Monaco and spent a while there, then drove to Nice and sat on the beach for an hour or so. They stayed that night at Avignon. I think they all really liked Monaco!! They also accidentally walked from Monaco to France at one point!

A poem of Lucy's which I unearthed back at home...

Saturday 4th June. The guys drove to Paris, getting stuck in a traffic jam at Lyon. They parked at their hotel, and got the Metro into the centre of Paris, where they went to the Louvre first (cool covering!!), then walked along the flooded river Seine to the Eiffel Tower. They walked up to the second tier of the Eiffel Tower before heading back to the hotel.

Meanwhile, I had finished decorating the porch!! I'd also bought and assembled lovely new shoe racks.
It seemed a shame to put all the rubbish from the porch back in!

Ta da !! I'd fillered and repainted all the walls, scrubbed the floor, windows and ceiling, and glossed the skirting boards and re-attached the end of the windowsill.

Another Snapchat from Lucy, which I chose not to take literally!

Sunday 5th June. The guys went back into the centre of Paris in the morning, and the traffic was stopped around the Arc de Triomphe and down most of the Champes Elysees, which happens once a month. There were free bikes which they cycled up and down the Champs Elysees on, and had great fun!
They then traveled back to the hotel, picked up the car and drove back to England.