NO FREAKING INTERNET ACCESS!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAGH

Until now that is - hence I am able to blog away to my little heart's content. And do I have a lot to tell!

Yes, it is the Grayson monster - once again blogging - from inside the British Airways lounge at Heathrow, which thankfully has wifi access (although it is a bit slow, hence the lack of photographic evidence).

So, the (sort of) short version of what we have been up to since last I blogged....

Tuesday - we drove for another bleeping long time to a place called Jumieges. (near Rouen - which is where some person called Joan was burnt to death or something - a pity she didn't know mummy as she might have been able to save her). Daddy was getting very tired and mummy was directing him. I have quickly learnt this is a recipe for disaster. All we had to do was cross the river when....

There was no bridge to cross the river

Only a car boat - which didn't seem to be going anywhere

And happened to be on the other side of the river anyway

After much naughty words from daddy's mouth we found ANOTHER way to get to Jumieges

Only to find we had no hot water

Or anywhere to eat except a really dodgy pizza place

And the bottle opener broke so the parents couldn't drink the bottle of vino they had bought at the dodgy pizza place....

And this WAS meant to have been a 5 star or so place to stay

But I digress

Wednesday - the NEXT morning, we got up really early and left Jumieges for CDG airport. We had a PLANE to catch!

To VENICE!

(Fortunately we got to the airport really quickly due to Daddy breaking many speeding rules - or so mummy says...)

And we caught a BOAT which went REALLY REALLY FAST!!!

All the way to this place with LOTS of boats and water!

At this point I may have got very excited and run around the boat making whooping noises.

Mummy tried to calm me down but when I get going..... there is NO STOPPING ME!!!

At some stage in the next 24-48 hours a very TRAGIC event occurred - I lost teddy. 

Lets take a moment or two to remember him....

(but just between you and me, I think mummy and daddy are more sad than me - Teddy gets to stay in Europe ALL the time)

Venice was ok - lots of tourists in the first couple of places we went, with a recurring theme of shop with glass (mostly Chinese - or so the authentic glass guys said), shop with masks, shop with jewellery, shop with gelati (I LIKE GELATI!!! These shops were ok). Mummy and Daddy got suckered in to going to Murano island with a hotel trip and it seemed like they were going to keep us there in the one shop for quite a while until I started doing my annoyed whiny Grayson act (I am getting quite good at these) and miraculously a boat appeared!

After this, mummy and daddy read their Guide to Venice book and got with the programme!

Mummy has asked me not to mention how she had to get daddy to use the tone with the glass people to refund all the money she spent on 6 shot glasses and how they did take the glasses back (because my daddy rules!) - although I do believe she hasn't seen exact confirmation of this....

But I am not mentioning that am I

hee hee

Our last full day in Venice was the nicest as we got away from all the touristy things. Daddy took lots of really nice photos - including a lot of people's washing....

Weird, my father is...

Anyway - we flew back to Paris on Saturday and caught up with Mick, Ailsa and Sophie. We were treated to the perfect Parisienne welcome - bread, cheese, pate and champagne. Once again I didn't get to taste any...

So I may have demonstrated to them what happens when meat is included in a baby-toddler's diet...

Oops

Sadly we farewelled the Doyle's and drove out to this place with LOTS of green things and more bottles of that bubbly stuff mummy and daddy seem to like...

I think Daddy will want to blog about our two days in champagne which included him buying 6 bottles of the stuff, coming back to our very nice suite with an autographed bottle of champagne AND finally succeeding in attaining a sabré!

Now, if only we can get it into the country!

Hopefully getting onto our flight to Bangkok soon

G

Mont St Michel vs Grayson

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! After a relatively long drive today (mummy note - about 4 or so hours) we ended up at this place which has the best thing in the whole wide world....

STEPS!!!

Yes, lots of them. There were steps (3 flights) to get to our hotel room. This may have worn out Daddy a little bit....

And then after we dropped our bags off we went up more and more and more steps all the way to the top of this great big building with lots of high ceilings and rooms which made great echos. Especially when I went GAAAAAAAAAAAAARRKK!!! 

At this point mummy tried to tell me to be quiet as we were in a house of God or something like that. 

Hmmm. Nobody tries to tell Grayson to be quiet!

Lots more noises which made echoes followed at this point. 

Eventually we got to the top of the whatever it was we were climbing and I got to run around a LOT and jump off steps into puddles of water...

This was great fun...

Although mummy didn't seem to think so, particularly as she had to pick me up on some occasions and got white stuff on her black pants.

:O

Anyway, we eventually had to come back down - although this wasn't quite as much fun as climbing up and I kept turning round and going back the other way....

 

This may have frustrated daddy and mummy a little bit. Although I don't know why - it may have been because I wouldn't sit still whilst daddy was trying to take photos of me so most of them ended up being blurry!

Eventually we got back to shop level, and stopped for some crepes and waffles. I got to pick my own option and shared some with teddy too. 

Teddy likes waffles. Although they do tend to make his nose a bit powdery white!

After this, we went to a nice restaurant where I got to eat some mussels and prawns and then the good stuff arrived - SCALLOPS! Mummy and daddy tried to hide them from me as I am a voracious scallop eater, but their attempts were futile and I managed to polish off half of theirs each.

Hee hee hee - that means I got a WHOLE serve of scallops.

After a delicious meal, bottle of squishey and a few more mummy and daddy cuddles, I retired to bed - a tad fatigued after a day of much stair climbing, running around and keeping those parents in line.

Cheesecake munching on the cheesecake munching on the....

G explores a Paris Park
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Damn you .....Paul. That song is stuck in my head now!

And I'm only 18 months - I'm not ALLOWED to have cheesecake, unless it accidently crosses my path

Although this hasn't happened....YET

It is our final night in Paris. We farewelled ....Paul earlier in the evening. I got to have lots of fun with him, Mummy and Daddy today. He played some more muppet show DVDs this morning including that BLEEP song. He DID do lots of funny dances with me though, so that made up for the whole taunting small innocent appearing children with delicious dessert options thing.

I did say innocent APPEARING didn't I?

I had my usual mid morning nap after which we set off for the park as it was another beautiful spring day in Paris. When we got there I noticed that I was the ONLY one wearing a hat (even though I was the youngest - probably). None of those French kids wear hats! I felt a bit self conscious, even though I was trying to be very stylish in my small Paul shirt (it is a kind of uncle tribute shirt - hee hee hee, not saying you look like a monkey or anything ...Paul!). I made a fairly weak attempt at removing the hat but mummy kept shoving back onto my head.
So I gave in - I do have a family history of melanocytic lesions after all!

We walked over to this big building (crossing over a bridge to get to it) where there were a LOT of people with cameras. We seemed to fit right in because we had quite a few cameras too. Fortunately mummy's camera stopped working as she hadn't recharged her battery. This enabled me to benefit with lots of mummy cuddles and attention.

The three of us caught the train back to our apartment. Paul let me climb up TWO flights of stairs to our place - which was very exciting but a little tiring. Mick, Ailsa and Sophie visited us - so the parental units cracked open a bottle of champagne (again - sigh). Daddy said he wants to enjoy champagne every day he is in France - WHERE IS MY CHAMPAGNE HMMMM?
(The parental units try to fool me with squishey and water options, but I think there is something extra special about this champagne stuff.)

The rest of the evening has been spent packing - and trying to keep me away from the suitcases....

Don't know why that would be

:D

Tomorrow - Mont St MIchel!

PS. Miss you Paul

Love, Grayson

Paris by night

Paris by night
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Well, I am telling this story second hand as by the time these photos were taken Daddy and I were sound asleep.
Yesterday was a bit of a quiet day for us monsters - I slept in until 9am

(mummy and daddy: YIPPEEEEE!)

Daddy was a bit worn out from all our gallivanting around so he and I had a nice long morning nap in between Paul and Mummy watching the muppet show and Hairspray...

Not too sure about that Hairspray thing Paul....

In the afternoon, we tried to find a place to eat - but everywhere seemed to be SHUT! Eventually we found a place that was open but they took AGES to serve us, so in the end mummy and daddy had a glass of champagne only and no food. Good thing smart sensible uncle stayed sober - well, I think he feels he has been getting enough practice in the champagne drinking stakes (apparently his champagne tolerance has gone up to TWO glasses)

Hee hee hee - I'm sure he didn't want me to tell anyone that.

Anyway, Mick Ailsa and Sophie came over and I got to show off my toys and demonstrate how high an 18 month old can reach. I then noticed mummy and daddy getting dressed up - hmmmm.
Daddy left. Then Paul....
And THEN Mummy!
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Ailsa managed to distract me fairly quickly with a nice blue car and I must confess I promptly forgot about the parent units until they returned an hour or so later.

With Godiva chocolate dipped strawberries...

(Mick came back with some champagne and other food products but seriously, I was NOT paying attention to these)

CHOCOLATE DIPPED STRAWBERRIES!!!!!!

I quickly grabbed one before the bigger people realised - and would have been able to eat a second in quick succession except mummy heard me eating too loudly (and I may have dropped a piece of chocolate onto the floor - which made a bit of a clunk)...
And to think mummy thought I wouldn't be interested as I don't like strawberries that much!

WRONG Mummy! WRONG!

As it happened, I snuck another strawberry when the others weren't looking (and would have gone for the chocolate raspberry tarts but they seemed to snapped up pretty quickly)

Boo!

Mummy and Ailsa went out to get some Thai take-out as the parents and Paul decided dinners out weren't such a good idea (was it something I said???)

Mummy arrived home to find a very sad daddy and slightly embarrassed Grayson. Well, I may have hit my head against the bedroom wall whilst Daddy was trying to put me off to sleep which hurt a LOT and I may have cried a bit and I may have...um.... cried so much that I ended up vomiting all my dinner and that nice squishey over daddy and the bedsheets....

Bad Grayson...

Eventually I did get to sleep with Daddy while mummy and Paul went out to take some photos of Paris by night. That tower thing looks quite nice doesn't it. Must try and stay awake to see it tonight - but it is sometimes not that easy to do as the sun doesn't set until after 9pm here!

Grayson walking through the park

Water feature
Originally uploaded by b boy.

And dancing in the dark....

But more of that later.

Today, mummy and Paul took me for a bit of a walk around Le Marais. We stopped at this little shop on the way which had LOTS of toys and some nice French clothes. As I was giving mummy my best I'm CUTE look she bought me a small blue car AND a very smart blue jacket, which will be very useful when it rains.
Pity we live in a drought area

But it was still a very nice thought and I gave her a big cuddle as I like to show my appreciation (and butter her up for next time!)

We stopped by this museum which had all these colourful pipes outside. There were lots of people around and lots of cafes too. I was getting a bit sleepy so the next thing I knew we were sitting down and mummy and Paul looked like they were having lunch.

WITHOUT ME??????

What did I do?

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

Hee hee hee. That got their attention. And I ended up with a very nice bottle of french squishey and some of mummy's lunch (rice with this beautiful sauce, and chicken, and..... AAAAH)

We went back to see how Daddy was going. Mick, Ailsa and Sophie had arrived by this time so we went out for a walk. Unsurprisingly this walk involved going to a bottle shop to look for champagne.
This is Daddy's thing at the moment.
Mummy is very supportive of Daddy in this quest - or at least she tries to be...
I suspect mummy would like to spend money on other things

Like clothes for me!

So as luck would have it, we went to a very nice french department store and had a lovely afternoon tea at the top of the building. This had a great view of Paris and LOTS of room for me to run around. Which I promptly did of course!

After wearing out mummy, daddy and Paul + demonstrating to Uncle Mick why he needs to appreciate the non-mobile baby state we went to a shop with lots of little people clothes!

I got a very nice pair of pants with matching vest - mummy says I will grow into these (well, with all this brioche I am eating, it won't be long). She couldn't help herself and bought me the matching jacket too!
Daddy just shook his head and went back to the bottle shop to buy the '96 Krug.

We said farewell to Sophie's family and walked back to our apartment via this lovely garden with lots of flowers and boats and a HUGE spider. I showed mummy, daddy and Paul how I like to jump into puddles of water.
This wasn't received with as much appreciation as I thought it would be...

Eventually we got back to our apartment - I was given some dinner and squishey and then bundled up so the bigger people could go out for their dinner.
I wasn't too impressed by being excluded from the big people's dinner so at the restaurant I ran up and down this really tight narrow staircase. Daddy and Uncle Paul took turns at accompanying me. Surprisingly the dinner seemed to be really quick - with NO dessert!

We got back to the apartment after stopping off for some ice-cream.

And then I FINALLY went to sleep

MWAH!

Grayson does Versailles

G on the move pt 2
Originally uploaded by b boy.

Yes I have been a bit TARDY with the updates of late but I am getting used to the strange language (not to mention I am sleeping in until 8am or so!) and the even stranger bread options
Today we went to this big place with HEAPS of room for me to run around. Mick and Sophie came along too - but she had to stay in her pram.
Not me though....
I got to climb up a LOT of stairs and run around this room with all these sparkly lights and mirrors on the wall. I wanted to jump onto this big bed with funny looking white feathers on the top but mummy and daddy had to stop me.

GRRRR. I DON"T LIKE BEING STOPPED!!!

Anyway, to make it up to me, they let me run all the way down the gardens at this place from the very top to the bottom. And I wasn't the LEAST bit tired.
In fact, I had a bit more of a run around until the parental units stuck me back in MY pram muttering something about getting too close to the water...

Boo!

After a while in the pram the gentle rocking motion did make me a little bit snoozy so I had a nap, only to be woken up by some older children as we were walking through this big garden. There were lots of small houses and fishies in the pond, but I wasn't allowed out....

:(

Daddy was a bit tired after all this so we jumped in a funny bus (which they kept calling a train - PLEASE, I know what a train is!)

We ended up going to a restaurant with Mick and Sophie at the end of the day. I was getting a bit grumpy as they wouldn't let me run around so the nice waiter gave me some bright coloured straws to play with.

In order to keep the parents in line I managed to do a bit of a whoopsy on the crowded train on the way back to our apartment...

Hee hee hee

That got them tending to my needs VERY quickly (although SSU said that the smell could have been mistaken for some french cheese....)

Grayson vs Louvre

Catching breath
Originally uploaded by b boy.

It was a bit of a cloudy day today, so we decided to spend some time at the Louvre. I found the day a little bit frustrating as mummy and daddy wouldn't let me run around too much (something about priceless artifacts or something)
We got to see a really big room with lots of people in it and some smallish painting which everyone wanted to take a photo of, then got to see a few other interesting things (such as a person made entirely of thumb tacks). Ouch.
I went off to sleep again, and when I woke up I found the parental units polishing off what seemed to be a very nice lunch.
I put on my best sad face so they shared their desserts with me.

YES!

Then the cute French lady gave me a big kiss when we left the restaurant...

Go Grayson! Go Grayson!

Unfortunately for the parental units, sugar for me = hyperactive Grayson so I needed to run around this big open space which had lots of steps....

I may have worn the mother unit out a bit.

Hee hee hee

We've had a night in tonight, so I am off to bed - Versailles tomorrow (hopefully!)

PS.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTY RILEY!!!! 

Love Grayson