Lisbon - the photographic evidence....

And again, for the historical, yet humorous, low down of our week in Lisbon check out Esther's blog.

I am a simple (and maybe lazy) blogger and am sticking to the photo gallery.

So here we go...

Lisbon put out the red carpet for us, literally...




Transportation was a little confusing. I personally would have gone for a different name for this trolley bus...


And as for the weather, well we thought Wellington had horizontal rain. Look at the precautions lisbonians take....



The food was fantastic. The doughnuts were huge. And for the first time ever, the kids shared their dessert...



The traffic signs were clear, but sometimes the drivers just ignored them..




The locals know how to relax, some were so relaxed they could sleep on a clothesline...



We decided that the kids needed to earn their keep so we got extra curricula training for them and all we need now is to buy them a hat...



And finally, the stress (I use it in the loosest meaning of the word) of travelling finally caught with Esther and she lost her head. Luckily we found it in a fruit bowl..

Adios barcelona

We left Barcelona yesterday after a very enjoyable 10 days. We covered a lot of the main attractions although there is plenty more to see - museums, churches, buildings, etc - the kids were gutted, yeah right.

We didnt learn much Spanish but to be honest English was widely spoken/understood and the signs were generally clear..



Although sometimes not so clear....Naomi said 'they have big taxis here' when she saw this one...



The food was great..



I could say that the above were chillies but they were actually fried peppers and very tasty.

The beverages were very tasty....



And yes esther is teaching our kids how to drink sangria from a very large straw.

And how about this for wall decor....



The locals were very helpful when you got lost and didn't know where to go...


And finally, totally unrelated, but for the boys amongst you, check this out for a penknife..




Laters
Alex

Bits about barcelona

We had bundles of fun bouncing round Barcelona as part of our back packing break. OK it might be a challenge to put our bags on our back and the word 'break' doesn't give true meaning to our adventure (which didnt begin with 'B')!

Yesterday we went to see a flamingo show (The kids name) - we call it a flamenco show. We all left tapping and clapping. It was excellent. We also went to the beach. It was hot which apparently was not normal for the time of the year, but you didn't hear us complaining. And then 2 hours in a lawyers to do a favour for a friend - I had forgotten how particular lawyers could be. All I wanted was for the lawyer to do a proof of signature for me!

And i have some good photos to share....

A couple of days ago we went to the home of FC Barcelona. Learnt lots about the history which may prove useful in quiz nights in the future. During what seemed the middle of the night we heard large roars and cries outside. It sounded like an angry mob. Didn't realise until the next day that FCB were playing Madrid with a 9.30 kickoff and that FCB had won 2-1. The Spanish are passionate about their football.




The kids were not sure of the best seat for a decent view..



The aquarium was slightly disappointing. Large euros of smallish aquarium but still quite a bit to see. Including this little beauty..



Finally, the beach. I have been given full permission (sort of) to post these photos, but it has been really hard to add an intro comment. So I decided to list them all and let you choose your preferred one....

1. Esther didn't have time to rush out and save her place on the beach with a beach towel
2. Esther was not sure what the kids were up to but she was keeping an eye out for them - perhaps only a squint
3. The holiday had got too much for Esther and she went to the beach for a quiet drink
4. Esther was keen to avoid getting sun burnt so she sun bathed fully clothed
5. And new Zealand thought they had a problem with whales getting beached








Laters
Alex
PS quote 'in the interests of humor I will let you post the photos and comments'. Isn't Esther a star

It's been a while

What can I say. I've been slack. My blog postings have been non existent for the last month and a lot has happened, like Christmas, new year, family visits, etc. Luckily I have my favourite wife to blog about what the Skinners have been up to. OK my only wife, it is a challenge to keep up with Est, I wouldn't have a chance with any more!

It's 8pm, the kids are in bed trying to get to sleep and Esther has been asleep for the last 3 hours - she is not feeling the best. I'm sitting in the apartment, with a beer in hand (but not whilst typing, would be a tad slow).

Barcelona is great. Our place is great and right in amongst it in the Gothic quarter. We arrived on Friday evening and the cabbie dropped off at the wrong place, the 'meeter and greeter' joined us, at the wrong place. And his key to the front door of the apartment block worked, in the wrong place! What a start. After some phone calls, he tried another apartment block a little up the road - we got into the block and luckily into the apartment. Home for the next 10 days.

Esther will tell you about all the history, art and culture we have seen so far - although the Picasso and chocolate museums were pretty cool and today, we all loved the zoo.

Here are a few photos so far....

A photo from the chocolate museum, you wouldn't believe they were made out of chocolate - the Tom and Jerry that is...





Esther continues to make new friends on the trip although this guy wasnt your average punter...




I took this photo of Benjamin at the gaudi house Casa Batilo. I always thought Benjamin was getting taller, but has he shrunk....





At the zoo we had many smiles......including from the animals...





I will try and be a tad more regular with my blogs.

Laters
Alex

Location:Carrer dels Carders,Barcelona,Spain

It was a sad day yesterday.....

....when we lost our campervan.




We had spent almost two months with the vehicle and taken to highs and lows (mainly from problems with the van itself). But overall we had a fantastic experience. I always thought that 2 months in a small space with nowhere to go and no one else to speak to would either make or break a family. I'm pleased to announce that the skinner family are all good friends, well most of the time. We managed to travel 4,557km getting to Rome from Paris. And it took us 50 days. The guys we gave the van to at rome airport had flown down from Paris and said it would take him 24 hours in total to get the van back. ,I suspect he will not be visiting as many churches and museums on the way!

Esther's blog has all the details of where we have been and what we have seen but for me the highlights were:

in a French cafe in Rambouillet watching the ABs beat the French in the RWC, seeing the Mona Lisa, being able to visit so many places with few tourists around as we are out of season, getting to know the family better (strange to say but true), trying to learn to pencil draw, Florence which was just a real nice city to visit (we also had a pencil portrait of Benjamin and Naomi done, great to watch), being comfortable in France speaking the lingo - it's amazing how much came back to me from school days, visiting Maranello and getting to drive a Ferrari. I'm sure there are plenty more and you will hear about them I'm sure!

There was always going to be lowlights, thankfully not many:

Driving the campervan in the first few days ( the accident and just getting to used to the van), parts of Venice (crowded, with narrow streets and impossible to navigate even using a map). - one a challenge for a 'control freak', Trying to speak Italian (with no base to start with I have resorted to finger pointing) and having to give up the campervan - I think it would have been good to go further!

Would I do it all over again, absolutely. And I would know all the things to do before driving out of the hire place.

Some recent photos to make you smile..

We found an excellent improvement to my golf game...


...just need to find the right golf course.

Looks like Rome council were a little over zealous with their request..




And the prize for Movember goes to...





The waves were rising and Naomi didn't spot it..







Sorry folks, if you haven't been to the leaning tower of Pisa, it is no too late, Benjamin managed to push it back up...


It was one too many gardens/museums for naomi..


A variation on where's Wally....



Laters
Alex

What goes 0 to 100 in 3 seconds, has white knuckles and swears a lot...

Me driving a 2010 458 Italia Ferrari. 570 bhp. A very fast car and dangerous in the hands of someone like me, especially someone who has been driving a camper van for the last 5 weeks.

I was spoilt today. No churches, no shops, no emptying the campervan toilet (actually that was done) and just one museum - the Ferrari museum in Maranello, the home of Ferrari. The museum itself was very informative - even Esther enjoyed it. There were lots of cars from the old to the new. I wanted a photo from my favorite in the museum.....







We can all dream - the 458 Italia. Naomi wanted a photo with her favourite - me!

We left the museum and were hounded by youngsters trying to sell us time in fast cars for competitive prices. And they thought I was an easy sell. And they were right.

When we got 'dragged' to check out the cars on offer at one place, they actually had the chance to drive the 458 Italia. Good choice said the co pilot - it was his favorite and also happened to come in as the most expensive. Typical.

With fantastic bartering on my part, I managed to get a 13-14 minutes (instead of the 'usual' 10) of driving time and a free in car video.

I signed a document (after reading very carefully), was put in the car, given about 10 seconds of instructions and then asked to drive away.

I have never been so scared on the roads in my life (apart from that time when I had my Paris incident and that other time when Esther was driving......only joking).

So here is a pic of me looking very comfortable before I got into the cockpit...







(I'm the good looking one who hasn't shaved for the past 2 months).

I was directed out of town, which was down two or three roads until we got onto what can only be described as straight road with no houses on either side. 'gas, gas' the co pilot shouted. Foot was down with a nice tempered acceleration. Went pretty fast pretty quickly. Next bit of straight road. Slow down, let the cars ahead get further ahead. And then 'floor it', so I did - the form I signed said I had to follow all instructions. Difficult to describe, but probably like a bat out of hell, but faster. Next time I got more cockey and went for gold. I risked looking at the speedo. Over 170 kph, and in a 50 limit and back down to 50 in less than a few seconds.

A once in a lifetime experience and I fell back down to earth as soon as I jumped into the camper van and headed out of Maranello, the home of Ferrari (and probably a few unpaid, and unissued, speeding tickets).

Laters
Alex (Schumacher) Skinner
PS the scariest is when he told me to floor it and overtake two cars on the inside. They didn't even get a glimpse of me as I sped off.







PPS I want one - don't we we all

PPPS I actually bought one on the spot, admittedly not an original but one by

PPPPS I will be holding private viewings of the in car video for those interested

Back on the road

I write this from a carpark off the main road near Venice. Yesterday we managed to drive all the way from nice to Venice. I would tell you how long that was but we haven't yet got an Italian sim card so not online. We may have returned to the uk before this blog gets posted, who knows.

Obviously the camping car got fixed. After the last blog and the worries we had, can you guess what was wrong.....a fuse had gone missing! It took the guy in Avis about 5 minutes to get the car back on the road and allay all our fears.

How simple, and how frustrating (underlined if that was possible on the iPad).

We reckon that when we were in the marseille Avis the lady there played around with the fuses and forgot to put one back. How else would one go missing from a cupboard which we don't even use. The other possible scenarios are:

1. Someone broke into the camper can and stole it
2. The fuse self imploded and disappeared entirely
3. Benjamin decided to work out how the electrics in the camper van worked and took it all apart and forgot to put back one little ol' fuse - this could actually be a possibility

I am about to draft a 'dear Avis' letter outlining the problems hour by hour in detail. We lost at least a day of church and museum seeing - the kids were gutted.

So there you have it, 7am in a truck park. Skinner family awake except Mrs S..... And today we head into Venice. Esther was reading, that between November and April it is high tide so bring your wellies........so could be an interesting day.

A few amusing photos for your enjoyment.....

I posted a picture of the sat nav previously with a roundabout we were approaching. Well this one shows how clever our camper car is at times...we are driving in the sea just outside St Tropez..No bridges involved!





We loved this taxi but felt it wasnt quite going to get all the skinner family in..





We waked past this car thinking it was trying to get out of this tight park, in fact as we watched a little longer it was quite clear that she was trying to park up. I now know why vehicles are fitted with bumpers. The bumpers photod here were used extensively.




Benjamin being his hero, Bear Grylls, as he built a shelter on the beach in Antibes. It was totally wind proof but may let in water. Benjamin was able to get fully under his camp!




Naomi contemplating how to attack her rose shaped ice cream...



Benjamin and Naomi are all over art - literally for this sculpture until I read the little placard which said please respect the art and do not climb, I think that was the rough english translation.


Naomi has become a semi professional photographer (actually she is not too bad). Benjamin has become a mime artist.



Benjamin's favourite shop...



What a fantastic development in modern living. Unfortunately it was not working, just when I fancied chips out of a vending machine..


Laters
Alex