Well those of you who are still with us will know that I haven't posted anything for a while. There is a very good reason for this - the internet is even harder to access in Europe BUT I had warned you it would be a while.
We flew back to Los Angeles yesterday (Halloween) and of course as before we now have internet pretty much on tap and always free.
So I shall endeavour to fill you in on our 6 weeks through Europe:

FRANCE - We took the children to Paris though Tim and I have been many times and indeed Tim lived here as an eleven year old for 18 months. His French is still good and it was a great asset to have. I did French at school for 2 years but while I can pronounce it correctly and read quite a few words I am not game enough to speak it.
Though it was a whirlwind trip to Paris we saw Notre Dame, the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo in the Louvre, the Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe and of course the Eiffel Tower. Tim didn't want the kids to go up at all incase of a random terrorist attack but I managed to talk him into allowing us all to go to the 2nd level. The highlight of the Eiffel Tower was Tim dropping the laptop out of the unzipped backpack. This resulted in the air being blue for a few tense moments as we surveyed the damage but luckily just a scratched corner of the outer covering. Phew - this laptop has been our lifeline, not only for the webpage but for banking, booking accommodation, emailing, paying taxes, etc etc etc. Suffice to say it has been well worth bringing it along.
There were soldiers in army fatigue toting machine guns around the tower and the Louvre, a sad sign of our current times I think.