We travelled for six hours from our chateau in the Loire to the north-east of France, just east of Troyes. Our next hotel was a hunting lodge in a small town called Lesmont. On our first day we had Dads' birthday to celebrate! We went for a huge bike ride through the surrounding towns. By the end of the day we were extremely exhausted after the forty kilometer bike ride. That night was very nice with a big meal in a fancy French restaurant to settle our rumbling tummies.
We drove five hundred kilometres the next day to Belgium to meet my Mum's cousin and her family. Her name is Ria and her husband Peter. They have three children, Stephie, Florien and Tristan. We jumped on the trampoline a lot of the time. That evening was quite exciting with more cousins and children coming over to their house. I got on very well with a boy called Wouter. He was the same age as me and had the same interest as me. He is my second cousin.
We drove up from Belgium to Holland and met my great-aunty and great-uncle. They are very nice and are very energetic. We went on a bike ride with them around a local village which was very nice but my favourite part of the ride was when we stopped at a paddock with many different animals including deer, goats, sheep, chickens and a big, proud turkey. He was doing a funny dance to show off to his girlfriend! At that time there were a lot of tulips blooming. We stopped along the way to pick some of them and to take photos. The day after that was exciting with a trip to a monkey zoo called Apenheul. We saw little monkeys and huge apes, all running freely throughout the zoo.
That weekend was one of the highlights of the trip because I was able to meet my second cousins called Lisa and Thijs and Lise and Tein. Thijs was very good at table-tennis and table soccer. The reason we were at a hotel was because it was my great-grandfather's 90th birthday. We celebrated there with all the family. My favourite part of the weekend was when we went to a nearby zoo. My favourite animal was Fred the shark because he was staring intently at us as we walked past.
We drove three hours, the next day to Germany or more specifically the Nurburg Ring! Dad hired a Renault sport R26R which had been enhanced and took it for a spin around the ring. We also had a look around the shops and Dad bought some clothes and a mug.
We drove a few hours from there to a village called Villeferry, which is back in France. The hotel that we stayed in was a 14th century house which had been renovated. From there we drove to a nearby village called Flavigny which is the village where the film "Chocolat" was filmed. Flavigny is also famous for its aniseed lollies. We were given a tour of the lolly factory and bought some lollies. Just down the road from Flavigny there is the Fontenay Abbey. It was founded in 1118 by Saint Bernard. He was the son of a rich family but then was sick of wealth, built a huge abbey with his money and became a monk.
After a month on the road we finally arrived home safe and well, but extremely tired it was great to be back to the comforts of home.
Au revoir
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